FL Sec of State Cobb bars reporters from her meeting w/ Ion Sancho

[seafan]

Police called to remove reporters

Public meeting turns private when Cobb restricts access to reporters
By Jennifer Portman

March 14, 2006


Sunshine Week started off with the slamming of the secretary of state's door Monday, when Leon County Commissioner Bob Rackleff and news reporters were shut out of an announced public meeting on county voting issues.
"I've always said I have no objection to the press, but we do make faster progress without people having to look at cameras - that's a fact," said Florida Secretary of State Sue Cobb.

Tallahassee Democrat Political Editor Bill Cotterell, Associated Press reporter Brent Kallestad and cameraman Dave Heller also were threatened with eviction from a hallway outside Cobb's closed conference room by Capitol Police for trying to attend the meeting with Cobb, Leon County Commission Chairman Bill Proctor, Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho and staff members.
"I'm very concerned and very confused," Democrat Executive Editor Bob Gabordi said. "I have to know that when reporters show up to a meeting that has been given proper public notice, that they will not be harassed and threatened with arrest."

The county issued a public notice to the media Sunday about Monday's meeting, which was called by Cobb.

snip

"This kicks it off with a bang," said Adria Harper, director of The First Amendment Foundation. "The public was invited and now they are being told they can't attend, and in the middle of Sunshine Week. It's almost an ironic tragedy that it is occurring."
In some instances, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled, even having a single board member present could constitute a public meeting if there is an effort to frustrate openness, Harper said. That was clearly the intent here, she added, but in any case, "they violated the spirit of the Sunshine Law."

Cobb suggested the meeting should be closed because the public notice did not come from her office.
"The press is not invited to this meeting," Cobb told reporters. "There might be a government-in-the-sunshine problem."
When reporters refused to leave the hallway outside the meeting room, Department of State officials called Capitol Police officers.

snip

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060314/CAPITOLNEWS/603140333/1010/NEWS01

[meegbear]

1. OK ... what is "Sunshine Week" and "Sunshine Law"?

:shrug:

[bandy]

2. Ready for a laugh?

Sunshine Week is to celebrate openness in government and the Sunshine Law is to protect that openness. But this is Fla. after all and as in D.C. black is white, up is down. I have got to quit reading this stuff - it is making me crazy.

[seafan]

3. FL has an "open government" law (Sunshine Law), which ensures

that the public has free-flowing access to information about the actions of our government, both state and local.



Here is a good piece about it:

Florida newspapers push for more open government

snip

This is the fifth year the Florida Society of Newspapers Editors has sponsored Sunshine Sunday. Last year, the American Society of Newspaper Editors adopted the theme and turned it into a weeklong event when reporters across the country urge readers to demand that the doors to government stay open.

"Sunshine Week aims to empower the American people by demanding that government open its doors and allow a free flow of news and information," said Washington-Hodding Carter, honorary chairman for Sunshine Week 2006.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/APN/603120644


I would add here that this battle is heating up again with the current crop of regressives in Tallahassee.

[seafan]

4. More on the meeting with Leon Co. Elections Superv. Sancho:

Secretary, Sancho meet


http://cmsimg.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CD&Date=20060314&Category=CAPITOLNEWS&ArtNo=603140335&Ref=AR&Profile=1010&MaxW=300
(pix of Sancho and Cobb)

Cobb feels a little better about Leon's voting compliance
By Bill Cotterell
DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR

March 14, 2006

Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho touted new voting equipment Monday to Secretary of State Sue Cobb, who said she feels "slightly more confident" that the county can comply with federal mandates for helping people with disabilities cast their ballots.

Sancho and County Commission Chairman Bill Proctor met privately with Cobb and Division of Elections Director Dawn Roberts for two hours to discuss the long-running standoff between the supervisor's office and the three companies whose voting equipment is certified by the state.

The county's failure to meet a Jan. 1 deadline for compliance with the Help America Vote Act caused Cobb to retract more than $500,000 in state money. She has set a May Day deadline for the county to submit workable plans for making sure blind voters and those with other handicaps can have reasonable accommodation.

snip

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060314/CAPITOLNEWS/603140335/1010/NEWS01

[Kurovski]

5. K&R

"I've always said I have no objection to the press, but we do make faster progress without people having to look at cameras - that's a fact,"

I have a sense that my idea of progress, and that held by Ms. Cobb diverge at some crucial juncture. :mad:

[fearnobush]

6. This Help America Vote Act is killing our Democracy.

It was written specifically to create the next generation of cheating - electronic style. No media allowed, No media outrage, no Democracy anymore. Sorry folks the great 200 yr experiment is over.

[Wilms]

7. The video at the link is amazing.

These are .WMV

http://www.tallahassee.com/assets/wmv/CD21862313.WMV

http://www.tallahassee.com/assets/wmv/CD21879313.WMV

[seafan]

8. Ms. Cobb is impressive, isn't she?!!

And from today in the Tallahassee Democrat:
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060315/NEWS01/603150336/1010

Here is an audio link http://www.tallahassee.com/assets/wma/CD21965314.WMA
to an hour-long press interview of Ion Sancho with the press yesterday. I listened to the entire hour and was just amazed at the details he discussed about this coordinated effort to discredit him and his efforts to make sure that all computer memory cards are initially checked before they are programmed, to make sure that no malicious code has been installed beforehand.

Leon County uses a method called "crop scan" (this is what it sounded like) to check all new memory cards for any malicious codes that might be already installed on them, in order to make sure the cards are clean before inserting them into the machines. Interestingly, Leon County is THE ONLY COUNTY IN FLORIDA THAT USES THIS PRE-SCREENING METHOD TO CHECK ALL THEIR MEMORY CARDS BEFORE USING THEM!!!

He explained in detail how these malicious codes, if present on these memory cards, would allow for internal manipulation of vote totals WITHOUT leaving behind any evidence of the changes and would be completely UNDETECTABLE by any audits of vote tallies afterward.

He said that Diebold never mentioned this vulnerability to him and TO DATE, the FL certification officials have done NOTHING to address it. He said the 2 top officials in the FL certification office quit last November, and guess what, they went to work for Diebold in California! He said that this is pure negligence on the part of the FL Division of Elections/SOS to have not addressed this vulnerability to date.


If you can, listen to this amazing hour with Mr. Sancho. He is an attorney as well. He has served for 18 years in this position of Leon County Elections Supervisor, and has run virtually flawless elections since.



He also recommended a web site to the members of the press during this interview:

http://www.electionline.org/ for a growing collection of information about the status of legislation about voting reforms around the country.


This man is a very large threat to those who would subvert our elections.

And if people are so inclined, send him a note/e-mail/fax of appreciation.

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/county/countyInfo.asp?county=LEO

[Bushfire]

11. The audio is quite impressive having listened to it now as well

Ion is dropping facts left, and right about how Diebold has obstructed voting integrity around the country. He also invited well known scientists to determine if the Accuvote system is vulnerable, which it was.

I wonder though if FL would approve the voting product from Votepad to be in compliance with HAVA with the disabled/blind voters.

"There is another product, the VotePad, which has now been approved in Wisconsin, but it does not have a sip and puff feature which means some states can't use it. The VotePad product was actually designed by some of the more effective and knowledgeable election reform advocates (i.e. Ellen Theisen, founder of VotersUnite), and I would expect it to have a high degree of transparency and integrity, but useability features should be examined. I think it may also have issues when faced with a high number of ballot issues. I would appreciate insights on this as well. " taken from

http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/73/19262.html

Unfortunately this thread is over 24 hours old now, so can't be recommended... :(

but i can bump it so others can see the great links you posted... :)

on edit: the audio is a must listen. Ion Sancho quote near the end "I have NEVER held a secret meeting. Secrecy only serves the purpose of the corrupt!"

[seafan]

12. Thanks, Bushfire. Everyone needs to listen to that audio piece.

As I understood it, the "IVS" (I think) telephonic system that Sancho wants to use for handicapped voters is a type of telephone that isn't considered to be a "voting machine system", so it would not need to be certified by the state. He also said that this telephonic system has a paper trail associated with it, which is great.


Another memorable point from the audio:

When the computer experts identified the critical vulnerabilities with the hackability of the Diebold system memory cards last year with Mr. Sancho, they noted that the only way to ensure an accurate outcome was to have a manual recount of the (already machine-read) paper ballots during a 1% recount. They indicated that successful vulnerability attacks can ONLY be detected by counting the paper ballots that have been machine read.

After this revelation, guess what Gov Jeb Bush and SOS Glenda Hood did last year... they quickly modified the FL law that specifically applies to these manual recounts of machine-read ballots:

Chapter 102.166, subsection 1: Jeb and Ms. Hood changed this law to make it ILLEGAL to conduct manual recounts on ANY ballots that have been already counted by a machine.!!!!!! Now we can only perform manual recounts on the non-machine- read ballots. To count machine read ballots will likely "result in removal of the canvassing board from office," according to Jeb's and Ms. Cobb's *modification.*



Another important point from the audio:

Summary Statement from the experts' report: "It is possible for someone with access to the removable memory card to modify the vote count stored on the card in such a way that the tampering would affect the outcome of an election and not be detected by a subsequent canvass process."

Sancho: "This is the WMD in the field of elections. This is the number one fear... that you can tamper with an election and not have authorities discover it."



And another point:

The state of FL has NEVER in its history, run an audit of any voting machines whatsoever.


Sheesh.

[seafan]

13. Correction in above post: Jeb and SOS Glenda Hood modified

the FL law (not Ms. Cobb... she was appointed to SOS position by Jeb in December, 2005)

See this thread:
FL Gov. Jeb Bush picks major Republican donor to oversee state elections December 8, 2005

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5545662&mesg_id=5545662

[Chi]

9. But it's complicated...

It's just so complicated, too complicated, way too complicated.

I guess spoon-feeding fascism to the American people is.........complicated.

Thanks for the videos (and the stomach knot).

[Bushfire]

10. K & R!!!

Thanks for posting this Seafan! Danger to democracy now has an evil face in Sue Cobb.