Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Dialing for Votes in Lake County: Was the Phone Book a Source for Terry Link's Signatures? UPDATED x4

I promised myself I wasn't going to post on the Terry Link petition scandal this week and move on to other topics, but the situation keeps getting more and more outrageous.

Here at Team America, we have been scratching our heads trying to figure out exactly where Kenneth Davison and Jerry Knight, the two primary petition circulators, got all of those names from. From the very beginning, everyone was skeptical that any two petition circulators, no matter how dedicated (or well-paid) could have garnered over 2300 legitimate signatures (60 Pages for Knight x 25 sigs = 1,500 sigs; 32 Pages for Davison x 25 sigs = 800 sigs).

Various theories have been floated: use of old petitions and/or old voting registration lists were considered, and rejected by our team as unlikely possibilities. Then someone made the connection (I'd love to give credit where due, but this researcher prefers to avoid the limelight) to listings in, of all places, the local telephone directory.

What's the phone book connection, you ask? Read on...

First, an amazing number of petitions have the names listed in ALPHABETICAL ORDER (by last name, just like it is in the phone book). As someone who has passed many a petition, I can attest that it is extremely hard to plan my route of circulating petitions door to door in such a way that the names go in alphabetical order. People also don't tend to sign in alphabetical order at Jewel, the post office, or other usual signature gathering spots. For example, petition Sheet #77, circulated by Jerry Knight, has the following last names appearing on lines 7-22:

Adams, Bell, Burton, Cook, Cooney, Garcia, Hamilton, Hill, Keller, Lopez, Moore, Nagel, Palmer, Rollins, Watt, Zacks

Notice a pattern? If that wasn't enough, try Sheet #127, also "circulated" by Jerry Knight. Last names in lines 1-19 are in alphabetical order:

Clausing, Danatte, Eckert, Edwards, Funk, Godoy, Gonzales, Hughes, Humphreys, Kawa, Keeper, Lentz, Mehan, Massimo, Phillips, Reizner, Senatin, Severones, Underwood

And, if that didn't convince you, just to mix it up, sometimes they started at the bottom of the sheet, which resulted in names appearing in reverse alphabetical order. Sneaky, sneaky. For example, on Sheet #62 (another Knight special), we have (starting at line 25 and going up the page):

Gustafson, Heuschmidt, Jarrett, Kowalski, Lloyd, Little, Morris, Naber

None of this is immediately apparent unless you take the time to look, since the signatures are all First Name followed by Last Name. You have to look at the last names to pick up the pattern. But, similar alphabetical (or reverse alphabetical) "coincidences" were noted by our persistent researcher as follows:

Sheet 6 - line 10-23
Sheet 41 - line 7 - 23
Sheet 62 - line 25 going up the page
Sheet 77 - line 7 - 22
Sheet 100 - line 1 - 22
Sheet 102 - line 3 - line 25 and continuing to Sheet 101 - line 1 - line 5
Sheet 103 - line 7 - line 25 and continuing to Sheet 104 - line 1 - line 12
Sheet 124 - line 1 - 23
Sheet 125 - line 7 - 25
Sheet 126 - line 1 - 25
Sheet 127 - line 1 - 19 and starts over line 20-25
Sheet 138 - line 11-25

That not good enough to convince you that something fishy is going on?

There's more. Sometimes they must have gotten tired and transposed the names. For example, Barbara Jarrett (sheet 62, line 23) "signed" her name as "Jarrett Barb". Often, names were off by a letter or so--i.e., Clyde Golwitzer (Sheet 8, line 14) has his name "signed" as "Goldwitzer." Most people tend not to misspell their own names when signing documents, but it's easy to misspell when it's NOT YOUR NAME that you are writing.

Sometimes, the first names in the phone book are listed by initials only. For example, also on sheet 62, "B. Myers," who is listed that way in the phone book, unsurprisingly, "signed" her (his?) name as "B. Myers" on the petition. Some of these people actually contacted by our faithful researcher indicate they never sign with only their first name initial. "A. Moran" listed on sheet 40, line 18, with the correct address, says she NEVER signs as "A. Moran" (her first name is Amy) and Ms. Moran says she has beautiful handwriting to boot (her husband agrees... but the signature on the petition is barely legible).

And, in some cases, where a person's first name was only listed by the first initial in the phone book, the circulator appears to have simply guessed at the first name. Sometimes, they guessed wrong. For example, an "Addie" Underwood supposedly signed Knight's petition (Sheet 127, line 19). The phone book listing is for "A. D. Underwood." But, the Underwood who lives at that the address (as we found out on the reverse lookup white pages on the Internet) is "Ausie D. Underwood,'" not "Addie." (it's a clear signature on the petition, so there is no doubt about the mistaken first name).

The phone book method may also account for the names of certain "dead people" that seem to have "risen" on the Link petitions. For example, Larry Jelinek, someone I knew who passed away earlier this year (but still "signed" Link's petition), is still listed in the phone book.

Finally, to close the book on the "phone book" theory, sometimes the "circulator" screwed up the address by using the address for the person listed above or below the individual who supposedly "signed" the petition. For example, Aritha Walker (sheet 41, line 23) is listed as living at 245 Jackson, in North Chicago. Aritha lives on Jackson, but at a different street number. "245" is April Walker's house number at a completely different street in Mundelein. April Walker is the entry in the phone book immediately above Aritha Walker. Again, it's hard to mistakenly write your own address, but pretty darn easy when you are copying out of the phone book and are off by a line or two. Oops.

Does anyone really need any more to prove that there is a massive case of petition fraud going on here?

Moreover, I think this pretty much blows away Terry Link's position that someone is playing tricks with his petitions. Unless a large group of people armed with Lake County phone books somehow signed numerous pages of Link's petitions without the circulator catching on that the signatures were being forged right out of the phone book, I'd say the evidence of fraud is in the petitions itself. Care to try again, Senator?

Please explain this, Senator Link. Your constituents are getting tired of waiting. I can only hope that the State Board of Elections and other authorities are interested in hearing your explanation as well...

MEANWHILE, IN THE TENTH DISTRICT....

Dan Seals and Jay Footlik faced off, after a fashion, before the Tribune editorial board. See the article here. Footlik confronted Seals on his 'you come out on the side of peace' statement when Seals was asked about a theoretical conflict between Iran and Israel from the last election. Glad to see Jay's finally picking up a few pointers from our humble blog. Also, Seals appears to believe that only "millionaires" live in the Tenth District, since he can't afford to move in (no surprise, since he's out of work). Unincorporated Middle already has some thoughts on that gaff. The article also noted that Seals, ironically, also criticized Footlik for only renting a house in the Tenth District. Funny how Seals claimed the residency issue was an unimportant red herring last time around, but now it's a good dart to throw at Footlik.

Next, Mark Kirk and Melissa Bean made quite a press splash by calling on Springfield legislators to get off their collective duffs, at the risk of losing over a BILLION dollars of federal matching funds for mass transit if state legislative action isn't taken. Seals hates it when Bean goes out and works with Mark Kirk. As we've noted here, Seals seems to think that partisan loyalty should trump bi-partisan cooperation when it comes down to serving the people of the Tenth District. Well, Bean was never much of a Dem anyway.

UPDATED 12/12/07: Things may be looking up for Jay Footlik, as the Trib reported tonight that Footlik beat out Dan Seals for the endorsement of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Read Seals' response here, and he doesn't sound too happy. Unincorporated Middle has more here. Don't get too excited Jay; after all, this union is the same one that's a big fan of newbie state senator Michael Bond, so there's no accounting for taste. The union reportedly gave Bond more than $40,000 in campaign contributions, so you would think that the endorsement also comes with a cash prize.

UPDATED x2 12/13/07: Momentum on the blogosphere may be picking up on the Link scandal. Follow blogger El Rider over at Flying Debris takes a look at PhonebookGate and comes up with a better lede than I did. After all, why pass petitions door-to-door when you can "Let your Fingers do the Walking." Damn. I should've thought of that.

UPDATED x3 12/13/07 12:30 p.m.: Rich Miller over at Capitol Fax Blog seems to be taking a greater interest in the Link petition scandal now that we've been beating the drum here for a few weeks. Rich has posted the affidavit from Jerry Knight's former landlord that was presented at last Saturday's petition hearing in which the landlord attested that Jerry Knight did not live at the address in Waukegan (838 Hickory) that he gave on his petitions which he circulated. Rich also posted the testimony that Knight gave at the hearing in which Knight swore that he did live at the Hickory address through November 9th, and finally also posted a copy of a police report in which Knight was arrested for trespassing in Zion on November 7th, but gave a Chicago address. The documents are posted in the subscriber-only section on Capitol Fax Blog, but TA has them as well, and we will post them if there is any interest.

UPDATED x4 12/13/07 10:00 p.m.: By popular request, here are copies of the documents that were posted over at Capitol Fax Blog under the subscribers-only section. Rich Miller and I got them from the same source, I'd bet, so I assume he's not claiming copyright ;-)

Here is Jerry's Knight's testimony attesting that he lived at the Hickory address in Waukegan through November 9th (and which is good for a chuckle since he claimed the 5th Amendment when asked what his current address is. What's not so funny is that the judge let that pass). Here is the copy of the police report from his arrest on November 7th, giving a Chicago address. And here is the affidavit from his former landlord stating that Knight did not live at the Hickory address since 2006.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

TA:

It is time to indict Kenneth Davidson and Jerry Knight for violations of the Illinois Election Code. Mr. Peter Couvall, who swore these were valid signatures, also looks like he should face criminal charges. If Sen. Link knew about any of this, he is in criminal jeapordy too.

Team America said...

Technically, Robert, as we've pointed out before, all Couvall did as far as attesting was that the petition circulator was who he claimed to be, i.e., Davison was really Davison. I think the notary may be responsible to check the address of the circulator, but I'm not positive. I do not think that the notary is responsible for attesting to the 'genuineness' of the signatories to the petition--that would be an impossible burden.

I think the only way Couvall goes down is if Knight or Davison directly implicate him as ordering or conspiriring to commit the fraud.

Anonymous said...

TA:

Anyone notice that the Tribune reported Dan Seals won't move into the district and says people who own houses here have to be MILLIONAIRES?

It is another example of Seals not knowing this community.

Team America said...

Over at Capitol Fax Blog this morning, Rich Miller implied that Seals' "millionaire" comment was rather clever. He's my response (after I corrected most of the spelling errors):


I think that Seals trying to gain sympathy points because he is not a “millionaire” is a weak excuse for why he hasn’t moved into the 10th District at any time over the last two years, and is pretty much an insult to every voter in the 10th that is NOT a “millionaire” either. Believe me, there are plenty of us, and we all have to cope with not having unlimited financial resources as well. For every millionaire in Wilmette or Lake Forest, there are a lot more middle class (or lower) people in Waukegan and North Chicago, Vernon Hills, Buffalo Grove, and other communities. There are plenty of places to live in the 10th (even in Wilmette) where you don’t have to be rich to have a decent house. And, it’s not like Seals is living somewhere that his house is not worth enough to move into Wilmette so his family is not overly displaced. As he’s fond of pointing out, he’s a block or two outside the district. Why does he all of a sudden have to be a millionaire to move over a few streets?

Moreover, what’s going to change for Seals if he actually wins? He says he’ll move then, but what will be different? Being in Congress won’t make him a millionaire (not legally, anyway). The fact is that Seals is just not committed enough to the race to be bothered to move, and will only consider it once he’s in office. Given that he’s had two years to cure this very obvious and relatively simple issue, which dogged him last time, I don’t think he’s learned much.

Anonymous said...

I've lived in HP for over 4 decades and have never been close to being wealthy, not even approaching the "millionaire" status. His comment is stupidly ignorant and disgraceful. And to your point: his home in Wilmette's 9th district area would hardly qualify for subsidized housing status. Dan Seals is all about himself and not about this district. He hasn't reached out to help improve the lives of those who need help in this district. He's had lots of free time since he doesn't work, hasn't work since he was shown the door at GE. These 2 clowns have nothing that gives them the ability to represent this district, or any district. Now back to the post at hand. If Lisa Madigan doesn't take an interest in what Terry Link's "crew" did on his behalf, then maybe it should go to Patrick Fitzgerald. These holier than thou Dems out here need to be called to account for this latest fraud and abuse. I laughed out loud when I looked at the silly way that those clowns just went thru the phone book writing down names in alpha order. Can't wait to find out what's coming next.

Anonymous said...

Word is that Jay Footlik mopped the floor with Seals at the Tribune.

Unincorporated Middle said...

I heard the same thing - Seals rehashed the same old talking points and got hammered for not having a job.

Team America said...

Wow. Maybe Seals left ThePoint.com a few weeks too early!

Anonymous said...

Hey guys,

How about that Mark Kirk coming out in support of waterboarding and destroying evidence?

That's a sure-fire winner in the North Shore.

Team America said...

Anon 2:02- you're off topic for today, but I'm sure we'll turn to that at some point. Remember though (as Seals would be well advised to remember also) that any time you start talking about limiting the ability of the US to protect its citizens and allies (e.g., Israel), those who are concerned with security in the Tenth District seem to outnumber the left-leaning peaceniks that Seals seems to be courting in his primary campaign.

The more that Seals is driven to the "peace at any price" position to set himself apart from Footlik, the less credibility Seal will have in the general (should he win) when he wants to start pounding the "I'm a strong friend of Israel" drum.

To paraphase a speech from the last RNC, what does Seals expect the US/Israel to use against the forces of terrorism? Spitballs?

Seals is not setting himself up as a defender of Israel, he is setting himself up as a pacifist/appeaser to the enemies of Israel in the spirit of Neville Chamberland.

Anonymous said...

Dan Seals says we are all millionaires in the 10th district!

Maybe we should give hima tour of the district since he does not live here.

Anonymous said...

Dave Kalbfleisch, the Green Party candidate, actually resides in the district. He lives in Arlington Heights.

Anonymous said...

. . . and he's not a millionaire either

Unincorporated Middle said...

The trib is reporting that Seals lost the IFT primary endorsement to Footlik. Link at UM -

Anonymous said...

Dan Seals should fire his campaign staff and voters should ask themselves how competent this guy really is if it's taken him 18 months to put this one block outside the district charge down. The district is how many miles wide and long and we are talking about one block?

As a u of chicago alum I am really embarassed he doesn't have the common sense to just have a press conference with his next door neighbor and someone who lives one block over to mock the charge by asking the press to see how different the people really are.

Seriously team, if he can't beat something like this where if you go to his house and see the district, I seriously wonder what will be left with his hide once Eric gets done with him.

In better news the DCCC's reruns got beat again last night in Ohio where the GOP is in even worse shape. I think McCain is last week's leftovers, Rudy doesn't have the meat on him to win and we are headed for a Mitt at the top of the ticket.

Anonymous said...

Seals lost the IFT endorsement to Jay Footlik.

The tide is turning.

Anonymous said...

TA:

Love the blog and thanks for providing an OPEN forum to talk about the 10th and Lake County. It also is comforting that you don't have an unhealthy preoccupation with your cat.

A suggestion - when you have updates to a post, put them at the top a la Capitol Fax. For those of us who check in on a regular basis, it's easier to get to the action.

Just my two cents - far be it from me to tell Team America how it should be.

Anonymous said...

The 10th district will not elect an unemployed candidate who cannot keep a job.

Seals, you time has passed.

Anonymous said...

TA, all I can say is WOW, Ms. Shrill has truly gone nuts over there and it's just the middle of December. I agree totally with H Wander in saying that this district will not elect a guy who can't get a job and/or hold a job. This district will ask a lot of questions of Seals in the months ahead. If his answers mirror what he said or didn't say to the Trib editorial staff it will become crystal clear that this guy is not ready for prime time. Dan Seals is as much an interloper in the 10th District as Jay Footlik. It's not about living IN the district as much as it is knowing about it, understanding it, coming up with ideas to help correct what's not right even now. They're even on that score. Seals has had time to get involved. Since he wasn't working, why not? Has anyone seen or heard him in or around the 10th other than at his coffee meetings where he raises money? Nothing wrong with raising money, to be sure, but what else has he done to make him a viable choice. His insulting comment about not being a millionaire as a reason to have not moved INTO the district is proof again that this guy just doesn't get it, is the wrong man to send to Washington to represent a district he seems to disdain. Dan Seals is more than guy whose time has come AND gone.

Anonymous said...

I've lived in Lake Forest for 27 years now. I'm not a millionaire. Last election Seals kept putting his foot in his mouth and few paid attention. Now with a primary opponent he seems unable to get away with this.

And is all of this evidence of round tabling part of what the hearing officer declined to hear or consider? Or did she hear it and then rule against it? Justice is supposed to be blind to the parties to guarantee fairness, and not blind to the facts.

Link must be furious with all of the knuckle heads involved in his "petition gathering." This whole mess cries out for criminal prosecution.

Louis G. Atsaves

Team America said...

Joe- thanks for the suggestion- I've been trying to figure out a better way to do the updates- what I will probably do from now on is add "updated" to the title and add consecutive updates to the bottom in order, like Rich does, and see if that works better.

I've pretty much learned what I know about blogging from Rich, and scarily enough, from Ellen, at least while I was a regular commentor over there since before last election, and before she kicked me off her blog because she couldn't handle the open debate. And, while I do have a cat, he certainly isn't in my close group of blog advisors (as compared with the editorial board of Ellen's Tenth, which is Ellen, mom Corinne, and Democat).

Thanks for reading and keep making those suggestions!

Anonymous said...

As a teacher, I can tell you Dan made no friends in the IFT meeting.

Team America said...

Dist 187- what did Seals say, exactly? We're hungry for the scoop!

Anonymous said...

By all means - please post the documents! Thanks much!

Anonymous said...

Looks like another Illinois governor is looking in trouble.

Anonymous said...

Unreal. Simply unreal. Thank you, Team America, for providing the documents related to the Link fiasco.

I can truly say I'm shocked... shocked that this kind of stuff is finally coming to light.

Time to break the Link!!!!!

Team America said...

That's good, KellyAnn, "Break the Link", as in ties with Springfield leadership and the governor. We tried the "Missing Link" last time around and it didn't get too much traction. I will pass that along to whomever our candidate against Link ends up to be.

Anonymous said...

We should have elected the Green Party candidate, Rich Whitney. At least he didn't have a history of corruption like Blago and Topinka.

Anonymous said...

So is Knight living on property owned/controlled by Peter Couvall? Does this explain why Knight "took the 5th" when asked where he currently lives?

Team America said...

Anon 2:42- that's a good guess; certainly the best I've heard so far. Maybe Knight has been sleeping under Couvall's dining room table.

Anonymous said...

If I was Jay Footlik, I would immediately send out two mail pieces with Dan Seals' millionaire quote -- one to homeowners with very high property values (Lake Forest, HP, Wilmette, Winnetka, etc) and one to to renters and low to middle income homeowners throughout the district.

The first mail piece would cite the quote and say something like: Dan Seals doesn't even like you--why would you let him represent you in Congress?

The second mail piece would cite the quote and say -- Dan Seals is out of touch with the needs of 10th District voters and maybe make it a middle-class tax piece.

Just a tip for old Jay!

BD

Team America said...

BD- that's not a bad tip. We know Footlik's people read the Blog, based on the recent Tribune session, and we know Seals' people do too. Hope they appreciate all the free advice!

El Rider said...

Hey TA,
I just noticed something odd while doing the occasional look through my Statcounter account, I was getting hits that were from a link on Ellen's site and as the linked piece was very (maybe too) insulting on my part I figured that there was no way that she would link to it. Sure enough, on the very bottom of her comments page is a list of blog posts that have linked to that post on Ellen's site. Trivial but interesting and something that she may change in the future.

Team America said...

El Rider- that IS interesting. But Ellen moves in mysterious ways, so who knows what, if anything, she'll do. She's been awfully busy over at Prairie State Blue lately teaming up with Bored Now to bash Footlik.

I just got around to installing a counter myself, after these few months of operation now, and used it to backtrack a link to a town forum up in Waukegan where the discussion on Link is all the rage--a whole forum that I didn't even know existed. Poster KellyAnn is a big commentor over there and has graciously provided a number of cross links to Team America. Thanks KellyAnn!

Check out the Waukegan forum at
http://www.waukegan.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8653&whichpage=5

I posted myself on the Waukegan forum, as one commentor thought that we here at Team America were unfairly taking credit for our anonymous researcher's work on the phone book theory, but I think I explained clearly in my original post that our researcher prefers to remain anonymous and uncredited for now. As you might expect, he/she lives up in the Waukegan/North Chicago area and has to live with the Link/Couvall cabal on a daily basis, so no wonder they'd like to duck the limelight untill we see how this all turns out.

Anonymous said...

Does the State Republican Party have a plan for the 30th District? Since no one filed to run on the ballot, and one person has filed to run as a write-in, the Repubs need to have a legitimate candidate prepared to run as a write-in as well? And please don't say Chuck Fitzgerald. We can't blow this opportunity.

Team America said...

Emtae- the Party does have a plan in terms of candidates, and no, Chuck is not part of those plans. But, it's not because he wasn't a good candidate or did not work hard enough. I worked on Fitzgerald's campaign and one thing Chuck did really well was to work North Chicago and Waukegan to try to energize the anti-Link vote, and I think he was successful to some degree, but I think many of those that pledged to come out and support him simply stayed home, or ended up voting the same old same old. Plus, the general 2006 bloodbath didn't help.

The fact is that Link drew the 30th District for himself and while I think the votes are there for a Republican candidate to be successful, it will be a struggle under the best of circumstances.

Hopefully the Link petition scandal will have enough legs to make a difference.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't trying to knock Chuck's effort or his desire to win. I worked for his campaign as well. I just think a new face is needed after two loses in a row, with the last one just two years ago.

Do you know when the deadline to file as a write-in?

Anonymous said...

The opportunity to file as a write-in closed December 6th and Phil Collins filed - he need 1,000 signatures and hopefully will not get them.

As to Chuck's candidacy or any other viable Republican - the only way to win is to convince folks in the communities of Waukegan and North Chicago that Terry Link does not have a vested interest in making their lives better or quite frankly in representing them.

Many Dems signed onto to Chuck's campaign but it is my understanding (at least with the African American ministers) that Terry Link came through with a wad of cash in exchange for them preaching at the pulpit. He did it in the 2000 campaign by getting the Ministers Alliance $20,000 through the Lake County Dem organization and then another $20,000 in Illinois First money to the Ministers Alliance for Jesus Christ revivals. All info was provided to the News Sun and they ran a story in which Terry Link stated it was for "non partisan" get out the vote efforts. Case closed.

Last year, State Dems (between the House and the Senate) had $650 million dollars in "unallocated pork" at their disposal. Believe it or not, FOIA requests made for a line item of those disbursements was "not available".

My recommendation is someone should FOIA Comptroller Dan Hynes office for a release of all disbursements from the $650 million dollar "get Dems re-elected by tax payer dollar" scandal and it will shed light on who, in Lake County, received "money" in exchange for cooperation at the polls.

I think that is a big story...