Dirty Tricks

YOUR JAN. 10 editorial on gay rights ( "Is history repeating itself?" ) reads like a victory speech given by one of the primary winners - level-headed, a bit smug, and absolutely no doubt of what side you are on. Be it noted, however, that the victory for gay rights has come with some dirty tricks. One need only Google "Santorum" and read the definitions to see how some proponents of gay rights displayed, not tolerance, but vicious hate. Whatever happened to simple decency? Michael Terry Needham

NEW YORK - Charles W. Colson, who served as a political saboteur for President Nixon, masterminded some of the dirty tricks that led to the president's downfall, then emerged from prison to become an important evangelical leader, saying he had been born again, died Saturday. He was 80. The cause was complications resulting from a brain hemorrhage, according to Prison Fellowship Ministries, which Mr. Colson founded in Lansdowne, Va. Mr. Colson had brain surgery to remove a clot after becoming ill March 30 while speaking at a conference.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader warned Democrats yesterday to expect legal action over tactics he called "disgraceful" and "fascistic. " "Stay tuned," he said. "It's not over. " Democrats have tried to keep Nader off the ballot in several states, including New Hampshire. Nader called their efforts "the most disgraceful fascistic practices in the modern history of the Democratic Party. " He said his campaign is collecting documents to prove volunteers gathering signatures for him were harassed.

YOUR JAN. 10 editorial on gay rights ( "Is history repeating itself?" ) reads like a victory speech given by one of the primary winners - level-headed, a bit smug, and absolutely no doubt of what side you are on. Be it noted, however, that the victory for gay rights has come with some dirty tricks. One need only Google "Santorum" and read the definitions to see how some proponents of gay rights displayed, not tolerance, but vicious hate. Whatever happened to simple decency? Michael Terry Needham

SENATOR SCOTT Brown likes to rant against negative campaigning and dirty politics ("Brown disavows Twitter tweaking," Metro, Aug. 26). He even sends out fund-raising e-mails asking for donations to "fight back. " He and his advisers never seem to miss an opportunity to play the negative-campaign card any time anyone criticizes Brown for voting against summer jobs, or clean air, or political campaign disclosure. Now, we discover that perhaps two of his top advisers, one moonlighting for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, have been linked to politics-as-usual dirty tricks.

BALTIMORE - A political aide to former Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich was convicted yesterday of conspiring to use Election Day robocalls in an effort to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election. Paul Schurick was found guilty of all four counts he faced, including conspiracy to fraudulently influence or attempt to influence a voter's decision whether to go to the polls and conspiracy to publish campaign material without an authority line. A stoic Schurick comforted his wife in the courtroom after the Baltimore jury's verdict was read, but declined to...

MADISON, Wis. - Democrats did not get faked out in the first of four elections in Wisconsin over the next month that will determine whether anger over Governor Scott Walker's antiunion proposal will translate into a loss of power for Republicans in the State House. All six Democrats prevailed in primary races on Tuesday against candidates put on the ballot by the Republican Party. Those fake Democrats ran in order to delay the general election for the incumbents until Aug. 9. Democrats decried the tactic, saying it would confuse voters.

Tom Wolfe's epic 1987 novel, "The Bonfire of the Vanities," unforgettably examined the money grubbing, hypocrisy, and spiritual hollowness of New York City during the 1980s. It mercilessly skewered Reagan-era American values, holding up a mirror that made readers simultaneously nod in self-recognition and flinch in horror. With "The Appeal," a novel that could become its own era-defining classic, John Grisham holds up that same mirror to our age. Like Wolfe, Grisham unfolds his tale of a lawsuit against a chemical company from the perspectives of all involved,...

NEW YORK - Charles W. Colson, who served as a political saboteur for President Nixon, masterminded some of the dirty tricks that led to the president's downfall, then emerged from prison to become an important evangelical leader, saying he had been born again, died Saturday. He was 80. The cause was complications resulting from a brain hemorrhage, according to Prison Fellowship Ministries, which Mr. Colson founded in Lansdowne, Va. Mr. Colson had brain surgery to remove a clot after becoming ill March 30 while speaking at a conference.

JOHANNESBURG - Ivan Toms, a South African doctor who played a key role in the campaign to end conscription of young white men to bolster apartheid security forces has died. He was 55. Dr. Toms, director of health for Cape Town, was found dead in his home on Tuesday. Cape Town officials said he died of meningitis. "He was a fighter against apartheid and for human and democratic rights," Mcebisi Skwatsha, secretary of the African National Congress in the Western Cape, was quoted by the South African Press Association as saying.

BALTIMORE - A political aide to former Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich was convicted yesterday of conspiring to use Election Day robocalls in an effort to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election. Paul Schurick was found guilty of all four counts he faced, including conspiracy to fraudulently influence or attempt to influence a voter's decision whether to go to the polls and conspiracy to publish campaign material without an authority line. A stoic Schurick comforted his wife in the courtroom after the Baltimore jury's verdict was read, but declined to...

SENATOR SCOTT Brown likes to rant against negative campaigning and dirty politics ("Brown disavows Twitter tweaking," Metro, Aug. 26). He even sends out fund-raising e-mails asking for donations to "fight back. " He and his advisers never seem to miss an opportunity to play the negative-campaign card any time anyone criticizes Brown for voting against summer jobs, or clean air, or political campaign disclosure. Now, we discover that perhaps two of his top advisers, one moonlighting for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, have been linked to politics-as-usual...

MADISON, Wis. - Democrats did not get faked out in the first of four elections in Wisconsin over the next month that will determine whether anger over Governor Scott Walker's antiunion proposal will translate into a loss of power for Republicans in the State House. All six Democrats prevailed in primary races on Tuesday against candidates put on the ballot by the Republican Party. Those fake Democrats ran in order to delay the general election for the incumbents until Aug. 9. Democrats decried the tactic, saying it would confuse voters.

Tom Wolfe's epic 1987 novel, "The Bonfire of the Vanities," unforgettably examined the money grubbing, hypocrisy, and spiritual hollowness of New York City during the 1980s. It mercilessly skewered Reagan-era American values, holding up a mirror that made readers simultaneously nod in self-recognition and flinch in horror. With "The Appeal," a novel that could become its own era-defining classic, John Grisham holds up that same mirror to our age. Like Wolfe, Grisham unfolds his tale of a lawsuit against a chemical company from the perspectives of all involved,...

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader warned Democrats yesterday to expect legal action over tactics he called "disgraceful" and "fascistic. " "Stay tuned," he said. "It's not over. " Democrats have tried to keep Nader off the ballot in several states, including New Hampshire. Nader called their efforts "the most disgraceful fascistic practices in the modern history of the Democratic Party. " He said his campaign is collecting documents to prove volunteers gathering signatures for him were harassed.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said Monday that he reserves the right to disregard efforts by South African President Jacob Zuma to mediate disputes in the nation's troubled coalition government. Mugabe also repeated his pledge to hold elections this year, even if it means defying Zuma and other regional leaders who say new polls should be held only after a new democratic constitution is in place. "This year we must have elections, they must take place with or without a new constitution," Mugabe said in interviews aired by the state broadcaster on the eve of his 88th...