[IP] The FBI runs a fake candidate
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: December 3, 2005 1:06:45 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The FBI runs a fake candidate
According to the AP wire (see
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Election-Sting.html),
the FBI sponsored a "candidate's" run for the West Virginia legislature,
as part of an investigation of political corruption, and in particular
vote-buying. The "candidate" -- a long-time local politician who has
himself pleaded guilty to corruption charges -- withdrew a month before
the election, and finished last.
The whole scheme makes me very uneasy. I can understand the FBI's
motives -- how else can you investigate vote-bying? But this has
great potential for mischief, since it lets law enforcement affect
the political process *on speculation* that there's a problem. This
is very different from prosecuting a politician when you have evidence
of corruption.
The district court judge has upheld the tactic; it will be
interesting to
see what happens if and when this reaches higher courts.
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