( - promoted by ryan)
I broke the story late Friday night that there were robocalls being made to voters in East Baton Rouge Parish designed to depress voter turnout. The text of the calls was:
"I'm very upset that the National Democratic Party favored Don Cazayoux from New Roads over Michael Jackson. The Democratic Party raised $850,000 for Don Cazayoux which is the only reason Michael Jackson lost in the Democratic runoff. The National and State Democratic Parties always seem to back the white democrat over the black democrat and that's wrong. Alot of us who are supporting Michael Jackson feel the National Democratic Party need to be taught a lesson. We're not voting for Don Cazayoux because we believe Woody Jenkins will be a lot easier to beat in November when Senator Barack Obama is on the ballot. You haven't heard many black elected officials supporting Don Cazayoux. On Saturday we're going to stay home and see how the National Democratic Party do without us."
"Paid for by Friends of Michael Jackson."
On Saturday night, I spoke with various folks within the Louisiana Democratic Party, and they all told me that Michael Jackson denies anything to do with the robocalls. I was also told that he signed an affidavit to that effect.
Earlier today, I received an email from a list-serv email group which stated:
Yesterday morning before I had a chance to vote, I received a robocall from a representative of the Michael Jackson campaign. The call originated from Magnolia Computers of Baton Rouge.
The voice on the phone explained that the State and National Democratic Party had given large amounts of money to the Cazayoux campaign and had left the Jackson campaign to fend for itself. For
that reason, they asked that all Democrats refrain from voting and allow Woody Jenkins to win the seat. Why? Because, the voice continued, Michael intends to run for the seat in November and they
feel they could then beat Woody at a time when Barack Obama is on the ballot.
My caller id showed the number as Magnolia Computer (225-766-7886).
And guess who owns Magnolia Computers LLC? That would be Darrell W. Glasper of Baton Rouge, who was a very controversial BREC chairman.
And guess who the only donation Mr. Glasper has made on the federal level within the last 4 years went to? The National Republican Congressional Committee, back in 2005.
Here's where it gets really interesting. If you were to reverse phone look-up that phone number, it is registered to a Raymond Wright of East Baton Rouge. Did Magnolia Computers use a phone number not registered to them to make the phone calls in an attempt to cover it up? Or is Raymond Wright complicit in this sordid mess? Or are the phone records not current? The phone records ARE NOT CURRENT. Only time will tell.
UPDATE: Paul over at TPM Muckraker interviewed Darrell Glasper! He is apparently unapologetic about making the calls. I quote:
"This is America, you can say what you want."
UPDATE II: According to the TPM article I mentioned before, it says that (emphasis added):
"Glasper, an African-American, said that he was an acquaintance and supporter of Jackson's, but that he'd made the calls without Jackson's knowledge and had stopped the calls at Jackson's request. He'd made 10,000 or so by that time, he said."
Pray tell, if he made the calls without Jackson's knowledge, how did Jackson know to ask Mr. Glasper to stop?
|
