[Mb-civic] Vanity Fair, John Conyers Interview, article on Ohio

[Kevin Walz]

> If you're wondering why the fight over the presidential vote in Ohio
> continues, you might want to read this extensive expose from Vanity  
> Fair
> concerning Florida in 2000 and the state's preparations for this  
> year's
> election.  Many of the same tactics were transferred to Ohio  this year
> (why tamper with success, right?).   I also include a link to  an
> interview with Representative John Conyers, who I think has shown  real
> courage in pursuing this matter.
>
> In case you haven't had a chance to e-mail your support for a full
> investigation, the people's e-mail network has put together a quick
> response form at:     http://69.9.171.129/contest.html
> They phrase the question specifically in terms of asking Congress to
> contest the presidential election until these matters are resolved.   
> With
> one click, they will send your message to your senators,
> congressional representative, and the House Judiciary Committee.
>
> Finally, an update on where things stand in Ohio.
>
>
>
> Vanity Fair on Florida:
> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121804I.shtml
>
> Interview with John Conyers:
> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122204W.shtml
>
>
> Ohio electoral fight becomes 'biggest deal since Selma' as GOP
> stonewalls
> by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
> December 22, 2004
>
>
> COLUMBUS -- As Republican officials stonewall subpoenas and subvert the
> recount process, Rev. Jesse Jackson has pronounced Ohio's vote fraud
> fiasco "the
> biggest deal since Selma" and has called for a national rally at "the
> scene of the
> crime" in Columbus January 3.
> Another major national demonstration will follow in Washington on  
> January
> 6, as
> Congress evaluates the Electoral College. Should at least one US
> Representative
> and one Senator challenge the electors' votes, a Constitutional crisis
> could ensue.
> Meanwhile, volunteer attorneys have poured into Columbus from around  
> the
> US to
> help investigate the bitterly contested presidential vote that has
> allegedly given
> George W. Bush Ohio's electoral votes and thus a second term. A lawsuit
> filed at
> the Ohio Supreme Court charges that a fair vote count would give the
> state and the
> presidency to John Kerry rather than Bush.
> On December 21, notice of depositions were sent to President George  
> Bush,
> Vice
> President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth
> Blackwell to appear and give testimony regarding the legal challenge of
> Ohio's
> elections results in the case Moss v Bush et al.
> But Republican Blackwell's attorney at the Secretary of State's office
> told the
> attorneys issuing the notice of deposition and subpoena that Blackwell
> will not
> testify under oath. The Republican-controlled Attorney General's office
> has labeled
> any attempt to put Blackwell under oath, "harassment." Blackwell
> supervised the
> November 2 vote in Ohio at the same time he served as co-chair of the
> state's
> Bush-Cheney campaign.
> However, some counties like Clarmont have agreed to cooperate with the
> attorneys
> in the election challenge. On December 22, a team of attorneys
> descended upon
> the Clarmont County Board of Elections between 8:30-10:30am to pour 
> over
> election day records.
> In a December 21 conference call with activists from the around the US,
> Jackson
> said he has urged Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) to
> stand with
> US Representatives who intend to challenge the Electoral College's  
> expected
> approval of George W. Bush for a second term. A challenge by US
> Representatives
> in 2000 failed because no Senators would join their motion.
> Jackson says this year will be different, urging election protection
> activists to stay
> focused over the holiday season. "We can't let [the Republicans] get  
> away
> with this,
> he told the conference call. "Do not underestimate the outrage of the
> people. We
> are a legitimate force for democracy, here and around the world."
> "We will count every vote," he said, and make sure "every vote counts."
> Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and other members of the Congressional Black
> Caucus
> have strongly questioned Bush's purported victory, pointing out that  
> more
> than half
> the votes cast in Ohio and the nation were recorded on electronic  
> voting
> machines
> owned by Republicans, with no audit trail.
> Conyers recently conducted hearings at Columbus City Hall to take
> testimony from
> Ohioans who were deprived their right to vote. Another public hearing  
> in
> Mahoning
> Valley, at the Warren Heights and Trumball Library, documented
> "thousands of
> complaints of voting irregularities" that helped throw the vote count  
> to
> Bush.
> Election observers have testified under oath that more than a dozen  
> voting
> machines in Mahoning County regularly switched Kerry votes to Bush  
> votes
> while
> voters watched in amazement. Some 580 more absentee voters were
> certified than
> were identified by election board officials. As in Franklin and other
> counties, there
> were also strategic machine shortages in largely Democratic precincts. 
>  The
> November vote, said one observer, was "the crime of the century."
> As dozens of volunteer attorneys pour into the state to help with the
> recount,
> Blackwell's stonewall has prompted widespread suspicion about what the
> Republicans are hiding.
> On Monday the expanded legal team issued subpoenas to top election
> officials in
> 10 counties where vote-count fraud is suspected.
> The rapid filing of subpoenas, the first step in interviewing people
> under oath,
> provoked the shrill rejection from Blackwell. Though Blackwell is a  
> state
> constitutional officer, his business office is in a private building,
> where protesters --
> including former California Congressman Dan Hamburg---have been 
> arrested
> without apparent provocation.
> "They huffed and they puffed, trying to bully people around," said
> attorney Peter
> Pectarsky, a key member of the election challenge legal team. "Now  
> we're
> fighting
> over discovery. We served 10 depositions. The attorney general blew a
> gasket.
> They filed a motion to stop it... We will file our response."
> This past Friday, attorneys refiled their election challenge suit, a  
> day
> after state
> Supreme Court dismissed it on a technicality. The challengers are  
> trying
> to get a
> meaningful recount before the January 6 Congressional vote, while
> Blackwell's
> GOP has done all it can to stall.
> The election challenge lawsuit claims that statewide vote patterns  
> reveal
> vote count
> fraud on a scale that incorrectly awarded the state's majority - and  
> the
> presidency -
> to George Bush. They are using the litigation process to document that
> fraud.
> "Maybe this (the explanation of the Ohio vote) is much closer to the
> surface than
> anybody thinks," said Pete Pectarsky, a lead challenge attorney. "It
> doesn't add up.
> If everything was above board, why are they hiding everything? They  
> could
> bury
> people in the details... Okay, look at these records. Look at those." 
> The
> election challenge suit was filed Dec. 17. Blackwell, the
> Bush-Cheney
> campaign, and Ohio's Republican electors have 10 days to respond. Then,
> according to court procedural rules, each side has 20 days to do
> discovery - or
> additional evidence gathering, with those bringing the suit going  
> first.
> With January
> 6 being the date Congress accepts the Electoral College vote, and  
> January 20
> being the inauguration, the GOP seems determined to make the recount  
> drag
> on as
> long as possible.
> "We have stuff that points to big numbers," Pectarsky said, referring  
> to
> votes that
> should have been counted for John Kerry. "What we need now is (someone
> saying)
> 'We did it. Here's how. Don't take my word. Here's the evidence.'"
> Tuesday, December 22 is the starting point for Pectarsky's negotiations
> with
> election officials from 10 counties as to when they can be deposed.  
> They
> will be
> asked a wide range of questions to uncover answers explaining the
> presence of
> what are, at the least, voting irregularities.
> In the Miami County town of Concord, certified returns show that all  
> but 10
> registered voters cast ballots on Election Day. But the election
> challenge team has
> already identified more than 10 registered Concord citizens who did not
> vote, an
> incongruity that points to election fraud.
> In Trumbull County, citizens using electronic machines saw their vote  
> for
> Kerry
> register as a vote for Bush. Additional hearings in Trumbull and other
> counties are
> adding to the litany of fraud and theft.
> In the meantime, among the attorneys who have come at their own expense
> to join
> Ohio's presidential election challenge:
> *	Bonnie McFadden, formerly a deputy public defender, law professor  
> from
> both the
> University of New Guinea and the University of Hawaii, and director of 
>  the
> Cambodia Defenders Project in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, currently resides  
> in
> Maui.
> Bonnie believes that Conyers' Committee hearings have provided clear
> evidence
> of illegal election practices. "Democracy cannot survive without honest
> elections.
> The Ohio election fraud lawsuits are about saving our democratic form 
> of
> government. There is nothing more important than that."
> *	Karen Peterson, an attorney who worked for more than a decade in  
> legal
> services
> specializing in public benefits, consumer and family law and was a
> professor at
> both Cornell and the University of Minnesota law schools, is
> volunteering in Ohio
> because she believes that it is critically important that election
> irregularities are
> exposed to the light of day. "We will lose our democracy unless we are
> willing to
> fight for it. If we allow voter suppression and dirty tricks to go
> uncovered and
> unpunished, we should not be surprised if these tactics become more
> virulent in
> future elections."
> *	Lillian Ritt, formerly a research attorney working for the San Diego
> Superior Court
> and the 4th DCA Division 1 for more than twenty years, and part of the 
>  team
> researching election law for Al Gore, is in Ohio because she believes
> voting is
> critical to our democracy. "Voting has to be done openly and without  
> any
> possibility
> of machine error and/or tampering. The problems in Ohio threaten this
> world, not
> just the United States. If they are not solved, then I consider this to
> be another
> stolen election by Bush without the courage of the Ukraine people."
> *	Steve Chaffin, an attorney in Ohio for twenty-four years, has worked 
>  in
> many ways
> to provide for those who have needed legal assistance and not been able
> to afford
> it. He has worked with those who are facing rising costs of health care
> and other
> quality of life issues. His interests and work have been to help those
> who are
> disenfranchised. Steve's latest focus is on election and political  
> issues.
> Volunteering for this legal battle is just one more way in which he is
> helping our
> country.
> *	Judy McCann, a civil rights attorney from Santa Rosa, California,  
> left
> for Ohio with
> one day's notice promising her children she would be home for
> Christmas, even if it
> meant she would be on a plane back to help in Ohio on December, 26th.  
> Judy
> expressed her concern for the integrity of the voting process. She  
> spent
> Election
> Day in Florida monitoring the vote, learning first hand that our votes
> may be cast but
> not accurately counted. Judy has been asked by the legal team to take
> depositions
> and to travel to counties to collect the evidence of voting
> irregularities.
> *	Melanie Braithwaite, an attorney in Columbus, Ohio, wants to
> volunteer for this
> election contest because of her concern for her children and
> grandchildren. "To me
> free expression and exchange of ideas, and the right to vote in free  
> and
> fair
> elections are paramount moral and civic values to be protected at all
> costs. If it
> costs me some time and inconvenience to volunteer in this effort, then 
>  so
> be it. It is
> the price I pay to be an American citizen. I personally witnessed a  
> moral
> outrage on
> election day. I am peculiarly in a position to take this one on, as I
> have personally
> nothing left to lose."
> As the team of election protection attorneys grows alongside the
> grassroots
> demand for a fair vote count in Ohio and around the nation, the
> likelihood of an
> unprecedented Constitutional confrontation beginning January 6
> continues to
> escalate.
> Stay Tuned!
> --
> Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of 
> the
> upcoming OHIO'S STOLEN ELECTION: VOICES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED,
> 2004, to be published in January. Fitrakis is a co-counsel in the Moss
> case. Support
> for this project is welcome through www.freepress.org or by sending a
> check to The
> "Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism", 1240 Bryden Rd.,  
> Columbus,
> Ohio 43205.
>
>
>
>
>