APNewsBreak: Green Party candidate was on state GOP payrol

[The Barbarian]

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A man who registered as a Green Party candidate for Montana’s U.S. Senate race was on the state Republican Party’s payroll and heads a newly formed anti-tax group, according to a review of election documents.


Timothy Adams filed as a challenger Monday against Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, who faces a tough re-election campaign, in a race where a Green Party candidate could siphon votes from the Democrat.


The Green Party qualified as a political party in Montana on Monday, which was also the state’s deadline for candidates to file for office. Green Party officials blasted an email that morning to solicit candidates who could register by the day’s end.


Adams was one of six people to file as a Green Party candidate for the races on the ballot this fall. A total of seven people are looking to unseat Tester, including four Republicans vying for their party’s nomination.


Adams’ name and phone number is the same as the treasurer of Montanans Against Higher Taxes, a group formed to oppose a legislative referendum on the ballot this fall for a 10-year property tax extension for the state’s university system.


Adams also is accusing the pro-ballot referendum committee of campaign finance violations in a complaint filed with the Commissioner of Higher Practices last month. In that complaint, he lists the same phone number and a home address in Bozeman.


In his Senate filing, he lists a Three Forks post office box as his address. The reason for the disparity was not immediately clear.


Adams did not return calls for comment on Monday and Tuesday.


That same Bozeman address was listed under Adams’ name in Federal Election Commission documents, showing Adams was paid by the Montana Republican State Central Committee from October 2013 through May 2015. His role with the party was not clear.
https://www.apnews.com/aae15528a9fe415282402c4e14090c75

 

[Bumble Bee]

I'm very green when it comes to politics. From what I can see, the implication is that the Republicans are paying him to run under the umbrella of the Green party. Is that correct?

 

[The Barbarian]

Turns out, he was also fighting taxes as part of a different organization, which seems to have never been a Green objective. Looks like the republicans had a plan to put an agent into the Green party.

Not surprising considering their endorsement of voter suppression laws, the Trump Tower meeting with Russian agents, and so on.

The only value remaining in the values party seems to be "win by whatever means necessary."

 

[Albion]

I am not familiar with this particular case, although the article itself does not say what you did--that the Republican Party might be paying this person to run as a Green candidate.

However, both of the major parties have used the minor parties in order to undercut the other major party. There are many ways that this has been done. Most often it is by kicking the Libertarian, Green, or Constitution Party off the ballot through some ruse. Which gimmick is used depends of course on which party controls that states legislature or Secretary of State position.

But there are a number of other ways to hurt the opposition by using a minor party and many ways to help that party or one of its candidates when needed, NOT including paying or funding anything.

 

[Bumble Bee]

I do question the basis for him being on the payroll of the Republican Party though because the last time he was known to work for them was several years ago. What evidence is there that they are just using him to win now?

 

[The Barbarian]

I am not familiar with this particular case, although the article itself does not say what you did--that the Republican Party might be paying this person to run as a Green candidate.

It merely says that someone who was on the payroll of the Republican party and did work against taxes, files as a member of the Green party. No one doubts what it looks like.

 

[Bumble Bee]

I think the key word is "was on the payroll." The Green party has every right to deny this candidate rather than endorse him, and where is the evidence that he is currently on the payroll of the Republican party?

 

[The Barbarian]

I think the key word is "was on the payroll."

Right. He was. I would think even a fairly dimwitted rigger would take him off the republican party payroll before he started as a candidate for another party

 

[Bumble Bee]

So then what exactly is the issue here?

 

[Albion]

It merely says that someone who was on the payroll of the Republican party and did work against taxes, files as a member of the Green party.

That's right. And there is nothing in this that proves that the Republican Party paid him to run as a Green candidate. They might have...but there is nothing that has been presented here which indicates that this is the case.

I would also note that it is not at all unusual for people to file as candidates of a party whose platform does not agree with their own views, or at least some of them. According to the laws of most states, there is nothing the party can do to prevent it.

 

[The Barbarian]

That's right. And there is nothing in this that proves that the Republican Party paid him to run as a Green candidate. They might have...but there is nothing that has been presented here which indicates that this is the case.

Except that he was a paid republican operative, who did other work for them. And there is this:

Michael Zak petitioned to run under the Green Party ticket in New York’s 27th congressional district, a seat currently held by Rep. Chris Collins. Zak’s candidacy petition listed as the official contact person Ross Kostecky, a local Republican operative who interned on Collins’s 2009 campaign for Erie County, New York executive, The Daily Beast has found.

“Of course I know Ross Kostecky. I’ve known him for years. He’s a good Republican,” said Chris Grant, Collins’s campaign director. “As to why he did this, you’d have to ask him. Our campaign has absolutely nothing to do with [Michael Zak]. We don’t know this person.”

In 2016, Kostecky was an alternate delegate at the Republican National Convention, where he snapped a photo of Collins seconding the nomination of Donald Trump for president. Collins and Kostecky did not respond to requests for comment; Zak could not be reached for comment.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fake-...osed-as-having-ties-to-republican-congressman

He might have had a sudden epiphany and turned his back on everything he believed. Or he might just be doing what republicans do:

There will likely be primary elections in recall races targeting Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and four GOP state senators.


The Republican Party of Wisconsin says it has lined up “fake” Democrats to run in primaries, against the real Democrats who hope to challenge the six Republican incumbents.

The fake Democrats, like genuine candidates, will need to obtain enough valid signatures to get on the ballot. The Republican party says it would not spend money on the fake Democrats’ campaigns.


The party says the move is meant to force primaries in the race, thus creating firm dates for upcoming recall elections.


The state Government Accountability Board has set May 8 as recall election day. If there are primaries, May 8 becomes the date for the primary election, and the general election moves to June 5.


Last summer, Republicans ran fake Democrats in Senate recall elections targeting GOP incumbents. Republicans said the move was meant to stretch out the election process, giving incumbents more time to campaign.
http://www.wuwm.com/post/gop-run-fake-democrats-all-six-republican-recall-elections#stream/0

Dishonesty is now a standard republican policy.

 

[Annie Proclivite]

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A man who registered as a Green Party candidate for Montana’s U.S. Senate race was on the state Republican Party’s payroll and heads a newly formed anti-tax group, according to a review of election documents.


Timothy Adams filed as a challenger Monday against Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, who faces a tough re-election campaign, in a race where a Green Party candidate could siphon votes from the Democrat.


The Green Party qualified as a political party in Montana on Monday, which was also the state’s deadline for candidates to file for office. Green Party officials blasted an email that morning to solicit candidates who could register by the day’s end.


Adams was one of six people to file as a Green Party candidate for the races on the ballot this fall. A total of seven people are looking to unseat Tester, including four Republicans vying for their party’s nomination.


Adams’ name and phone number is the same as the treasurer of Montanans Against Higher Taxes, a group formed to oppose a legislative referendum on the ballot this fall for a 10-year property tax extension for the state’s university system.


Adams also is accusing the pro-ballot referendum committee of campaign finance violations in a complaint filed with the Commissioner of Higher Practices last month. In that complaint, he lists the same phone number and a home address in Bozeman.


In his Senate filing, he lists a Three Forks post office box as his address. The reason for the disparity was not immediately clear.


Adams did not return calls for comment on Monday and Tuesday.


That same Bozeman address was listed under Adams’ name in Federal Election Commission documents, showing Adams was paid by the Montana Republican State Central Committee from October 2013 through May 2015. His role with the party was not clear.
https://www.apnews.com/aae15528a9fe415282402c4e14090c75

You sound like a conspiracy theorist.

 

[The Barbarian]

Hmm... a republican operative suddenly appears as a candidate on the Green Party ticket. But he tried to hide his home address when he did that.

Oh, and the republican party has a documented history of this kind of deception. (see above)

Probably just a glitch, um? C'mon.

 

[Bumble Bee]

But where is the evidence that he has currently or recently been on their payroll? I wouldn't jump to blaming the Republican party just because one of their former employees is acting shadily. Plenty of Democratic candidates have less than stellar reputations, too.

 

[The Barbarian]

But where is the evidence that he has currently or recently been on their payroll? I wouldn't jump to blaming the Republican party just because one of their former employees is acting shadily.

If there was a theft in the neighborhood, and there was this guy who had been caught several times before, stealing things, what would be your first thought?

Mine, too.

 

[Bumble Bee]

If there was a theft in the neighborhood, and there was this guy who had been caught several times before, stealing things, what would be your first thought?

Mine, too.

I don't think that has anything to do with whether this guy is a Republican agent or not. The only thing I can say is that the guy seems like he has something to hide because of the address issue. I don't see anything to do with the Republican party, and I think it's wrong to assume that without anything to show that he has worked for them recently.

 

[The Barbarian]

I don't think that has anything to do with whether this guy is a Republican agent or not.

We already know that this is their M.O., because they got caught doing it earlier. So there is that.

 

[Bumble Bee]

We already know that this is their M.O., because they got caught doing it earlier. So there is that.

If they did it earlier, that doesn't mean they are doing it now. I see nothing to indicate the Republican party is involved at all. I see a guy who couldn't get on as a Republican candidate, so he decided to run as a Green party candidate. I don't see any current or recent connections with the Republicans. I am open to revising that opinion if I am presented with anything that shows he is working for the Republicans to do something shady. The bottom line is, the Green party accepted him as their candidate and they didn't have to do that if they disagreed with what he stands for.

 

[The Barbarian]

As I said, past behavior is a pretty good predictor of future behavior.