Lawmaker's Son Charged in Tire-Slashing
By GRETCHEN EHLKE, Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE - The sons of a
first-term congresswoman and Milwaukee's former acting mayor were among
five Democratic activists charged Monday with slashing the tires of
vans rented by Republicans to drive voters and monitors to the polls on
Election Day.
Sowande Omokunde, son of
Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and Michael Pratt, the son of former Milwaukee
acting mayor Marvin Pratt, were among those charged with criminal
damage to property, a felony that carries a maximum punishment of 3 1/2
years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The activists are accused of
flattening the tires on 25 vehicles rented by the state Republican
Party to get out the vote and deliver poll watchers Nov. 2.
Also charged were Lewis Caldwell and Lavelle Mohammad, both from Milwaukee, and Justin Howell of Racine.
The GOP rented more than 100
vehicles that were parked in a lot adjacent to a Bush campaign office.
The party planned to drive poll watchers to polling places by 7 a.m.
and deliver any voters who didn't have a ride.
A criminal complaint said the
defendants originally planned to put up Democratic yard signs, placards
and bumper stickers at the Republican office in a scheme they called
"Operation Elephant Takeover." But the plan was dropped when they
learned a security guard was posted at the GOP office, the complaint
said.
One witness told investigators the
five defendants, dressed in "Mission Impossible" type gear, black
outfits and knit caps, left the Democratic Party headquarters at about
3 a.m. on Nov. 2, and returned about 20 minutes later, extremely
excited and talking about how they had slashed the tires.
Democratic
Party of Wisconsin spokesman Seth Boffeli said the five were paid
employees of John Kerry's presidential campaign, but were not acting on
behalf of the campaign or party.
"This is not something we engage
in, or encourage. We had to make it clear that this is something these
individuals were doing on their own," Boffeli said.
Some Republican officials have
criticized Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann, a
Democrat, for taking more than two months to bring charges.
McCann said FBI agents were involved in interviewing witnesses in four states: Georgia, Virginia, Maryland and New York.
"We asked the FBI knowing that this probably wouldn't be their first priority," he said.
Rick Wiley, state GOP executive director, discovered the vandalism on the morning of Election Day.
"It was unbelievable that people
could stoop this low in a political campaign," he said. "I figured it
had to be someone from the opposition. But I didn't think someone on
the paid Kerry campaign would do this."
Wiley didn't say whether the vandalism prevented anyone from voting, but said poll watchers were about two hours late.
Moore did not immediately return a call seeking comment.