http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21995
Attorney: St. Louis Republican 'set up'
Sees local Democratic machine behind Internet sex bust
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By Jon Dougherty
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
A St. Louis attorney, Thomas A. Federer, has accused local Democrats with
"setting up" another activist Republican attorney -- charged with soliciting
sex from a minor -- who Federer says was about to uncover local election
corruption.
Federer, whose brother, Bill Federer, made an attempt to unseat Dick
Gephardt, the Democratic House minority leader, in last November's election,
said he believes attorney and local Republican elections director Kevin Coan
was framed by political enemies because "he was getting too close to
uncovering more corruption in our [St. Louis] elections system … and he was
investigating the controversial [Nov. 7] election."
In an e-mail to WorldNetDaily, Federer added: "He had to be taken out."
During his post-election investigation, Coan had already turned up 161
"active" voters in St. Louis districts prior to this week's mayoral primary
whose addresses led to vacant lots or boarded-up buildings.
St. Louis is traditionally heavily Democratic and is currently led by
Democratic Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr.
Coan was arrested last week by police across the river in Alton, Ill., for
allegedly trying to pay a 14-year-old girl for sex. Authorities say Coan
made his solicitation over the Internet, but the "girl" he allegedly
solicited was in fact a male Alton police officer who had set up a sting
operation in a chat room.
Federer said Coan "had received an anonymous call at work saying his wife
had fallen ill while she was shopping at a [Alton] market, and that the
caller was asked by her to call him."
Coan "left right away and, when he got there, he was arrested for supposedly
sending his picture to the undercover agent by e-mail," Federer said.
"How likely would an attorney do that?" he asked. "I've never known Kevin to
be anything but an upright gentleman and an aggressive Republican in a city
and political system locally dominated by Democrats."
Equally odd, Federer said, was that "his picture being arrested was on the
front page of the Post-Dispatch," a St. Louis daily newspaper. "Funny how
the media got across the river so quickly to get that picture."
Federer said he believes someone may have gotten access to Coan's computer
at work "and sent these messages to a jurisdiction … that they knew was
investigating Internet sex."
He said police had seized Coan's computers at home and at work.
Meanwhile, a grand jury continues to investigate charges that voter fraud
may have occurred in St. Louis during the Nov. 7 election.
"Combine abandoned voting machines, unguarded ballot boxes, confusion over
poll closing times, accusations of criminal collusion and throw in a
misleading phone-banking message by Jesse Jackson, and you end up with
election practices that have thrown St. Louis, Mo., into chaos during what
is proving to be the most hotly contested election in American history,"
WorldNetDaily reported Nov. 11.
Also, reports said the grand jury is looking into 3,800 suspect voter
registration cards, many that bear the names of prominent local citizens --
both alive and dead.
And, there is still fallout over an election-night decision by Circuit Court
Judge Evelyn M. Baker to require St. Louis polling stations to remain open
three hours longer than state law permitted, because local Democratic
leaders complained that a shortage of election officials and voting booths,
along with outdated voter registration rolls, had caused many St. Louisans
to lose their right to vote.
Baker's decision was overturned within the hour by an appeals court, but the
polls were still open for a while past the 7 p.m. deadline.
A day earlier, on Nov. 6, now-Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., son of
incumbent Democratic House member William Clay, announced that the polls
would be open late to accommodate voters.
Democrats alleged that up to 33,000 registered voters had been improperly
removed from voter registration rolls.
In St. Louis, registered voters who do not participate in the previous
year's election are automatically removed from rolls if they do not respond
to notices sent by the election board.
Federer hinted that Gephardt's "political machine" may have something to do
with Coan's arrest. Both he and his brother have a history of animosity with
Gephardt.
A group affiliated with Federer charged Gephardt in October of pressuring
local TV stations into dropping a Federer campaign ad showing Gephardt's
commitments to "radical homosexuals."
Eventually, a U.S. court of appeals ruled that Federer could run the ads,
but the ruling wasn't issued until just days before the election. Until
then, Federer had to pull them.
Also, Federer was sued by C-SPAN because the footage used by the candidate
featured C-SPAN coverage of Gephardt delivering a speech and vow of support
to a homosexual group.
C-SPAN dropped its suit in December and did not ask him to pay any damages
if he would agree to drop an appeal he had filed against C-SPAN in the U.S.
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The countersuit was also dropped.
Missouri Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond and U.S. Attorney General John
Ashcroft, a former senator who was defeated by the late-Gov. Mel Carnahan in
November, have pledged to look into the alleged chronic voter corruption in
St. Louis.
"The effort to clean up the St. Louis vote fraud scandal is bigger than any
one individual," Bond spokesman Ernie Blazar said Monday.
"The people of St. Louis and the entire state are entitled to honest
elections in the city," added Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt, in a
statement. "The new discovery of fraudulent registration cards for March 6
and irregularities detected in November have cast doubt on the integrity of
the process. …"
On Monday, more than 30 federal, state and local observers were on hand to
monitor the mayoral primary. Ashcroft sent a pair of Justice Department
observers.
WorldNetDaily Attorney St. Louis Republican 'set up'.url
