This week, Breitbart News reported that Obama-allied groups were paying protesters to stand outside Mitt Romney rallies and heckle. This sort of thing has a long history in the Democratic Party; Occupy, of course, was largely bankrolled by the unions.

But it goes back even further than that. Back in 1998, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) – now the Democratic candidate for Senate in the state – actually allowed the Democratic Party to pay high school students to ditch school to campaign for her. For skipping class, they were paid $80 in cashier’s checks to do Berkley’s dirty campaign work.

Berkley, of course, has a record of electoral tricksterism. She was associated with Jack Abramoff – she wrote a letter urging the Bush administration to reject an Indian casino in Louisiana, even as she took $2,500 from Abramoff associates. She got her son, Max, a job as a staff assistant for Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), for a $25,000 salary. In 2002, she essentially funneled cash from Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) to Tom Lantos’ daughter; her campaign received $2,000 from Lantos, and a month later, her Super PAC donated $2,000 to Lantos’ daughter. Berkley is a big fan of using franked mail – taxpayer sponsored mail – to push political points; she did it at least a few times in 2006.

No wonder she originally voted against investigating Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) on tax fraud. You never know when turnabout may be necessary.