Last we heard from right-wing huckster racists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, they were pleading guilty to 14 counts of fraud in an Ohio courtroom for their parts in orchestrating and carrying out a racist, voter-suppressing robocalling plan in Black communities in Michigan, New York, and Ohio. The calls were made in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election and were an illegal (and racist) attempt at keeping likely Democratic voters of color from voting in the upcoming election by spreading misinformation about voter registration.
On Tuesday, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge John Sutula placed Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman on two years probation and ordered the men to wear GPS ankle monitors, with a home confinement curfew for the first six months of their probation set at 8 PM. They were also fined $2,500 each, plus court costs and fees. While this punishment seems relatively small for two men best known for relentlessly trying to defraud people, Judge Sutula did have a kicker: Both men must “spend 500 hours registering voters in low-income neighborhoods in the Washington, D.C., area.”
Judge Sutula told the men, “I think it’s a despicable thing that you guys have done. Now, I’m only limited here by the nature of the crime that you plead guilty to.”
RELATED STORY: Right-wing robocallers plead guilty to 14 counts of fraud, face whopping $2500 fine
I put the page break in there to give everyone a moment to catch their breath from laughter. The two men still face charges brought against them in a civil case in New York. The responses to the news of the judge’s sentence are also noteworthy.
Some people felt that the punishment might put undue hardship on the communities that would be forced to interact with these two criminals. It is important to note that Wohl and Burkman will likely be a part of a supervised voter registration drive. They aren’t being left alone to forge signatures at their leisure.
The robocalls the two men produced used a woman’s voice saying, “Mail-in voting sounds great. But did you know that if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants, and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debt? The CDC is even pushing to give preference for mail-in voting to track people for mandatory vaccines.” All of that information is 100% false.
The Republican Party continues to flail and point fingers at one another. The traditional media pretends it did not completely blow it on predicting a “Red Wave” a few weeks ago. On today’s episode Markos is joined by Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that these midterms were closer than was being reported. The two do a little gloating about being right in their optimism coming into the 2022 midterm elections and they give their analysis on why Democratic candidates were successful and how terrified the Republican Party is going into 2024.
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Raphael Warnock needs all the support he can get to help our Democratic majority in the Senate. Chip in $5 today to his runoff campaign.
Donald Trump and his MAGA allies came close to overthrowing our democracy, and they will try again. We must do all we can to get out the Democratic vote in Georgia. Click here to find all the volunteer opportunities available!
On Tuesday, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge John Sutula placed Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman on two years probation and ordered the men to wear GPS ankle monitors, with a home confinement curfew for the first six months of their probation set at 8 PM. They were also fined $2,500 each, plus court costs and fees. While this punishment seems relatively small for two men best known for relentlessly trying to defraud people, Judge Sutula did have a kicker: Both men must “spend 500 hours registering voters in low-income neighborhoods in the Washington, D.C., area.”
Judge Sutula told the men, “I think it’s a despicable thing that you guys have done. Now, I’m only limited here by the nature of the crime that you plead guilty to.”
RELATED STORY: Right-wing robocallers plead guilty to 14 counts of fraud, face whopping $2500 fine
I put the page break in there to give everyone a moment to catch their breath from laughter. The two men still face charges brought against them in a civil case in New York. The responses to the news of the judge’s sentence are also noteworthy.
Some people felt that the punishment might put undue hardship on the communities that would be forced to interact with these two criminals. It is important to note that Wohl and Burkman will likely be a part of a supervised voter registration drive. They aren’t being left alone to forge signatures at their leisure.
The robocalls the two men produced used a woman’s voice saying, “Mail-in voting sounds great. But did you know that if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants, and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debt? The CDC is even pushing to give preference for mail-in voting to track people for mandatory vaccines.” All of that information is 100% false.
The Republican Party continues to flail and point fingers at one another. The traditional media pretends it did not completely blow it on predicting a “Red Wave” a few weeks ago. On today’s episode Markos is joined by Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that these midterms were closer than was being reported. The two do a little gloating about being right in their optimism coming into the 2022 midterm elections and they give their analysis on why Democratic candidates were successful and how terrified the Republican Party is going into 2024.
Embedded Content
Raphael Warnock needs all the support he can get to help our Democratic majority in the Senate. Chip in $5 today to his runoff campaign.
Donald Trump and his MAGA allies came close to overthrowing our democracy, and they will try again. We must do all we can to get out the Democratic vote in Georgia. Click here to find all the volunteer opportunities available!