AP: FBI Plants Sham (Democratic) Candidate in W.Va. Race

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=157&sid=134990

By LAWRENCE MESSINA
Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Thomas Esposito's campaign for the Legislature seemed to be following the usual pattern. The longtime Democratic mayor issued press releases, raised money and bought newspaper ads. Signs bearing his name popped up in yards around rural Logan County.

But less than a month before the May 2004 primary election, Esposito dropped out, saying he had to withdraw because of his ailing mother-in-law.

The real reason surfaced only later: The FBI had planted Esposito among the field of candidates to help find evidence of vote-buying in southern West Virginia.

... The chief judge of West Virginia's southern federal court district condoned the tactic Thursday in an election fraud case against Perry French Harvey Jr., the man who allegedly accepted the $2,000.

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I would be really angry if I lived in West Virginia and had supported Esposito, only to find he's a decoy. Aren't there better ways to get to the core of the problem than by duping the voters?

Makes you wonder how often the federal government dupes the voters, doesn't it?

WTF where they thinking?

legally? It seems very strange.

Everybody knows they have the money.

The nazi party is where the vote fraud is.

Neither party has had a monopoly on corruption historically.

It would be nice if we didn't think being a member of a party meant never criticizing it or holding it accountable.

Make no mistake--sham candidates is a CRAP move.
But I'm curious as to why there was only a sham Democrat candidate, what with "vote-buying has long been suspected in the region", and all. You'd think they'd be after that corruption on all fronts.

and that's OK?

I'm stunned.

position, and having them drop out right before the election when nobody else can get their name on the ballot, so they'll win.

They are bad enough to do it.

Thanks for the idea FBI. And why are you guys planting people in elections for anyway. It sounds like a movie for a cia plot in south america...

And they're in the Senate now!

I don't find anything cute about FBI manipulation of elections.

And I'm shocked, shocked!, that the media aren't all over this. Fake candidates in a real election ought to be a big thing -- and if they're there thanks to the FBI, that should be even bigger. Only a minor race in West Virginia? So what.

Then again, as I ponder it, no, I guess I'm not really shocked at anything anymore.

Who all is running isn't a fixed tally just yet, but you gotta wonder who among the hopefuls is there just for the ride and won't put up a real fight against Jeb or the recently co-opted McCain?

Someone in the FBI should be locked away for election fraud.

i am surprised to see it in print.

that's where i tnink the interesting thing is.

that's another one of those moments when the citizenry -- upon reading that -- ought to show up with pitchforks and torches at frankenstein's castle isn't it?

</sarcasm> the spelling is intentional

Published Saturday
December 3, 2005

FBI plants sham candidate in W.Va. race


CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Thomas Esposito's campaign for the Legislature seemed to be following the usual pattern. The longtime Democratic mayor issued press releases, raised money and bought newspaper ads. Signs bearing his name popped up in yards around rural Logan County.

But less than a month before the May 2004 primary election, Esposito dropped out, saying he had to withdraw because of his ailing mother-in-law.

The real reason surfaced only later: The FBI had planted Esposito among the field of candidates to help find evidence of vote-buying in southern West Virginia.

Federal prosecutors say the gambit worked.

They allege Esposito gave $2,000 in government-supplied money to a resident who had offered to bribe voters on his behalf.

They also credit the undercover sting operation for last year's guilty pleas by the sheriff of Logan County and the police chief in the coal-mining city of Logan, who both admitted to election violations.

The chief judge of West Virginia's southern federal court district condoned the tactic Thursday in an election fraud case against Perry French Harvey Jr., the man who allegedly accepted the $2,000.

Judge David Faber rejected arguments from Harvey's lawyer that the government had acted improperly by putting up a sham candidate.

Esposito, 54, began cooperating with investigators in July 2003, when he agreed to plead guilty to a federal corruption charge. Esposito, an attorney, had failed to notify authorities of criminal activities involving a former county magistrate.

Esposito entered the state House race in January 2004, after losing his bid for a fifth term as Logan mayor. He faces up to three years in prison for the corruption charge and a $250,000 fine at his sentencing Jan. 10. His lawyer, John Carrico, did not respond to messages seeking comment Friday.

Investigators believed that "if Esposito were to become a candidate for elective office, a virtual treasure trove of evidence could result," Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Booth Goodwin II said in a federal court filing last month. "The undercover investigation has yielded important results."

Because Esposito had not dropped out until mid-April 2004, his name remained on the May primary ballot. He received 2,175 votes, coming in last among 10 candidates.

Harvey's lawyer, Greg Campbell, urged the judge to dismiss the vote-buying count against Harvey, 55, who faces trial Dec. 14.

"I can't understand why it's all right to corrupt an election when you're investigating corruption in elections," Campbell said Friday.

But in his ruling, Faber noted that even Campbell had conceded that corruption has been endemic to West Virginia politics.

"It has been nearly impossible to prosecute corruption in Logan County because persons with knowledge of it are reluctant to testify against others in their community," Faber wrote. "Putting Esposito forward as a candidate may have been the only possible means to clean up the political process in Logan County."

The federal election fraud probe has lead to charges against 16 residents of Logan and neighboring Lincoln counties. The Lincoln County assessor and circuit clerk are among those charged with bribing voters in elections dating to 1990.

As Faber observed, vote-buying has long been suspected in the region. Even John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign allegedly supplied cash to Logan County's political bosses to help him win the West Virginia primary.

Per DU LBN guidelines, can you please edit your post to no more than four paragraphs and provide a link to the story? Thanks. :hi:

The page the AP story came from rotates the stories out of the link after 6 hours. Had a I posted the link, after that the story could have been about anything. I didn't see this story on any other source at the time. I also checked the entire first page of breaking news and the last ten posts for this story so as not to post a dupe. It had to have been on the second page at that time. Sorry to all. To those that I write in private, my surgery this morning had no complications. Enjoy your weekend all.

Steve

Or did they not run because this other guy did?

Any way you slice it, it's election fraud... pure and simple.

Nah. Just wasn't big enough for them.

This should bring criminal charges.