Pollster Pleads Guilty To Faking Results For Bush, Lieberman Campaigns...

[gatorboy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/09/07/pollster-pleads-guilty-to_n_28910.html

The owner of DataUSA Inc., a company that conducted political polls for the campaigns of President Bush, Sen. Joe Lieberman and other candidates, pleaded guilty to fraud for making up survey and poll results.

Tracy Costin pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Costin, 46, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced Nov. 30.
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More on the AOL site linked to the page above.

[gatorboy]

1. More here.

http://news.aol.com/upgrade.adp?ref=http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/pollster-pleads-guilty-to-making-up/20060907093409990001

[patricia92243]

2. Lamont really, really needs to be sure all CT see this. People DO pay ate

attention to polls. If they see Lamont as a loser - they will swith side so they won't "waste their vote." Lamont needs to put everything he has into showing Joe for what he really is.

[gatorboy]

3. AP Story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060907/ap_on_re_us/poll_fraud_4

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - The owner of DataUSA Inc., a company that conducted political polls for the campaigns of President Bush, Sen. Joe Lieberman and other candidates, pleaded guilty to fraud for making up survey and poll results.
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Tracy Costin pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Costin, 46, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced Nov. 30.

<snip>

According to a federal indictment, Costin told employees to alter poll data, and managers at the company told employees to "talk to cats and dogs" when instructing them to fabricate the surveys.

An FBI affidavit from 2004 quotes a supervisor of the company estimating that 50 percent of the data sent to Bush's campaign was falsified. FBI Special Agent Jeff Rovelli, who wrote the affidavit, said Thursday that investigators were not able to verify the claim related to Bush because that data was not located and analyzed.

[AzDar]

4. Fabricated positive poll numbers also make elections much easier to steal

no?

[glitch]

11. Yes indeed. nt

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. Fabricated internal poll numbers?

How the fuck does that work?

[keepCAblue]

5. Look for more of this kind of fraud...

In the 2000 and 2004 elections, the biggest indicator of election fraud was the disparity between the polls and the election results. Don't be surprised to see new political polling companies popping up around election time (2006 and 2008) which will attempt to erase any such disparities in future elections.

[RandiFan1290]

6. K&R

This is big! Keep it on top!

[lonestarnot]

7. Stolen elections, 2 now, are we going to let 3 happen?

[leveymg]

8. There's a Lieberman poll just out showing him way ahead.

I was wondering about that. Oh, they just made it up, or only counted GOP voters - now it makes sense!

See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/7/124751/9490

I'll go ahead and crosspost this over there. Thanks!

[wiley]

9. It's a Disney/ABC/Media/Corporate Fraud Pattern Thing

Commit Fraud, Make Things Up, Lie, Omit Facts, hire incompetent family members and political allies.

[David Zephyr]

10. K&R

Get this story out there. E-mail it to everyone you know.

[BR_Parkway]

12. My dog would bark once to be counted as Republican for a bisquit or

other treat. Yep, she'd be counted in their polling.

[opihimoimoi]

13. The Pubs are Trapped..no ammo left except Delusion, Distort,

Distract, and BS.

[RB TexLa]

14. I think pollsters do this much more often than people think

not a right or left thing. I've seen them offer prices that are way too low to do the job. If someone bids to do a poll of 1200 people for half the cost of everyone else, it doesn't take long to figure out they are just going to poll 600 people and double the results. You get what you pay for.