Donovan Riley: The Noose Tightens

There's still a deafening silence from Wisconsin Democrats on the subject of state senate candidate Donovan Riley's double voting.

Only one Dem, State Representative Tony Staskunas, has called for Riley to get out of the race.

What does that say about state Democrats?

It says that they don't care about the integrity of Wisconsin elections and they don't care about the integrity of the candidates they field.

Voter fraud just isn't that big of a deal to the Dems. Of course, that's old news.

The Dems don't care, but Waukesha County District Attorney (and Attorney General candidate) Paul Bucher cares.

Yesterday, he opened up an investigation into Riley's alleged double voting.

Read more here.

Bucher said that allegations of voter fraud must be aggressively investigated and are serious matters. "Allegations of double voting strike at the very heart of our electoral process," Bucher said. "I will be aggressively pursuing this matter in Waukesha County, although, of course, Mr. Riley is entitled to the presumption of innocence and at this point no charging decision has been made. I take the allegations very seriously." Bucher said he would be contacting Riley and elections clerks in both jurisdictions where the alleged double voting occurred.

Riley's problems don't stop at the Wisconsin border.

From The Chicago Sun-Times:

If there's one thing Donovan Riley apparently learned during his time in Chicago, it was "Vote early and often."

...On Nov. 7, 2000, the day of the big election between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Riley appeared at the polling place in Oconomowac, Wis., where he had registered to vote just the day before, voting records show. His ex-wife owned a home there.

"Then he drove down to Chicago where he was already registered and he voted again," said Michael Crooks, a Wisconsin attorney who filed a complaint against Riley with Wisconsin election officials. "This is about as blatant as it gets."

Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher said it's usually difficult to prove such allegations. "But in this case, these documents seem to be pretty good," he said.

Chicago Board of Elections officials are said to be compiling documents to forward to the Cook County state's attorney for possible prosecution.

"My best recollection is that I was splitting my time between Wisconsin and Illinois and it's possible I made a mistake," Riley said in a statement released last week.

Riley faces incumbent Jeff Pale in next month's Democratic primary election for a state senate seat in Milwaukee, 35 miles from Oconomowac.

Is it too much to ask for "Oconomowac" to be spelled correctly?

Oconomowac gets no respect. No respect at all.

But I digress--

Why would the DPW continue to back Riley?

It's really strange, especially since Riley is admitting that he may have voted in Wisconsin and Illinois.

The credibility of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is on the line here.

Although Riley hasn't been formally charged, things don't look good.

His reaction to the allegations is the most damning of all.

Compare how Riley is handling this to the way Jim Sullivan responded when accusations were made that he voted twice in the 1996 election.

He was adamant that he did not engage in voter fraud and that a poll worker must have made a mistake.

Riley, on the other hand, acknowledges that he just may have made a little mistake on November 7, 2000, voting in Wisconsin and then voting again in Illinois.

Are the liberal Dems so dirty that they are willing to excuse Riley?

The Associated Press has picked up the story, and even managed to spell "Oconomowoc" correctly!

OCONOMOWOC, Wis. -- A special-interest group's accusation that a Democratic state Senate candidate voted twice in the November 2000 election prompted the Waukesha County district attorney to announce Monday he will review the matter.

Donovan Riley, of Milwaukee, cast one ballot in Oconomowoc and a second in Chicago on the same day, according to All Children Matter, a Grand Rapids, Mich., group that supports private-school vouchers.

District Attorney Paul Bucher, a Republican candidate for attorney general, said he would contact Riley and elections clerks to determine whether charges were warranted.

He said double voting could bring felony charges of registering as a voter in two locations and voting in an election twice. The two charges carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Robert Schwoch, a Riley spokesman, said the campaign had no comment, given the legal nature of the investigation.

No comment.

I suppose Riley said all that needed to be said in his earlier statement to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "My best recollection is that I was splitting my time between Wisconsin and Illinois, and it's possible I made a mistake."

Yes, that was enough. I'm sure his lawyers think that it was probably too much.

Losing the primary to Jeff Plale is the least of Riley's concerns right now.

He has to be mulling over the thought of a possible seven years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Some questions:

Have you ever gone to a polling place, filled out a ballot, and then returned to do it again?

Have you ever made that mistake?

Have you ever come close to making that mistake?

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Apparently, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel doesn't consider a state senate candidate's alleged felonious behavior to be worthy of coverage beyond the initial story on Sunday and a brief follow-up which was posted on its website later that day and was published in the August 14 edition.