Chairman Mike Duncan responds to Keyes campaign's allegations of 'Iowa deception'

Monday, Stephen Stone, CEO of Alan Keyes for President, met with Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan to discuss "evidence of deception by the Iowa Republican Party with regard to the recent caucuses."

Stone delivered a letter that described the campaign's allegations against Iowa GOP officials. According to Stone, the state party's behavior in the caucuses "disenfranchises voters" and appears to have "violated the election laws."

Among the facts outlined by Stone:
State party leaders gave precinct chairs a "suggested ballot" of presidential candidates that was used to guide caucus-goers in the nominating and voting process, and Alan Keyes' name was excluded from the list. The reason given by party officials was that Keyes "announced too late" — although he announced four months ago on Sept. 14, nine days after Fred Thompson. Stone noted the party's list of favored candidates amounted to free advertising and gave them an unfair advantage.
Party leaders claimed they weren't aware Keyes was running, even though many of these officials personally attended a Dec. 12 Iowa presidential debate involving all the major Republican candidates, including Keyes. The debate, sponsored by the Des Moines Register, was broadcast nationally by CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, and PBS.
Claiming they couldn't include Keyes' name in their electronic reporting system, GOP officials have refused to release the total number of votes for Keyes, saying they don't know the total — even though witnesses say they saw precinct chairs reporting to state officials the number of votes received by Keyes at the caucuses. A C-SPAN viewer claims he saw a video clip that documented the reporting of votes for Keyes to state headquarters by two precinct chairs.

The Iowa GOP continues to exclude Keyes as a candidate on their website (www.iowagop.net) — as well as exclude his vote totals — as though his candidacy doesn't exist.

According to Iowa statutes, failure by officials to report the votes of qualified voters in a presidential precinct caucus is illegal and punishable by law.

The exclusion of Keyes appears motivated by bias against him — in a way that is un-American and contrary to democratic principles.

Said Stone, "In our judgment, the tactics we've witnessed by the state party are reminiscent of 'communist-style' electoral politics. By unfairly developing a 'suggested ballot' of candidates, and allowing irregular handling of votes for Ambassador Keyes, state party officials created an atmosphere of intimidation for Keyes voters."

"Aside from damaging the environment for free choice in the election process" — Stone said he told RNC chairman Duncan — "such deceptive practices are both unethical and illegal."

Duncan's response, Stone said, was to deny that the Republican Party has any responsibility for the illegal or improper actions of state parties. According to Stone, this response is unacceptable, since the RNC recently penalized several state parties for pushing the 2008 presidential primaries far ahead of schedule, due to their inordinate zeal to be "first in the nation."

As punishment, the national party stripped New Hampshire, Wyoming, Michigan, Florida, and South Carolina of half their delegates to the national GOP convention, to be held in Minneapolis in September. "If the RNC can do this, it can do similar things to stop states like Iowa from ignoring fair electoral process and deceiving and disenfranchising the electorate," Stone added.

The full text of Stone's letter to Chairman Duncan is available at www.AlanKeyes.com — along with supporting documents and the testimony of witnesses.