I've been very skeptical of the Spoonamore story. Connell killed in a smallplane crash changes that.

[Wilms]

:scared:

See Algorem's thread in LBN:

(Prominent Republican)Pilot killed as plane crashes in Lake Twp. ("Rove's IT consultant")

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3653385


-edit to add-

Stark Co. plane crash: Who was Michael Connell?

Michael Connell was killed when the Piper Supercub he was piloting crashed three miles short of an Akron-Canton Airport runway. He leaves behind a wife and four children.

Connell, 45, of Bath Township, is considered to be one of the Republican Party's top computer experts. He led the companies which designed websites for the GOP and a virtual who's-who list of republican political leaders including President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, as well as national organizations, and developed a host of federal government software and data management systems. Connell is said to be a close confidant of the Bush family.

Earlier this year Connell was subpoenaed to testify in an Ohio federal court regarding voter fraud just days before the November presidential election. His allegedly intimate knowledge of White House and Capitol Hill email systems has been a hot topic of conversation for Washington insiders regarding the Karl Rove/White House email scandal. His name has also been linked with other electoral scandals such as the 2000 Florida presidential election, the Ohio 2004 election computers, and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

He founded New Media Communications, based in Cleveland, is the CEO of GovTech Solutions, based in Akron, and is associated with several other successful IT, marketing and advertising enterprises. His companies have won numerous awards for the development of political websites, marketing campaigns, and use of technology. New Media Communications placed third on the prestigious Weatherhead 100, a list compiled by Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management that recognizes Northeast Ohio's fastest growing companies.

© 2008 WKYC-TV

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=103520&catid=3

[WheelWalker]

1. You mean

something like what some thought about Ron Brown, for example?

[The Doctor.]

3. Oh please....

It's not like a whole bunch of people the Republicans were afraid of died in well-timed plane crashes.

:sarcasm:

[sam sarrha]

9. i feel they gave Reagan a Lobotomy before the Iran Contra hearings, dont get Alzheimer's overnight..

[diva77]

2. OMIGAWD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:yoiks:

[Orrex]

4. I'm sorry, but I've lost track...

Which Spoonamore story?

There's so much noise out there that I can't keep all of the stories straight.


TIA

[starroute]

5. This Spoonamore story

http://digitizedrevolution.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/larisa-alexandrovna-and-muriel-kane-gop-cyber-security-expert-suggests-diebold-tampered-with-2002-election/

A leading cyber-security expert and former adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections.

Stephen Spoonamore is the founder and until recently the CEO of Cybrinth LLC, an information technology policy and security firm that serves Fortune 100 companies. At a little noticed press conference in Columbus, Ohio Thursday, he discussed his investigation of a computer patch that was applied to Diebold Election Systems voting machines in Georgia right before that state’s November 2002 election. . . .

At the Ohio press conference yesterday, the former McCain adviser said Michael Connell, of the Republican Internet development firm New Media Communications, had designed a system that made possible the real-time “tuning” of election tabulators once Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell had outsourced the hosting of vote counting on the same server which hosted GOP campaign IT systems. He said he didn’t believe Connell was behind the alleged fraud, but that he should be considered a key witness. . . .

Connell has a long history with the Republican Party’s IT infrastructure. In 2001, for example, he set up MajorityWhip.gov for then House Majority Whip Tom DeLay. He also helped built georgewbush.com, as well as the Ohio GOP site Spoonamore referenced.

[Orrex]

12. Ah--thanks.

I seem to recall a big flap here on DU a few weeks before the Presidential election, after Spoonamore semi-definitively called it in favor of McCain by a fair margin.

Weird, in the context of more recent events...

[napi21]

6. I hate to burst everyone's bubble here, but small aircraft flying in

the winter isn't a good combination. The other thing you need to recognize is that most people who own their own planes aren't too great at maintenance. I have no idea if this was a rented plane or if this guy owned it himself.

I wouldn't be putting on any tin foil hat in this case. Equipment failure, lack of sufficient fuel, or pilot error is most likely the caue of this crash.

[starroute]

7. But there's not just one factor here -- Connell was unique

Connell was the one guy who knew were all the bodies were buried -- and was also almost, maybe on the verge of talking about it.

Other people who may have been involved in election fraud are either so deep in it they'll never tell or so peripheral they don't much matter. Connell was perfectly poised in the middle -- deep enough to know some secrets worth telling, deep enough that the feds could lean on him, but not so deep that personal loyalty or fear of jail would keep him silent.

If the 2004 election really was stolen in Ohio, and if you wanted to eliminate just one person to keep that from coming out, Connell is the one you would target.

It's like if Chavez was killed in a plane crash, you wouldn't say, "Oh, heads of state travel a lot and these things happen." Instead, your first reaction would be, "I bet they got him."

Connell was just that singular and just that important.

[vanboggie]

8. Exactly

It's not like there isn't a pattern here. The people who can pin crimes on Rove and the Chimp have a way of meeting accidental death and small planes just happens to be a favorite tactic when "suicide" isn't a viable solution. Connell was key to blowing the whole stolen election game wide open and putting Rover et al where they belong - in chains. Besides, the BFEE has to keep the scam going...Jebbie still has a stolen presidency he wants to claim. Add the missing emails and the congressional email system and this guy had the goods on them. Just his forced deposition a day prior to the election most likely made Rover call off the dogs so we now have a legitimate President elect.

There's not that much tinfoil here. After awhile you can spot a criminal gang's MO.

[judasdisney]

13. Stop the Tinfoil. All you guys are acting like Organized Crime is real or something.

THERE ARE NO (Watergate, Iran-Contra, Enron, Gulf of Tonkin, U.S.S. Maine, the Business Plot to overthrow FDR, Teapot Dome, Operation Ajax, Operation Northwoods, BCCI, Silverado, Tyco, Arthur Andersen, Frank Terpil & Edwin Wilson, ABSCAM, Promis, Worldcom) CONSPIRACIES

[barbtries]

22. thank you

i have to look up some of those names, but i think i think i get your drift. and i believe mike connell was murdered.

[sam sarrha]

11. i cant figure out why they haven't smothered Novak with a pillow by now,

[sam sarrha]

10. maintenance is is paramount, its required by law.. you are wrong on that..

[HCE SuiGeneris]

33. Funny thing about the timing of breaking news stories and the deaths of informants...

a very high percentage of them die in small plane crashes. Yep, must be the a) weather b) lack of fuel (what an idiot pilot) c) pilot error (yet again, idiot premise).

Sure, you got this one covered, napi.

[Ellipsis]

14. WOW. (nt)

[Ellipsis]

15. Here's a some comments from Larisa from atlargely.com

One of my sources died in a plane crash last night...

I don't usually reveal sources, but I think this is incredibly important. Michael Connell died in a plane crash last night. He was a key witness in the Ohio election fraud case that I have been reporting on. More importantly, however, he had information that he was ready to share.

You see, Mike Connell set-up the alternate email and communications system for the White House. He was responsible for creating the system that hosted the infamous GWB43.com accounts that Karl Rove and others used. When asked by Congress to provide these emails, the White House said that they were destroyed. But in reality, what Connell is alleged to have done is move these files to other servers after having allegedly scrubbed the files from all "known" Karl Rove accounts.

In addition, I have reason to believe that the alternate accounts were used to communicate with US Attorneys involved in political prosecutions, like that of Don Siegelman. This is what I have been working on to prove for over a year. In fact, it was through following the Siegelman-Rove trail that I found evidence leading to Connell. That is how I became aware of him. Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened.


more...

http://www.atlargely.com/2008/12/one-of-my-sources-died-in-a-plane-crash-last-night.html

[Wilms]

16. Now I'm skeptical again.

Or maybe it's the writing style.

[Ellipsis]

17. She just updated the blog

Update.

Okay children - because that is what I am going to call adults who willfully mis-read information. I will say this AGAIN (as I have twice in the above entry and also used bold case so that no one would miss the caveat), I am NOT - I repeat NOT - saying this was a). a murder, b). that it was in any way connected to the White House or to Karl Rove, and c). that I am convinced of any of the above three.

On the contrary, I have said - AND AM NOTING AGAIAN - that I don't know what happened. I am NOT an aviation expert. What I am saying - AGAIN - is that the context is important and must be considered. Investigators must conduct their work transparently on this case as to address the many serious and reasonable (not remotely CT-based questions) relating to this crash and the person who died. The public has a right to know and investigators must address these questions by conducting a very open investigation of the crash.

The facts are not all in yet and so I have no answers for you - AS I HAVE ALREADY NOTED. But I felt it important to share the context, obligated even to share it. Now if you folks (you know who you are) want to read this as me rolling myself in tin-foil, then that is your choice. Obviously that is not my hope, but I cannot help the lunacy that people want to engage in.









I gotta say though this is freaky.

[Wilms]

18. The reporting on this whole Spoonamoor/Connell/Arnebeck thing has been awful.

If you've followed it, there are many sensational headlines that aren't supported by the balance of the articles content. It's clear they are intended to lead people on, and I regret that.

Larrissa said that "He apparently ran out of gas, something I find hard to believe." Apparently to whom? Of course that's hard to believe. And anyone telling her he ran out of gas might be blowin' smoke. Right? And there's no other comment about gas that I found googling. Another confidential source? :eyes: So do I get all in a frenzy? Or do I just wonder who told her that, and why she didn't say, and if we're being Spooned a Little More?

[Ellipsis]

19. Yeah I've followed it.

and what I've culled Conell's involvement in potential data manipulation was never an issue... but there was something he shared with Spoonmaore about the system he designed... (as to what, don't know) which made him nervous. What caused his concern should have been brought out in the deposition, of which I'm sure there's a transcript out there some where.

I know he had a relationship with Rove going back to the early 80's. Which in itself is not significant. Once you land excellent technical expertise one has a tendency to hold on it... especially in the early days. He would certainly have an insiders perspective on Rove who was into direct mail and databases early on. But to snuff the guy out would only bring more attention at this point IMO


Do you remember the claim that antiabortionists were potentially behind behind the 2004 election anomalies? I think Spoonamore brought that up. Do you think he was referring the family behind Triad if you do remember?


While there is money to be made from "clicks" on websites... I saw some of that but Larisa would not be one those.

[Ellipsis]

20. Good info on the deposition and links to background from this article

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/1697187-mike-connell

OhioNewsBureau

with John Michael Spinelli

Connell Deposition Sealed on Answers to Threats from Karl Rove Threats, Govtech Trade Secrets



Columbus, Ohio: Mike Connell, a long-time Bush family IT handyman who whose religious convictions and political ideology have driven him to work exclusively for Republican grops and officeholders, endured two hours of deposition ordered last Friday by a Federal court judge in Cleveland, according Clifford O. Arnebeck, who after questioning the computer experts some call the high-IQ Forrest Gump of the computer world, "If there's any concern about Connell not being a team player, there's no need for that concern."

In an email to OhioNewsBureau from one ePluribus Media researcher who had talked with Mr. Arnebeck following today's deposition, Mr. Connell was "very relaxed" but an "obstructionist" when it came time to answer Arnebecks questions about his role in 2004 and 2004 designing Ohio election computer systems, whether he had been threatened by Karl Rove to not implicate "Bush's Brain" in voting corruption practices during the last eight years and what he knew about Triad, a technology company hosting the voter registration databases of 55 of Ohio's 88 counties sources, and whether they stole votes from Democrat John Kerry to President Bush in Ohio, and maybe other states then and now, as some suspect happened in previous elections.

Anatomy of a Deposition

"This is about politics...seeking to re-try an election that has already taken place," said James Ervin, one of the defense attorneys in court in Cleveland last Friday on behalf of their client Mike Connell. Mike the IT Guru could become as famous as Joe The Plumber, but for different services. Whereas Joe The Plumber says he cleans out drains to make water flow freely despite not being a licensed plumber, Mike the IT Guru may being using his considerable computer expertise to allow votes to flow freely from Democratic candidates like Kerry in 2004 to Republican candidates, as Mr. Arnebeck and others hope deposing him will show. A data security expert lending his credibility and expertise to Mr. Arnebeck said Mr. Connell is extremely adept at designing and managing computer architecture such that it can be "tuned" to Republican candidates like President Bush in 2004 and maybe John McCain now, who he worked for after leaving the White House but who he says he no longer works for.



Much more...

[Wilms]

35. So Arnebeck thinks Triad was up to no good in 2K4.

So do I.

And because, he says, of their religious beliefs, it suggests that Connell, who has similar religious beliefs, would also be up to no good. College 101 logic, anyone?

Can't rule it out, of course. But without more to go on, it seems a bit of a stretch.

That the judge still wanted some things examined was interesting, though.

[Ellipsis]

36. Don't forget the database side of Triad then.

They did do some database work for a while.


I think the suggestion of Connell's religious beliefs caused him to "look the other way" is on the money. I'd guess he figured something out after the fact and sat on it.

[Ellipsis]

37. A little more on Triad and the 2008 election

Triad GSI, is managing voter registration databases in 55 of Ohio's 88 counties and is hosting 25 of those databases.

[barbtries]

23. my last reading

of her page included two updates. in one of them she debunked the out of gas story. now she's reporting that it was ice. however, the plane was equipped for icy conditions.

[Wilms]

24. "she debunked the out of gas story"?? She was the one who introduced it!

OK. It's cool to correct mistakes.

Thanks.

[Ellipsis]

27. She had a source in the airport.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3653385&mesg_id=3654092

[Wilms]

28. And I quote her from that post...

"I am getting this stuff in real time, so information sometimes is not fully detailed or even accurate. Which is why I have been updating it as I learn more."

Way to go, LaLa! Journalism at it's finest. :eyes:

Shit like that is why the left gets left out.

[Ellipsis]

29. It was her blog not raw story and updated rather quickly... but i get your point

It was posted on raw story for a while till their article came out.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Karl_Roves_IT_guru_Mike_Connell_1220.html

She just had someone on an active story, who she's had contact with, take a dirt nap in the classic small plane crash scenario.

I can see an initial knee jerk to that.


edited to add: raw story link

[Wilms]

30. I can see the initial knee jerk, too!

Sometimes that's all there is.

Wilms

[Bill Bored]

31. He ran out of ice? I hate it when that happens!

The real question no one has asked yet AFAIK, is WHY would someone who was so afraid of the Bushies be flying around in a small plane in the first place?

[yourout]

21. Here is my tin foil theory.....suicide to save his family.

Rove's henchmen threatened to kill his family if he did not suicide himself?

What better way to hide it then an appearant "Pilot Error" small plane crash.

[barbtries]

26. my real tinfoil story

is that they planted a different body in the plane and that michael connell has taken early retirement. but it's not what i believe. what i believe is that the bushies killed him.

[WheelWalker]

32. Re: Tinfoil Theory

You mean, he's like maybe in the witness protection program?

[barbtries]

38. that,

or still playing for the bushies.
i actually had only thought of the latter.
but i reiterate, what i really believe is they murdered him.

[WheelWalker]

40. Yeppers. What you said.

[FraDon]

25. Why wack somebody with a plane ? • Because is works SO well.

Kills so thoroughly. Destroys so much evidence. Changes the script so definitively.

IF an independent investigation (I know, I know, what are the chances of THAT?) finds remains, objectively matched to Connell, than I must assume they found the backups (or think they did).

There may be no remains or no conclusive match (a whole plane supposedly vaporized at the pentagon on 9/11, with virtually nothing to scrape up). Convenient.

Then again, they may NOT have the backups, and might HAVE Connell AND, the best part, have him out of the script at the same time. Convenient.

• Spycraft, muthafukha. Hardball. You can't HANDLE the truth !

When it seems TOO convenient, ask "Who benefits?"

[Ellipsis]

34. Youtube Tv report from Canton Rep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUsMFatV1pg&eurl=http://www.cantonrep.com/communities/x1069308876/Plane-crashes-into-house-in-Lake-Township


Taken from

http://www.cantonrep.com/communities/x1069308876/Plane-crashes-into-house-in-Lake-Township

[yourout]

39. I wonder if there is something in his will about information to be revealed.....

if he should meet an untimely death?

[L. Coyote]

41. This does not alter the ruse that was being run. Maybe it is just part of the ruse!!

Is Mike having drinks with Ken?