Emails suggest Axelrod leaned on Gallup after unfavorable poll (campaign, thought, illegal)

[dixiegirl7]

Employees at the venerable Gallup polling firm suggested they felt threatened by Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod when he questioned the methodology of a mid-April poll showing Mitt Romney leading the president – according to internal emails published Thursday.
That poll showed Romney leading Obama 48-43 percent.
The exchange, according to emails published by The Daily Caller, started when Axelrod sent a tweet saying the tracking poll was “saddled with some methodological problems” and directing followers to a National Journal story in which a professor suggested outdated sampling.
According to the email chain titled “Axelrod vs. Gallup,” the White House in addition asked that a Gallup staffer “come over and explain our methodology,” which was apparently perceived as a subtle threat.
A Gallup official said in an email he thought Axelrod’s pressure “sounds a little like a Godfather situation.”
“Imagine Axel[rod] with Brando’s voice: ‘I’d like you to come over and explain your methodology…You got a nice poll there … would be a shame if anything happened to it… .’”
The exchanges also show that Gallup invited White House officials to its Washington offices, but it remains unclear whether any of the meetings occurred.
However, when Gallup declined to change its polling methodology, the Obama administration’s Justice Department revived a 2009 whistle-blower lawsuit against the firm by joining the suit, a senior Gallup official alleges.
The suit was filed by former Gallup employee Michael Lindley, who claims the firm violated the False Claims Act by overcharging the federal government for its services.
Gallup declined to talk about the issue. Calls to the Justice Department, the White House and the Obama campaign have not been returned.
Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs told The Washington Times this week that he was unaware of any communications between the campaign and Gallup.


Read more: Emails suggest Axelrod leaned on Gallup after unfavorable poll | Fox News



Wow, now they are strong arming the pollsters! Is there no tactic too low for these people? What a bunch of thugs. This is what is running the country, no wonder we are in such a mess.

[MTAtech]

According to the email chain titled “Axelrod vs. Gallup,” the White House in addition asked that a Gallup staffer “come over and explain our methodology,” which was apparently perceived as a subtle threat.

Read more: Emails suggest Axelrod leaned on Gallup after unfavorable poll | Fox News

The email should have been titled, "the Email of Desperation," because that's what this article sounds like.

UPDATED: Fox Fabricates Axelrod-Gallup Contacts To Push Bogus Intimidation Story | Blog | Media Matters for America

The Daily Caller's dubious report suggesting a connection between a David Axelrod tweet about Gallup's polling methodology and a Justice Department lawsuit filed against that company found its way to Fox News, which embellished the already problematic story by fabricating the existence of direct communications between Axelrod and Gallup's employees.

On his Fox Business program this morning, Stuart Varney claimed that Axelrod, "reportedly furious" over a May Gallup poll unfavorable for President Obama, "personally contacted some Gallup employees who now say they felt threatened."
...
Even conservative bloggers have pointed out that the timeline the Caller article lays out regarding the DOJ's lawsuit against Gallup debunks the article's suggestion of a connection between that lawsuit and Axelrod's single tweet from four months earlier.

The lawsuit was originally filed by former Gallup employee Michael Lindley, who says he was fired in July 2009 after warning his superiors that he would go to the Justice Department if the company did not stop illegally overbilling the federal government. Lindley filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Gallup kept two sets of books and illegally inflated the budgets for its work on two federal contracts. The Caller reported that the Justice Department began investigating the allegations in October 2009, issued subpoenas in February or March of 2010, and was in communication with the company in the fall of 2011.
]The Anatomy Of A Daily Callerspiracy Theory | Blog | Media Matters for America

[dixiegirl7]

There is absolutely nothing in that Media Matters coverup piece to suggest that the story was erroneous. It's about Chicago style intimidation for sure and it's what the Obama campaign ran on last election and won with. They might be finding it a little harder this go round.

[MTAtech]

Originally Posted by dixiegirl7

There is absolutely nothing in that Media Matters coverup piece to suggest that the story was erroneous. It's about Chicago style intimidation for sure and it's what the Obama campaign ran on last election and won with. They might be finding it a little harder this go round.

The allegations were in October 2009. The Justice Dept. issued subpoenas in February or March of 2010, and was in communication with the company in the fall of 2011.

How can any sane person think that a questioning the methodology of a poll in 2012 caused an investigation two years earlier? Perhaps I answered my own question.

[Trader8]

Good to see Axe keeping these pollsters honest

[dixiegirl7]

Originally Posted by Trader8

Good to see Axe keeping these pollsters honest

Who's gonna keep 'Axe' honest?

[MTAtech]

Originally Posted by dixiegirl7

Who's gonna keep 'Axe' honest?

Who says, besides you, that he is not?

it's up to us to keep your one-sided threads honest.