Dogged by The BRAD BLOG since 2005, former 'non-partisan' Bush/Cheney attorney now downplays Republican 'voter fraud' 'conspiracy theories'...
By Brad Friedman on 2/16/2010, 2:59pm PT  

Is it possible that Thor Hearne, the rightwing operative attorney The BRAD BLOG has been following for years after we discovered him at the heart of a phony "non-partisan" GOP astroturf operation set up just after the 2004 election, calling itself the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR), has finally seen the light?

Seems highly unlikely for the national general counsel of Bush/Cheney '04 Inc., who knowingly misled Congress on that point and many others. But perhaps after our years dogging him and detailing his lies and phony agenda working to keep legal (Democratic-leaning) citizens from being able to exercise their legal right to vote, he's gotten tired of being the poster boy for the Republican's anti-democracy campaign.

As detailed yesterday by Fired Up! Missouri, who appear to be as confused as we are...

[Hearne] told fellow conservatives Saturday that the best way for them to attack voter fraud was to get involved as a poll worker, so that they could familiarize themselves with Missouri's election laws and offer up some front-line protection against potential fraud.

Hearne also rejected audience queries about the possibility of widespread voter fraud. While acknowledging "a rare group of people wanting to subvert an election,'' Hearne added, "I'm not a big believer in conspiracy theories."

Strange, but true. At least according to Beacon reporter Jo Mannies, who reported the above. Mannies was, while at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch until recently, virtually the only reporter in the nation whom Hearne would speak to anymore, after we'd highlighted so much of his deceptive and shady (perhaps even illegal) chicanery since he first showed up on the national scene, just after the 2004 election.

Hearne's ACVR operation, testimony, and website were quickly scrubbed following the outfit's emergence as being at the heart of the Bush/Rove U.S. Attorney purge back in 2007. That's when, for the most part, he stopped talking publicly altogether.

As Mannies reported in the Postthat year:

St. Louis lawyer Thor Hearne has singled out one blog site in particular — Bradblog — for initiating many of the accusations that Hearne, a prominent figure in the national vote-fraud debate, is linked to last year's Justice Department firings of U.S. attorneys.

Mannies told The BRAD BLOG on the record at the time, following her conversation with Hearne: "Thor says he's in the spotlight because some of the blogs, particularly yours, which he mentioned by name, have put him there."

We're happy to have helped. Especially if Hearne is now willing to fight for democracy, instead of against it. Though color us highly dubious still about that for the moment.

On a related note, it was announced earlier this month that Hearne, who, for years, had led his anti-democracy campaign out of his partner position at Missouri's rightwing mega-law firm Lathrop & Gage, LLP, has recently joined the Washington D.C. office of the not-ironically-at-all named law firm Arent Fox. (Hat-tip on that to BRAD BLOG commenter and Thor-tracker in-her-own-right "Mrs Panstreppon.")

Fired Up! has more worth noting on all of the above...

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The BRAD BLOG covers your electoral system fiercely and independently, like no other media outlet in the nation. Please support our work with a donation to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here...

For more information on the "non-partisan" tax-exempt ACVR "Voter Fraud" scam and the snakeoil salesmen who invented it, Bush/Cheney '04 National General Counsel Mark F. "Thor" Hearne and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke, please see BRAD BLOG's full Special Coverage of the "American Center for Voting Rights" at https://BradBlog.com/ACVR.
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Article Categories: Election 2004, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, ACVR, Election Fraud, Missouri, Photo ID Laws, Republicans, Bush Legacy