An Election Integrity Q & A Conference Call 2/16

[eridani]

Election Defense Alliance would like to let you know about:

An Election Integrity Q & A Conference Call
tomorrow afternoon, Sat. Feb. 16,
4:00 pm EST / 5:00 CST / 6:00 PST

and the media empowerment campaign behind the conference call, which you can learn about below.

https://www.spiderphone.com/Conference/vwDialIn.asp?AccessCode=01543567&NB=1&TZ=480
Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 4:00pm EST
Call [phone] or
Toll Free [phone]
Enter code 0154 3567

Log in to the website to ask questions and talk with:
John Bonifaz and Holly Jacobson, Directors at Voter Action
Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections, Leon County Florida
Tom Courbat, Executive Director of Save R Vote Riverside CA
and other concerned citizens.

To submit questions online, log in here:
https://www.spiderphone.com/01543567

Discussion will be moderated by Robert Carrillo Cohen, producer from the EMMY® Nominated HBO documentary Hacking Democracy and www.electionvideonews.com, and director of Public Interest Pictures Campaign for Election Protection.

(Be sure to watch "The Trouble with Touchscreens" and the other related campaign videos with your friends and colleagues before joining the call).

About The Campaign for Election Protection

-- Public Interest Pictures (PIP) launches the first in a series of media actions in The Campaign for Election Protection: A national election integrity call-in tele-conference, Saturday, Feb. 16 starting at 4:00 p.m. Eastern (see details above).

The Campaign is the newest division of PIP's ongoing nonpartisan mission to create
MEDIA TOOLS FOR THE GRASSROOTS.

The Campaign, described at http://www.pipdocs.org, bridges the efforts of the many election protection groups and supports their various strategies by providing the new media tools and resources needed to reach greater audiences.

We are currently working with VoterAction.org on their "Campaign to Reclaim" which is based on new evidence (presented in videos on their website) that exposes potential commercial fraud associated with the marketing and sale of defective voting systems throughout the country.

Our goal with this campaign is to increase public awareness around these serious issues and to empower people to take action.


Election Defense Alliance is partnering with Public Interest Pictures to promote The Campaign for Election Protection, which is developing new media communications capabilities to increase the effectiveness of all citizen organizations working to restore public accountability to public elections.

Future CEP campaigns will promote programs of other election integrity organizations.

Click these links for further information about Election Defense Alliance projects such as the "I Count Corps"
http://electiondefensealliance.org/count/signup.php

Election Defense Alliance
P.O. Box 3152
Culver City, CA 90231-3152
info {at} electiondefensealliance.org

[Peace Patriot]

1. Thanks for the heads up! The link to submit questions is not working.

I think that GAO head David Walker's resignation yesterday needs to be investigated. I suspect that he resigned over being pressured by someone (or someones) in Congress to issue the GAO whitewash report on ES&S/FL 13. Anyone have any info on this? Who could look into it? Maybe Brad Friedman?

DU thread about his resignation (see my comment 18) (posted by Maddezmom)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3183631

DU thread on Florida Fair Election Center's analysis of the GAO report (posted by Stevepol)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x497404

Walker's comments on why he resigned seem to me to be a veiled description of interference by Congress as to the GAO's independence and ability to issue objective reports having specifically to do with public policy regarding Congress itself--and that points to elections. The FL-13 case got tossed on the GAO rather abruptly. And they took little time, it seemed to me, in issuing a report that exonerated ES&S and took the heat off Congress and other bodies on election reform. Congress' inaction on the case is outrageous. I thought they might be throwing the hot potato to the GAO because they didn't have the political guts (too scared?) to do what was right, and I hoped that involving the GAO would put sufficient distance between the cowardly and the corrupt in Congress and SOMEBODY doing the right thing. But no. The opposite occurred. A GAO whitewash. I found this shocking--because of the GAO's reputation for independence. Then the next thing I learn (after reading the Florida group's stinging analysis of the GAO report), the GAO chief resigns, complaining of interference!

Also, this Peter G. Peterson Foundation--and something called "The Blackstone Group"--which is giving $1 billion and a cushy "golden parachute" to Walker, for private public policy research, needs to be looked into. IF the GAO's whitewash of ES&S is why Walker resigned, then we need to know if there is any connection between Congress members who pressured Walker on the report, and this private money.

I may be off-track on this one. The GAO does a lot of research, and a lot of reports, on a whole lot of issues. So maybe it was something else, or a complex of circumstances and pressures. And it's true, I'm focused on election reform--so that sequence of events is what stands out to me. But I've got a pretty good smeller. And the stench on this one is strong.

[eridani]

2. It may not be working until the time of the conference call

Please check the contact info to be sure.