Outside of the hilarious burn rate we see in Jim Ryun's fundraising report (he's spent 75% of the money he raised in 2007), we're horrified to see in it three unique expenditures for "caging."
Caging, as you remember from posts here and on Blue Tide Rising, and on other blogs nationwide, is a practice by which registered mail is sent to a poor person, a college student, or someone serving in the armed services, at the address provided by them on their voter registration card in hopes that that letter comes back undeliverable.
If it does come back undeliverable, the campaign logs that name and address, and will use that information to contest that person's vote come election day.
Not only is it unethical to attempt to deny someone their vote, it's also illegal.
Now, the Kansas Republican Party tried, and I'm sure Ryun will as well, to convince people "caging" is just a mailing term and that nothing untoward is occurring.
That just doesn't jive, though. To quote the web site of one of the firms Ryun has used:
We don't engage in creative design, printing or lettershop services. We don't sell mailing lists or involve ourselves in fundraising management. No, we do just one thing- caging.How a man hoping to be the representative of the people can actively engage in disenfranchising voters is beyond us, and we hope the mainstream media nails him to the wall for it.
