I can’t wait to meet Taylor Sappington in Minneapolis. Not only has he managed to line up married couples at the computer (pairings include George and Martha Washingburn), he has gotten his fans to all log in and vote for him one whole family at a time. At one point, he had hundreds of them lined up in the wee hours of the morning to vote for him en masse and in alphabetical order:
Yet, until Saturday, Sappington had ONE COMMENT since third round voting began. Compare that with any of his competitors; you will find plenty of comments for people with far fewer votes. Certainly, he has actual people voting for him here and there, and there are a couple of comments on his recent votes. But the pattern is still there.
The process of winning a Netroots scholarship is mysterious, and the ways of the PCCC even more mysterious. Sappington still won’t accept my Facebook friends request, but his name does appear at BoldProgressives.org and I shan’t level accusations. Perhaps a votespammer, or group of votespammers, is doing this for him. If so, I give such agents or agencies points…but not for creativity.
Taylor Sappington goes by the Twitter handle “idealisticdem.” His blog is a manifesto. He’s a Bold Progressive, alright — clever title and incredible vote organizing skills!
What I find interesting is the late turn voting has taken. He leaped overnight from 7th or 11th (my memory is foggy) to second last Wednesday morning, as I recall (there’s been a tornado). Meanwhile, a panel was canceled, causing a certain Alaskan lady (of whom I am a great fan) to throw her hat in late, and in fending off her advance Mr. Sappington has found everyone in North America named Nykky Canter:
I work hard at getting actual people to actually vote for me. Meanwhile, I’m a hardworking blogger. Case in point: I’ve flogged Twitter, which I hate doing. I’ve flogged Facebook. I’ve made the ask in emails and linked in posts and commented linkage under crossposts. Left In Alabama has flogged it. Email groups have flogged it. Podcasters have flogged it. The Alaskan lady has even flogged it for me, and she’s my competitor.
It’s a public broadcasting fundraiser and I hate doing it, but it’s worth it. Netroots is a place where I can be gonzo and find like souls (not all of them from California, either). Moreover, there are many less versed or versatile but just as deserving for a scholarship: Prerna Lal, a DREAM activist facing deportation; vcthree, a fine blogger and networker; Grecia [the] Organizer, for her attention to housing issues; and many many more, not to mention me again. See?!
My point is that we generally don’t reward the hard work of votespamming. We generally disown it and disavow this sort of behavior in America. I have cracked jokes about “vote early, vote often” on Twitter — but only because DFA resets the votes in Round Three. I am given to understand that cheating is possible (I wouldn’t know; I haven’t time to try, I’m too busy flogging). My issues are not with DFA‘s transparency, however, but the transparency of Mr. Sappington’s votespam.
Todd Farrally is a union organizer. Annabel Ascher is an activist writing about poverty in America. There are many, many more, including Shannyn Moore, who deserve to be in Minnesota. So here’s my final ask in any Netroots Nation scholarship contest:
Dear readers, please vote for everyone, absolutely everyone to whom I have linked. It’s rumored DFA has approximately ten tickets to ride (they weren’t even going to have a third round, at first), so help me meet these people in Minnesota.
If you have already voted — or voted for lots of candidates — please share this post. Put it in a Facebook group, submit it to a subreddit, tweet it, email it. If you can get one other person to vote, maybe someone can be knocked back to 11th.
If Taylor is in Minneapolis, I shall be sure to turn on my camera and get an interview because he’s one hell of a candidate. Then I’ll ask Jim Dean a question or two. Should be fun!
UPDATE: If you check the comments, we have our first communication from Mr. Sappington. So I’ve taken a screen grab of his most recent votes to compare. Again, I make no accusations, but reserve the right to ask questions. What do you think, readers?
ALSO ADDING: Taylor has been protesting his innocence all night and says he has “done what I could” to stop any votespamming. Except it hasn’t worked:
ALSO ALSO ADDING: A friend of mine experimentally voted twice for Taylor and took a screenshot, saying “Man, if I’d known it was that easy, I’d have had Richard Nixon, the Duke of Cambridge, and President Obama all voting for me.” Meanwhile, Taylor is no longer accepting contact from me on Twitter. He still won’t accept a Facebook friends request, despite his protestations of wanting to clear his name.
UPDATE THE FOURTH: Taylor must have some real enemies, because these votespammers aren’t doing him any favors. Another hundred votes poured in overnight to briefly put him ahead of Shannyn Moore. Check these out:
