Fitrakis/Wasserman: Ohio’s Election Protection Movement Wins Two Big Victories

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/05/336/

Ohio’s Election Protection Movement Wins Two Big Victories
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

In a victory for election protection activists, Ohio’s powerful GOP Chair Bob Bennett will be forced to face a public hearing on his removal as Chair of the Cuyahoga (Cleveland) Board of Elections. And in a second triumph, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has agreed, as part of a legal settlement, to take possession of the ballots and other key documents from the disputed 2004 election that gave George W. Bush a second term in the White House. Brunner has requested the resignations of the entire scandal-plagued Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, which Bennett has chaired. Two Democratic members and one Republican have complied with her request. The BOE’s executive director, Michael Vu, previously resigned amidst a cloud of scandal resulting from a mishandled primary election and more than $12 million in budgetary overruns. Two BOE workers have been given 18-month prison sentences for felony convictions stemming from what a government prosecutor called the “rigging” of an officially mandated recount for the 2004 presidential election.

Bennett has issued a legal challenge against his removal. But on Wednesday, April 4, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge John Connor ruled Bennett has to comply with Brunner’s call for a public hearing on the matter. The hearing is scheduled for Monday, April 9.

A long-time GOP power broker, Bennett is a close personal confidante of White House advisor Karl Rove. He has been Rove’s point man in Ohio’s most populous county, which includes the Democratic voter rich city of Cleveland. A wide array of irregularities there were pivotal in giving Bush his narrow margin of official victory in 2004.

Bennett asked the court to rule that the Ohio statute seeking his removal was unconstitutionally vague. But Judge Connor ruled that the law was “clear and unequivocal.”

This is Bennett’s third major setback in three days. On Monday, April 2, Brunner put the Cuyahoga BOE under state administrative oversight because it lacked a quorum to conduct business. With the resignations of the other three board members, Bennett stood alone as the sole board member.

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[aquart]

1. So. Bennett's hands are dripping with American blood.

I know he'd never consider the dead Iraqis.

I'd like to try him as an accomplice to murder and treason. But that's just me. Perhaps declare him an enemy combatant and take him to Guantanamo for a good talking to.

Americans are dead because of his crimes. Let's none of us take this lightly.

[L. Coyote]

2. kick and parallel thread: IT AIN'T OVER YET!!

OHIO SoS to Take Possession of 2004 Ballots. IT AIN'T OVER YET!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x582783


Edited on Thu Apr-05-07 09:50 AM by L. Coyote
Big developments in the Ohio 2004 story include:

1.) Ohio AG Marc Dann himself acting as lawyer for SoS Brunner
2.) Court order that SoS preserve 2004 ballots
3.) Ohio GOP Chairperson/Cuyahoga BOE Chairperson Bob Bennet loses again, and must face the court.

Real progress in investigation of 2004 irregularities is definitely in process now.