Lena Taylor, Voter Fraud

Democrat Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor has some explaining to do.

From Collin Roth, Media Trackers:

Media Trackers discovered that over 20 individuals voted, some illegally, from one of Senator Lena Taylor’s (D-Milwaukee) properties during the April 5, 2011 spring election. According to a Media Trackers open records request with the City of Milwaukee Election Commission, the property at 1018 N 35th St. in Milwaukee currently has 36 active voter registrations and at least 23 individuals voted using the address.

Media Trackers was tipped off to Senator Taylor’s property by the Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, who found 11 individuals that registered on election day to vote from Taylor’s property, 7 of which were corroborated by Senator Taylor’s mother, Lena J Taylor.

“Using open records requests, we obtained copies of the 11,017 Milwaukee County Election Day Registrations and created a database to analyze the entries from all 19 municipalities in the county,” said Tim Dake of the Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty. Dake explained further that “our volunteers ran numerous queries on the data and were surprised to see the name Lena Taylor appear on so many forms.”

According to property records obtained from the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services, Senator Lena C. Taylor owns the property at 1018 N. 35th St. in Milwaukee. The property has 6 units and is zoned by the Milwaukee Zoning Code as RT3. According to the City of Milwaukee Zoning Code, properties zoned RT3 are intended to “promote, preserve and protect neighborhoods intended primarily for two-family dwellings.”

According to records from the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Senator Taylor’s mother, Lena J. Taylor, ran a delinquent and now defunct non-profit on the property called “Mama Delta’s Lovehouse.” The non-profit was allegedly a “homeless/temporary shelter” from February 2007 until March 2011, less than one month before the April 5, election. The organization was found delinquent in January of 2010, given a notice of dissolution in January 2011, and officially administratively dissolved as of March 15, 2011.

...Even if Taylor’s mother’s delinquent and dissolved non-profit were an excuse for the number of voters at 1018 N. 35th St., housing 36 individuals would be a violation of the City of Milwaukee Zoning Code for the property itself.

The issue with Senator Taylor’s property does not stop at the exorbitant number of active voters or the number of individuals who used the address to vote on April 5. When Media Trackers began to look at the individuals that voted from Taylor’s property, questions began to emerge about whether voters were ineligible to vote and whether they actually lived on the premises, let alone the state of Wisconsin. One individual was a felon voter and another may reside in Chicago.

According to court documents, there are at least 3 other questionable registrations at Taylor’s property. These individuals list different addresses in court documents from previous years but it cannot be determined when they registered to vote from Taylor’s property.

Roth concludes:

Senator Lena Taylor wants to recall Gov. Scott Walker for what she believes is his misuse of power, but in this case she appears to have been an accessory to illegal voting activities. Furthermore, Senator Lena Taylor was an outspoken critic of the Photo ID bill, but if that bill had been in place it could stopped some of the potential voter fraud that took place from her property.

Just last week, Sen. Lena Taylor re-introduced legislation to extend the right to vote to felons and other convicts the moment they leave jail. But instead of waiting to change the law, Senator Taylor appears to have been an accessory to at least one voter breaking current election law as it relates to felon voting.

Just after the August recall elections, Senator Taylor wrote “when you assault the values and history of the Badger State, you will be held accountable.”

The scope of this scheme indicates that Senator Lena Taylor and her mother need to be asked very serious questions about how the property was used, and how it came to be that 36 voters, some felons still on extended supervision, and others who appear to possibly be from out of state, were registered to vote at the address. At best this is gross negligence that undermines the integrity of the election process, at worst it is an offense against the state of Wisconsin.

True to form, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel runs damage control for Democrat Lena Taylor.

Daniel Bice and Jason Stein quickly put out Taylor's side of the story, denying wrongdoing.

A conservative group is accusing state Sen. Lena C. Taylor of being "an accessory" to possible voter fraud after some 20 individuals, including a felon on work-release, voted in the April election listing as their residence a Milwaukee group home operated by Taylor's mother on property owned by the senator.

But the Milwaukee Democrat dismissed the allegations, saying her mother, Lena J. Taylor, was simply providing homeless and other individuals with a place to stay and then encouraging them to vote. Many come and go and might use the address as the closest they have to a residence.

"She's done this, to be very candid, out of her own pocket," Taylor said. "I think what she does every day is admirable."

Media Trackers, a Mequon-based nonprofit that does political research targeting liberals, released records showing that 36 people were registered to vote using the address of Mama Delta's Lovehouse, a group home and homeless shelter run by Lena J. Taylor. The home is at 1018 N. 35th St., property that is owned by the senator and next door to her law office.

Of the 36 registered voters at that address, about 20 voted in the April 5 election for county executive and a state Supreme Court seat, records show. And 11 of those individuals registered to vote on election day.

Staffers at Media Trackers raised questions regarding several of the same-day registrants, including Russell Collins, 44, of Milwaukee. Records show Collins was convicted of a Class G felony for theft last year, and he was still doing work-release at the County Correctional Facility-South at the time of the April election.

Felons are prohibited from voting in Wisconsin elections until they complete their sentences, including probation, work-release or parole.

...In addition, [Brian Sikma, a spokesman for Media Trackers] pointed to city zoning records that suggested the group home should house no more than eight individuals. He said the senator should have known the group home was out of compliance with city zoning rules.

"At best, this is gross negligence that undermines the integrity of the election process," Sikma said. "At worst, it is an offense against the state of Wisconsin."

But the senator said her mother is being attacked for carrying out a Christian ministry in which she lives alongside the guests, treated them as family and had daily Bible study with them. Records show the state Department of Financial Institutions administratively dissolved Mama Delta's Lovehouse in March for failing to file paperwork for the nonprofit. For now, the home doesn't exist as a legal entity, although people still stay there.

The senator, who owns the building, said it had six units and each one had at least two bedrooms. She said she was certain the building was zoned for more than eight people and the building usually had a number of residents, many of whom came and went frequently.

I've never heard voter fraud referred to as a "Christian ministry."

In addition to the Journal Sentinel telling Taylor's story, "willing partner" TMJ4's Charles Benson interviewed Lena Taylor. The report led the 10:00 PM newscast.

Here's video:



Do you get the feeling that lots of properties around Milwaukee will be designated "religious shelters" in time for the 2012 elections?