Clinton Camp Passed Out 'Street Cash' In Hispanic, African American Districts

NY Times:

In the threadbare border towns of South Texas, one of the country's poorest regions, enterprising locals like Candelaria Espinoza have long been paid to round up votes for candidates on Election Day. There is even a name for these electoral soldiers of fortune: politiqueras.

So when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign arrived in South Texas in February seeking an edge in its uphill battle against Senator Barack Obama, Ms. Espinoza was happy to oblige, for a price. The campaign paid her and seven other members of her family $100 to $200 each to knock on doors, deliver fliers and get voters to the polls for the Democratic primary on March 4, which Mrs. Clinton narrowly won.

Read the whole story: NY Times

Comments

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

didn't we used to call this bribery???­??????????­??

[tbone99]

Whereas when Obama does it with the middle class, it's Aok-

"While Barack continues to campaign hard in the upcoming primary states, we have begun collecting resumes for communications staff for the general election. Pls send resumes of friends and colleagues who you would recommend to become part of our organization either in Chicago or in a state to...

[hardsun]

Resumes does not equal cash for services. Obama is volunteer based.

[tbone99]

hardsun-How do you make time to ride your unicorns?

Staff means PAID as in-
Non-intern female employees did better working on the Senate staffs of John McCain and Hillary Clinton during the latest public reporting period than they did working for Barack Obama, Cybercast News Service determined through an analysis of payroll data published by the Secretary of the Senate.

Both McCain and Clinton also employed more female than male staffers, while Obama employed more males than females. However, Obama's staff was more balanced between male and female staffers than either McCain's or Clinton's.

Also, McCain and Clinton had more female than male staffers making six-figure salaries, while Obama had more male than female staffers making six-figure salaries.

[TheNuff]

And where is the CASH in this transaction????

[tbone99]

Um, here?

Barack Obama spent $20.3 million on staff salaries last year, the biggest payroll for any presidential candidate, according to a new analysis of campaign finance filings.

[abouttime]

Innuendo. No way.
Clinton is buying votes, but it won't overcome the populist motivations of volunteer support that Obama garners through his positions and his integrity.
Clinton thinks she is buying votes, but voting is secret. It is pathetic. She is desperate and naive.
Poor people are not stupid.
Clinton is.

[debwarot]

There is a major difference between paid (or volunteer positions) and street cash. It is obvious you will not accept that Hillary has done something that, although common place, is generally accepted as a backstreet practice. Sometimes you just have to accept reality...­..........­..

[GerryS]

she could have paid off the voting machine companies- oh yeah, forgot

Hil's a Dem-

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Bingo.

[Promisin1]

This reminds me of what happened to a handful of folks in my all-Black neighborhood in southeast Texas in the 60's. As teenagers, we were given watermelons to knock on doors to get out the vote for White men that were running for an elected office. Since we were poor we gladly took them and enthusiastically knocked on doors for these candidates. Mind you, we never saw or heard from these men again after the election. Of course, unless they were running again the following election.

Obama '08

[Daisy1111]

Obama pays millions from his donations on TV ads making the networks rich.

Hillary pays a few hindred to people handing out fliers and she's evil?

"Street money" for handing out flyers has always been a long tradition for both parties.

[TheNuff]

Millions is what TV ads cost. Paying for votes crosses the line. Obama's camp knew she was doing this but I hear they refused to play the game this way.

[rachaelisacancer]

"the Obama campaign paid about 150 people in Texas"

What you heard conflicts with what you should have read.

It's only bad to pay "get-out-the-vote" cash if your name is Clinton.

For everyone else, anything goes.

[tbone99]

Thats right, paying for ads assures corporations of survival.W­e certainly wouldn't
to encourage that in the poor.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

It's also known that 'street cash' bribes, that Senator Obama refused to participate in, was exactly how Rendell's machine maintained her 9% win in Pennsylvania.

[debwarot]

True - and I may be mistaken, but I seem to remember some comments from him about Senator Obama being part of the nefarious Daley political machine.

[5thGenDem]

"That"s basically what get-out-the-vote money is," he said. "Paying to get votes."

And exactly what is the purpose of the millions spent on tv ads if not "paying to get votes?"

What makes you think the "paid shill" was not a Clinton supporter in the first place? Do you imagine that the advertising agencies being paid millions by the Obama campaign are anything but "paid shills?" But somehow if it's a poor fellow in the 'hood it's somehow unethical?

Let's just hope that in November those "paid shills" you so despise are out there doing their thing for Obama!

[SanityNowPlease]

But Mr. Blevins, who was paid $80 by Mrs. Clinton"s campaign, put aside his doubts and agreed to round up friends and neighbors to vote for her.

was paid $80 by Mrs. Clinton"s campaign to put aside his doubts

don't despise them. just see them for what they are: flipping burgers for clinton rather than doing it out of a real sense of purpose. nothing wrong with being a paid campaign worker if your heart is in to it for the right reason. being paid to "put aside his doubts" does not qualify.

it is a questionable practice is all.

[tbone99]

Rich and middle class people just go to their computers (which they bought from large corporations) to get info on voting times, places and candidate info.Then corporations pay people like Arianna and other blog sites,( with decidely preferential candidate info) to advertise all kinds of consumer products and political ads from the sites from which they gather info.

.These same people decry the rise of corporatism but bellyache because some local people get paid to go door to door handing out flyers in communities with little computer ownership ?

Puhleeze .The hypocrisy is staggering.

[paganmist]

You obviously know nothing about Arianna Huffington or how this site works. If you did, you'd've stated this a different way.

Turns out that you're one of those people who love to make "factual statements" that aren't actual factual. You never say "I think..." because you just assume that whatever you think must be right.

Just lovely.

[tbone99]

I don't say "i think" because it'd be redundant.

I didn't notice you prefacing your opinions with "i think"

[comeonnow]

Yet another example of old politics. I am glad Obama took a stand against this sort of thing in PA.

[Grunty1]

It's not bad she could not find volunteers to do this for her, but it certainly isn't illegal or even unethical to pay staff.

[liberal1976]

These people will stop at nothing!!! That is what you call pandering!!!

[poco767]

That is what you call hiring people to help deliver flyers. Think of it as Hillary doing her part to boost the economy and lower unemployment

[tbone99]

Non - story - and way misleading headline Huff po really showing their partisians­hip.So they pay poor people to go door to door and hand out flyers? Its better than spending millions on people like Penn in my opinion . Several enviromental rights organizations do it , as well as some national LGBT group. These days people who get petitions signed get paid by the page.Whats the difference?

[TheNuff]

Damage control. It didn't work anway.

[debwarot]

Yes - some people are paid to get signatures on petitions and some people do so because they believe in the cause which the petition supports.

[5thGenDem]

As I read the comments here I wonder if many of the writers even bothered reading the original NYT article or are just basing their comments on the typically misleading HuffPo headline. Nowhere in the article does it say anyone was paid for their vote. A few poor people were paid "$100 to $200 each to knock on doors, deliver fliers and get voters to the polls..." That's it! Yet somehow numerous readers(?) of the article have decided that someone has been paid to vote for Sen. Clinton. Give me a break Obamans! You've won the nomination - isn't it time to stop the mean-spirited posts and get on with the election?

[Rasteira]

You'll have to excuse by now
if Obama suppporters comments aren't particular­ly..
productive when it comes to Hillary.
You guys gave us the shit for a whole Year and a half
some people are still spewing vitriol, the party still can't unite
because Madam Hillary is still running. I think it'll get better
when it stops, but don't chastize these people, just have
proper conversation with the sane. Like me.

[tbone99]

"the party still can't unite because Madam Hillary is still running. "

Wow -you really know how to hold the "proper conversation" to unite people.

[SanityNowPlease]

But Mr. Blevins, who was paid $80 by Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, put aside his doubts and agreed to round up friends and neighbors to vote for her. He described such payments as “a way of getting people more involved” in rustling up support.

“That’s basically what get-out-the-vote money is,” he said. “Paying to get votes.”

“Paying to get votes.” “Paying to get votes.” “Paying to get votes.” “Paying to get votes.”

there is a BIG difference between a volunteer getting out the vote and a paid shill going against his/her own inner choice schlepping people to vote for their boss.

[harriscrl3]

I guess that explains why she is 20 million dollars in debt.

Carol

[5thGenDem]

Yes Carol - a couple of hundred bucks each to a few poor folks for handing out literature and hauling their neighbors to the polls apparently broke the bank for the Clinton campaign.

[naschkatze]

I agree with Carol. It's not just a couple of hundred bucks here and there. She did this all over the country and early on. I remember in Iowa when she hired 200 extra campaign workers, then another 200. The same thing in Nevada. Some of you may argue that she was helping out poor people, but there is the appearance of a conflict of interest in this sort of thing. Yes, it's not illegal, but you're into a real gray area of ethics here. Those 400 extra campaign workers in Iowa all had relatives, friends and co-workers who were all asked to go out and vote for nice Mrs. Clinton who is paying us. I hope President Obama gets campaign reform law to do away with this thing.

[lvdragonlady]

When I lived in Texas, I met an 'oldtimer' that remembered back in the 'day' when politicians would pay people to vote for them. He said his dad would take the money and then vote for who he wanted. So, as you can see, this kind of thing has gone on in Texas for a long time. Just because you take the money does not really force you to vote for a certain people.
Politicians are basically corrupt, so what else is new?

[Grunty1]

No, Mark Penn and overspending on everything early on is why she is in debt.

[5thGenDem]

How novel - paying campaign workers! I guess it's OK to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to campaign management, but somehow unethical to give a few bucks to folks out pounding the pavements.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Bingo.

[paganmist]

You know, I'd have no problem with it, if they were actually salaried workers, and she went through the proper business channels, you know, the way that Obama does with his salaried campaign staffers.

As it is, this money is under the table. What are the odds of the IRS seeing taxes from any of the money that was handed out?

What are the chances that Hillary was actually hiring illegal aliens to help her win the election?

But most importantly - what does it tell you when you have to hand out under-the-table money to people who sell their services to the highest bidder?

Obama supporters do so out of hope. Hers do so for a couple hundred dollars.

Makes a world of difference.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Cherry-picking: Re IRS... Political consultants' pay often gets channeled through their firms, which pay tax on profit -- not tax on revenue, aka income. So I don't begrudge the little guy for not declaring his big windfall.

How much is the income tax on $100-$200 when you're making peanuts total?

Better to look at it from a Minimum Wage pov. ;-)

[5thGenDem]

"But most importantly - what does it tell you when you have to hand out under-the-table money to people who sell their services to the highest bidder?"

Who said it was under the table?

And if you're correct about "highest bidder," who else was bidding? The Obama campaign perhaps?

[5thGenDem]

Nice generalization: "Obama supporters do so out of hope. Hers do so for a couple hundred dollars." A few people are paid to distribute campaign literature so you conclude all Clinton supporters are paid shills. Just remember that without Clinton supporters Obama hasn't a prayer in November.