Saturday 2/19 Election Fraud, Reform, & Updates Thread

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to reform, fraud, protests, and other items. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

Please help us. If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. Thanks to everyone who is helping with this project.


Link to the thread from yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x329550#330106

[MelissaB]

1. State Rep. Jim Trakas wants to restore restore the public's trust in Ohio

Trakas plans secretary of state race

Saturday, February 19, 2005
Ted Wendling
Plain Dealer Bureau
Columbus

-- State Rep. Jim Trakas will become the first candidate to declare his candidacy for secretary of state in 2006 when he makes a formal announcement Monday in Independence.

The veteran Cleveland legislator, who has served seven years in the House and headed the Cuyahoga County Republican Party for nine years, said he wants to restore the public's trust in Ohio elections.

"I really believe that the most important part of that office is to make sure that the bipartisan election boards and the secretary of state's office are working in congruence and that people have a lot of confi dence in the elections process," he said. "That seems to be lacking now.

"I don't blame that on Secretary Blackwell, but the environment for the last election really hurt that, and I want to restore it."

More: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/110880938057720.xml

[MelissaB]

2. Key legislator gives ground over Shelley

Key legislator gives ground over Shelley
His quitting makes testimony less likely, Democrats say

Christian Berthelsen, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, February 19, 2005

Sacramento -- The chairwoman of the legislative committee investigating Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's handling of federal voting act funds Friday formally dropped her demand that Shelley testify next week, a marked change from last month when she threatened to subpoena him before he resigned.

Before he agreed to leave office, Democrats sought an agreement from Republican counterparts that Shelley would not have to testify if he agreed to leave office. Shelley's desire to avoid testifying before the committee was said by his associates to be a driving factor in his decision to resign.

Republicans never agreed to the overture, but Democrats suggested privately Friday that Shelley's departure from office made it less likely he would ever appear as a witness.

Shelley resigned Feb. 4 under an avalanche of criticism over everything from his treatment of employees and management of the federal Help America Vote Act to questionable contributions to his 2002 secretary of state campaign.

More here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/19/BAGKDBE2PV1.DTL

[MelissaB]

3. Shelley won't attend legislative hearing

Shelley won't attend legislative hearing

By Jim Sanders -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, February 19, 2005

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who has resigned effective March 1, will not appear Tuesday before a legislative committee investigating his handling of millions in federal voting funds.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee opted not to seek Shelley's testimony, but retains the right to request his presence at a future hearing, said Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, a Hanford Democrat who chairs the committee.

"We want to build a foundation before we even discuss calling Shelley forward," Parra said.

Tuesday's hearing will focus largely on what Shelley's office is doing to correct problems cited in a state audit, which portrayed his agency as highly partisan, disorganized, indifferent to state and federal rules, and willing to use what was intended to be nonpartisan election money to push Democratic causes.

More: http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/12396757p-13252967c.html

[MelissaB]

4. Conyers has his own blog!

Link: http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_biography.htm

Thanks to babsbunny here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x328205

[MelissaB]

5. Michael Moore covers "Gannon"

Must Read

Jeff Gannon--the Bulldog in the press corps--flip-flops on his previous "no more talking to the press" stance. Gannon re-entered the fray after becoming dismayed at the media's coverage of the story. He says:
"I need to speak to a couple of issues. I need to talk about my relationship with the White House and whether I was a plant or not -- that needs to be brought out."


And is Jeff Gannon a plant? "Absolutely not," Gannon says--he was just a regular dude who didn't work for a news organization and whose only dream was to report White House activities in a way "the White House believed or wanted."



Scott McLellan tells Editor & Publisher that the press secretary's office at the White House knew Gannon represented GOPUSA.com and that this was seen as a legitimate news site (which, if true, is cause for concern in itself). McLellan refused to identify who at the White House approved Gannon's initial credentials.

More: Lawmaker presses White House on Gannon | Freedom of Information may not actually be free | Gannon admits past mistakes | Radio producer relied on Gannon for news tips | Who invited Gannon to the White House Christmas parties? | Keith Olbermann says the entire dynamic of the controversy has changed.

Link: http://michaelmoore.com/

[MelissaB]

6. Olbermann blogs

• February 17, 2005 | 7:26 p.m. ET

Press pass bypass (Keith Olbermann)


SECAUCUS— There is a guy who sits, during every game, in the press box of a major league baseball stadium. And he is issued a credential each season because it turns out the owner of the team likes the canolis that the guy makes at his bakery.

The first time he appeared, with a seat in the back row with a nameplate affixed to it, we knew he wasn’t exactly the new man from Sports Illustrated. He had a certain problem with, well, language (he said a player with a strained muscle near where his legs meet was out with a “groan injury”), and with forgetting that the proper response to an error on the field by the home team was not to stand up and start screaming at the player — or weeping.

As soon as this gentleman arrived, the real baseball reporters questioned the team’s press representative as to who this guy was and what was he doing there. And they got some concessions out of the team — like, this man couldn't go into the clubhouses or on the field and ask questions of the players while the reporters were trying to get answers to include in their reports.

In short, ‘Groan Injury Man’ was better vetted by that ballclub than James Guckert alias Jeff Gannon was vetted by the White House press office.

Today, the key, slim, rationale for his admittance to the briefing room - that the ‘vanity website’ for which he ‘reported,’ Talon News, was created four days before “Jeff Gannon” got his first White House pass — collapsed. It was revealed that Guckert attended his first White House press briefing no later than February 2003. "Talon News" would not be launched until late the following month.

Much more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

[MelissaB]

7. Man Pleads to Registering Mary Poppins

Man Pleads to Registering Mary Poppins

By Associated Press

February 19, 2005, 9:02 AM EST


DEFIANCE, Ohio -- A man pleaded guilty to charges he filled out phony voter registration cards in the names of Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Michael Jordan and George Foreman.

Chad Staton, 22, faces up to a year in prison and $2,500 fine on each of 10 counts of false registration at his sentencing April 13. He pleaded guilty on Thursday.

Election officials spotted the phony registration forms and notified the Defiance County sheriff, who arrested Staton in December. Officials said Staton had fraudulently filled out more than 100 forms.

A woman told authorities she paid Staton cocaine to sign up voters for the November election. Rather than getting legitimate voters, Staton filled out the phony forms, authorities said.

The woman, Georgianne Pitts, 41, was found dead in her Toledo home in early December. Officials said she died from an accidental overdose of prescription medication.

Link: http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-brf-registration-scam,0,2784122.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines

[zbdent]

22. I just ran across this, and thought how strange . . .

that the woman who "claimed she paid Staton with cocaine" ended up "dying" of an accidental overdose . . .

Espectially when the Right would probably like to keep her alive, if true, to bolster their claim that WE are the ones doing the dirty tricks . . . Wasn't this tidbit bandied about a lot by the Right in the media?

[MelissaB]

8. Election fraud to be discussed at APSU

Election fraud to be discussed at APSU

By STACY SMITH SEGOVIA
The Leaf-Chronicle


Although the majority of the media and the American public have moved on, Bernard Ellis says there are less-visible throngs of people who are still trying to make sense of last November's presidential election.

"I'm convinced that a host of laws were broken — both small and large laws — in the 2004 elections," Ellis says.

Ellis, a Tennessee public health epidemiologist with 30 years experience in the field, will speak 7-9 p.m. Monday at Austin Peay State University's Morgan University Center.

"Using a fast-paced graphic presentation, Ellis will cover a half-dozen aspects of the continuing controversy on the conduct of the 2004 election and review options for election reform that are needed now," says a release about the event.

Ellis points to writers such as Bush supporter Christopher Hitchens whose current Vanity Fair column, "Ohio's Odd Numbers," claims the presidential election was stolen in that state. The 8-million-vote discrepancy between the official tally and election night exit polls should cause Americans to question how our votes are recorded.

More: http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050219/LIFESTYLE/502190303/1024

[MelissaB]

9. Discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x330503

[Peace Patriot]

10. Election Rigging TEACH-IN's in Oakland & Santa Monica, CA, next weekend!

OAKLAND, Calif., Sat. Feb. 26

ELECTION RIGGING 101
A National Teach-In
On the 2004 election and what we must do to restore democracy

With Bob Fitrakis
Ohio Attorney, Editor, Columbus Free Press
(one of the four attorneys fighting sanctions in Ohio for Moss v. Bush)

Saturday, Feb. 26th
10am - 4pm
1st Congregational Church
2501 Harrison St. Oakland

$10 suggested donation
please bring lunch
more information to be posted soon at: www.democraticrenewal.com

How to Rig It:
-11 hour lines for democrats only
-"kerry" votes defaulting to "bush"
- registered voters purged
- exit polls ignored
- recounts that weren’t
and much more.

How to stop it:
- stunning documentary footage
- speakers
- action

Butch Wing, Rainbow Push
Larry Bensky, KPFA
Walter Riley, East Bay Votes
Speakers from Blackboxvoting.org
VotersUnite.org
Open Voting Consortium
the MMOB
and more

www.democratic renewal.com

------------

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sun. Feb. 27

"Who Got Glitched: An Election Reform Teach-In"
Sunday, Feb 27th, 2:00 - 5:00 pm
The Church at Ocean Park
(2nd and Hill, Santa Monica)

Presenting:
Bev Harris, Black Box Voting, Investigator
Bob Fitrakis, Columbus Free Press,
(Attorney, Moss vs. Bush/Cheney/Blackwell)
The Jonas/Quinn/ Ritt legal team for Ohio
Blair Bobier, Green Party, ‘The Ohio Recount’
Great Film Clips &
‘Building a Civil Rights /Voter Rights Coaliton’
Moderated by Ian Masters, KPFK
with Butch Wing, Rainbow Push
Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange & Codepink
Brad Freidman, Velvet Revolution
Kevin Spidel, Progressive Democrats
Blair Bobier, Green party
Susan Clark, Pro-Democracy Advocate
Mandeep Gill, Citizen Lobbyist ..and YOU!

Tickets $10 - No one turned away for lack of funds
Ticket orders & info: [e-mail]
Seating limited. Reservations recommended.

http://www.citizensact.org/pages/2/index.htm

[dzika]

11. Video - Countdown links Gannon to Daschle Senate loss - 2/18 @ 8:00PM ET

Video - Countdown links "insider" Gannon to Daschle Senate loss - 2/18 @ 8:00PM ET



Video in Real Media format (128k stream / 8 minutes):
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/olbermann_gannon_daschle_050218-128-01.ram

[dzika]

12. Video - HBO's Bill Maher jabs at Gannon, Bush & Rove - 2/18 @ 11PM ET

Video - HBO's Bill Maher jabs at Gannon, Bush & Rove - 2/18 @ 11PM ET

Bill's guests are Robin Williams, Leslie Stahl (60 Minutes), Democratic Senator Joe Biden, Republican Ex-HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and actor Don Cheadle.

Robin Williams and jokes about Jeff "Gannon" shouldn't be allowed on the same comedy show.



Video in Real Media format (100k stream / 21 minutes)
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/maher_gannon_050218-01.ram

[dzika]

13. WA Senate election-overhaul bills advance

Friday, February 18, 2005

WA Senate election-overhaul bills advance

By CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT


OLYMPIA -- An extensive series of election-overhaul bills designed to restore public trust and prevent the problems revealed in the controversial 2004 governor's race advanced out of committee yesterday and could come up for a full Senate vote as early as next week.

Senate Democrats lauded the measures as effective but not overreaching, while Republicans criticized them as being mainly cosmetic.

The bills would fine-tune the elections system in hopes that it would perform better in the case of another incredibly close race. They would standardize the election procedures from county to county, require photo identification at polling places and allow advertising in the primary voters guide, to name just a few of the changes.

Jim Kastama, D-Tacoma, said the state must set the standards high to assure public trust in elections.

"You have no other choice but perfection," said Kastama, the chairman of the Senate Government Operations and Elections committee. "To do otherwise is to say that you discount someone's vote."


more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/212605_election18.html

[dzika]

14. Democratic Senators Offer Bill to Reform Election Procedures

February 18, 2005

Democratic Senators Offer Bill to Reform Election Procedures

Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and John Kerry (D-MA), aligned with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-MA) and Representative Sheila Tubbs Jones (D-OH), introduced a voting reform bill yesterday in an attempt to make sure that every American is able to vote and that every vote is counted. The Count Every Vote Act of 2005 gives voters the right to register and vote on Election Day itself, makes Election Day a federal holiday, requires states to reduce the waiting times at polling locations, and requires paper ballots for every vote cast in an electronic voting machine.

“We cannot let another Election Day go by without doing everything we can to make sure the voters have confidence in our voting system,” said Senator Clinton. “This shouldn’t be a Republican or Democratic issue. This is a voter issue, plain and simple.”

“Our democracy is the centerpiece of who we are as a nation,” said Senator Boxer, “and we must take action to ensure that the American people have full confidence in our electoral system.” The Count Every Vote Act is a response to the many irregularities of the 2004 presidential election, especially in the state of Ohio. In order to bring attention to the need for election reform, Senator Boxer joined with Democratic members of the US House in challenging the Ohio presidential election.

The Feminist Majority Foundation was one of several groups that documented the irregularities in the 2004 election. FMF President Eleanor Smeal testified before the Congressional Forum on Election Irregularities in Ohio in December, stating that an analysis of the 2004 Ohio voting data revealed many concerns about voting equipment and long lines at select wards and college campuses.

LEARN MORE about the election irregularities in Ohio


source: http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=8911

[dzika]

15. Jeb Bush's Election Reform Proposals Rile County Supervisors

February 18, 2005

Jeb Bush's Election Reform Proposals Rile County Supervisors

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush said he's not set in stone the recommendations giving the secretary of state more authority over the state election system.

Election officials outlined a bold attempt to consolidate statewide elections supervisory powers under his authority.

Among other things, the proposal would give the secretary of state the power to purge the state's voter rolls.

Currently that responsibility is given to local elections officials.

Some of the state's 67 elections supervisors say Bush broke faith with them when the secretary of state's office disclosed its recommendations during a conference call Thursday.

The recommendations also blind-sided legislative leaders.


source: http://www.news4jax.com/news/4210946/detail.html

[dzika]

16. Connecticut Election Reform At An Impasse

February 18, 2005

Connecticut Election Reform At An Impasse

Rell, Senate Leader In Stalemate Over Spending Limits



Once an opponent of public financing, Bayless is now a convert. Her reason: The Arizona law led candidates to rely less on expensive television ads and more on face-to-face interaction with voters.

"It forces candidates to talk to hundreds or thousands of ordinary people, as opposed to raising money from lobbyists and wealthy individuals," Bayless said.

But the fate of a proposal to create a similar system in Connecticut will turn less on public hearing testimony today than on closed-door meetings in which lawmakers try to break a stalemate between Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr.

In the aftermath of an ethics scandal that toppled the administration of Gov. John G. Rowland, nearly everyone at the state Capitol professes support for ethics and campaign reforms. The trick is building a consensus around the same reforms.


more: http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-newcampaign0218.artfeb18,0,2795265.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

[dzika]

17. Alabama Voter fraud group pushes ID cards

Friday, February 18, 2005

Alabama Voter fraud group pushes ID cards

A grassroots fight against voter fraud found its way to the top state voter fraud investigator on Friday, Feb. 11.

The Democracy Defense League, a group headed up by Hale County residents Ronnie Crawford and Perry Beasley, met with Alabama Attorney General Troy King and members of his staff met for an extended amount of time with representatives in Tuscaloosa.
..
At least two points discussed was the need for stronger election laws and photo identification at the polling place.
...
The Democracy Defense League has accomplished its first goal by bring its concerns for fair elections to Alabama to attend the next meeting to be held on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 6:00 p.m. at the Moundville Town Hall.


more: http://www.recordjournal.net/index.asp?storyid=2151

[dzika]

18. CALLING OUT JAMES GUCKERT

Volume 18, Issue 7

CALLING OUT JAMES GUCKERT

You, in the back with the greased abs and sailor hat.

By Michelangelo Signorile
www.signorile.com



When it rains exposed hacks, it sure pours exposed hacks! First there was Armstrong Williams, the dimwit who took money from the Bush administration to push its education policies on television and in his columns. Then there was Maggie Gallagher, the one-time single mom who believes everyone should be made to marry—except for gays, who should be prevented from doing so through a constitutional amendment—and who was paid to write administration policy on the subject for government brochures while hawking herself as an independent pundit. Gallagher was followed by Michael McManus, an "Ethics and Religion" columnist who certainly wasn't being ethical when he took money from the Bush administration, though he did it religiously.

The latest "journalist" with a curious relationship to the White House is James Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon, who wrote antigay screeds and gay-baited John Kerry—possibly the first "gay president," he said in one of his leading questions during press conference—but who now looks to have been associated with gay-hustler-themed websites while mysteriously gaining access to daily White House briefings.

To listen to the arrogant and suddenly pious anchors and reporters of the corporate press corps—who've hardly been guardians of privacy in recent years—it's all just so unseemly. The hand-wringing over liberal bloggers' supposed revelations about the fake White House reporter's "personal life" has been comical; and no matter what they say, it certainly does not reflect any newfound regard for privacy. It looks more like the media got beat, again, on a story that was sitting right under their noses. Playing catch up, they had to create a back-story that also acted as an alibi. Thus all the talk about the brutality of the bloggers who beat them to the punch.

Like bratty kids made to eat their greens, CNN, the Washington Post, New York Times and other news organizations were eventually forced to report on how a fraud using a false name and working for a right-wing web site owned by a Republican Party operative in Texas —Talon News—gained access to daily White House press briefings for two years. Guckert even appears to have seen or known about (he declined to tell Editor & Publisher when asked) a memo that outed Valerie Plame, Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, as an undercover CIA agent.


more: http://www.nypress.com/18/7/news&columns/signorile.cfm

[dzika]

19. Transcript of Jeff Gannon (James Guckert) Interview With CNN's Cooper

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Transcript of Jeff Gannon (James Guckert) Interview With CNN

By ADVOCATE STAFF


(The following is a transcript of a conversation between CNN's Anderson Cooper (AC) and discredited White House "reporter" Jeff Gannon (also known as James Guckert, herein "JG") which took place at approximately 5:30 P.M. on Friday, February 18th. The video of the full interview can be found here).

AC (LIVE): I spoke with Jeff Gannon earlier this evening. I started by asking him why he doesn't use his real name.

JG (BEGIN TAPE): I use a pseudonym, because my real name is very difficult to pronounce, to remember, and to spell. And many people who have been talking about me on television have yet to pronounce it correctly.

AC: But, I mean, your real name is James and you used the pseudonym Jeff.


continued: http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/transcript-of-jeff-gannon-james.html

---

From toolz.blogs.com:
February 18, 2005

Video - Anderson Cooper interviews "Gannon" - 2/18 @ 5:30 P.M. ET



Video in QuickTime format:
http://toolz.blogs.com/toolz_of_the_new_school/files/guckert_on_cnn.mov

source: http://toolz.blogs.com/toolz_of_the_new_school/2005/02/bulldog_on_360.html

[dzika]

20. Government gets warning on 'fake news'

Published: 02.19.2005

Government gets warning on 'fake news'

WASHINGTON - Congressional investigators warned federal agencies this week that the promotion of government policies through video news releases meant to look like TV news stories may violate federal rules against propaganda.

In a letter sent Thursday to heads of government departments and agencies, the Government Accountability Office noted that "prepackaged news stories have become common tools of the public-relations industry."

The presentations "are intended to be indistinguishable from news segments broadcast to the public by independent television news organizations," the letter said.

Comptroller General David M. Walker warned that such productions may violate a government prohibition, enacted in 1951, against the use of appropriated funds for propaganda.


more: http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/news/62129.php

[Wilms]

21. ILCA: Drawing A Line Against Voter Harassment

International Labor Communications Association

Drawing A Line Against Voter Harassment

By Greg Moses,
ILCA Associate Member
February 19, 2005

Texas attorney Andy Taylor set out to prove that illegal and fraudulent voter behaviors were the main reasons behind the November election defeat of a Republican incumbent in a West Houston race for the Texas House. But according to archives of original documents that Taylor submitted in support of his case, it appears that he willfully ignored plain evidence that a number of voters were more likely victims, not perpetrators of wrongdoing. He went after them anyway.

Several voters of Nigerian descent discovered when they tried to vote in the November elections, that they had been fraudulently re-registered into a neighboring House District. Sometime in late 2003, someone had submitted new registrations for these voters, placing them into a legislative district that would soon involve a candidate of Nigerian descent. The candidate lost to an incumbent in the Democratic primary election.

-snip/more-

<http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1865&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0>