5th Jan 2012 at 05:25 | By Collin Roth
UPDATE: Search Warrant Issued, Charges May Be Coming In Glendale Hotel Voter Case
By Collin Roth
On Wednesday, Milwaukee Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf issued a search warrant for Florida SEIU organizer Clarence Haynes declaring there is “probable cause that Mr. H [Clarence Haynes] voted without the proper qualifications as an elector when he cast a ballot on April 5, 2011.”
Documents exclusively obtained by Media Trackers revealed that Clarence Haynes, along with two other out-of-state SEIU organizers, voted using the address of a Residence Inn in Glendale in the April 5, 2011 spring election. Media Trackers first uncovered these individuals on October 26, 2011, prompting Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf to investigate the matter.
The gentlemen all share a common affiliation with the Service Employee International Union. Media Trackers first uncovered from SEIU documents that Haynes was listed as a “Senior Organizer in Training” and was previously registered as an SEIU employee in Florida. Haynes’ phone number on his Wisconsin election day registration form listed a Tampa area code.
On November 16, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported that ADA Landgraf had issued supoenas in the case of the Glendale hotel voters. The issued subpoenas sought records pertaining to hotel charges, credit cards used to pay those charges, as well as any information regarding the type of vehicles used by the three individuals.
According to John Mercure of 620 WTMJ, excerpts from ADA Landgraf’s search warrant read:
Mr. H represented that he was a Wisconsin resident and a resident for at least 10 days. He further stated to election officials that he had no present intent to move.
A false statement made to an election official is a Class I felony in violation of Wisconsin statutes.
Based upon Marriott Residence Inn records, I knew that Mr. H lived at the Residence Inn intermittently from January 2011 to April 2011. While staying at this hotel, Mr. H consistently gave a home address in Florida.
I am told Mr. H is a Senior Organizer in training working for the International office of the Service Employee International Union in Wisconsin to work on community organizing efforts in 2011. This included community organizing efforts related to the election of April 5, 2011 involving on the state level Justice David Prosser and Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, and on the local level Chris Abele and Jeff Stone.
All of the SEIU community organizers were excited about the April 5, election and they wanted to vote. Community organizers were generally advised by their SEIU supervisors that they could vote if they had a job offer in Milwaukee, had been here for 10 days, and were planning to stay. They were otherwise counseled against casting a ballot if they did not meet those measures.
I would respectfully submit that Mr. H voted without proper qualifications as an elector when he cast his ballot April 5, 2011.
Mercure also explained that in a conversation with ADA Landgraf, Landgraf explained there was “probable cause” that a crime had been committed and a decision on whether charges would be pressed may come in the next couple weeks.
If convicted, Class I felonies in Wisconsin carry a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment up to 3 1/2 years.
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Discussion | 18 Comments on "UPDATE: Search Warrant Issued, Charges May Be Coming In Glendale Hotel Voter Case"
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Andy said
Jan 5, 2012 at 2:38 PM
If charged and found guilty, I say throw the book at the guy and give him the full sentence. Show people that we are serious about protecting the integrity of our elections.
deb said
Jan 5, 2012 at 3:55 PM
Totally agree, Andy!!
Keith in Seattle said
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:11 PM
Prosecute this and all his other crony buddies to the FULLEST extent of the law and SET A PRECEDENCE FOR ONCE.
Nancy said
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:49 PM
This will go to the GAB and they’ll ignore it.
Somebody said
Jan 5, 2012 at 6:09 PM
If the allegations are true, he should be prosecuted.
That being said, this does not support the case for voter ID. For instance, he could shown a passport to prove that he was who he claimed to be. Alternatively, had he been a Wisconsin resident up to 8 years before, he could have used his old Wisconsin driver’s license.
How about running a story about a person that can’t afford a certified copy of their birth certificate and therefore is unable to get a free Wisconsin ID?
Scotty Mack said
Jan 6, 2012 at 7:41 AM
If they can’t afford a birth certificate and/or a state issued ID, then they certainly can’t afford a newspaper or television so how the heck are they qualified to vote on anything? I say it’s a great way of weeding out the uninformed.
Somebody said
Jan 6, 2012 at 3:16 PM
Scotty, are you suggesting that we should institute a civics and current events test before voting? If so, which of the “Jay Walking” participants from The Tonight Show would get to vote? I’ve met plenty of people that vote regularly that do so on party lines, rather than on the merits of individual candidates. Many of them relayed that story to me as they signed the petitions to recall Walker and Kleefisch – they were awakened.
Lack of extra money doesn’t necessarily mean that a person isn’t going to have access to a newspaper (available for free at most libraries) or TV. A person that is making the choice between paying rent (in an apartment with a TV with rabbit ears) and paying for medicine seems quite unlikely to think that his or her vote counts enough to pay this poll tax of sorts.
True, with rabbit ears you don’t get truly informative news like you get on Fox. However, if you only watch local news produced by TMJ4 it is close enough.
FWIW, as I had Walker supporters confront me as I was petitioning for his recall, most were shocked and confused when I said that I wanted to get rid of him because of his assault on the environment, education (K-12, tech schools, universities), and other things important for those that can’t find a job that pays a living wage. In my younger years, my family used food pantries. A decent public school education, reasonable university tuition, Pell Grants, and Stafford Loans (fully paid, first year out of college) made it so that I have a better life and pay plenty of taxes.
I’ve worked for large corporations that just game the tax system. One of these companies got a sweetheart deal around 2005 to build a new building which just shifted jobs 10 miles down the road. At the same company, I watched a $1,000,000+ IT project be implemented for the sole purpose of managing international logistics in such a way that the tax burden was minimized. This same company in 2008 said “sorry, no money for raises or training” and also said “we are building up our cash reserves so that as other companies are stressed we are positioned to buy them at a discount.” That quote (paraphrased) was something I heard directly from the CEO during a town hall meeting. At the same time, that company had $99 billion in cash and marketable securities. That company didn’t need tax incentives – the money was a give-away, not an incentive. The money would have been better spent on roads, social programs, paying down debt, etc. What part of that was covered in the local newspaper or TV news?
Fred said
Jan 5, 2012 at 9:12 PM
Hey “Somebody”, how about you donate the 20 bucks?
Clayton Wellman said
Jan 6, 2012 at 1:53 AM
Prosecute this bunch to the maximum and maybe others will think twice before they try something like this.