Buying votes…with pork rinds?
Ex-mayor pleads guilty to 243 felonies
WISE, Va. – The former mayor of a tiny coal town who prosecutors say masterminded a scheme to buy votes with beer, cigarettes and even pork rinds, pleaded guilty Thursday to 243 felonies, including vote-rigging and corruption.
Wise County Circuit Judge Tammy McElyea made former Appalachia mayor Ben Cooper plead individually to each of the charges against him, which included stealing election records, forging ballots, hindering the rights of citizens to vote freely, voting more than once in an election and violating absentee voting procedures.
By the time she reached the 11th charge, Cooper, 64, was saying “guilty” before she had finished reading the charge.
“You’re getting ahead of me,” she said, to which Cooper apologized.</i>
Please note the name of the town in question. Ha.
