Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY 8/29/05

[autorank]

Never forget the pursuit of the Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY 8/29/05

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

If you can:

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

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.

If you want to know how post "News Banners" or other images, go here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391



All previous daily threads are available here:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm

Please

"Recommend"

for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below). Atlanta Journal Constitution: Tens of Thousands March Supporting Voting Rights Act

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[autorank]

1. NM: Greens and Libertarians go to Court for Democrats Kerry-Edwards

NM: Greens and Libertarians go to Court for Democrats Kerry-Edwards

You can knock us down, kick us while we are down, and try to make us go away. We will not give up, NEVER. True voting rights advocates, Green candidate Cobb and Libertarian candidate Bednarik, have filed for a fairly priced recount of New Mexico. There would have been a recount of this extremely close election right after Election Day. The state canvassing board, headed by Gov. Richardson (remember this for the future) set an exorbitant price for the recount at $1.4 million. That was not reachable but the democrats didn’t give up. We’ll see what happens.

Recount Dispute Goes Back to N.M. Court (2004 Presidential Election)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5239854,00.html

Monday August 29, 2005 2:01 AM
By BARRY MASSEY Associated Press Writer

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The state's highest court is revisiting a dispute over last year's presidential election in New Mexico.
State Supreme Court justices are scheduled Monday to hear arguments from lawyers for last year's Green and Libertarian presidential candidates who say the state wrongly handled their request for a recount.

President Bush won New Mexico in the general election by a 5,988-vote margin over Democrat John Kerry.

Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik asked for a recount of presidential ballots statewide in late November, saying there were problems with voting machines and counting of paper ballots.

They submitted a deposit of $114,400 and contend that was the proper amount based on a formula in state election law.

However, the state canvassing board decided on Dec. 14 that the candidates could have a recount but only if they paid $1.4 million - an estimate of the full cost of the recount - as an upfront security deposit.
There was no recount of presidential ballots.


CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[Febble]

8. Recommended

And not just because I'm a Guardian reader....

http://uscountvotes.org/ucvAnalysis/NM/NMAnalysis_EL_JM.pdf

[tommcintyre]

12. Count on them to be consistent and honest

Unlike this Mitofsky/rBr, undermine-the-exit-poll-evidence charade we've seen so much of (for example).

[autorank]

2. GA: New Voter ID Law Passed – Gwinnett County Board of Elections Forgets

Well, here you have it. Georgia passes a mandatory state voter ID bill. The Gwinnett County Board of Elections has a special election coming up. They fail to inform voters of the requirement because they DON”T KNOW. Black Georgia state legislators walked out on the bill debate to protest its one sided, racist nature. What if they had an election and nobody (except Republicans) came. But, hey, people who argue that there is election fraud are just conspiracy nuts; and this is just a “coincidence.”

Officials brace for first election under controversial ID law

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/12500242.htm

Posted on Sun, Aug. 28, 2005 Associated Press

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The last-minute approval of Georgia's voter identification law meant last-ditch efforts to prepare for the new requirements in Gwinnett County, the site of the state's first election since the contentious measure was approved.
The new law, which requires voters to show government-issued ID cards at the polls, will be enforced Tuesday, when voters are set to fill the unexpired term of state Rep. Phyllis Miller. Previously, voters cold show one of 17 forms, including bank statements or utility bills, to receive a ballot.

County election officials were caught off guard by the regulations, which were approved by the Department of Justice late Friday.
"We had not anticipated the change taking effect until sometime in September," said Lynn Ledford, the elections manager.
On Saturday, Gwinnett officials hurried to comply with the law, sending out press releases to inform voters of the new requirements and changes to absentee balloting.

<snip>

The late change in the rules is "completely unacceptable," said Jennifer Owens, the executive director of the League of Women Voters of Georgia.

"As elections officials, it is their duty to stay on top of something as huge as the decision to reduce the forms of ID by 11," she said.

<snip>

Democrats had argued the idea was a political move by the GOP to depress voting among minorities, the elderly and the poor - all traditional bases for Democrats. The bill's backers contended the legislation would prevent voter fraud.

The measure wipes out several currently accepted forms of voter identification other than photo IDs, including the use of Social Security cards, birth certificates or utility bills at the polls.

Nineteen states require voters to show identification, but only five request photo ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Those states - Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and South Dakota - allow voters without a photo ID to use other forms of identification or sign an affidavit of identity.





CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[autorank]

3. GA: The Black Community Reacts to Jim Crow Voter ID Requirement

Georgia voting rights activists fight back against Jim Crow requirements for a voter photo ID. Author Brooks wonders why the GOP backers of this ID requirement don’t demand voter verified paper ballots. It was a rhetorical question. Always remember, election fraud began with massive voter disenfranchisement of blacks, then selective disenfranchisement through “ballot spoilage” which disqualify 1-2% of the ballots every presidential election, mostly in black and minority districts. Wonder which party that hurts? Wonder why that party has done NOTHING for decades?

Address other fraud avenues:
Absentee votes, lack of receipts more of a concern than IDs

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0805/29edbrooks.html

By TYRONE BROOKS
Published on: 08/29/05
The champions of requiring only government-issued voter photo identification at the polls are suspiciously silent on two issues: valid voter photo identification for those who mail in absentee ballots and equipping all electronic voting machines with receipts.
With 2006 a critical election year, the people of Georgia should demand that the General Assembly in January take up the issue of receipts in voting machines.

It's logical, sensible and reasonable for voting machines to be equipped with receipts. When we conduct transactions at teller machines, do we take if for granted that the machine will correctly record our transaction or do we require a receipt as proof?

If any elected officials are against the process of receipts at the polls, their motives should be questioned. If any elected officials are against tightening rules governing absentee ballots, their motives should be questioned. If it is right for voters who walk in the polls to show identification, then it should also be required that those who vote absentee send in a copy of their valid photo identification.

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[autorank]

4. Philippines: Short of Votes to Impeach President for Election Fraud

The opposition in the Philippines doesn’t have the votes to impeach the current president, Arroyo, for election fraud. This editorial asks the key question: is a lack of votes the best way to decide fraudulent elections or is a robust investigation the right track?

Editorial: Beyond numbers

http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=3&story_id=48418&col=84&published_site=25

First posted 00:10am (Mla time) Aug 29, 2005
Inquirer News Service
BY THE POLITICAL opposition's own account, today is make-or-break day for the impeachment initiative against the President. In truth, opposition leaders have at least until tomorrow to muster the 79 signatures they need, before the House Committee on Justice reconvenes to conduct what may well be the make-or-break vote. And they have 10 session days to gather 79 votes in the plenary to override an unfavorable committee decision. But there is no question that in the impeachment numbers game, they are nearer break than make.

If one of the lawyers assisting the opposition told it straight in a cable news interview last Friday, the pro-impeachment camp started to focus on the pursuit of the necessary signatures only late in the day.
"Without the 79, it's over, and that's why in fact, I have allowed the congressmen to take the lead in this initiative. I have asked the legal to take a back seat because what we are witnessing now is a political play more than a legal play," lawyer Harry Roque told ANC's "Dateline Philippines."

Politics, of course, is addition, and the critical truth is that the opposition is behind in the fateful numbers game.

But is this all there is to the crisis of legitimacy enveloping the President? Does the mystery of the controversial and revelatory Hello Garci tapes clear up-is it explained away-with a party-line vote in Congress? Do the questions about the President's possible abuse of government resources to cover up alleged election fraud simply go unanswered, because fewer than one-third of all congressmen found any of the impeachment.

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[wli]

6. we've got the same problem here n/t

[autorank]

5. Great Resource: CLG--Citizens for Legitimate Government

What a great resource this is! Updated regularly, the sections on Coup 2004 and Coup 2000 are presented in an accessible form with a click-on map to identify the section of the country you want to investigate. This is a keeper.

Citizens For Legitimate Government's Evidence of the 2004 Coup d'Etat
Compiled by Lori Price and Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.
Last updated: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 03:07:19 GMT

http://www.legitgov.org/
Click on “We Expose the Bush Coup D’Etat”

"Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election." What They Did Last Fall By Paul Krugman 19 Aug 2005 "
In his recent book 'Steal This Vote' - a very judicious work, despite its title - Andrew Gumbel, a U.S. correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent, provides the best overview I've seen of the 2000 Florida vote. And he documents the simple truth: 'Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election.' ...Our current political leaders would suffer greatly if either house of Congress changed hands in 2006, or if the presidency changed hands in 2008. The lids would come off all the simmering scandals, from the selling of the Iraq war to profiteering by politically connected companies. The Republicans will be strongly tempted to make sure that they win those elections by any means necessary."

The 2004 US Elections: The Mother of all Vote Frauds "Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything." --Joseph Stalin (What Really Happened) 2004

The stolen election of 2004: welcome back to hell By Larry Chin 6 Nov 2004
"Using a variety of criminal methods that they have perfected over the past four years, the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney-Karl Rove syndicate stole another election, and extended their illegal occupation of the White House. Experienced, informed and unblinking observers were not fooled by any aspect of this utterly predictable goose-step towards full dictatorship."

No Paper Trail Left Behind: The Theft of the 2004 Presidential Election
By Dennis Loo, Ph.D. (August 2005) "In order to believe that George Bush won the November 2, 2004 presidential election, you must also believe all of the following extremely improbable or outright impossible things... 15) Exit polls in the November 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections, paid for in part by the Bush administration, were right, but exit polls in the U.S., where exit polling was invented, were very wrong."

Rectenwald (CLG News) at Scarborough on e-voting Fraud, Bush/Bin Laden and PNAC --page by Nico Haupt of globalfreepress.com "...Did you know that George Bush Sr. was sitting in a room with bin Laden's brother on the day that 9/11 happened?...And it was the Project For a New American Century that said we needed a new Pearl Harbor in order to mobilize their international agenda of a war in the Middle East... Once Diebold controls the election-and it‘s a Republican-owned corporation that promised the election for Bush from the outset, are we supposed to believe these results?.."


CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[autorank]

7. TIA: Ohio in Focus – Things You Need to Know About (Stolen) Election 2004

COMMENT:  This is highly relevant.  Why?  Because there is a
real chance we will get the truth out of Ohio.  Not from a DNC
investigation, they had their chance.  It will come from Ohio.
 The state is so corrupt under the Republicans that the cities
have formed a “dream team” of investigators – prosecutors and
police headed by a non political former Federal prosecutor. 
They don’t care about political agendas.  They want to save
the state from becoming a banana republic.  All roads for
corruption in Ohio go back to Election 2004.  I’m sure they
will see this letter and use it when they pop the cork on the
Theft of Ohio 2004.


TruthIsAl Sends a Letter to Dr. Dean

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=381422

Wed Jun-29-05 10:34 AM
Dear Dr. Dean:

Remember last summer when Bev Harris and YOU demonstrated on
live television how easily the voting machines could be
hacked?

So how come there is no mention in the DNC report of vote
switching as another possible factor in Kerry losing Ohio? 
Instead, the focus of the report is "voter
suppression". Well, if you press Kerry and it comes up
Bush, is that not voter suppression? 

We know about voter suppression. That obviously occurred. But
what really concerns us here is suppression of the truth.

There are many ways to skin a cat. And Ohio voters were
skinned many different ways on Election Day.

On Edit: Removed inappropriate comment 

HOW KERRY WON OHIO BY 51-48%... 

If you believe the Exit Poll, Kerry won OH by 160,000 votes.
If you believe the Vote, Bush won by 119,000 votes.

If Kerry won this solid Republican state by 51-48%, you just
KNOW he had to do 1-2% better nationally.

Which means he won the election by 6-8 million votes.


OHIO EXIT POLL
1,963 Respondents
Updated: 12:21 a.m.		

CATEGORY	BUSH	 KERRY

GENDER	        47.94%	52.06%
RACE/GENDR	47.99%	51.01%
RACE		47.86%	50.14%
AGE		48.31%	51.39%
INCOME	        45.91%	51.62%

EDUCATION	48.77%	50.94%
PARTY ID	47.18%	51.20%
IDEOLOGY	48.03%	50.97%
HOWVOTED    b   49.30%	50.70%
RELIGION	49.08%	50.66%

DECIDED	        48.22%	49.68%
BUSH JOB	48.42%	49.10%
COMMUNITY1	48.94%	51.68%
COMMUNITY2      48.42%	51.33%
REGION          48.58%	52.07%

VOTESENATE	48.04%	51.96%
			
AVERAGE	      48.19%	51.03%
VOTES	       2.711     2.871
ACTUAL	      50.82%    48.71%
VOTES	       2.859	2.740
			
MoE		2.21%	
PROB		1 IN	106


GENDER	 MIX   BUSH	KERRY
Male 	 47%	49%	51%
Female	 53%	47%	53%
Total	100%	47.94% 52.06%
			
RACE/GENDER			
WM 	40%	53%	47%
WF	45%	53%	47%
NWM	6%	25%	75%
NWF	8%	18%	82%
	99%	47.99%	51.01%
			
RACE			
White	86%	53%	47%
Black	9%	16%	84%
Latin	3%	28%	72%
Asian	1%	*	*
Other	1%	*	*
	100%	47.86%	50.14%
			
AGE			
18-29	21%	40%	60%
30-44	30%	49%	50%
45-59	29%	49%	51%
60-	20%	55%	45%
	100%	48.31%	51.39%

INCOME			
0-15	7%	27%	73%
15-30	16%	34%	66%
30-50	25%	46%	53%
50-75	22%	55%	44%
75-100	15%	50%	50%
100-150	9%	56%	44%
150-200	4%	61%	39%
200-	2%	*	*
	100%	45.91%	51.62%

EDUCATION			
No HS	 4%	40%	60%
HSGrad	29%	46%	53%
College	28%	50%	50%
ColGrad	25%	53%	47%
Postgrad14%	47%	53%
	100%	48.77%	50.94%
			
PARTY ID			
Dem	38%	8%	91%
Rep	37%	94%	6%
Ind	24%	39%	60%
	99%	47.18%	51.20%
			
IDEOLOGY			
Lib	21%	13%	87%
Mod	47%	39%	61%
Con	31%	87%	13%
	99%	48.03%	50.97%
			
			
VOTED BEFORE?			
No	14%	45%	55%
Yes	86%	50%	50%
	100%	49.30%	50.70%
			
			
RELIGION			
Prot	57%	54%	46%
Cath	26%	53%	46%
Jew	1%	*	*
Other	6%	24%	76%
None	11%	28%	72%
	101%	49.08%	50.66%
			
			
WHEN DECIDED			
Today	5%	40%	60%
3Days	4%	36%	64%
Week 	2%	*	*
Month	10%	37%	62%
Before79%	52%	48%
	100%	48.22%	49.68%
			
			
HOW BUSH IS HANDLING HIS JOB			
Appr    50%	93%	7%
Disap	48%	4%	95%
	98%	48.42%	49.10%
			
			
SIZE OF COMMUNITY			
BCities	7%	49%	50%
SmCities19%	38%	62%
Suburbs	50%	49%	51%
SmTowns	 6%	43%	55%
Rural	19%	59%	40%
       101%	48.94%	51.68%
			
			
SIZE OF COMMUNITY			
Urban	26%	41%	59%
Suburb 	49%	49%	51%
Rural 	25%	55%	44%
	100%	48.42%	51.33%
			
			
REGION			
Cuya 	13%	35%	65%
NE	27%	45%	55%
Cent	23%	52%	47%
NW	12%	49%	50%
SW	26%	54%	46%
	101%	48.58%	52.07%
			
			
VOTE FOR U.S. SENATE			
Dem	43%	7%	93%
Rep	57%	79%	21%
	100%	48.04%	51.96%

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[understandinglife]

14. Did TIA ever receive a response from Howard Dean?

And, a recommend. Thanks for continuing the daily updates!

Peace.

[MadeinOhio]

16. I don't know but apparently the topic is off limits...

I'm going to mail them this week to see if I can find out anything regarding Howard Dean. I don't expect a quick reply, but it would be nice to know what is being done regarding the exit polls or their evidence TIA worked to produce(if anything.)

[Bill Bored]

17. With all due respect to TIA

The DNC report called for the ELIMINATION OF DREs and proprietary source code, the comparison of precinct totals to central counts in PUBLIC and via the Internet, and a host of other needed e-voting reforms, in addition to enforcement of voting rights laws, etc. These would make the famous Bev Harris tabulator hack impossible to pull off without detection, which is why she's been taking optical scanners apart and re-engineering them to show that this can swing votes too, as if this were news.

It's one thing to talk stats, but as far as proposing SOLUTIONS, the DNC report was a good place to start. The party is now officially anti-DRE, pro-Paper Ballot Optical Scan, and strongly in favor of transparent auditable elections. I know this is difficult for some of us to accept, but if you actually R_E_A_D the report, portions of it are excellent and we should in fact be using it to MAR-GIN-AL-IZE any Democrat who doesn't tow what is now the official party line: free, fair and transparent elections.

Get it?

[autorank]

19. Please don't post discussion items on this thread. Its for news only.

Thanks.

There may be items in the news stories that many object too or wich to amplify.

Since I've been on DU ERD, the etiquette is to post only news storeis or Kick/Recommends at the end of the thread, not in response to news stories. Thanks.

Kicks/Recommends noted as separate messages IN "Reply" TO THE MAIN POST (and appearing after the news stories) are MOST WELCOME

[Bill Bored]

21. Give me a break!

You don't think the fact that the DNC is anti-DRE is news?

You don't think the fact that the DNC has proposed a way to detect and prevent the world famous Bev Harris central tabulator hack is news?

But the fact that TIA writes a letter is news?

Or is this just an exit poll thread now?
How about an "All Exit Polls, All The Time" thread instead?

Not trying to be contentious here really, just askin'.

Keep up the good work!

[autorank]

26. You've used up your total of one.

See my favorable post on the 1/2 of the report that was useful. As a working in the field Democrat, I reserve my right to critique the people I help pay to run my party, e.g., DNC, when they waste 100 pages of a 200 page report on inferior polling to prove they lost the damn Ohio election.

or this article on possible/likely election fraud by autorank without reference to Exit Polls.

[FogerRox]

15. kickin--- keep it at the top--- please

[Lori Price CLG]

18. Kick. n/t

[LibertyorDeath]

20. No Paper Trail Left Behind:

No Paper Trail Left Behind:
The Theft of the 2004 Presidential Election

By Dennis Loo, Ph.D.
Cal Poly Pomona

Snip

The Role of Mass Movements and Alternative Media

What can be done? The Eugene McCarthy campaign of 1968 and the George McGovern campaign in 1972 didn’t end the war in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people and the anti-war movement ended the war. Civil rights weren’t secured because JFK and LBJ suddenly woke up to racial discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement galvanized public opinion and rocked this country to its foundations. Men didn’t suddenly wake up and realize that they were male chauvinist pigs - women formed the Women’s Movement, organized, marched, rallied, and demanded nothing less than equality, shaking this country to the core. The Bush administration is bogged down and sinking deeper in Iraq not mainly because the top figures of the Bush administration consist of liars, blind (and incompetent) ideologues, international outlaws and propagators of torture as an official policy, but because the Iraqi people have risen up against imperialist invasion. Prior to the war, the international anti-Iraq war movement brought out millions of people into the streets, the largest demonstrations in history, denying the U.S. imperialists the UN’s sanction and leading to Turkey denying US requests to use their land as a staging area. These are major, world-historic feats.

The 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections fraud underscores the critical importance of building a mass movement, a movement of resistance that doesn’t tie itself to the electoral road and electoral parties. In addition, as Robert Parry has eloquently argued, a counterforce to the right-wing media empire must be built by the left and by progressive-minded people. As it stands today, the right can get away with nearly anything because they have talking heads on TV, radio, the Internet and other outlets who set the tone and the political agenda, with mainstream media focusing on sex and sensationalism and taking their political cues to a large extent from the right.(39)

Like a bridge broken by an earthquake, the electoral road can only lead to plunging us into the sea – which is precisely what happened in the 2004 election.

FOOTNOTES:

(1) Several of the items in this list feature Ohio and Florida because going into the election it was universally understood that the outcome hinged on these swing states.

'TruthIsAll' on the DemocraticUnderground.com offered a list that is similar in format to my highly improbables and utterly impossibles list of the 2004 election results and I have drawn directly from their list for items #7 and 8. (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all &address=203x22581), retrieved June 4, 2005.

http://www.projectcensored.org/newsflash/voter_fraud.html
project censored

"No hand counts of paper ballots means no election and the U.S. is currently not a democracy. We have Corporate American appointments not elections."

[Algorem]

22. Judge dismisses lawsuit filed over long election lines

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1125337440293270.xml&storylist=cleveland

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — ...


The party wanted the lawsuit to be thrown out once it became clear President Bush won re-election, but Republican state leaders kept the lawsuit alive to try to get the judge to rule the election did not violate voters' constitutional rights...

Some voters had to wait in line more than seven hours to vote, particularly at a polling place at Kenyon College in Knox County. Waits of three hours or more were typical at some precincts in Columbus in Franklin County. Those two counties were the targets of the Democrats' lawsuit.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, refused to allow people waiting in lines to mark their choices on a paper ballot for elections workers to enter into electronic voting machines later. Such ballots are illegal, he said.

After the election in Ohio, whose 20 electoral votes gave Republican Bush an insurmountable lead over Democrat John Kerry, the Democratic Party asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit. However, Attorney General Jim Petro asked for the chance to argue the election was conducted fairly...

[Wilms]

23. Lawyer Asks N.M. Court to Order Recount

Thanks to OmmmSweetOmmm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4498759

[Wilms]

25. Presidential recount dispute back before N.M. Supreme Court

Thanks to MelissaB

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x391623

[Algorem]

24. "Why is Cowman (who abetted Noe at theBWC) at the Ohio Teacher's

( http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2039465 )

Pension Fund? Older article details this guys egregious abetting of Noe AND says he is now dealing with another pot of state money - this time the teacher's retirement fund.

Were I a teacher in Ohio - I would be pushing my union and others to scream for a review/audit of the teacher retirement fund, given Cowman's involvement.

Cowman per coingate - when an audit cited problems - and how Cowman helped Noe avoid problems and then get the second 25 Million investment:

In his audit, completed in 2000, Mr. Elliott criticized the coin investment and foresaw problems. He questioned the number of loans Mr. Noe's fund gave out and the practice of trading coins among the managers of the subsidiaries that Mr. Noe set up to trade coins for the state..."



http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050814/NEWS24/508140356

Coins were BWC darling in spite of financial warts

By CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK and JOSHUA BOAK
BLADE STAFF WRITERS


COLUMBUS - If publicly traded, Tom Noe's Capital Coin Fund Limited would have been downgraded by Wall Street in 2001, and investors might have cashed in their coins.


Instead of fleeing, the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation upgraded its position that year and gave the politically connected Republican coin dealer another $25 million.

End-of-year financial statements released by the state last week show the coin fund was not the investment darling bureau representatives claimed and had falling profits that would strike fear in the stoutest Wall Street heart - an 18 percent decline from the end of 1999 to the end of 2001.

But the bureau enlarged its stake with Mr. Noe, who with his wife, Bernadette, gave $200,000 over the years to GOP candidates, committees, and parties. They socialized with Gov. Bob Taft and Attorney General Jim Petro, among other top state officials...