Get-Out-the-Fraud Efforts Underway

LANSING, Mich. â€”  Some Michigan voters have received phone calls falsely claiming that Sen. John F. Kerry would make same-sex marriage legal. In New Jersey, some voters have heard a man claiming to be retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf backing the Democrat. Elderly voters in Pennsylvania have been called and told they are ineligible to vote.

Republicans and Democrats were furious Monday about the blatantly false, eleventh-hour political calls to voters and demanded an end to the messages.

Schwarzkopf has endorsed President Bush, but in a recording of a phone call played for Associated Press, a man identifying himself as the Persian Gulf War general says, “In 2000, I voted for George W. Bush, but this year I’m voting for John Kerry.... John Kerry has a real plan to make our military stronger and to go after terrorists wherever they hide. We need a vote for change; vote for John Kerry.�

A voice says the message was paid for by the Democratic National Committee.

In a statement from the Bush campaign, Schwarzkopf said the DNC was making fraudulent phone calls claiming that he had endorsed Kerry, and “nothing could be further from the truth.�

DNC spokesman Jano Cabrera said Republicans spliced an ad by Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, a Kerry supporter, to make it sound as if Schwarzkopf were speaking so they could accuse Democrats of dirty tricks. Republicans denied being involved.

In Michigan, in a recording of a call played for Associated Press, a young woman says: “When you vote this Tuesday, remember to legalize gay marriage by supporting John Kerry. We need John Kerry in order to make gay marriage legal for our city. Gay marriage is a right we all want. It’s a basic Democrat principle. It’s time to move forward and be progressive. Without John Kerry, George Bush will stop gay marriage. That’s why we need Kerry. So Tuesday, stand up for gay marriage by supporting John Kerry.�

Both Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, oppose same-sex marriage and say marriage should be limited to a man and a woman. Kerry has said he supports civil unions.

The calls began Sunday afternoon, according to Rodell Mollineau, spokesman for Kerry’s Michigan campaign. The campaign said voters in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint and Pontiac received calls. “We’re shocked and pretty much appalled that Republicans would sink to this in the last 48 hours of the campaign,� Mollineau said.

Michigan Republican Party Executive Director Greg McNeilly said recorded phone calls have been made by former Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler and Bush to Michigan voters, but he didn’t know anything about the calls described by the Kerry campaign.

In Lancaster County, Pa., Republican officials said bogus phone calls have gone to at least a dozen elderly voters, alleging they are ineligible to vote. The calls appeared to target Republicans, said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-Pa.), who called them “an outrageous effort on the part of someone to try to repress the vote.�

Registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats in Lancaster County by more than 3 to 1.

GOP officials, meanwhile, have received reports of phone calls being made by a person who says he’s representing the Bush campaign and then unleashes a string of swear words. Another phone call is said to tell voters they’ve been drafted for military service because Bush needs them for the war in Iraq.