political and financial conflicts of interest:
http://www.publicaccountability.org/election.htmlSEQUOIA
Sequoia machines are in use in California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
· Sequoia is owned by a company which recently won a major contract from the Bush administration. The UK-based De La Rue, a commercial security printer and cash software provider, was contracted to print Iraq's new currency in July 2003. Its stock surged 9% on news of the deal.10 De La Rue reported that profits were much higher than expected last year on the strength of the Iraq contract.11 The company had hired The Livingston Group, the lobbying firm of former Speaker of the House Bob Livingston, to help them secure the contract.12
· Madison Dearborn, a Chicago investment firm with major ties to George W. Bush and the Carlyle Group, is a part owner of Sequoia. According to Texans for Public Justice, Madison Dearborn's chairman and CEO, John A. Canning, raised over $100,000 in bundled contributions for Bush-Cheney 2004, qualifying him as a Bush Pioneer. The firm has teamed up with the Carlyle Group, a major defense contractor which employed George H. W. Bush, on a number of bids, including the billion dollar purchase of Williams Energy.13 In 2002, CBS exposed the energy company as conspiring to fake the California energy crisis.14 Madison Dearborn inherited its 15% share in Sequoia from Jefferson Smurfit, an Irish firm that had retained a stake after selling the company to De La Rue in 2002.15
· Sequoia was involved in a major corruption scandal in Louisiana. Louisiana's state election commissioner, Jerry Fowler, was found guilty of accepting $9 million in bribes to purchase voting machine equipment from Sequoia. Sequoia employee Phil Foster was indicted by a grand jury in 2001 for conspiracy to commit money laundering and malfeasance. Foster continued to work for Sequoia, was promoted to regional manager, and sold a number of voting machine systems to election officials in Florida counties, who Sequoia failed to notify of the indictment.16 The charges against Foster were dropped when prosecutors promised him immunity in return for testimony against Fowler.17
· Sequoia has hired a number of state officials in California. Bill Jones, California's former Secretary of State, was employed as a consultant. Jones is currently contesting Barbara Boxer's Senate seat. Alfie Charles, Jones' press secretary, is a public affairs director for Sequoia.18 The top election official for Nevada's largest county, who had brought electronic voting to Nevada by purchasing EVM's for her county, became a Vice President at Sequoia (she now works at Hart Intercivic).19