BUSH NEW US ATTORNEY IS CRIMINAL-Behind Voter Suppression-Election Reform Fraud & News-Wed-2/7/07

[kpete]

BUSH Replaced Honest Prosecutor With Criminal Behind Voter Attack Scheme Election Reform, Fraud & News
Wed 2/7/07

Bush’s New US Attorney a Criminal?

BBC Television had exposed 2004 voter attack scheme
by appointee Griffin, a Rove aide.
Black soldiers and the homeless targeted.

by Greg Palast
Published March 7th, 2007 in Articles

March 7, 2007.

There’s only one thing worse than sacking an honest prosecutor. That’s replacing an honest prosecutor with a criminal.

But the Committee missed a big one: Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove’s assistant, the President’s pick as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin, according to BBC Television, was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election.

...............

Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove’s assistant, the President’s pick as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin, according to BBC Television, was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election.

Key voters on Griffin’s hit list: Black soldiers and homeless men and women. Nice guy, eh? Naughty or nice, however, is not the issue. Targeting voters where race is a factor is a felony crime under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.


.........................

Much Much more at:
http://www.gregpalast.com/bushs-new-us-attorney-a-crimi...

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[Old and In the Way]

1. Didn't Griffin resign rather than have to face these charges?

[kpete]

2. STRAIGHT TO THE TOP

STRAIGHT TO THE top.

John McKay, the former US Attorney from Washington state who didn't open an investigation into claims of voter fraud in the 2004 state gubernatorial election, heard from someone else beside Rep. "Doc" Hastings (R-WA).

From the Post ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600606.html?nav=rss_politics

In remarks after the hearings, McKay said that officials in the White House counsel's office, including then-counsel Harriet E. Miers, asked him to explain why he had "mishandled" the governor's race during an interview for a federal judgeship in September 2006. McKay was informed after his dismissal that he also was not a finalist for the federal bench.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/012870.php

[kpete]

4. "SMOKING GUN LETTER"

"Please ask the White House to replace Mr. McKay"
by SusanHu
Wed Mar 07, 2007 at 09:52:01 AM PST


Today's Seattle Times provides a "smoking gun" letter from the strong-arm GOP lobbying organization, Building Industry Association of Washington, to U.S. Rep. "Doc" Hastings, one of the most powerful GOP House members and the ranking Republican on the House Ethics Committee. Furious about the victory of Democratic governor Christine Gregoire over the GOP's Dino Rossi, the Association's Executive Vice President Tom McCabe wrote a "demand letter" to Hastings:

The letter concludes:

Please ask the White House to replace Mr, McKay. If you declde not to do this, let me know why.

LETTER:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2007/03/06/2003604079.pdf

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/7/122123/4977

[kpete]

5. McKay tells of a GOP call in 2004-05

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

McKay tells of a GOP call in 2004-05
Fired U.S. attorney and 5 others appear before congressional panels

By CHARLES POPE
P-I WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

WASHINGTON -- With the 2004 governor's race still in doubt and political passions super-heated, the chief of staff to Washington state's senior congressional Republican called U.S. Attorney John McKay to inquire about federal investigations into the bitterly contested election, McKay told congressional committees Tuesday.

McKay, who appeared alongside five other federal prosecutors fired last year by the Bush administration, said he cut off the call before Ed Cassidy, chief of staff to Rep. Doc Hastings, could venture into inappropriate -- and possibly illegal -- territory.

"I thought it was a very unusual and serious call coming from him in the aftermath of the certification of the election. I knew immediately what he was calling about when I took the call and all my antennae went up," McKay said of the call, which he said came in late 2004 or early 2005.

McKay said Tuesday that if he had not acted, he was "certain" Cassidy would have entered into "dangerous territory."

"I said, 'I'm sure you're not about to say the following to me.' Then I said, you wouldn't do that, I certainly wouldn't expect a chief of staff to a congressman to do that and you're not about to do that. I recall the conversation was ended by him very expeditiously."

much more at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/306427_prosecutors07.html

[Land Shark]

8. Video of former US Attorney John McKay available at washblog.com

you may need to scroll down just a bit to get to it, depending on when you check, but I think this link should be a permalink: http://www.washblog.com/story/2007/3/6/132930/7692 K&R#5

[kpete]

9. Thanks as always Land Shark

IOU - pick up your "special consideration" card next time your in San Diego...k

[kpete]

3. US Voting Machine Company out of Business

March 6, 2007 at 17:14:20

US Voting Machine Company out of Business

by posted by Bev Harris


WINCHESTER, INDIANA— Randolph County Clerk Claudia Thornburg said Voting Technologies International, the county’s election equipment vendor, apparently has gone out of business.

A former employee of VTI called the clerk last week to report that he and the rest of the company’s employees had been let go.

“From the best we can tell they no longer exist, so we have no support for our equipment,” Thornburg said.

The Wisconsin company’s telephone is disconnected.

Randolph is one of four counties in the state that bought VTI equipment. Boone, Cass and Parke counties also used the company’s electronic machines.

Randolph County used the equipment for the first time last year, and in both the spring primary and fall general election, getting tabulations was a huge problem.

Last spring, primary results weren’t finalized until 40 hours after the polls closed.

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_posted_b_070306_us_voting_machine_co.htm

[kpete]

6. H.R.811: Fact & Friction -- Part I

H.R.811: Fact & Friction -- Part I
Posted by Howard Stanislevic at 10:18 PM

Now that H.R.811, Congressman Holt's "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007", is wending its way through the House with almost 200 co-sponsors, I thought it would be a good idea to blog about some under-reported aspects of the bill and the process that spawned it.

Despite the best intentions of many in the election integrity (EI) community, there has been a relative lack of attention paid to certain crucial problems with the new Holt bill and their potential solutions. I'm speaking primarily about software-independent audits and recounts -- not just "auditability" -- a buzzword bandied about in Congressional testimony and elsewhere.

It's taken years to get members of Congress interested in doing anything about the lack of independent verification of the e-vote tallies generated by touchscreen direct recording electronic (DRE) and optical scan electronic vote-counting systems, but now that we may be on the cusp of doing something (via H.R.811, Rep. Rush Holt's new bill in the House), it doesn't seem to be nearly enough.

Holt's bill, which I had the good fortune to be involved in drafting, leaves much to be desired. And the drafting process itself, while being somewhat open to the EI community, was not as open as advertised. Many important leaders in this movement had not even seen the drafts but more importantly, it was not possible to tell who had and who hadn't because there was no coordinated effort to make this known. This made meaningful collaboration and discussion rather difficult because no one knew who else had a copy of any particular draft and who did not.

more at:
http://e-voter.blogspot.com/2007/03/hr811-fact-friction-part-i.html

[kpete]

7. eVoting on the Radio - or Your MP3 Player

eVoting on the Radio - or Your MP3 Player

I’m very proud of my work with the Coalition for Voting Integrity, which is a leading grassoots, all-volunteer activist group headquartered in Bucks County fighting tirelessly to bring voter-verified paper ballots and proper audits to Pennsylvania and the country. We’re a stunningly well-matched group of women and men absolutely dedicated beyond all reason to bringing integrity and accountability to our elections.

Faced with a virtual blackout in the corporate media and in blogtopia, we have, over the last four months, taken our message of electoral justice to the airwaves and the Internets with a show called Voice of the Voters: the Power and Responsibility of Democracy. The show broadcast live every Wednesday night at 8pm on WNJC 1360AM, but it’s also available via netcast here. Now, thanks to the work of yet another volunteer, you can subscribe to a free podcast of the show at iTunes. Search for Voice of the Voters in the News and Politics section.

Voice of the Votes is, without doubt, the pre-eminent interview program devoted to the issue of electronic voting and American Democracy. It’s put together every week by CVI co-founders, Mary Ann Gould and Ruth Matheny. Week in and week out they have been delivering a line-up of guests that will, if you know anything about electronic voting, make your head spin.


Check out the archives:
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2007/03/07/evoting-on-the-radio-or-your-mp3-player/#more-9315

[kpete]

10. CO: Debate gets heated over bill to boost vote centers

Debate gets heated over bill to boost vote centers

March 6, 2007
Sparks flew in the Senate Monday over a bill to require counties to operate more vote centers in the wake of November's election meltdown in Denver and Douglas County.
The Senate delayed action on the measure after a floor flight that lasted nearly two hours.

Senate Bill 83 is aimed at preventing the problems that kept more than 20,000 voters in Denver from casting ballots in November.

"It's the first substantive bill since the election fiasco," said Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver. "We're trying to address all the problems we saw with vote centers. Our elections must be run in a more effective manner."

SB 83, by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, would require the secretary of state to set up guidelines for vote centers.

more at:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5397236,00.html

[kpete]

11. FL: Jenkins mostly mum on voting inquiry

IN POLITICS: Jenkins mostly mum on voting inquiry
The elections office is "proactive" on improving, panel says
The Times-Union


Supervisor of Elections candidate Suzanne Jenkins has repeatedly tried to distance herself from a security video from early voting last August that was leaked to the Times-Union last week.


Jenkins, a city councilwoman, said her office is waiting for the state Division of Elections to investigate, though that won't happen until a formal complaint is filed, the division has said.

That distance, though, shrinks a bit on her campaign Web site.

The "latest news" section on www.suzanneforsupervisor.com links to four news articles, including a Times-Union story that includes a clip from the video.

Incumbent Jerry Holland, who does not have a campaign Web site, has called the video part of a "smear campaign" by Jenkins.

more at:
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/030607/met_8404768.shtml

[New Earth]

12. uh oh, don't you mean 3/07/07?

[kpete]

14. YES< YES< YES

3/07/07

Sorry too late to edit - lost a month, oh well....kp

[autorank]

16. ...or did yo mean 777?

[kpete]

13. OH: AP Interview: Ex-county elections chief predicts more upheaval

AP Interview: Ex-county elections chief predicts more upheaval
THOMAS J. SHEERAN
Associated Press
CLEVELAND - The elections board in the state's most populous county can expect more intense scrutiny in 2008 than it experienced during a 2004 election marked by long voter lines, when Ohio delivered the election to President Bush, the recently resigned director of the board said Tuesday.

"The challenges they face are the same challenges that we faced in 2004's presidential election," Michael Vu told The Associated Press in his first interview since leaving the high-profile job in Cuyahoga County last week while under fire for election foul-ups.

"Even though I thought 2004 was big, I think 2008 is going to be that much greater in terms of size, in terms of controversy, in terms of being at the courthouse often. I think that's one of the things that's disappointing, is how often things are litigated in elections now."

Next year Cleveland, the county seat, is likely to see "an overwhelming number of people coming from outside this county and from other states," watching the election outcome and vote-counting, including out-of-town lawyers, elected officials and celebrities, Vu predicted.

more at:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/16846053.htm

[autorank]

15. K&R a while ago. Greg Palast delivers the goods...what a guy! n/t