Monday 2/28 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=203x335355

[dzika]

1. Can Dean solve the identity crisis?

From The Daily Trojan:
Published by The University of Southern California
Monday, February 28, 2005

Can Dean solve the identity crisis?

By Robert Iafolla


If 60,000 Ohioans had switched their vote, things might look very different to the Democrats. But the Buckeye State went to Bush, and considering the Republican gains in Congress, it's impossible to deny the truth about November's election: It was a stomping.

...
Republican candidates have won seven of the last 10 presidential elections. Of the last two Democratic presidents, one was an evangelical Christian, and the other - a self-styled "New Democrat" - was essentially a moderate Republican.

...
Of course, the right is already up to their old tricks, attempting to cast Dean as an arch-liberal, out of touch with mainstream Americans.

The head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Tom Reynolds, recently instructed supporters to call Democrats "Deanocrats" and associate Dean with Michael Moore and Barbra Streisand.

...
For years a Democratic hallmark has been the support of a woman's right to choose. Recently, several party luminaries - Hillary Clinton, Kerry and Dean himself - hedged their rhetoric on abortion. Furthermore, Democratic senators are urging two ardent abortion rights opponents to run for Senate seats in 2006.

This style of me-too politics, which allows Republicans to frame the debate, has gotten the party in trouble before.

more: http://www.dailytrojan.com/news/2005/02/28/Opinions/Can-Dean.Solve.The.Identity.Crisis-878907.shtml

[dzika]

2. The Top 10 Conservative Idiots from DU

February 28, 2005

The Top 10 Conservative Idiots
Fourth Annual Oscar Special!

Yes, it's Oscar time again! This year's categories include Most Surreal use of Homophobic Propaganda, Worst Actor In A Leading Role, Best Defilement Of The Language Of Jefferson, and Biggest Bunch Of Morons. The nominations list is packed with a galaxy of stars including USA Next (1), George W. Bush (2), Jeff Gannon (4), The Traditional Values Coalition (5), and Arnold Schwarzenegger (7). Yes, it's the closest Arnie is ever going to get to owning a real Oscar. So come on in and enjoy the glitz and glamor that is Democratic Underground's Top 10 Conservative Idiots Fourth Annual Oscar Special! Don't forget the key...


USA Next
Most Surreal Use Of Homophobic Propaganda: During the last election conservatives realized that these days it doesn't matter how outrageous your lies are because the media won't bother explaining why you're a liar. Instead, in order to be "fair and balanced," the media will actually help out by giving your lies the old "some people say..." treatment. After all, the Corporate Media don't want to be accused of being liberal, do they? So any old bullshit from the right is now treated as if it's an alternate version of the truth. Exhibit A: the Swift Boat Veterans, and the fact that somehow - thanks, "liberal" media - a lot of people have gotten the idea that George W. Bush's Vietnam record was more honorable that John Kerry's. Which is the complete opposite of the truth. Pretty amazing, huh?

...



Got that everyone? While the AARP is advising its members on the dangers of Bush's Social Security privatization scheme, USA Next informs us of the reeeeal AARP Agenda: to get rid of the military and replace it with hot man-on-man action. If I may slip into the Internet vernacular for a moment, WTF? I mean, talk about a non sequitur.

According to the New York Times, USA Next "has hired Chris LaCivita, an enthusiastic former marine who advised Swift Vets and P.O.W.'s for Truth, formerly known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, on its media campaign and helped write its potent commercials." The results, as you can see above, are fabulous. And Chris LaCivita isn't the only one - USA Next has either hired or is looking to hire several more people connected to the Swift Boat Veterans.

So as America attempts to have a serious debate on the future of Social Security, be on the lookout for more USA Next commercials over the coming weeks. Before you know it, the reeeeal AARP agenda will involve singing the praises of Osama bin Laden while dancing on the Ten Commandments.


George W. Bush
Best Attempt At Keeping A Straight Face Considering The Circumstances: Our Great Leader was on a European vacation last week, and what a jolly time he had! After deciding that spending most of his first term publicly scorning the French and Germans wasn't very good foreign policy, Bush tried to make nice by sucking up to Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder and, um, accidentally insulting NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Of course, having learned that invading a country without any international support doesn't often bring the best results, it did appear as if Bush was just trying to get the Yurpeans to help out with his next invasion. Not that there's going to be another invasion, let me make that clear! Why, Bush said just last week that it is "simply ridiculous" to think that the US might invade Iran. Five seconds later he followed up with, "Having said that, all options are on the table." Including the simply ridiculous options, apparently. Bush also took the time to visit with his old friend Vladimir "Pootie-Poot" Putin, where he had a bit of a rough time. During a press conference, an obviously confused Bush offered up this interesting statement: "I live in a transparent country. I live in a country where decisions made by government are wide open." Right... so you'll be telling us who was on the Energy Policy Task Force, then? Or why your administration finagled all that "evidence" about Iraq's WMD capabilites? Or who outed Valerie Plame? Or who was responsible for the Jeff Gannon scandal? Or... oh, forget it.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/05/188.html">Read the Entire Article from DU

[dzika]

3. Video - Journalists Trash Dan Rather as he Retires

Video - Journalists Trash Dan Rather as he Retires



Watch the Video (2 minutes)

[dzika]

4. USA TODAY: USA Next campaign targets AARP

2/28/2005 1:35 AM

USA Next campaign targets AARP

By William M. Welch and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — An organization stirring controversy in the debate over Social Security's future is applying techniques learned through years of fundraising for conservative causes.

...
The group plans an initial $10 million campaign accusing AARP of a "shameful record of liberal activism," including backing gay marriage. Its first step was an Internet ad last week that asserted AARP supports gay marriage. It included a picture of two men kissing at what appeared to be their wedding over the words, "The real AARP agenda."

In style and tactics, the USA Next campaign appears to be modeled on the effort by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to tarnish Democrat John Kerry in last year's presidential campaign.

The veterans group parlayed an initial financial stake, about $500,000, into a much larger political force through a provocative TV ad. That generated media attention, which led to stepped-up fundraising. The group, later renamed Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, raised and spent $22.5 million on hard-hitting anti-Kerry ads, putting it among the most influential of the independent political groups in the campaign.

Many of those involved in the USA Next campaign are alumni of the Swift Boat ad campaign. Strategist Chris LaCivita has been hired. The group is looking to enlist the same media firm that devised the Swift Boat ads, Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm. Creative Response Concepts, a public relations firm that worked for the Swift Boat Veterans, and Regnery Publishing, which produced an anti-Kerry book for the Swift Boat group, also are helping.


more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-02-27-soc-security-aarp_x.htm

[dzika]

5. 2 Russian Reporters Challenge Bush

Monday, February 28, 2005

2 Russian Reporters Challenge Bush

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- Incensed by U.S. talk of a lack of press freedom in Russia, two Russian reporters tried to turn the tables on U.S. President George W. Bush during his news conference with President Vladimir Putin.

...
Before Bush could answer, the reporter then turned on Putin and demanded to know why he was not sticking up for Russian reporters by talking about violations of the rights of American journalists.

A startled Bush then replied that Putin had brought up the subject of journalists getting fired recently in the United States.

...
"It seems to me that you have nothing to disagree about," Kolesnikov said, addressing the two presidents. "And it is worth agreeing that the regimes in place in Russia and the United States cannot be considered fully democratic, especially when compared to some countries of Europe, for example, to the Netherlands.

"It seems to me that, as far as Russia is concerned, excuse me Vladimir Vladimirovich, everything is more or less clear. But as far as the United States is concerned, we could probably talk at length."


more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/28/003.html

[dzika]

6. Is Dubya in the closet?

Feb 28, 2005

Is Dubya in the closet?

By DOUG THOMPSON


Ah, the irony of it all. The administration of George W. Bush, easily the most homophobic president of modern times, deployed a homosexual escort and promoter of gay life styles as one of its “propaganda as journalism” shills.

...
Paul Leddy, a California Web designer, says Guckert contacted him in an America Online chat room in 1999 and contracted with him to create a gay escort web site, paying $200, plus $50 in monthly maintenance fees. Checks to pay the fees came from Bedrock Corp., a company also listed as the owner of Guckert’s blog, jeffgannon.com. Leddy says Gannon submitted nude photos of himself for posting on the site.

...
Bush’s minions saw Guckert as a valuable commodity, granting him access to classified documents, including the infamous memo that outed Ambassador (and Bush critic) Joseph Wilson’s wife, Valerie Palme, as a CIA operative. House Democrats are demanding a special investigator into that stunt.

...
Yet Guckert’s sexual preferences are not the story here (they just make it more interesting). Real concerns should be raised over increasing revelations on how the Bush administration uses paid propagandists disguised as journalists. From video press releases dressed up to look like real news stories to hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to right-wing columnists to write favorable opinion pieces about the administration, the Bush administration proves it will stop at nothing to mislead the American public.


more: http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_6318.shtml

[dzika]

7. 'Gannon' a lackey in journalist attire

From The Daily Aztec at San Diego State University:
Monday, February 28, 2005

'Gannon' a lackey in journalist attire

By Beth Benson


Reporter: "Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. (Senate minority leader) Harry Reid was talking about soup lines. And (Senator) Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath, they say Social Security is rock solid and there's no crisis. How are you - and you've said you are going to reach out to these people - how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"

The above question was asked of President Bush at a rare Jan. 26 White House press conference by conservative "reporter" Jeff Gannon of Talon online news service. The blatantly partisan nature of this "question" - which featured incorrect information about Reid - sparked both outrage and inquiries into who Jeff Gannon is and what exactly is Talon news.

...
It also came out that while Gannon received daily clearance into the White House press corps, his credentials and Talon news did not even qualify for a Congressional press pass, according to the Post-Intelligencer.

...
Furthermore, Gannon was somehow able to obtain a secret CIA memo that exposed the identity of White House critic Joseph Wilson's wife, a covert CIA operative, according to The Washington Post; Gannon was one of the journalists to expose her and was later questioned by special prosecutors.

...
Though there is absolutely no evidence the White House was involved, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was seemingly complicit in allowing a pseudo-journalist into the daily briefings. Even though Gannon registered with his real name to obtain the press day passes, McClellan called on him frequently during briefings using his fake name, according to The Washington Post. There are also accusations that McClellan used Gannon as a device to break up tough strings of questions from the other reporters, calling on him in order to change the tone or subject.


source: http://www.thedailyaztec.com/news/2005/02/28/Opinion/gannon.A.Lackey.In.Journalist.Attire-878836.shtml?page=2

[dzika]

8. Impartial reporters or talking heads?

"The Bush administration's attempts to control the flow of information in a democratic society are disturbing because democracy requires a press free of government manipulation to provide accurate information for citizens to make decisions."

Citizens DO need accurate information to make decisions... important decisions like voting.

---

From The Daily Cardinal from the University of Wisconsin-Madison:
Monday, February 28, 2005

Impartial reporters or talking heads?

By Nick Rotchadl

The Bush administration's propaganda machine continues to unravel courtesy of "Jeff Gannon." President Bush's hypocrisy is clear-he touts the virtues of open societies to other countries, but attempts to manipulate the media at home with people such as Mr. Gannon.

...
Jeff Gannon is only the latest in a disturbing trend of the Bush administration attempting to control the media. In 2004 Karen Ryan appeared as a new anchor in fake news reports, since deemed to be covert propaganda by the General Accountability Office, hyping the President's Medicare prescription drug plan. Earlier this year we learned Armstrong Williams, a conservative commentator, was paid $240,000 by the Education Department to promote No Child Left Behind, a fact Williams failed to note in his numerous articles promoting the act.

In a similar situation, the Department of Health and Human Services paid $21,500 to columnist Maggie Gallagher and $10,000 to columnist Michael McManus to promote Bush's marriage initiative. Both failed to note they were being paid in columns which promoted the initiative.

The Bush administration's attempts to control the flow of information in a democratic society are disturbing because democracy requires a press free of government manipulation to provide accurate information for citizens to make decisions. President Bush undermines the democracy he so adamantly promotes by manipulating the media.


source: http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/2005/02/28/Opinion/Impartial.Reporters.Or.Talking.Heads-879024.shtml?page=2

[dzika]

9. U.S. Govt - If It Walks Like A Goose… (Part II)

Monday, 28 February 2005, 8:12 pm

U.S. Govt - If It Walks Like A Goose… (Part II)

Column: Mark Drolette


Part I compared Bush administration actions to the first seven of fourteen “basic characteristics” Laurence W. Britt claims (in his article “Fascism Anyone?”) typify fascistic regimes. Here’s a similar look at the list’s back end:

“8. Religion and ruling elite tied together. Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the ‘godless.’ A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.”

...
Fixing an election? Small potatoes.


Volumes have been written by those of us in the alternative media about the shaft driven right up our electoral bums by bums like Rove, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, and Wally O’Dell, just to name a filthy few. Staunch Republican O’Dell is the chief executive and board chairman of Diebold, which, along with conservative-owned Election Systems & Software (ES&S), “now control 80% of the vote count in the United States” (according to Schuyler Ebbets in Scoop, September 2003).

The corporate media on the treasonous takeover of our country? Virtually peepless.

Yep, it’s pretty weird how the U.S. can cite exit polls in Ukraine to question election results there, but such a notion is rendered daft here. Or how it’s just too damned expensive or undoable to provide verifiable paper trails for electronic voting machines. Or how such machines automatically assigned or switched votes to the Bush/Cheney ticket. Or how electronic voting machines should even be used in the first place. Or how, on January 6, during the debate concerning the (il)legitimacy of Ohio’s electoral votes (forced by the courageous objection signed by Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Senator Barbara Boxer ), Republicans can derisively label as “frivolous” complaints about multiple-hour waits in line to vote (in heavily minority and thus heavily Democratic precincts, naturally). Or how Blackwell, the co-chair of the Ohio Bush/Cheney re-appointment campaign, can blatantly get away with a fraudulent statewide recount. Or how just about every single reported anomaly benefited Bush. Or how…well, I think you get the idea. (Many fine articles exist detailing how this final stake was pounded into American democracy’s heart; I’m partial to Alan Waldman’s November 20, 2004, piece in Online Journal.)

I admit a fraudulent presidential election is a hard concept to accept. That’s probably why I’ve heard folks say they’re certain the election was fixed and then, in the same breath, wonder aloud who the Dems will run in 2008. People! Do you see the disconnect? If elections are rigged, it doesn’t matter who runs -- ever -- unless out of the kindness of their tiny little spaces where their diseased hearts would be if they had them, the “Republicans,” for whatever reason, unrig them.


more: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0502/S00269.htm

[dzika]

10. "Reporter Gannon" saga adds to the concern about Bush's actions.

Mon, Feb. 28, 2005

White House stirs debate on media tactics

"Reporter Gannon" saga adds to the concern about Bush's actions.

By Dick Polman
Inquirer Political Analyst


But the Jeff Gannon/James Guckert saga is far from over. It remains unclear how a graduate of a conservative training program, someone with no previous journalism experience, someone whose writings were often lifted directly from White House press releases, still managed to gain access to the White House press room, where he spent two years lobbing gentle questions at the press secretary and the President.

And some political analysts who monitor President Bush's relations with the media insist that Gannon (who, referring to Democrats, recently asked Bush, "How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?") should not be viewed as an isolated case. Rather, they contend that Gannon is symptomatic of a broader White House strategy to undermine the traditional media by disseminating the Bush message in creative new ways.

Every president has sought to manipulate the media. But historians say that Bush, unhappy with what he calls "the filter," is courting controversy in his quest for innovative formats. Several conservative commentators have been paid to trumpet Bush policies in their work; one recipient, Armstrong Williams, is being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission. And two agencies have disseminated pro-Bush videos that look like TV newscasts, without disclosing the Bush sponsorship - a breach of federal law, according to the Government Accountability Office.

...
Larry Gross, who runs the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California, says: "Richard Nixon hated the press, Bill Clinton hated the press - but they accepted the basic rules of the game. Bush has a strategy of discrediting, end-running, and even faking the news. Those prepackaged videos sent to local TV stations 'looked' like news, much the way Gannon 'looked' like a reporter. We're seeing something new: Potemkin-village journalism."

...
Todd Gitlin, a liberal media analyst at Columbia University, sees the Gannon case in dark terms: "It's a psychological thing. Gannon was there, either as a plant or on his own, to deliver the larger message, to convince people that the liberal side is the losing side, that the country doesn't need the mainstream media, and that the administration message is the wave of the future."


more: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/11009432.htm

[dzika]

11. Tounge-slip shows FOX alignment with GOP

February 25, 2005

Tounge-slip shows FOX alignment with GOP

Gotcha!


Today (2/25) on FNL, Page Hopkins was in for Brigitte Quinn & soon made a very revealing slip of the tongue, showing just how closely Fox identifies with the GOP.

Hopkins read teasers at 11:19am (all times ET), including: HClinton - "is America ready for a woman president?"

Then at 11:23am, Hopkins noted HClinton has recently visited Germany & Iraq, & is planning to go to India. Hopkins asked if Clinton is "trying to polish" her resume for a "White House run". FNL ran lower-third graphics with variations of this question throughout the subsequent interview. Hopkins then interviewed Nina Easton (Boston Globe), Fred Decker (NY Post) & Prof Stephen Cohen (Columbia Univ). The interview was mildly interesting but brought no new info or insights to viewers. Easton said Clinton was trying to position herself as a "centrist" & Cohen disagreed, saying that both Clintons had always been "centrists". There were a couple of polls mentioned & one poll shown, which indicate that 60-80% of US citizens say a woman should be president (Decker said that maybe this means 20% of US citizens think a man *shouldn't* be president). Hopkins quickly lost control, & the interview degenerated into a dorm-room chat. Hopkins almost as quickly forgot herself & asked, "What about if we throw out another woman to run against her?"

General Comments: WE? Who's the royal "we" here? Aside from Hopkins being unprofessional & inserting herself into the process, is she so used to shilling for GOPs that she forgot she was on air?

Throughout, Hopkins referred to Clinton merely by first name. Even Quinn & Asman are *usually* careful to use honorifcs like "Senator" or "Ambassador" where appropriate (they occasionally slip, but they do try to be at least outwardly respectful). Can you imagine anyone at FNC calling Sen Bill Frist just "Bill"?

And Hopkins didn't mention that the NYPost is, like FNC, owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp.


source: http://www.newshounds.us/2005/02/25/gotcha.php#more

[skids]

12. Alabamba house passes anti "smear campaign" bill.

Some redemption came of course with the overwhelming vote, and an apology by Sen. Hap Myers, who said, "There are quite a few of us in the Republican Party ashamed of that ad."

http://www.aladems.net/nucleus/index.php?itemid=101

"These self-anointed Christians who propose the display of the Ten Commandments don't care much about the one that says thou shalt not bear false witness."

http://www.aladems.net/dolbare.htm


DU thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1627388

[dzika]

13. Gannon - a Conspiracy to Destroy the 2004 Democratic Presidential Candidat

Media manipulation IS election fraud...

---

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Is Jeff Gannon Just a Bad Reporter?

Yes, If a Conspiracy to Destroy the 2004 Democratic Presidential Candidate With Fabricated News Stories Is "Bad"

Gannon Also Believed to Have Disguised His Identity in South Dakota on More Than One Occasion in 2003

By ADVOCATE STAFF


...
Like just a few hours later, when Media Matters for America called everyone's attention back to the fact that Jeff Gannon had once fabricated a news report in order to bring down Democratic Presidential Candidate John F. Kerry.

...
Here is some classic horseshit from Talon News:

Kerry's Alleged Intern Identified, Taped Interview With Major Television Network
February 16th, 2004

SPARTANBURG, SC (Talon News) -- The name of the intern Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA) allegedly had a two-year extramarital affair with beginning in Spring 2001 surfaced over the weekend.

...
Is that the ground-breaking television interview in which she said, as she did to the Associated Press, "I have never had a relationship with Senator Kerry, and the rumors in the press are completely false," or is it the one which never happened at all, except to the extent it was wishfully played and replayed over and over again in your little incubator-shaped noggin?

Noticing a pattern, anyone?

And how many news organizations with representatives daily admitted into the White House would speak of, without any sourcing whatsoever, a presidential candidate being "linked to other alleged extramarital affairs in the past, including Morgan Fairchild, Cornelia Guest, Patti Davis, Michele Philips, Catherine Oxenberg and other young reporters"?

...
You see, as Talon News reported, "Republican strategists say they will not pursue the intern affair rumor"--so Talon News, which works on behalf of "Republican strategists" (actually, which was founded by a pair of Republican strategists, Bobby Eberle and Bill Fairbrother) figured they'd do the job for them.



Read the entire article from THE NASHUA ADVOCATE

[dzika]

14. Central Asian polls face manipulation claims

Media manupulation and polls indicate fraud in foreign election.

---

Monday February 28, 2005

Central Asian polls face manipulation claims

James Sturcke and agencies


Parliamentary elections in Tajikistan over the weekend failed to meet international standards, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said today.

Peter Eicher, OSCE mission chief, who had 130 observers watching the poll in the former Soviet republic, said his monitors noted improbably high turnout figures and election fraud.

"I regret to say that the overall process was a disappointment," he told a news conference. "We witnessed direct falsification. The extent of these irregularities does raise doubts about the integrity of the tabulation process."

He said the commissions administering the elections did not represent the whole spectrum of competing parties. The OSCE also said that the political campaign had been largely controlled by the authorities, and that there had been a pattern of official interference with independent media.

...
Opposition forces have suggested the vote would be manipulated by supporters of the president, Askar Akayev, to ensure a compliant parliament that would amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third term next October - currently barred by the constitution.


more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1427265,00.html?=rss

[dzika]

15. Republican Keene wants California voters to show ID

From The Oroville Mercury-Register Online:
Monday, February 28, 2005

Republican Keene wants California voters to show ID

By LARRY MITCHELL/MediaNews Group


Voters who go to the polls in Butte County are asked by an election worker for their name and address.

After they sign their name, they're given a ballot.

Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, wants to add a couple of steps to that process. He has proposed a state law that would require voters to show identification and proof of residency before they can vote.

...
Several local Democratic leaders criticized Keene's idea.

"I distrust his motives," said Roberts Braden, a member of the Butte County Democratic Central Committee. "They are parallel to actions of his party in the past to try to limit voting."


more: http://www.orovillemr.com/Stories/0,1413,157~26686~2736534,00.html

[dzika]

16. Video - CNN: Academy Host, Chris Rock, takes jabs at Bush

Video - CNN: Academy Host, Chris Rock, takes jabs at Bush



Watch the Video (1 minute)

[dzika]

17. From Case Ohio: 6 Bills over Ohio

Sun, 27 Feb 2005

From Case Ohio: 6 Bills over Ohio

Please review these new bills and write to your senators and representatives. These are critical changes and adjustments. Also, please attend the hearings and testify if you can. Testimony should be written and there is a process that I can help with.


Check to see when the committees are meeting. Check on Friday for the next week:

Senate Committee Schedule http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/senate_committee_schedule.cfm
See Rules
House Committee Schedule http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/house_committee_schedule.cfm
See Elections and Ethics


Start here to see the current version and links to the introduced versions as well as analysis.

SB3 http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_SB_3
Coughlin,

Defines a "jurisdiction" as the precinct in which a person is a legally qualified elector for the purpose of determining whether an individual is eligible to cast a provisional ballot.
Establishes procedures for the casting and counting of provisional ballots.
Defines "optical scan ballots" and specifies the types of marks on those ballots that constitute valid votes.
Requires the applicant for a non-automatic recount to pay the entire cost of the recount if its results do not change the result of the election


HB3 http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_HB_3
DeWine same as SB3


SB 36 http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_SB_36
Spada,

Requires all other electors who appear in a polling place to vote to provide proof of identity in the form of a current valid driver's license or other current valid photo identification before being permitted to cast a ballot.

HB 31 http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_HB_31
Brown,

Permits any qualified elector to vote by absent voter's ballots at an election.
SB 45 http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_SB_45
Brady,

Prohibits the Secretary of State from serving in specified capacities for committees of candidates for federal, state, or local office and committees for ballot issues and questions.

HB 60 http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_HB_60
Driehaus,

Prohibit secretary of state from certain political actions


I sent LWV position on 3 and 36 earlier (and we are going to post them to caseohio.org - I think). I attached my testimony on those bills, which I intend to clean up for you.



Here is my take on these bills. Would like to hear from others.

SB 3 HB 3 Oppose definition of jurisdiction, support directions for reading and counting OS ballots. Many suggestions have been made for all kinds of additions and we need to watch to see what changes are made.

HB 31 I think we can say we support this.

SB 36 I oppose it strongly, but it looks like D and R in legislature support

SB 45 We will support this, I question if it goes far enough

HB 60 We will support this too, I don't know if it is same as SB 45.


I plan to send around links to committees and the people on them to make emails easier.

[dzika]

18. Blackwel suppresses black voters then woos them during Black History Month

Blackwell suppresses black voters then woos them during Black History Month

This article from the Marion Star in Ohio lavishes praise on Blackwell who was the keynote speaker at a Black History Month awards event.

---

From The Marion Star on Central Ohio
Monday, February 28, 2005

Sacrifice earns praise
Fund-raising efforts award 36 scholarships

By JILLIAN DALEY



Blackwell

Black Heritage president Willie King introduced the youth before at least 250 at the Marion Country Club. King said the Marion Harding High School senior and football quarterback carries a 5.6 out of 6.0 grade point average and has his choice of several colleges.

After the 27th annual awards ceremony, presenter Vickie Taylor introduced featured speaker Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell as a man who has done everything but climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Blackwell stood for his keynote address, first correcting Taylor to say he climbed the mountain in 1976.

Then, he turned to Pitts, who sat next to his grandmother.

"Only difference between me and you son, is I was a linebacker," Blackwell said.

The event concludes Black History Month, which has been observed in February since 1926, according to the History Channel's Web site.

"What Martin Luther King (Jr.) understood is we were built for this battle," Blackwell said.

source: http://www.marionstar.com/news/stories/20050228/localnews/2035729.html

[dzika]

19. Putin to Bush: You Fired Dan Rather

Monday, February 28, 2005

Putin to Bush: You Fired Dan Rather

By Dan Froomkin


President Bush may try to manipulate, work around and undermine the American press -- but he certainly doesn't have as much control over the media as Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently thinks he does.

...
John F. Dickerson writes in Time:

"George Bush knew Vladimir Putin would be defensive when Bush brought up the pace of democratic reform in Russia in their private meeting at the end of Bush's four-day, three-city tour of Europe. But when Bush talked about the Kremlin's crackdown on the media and explained that democracies require a free press, the Russian leader gave a rebuttal that left the President nonplussed. If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs? Bush was openmouthed. 'Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather,' says a senior Administration official. 'It was like something out of 1984.' "

(COMMENT: Putin knows that Bush didn't directly fire Dan Rather. Putin also knows that Bush/Rove did have a hand in the end of Dan Rather's career. I find it strange that "Big Media" only offers the explanation of "Putin doesn't understand the West" as an explanation of his comments to Bush.)

---

Speaking of the Media

Dick Polman writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer that

"the Jeff Gannon/James Guckert saga is far from over. It remains unclear how a graduate of a conservative training program, someone with no previous journalism experience, someone whose writings were often lifted directly from White House press releases, still managed to gain access to the White House press room, where he spent two years lobbing gentle questions at the press secretary and the President.

"And some political analysts who monitor President Bush's relations with the media insist that Gannon (who, referring to Democrats, recently asked Bush, 'How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?') should not be viewed as an isolated case. Rather, they contend that Gannon is symptomatic of a broader White House strategy to undermine the traditional media by disseminating the Bush message in creative new ways."

Polman quotes Larry Gross, who runs the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California:

"Richard Nixon hated the press, Bill Clinton hated the press -- but they accepted the basic rules of the game. Bush has a strategy of discrediting, end-running, and even faking the news. Those prepackaged videos sent to local TV stations 'looked' like news, much the way Gannon 'looked' like a reporter. We're seeing something new: Potemkin-village journalism."

---

Potemkin Watch

That "Potemkin village" metaphor is really on fire among liberals, by the way. (Here's the definition, for the historically challenged.)

For instance, here's New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd yesterday:

"Mr. Bush pledges to spread democracy while his officials strive to create a Potemkin press village at home. This White House seems to prefer softball questions from a self-advertised male escort with a fake name to hardball questions from journalists with real names. . . .

---

Cheney Watch

U.S. News's Washington Whispers column reports that "insiders" have "revived an old rumor that Vice President Cheney would retire for 'health reasons' " -- and be replaced by Condoleezza Rice.


more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60098-2005Feb28.html

[dzika]

20. Bush's media policy mirrors Putin's

From The Observer Online:
Monday, February 28, 2005

Bush's media policy mirrors Putin's

By Joey Falco


President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin may have finally found something in common.

Anyone who tuned in to last week's diplomatic talks between the two world leaders at the Eastern European "oasis" of Bratislava, Slovakia, would have probably noticed the cold, sober tone with which both men conducted themselves, due in large part to the long history of disagreement between the two nations in most areas of global policy. However, in his now-customary efforts to advocate the proliferation of American democracy throughout the world, Bush may have accidentally stumbled upon one area of domestic policy in which Russia and America actually bear striking similarities - "freedom" of the press.

On Thursday, Bush offered a vague attack on the democratic values of Putin's state when he said, "Democracies have certain things in common. They have a rule of law and protection of minorities, a free press and a viable political opposition." All gripes over proper definitions of democracy aside, though, these hypocritical comments did at least prompt a Russian journalist to ask Putin why he didn't challenge Bush and "talk a lot about violations of the rights of journalists in the United States, about the fact that some journalists have been fired."

How, then, did our noble president respond to this attack on the integrity of the democratic ideals of his proud nation? As far as I'm concerned, he lied. "I don't know what journalists you are referring to," he said, then turned toward the American reporters in the audience and disrespectfully joked, "Any of you still have your jobs?"

I guess he was lucky that Matt Cooper of Time magazine and Judy Miller of The New York Times were not in the audience. Thanks to conservative pundit Robert Novak and a Justice Department infringement upon freedom of the press, they certainly don't still have their jobs. I guess he was lucky that Mary Mapes of CBS News was not present either. This hero of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal is now collecting unemployment checks because she and Dan Rather questioned the president's dubious military history. Without a doubt, these were the journalists to whom the Russian reporter was referring, and unless Bush hasn't been keeping up on the news in his own country, I'm pretty sure he was aware of this, too.


more: http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/news/2005/02/28/Viewpoint/Bushs.Media.Policy.Mirrors.Putins-879107.shtml

[dzika]

21. 'USA Next' Misappropriated Couples' Image for Anti-Gay Ad Campaign

'USA Next' Misappropriated Couples' Image for Anti-Gay Ad Campaign

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050228005768&newsLang=en

(Ad running on the American Spectator site.)

February 28, 2005 11:13 AM US Eastern Timezone
---------------------------------------
'USA Next' Misappropriated Couples' Image for Anti-Gay Ad Campaign; Couple: Image Stolen for Campaign Against AARP
---------------------------------------
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2005--Conservative front organization USA Next was accused today of illegally using a gay couple's wedding photo in an anti-gay ad campaign supporting President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security.

The couple in the photo, Richard M. Raymen and Steven P. Hansen of Portland, Oregon, have come forward through an attorney to demand that USA Next stop using their image, and that the organization publicly apologize for using their image in a homophobic and libelous way. The demand, contained in a letter sent today to USA Next Chairman and CEO Charles Jarvis, references the couples' right to seek damages for the misappropriation of their image.

(snip)

"In 2004, our clients allowed their picture to be taken at their public celebration, as couples getting married do every day," Christopher Wolf, a partner in the Washington, DC office of the New York-based law firm Proskauer Rose LLP and counsel for Raymen and Hansen. "They did not volunteer to be models for a 2005 right-wing hate campaign, and never would have consented to having their images plastered in an ad of any kind, much less the one USA Next chose to run. USA Next has violated the law and must take responsibility for the consequences. Tort law is quite clear that USA Next acted illegally."

"The USA Next ad communicates the false message that gay marriages generally, and our clients specifically, are the antithesis of supporting American troops during wartime," said Wolf. "Gay marriage, and our clients' ceremony, have nothing to do with support of the troops. Our clients are patriotic Americans who strongly support our service members."

complete story here: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050228005768&newsLang=en

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1271272

[dzika]

22. National Voting Rights Institute Update on Ohio Recount Litigation

February 28, 2005

National Voting Rights Institute Update on Ohio Recount Litigation

The National Voting Rights Institute, the public interest law firm representing Presidential Candidates Cobb and Badnarik in their lawsuit to compel a lawful recount in Ohio, have issued this update on the status of their ligitation:

The National Voting Rights Institute
Protecting the Right to Vote for All Americans
NVRI E-News Update - February 25, 2005

The Ohio Recount -- The Saga Continues -- New Filings From The Kerry-Edwards Campaign Support NVRI's Claim That The Recount Was Simply Not Done Right


Dear Citizen:

NVRI continues to press the state of Ohio to do the right thing, and conduct a consistent and fair recount. The announced winner of the campaign is obviously not an issue. But the justness of American democracy has still not been shown. Earlier this week, the Kerry-Edwards Campaign filed documents with the federal district court in Ohio, supporting NVRI's motion to have a hearing on the inconsistent standards used in the recount.

The Kerry Edwards filing is mentioned below, and here are the most recent developments in this case.

On February 11, 2005, on behalf of our clients David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, NVRI filed a motion for a hearing before the Federal District Court on previously filed claims regarding inconsistent and inequitable recount procedures. The earlier filings had claimed that the recount of the 2004 presidential vote had been conducted with inconsistent standards throughout the state, in violation of the equal protection and due process guarantees under the US Constitution.

On February 14, Judge Sargus issued an order granting our motion to dismiss the Delaware County Board of Elections' complaint (which had sought to prevent the recount in that county) and asking for briefing in 15 days on the question of whether the case should be transferred to Judge Carr in Toledo (for the Northern District of Ohio) where a prior case seeking to expedite the recount had been filed in November 2004.

On February 23, NVRI filed the attached statement on the transfer question (http://www.nvri.org/updates/cobb_badnarik_transfer_statement_022305.pdf ).

And on February 24, the Kerry-Edwards Campaign filed a document in support of that statement. Most significant, the Kerry-Edwards Campaign also filed a separate document in support of our motion for hearing with two critical attachments: 1) a declaration from Kerry-Edwards attorney Don McTigue (http://www.nvri.org/updates/kerry_edwards_mctigue_decl_022405.pdf ) regarding a survey he conducted of Kerry-Edwards county recount coordinators; 2) a summary chart of the results of that survey (http://www.nvri.org/updates/kerry_edwards_summary_chart_022405.pdf ), which highlight the inconsistent standards applied during the recount. Attached are these two critical Kerry-Edwards filings.

Once again, thanks for all of your support. Our work continues. All Americans should be concerned about the unconstitutional manner this recount was conducted.

Best Regards,
Stu
Stuart Comstock-Gay
Executive Director
National Voting Rights Institute
617-624-3900
[e-mail]

National Voting Rights Institute
27 School Street, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02186
Phone: [phone] ¤ Fax: [phone]
http://www.nvri.org ¤ [e-mail]

source: http://fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot.com/2005/02/national-voting-rights-institute.html

[dzika]

23. One, Two, Three, What Are We Fighting For?

February 28, 2005

One, Two, Three, What Are We Fighting For?

Some of us are old enough to remember the anti-war protest song by Country Joe & The Fish featuring that famous refrain, a song that helped to define America’s Woodstock moment for an entire generation.

All of us are old enough to remember the scandalous election frauds -– excuse me, "irregularities" -– that helped to define America’s 2000 and 2004 presidential elections for an entire generation, too.

And we swore we would never let that happen again. In fact, the still-burning issue of election reform is one of the key hot-button issues that caused what's now known as the Democracy Cell Project to rise phoenix-like from the smoldering ashes of the 2004 presidential election campaign.

Well, here’s our chance to put our money where our mouth is, our mouth where our heart is, and our heart into an all-out push to support one of the boldest, most far-ranging efforts to change the way that America votes ever to come out of the moldy marbled halls of Washington, D.C.

Election reform is a big-buzz topic in the Capitol this year, of course. Several bills have already been introduced in the House and the Senate offering at least some limited form of palliative change to our obviously-flawed national electoral process. And most of them are visibly, obviously lame.


read more here: http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2005/02/one_two_three_w.html

[dzika]

24. Video - CNN Political Bytes: Dean to attract moderates - 2/28

Video - CNN Political Bytes: Dean to attract moderates - 2/28

In this video:

• Liberal 527 "Campaign for America's Future" airs Social Security ad in Louisiana against Rep. McCrery
  
• Hollywood activist oppose RI Dem Senate run because he is against abortion rights
  
• Dean wants to attract Republican moderates; protect tolerance

Watch the Video (2 minutes)

[dzika]

25. MAY DAY 2005: HELP US! Protest Worldwide: March Against a Stolen Election

MAY DAY 2005: HELP US! Protest Worldwide: March Against a Stolen Election

Join us on May 1st 2005 for a worldwide protest against our stolen election.

Join us to protest the massive vote fraud and voter suppression that occurred in the November 2004 elections.

Join us to demand restoration of our voting powers and a return of integrity to our voting systems.

Join us in defense of our freedoms and our democracy.
MORE TO FOLLOW...

http://www.51capitalmarch.com/

[dzika]

26. Video - CNN: 2008 Presidential Contenders (Hillary, Yes; Arnold: No)

Video - CNN: 2008 Presidential Contenders (Hillary: Yes, Arnold: No) - 2/28

Watch the Video (2 minutes)

[dzika]

27. Clinton, Boxer pushing e-voting bill in Senate

FEBRUARY 28, 2005

Clinton, Boxer pushing e-voting bill in Senate

Their measure mandates a voter-verified paper ballot for e-voting machines

by Todd R. Weiss


A wide-ranging bill that, among other things, would mandate a voter-verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines has been introduced by Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). The Count Every Vote Act, they said, is needed to address shortcomings related to existing e-voting technology.

The legislation, co-sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) and introduced earlier this month, would also ensure access to voter verification for all citizens, including non-English-speaking voters, illiterate voters and voters with disabilities.

It mandates that verified paper ballots would become the official ballot record in case of a recount; establishes uniform standards for provisional ballots; calls on the Federal Election Assistance Commission (FEC) to issue standards that ensure uniform access to voting machines; and requires the FEC to make sure that trained election personnel are available in every community.

The bill also seeks to bolster security measures for e-voting machines; designates Election Day a federal holiday; mandates the availability of voting machines with audio and picture capabilities for people who have sight disabilities or who can't read; restores voting rights to convicted felons who have completed their prison time, probation and/or parole; and creates a way for voters to register at their polling place and vote on Election Day.

If enacted, the measure requires that the new provisions be in place in time for the 2006 elections.


more here: http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legislation/story/0,10801,100073,00.html

[MelissaB]

28. Want to hear your new DNC chair rock on local radio in KS? Wow!

This is what he is doing, local stuff strictly right now. This is an interview with KCUR radio in KS, and it is absolutely powerful. He is right on every topic.

This is what he does best, and it is bound to be making an impression on a state that is hurting economically.

He really hits Bush on the privatization, says he would get his license yanked if were on Wall Street...says it is an ideologue position for the wealthy donors. Goes after Iraq mess again...




http://www.kcur.org/programListDetail.asp?ID=6

I am 16 minutes in and still listening. He is first, then Bob Newhart.


Thanks to madfloridian here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1627020

Also, madfloridian has a good summary in post #5.

[MelissaB]

29. Former House member who filed DeLay ethics charge not surprised by new rev

Former House member who filed DeLay ethics charge not surprised by new revelations

2/28/2005

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

The former Democratic congressman who filed an ethics complaint against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) told RAW STORY Monday he wasn’t surprised about new revelations that DeLay enjoyed $134,000 in travel at the expense of a group which uses “scare” letters targeted at senior citizens to raise money.

“I can’t say I’m terribly surprised,” Bell said.

Bell’s complaint filed against DeLay in 2004–which accused DeLay of illegally soliciting and accepting campaign funds and abusing his office to redistrict Texas–resulted in the House leader being admonished by his Republican colleagues. The Texas Democrat was subsequently rebuked by the GOP-controlled Ethics Committee for including “innuendo, speculative assertions or conclusory statements” in his complaint.

Bell was forced out of Congress last year due to a DeLay-engineered redistricting plan.

>>>snip

“Such an investigation would reveal other matters that probably had not come to light such as this,” Bell said. “My feeling for quite some time has been that Tom DeLay is individual who is willing to thumb his nose at rules and the law to get what he wants. This is just another example of that kind of conduct.”

More: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=137

[dzika]

30. The Free Press: Voting in America

February 28, 2005

Voting in America

by Bob Babson


In America, every vote should be counted correctly. Following the General Election on November 2, 2004, we have learned that there were numerous incidents of evoting machines malfunctioning and/or being tampered with and significant voter suppression. Congress is being asked to investigate. In the name of preserving democracy itself, the purpose of this article is to outline two courses of action which will help prevent future voting fraud in all 50 states:


FIRST COURSE OF ACTION: Every citizen in every state should urge their state legislators to pass a law in their state to vote like they do in Oregon. The best way to make voting honest in every state is to simply vote like they do in Oregon. Everyone in Oregon votes by "mail in" ballot filled out in ink. Therefore, there is a paper ballot in case a recount is necessary. All 50 states already have absentee ballots, so why not just expand it to be 100%. Also, it saves millions of dollars of tax payer's money because no precincts are set up and far fewer optical scanners need to be purchased. And, there are no long lines at the precincts because there are no precincts. You simply drop your ballot in the mail. To see how simple it is to vote in Oregon, please go to Google and enter the key words: "voting Oregon" and read the articles that come up. Official State and County web sites explain everything. If it is a close race, or if the optical scanner breaks down, malfunctions, etc., all ballots are available for a recount. This is why it is so important to have a paper ballot.


THE SECOND COURSE OF ACTION: One way to learn once and for all if the software in an evoting machine is honest is for citizens in all 50 states who voted on malfunctioning evoting machines as reported in newspapers is to file lawsuits. The fact that the evoting machine "malfunctioned" would be the necessary "probable cause" to file the lawsuit. The citizens (plaintiffs) would simply ask the judge to take into court custody the evoting machines in question and to then appoint a nonpartisan "special master" with expertise in computers to examine the malfunctioning machines in question to learn exactly why they malfunctioned and weather or not it was an accident or premeditated voter fraud. I believe the judge would clearly rule for this course of action to preserve democracy itself. The special master could be ordered by the judge to not disclose any "intellectual property" secrets, but to examine the software to make sure it is properly programmed and tamper proof and report back to the judge all findings. If misprogramming and/or tampering were found by the special master, then criminal proceedings should begin immediately for possible voting fraud. Testimony under oath should be taken from all parties involved and all other normal discovery should also take place. Everyday in all 50 states courts hear cases that have to do with intellectual property rights and said rights are protected and not compromised. The above court actions investigating why evoting machines have malfunctioned could very well turn out to be the most important legal actions of our time, indeed, preserving democracy itself.

If any voting fraud was found in the above described legal actions, then voters in other jurisdictions in all 50 states could also file lawsuits where that same model of evoting machine was used to also determine if voting fraud took place there. Voters everywhere the same model of evoting machine is used would have "probable cause" to suspect that possibly their vote was not counted right either, and therefore could ask a judge to once again take into court custody the voting machines in question and hire a "special master" to determine if voting fraud took place.


IN SUMMARY: If we are to preserve democracy we must act now as described above. If you agree with this email, please forward it on to your friends and organizations that can take action, especially your state legislators and lawyer organizations. The 2006 elections are only two years away, and if we want every vote to be counted correctly, we must act now. Our children and grandchildren will be the beneficiaries of a free and Democratic America!


http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1176

[dzika]

31. Feeney Caught Lying Again About His Association with Yang Enterprises!

2/28/2005

Feeney Caught Lying Again About His Association with Yang Enterprises!

Party/Reception Thrown for Feeney in 2003 by YEI!

The year after Feeney claims to have ended his ‘connection’ with the scandal-plagued FL software firm!

After an interview with Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL), The New Times Broward-Palm Beach reported :

He ended the professional relationship (with Yang Enterprises, Inc), which had extended through all 12 years of his time in the state House, only after he was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2002.

After another interview with Feeney, Keith Olbermann of MSNBC reported:

In short, Feeney says he doesn’t remember meeting Mr. Curtis; that his only connection to Yang Enterprises was as an attorney prior to 2002.

Despite the reports above, we’ve discussed the fact several times that Feeney's Campaign Headquarters is still located in the YEI building, and that the Yangs and their attorney Michael O’Quinn continue to be huge campaign donors to Feeney...

Read entire article at THE BRAD BLOG

[dzika]

32. Paper Ballot bill introduced in NC Senate

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Paper Ballot bill introduced in North Carolina Senate

from an email:

Exciting news! Our paper ballot bill has been introduced in the Senate! The bill number is SB 223.

(The latest on S 223 is posted at http://www.ncvoter.net/alerts.html )

I'm enclosing contact lists for all the sponsors. Because the bill has already been referred to the Committee on Judiciary, I'm also enclosing contact info for the members of that committee. It's interesting to note that the only members of the Judiciary Committee who are NOT already sponsors of the bill are Sen. Daniel G. Clodfelter (D), Sen. Charles W. Albertson (D), and Sen. Julia Boseman (D). Looks like Sens Kinnaird and Allran have been working the bill hard!

Looks like Clodfelter, Albertson, and Boseman might warrant some phone calls to learn their stand on the bill? Alert the Charlotteans, Wilmingtonians, and Alberston's constituents!

cheers!

John Bonitz

"Make Every Vote Count, Count Every Vote."
Contact Joyce McCloy, [e-mail]
Coordinator, N.C. Coalition for Verifiable Voting
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27106
336-794-1240 website: http://www.ncvoter.net