(Image source: WCSH)
BY STEVEN SPARKMAN
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
Is there a massive plot to corrupt the democratic process in Maine? The state’s GOP chairman Charlie Webster thinks there is, but says media backlash over some poorly chosen comments are stopping him from getting to the bottom of it.
Webster has long fought against perceived voter fraud in his state, including pushing to end election-day voter registration and publishing a list of over 200 college students he claims shouldn’t have been allowed to vote. (Via Bangor Daily News, Charles Webster)
So it’s no surprise that Webster has his own ideas on why Maine went for Democrats. He shared them with WCSH-TV.
“In some parts of rural Maine there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted election day. Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in town knows anybody that’s black.”
Webster clarified his accusation isn’t about race, but about voter eligibility. It’s part of what he sees as a widespread conspiracy run by the democrats. Last year he told the Portland Press Herald:
“Many of us believe that the Democrats intentionally steal elections. … Buses. They bring them in in buses … Job Corps people -- they move 'em around to wherever they have a tough seat and they want to win an election.”
But Webster had a plan to catch the Democrats in the act.
He told Bangor Daily News he planned to sent out several thousand “thank you” postcards to newly registered voters around the state. His plan was to see how many came back because the address wasn’t valid.
Webster is used to getting tough treatment by the press for his outspoken views. Maine’s Sun-Journal has criticized his voter fraud claims in the past, calling them “unfounded accusations and criminal insinuations.”
But his story about mysterious black voters ratcheted the media criticism to a whole other level. Democrats accused him of making more vague accusations without proof, and others mocked his singling out of black voters.
Like Gawker, for example. “Of course Webster has no bias! He just thinks that because he and other Republican white people in Maine never noticed the black people living amongst them that those black people must not have existed before, and thus they were imported to steal the election...”
All the criticism seems to have gotten to Webster. In another interview with Bangor Daily News, he told the paper he probably wouldn’t go through with his postcard idea.
Adding: “I regret the comment when I said ‘black’ … I’m not racist.”
Webster announced last week he won’t seek to retain his position as the state’s party chairman. His tenure ends December 1st.
(Image source: WCSH)
BY STEVEN SPARKMAN
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
Is there a massive plot to corrupt the democratic process in Maine? The state’s GOP chairman Charlie Webster thinks there is, but says media backlash over some poorly chosen comments are stopping him from getting to the bottom of it.
Webster has long fought against perceived voter fraud in his state, including pushing to end election-day voter registration and publishing a list of over 200 college students he claims shouldn’t have been allowed to vote. (Via Bangor Daily News, Charles Webster)
So it’s no surprise that Webster has his own ideas on why Maine went for Democrats. He shared them with WCSH-TV.
“In some parts of rural Maine there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted election day. Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in town knows anybody that’s black.”
Webster clarified his accusation isn’t about race, but about voter eligibility. It’s part of what he sees as a widespread conspiracy run by the democrats. Last year he told the Portland Press Herald:
“Many of us believe that the Democrats intentionally steal elections. … Buses. They bring them in in buses … Job Corps people -- they move 'em around to wherever they have a tough seat and they want to win an election.”
But Webster had a plan to catch the Democrats in the act.
He told Bangor Daily News he planned to sent out several thousand “thank you” postcards to newly registered voters around the state. His plan was to see how many came back because the address wasn’t valid.
Webster is used to getting tough treatment by the press for his outspoken views. Maine’s Sun-Journal has criticized his voter fraud claims in the past, calling them “unfounded accusations and criminal insinuations.”
But his story about mysterious black voters ratcheted the media criticism to a whole other level. Democrats accused him of making more vague accusations without proof, and others mocked his singling out of black voters.
Like Gawker, for example. “Of course Webster has no bias! He just thinks that because he and other Republican white people in Maine never noticed the black people living amongst them that those black people must not have existed before, and thus they were imported to steal the election...”
All the criticism seems to have gotten to Webster. In another interview with Bangor Daily News, he told the paper he probably wouldn’t go through with his postcard idea.
Adding: “I regret the comment when I said ‘black’ … I’m not racist.”
Webster announced last week he won’t seek to retain his position as the state’s party chairman. His tenure ends December 1st.
