The King Street Patriots are a right wing, racist, voter suppression organization meant to intimidate and harass poor and minority voters at polling places on election day. Though they are sensitive to the racist label, and claim the proof they are not racist is due to the fact they are attempting (unsuccessfully for the most part) to recruit minority members to help suppress their own communities voter turnout. They began in Harris County (Houston) Texas I believe, out of fear of rising black voter turnout levels, and are Texas Governor Rick Perry's endorsed Storm Troopers on election day challenging minority voters and harassing minority majority polling locations on election day with an eye toward voter suppression and harassment. They are attempting to go national so Wisconsin has now attracted their attention I just discovered.
Props to The American Independent who first altered me to the existence of the King Street Patriots I have been following their coverage of the group and now that the King Street Patriots are coming to Wisconsin it is time to elevate the prominence of the story because voter harassment will follow in their wake. Their actual campaign is called "True the Vote".
KSP/TTV training has taken place in California and Chicago, according to Wisconsin-based conservative news site Media Trackers, promoting an upcoming KSP/TTV event in Oconomowoc, Wis., For the “training for Candidates, Campaign Managers and Activists,” KSP/TTV has joined forces with conservative group American Majority. Costs for that event range from $25-$60.
Link to source: http://www.americanindependent.com/...
The reason the King Street Patriots are coming to Wisconsin is directly related to Governor Scott Walker's recent signing of the "Voter ID Bill". The right knows the rule changes they forced upon Wisconsin will create chaos and they are coming here to increase the atmosphere of chaos and confusion on election day. It is all tied in with the national Republican voter suppression efforts.
It makes me so sad to see right wing ideologues annihilate Wisconsin's Progressive clean elections tradition, and it makes me angry the Justice system is allowing it to happen. Sad and angry is not where I expected to be less than 48 hours after Kathy Hochul's amazing victory but there we are.