From E Pluribus Media:http://thejournal.epluribusmedia.net/index.php/state-news/ohio-news/34-ohio-news/127-rove-threat-to-blackmail-gop-it-mastermind-triggers-immunity-request-to-ohio-ag-by-election-lawyersRove Threat to Blackmail GOP IT Mastermind Triggers Immunity Request to Ohio AG by Election Lawyers Ohio News
By John Michael Spinelli
Thursday, 24 July 2008 15:31
GOP Threatens “Valerie Plame” Style Strike Against Wife of IT Mastermind if He Doesn’t Become Fall Guy for Gaming the 2004 Ohio ElectionOhioNewsBureau
COLUMBUS, OHIO: The little story about how the GOP cyber-gamed the Ohio presidential election in 2004 is growing by the day, spurred on to greater heights Thursday when an Ohio election attorney asked the Ohio Attorney General to provide immunity protection to Mike Connell, the GOP IT mastermind who built various computer systems they say not only won Ohio for President Bush in 2004 but led to many other wins for Republicans over the years of the Bush Administration.
A key figure in the grand strategy of the Grand Old Party to build a cyber system that could assure permanent control by Republicans of key offices, state and federal, is Mike Connell, an Ohio native some refer to as a “High IQ Forrest Gump” for his brilliance in masterminding the construction of various computer systems associated with election procedures and data security, including the so-called firewall in Congress.
Ohio Attorney General Asked to Protect Key Witness in Election Fraud CaseIn an email sent to OhioNewsBureau by lead attorney Cliff Arnebeck, who filed a federal lawsuit in August 2006 asserting the GOP gamed the system and won the state by suppressing the votes of various progressive-leaning groups like students and African Americans and who wants to revive the case to protect the integrity of the 2008 election, Nancy H. Rogers, the former dean of the law school at The Ohio State University and interim Attorney General, was asked to provide immunity protection services to Connell.
The immunity request from Arnebeck to the Ohio AG was triggered by information from a confidential source that Karl Rove, a kingpin GOP strategist, threatened that if Mike Connell doesn’t go in the tank for cyber-rigging the 2004 election in Ohio, his wife will be sued for lobbying law violations. Using this kind of hardball tactic to rain retribution down on an individual for not allowing himself to be “thrown under the bus” smacks of the identical retaliation tactic used to punish Valerie Plame by outing her as a spy for remarks made by her husband Joe Wilson before the commencement of the war in Iraq that no evidence existed for uranium being sold by Niger to Saddam Hussein.
In an email to the General Mukasey at US Dept. of Justice, Arnebeck said “We have been confidentially informed by a source we believe to be credible that Karl Rove has threatened Michael Connell, a principal witness we have identified in our King Lincoln case in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, that if he does not agree to "take the fall" for election fraud in Ohio, his wife Heather will be prosecuted for supposed lobby law violations. This appears to be in response to our designation of Rove as the principal perpetrator in the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act/RICO claim with respect to which we issued document hold notices last Thursday to you and to the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform.”
Continuing, Arnebeck said, “I have informed court chambers and am in the process of informing the Ohio Attorney General's and US Attorney's offices in Columbus for the purpose, among other things, of seeking protection for Mr. Connell and his family from this reported attempt to intimidate a witness.
“Concurrently herewith, I am informing Mr. Conyers and Mr. Kucinich in connection with their Congressional oversight responsibilities related to these matters. “Because of the serious engagement in this matter that began in 2000 of the Ohio Statehouse Press Corps, 60 Minutes, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, C-Span and Jim VandeHei, and the public's right to know of gross attempts to subvert the rule of law, I am forwarding this information to them, as well.”
In an exclusive interview with OhioNewsBureau, Arnebeck said he expects to meet in person next week with attorneys in the Ohio AG’s office on his request for immunity filed today. For information on the King-Lincoln lawsuit, go here. Stressing that his aim is to enhance his lawsuit of 2006, Arnebeck said, "I’m not >trying to screw things up. I want to help not hinder.”
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Rove Alleged to Issue Blackmail Threat to Wife of GOP IT MastermindArnebeck was especially concerned that Connell’s wife would be slapped with a GOP lawsuit alleging violations of lobbying laws if Mike Connell didn’t fall on his sword as the person responsible for building the system. “If this is true about Connell’s wife, we want to do everything to make sure every witness will be protected against any such threat,” said Arnebeck, who added that if Connell feels threatened by Rove threatening to go after his wife on a criminal basis, he might not talk to House Judiciary Committee as he once said he might do but instead will seek out defense counsel.
“Intimidating a witness in a federal case is a serious crime,” Arnebeck said of his assertion that Rove has indeed made threats to Connell in this regard. Other sources familiar with the case say Arnebeck’s concerns are justified by people who would know but who cannot identify themselves for fear they could suffer similar threats or attacks on them Arnebeck said Ben Espy and Damian Sikora of the Ohio AG’s office are in receipt of his request.
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Blackwell Tells House Judiciary Committee Bi-Partisan Election System Ultimate Deterrent to Conspiracy TheoriesIn a related but separate story, J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State for the 2004 general election, testified before the House Judiciary Committee today. Blackwell was questioned by Chairman John Conyers, who was on Arnebeck's list of recipients, about charges that the election, under his watch, was severely flawed. As reported by The Columbus Dispatch, Blackwell told Conyers and committee members that Ohio’s 88 county boards of election are all run by both Democrats and Republicans. He said local officials decide on the distribution ratios for voting equipment, the location of polling stations and select the voting equipment used in their counties from lists of equipment certified by the secretary of state’s office, the Dispatch reported. In the report, Blackwell said, “All these local safeguards ensure that local concerns about access to polling stations are handled locally and that both parties have a say in the final decisions."
When Mr. Spoonamore, the cyber security expert Arnebeck has enlisted as a key witness and whose professional paths have crossed those of Connell, was asked a week ago whether the explanation that elections couldn't be cyber stolen because they are run by two major parties, as Blackwell told the House Judiciary committee as an air-tight reason why conspiracy is only a reality in the mind of conspiratists, Spoonamore said with great emphasis that none of the board of election members, Republican or Democrat, or their staff wouldn't have a clue that the election-system Matrix set up by pros like Connell was at work, undetectable to anyone, not the least of which would be board members who have no expertise in the software underlying the system they think they're running. No one has really probed the voter database software that touch-screen vendors bundle in with the equipment each county purchases for them, failing to understand that vendor technicians, who come and go with no checks on them, could tilt the playing field of elections is so directed by their superiors, who are not any of the people who believe they are in control of the system.
About the author
John Michael Spinelli is a former Ohio Statehouse government and political reporter and business columnist. He now serves as the OhioNews Bureau Chief for ePluribus Media Journal. Find ONB archives here.
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