Press Release
Bay Village, Ohio
12-13-09
A major break has developed in the ongoing investigation of a fraudulent phone bank that went into operation on Sunday morning, October 25th , nine days prior to the November 3rd election. Phone bank members called Bay Village registered Republican voters and specifically told them that Debbie Sutherland was running as a Republican and Jim Scott was running as a Democrat in the Bay Village mayoral race. Elections in Bay Village are nonpartisan, as dictated by the City Charter. Scott is a life-long Republican and was not endorsed by the Democratic Party. “Our investigation has identified an individual whom we believe is responsible for setting up the illicit phone calling operation,” Scott said. “Over the last few weeks a profile of the person responsible for running the operation has developed, and the person we have identified is an exact match for the profile.” “Our investigation indicates that the fraudulent phone calls were made by volunteers calling from an unlisted or blocked phone number. The calls were not made by a professional pollster, but by volunteers manning a phone bank. The volunteers read from a phone script and told Republican voters that Sutherland was a Republican and Scott was a Democrat. The calls were made outside Bay Village but in the greater Cleveland area,” Scott said. “It also appears that the callers targeted older voters.” “We know there are individuals in the Cleveland area who have information that can close this case. We are appealing to the public to come forward with any information that may be relevant. Election fraud is a crime. We want to identify the individuals responsible and see that they face appropriate legal action. We don’t want to see this kind of fraudulent activity ever happen again in a Bay Village election. Anyone with relevant information is requested to call D.L.B. & Associates Investigations at 440-260-7567.”
Press Release11-29-09
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections will conduct a Recount of the Bay Village mayoral race ballots on Friday December 4th at 9:00 a.m. at its 1890 East 40th Street warehouse. Recount procedure allows each candidate to be present, and accompanied by one observer and an attorney.
Mayoral candidate Jim Scott said he is looking forward to the recount and will be present to observe the process. “With a margin of victory of only 69 votes, less than 1% of the total vote, it makes sense to request the recount,” Scott said. “We want to make sure all ballots are counted accurately and that all absentee ballots are accounted for. Several hundred absentee ballots were not returned.” Scott also noted that there were 138 ballots that did not record a vote for Mayor. “It’s important to make sure none of those ballots were misread by voting machines.”
The cost of the recount, $660, will be paid for by Scott’s campaign. Scott noted that most of the cost has been covered by contributions from residents. “The support we’ve received from the community has been tremendous.”
“We’re really proud of what we accomplished in this election. We won the city-wide absentee vote by 2.5%, the Ward 1 election day vote by 5.3% and the Ward 2 election day vote by 1.9%. We won the provisional and post election absentee ballots by 4.3%. The only thing we didn’t carry was the election day vote in Wards 3 and 4, where we lost by 10.6% and 8.6%, respectively.”
Scott noted that Wards 3 and 4 are the two most Republican wards in the city, and that the County Republican Party aggressively went after those votes with endorsement mailings. “It appears many Republican voters in Wards 3 and 4 followed the party line,” Scott said. “If that’s the case, it’s truly disappointing, since we have nonpartisan elections in Bay.” Scott added that he campaigned equally hard throughout town, covering the whole city door-to-door twice. “I didn’t take any ward or precinct for granted. I worked hard, ran a nonpartisan campaign and reached out to everyone throughout the city.”
Scott said that an ongoing investigation into fraudulent phone calls made the week before the election is making progress. A professional investigator has taken statements from residents regarding phone calls to registered Republican voters that identified Debbie Sutherland as the Republican candidate for Mayor and Jim Scott as the Democratic candidate. Scott is a lifelong Republican, and was not endorsed by the Democratic Party.
The investigation has determined that the calls were made for some hours on Sunday, October 25th, and that the calls came from a calling center or phone bank with an unlisted phone number. The calls were made by multiple individuals, both male and female, and were clearly part of an organized effort in which callers used a script and had access to voting records. The investigative report from D.L.B. & Associates Investigations states that the evidence is clear that the “callers’ intent was to misinform individuals of Jim Scott’s party affiliation.”
Press Release
November 21, 2009
The Jim Scott for Mayor Campaign has
hired a professional investigator concerning very serious pre-election
irregularities, which may constitute election law violations, and which
may have affected the election’s outcome. The investigation
is based on reliable and consistent reports, and focuses on the dissemination
of fraudulent information by a call-center style telephone polling operation
beginning on Sunday, October 25, 2009, just days before the November
3rd election.
The unidentified pre-election operation
is known to have operated from an unlisted phone number. Reliable reports
indicate that registered Republican voters received calls specifically
identifying Debbie Sutherland as the Republican candidate for Mayor
and Jim Scott as the Democrat candidate. Because Jim Scott is,
in fact, a long-standing and active registered Republican, and because
Bay Village has nonpartisan elections, the call center’s fraudulent
misrepresentation of Jim Scott's political affiliation likely distorted
the election results.
Since nothing threatens the integrity
of democracy’s electoral process more than fraudulent misinformation
and deliberate voter deception, the Jim Scott for Mayor Campaign will
continue to work to identify the perpetrators of this fraudulent activity.
When the investigation is complete, the results will be provided to
the proper authorities.
Citizens with information about these
pre-election irregularities or similar factual misrepresentations are
encouraged to contact Jim Scott directly at jimscottinbay@aol.com or 440-892-0685.
Jim Scott has been a Bay Village resident for more than 26 years, has served as Bay Village Councilman-at-Large for the last 6 years, and is dedicated to serving the community.
Throughout the coming Bay Village Mayoral campaign season, we will share many issues and ideas important to Bay Village voters. Please visit this site often to learn more about the solutions and plans Councilman Jim Scott will offer as Mayor.
Recent News
10/20/09 - Bay High Mock Election Winner is Jim Scott!
10/20/09 - Bay High Hosts Mayoral Debate
10/20/09 - Not just a slogan: A different perspective on the Bay mayor's race
10/20/09 - View From the Cheap Seats: Leave it to Beaver isn't on the radio
12/03/08 - Councilman Scott to seek mayor's office
Looking for a fresh voice and a new approach to city government?
Tired of politics as usual?
Vote Jim Scott for Mayor and witness the difference.
|
