Hardball host Chris Matthews used a panel discussion about President Obama's attorney-general nominee Loretta Lynch on his Wednesday program as a convenient opportunity to slander conservative Republicans as seeking to repress the vote of Democratic constituencies in major cities.
Leaders in Pennsylvania, where Howard and I are from, have openly said on the Republican side, the purpose of all this effort to demand ID cards of 80-year-old people who live in rowhouses is to make sure they don't vote. They basically said that.
No, they haven't. Matthews seems to have in mind a statement made in 2012 by Pennsylvania House of Representatives Majority Leader Mike Turzai. Here's the context of his comments as reported by PoliticsPa.com:
"We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we’ve talked about for years," said Turzai in a speech to committee members Saturday. He mentioned the law among a laundry list of accomplishments made by the GOP-run legislature.
"Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done."
Turzai seemed to be hinting at voter ID being a vote-fraud prevention measure, enabling the state to go GOP and thwart big-city voter fraud in Democratic-machine cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. At no point did he say the goal was to thwart any legitimate voter from casting his or her ballot. Matthews has to read that intent into Turzai's statement to make his argument. Indeed, PoliticsPa.com noted that explanation from Turzai's staff at the time (emphasis mine):
The statement drew a loud round of applause from the audience. It also struck a nerve among critics, who called it an admission that they passed the bill to make it harder for Democrats to vote — and not to prevent voter fraud as the legislators claimed.
"Instead of working to create jobs and get our economy back on track, Mike Turzai and the Republicans in Harrisburg have been laser focused on a partisan agenda that simply helps their donors and political allies," said PA Dems spokesman Mark Nicastre.
"Mike Turzai’s admission that Voter ID only serves the partisan interests of his party should be shocking, but unfortunately it isn’t. Democrats are focused on protecting Pennsylvanians’ rights to vote, and we are working hard to ensure that everyone who is eligible to vote can vote this fall."
Turzai spokesman Stephen Miskin said voter fraud is a real problem.
"Do you remember ‘Joe Cheeseboro?’" he asked, reiterating that election fraud has occurred in PA and across the nation.
"Rep. Turzai was speaking at a partisan, political event. He was simply referencing, for the first time in a long while, the Republican Presidential candidate will be on a more even keel thanks to Voter ID…Anyone looking further into it has their own agenda."
The Cheesboro reference harkens back to some suspicious names on local voter rolls which election officials were unable to confirm as actual human beings: From a January 29, 2012 article at Philly.com (emphasis mine):
It's true: There is a real person named Cheerful Happiness. She is 100 years old and a regular voter.
Confirmation of her existence may signal a new day at the Philadelphia Board of Elections.
When Joe DeFelice, a local official with the state GOP, found Happiness on a list of registered voters, he wondered whether she existed.
Investigators for the city Board of Elections, seeking Happiness, discovered from workers at her assisted-living facility that she does exist and likes to vote.
But DeFelice's questions about two other voters - Joseph Cheeseboro and Joseph Cheeseborough - led the board to list both men as inactive, which means they must present identification to vote.
DeFelice thought the similarity of the names odd. Both men listed the same birth date. The Board of Elections found that Cheeseboro's South Philadelphia address didn't exist.
Cheeseborough's "home" turned out to be a 7-Eleven store in the 2300 block of South Broad. Perhaps not by chance, Cheeseborough listed his apartment as No. 711.
No one returned a call to the number on the Cheeseborough registration, and Cheeseboro did not provide one.
Clearly there is voter fraud in Pennsylvania elections, which don't require photo ID and are essentially based on the honor system.
As he concluded discussion on the Lynch nomination prior to a commercial break, Matthews popped off with this pronouncement:
I don't see how anybody who's African-American would think about voting Republican as long as Reince Priebus is running the show.
That's a thoroughly patronizing way of looking at African-American voters, but particularly those who are conservative or Republican, particularly since polls have shown majorities of black voters are fine with voter ID requirements.
