Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Friday 7/8/05

[MelissaB]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.





If you can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

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[Botany]

1. Drip drip drip

http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/default.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=9474

[MelissaB]

2. Reports: Govenor's Aide Helped Noe For White House Visit

Reports: Govenor's Aide Helped Noe For White House Visit

POSTED: 3:32 pm EDT July 7, 2005
UPDATED: 4:11 pm EDT July 7, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Reports published Thursday said an assistant to Ohio Gov. Bob Taft's former chief of staff lobbied the White House to get top Republican donor Tom Noe invited to a reception to Ohio State University's national championship football team.

The Blade of Toledo reports that an aide to former Taft chief of staff Brian Hicks sent e-mails to Collister Johnson, the White House's former associate director of political affairs, in 2003, asking if Noe could attend the Ohio State reception.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Johnson told Taft's office that the Ohio State reception was one of many involving sports teams that day and that schedulers were -- quote "trying to keep the numbers down."

The Blade says that Noe, Taft and Hicks attended the event.

Noe has been the focus of state and federal probes of his management of $58 million in rare coin investments by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation and his fundraising activities on behalf of Bush's 2004 campaign.

There are also links to previous stories here: http://www.whiotv.com/news/4695646/detail.html

[MelissaB]

3. E-mail: Taft Aide Sought OSU White House Invite For Dealer

E-mail: Taft Aide Sought OSU White House Invite For Dealer
Football Team Visited Bush After National Championship

POSTED: 12:22 pm EDT July 7, 2005
UPDATED: 12:31 pm EDT July 7, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A former assistant in Gov. Bob Taft's office lobbied the White House for an invite to a reception honoring the Ohio State University's football team for a top Republican donor now entangled in an investment scandal, according to the assistant's e-mails.


The e-mails sent to the White House said Thomas Noe, who managed state's investment in rare coins, planned to be in Washington, D.C., at the time of the February 2003 reception for the national championship Buckeyes and asked if he could attend.

"His name is Tom Noe and he is a strong supporter of President Bush and Governor Taft," Cherie Carroll wrote, according to e-mails Taft's office released Wednesday to news organizations. Carroll was executive assistant for former Taft chief of staff Brian Hicks.

Noe is the focus of state and federal investigations of his management of $58 million invested in coins by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation and his fundraising on behalf of President Bush's 2004 campaign.


More: http://www.nbc4i.com/news/4694447/detail.html

[MelissaB]

4. Governor sued over unreleased memos

Governor sued over unreleased memos
Secrecy protects governor, senator says

Thursday, July 07, 2005
Sandy Theis
Plain Dealer Bureau
Columbus - A state senator sued Gov. Bob Taft Wednesday and asked the Ohio Supreme Court to order the governor to release records that could help explain investment losses at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Sen. Marc Dann, a Youngstown Democrat, first requested the records June 13 and maintains they are being withheld to avoid embarrassing Taft.

"There is nothing more fundamental to democracy than the people's access to information," Dann told a news conference. "It's as simple as, 'What did the governor know and when did he know it?' "


More: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1120744998246071.xml&coll=2

[MelissaB]

5. E-mail records show Noe used influence

E-mail records show Noe used influence
He finagled invitation to White House for OSU event

By JAMES DREW and STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITERS


COLUMBUS — Cherie Carroll was the “gatekeeper’’ in Gov. Bob Taft’s office for those who wanted the ear of her powerful boss, chief of staff Brian Hicks.

Tom Noe didn’t have problems getting through Ms. Carroll’s gate. In fact, she helped him get to the White House and to President Bush’s top advisers, e-mails released by the governor’s office show.

When Mr. Bush hosted the Ohio State University football team after it won the national championship for the 2002 season, Ms. Carroll made sure that there was a seat for Mr. Noe, a big campaign contributor to the governor and the President.

Once Mr. Noe was in the White House on Feb. 24, 2003, his itinerary included an “Ohio political strategy session’’ with Ken Mehlman, who was later named Mr. Bush’s campaign manager and Collister “Coddy’’ Johnson, later named the campaign’s field director.

MOre: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050707/NEWS24/50707003/-1/NEWS

[MelissaB]

6. Bush fund-raiser gives testimony in federal campaign finance probe

Article published Thursday, July 7, 2005

Bush fund-raiser gives testimony in federal campaign finance probe

By MIKE WILKINSON
BLADE STAFF WRITER


One of the fund-raisers hired to raise money for President Bush's re-election in Ohio appeared before a federal grand jury in Toledo yesterday to testify in the Tom Noe case.

...snip

Ms. May is an associate of the firm and is known for her fund-raising skills.

Hicks Partners handled the arrangements for an Oct. 30, 2003, luncheon with President Bush in Columbus that is part of the focus of the federal investigation.

An estimated $1.4 million was raised that day.

The Bush-Cheney campaign paid Hicks Partners $54,253 between September, 2003, and April, 2004, for fund-raising services, records show.

More: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050707/NEWS24/507070372/-1/NEWS

[MelissaB]

7. LA: Elections officials reworking bid process for voting machine contract

Elections officials reworking bid process for voting machine contract

BATON ROUGE, La. State officials are scrapping the first bid process for a 47 (M) million-dollar voting machine contract, issuing another more detailed request for bids and asking companies to submit new proposals.

That means more than a month of delays.

Elections Commissioner Angie LaPlace says the five companies that submitted bids to the initial request did not provide all the information that the state wanted.

She says that makes it hard for the nine-member evaluating committee to fairly assess the companies against each other and award the contract.

LaPlace says the new request for bids will be more specific -- and hopefully clearer to the companies seeking the voting machine contract.

More: http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3568448

[dandrhesse]

8. I received a maiing today from the WI Dem Party and I was so discouraged

no where does it mention election reform. My husband and I worked our butts off this past election but we will not do so again until the election reform issue is addressed. Why should we flush millions of dollars down the toilet? Money was not the issue in the last election, fraudulent vote tabulation and voter suppression were and still are the issues. The only issues. Our county chair would not even acknowledge that the problem exists. We can not and will not succeed until these problems are addressed and solved. The system is rigged and I will not campaign with no chance of success, it is ridiculous and a waste of time and money. It is insulting to me to continually read pleas for funds so we can "win back the Congress" it will not happen folks.