The FBI runs a fake candidate

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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.


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