You folks are familiar with Jon Bonifaz, right?

[WilliamPitt]

Just got through with an interesting discussion. Bunch of folks want Bonifaz to run for the Massachusetts Secretary of State seat on an election reform/votimg machine reform platform. The seat is opening up after Galvin declares for Governor. Jon's on the fence for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the question of what kind of support he will get.

If you think his running is a good idea, post your reasons why below, and I will forward them to him.

[autorank]

1. I heard him at the Rally in Lafayette Park on "Boxer Day"

He's a bright, sincere, believable man who is obviously a patriot.

I hope he runs and I'm sure many would break out the check book or help in other ways.

Having a real Secretary of State somewhere in American would be great!

If he runs and wins, there may be a day when I don't have to post lines like this at the end of my posts...

A comprehensive explanation of fraud--text and key links

[Carolab]

2. Hell, I think he should run for any office!

Jon is a real bulldog and a true patriot. He'd get support from true progressives for sure. Maybe DFA could make him a "Dean's Dozen" and people in that group could donate and campaign for him as well.

On edit: In fact, Howard Dean is encouraging people to run for SOS as one "answer" to election reform. So, here's my question: Unless we write state-specific legislation NOW to tighten security around our elections, how can we hope to elect new, progressive, honest SOS's???

[MelissaB]

5. I agree, Carolab!

I'd support him anyway I could from Alabama. Yeah, that probably means $$.

[Amaryllis]

19. It is a catch 22, huh?

[blm]

3. Whoops....I love Bonifaz, but heard Cam Kerry was running which leads me

to deduce that Kerry must KNOW that the machines are rigged and this could be the needed opportunity to examine the machines and those who control them.

Either way, Mass will be fortunate and just possibly, the rest of the nation will learn more about who controls their vote.

I just posted this Globe excerpt in GD:

Kerry's brother mulls a run
He weighs campaign for secretary of state
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | July 27, 2005

Cameron F. Kerry, the younger brother and a close political adviser to US Senator John F. Kerry, said yesterday he is laying the groundwork to run for the 2006 Democratic nomination for secretary of state.

Kerry, a Boston lawyer who has operated in his sibling's shadow for more than three decades, said he met with Secretary of State William F. Galvin yesterday to inform him of his decision to run for the office, but assured him it was dependent on Galvin's vacating the post to run for the Democratic nomination for governor.

Galvin, who is serving his third term, has said he is seriously considering the gubernatorial race. He is expected to make a decision by early fall. He declined to comment on his meeting with Kerry.

In an interview with the Globe, Kerry said he is establishing an official political account to collect donations and has assembled several of his brother's top presidential campaign fund-raisers in New England to help him raise a campaign war chest. He said he plans to begin traveling around the state to meet Democratic activists and other potential supporters.
>>>>>

[Zan_of_Texas]

21. Why on earth does Cam Kerry think he can run for SOS?

I like Bonifaz.

I met Cam Kerry before the election. He said he had LOTS and LOTS of attorneys ready to fight the good fight, in Florida and elsewhere, for his brother.

On September 14, in Houston, Texas, I told him to his face, with witnesses, that he needed to have computer experts, people who understand technology and security, as well, in order to prevent election fraud. In fact, I handed him a copy of the cover story in The Nation that had just come out.

"How They Could Steal the Election This Time," by RONNIE DUGGER, The Nation, Cover Story -- August 16, 2004 issue
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040816&s=dugger

(If you still haven't read it, folks, now is a great time!)

Cam Kerry seemed polite, and not at all curious.

After the election, and right before the challenge of the Ohio electors, Cam Kerry published this piece in Boston. There is not one mention of technology or technology experts. Not one.

Counting every vote

Op Ed
By Cameron F. Kerry
January 6, 2005
The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/01/06/counting_every_vote/

SO NOW the votes in Ohio have been recounted, and it's time for Congress to tally the Electoral College. But while the election is over, a fight goes on to protect everyone's right to vote and make sure every vote is counted.

I wish it weren't so, but the final facts look like the picture on the morning of Nov. 3 when my brother, John Kerry, ended his campaign for president. As campaign leaders sat in a Boston war room overlooking a dwindling Election Night rally in the plaza below, on the phone was a team of smart, tough veterans who know how to count votes and how votes get counted. All were veterans of Florida in 2000 who would have jumped at a rematch with Karl Rove and James Baker III.

In the room was Deval Patrick, former assistant attorney general for civil rights. In Washington was Michael Whouley, the never-say-die loyalist who stopped Al Gore from conceding; Jack Corrigan, who helped fight Bush v. Gore in the courts and the precincts; and Robert Bauer and Marc Elias, leading election lawyers and Kerry campaign counsel. On the phone from Ohio was the chief of the legal team there, David Sullivan, longtime election counsel for the Massachusetts secretary of state, who himself was a plaintiff more than 30 years ago in a lawsuit to register college students and -- with me -- a defendant in unsuccessful lawsuit brought against us for properly challenging vote fraud.

They were backed by 3,300 lawyers on Ohio's election protection team, part of more than 17,000 Kerry-Edwards lawyers nationwide. They were joined by 8,000 lawyers with the nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition of the NAACP, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, People for the American Way, and other organizations and thousands more lay volunteers and observers.

more

[blm]

22. Machine rigging was NEVER taken seriously before. Not even by Kucinich and

Dean who we all thought GOT IT last year. But neither took it seriously enough to represent it as an issue or crusade throughout the months before the election.

I believe if they DID understand it fully they would have.

I think more are taking the issue seriously now, and Cameron Kerry is one of them.

You can mock people till the cows come home about being too late, but, do you want to chase away EVERY Democrat who wasn't leading the crusade before the election? Every Democrat who is just now seeing what a crucial issue the machines are?

I'd like to say that every Democrat who wasn't smart enough to back John Kerry on BCCI is a traitor to this country who doesn't deserve to be in office, because the roots of terror, 9-11 and war manipulation are deep into BCCI.

But, I would guess that would eliminate almost every Dem in office, wouldn't it?

I also think every supposed left leaning journalist who never understood the import of BCCI is a dumbass who can't add 2+2 and come up with 4.

But, that wouldn't be the fairest position for me to take, would it?

We need to welcome ALL ears to the issue, and all hands to the battle. Mass. will be lucky to have either man as Sec of State because the MACHINES and the CONTROL of the machines MATTER, and we need Sec of State all around the country who understand this.

[MelissaB]

4. Please nominate.

We don't get the traffic we used to...

[AtLiberty]

6. Isn't his first name spelled with an h? John?

?

[Carolab]

7. No. It's Jon. (As in Jonathan...)

From what I've seen, that is the correct spelling

[AtLiberty]

8. Strange...John is plastered all over the internet

No big deal...whatever...

[Carolab]

9. Okay, you made me look it up

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/309

And, since he's a cofounder of ADS, I guess it IS "JoHn" after all...

so now we know!

[Time for change]

10. I don't know what all the considerations are

But it would make me happy to know that any election reform candidate is running, if for no other reason that it will give the cause visibility.

[meganmonkey]

11. I saw him speak at the Recount Ohio rally

in early December and he was excellent.

I say GO FOR IT!!!

We need people who understand this problem so it doesn't just keep getting worse. And to educate people!

:bounce:

[Coexist]

12. because he is intelligent, well spoken,

and, from watching him at the DSM hearing and reading some of his speeches, a fearless pit bull who won't apologize and lower his eyes when challenged by a "good American" republican.

He knows election fraud/reform and it is an important issue for all parties.

My .02, for what it's worth.

[Amaryllis]

20. He has SPINE! Sadly lacking in so many Dems.

[mopinko]

13. put up the bat

let's go.

[BamaBecky]

14. He is IMPRESSIVE, he knows THE RULE OF LAW, he should

run and get well known.....he could be a Senator or a President someday. He is persuasive with his arguments....a very very good speaker. I watched him during the Conyers hearings....he came across so knowledgeable........his heart was in the fight....a great spirit......I think.....going to be famous.....tell him not to fly and to watch his back............

Bama

Just do it Jon!

:applause:

[Trish1168]

15. YES YES YES !!!!!!!

I'll tell you exactly why. After having read about voting issues in multiple elections in various states and worrying about the voting machine issues in my own state (Massachusetts), I wrote to my local state rep. about the issue. I got a disappointing reply, which pretty much stated that I need not worry because my town uses hand counted paper ballots. She completely missed my point. I am not necessarily worried about my own vote, but I am worried about the votes in towns where the ballots may not be hand counted. Incidentally, she missed the point of my other suggestion too, which was to copy New Hampshire's example of accepting electronic gold currency (incase the dollar has the bottom drop out....she gave me some BS about only the federal reserve being able to make money, showing her general ignorance with regard to currency issues).

In any case.....she didn't get it. Voting equipment is in every state (touch screen, optical scanners and tabulators). I want reassurance that my state will always have an honest election. Clearly, my state rep didn't understand my concerns. Jon would be helpful at educating the people here (especially in government) regarding the risks to the integrity of our elections. He would set it up so that I wouldn't have to worry about it here. He would also be a good example for other SoS's to follow (those with integrity).

So, please. Put me in as a supporter. He has my whole hearted enthusiastic support.

PS. What started my paranoia over the integrity of elections here was the announcement that one of the swift boat people wanted to run against Kerry for the senate. Kerry won't be running for senate, and instead will run for president (though his brother is supposed to run). Still, the thought that one of those swift boat people could hijack an election here is truly frightening.

[sunnystarr]

16. YESSSSSSSSSS

An honest politician who wants to restore transparency and integrity in the most important thing to a democracy ... counting votes, and to the office in general is a winner in anyone's book! He'd have my support ... has to $ from TN.

[dalloway]

17. because he is doing more to save democracy than nearly anyone

else except John Conyers.

And, dare I say, he'd look FABULOUS on a campaign poster (I'd hang one in my room any day).

But seriously, he is one of the brightest, most articulate people out there.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

18. Tell one of them to come to Ohio and run for SOS I will even

let them use my residence for an address if it would help!