The old political hand would make a list of ministers, politicians and grifters to approach. He would then set appointments with each one.

The first part of the appointment is to make sure the individual is basically sympathetic to Lieberman. Basically the old political hand is going to be making a sale. Steps of a sale: conversation, curiosity, conviction, desire and close.

As part of chit chat the old political hand is going to build the conviction of the minister, pol or grifter to support Lieberman. He also needs to determine what the minister, pol or grifter really wants. Some are going to want money, but most are going to want jobs, help with a federal grant or something else. If the minister is already getting some faith-based grant it's even easier to persuade them to play the game.

Part of building support for Lieberman and making it seem like buying votes is justifiable is to give the mark some information about Lamont that makes him seem so evil that breaking the law is justified. Also, since the old political hand and the ministers, pols and grifters probably go way back, there will also be an appeal based on "we wily veterans need to teach this snot-nosed upstart a lesson about how politics was done back in-the-day."

The ministers, politicians and grifters will be asked to get together lists of people they can deliver "for sure". Probably they will be encouraged to focus on particularly large families with a dominant head of household. If Mrs. Jones can deliver eight votes out of her house this does a couple of things.

1.    It reduces the number of cash transactions. Paying Mrs. Jones $200 is simpler than paying eight people $20. Also, there are fewer witnesses who can reveal the scheme.
2.    If the Jones household is hard in the Lieberman camp they may well persuade family, friends and neighbors to go with Lieberman incidentally.

The lists should be composed in advance. However, the disbursement of money needs to happen as late as possible. As soon as the money is on the street there will be a buzz in the community.

One subgroup of grifters that would be effective is drug dealers. They tend to know quite a few people in the community and they will keep their mouths shut.

Like ministers and politicians, drug dealers are feared for their power in poor communities. And this fear is exactly what makes vote buying possible. If the citizens are fearful enough of the people buying the votes then nobody will talk. Obviously, democracy is at least a partial sham if the citizens are afraid of the bosses.

Now I'm going to propose a way for the Lamont campaign to respond.

I would develop a flyer that said something, like....

Selling your vote for money is a crime!

If you or someone from your household has been paid to vote for Senator Joe Lieberman you could be prosecuted. If convicted you could be fined up to $X and sentenced to jail (or prison) for Y amount of time.

Because vote buying is illegal, you are under no obligation to vote for Joe Lieberman even if you have taken money. Under the law it is not a legal contract.

The Lamont campaign, with the support of the Democratic Party, will be investigating allegations of vote buying after the election.

If you were paid to vote for Lieberman you will not be prosecuted if you switch to supporting Ned Lamont or one of the other candidates for U.S. Senate.

To report incidents of vote buying, call the Lamont campaign, (phone number). To report other violations of election law call (applicable Connecticut election authority).

On the flip side I'd include a news article about the petty cash fund and a statement by Ned Lamont. Something like,

After consulting with numerous political experts I have concluded that the most likely explanation for the $387,000 expenditure listed as "petty cash" is that the Lieberman campaign is buying votes. The Lieberman campaign has been asked many times to explain how this money was used. Both Joe Lieberman and his campaign have refused to explain specifically how the money was used.

During this campaign I have witnessed Joe Lieberman lie about many things in his effort to hold onto power. His most egregious lies have been about Iraq. If he'd lie about a war that has killed almost 3,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands Iraqis, it's not hard to envision Lieberman buying votes in an election and lying about how he spend his campaign funds.

I'd distribute the flyer at the polls in precincts where the Lamont campaign suspects vote buying might have taken place. The flyer could be translated in ethnic communities.

Is it somewhat dirty? Yeah, but it's not terribly effective if the Lieberman campaign isn't buying votes. If the Lieberman campaign is buying votes this could be devastating. People who didn't get money to vote for Lieberman are going to figure they shouldn't support Lieberman. Why give your vote away when your neighbor got paid for his?

And if the Lieberman campaign doesn't explain how it used the $387,000 in petty cash then the Lamont campaign is probably justified in playing hardball. Think of it as getting "New School" on "Old School" Joe.