Fenty Accused of Buying Votes

Photo courtesy of
‘Two Dollar #11’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

The job’s good money for little work, but it comes with a pre-requisite: You gotta vote for our guy.

That’s the deal, according to ABC7, who says that they’ve talked to a few youth who were offered $100/day for a campaign job, but had to vote for Fenty in order to get the position.

In the case of one youth, who was offered the job, driven to the polling site to vote, but then denied the position and the $100/day, this definitely looks shady. Sure, you can canvass for someone in exchange for money, that’s fair game, but requiring a vote? Shady, shady, shady. The Fenty campaign is denying that this is happening, of course, and the Gray campaign is obviously upset. Will this sway voters? Probably not. It should, but I’d guess it won’t.

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.

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5 thoughts on “Fenty Accused of Buying Votes

  1. Maybe I just don’t want to believe it, but I’m not buying this story. Who would be so stupid as to offer someone money in exchange for a vote?

    Such a tactic would only be successful if you pay large numbers of people to vote. A handful won’t make a difference. But the more people you pay, the more likely it is the story will get out.

    If this is actually happening, then whoever is behind it has broken the law, both of the land and of common sense.

    But this strikes me as just a story fed some gullible TV reporters and now picked up by blogs I love and respect.

  2. Nick, Fenty vetoed the bill that would have made it illegal to buy votes. So now he is buying votes.

  3. It’s still a violation of federal law to buy votes. And it doesn’t change the fact that it makes absolutely no sense for someone who’s predicted to lose handedly in an election to buy votes.

    I think this is nothing but last-second interference from the mayor’s opponents and enemies.

  4. I’d be more inclined to believe this if they can find the driver of the van and confirm he works for Fenty.

  5. While I don’t really think Fenty actually directed his staff to do this, when you combine it with his veto of the vote-buying bill, man it stinks around here.

    What I mean is, while there may be no formal directive, there could very well be a lot of winks and nods. The veto of a bill which no rational person could object to just adds to the stink.
    It’s a lot to swallow that there’s nothing underhanded going on, and it’s likewise hard to believe that if everything was aboveboard, Fenty’s staff wouldn’t have clear guidelines of conduct.