It’s probably going to be lost in coverage of today’s South Carolina GOP presidential primary but the biggest story of the day – and maybe much more than that even – could prove to be the arrest of a former Obama campaign staffer in a scheme to impersonate Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz.
Here’s the basic story from the Des Moines Register:
“Zachary Edwards was arrested Friday and charged with identity theft.
“The Iowa Department of Public Safety issued a news release saying Schultz’s office discovered the scheme on June 24, 2011 and notified authorities.
“The criminal complaint says Edwards fraudulently used or attempted to use the identity of Schultz or Schultz’s brother with the intent to obtain a benefit. No other details were given.
“The case did not appear yet in online court records and no attorney information was immediately available.
“If convicted, Edwards could face up to two years in prison.”
That has bad-news-for-Obama written all over it.
Shane Vander Hart at Iowa Grounds points to the obvious surmise:
And who might that somebody else be is the central question. Edwards worked for Obama in Nevada and five other states during the 2008 Democratic primary and general election campaigns.
Somebody apparently tried to erase Edwards’ bio from the web, but the ever-resourceful Glenn Reynolds, who first alerted me to this story earlier today, located it in the Wayback Machine.
You will recall that ACORN and other Democratic satelites organized a campaign a couple of years back to install their allies in Secretary of State offices in as many key states as possible. Such officials are responsible for enforcing – or not enforcing – state election laws.
Being a Republican, Schultz represented an obstacle to the plan. Could that be why Edwards sought to, according to the Des Moines Register, falsify Schultz indentity in an effort to implicate him in a scandal that would result in his possible removal from office or defeat in the next election?
Powerline’s John Hinderaker sums it all up:
So here we have what looks like the potential beginning of a significant election campaign scandal and I am sure editors at the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and, especially, MSNBC and CNN are at this very moment lining up their top investigative reporters to dig into the story.
What you doubt that?
