Reverend Steve Fielder, a pastor at the First Union Missionary Baptist Church in Meridian, Mississippi, is accusing Senator Thad Cochran’s campaign of violating election laws by giving black Democratic voters cash in exchange for votes in the recent GOP runoff. But mainstream media seem uninterested in the story.
The only outlet outside of conservative media covering the story is Forbes magazine. On July 1, the magazine explained what the penalties might be if Fielder’s allegations prove true.
“If true,” Forbes wrote, “such an action would be clearly illegal under both federal law and Mississippi statutes, specifically MS Code 97-13-1; MS Code 97-13-3 (2013) (Federal Code 18 U.S.C. 597, U.S.C. 1973i(c)), each punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years.”
As Forbes notes, on Monday Breitbart New Network’s Matthew Boyle reported that Fielder claimed that the Cochran campaign paid black voters $15 for each vote in the GOP runoff primary held on June 24.
Fielder alleged that the Cochran campaign “told me to offer blacks $15 each and to vote for Thad.”
“They sold me on the fact that [Cochran’s opponent Chris McDaniel] was a racist and that the right thing to do was to keep him out of office,” Fielder alleged, according to journalist Charles C. Johnson of GotNews.com.
This news is now two days old. Even though the Mississippi runoff election was a much-publicized event, most outlets are silent on the new allegations. Outside of conservative media, a Google News search of “Thad Cochran” on the afternoon of July 1 returns only the Forbes piece. The left-leaning media appear uninterested in the story.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.