Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Thursday, March 29, 2007

[livvy]

Welcome to the Thursday Open Thread



Although all members are welcome and encouraged to post to the Election Reform, Fraud, and Related News any day of the week, it is especially important for people to do so on Thursdays. All interested parties should contribute their ideas, and related articles, commentaries, political cartoons, and so forth.

So, you are not only welcome and encouraged to participate, you are needed to make this Open Thread work.

Please:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. Google terms like “paper ballots”, “election reform”, or “campaign finance reform”. Don’t forget your local newspapers.

2. Post stories using the new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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 in other forums, and add the link to your post in the Open Thread.


Don’t forget to recommend for the Greatest Page. Now how often do you get to recommend your own posts?

Be the Media for open, transparent, and accurate elections!

[livvy]

1. Focus Tightens on Role of Rove

Focus tightens on role of Rove
Top Bush adviser center of inquiry
BY DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and JIM RUTENBERG, The New York Times
LA Daily News
Article Last Updated:

WASHINGTON - Almost every Wednesday afternoon, advisers to President George W. Bush gather to strategize about putting his stamp on the federal courts and the U.S. attorneys' offices.

The group meets in the Roosevelt Room and includes the aides to the White House counsel, the chief of staff, the attorney general and Karl Rove, a top adviser to the president, who tries to attend himself. Each of them signs off on every nomination.

Rove takes charge of the politics. As caretaker to the administration's conservative allies, Rove relays their concerns, according to several participants in the Wednesday meetings. Especially with regard to U.S. attorneys, he also manages the horse trading.

"What Karl would say is, `Look, if this senator who has been working with the president on the following things really wants this person and we think they are acceptable, why don't we give the senator what he wants?"' said one former administration official. "`You know, we stiffed him on that bill back there."'

Rove's role has put him in the center of a Senate inquiry into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Democrats and a few Republicans have raised questions about whether the prosecutors were being replaced to impede or jump-start investigations for partisan goals.

>more

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_5543666

[livvy]

2. Prosecutors Assail Gonzales During Meeting

Prosecutors Assail Gonzales During Meeting

March 29, 2007
Prosecutors Assail Gonzales During Meeting
By DAVID JOHNSTON and NEIL A. LEWIS

WASHINGTON, March 28 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales endured blunt criticism Tuesday from federal prosecutors who questioned the firings of eight United States attorneys, complained that the dismissals had undermined morale and expressed broader grievances about his leadership, according to people briefed on the discussion.

About a half-dozen United States attorneys voiced their concerns at a private meeting with Mr. Gonzales in Chicago.

Several of the prosecutors said the dismissals caused them to wonder about their own standing and distracted their employees, according to one person familiar with the discussions. Others asked Mr. Gonzales about the removal of Daniel C. Bogden, the former United States attorney in Nevada, a respected career prosecutor whose ouster has never been fully explained by the Justice Department.

While Mr. Gonzales’s trip was part of a long-scheduled tour, he has been meeting in recent days with prosecutors in an effort to repair the damage caused by the dismissals. President Bush has backed Mr. Gonzales, but his tenure at the Justice Department may still be in peril as lawmakers in both parties have called for his resignation, questioned his credibility and raised doubts that he can lead the department.

His former chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, is to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

>more

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/washington/29gonzales.html?hp

[livvy]

3. RI: Straight-Party Voting Targeted

03/28/2007
Straight-party voting targeted
By: Jim Baron , Times staff writer

PROVIDENCE - A slew of election-related bills -- everything from requiring voters to show identification at the polls, to eliminating state party primaries, to junking the practice of straight-party voting, to amending the constitution to combine the offices of lieutenant governor and secretary of state - were aired Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee.

"It's time for this dinosaur to go bye-bye," said Kathy Santos of the East Providence Republican Party of the mechanism that allows voters to fill in the arrow in one of the boxes at the top of the ballot to cast votes for all the candidates from one party or another, a vestige of what used to be called the "master lever" on old mechanical voting machines.

"When you go to vote, you are supposed to really put some thought into it. Doing it this way (eliminating the straight-ticket option) makes people think a little more."

Rep. Susan Story of East Providence and Barrington, sponsor of the bill to delete straight-party voting from the ballot, said it can discourage candidates from running for office.

>more

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18140674&BRD=1713&PAG=461&dept_id=24491&rfi=6

[livvy]

4. Kennedy: Justice Firings Are Keyed To '08 Vote

Kennedy: Justice firings are keyed to '08 vote

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | March 29, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Senator Edward M. Kennedy yesterday accused President Bush of using the Department of Justice to further his administration's "right-wing ideology," saying that veteran prosecutors were replaced by political operatives in key states to ensure that "reliable partisans" are in place in time for the 2008 presidential election.

Kennedy noted that the recent rash of firings among US attorneys put new top prosecutors in place in several presidential swing states, including Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Arkansas.

At least two of the eight US attorneys fired by the administration refused to investigate spurious claims of voter fraud that were initiated by Republicans, Kennedy said. Two of the new US attorneys, meanwhile, had documented records of pursuing GOP goals, one as a Justice Department official and the other as a top aide to White House political adviser Karl Rove, he said.

"The administration views our system of justice as merely another arena for furthering its right-wing ideology," Kennedy said in a speech at the National Press Club. "The conclusion is inescapable that the administration has methodically placed reliable partisans in positions where they can influence the outcome of the 2008 election."

The speech by Kennedy, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, came a day before a former top Justice Department official is scheduled to appear before the committee.

>more

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/29/kennedy_justice_firings_are_keyed_to_08_vote/

[livvy]

5. Bush's Long History of Tilting Justice

Bush's long history of tilting Justice
The administration began skewing federal law enforcement before the current U.S. attorney scandal, says a former Department of Justice lawyer.
By Joseph D. Rich
JOSEPH D. RICH was chief of the voting section in the Justice Department's civil right division from 1999 to 2005. He now works for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

March 29, 2007

THE SCANDAL unfolding around the firing of eight U.S. attorneys compels the conclusion that the Bush administration has rewarded loyalty over all else. A destructive pattern of partisan political actions at the Justice Department started long before this incident, however, as those of us who worked in its civil rights division can attest.

I spent more than 35 years in the department enforcing federal civil rights laws — particularly voting rights. Before leaving in 2005, I worked for attorneys general with dramatically different political philosophies — from John Mitchell to Ed Meese to Janet Reno. Regardless of the administration, the political appointees had respect for the experience and judgment of longtime civil servants.

Under the Bush administration, however, all that changed. Over the last six years, this Justice Department has ignored the advice of its staff and skewed aspects of law enforcement in ways that clearly were intended to influence the outcome of elections.

It has notably shirked its legal responsibility to protect voting rights. From 2001 to 2006, no voting discrimination cases were brought on behalf of African American or Native American voters. U.S. attorneys were told instead to give priority to voter fraud cases, which, when coupled with the strong support for voter ID laws, indicated an intent to depress voter turnout in minority and poor communities.

>more

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-rich29mar29,1,5074173.story?coll=la-news-a_section

[livvy]

6. NC: Voting Bill Gets House Backing

Article published Mar 29, 2007
Voting bill gets House backing
By Mark Binker
Staff Writer

RALEIGH — North Carolinians would be able to register to vote on the same day they cast their ballot under legislation the state House tentatively approved Wednesday.

The measure only would apply to the period scheduled for early voting. Those wishing to vote on Election Day would have to register in advance.
"This is about improving participation in the election process and making it easier for people to participate," said House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, a Davidson County Democrat and one of the measure’s sponsors.

Seven states have similar provisions. Turnout figures show election participation is about 10 percentage points greater in those states —
as high as 65 percent of eligible voters — than in states with advance registration requirements.

"We know that people don’t really get interested in the elections until the month before," said Rep. Deborah Ross, a Wake County Democrat who also is a sponsor of the bill.

Right now in North Carolina, voter registration rolls close 25 days before Election Day.

>more

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/NEWSREC0101/70328049

[livvy]

7. Iowa: Election Day Registration Bill Goes To Culver

Election Day registration bill goes to Culver
By Dan Gearino Journal Des Moines Bureau

DES MOINES -- Voter registration got a lot easier Tuesday as the Iowa Senate passed a bill that allows registration at the polls on Election Day, sending the measure to Gov. Chet Culver for an expected signature.

Also Tuesday, the Senate sent a bill to Culver that requires a paper backup for electronic voting machines.

Support for the Election Day registration bill was split 30-20 along party lines. Democrats said the measure would increase citizen participation, while Republicans warned that an easier process would lead to voter fraud. The current cutoff for registration is 10 days before an election.

Sen. Dave Mulder, R-Sioux Center, said the bill is deeply flawed. "I want everybody to vote; I really do. But I want that vote to be a legitimate vote," he said.

Seven states have Election Day voting: Idaho, Maine, Minnesota,Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Those states also have some of the highest voter turnout in the country.

>more


http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/03/28/news/legislature/3205470de02d5c45862572ac000f0a90.txt

[livvy]

8. FL: Advocates Target Voting Reform-Budget Plans Ignore Crist Call...

Posted on Thu, Mar. 29, 2007


Advocates target voting reform
Budget plans ignore Crist call to discard most touch screens
By DUANE MARSTELLER
[e-mail]

SARASOTA

- Local voter advocates are mounting a lobbying campaign to save Gov. Charlie Crist's $32 million plan to replace touch-screen voting machines with optical scanners.

The proposal, which Crist says is one of his top legislative priorities, is conspicuously absent from both the House and Senate budget proposals unveiled last week and Tuesday. That had activists scrambling Wednesday to flood state lawmakers' telephones, inboxes and mailboxes.

"The Legislature should not be trying to undo the governor's good intentions," said Kindra Muntz, president of the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections. "This is a critical issue for Florida. Florida does not need any more election embarrassments."

Crist is seeking the money to junk most touch-screen machines in 15 counties, including Sarasota, where more than 18,000 blank votes or "undervotes" were recorded in last year's disputed 13th Congressional District race. Officials declared Republican Vern Buchanan the winner by 369 votes over Democrat Christine Jennings, who is contesting the results by challenging the machines' accuracy.

>more

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16989720.htm

[texpatriot2004]

9. K & R for transparent democracy nm