funsec mailing list archives
Using LexisNexis as a political weapon
From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:55:25 -0400
http://postgazette.com/pg/08202/898222-178.stm Democrats used state funds to research foes Sunday, July 20, 2008 By Dennis B. Roddy and Tracie Mauriello, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette HARRISBURG -- As the pivotal 2006 legislative election season began, top Democratic House aides, using state resources, undertook a wide-ranging opposition research campaign into both Democratic and Republican office seekers, e-mails show. The project was spearheaded by Eric Webb, director of the Democratic Office of Member Services, who, on Jan. 31, sent e-mails to state employees advising them to begin digging up information on 35 declared and potential candidates for the state House. "We are mainly looking for bad things: liens, bankruptcies, homicides ... you get the picture," Mr. Webb advised a dozen House colleagues via their state e-mail accounts. Employees were asked to use LexisNexis, an online search service that makes use of thousands of databases. The state had several LexisNexis accounts that a grand jury later said were used for opposition research. Mr. Webb told staffers to send results from the searches to Dan Wiedemer, executive director of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee, at Mr. Wiedemer's political campaign address. Many of those targeted in the project were sponsored by PACleanSweep, a group formed to oust lawmakers who had voted for an unpopular legislative pay raise. .
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Current thread:
- Using LexisNexis as a political weapon Richard M. Smith (Jul 21)
- Re: Using LexisNexis as a political weapon John C. A. Bambenek, GCIH, CISSP (Jul 21)