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The FBI runs a fake candidate
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 15:21:28 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb () cs columbia edu> Date: December 3, 2005 1:06:45 PM EST To: dave () farber net Subject: The FBI runs a fake candidate According to the AP wire (see http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Election-Sting.html), the FBI sponsored a "candidate's" run for the West Virginia legislature, as part of an investigation of political corruption, and in particular vote-buying. The "candidate" -- a long-time local politician who has himself pleaded guilty to corruption charges -- withdrew a month before the election, and finished last. The whole scheme makes me very uneasy. I can understand the FBI's motives -- how else can you investigate vote-bying? But this has great potential for mischief, since it lets law enforcement affect the political process *on speculation* that there's a problem. This is very different from prosecuting a politician when you have evidence of corruption.The district court judge has upheld the tactic; it will be interesting to
see what happens if and when this reaches higher courts. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- The FBI runs a fake candidate David Farber (Dec 03)