‘Operation Burn Notice’ Rises From Ashes As ‘The Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia’
A group of professional pranksters is at it again in America’s Dairyland. A group once known as “Operation Burn Notice,” headed by such folks as automobile repair store owner Matt Leppard, unemployed live-at-home Chris Heather, Arizona agitator in absentia Robin Causey and many of the same names we came to love during the 2011 effort to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are getting the band together in an effort to frighten Democrats out of voting in November.
Ah. Seems Like Old “Crimes”! Some very familiar names to this reporter!
OPERATION BURN NOTICE: PHONIES, FRAUDS AND COWARDS
This group was active during the petition drive to gather enough signatures to force a recall election of the unpopular Wisconsin governor. They pretended they were a large group, impersonating petition circulators, which they would get signed, gather and burn. They were featured in an AlterNet story, and were exposed as being behind a phony “Occupy Madison” website meant to mimic the actual “Occupy Madison” site in an effort to allegedly divert donations meant for the actual group into their own pockets. One of their prime members, Roy Innis of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, was exposed by the mother of his eldest child after bragging about being a mercenary who was a life-taking man-killer. The woman proved that Mr. Innis washed out of boot camp after 30 days.
Angry at having their scam shut down, the reporter responsible for the expose continues to be attacked by members of the group now three years after the event.
A couple of “Knot-Heads”. Gov. Walker and Matt Leppard, one of the prime movers in the “Knot My Wisconsin” group that ran the “Operation Burn Notice.” Leppard is mentioned with this current “militia” nonsense.
About a year ago, the titular head of the OBN Group, Matt Leppard, owner of L & M Automotive in North Prairie, Wisconsin, contacted this reporter to “out” a member of the OBN gang of goofballs as the person who was still engaged in harassment. With Walker being mentioned, at the time, as a potential GOP contender for President in 2016, Leppard and other middle-aged Republicans who were involved in OBN, decided it was best to go mainstream. According to Leppard, Chris Heather, 41, unemployed and living with his mother in a Racine, Wisconsin, apartment, just would not realize that it was all “over.”
“Attacking you makes him feel like a big man,” Leppard said at the time. “He has so many sock puppets (false Twitter accounts) he’s hard to keep track of, but the guy attacking you is definitely Chris Heather.”
A MILITIA OF COWARDS
Heather, who was notably once the victim of domestic violence in 1995 when his girlfriend beat him up, has been a particularly noxious troll with at least a dozen “sock puppets” on Twitter, all of which seem to be directed at attacking this reporter for the crime of having Parkinson’s disease. During his tenure in charge of the OBN Facebook page, Heather was responsible for images such as these.
Operation Burn Notice was a joke. A stunt. A gag. No petitions were gathered and burned. Some money may have been siphoned from the actual Occupy Madison site. But for the most part, they were an annoyance.
Now, they’ve got Talking Points Memo all riled up!
The Capital Times continues:
“We prefer our people be armed,” reads a Facebook post by Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia, screen captured on a blog at Politicususa.com. “Some will be heading to some of Milwaukee, Racine, and Beloit’s worst areas. We will be armed with a list of people to look for at each location.”
The exchange posted on Politicususa continues:
Patrick Murray: “Just so you are aware, I will not report Republicans. Only Democrats.”
Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia: “We will be targeting heavy democrat districts, so it is doubtful this will even be an issue.”
Another entry from the group’s Facebook page, which has 31 likes as of Friday afternoon, reads: “Please private message us names of people you know are active voters and wanted on warrants. We can get our agents to watch their polling location, identify the individual, and then follow them to their residence. A call the police and they will be picked up for processing.”
Another: “Attention all members: Militia training will be at HQ on September 20, 2014 at 0930. We will hand out updated watch lists, duty assignments, and discuss rules and regulations. Expect it to take around 2-3 hours. After our discussion we will be headed to the range for anyone who wants to participate.”
Suzanne McFly September 22nd, 2014 at 5:36 pm
The Facebook post is proof these people are morons, convicts can’t vote.
R.J. Carter September 22nd, 2014 at 5:51 pm
I think that only applies to convicted felons.
Haradanohime September 22nd, 2014 at 6:06 pm
Voting rights of prisoners vary from state to state if I am understanding correctly.
tracey marie September 22nd, 2014 at 6:29 pm
felons , after they have served their sentence may petition to have voting rights restored
Suzanne McFly September 22nd, 2014 at 6:51 pm
That is what I read, the petition part, but I don’t believe the voting block of ex-felons is very big so I find it humorous they are trying to claim they are democratic party line voters.
tracey marie September 22nd, 2014 at 7:23 pm
the teabaggers are a joke, just not a humorous one. 🙂
Garret Fitzgerald September 27th, 2014 at 4:59 am
They’re as funny as Hitler….
Garret Fitzgerald September 27th, 2014 at 4:58 am
Morons look down from on high at these people.
These people are barely imbeciles.
VALERIE MARTIN September 22nd, 2014 at 5:50 pm
If someone who is not a recognized Election official asks you questions
or asks for your ID, whatever you do, do not leave the poll station
until you have voted. If you are threatened, someone tries to touch you
or harass you call 911. If you’re phone has a speaker feature, turn it
on. That way, the call can be heard (and recorded.) If you see this
happening to someone else, do the same thing. Call 911 with your speaker
on.
If you have a complaint about ballot access, election
fraud or discrimination you can call the Civil Rights Division’s Voting
Section in Washington, D.C. directly either at 1-800- 253-3931 or (202)
307-2767.
You should also report the incident to your local FBI field office. You can find the Field Office for your location here.
You can also report it to 866ourvote here.
email info@866ourvote.org or call them at :1-866-OUR-VOTE. That’s 1-866-687-8683
Report any incidents of abuse or intimidation you see happening to others.
Also, if you are denied your vote and there isn’t an FBI or DOJ
official at your poll site, you should report the incident to the FBI,
the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and 866ourvote, along with any media
outlet you are comfortable with.
juicyfruityyy September 22nd, 2014 at 6:23 pm
Good info. Thanks.
tracey marie September 22nd, 2014 at 6:28 pm
when are there DOJ or FBI representatives at precincts? All you have to do is call 9-11 and your local election office…
juicyfruityyy September 22nd, 2014 at 6:24 pm
I think NOT voting is scarier than voting.
strux September 23rd, 2014 at 12:36 pm
Hey Bill. Like this page and keep us updated: https://www.facebook.com/STOPTHEMBYFORCE?fref=nf (I’m your old buddy from WHBL daze)
strux September 23rd, 2014 at 8:02 pm
Nevermind, that page was being run by one of their trolls, too.
Chrissy Morrissey September 23rd, 2014 at 1:51 pm
I don’t think it is a good idea to write them off as a merry band of pranksters. While Lepperd, Innis, et al may be nothing more than absolute loud-mouthed cowards, they can and have incited idiots to commit the crimes they only dream of. Recall petitions were stolen and defaced. I do not doubt that some riled-up, gun-toting vigilantes will be encouraged to show up at the polls attempting to intimidate some “libs” to keep them from voting. These fascist brownshirts have no concept of civil rights and democracy. Much the same as religious extremists pick and choose their bible passages, so do these thugs pick and choose parts of the Constitution and The Bill of Rights to suit themselves and all others be damned. A complaint to the Justice Department is the proper reaction to these scofflaws. http://www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake/
William A. Ferguson September 24th, 2014 at 8:08 am
Thanks for setting the record straight.
Dave September 25th, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Gee for pranksters they sure trolled me hard, took screenshots and said that they reported me to the State Police…..I think that this is real, they got busted, and being idiots, didn’t know how to handle it. There are people representing them and commenting on the Yahoo news feed of this……
KnotBill October 22nd, 2014 at 7:26 am
I think before anyone starts taking Mr. Schmalfeldt seriously on this topic it would be helpful to have a bit of a reminder about how he holds a grudge against certain groups involved in Wisconsin politics and how he was humiliated by them in the past. I do believe it clouds his judgement, as it has in the past, and causes him to forget his journalistic duty to the truth.
He was trolled very hard by the group that conducted Operation Burn Notice. He refused to believe it was a prank. He believed he was going to become the next Woodward or Bernstein and become famous. He was so blinded that even when he was presented with evidence that it was a prank he ignored it. Result? He got his ass handed to him. He was banned from Facebook several times. Search for his video complaining about Facebook. It’s almost as hilarious as it is pathetic. The group would hide the Facebook page, Mr. Schmalfeldt would go wild on Facebook declaring “Victory!” Then they would unhide the Facebook page and make him look like a fool. Not only did Mr. Schmalfeldt fall for this trick once, he fell for it multiple times. Each time declaring his ultimate victory and each time left looking foolish when he was proven to be wrong yet again. He also lost all credibility as a journalist. He was fired, twice as a matter of fact, from a news outlet when he refused to print facts and both side of the issue and instead devolved his writing into personal smears and attacks on anyone that dared question his “facts”. Most of which were wrong because the author is actually horrible at determine what is fake or real. Case is point..his super investigative skills “proved” a man in AZ was a participant in Operation Burn Notice, the group responsible for Mr. Schmalfeldt’s repeated humiliations. It’s hard to believe he got this innocent man’s identity wrong, he made a flow chart and everything. Of course the flow chart only had Yes legs and one path through it. Yes, that is how he “investigates” and proves his theories. Keep in mind this is YEARS after the fact, but the author cold not let his humiliation at the hand of the OBN folks go. What did he do when he found this man? What any good investigative journalist would do. He Photoshopped the man’s wife riding a giant cactus penis and posted it to his various smear websites. He called the couples employer to try and get them fired, he harassed them at home. The result? Well, Mr. Schmalfeldt was wrong as usual and ended up with restraining orders courtesy of the State of Arizona. His response was typical. He blamed the couple themselves for his mistakes and declared they lied. This is the level of “truth” you get from this author. As a final statement on Mr. Schmalfeldt’s total lack of credibility he wrote almost a year ago that because of his increasing dementia that nothing he writes can be trusted. Also, I’ll leave you with this link showing what another progressive and well respected 1st amendment attorney thinks of Mr. Schmalfeldt. http://www.popehat.com/2013/08/06/true-threats-true-incitement-or-truly-crazy-the-rhetoric-of-deranged-cyberstalker-bill-schmalfeldt/