Mitt Romney consultant has long history of voter suppression

Mitt Romney and his team have scary plans for Florida, and every other swing state.
(Brian Snyder/Reuters) Republicans aren't even trying to be subtle any more in their goal to steal this election. That comes from the very top, from Mitt Romney. He's hired a notorious consultant with a long history of election manipulation. Nathan Sproul has been working with the Romney campaign since late last year, and has received over $70,000 from the Romney's campaign for  "field consulting."

Here are some of the highlights of Sproul's work in the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign and in the 2006 midterms:

- In Oregon and Nevada, Lincoln Strategies'then known as Sproul and Associates'was investigated for destroying Democratic voter registration forms. The Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign paid Sproul $7.4 million for campaign work. [CNN, 10/14/04; KGW News, 10/13/04; East Valley Tribune, 09/07/06]

- In Nevada, people who registered as Democrats with Lincoln Strategies'then known as Sproul and Associates'found their names absent from the voter registration rolls. [Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/29/04]

- During the 2006 midterm elections, Wal-Mart banned Lincoln Strategies for partisan voter registration efforts in Tennessee. The Republican National Committee had hired the firm. [Associated Press, 08/24/06]

- In Arizona, Lincoln Strategies employed a variety of deceptive tactics'including systematically lying about the bill'to push a ballot initiative to eviscerate the state's clean elections law. [Salon, 10/21/04]

- Lincoln Strategies, then employed by the Republican Party, was behind efforts to place Ralph Nader on the ballot in states such as Arizona. [American Prospect, 06/25/04]

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what kind of "field consulting" Sproul is doing for Romney. While Republicans will rail against non-existent voter "fraud," this is the kind of electoral malfesance that really happens. And it's Republicans who do it.