Don't let Kerry wuss out on Ohio

[AmBlue]

This is probably already posted here, but bears repeating. I just wrote this to John Kerry:

Dear John Kerry,

Please, please, please do not withdraw from the Ohio recount case. I was a big supporter and worked myself to the bone on your campaign. I will never forget your promise that every single vote would be counted. I also contributed money (again) when you issued a last plea for donations to assure that every vote would count. Now I hear that you are going to withdraw from this case.

Mr. Kerry, with all due respect, you have a promise to keep. There is more than enough evidence to suggest fowl play in Ohio and we need YOU to be part of the effort. Nothing short of our very democracy is at stake. We can't continue to allow any elections in this country, much less presidential elections, to be tampered with and/or stolen. PLEASE join Cobb and Badnarik's amended counterclaims on the way the recount was conducted. Sir, you promised. Stand with us. We need you.

Sincerely...

I have no clue why we have to be asking this, but apparently our "leaders" need some guidance from time to time. Please feel free to use my letter if you like, but don't let Kerry walk away from this fight. Here's the link for contacting Kerry: http://www.johnkerry.com/contact/

More info and a link to John Conyers' letter to Kerry are below.

*****************

Dear Friends,

We have learned that the Kerry/Edwards campaign is preparing to withdraw from the Ohio recount case, which is pending in federal court. This move comes as Federal Judge Carr in Toledo prepares to hold a status conference on August 30 on this case, along with two other pending voting rights cases.

When most others stood aside, PDA stood for voting rights and untainted elections in Ohio and in the halls of Congress. We stood to make sure that every vote counts. We have continued to fight together without slowing down.

Yesterday, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. issued a letter to Senators Kerry and Edwards urging that they not withdraw from this case. Here is a link to the letter:

http://fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot.com/2005/08/congressman-conyers-urges-kerry-and.html

The National Voting Rights Institute and its general counsel John Bonifaz, a PDA National Advisory Board Member, represent 2004 presidential candidates David Cobb and Michael Badnarik in their request for a meaningful recount of the 2004 Ohio presidential vote. During the recount last December, NVRI and its clients documented extensive irregularities in the way county boards of election conducted the recount. This included evidence that the Triad corporation had tampered with voting machines prior to the start of the recount, as well as evidence the county election officials had directly violated rules and procedures so as to avoid a full hand count of the ballots.

In late December, Cobb and Badnarik filed amended counterclaims in this case alleging the recount was not conducted in accordance with basic equal protection and due process guarantees under the US Constitution. At stake in this case today is whether the court will grant the plaintiffs declaratory judgment, setting forth the constitutional standard for how recounts should be conducted in future federal elections. This is a critical precedent to set for any future presidential or congressional election.

Please call/write/email Kerry today urging that he not withdraw and that he join Cobb and Badnarik's amended counterclaims on the way the recount was conducted. To contact Kerry/Edwards campaign office, go to:

http://www.johnkerry.com/contact/


In light of the upcoming August 30 hearing before Judge Carr, time is of the essence. If the proper precedent - of creating a constitutional standard as to how recounts should be conducted in regard to due process guarantees - is set in this case, it will help assure that future elections can and will be held without taint or improper interference. Kerry and Edwards must not back away from this all-important struggle. If they do, they will not only be abandoning all those who stood for them in the campaign and all those who fought for a fair counting of the votes, but they will also be abandoning the fight to make sure that elections in this country do not become the murky purview of corporations whose machines and managers cannot be trusted. Please contact them today and tell them to keep standing for the vote.

In peace and solidarity,

Tim Carpenter
http://www.pdamerica.org

P.S. Thank you again for all your work this week with the launch of the People's Petition for an IRAQ PEACE PROCESS. If you have not signed the petition please go to:


http://www.pdamerica.org/petition/iraq-withdraw-petition.php#here

The vigils last night were amazing. Thank you again for all your help and support.

Please continue to support this work by visiting https://www.pdamerica.org/donate.php and making a contribution.

[madrchsod]

1. well let `s see......

the governor of ohio sat on the coingate scandal for two months before the election...no i don`t think kerry should say anything or do anything to piss off king george.
thank god there is a woman to do kerry`s job...wus out? he did that the day after the "election"

[AmBlue]

2. Okay... I should modify that

to say "wuss out COMPLETELY." Although, apparently, wussing out is what he does best.

[second edition]

4. You have just proven my point- this is noting but a bash Kerry

post. it seems like you are the wuss here, get all you facts straight and check out various sources before accusing someone of anything.

[AmBlue]

6. Sorry, but...

When I give a man my vote, my time, my money, my sweat and tears, and he gives me a PROMISE to make sure everyone's vote is counted, I expect him to do it. Kerry has kept his head notably low and virtually out of sight since the election. The man should be the leader he claims he can be. On the other hand, Conyers has been out in front on every single issue. I have no reason to doubt Conyers' letter and we need Kerry in the game. What's the big deal? What the heck are you talking about "suspect" and who you calling a wuss?? Get real.

[second edition]

3. This all has been posted at least three times. Very Suspect!

Coyner even seems to be unsure if this is actually true. Cobb's web pages have no new information on them pertaining to this matter and no one can identify the originator. PDA seems to be out for attention and is willing to discredit John Kerry's good name.
Kerry is very much aware of the importance of this issue, before anyone jumps the gun here wouldn't it be fair to question the true motives of those posting these claims and having no real documents to back their claims up with.
As I mentioned, Coyner's letter doesn't prove anything- he doesn't even appear to be sure about all of this.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dynasty_At_Passes]

8. Regarding this, if he's withdrawing from the lawsuit that is unwinnable...

Is this the lawsuit related to voting machines? If so, this is a very strange flip flop because he said at a veterans conference in may 2004 he would challenge every single place that unverified machines were counting the votes.

He said it was unacceptable, and that in light of irregularities there would be a challenge. This did not to my knowledge happen or happen in public, from what I take.

[kerrygoddess]

7. John Conyers on Paul Krugman’s OP/ED and the Kerry/Edwards Rumors

John Conyers on Paul Krugman’s OP/ED
August 19th, 2005

Yesterday I posted a copy of John Conyers’ letter to Kerry/Edwards regarding the Ohio Voter Fraud cases. Unfortunately Conyers’ letter started a firestorm. Anyone on PDA’s email list or frequents DU, knows what I am talking about. Today John Conyers’ posted a piece on his blog about Paul Krugman’s OP/ED, which Ron posted about earlier today. I found that post from John Conyers’ to be particularly helpful in sorting this mess out (more on that below).

I tried to get clarification on this issue yesterday from Kerry’s Senate office, after posting the letter and was directed to Kerry’s PAC, who I have been told, handle all correspondence regarding the Kerry/Edwards campaign. John Kerry was in Seattle today for a fundraiser for the 2006 cycle, so I hope to hear more soon on this subject.

Other concerned friends of Kerry/Edwards stepped up to the plate as well, to try to quell the firestorm. Please see this post from Karen on Democracy Cell Project: “Posted by: karen at August 19, 2005 05:38 PM (scroll down to the timestamp linked to the thread)” Here’s part of Karen’s post:


There were, apparently, three lawsuits in Ohio. The one that PDA is asking people to complain about is the first–the Badnarik-Green lawsuit. It is not a strong case. Lawyers have advised that this one is not winnable.

There are TWO MORE LAWSUITS and THEY are going forward. The second and third lawsuits are, according to my sources, based more on the civil rights issues and Kerry-Edwards are indeed part of these suits

What I got from reading John Conyers’ letter yesterday was that he was trying to verify some rumors. Unfortunately his letter was blown out of proportion and in my opinion, he as much as says so in his post today regarding Paul Krugman’s column.

The problem with answering my fellow progressives’ challenge for numbers is that so much of what happened in Ohio centered on unquantifiable events that makes counting the number of disenfranchised voters impossible. How can we determine exactly how many Kerry voters turned around and went home facing hopelessly long lines at the polls? Or how many voters were never registered, and were turned away on election day, because of bizarre and conflicting Ken Blackwell edits about the weight of voter registration forms? Or how many votes were lost because of machine defects or manipulation?

What I can say is what the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff said best in the Conyers report: “We have found numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election, which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters. Cumulatively, these irregularities, which affected hundreds of thousand of votes and voters in Ohio, raise grave doubts regarding whether it can be said the Ohio electors selected on December 13, 2004, were chosen in a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone federal requirements and constitutional standards.”* Is there an exact number? No. Was it potentially a net loss of more than 100,000 Democratic votes? I think so. I continue to investigate what happened in Ohio and in the rest of the nation in the 2004 election and maybe someday the evidence will be sufficiently irrefutable to convince every fair-minded person of the extent and effect of electoral wrongdoing in 2004.

In the meantime, my fellow progressives and I, agreeing with each other on so many things, could go back and forth arguing with one another — not about whether the GOP played dirty — but about whether there was ENOUGH fraud to shift the outcome of the election. I see this happen over and over between progressives, sometimes in a civil tone and sometimes not.^ In doing so, however, we would be losing sight of the fact that we actually disagree about very little. Krugman’s column brings that home.

Most telling of all from John Conyers today was his final comment about this subject which has been blown out of proportion on many blogs…

On some blogs, my staff advises me that the critique of allegations of irregularities has been so angry and accusatory, and allegations of irregularities so wild and unsubstantiated, that I could be banned for posting this entry — the topic itself is forbidden.

In a nutshell, friends, we need to all come to the table and work together for the future. Something else that John Conyers stressed in his post today and something that John Kerry has stressed over and over again since the election. Squabbling over this or any subject or issue is more harmful to the Democratic Party, than helpful.

Sure we can all disagree on things, but there comes a time when we all need to put our disagreements aside and work towards the greater good. This is one of those times. The 2006 elections are critical to the Democratic Party.

Rest assured that Kerry/Edwards and John Conyers are STILL investigating the voter fraud issue and as John Conyers said “maybe someday the evidence will be sufficiently irrefutable to convince every fair-minded person of the extent and effect of electoral wrongdoing in 2004.”

SEE POST FOR LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=287