Lawsuit Filed Against Macomb GOP

Lansing (AP)  -- The fight over whether a Republican county chairman ever said he planned to keep homeowners on foreclosure lists from voting took a new twist Tuesday, with Democrats filing a federal lawsuit to stop the alleged practice and the chairman threatening to sue for libel.

Macomb County Republican Party Chairman James Carabelli denied again Tuesday that he had told a writer for Web site MichiganMessenger.com that "we will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses,'' as the Web site reported last Wednesday.

He said he plans to ask in writing for a retraction and will file a libel lawsuit in Macomb County Circuit Court if he doesn't get one.

"This story is not true. The Michigan Messenger made it up,'' Carabelli said in a release.  "Let me state, again and unequivocally, there is no such plan to use foreclosure lists to challenger voters, and I never said there was. This is a story line being pushed by one liberal blog, the (Barack) Obama campaign, and their friends and operatives on the left.''
  
The state GOP asked MichiganMessenger.com last week in a news release to print a retraction, but the reporter and Web site are standing by the story.

"The easiest thing to do when the facts don't meet your needs is to claim they're false,'' David Bennahum, president and CEO of The Center for Independent Media, a Washington-based group that runs MichiganMessenger.com and five other Web publications, said in response to the threat of a libel suit. "We have a fantastic record for accuracy.''

Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and several Macomb County voters filed a lawsuit in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday asking for an injunction prohibiting the Macomb County GOP, the Michigan Republican Party, the Republican National Committee or anyone connected with them from challenging Michigan voters whose homes are on foreclosure lists.

Obama campaign general counsel Bob Bauer said during a conference call with reporters that the "lose your home, lose your vote'' strategy, even if the challenges are unsuccessful, "creates an atmosphere of intimidation that could drive voters from the polls'' because even people who aren't challenged may leave without voting because polling gets bogged down.

State Republican officials deny there's any plan to challenge voters on those grounds and say the tactic doesn't make sense because the lists don't give them information on where a voter lives.

"We can't be asked not to do something we're not going to do anyway,'' state GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis said of the federal lawsuit.  "It points out the desperation of the Obama campaign.''

The flap erupted a day before McCain and running mate Sarah Palin were to hold a town hall meeting Wednesday evening at Grand Rapids Community College, on the other side of the state. The pair last campaigned in Michigan - in Macomb County - earlier this month.

Macomb County has attracted a lot of attention from the candidates' campaigns and the media because the heavily populated area north of Detroit has long been a swing area in presidential elections. Both Obama and McCain have campaigned in the county, which could decide if the key battleground state of Michigan goes Republican or Democratic.

The controversy made its way to the national stage Tuesday when Obama was joined by running mate Joe Biden and a dozen other Democratic U.S. senators in calling on Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey to ensure that voters facing foreclosure aren't harassed or intimidated at polling places.

Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin signed the letter the group sent to Mukasey.

State officials say homeowners with a foreclosed home can still live there unless they are evicted or the home is sold by the lender, giving them to right to vote where they always do.

Voters who move within 60 days of an election also can vote at their old polling place, according to the secretary of state's office.

If voters move and change their address 30 or more days before an election, they must vote in their new precinct. If they change their address within 30 days of an election, they must vote in the old precinct.