Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Who Has The Code To The GOP Voter Vault? Bring On An Investigation

It seems that Vanderburgh County GOP Chairman Brent Grafton got a little careless with the password code to the national GOP campaign voter database. As a consequence, someone managed to access Voter Vault and alter Rep. Susan Crouch's stance on abortion from anti-abortion to pro-choice. Although her primary opponent Jonathan Fulton was one of those person's who Grafton gave the password code to, he insists he had nothing to do with altering Crouch's stance on abortion. Jennifer Whitson of the Evansville Courier & Press writes:

The local chairman of the Republican Party allowed state Rep. Suzanne Crouch's primary opponent and a handful of others to access a secure area of the Republican National Committee's campaign database, which was later altered to incorrectly reflect Crouch's stance on abortion.

Jennifer Hallowell, executive director of the Indiana Republican Party, said Vanderburgh GOP Chairman Brent Grafton allowed "unauthorized use" of the party's "Voter Vault" database, which has records on all registered voters.

Grafton's log-in credentials would allow him to edit information on the site. Candidates get read-only access to the database for producing campaign mailings.

"This was an unauthorized use of Voter Vault, and we will take extra steps to make sure that all users are aware of that," Hallowell said. "This is the first breach of the system that we're aware of."

Hallowell said Crouch's record in the system has been corrected to reflect her anti-abortion stance and voting record.

Grafton said he gave the log-in credentials to a few party volunteers, including Jonathan Fulton, Crouch's opponent in Tuesday's primary election for the District 78 House seat.

Fulton's campaign has been circulating fliers recently that say the national GOP's database lists Crouch as "pro-choice." The flier includes a picture of a Web page from the database. Fulton, however, said he did not alter the information about Crouch's stance, even though he had the ability to do that with Grafton's credentials. "I wouldn't do that," Fulton said. "I did not, and I would not and I will not."


The House Republican Campaign Committee isn't buying Fulton's claim. And now all Vanderburgh GOP officials will be locked out of the Voter Vault until an investigation can determine who made the unauthorized changes to Crouch's entry.

It never ceases to amaze us what folks advocating the "Christian right" views within the party are willing to do in the name of their cause, even if it means lying and cheating.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You claim to be proclaiming and forwarding Christian values, yet have failed to check your facts on this one. Before merely assuming that Fulton actually changed Crouch's information, you might try to understand Vanderburgh County Politics better. Fulton is practically the only honest Republican politician in Vanderburg county. Surrounded by those seeking only political power, Fulton is honest, upright, and Godly. You would see the outrage many poeple have expressed at this accusation if you took the time to read the comments of local readers to this article on the Evansville Courier and Press website. Fulton merely used the password to access voter lists and assumed that Crouch's data was accurate. He knew that she now claims to be prolife, and used the data - which he didn't know anyone had changed - to show that she had not always claimed such an identity. Fulton is as honest as a politician can get, and it wouldn't suprise me if this is all a plot devised by the power hungary "good old girls" of Vanderburgh County to get rid of Grafton and Fulton in one sweep. Next time, check your facts before blatantly believing bogus accusations printed in a clearly liberal-leaning newspaper.

Gary R. Welsh said...

AI does not assume Fulton did the deed, and you will find that nowhere in this post; rather, it seems apparent that someone advocating the pro-life position wanted to misrepresent Crouch's position to the perceived advantage of Fulton-perhaps an overzealous supporter.

Buzzcut said...

Something similar is happening in Lake County. Pete Karagan, running for HD12, had his Voter Rating changed from 3 to 5 (to a strong Democrat). His opponent, Bill Fine, had his changed from a 3 to a 1 (Strong Republican). A few other peoples' ratings were changed as well.