The Huffington Post is reporting that Virgil Goode is under investigation in Virginia for “petition fraud.”
“… the party-switching ex-lawmaker is facing a petition fraud investigation that could jeopardize his chances of appearing on Virginia ballots at all, let alone spoiling a Romney presidency.
The Virginia Board of Elections unanimously voted Monday to investigate suspected fraud on petition forms submitted by Goode’s campaign, according to a statement from the bipartisan committee.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is pursuing a criminal investigation into the Constitution Party’s “efforts to gain ballot access for its presidential candidate for the November election,” his spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.
HT: JD
31 responses so far ↓
1 Kyle Kneale // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Ooops.
Not familiar with the petition drive in VA for Goode but this might go badly.
2 paulie // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:26 pm
No. See http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/08/07/virginia-state-board-of-elections-believes-it-has-found-one-petitioner-for-virgil-goode-who-forged-signatures/
19k valid for 10k requirement and still going…I’d say he is in goode shape there.
Other states however may present a bigger challenge, if he does not come up on the pay rates.
3 Andy // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:44 pm
I heard that there are 146 signatures that are suspected of being forgeries. That’s a tiny percentage of the overall number of signatures collected, so this should not be enough to keep him off of the Virginia ballot.
My guess is that if there were any forged signatures, they were probably collected by some jabroni hired off of the streets who had never petitioned before and was looking to make a quick buck.
4 NewFederalist // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:44 pm
This does not look too Goode for the CP!
5 paulie // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:46 pm
146 pages. No word on how full they were on average that I have seen.
6 Andy // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:46 pm
“The Virginia State Board of Elections believes it has found one petitioner from northern Virginia who submitted 146 petition sheets that were forged.”
I just noticed that it was 146 pages and not 146 signatures. I don’t know how many signatures are on each page, but this would mean that the number of suspected forgeries would be more than 146 signatures. Even so, I think that it is still possible that Virgil Goode will qualify for the Virginia ballot.
7 paulie // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:49 pm
http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/08/07/virginia-state-board-of-elections-believes-it-has-found-one-petitioner-for-virgil-goode-who-forged-signatures/#comments
Many of the sheets are probably not full because counties and home rule towns all have their own pages.
8 RedPhillips // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Obviously that petitioner could be in some legal trouble, but is Goode legally responsible for the actions of his petitioners?
9 Reed E // Aug 8, 2012 at 4:59 pm
@2 What is the current pay rate? What’s average, whats good, whats bad, and what is he trying to pay?
10 Ad Hoc // Aug 8, 2012 at 5:04 pm
As things heat up most parties are now paying 2.50 plus expenses (motel, gas, rental cars, flights, petition copy costs) on the streets and more to coordinators.
At the low end 2.00 plus expenses or 2.50 without expenses.
He is still trying to pay 1.50 or 1.75 in some states and then nickel and diming on top of that. Not Goode.
There are referendum petitions now also, at least one that we know of was paying 4.00 a signature on the street last time we checked.
It’s supply and demand and right now with so many projects to choose from going on the prices have gone up.
11 just American // Aug 8, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Meanwhile, Cuccinelli apparently has no problem putting a natural-born Birtish subject on the ballot. Shameful.
12 paulie // Aug 8, 2012 at 5:11 pm
@11 Your bullshit is…
just bullshit….
and, yes, shameful.
13 bruuno // Aug 8, 2012 at 5:27 pm
#12- They seem to have come out of the woodworks today. LOL
14 JD // Aug 8, 2012 at 5:43 pm
The big problem I see in this whole thing is the time factor. There is not much time left to get ballot access in remaining states and now the Goode campaign has to take time with a legal challenge. I know it will probably not be enough to hurt him in Virginia but any time lost is time that could have been spent in other states.
15 Trent Hill // Aug 8, 2012 at 5:44 pm
“Birtish subject on the ballot”
I hate the Birtish. They’re from Birtain. Lands of the Birts.
16 paulie // Aug 8, 2012 at 5:46 pm
I thought it was the land of the Birters?
17 bruuno // Aug 8, 2012 at 6:56 pm
#16- I was going to try but I can’t top that one paulie.
18 just American // Aug 8, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Cuccinelli is also refusing to prosecute the subversive Newt Gingrich (R-CFR) for his petition fraud.
19 Nick // Aug 8, 2012 at 8:53 pm
He is innocent until proven guilty.
The clock is ticking thou, and he’s can’t let this tie him up and keep him from spending time away from getting ballot access in other states.
20 paulie // Aug 8, 2012 at 9:02 pm
I don’t think it will.
He has easily enough valid signatures.
21 R. D. Holland // Aug 8, 2012 at 9:59 pm
@7 Eleven signatures on the Virginia sheets, not 21, even though the sheets I saw for NC and IN had room for 20…. This may hurt those obviously trying to keep Virgil off the ballot in VA more than it would have had they left him alone. The way the other two major party candidates are throwing punches at each other, why should Goode think he might not have a few thrown in his direction? IMO, this just shows what respect the GOP has for the impact Congressman Goode has the potential to have in Virginia, and needing every anti-Obama vote they can get in November, pulling the rug out from under Virgil is a tactic they feel worth the gamble. I say it will backfire….
22 paulie // Aug 8, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Tom Yager is Green Party co-chair in VA and they are doing a drive, so I would think he would know. Is it a double sided page? If so, did you look on the back?
23 Marc Montoni // Aug 8, 2012 at 10:18 pm
Enough guessing.
21 per page if you use the legal-size petition; 11 if you use the letter-size.
24 Richard Winger // Aug 8, 2012 at 10:31 pm
If a petitioner for Virgil Goode forged signatures, then that petitioner could be prosecuted. But that petitioner is the only person who could be prosecuted. The headline of this blog post ought to be amended. Just because the Washington Post can’t get it straight, is no reason for IPR to imitate the Post’s stupid headline.
25 paulie // Aug 8, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Agreed and done. Hope Red doesn’t mind.
26 Trent Hill // Aug 9, 2012 at 12:54 am
Richard–thanks for bringing that to our attention.
27 R. D. Holland // Aug 9, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Our local Virginia paper must have been following “the Post’s” lead too, because for two days, it was front-page and they didn’t get it right either…. But the fact is it did not say a “Goode petitioner under investigation,” though he may have triggered it, but the “Goode Campaign….” Just an underhanded way to at the very least throw some doubt on Goode’s credibility, and at the most to limit the choices on the ballot this fall…. The GOP Primary had only Romney and Paul on it, but stacking the deck in this presidential contest will be a little more difficult…. I think Goode will ride out this storm, but it certainly doesn’t make him look good, does it?
28 paulie // Aug 9, 2012 at 9:55 pm
It will be long forgotten by November.
29 R. D. Holland // Aug 9, 2012 at 10:53 pm
#28 …Yes, you are probably right. One article I read said Goode was raising less than $1,000 a week, so any publicity is good publicity, as it keeps his name in the news, I suppose….
30 just.9/11/1857 // Aug 10, 2012 at 12:06 am
This reeks of dirty tricks. Is the petitioner a friend of Salt Lake?
31 C James Madison // Aug 10, 2012 at 11:49 am
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
–Mahatma Gandhi
The CP appears to be at the third stage of this quote…
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