The arrest, on child pornography charges, of a researcher for the controversial Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity is intensifying conflict inside the group, with two Democratic members asserting again that a small band of conservatives holds disproportionate power. The researcher, Ronald Williams II, who was arrested late last week, previously worked as an intern at the Department of Justice on a case with J. Christian Adams, who is now a Republican member of the commission. Democratic commissioner Matt Dunlap contends Williams’ involvement with the commission is the latest in a series of discoveries suggesting a few conservative members wield outsize clout; Dunlap claims that Democratic members have been largely excluded from planning. Today he wrote a letter to the commission demanding information. “I am seeking information because I lack it,” stated the letter, a copy of which was given to ProPublica. “I am in a position where I feel compelled to inquire after the work of the Commission upon which I am sworn to serve, and am yet completely uninformed as to its activities.” The letter demanded copies of “any and all communication between members of the commission” beginning in May.
Dunlap called the arrest of Williams the last straw in what he characterized as a series of actions by several commissioners to manipulate the commission. In September, an email was released showing that Republican Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky lobbied against the inclusion of Democrats on the commission. And earlier this month, filings in a lawsuit showed that, before they joined the commission, von Spakovsky and Adams played a role in the commission’s most consequential action to date: a letter sent to states requesting sweeping quantities of voter data.
Both Dunlap and Alan King — a Democratic commissioner and probate court judge in Jefferson County, Alabama — said the commissioners were never told about any staff members apart from Andrew Kossack, the person running the commission. They said they did not know of Williams until they read about him in a Washington Post article describing his arrest in Maryland on 11 counts of possessing and distributing child pornography. (Williams, who no longer works for the commission, was released on $150,000 bail. Attempts to reach him by phone and email were unsuccessful.)
Full Article: Conflict Mounts Inside Voting Fraud Commission in the… — ProPublica.