Reply #124: EAC connection to USAID and IFES through Paul DeGregorio

[GettysbergII]

http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachineCompanies.htm
Lynn Landes did a great piece on Voting Machine Companies that had the following info in it tying DeGregorio to the IFES which gets 80% funding from USAID and has some definite wingnut connections. Don't know if it's significant but here it is:


Paul DeGregorio, Executive vice president of IFES

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Helped GW Bush win Florida - http://www.illinimedia.com/di/dec00/dec05/news/campus02.shtml
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June 12, 2003 Bush nominates DeGregorio, IFES VP, to Election Assistance Commission (HAVA) http://www.ifes.org/pressroom/Press%20Releases/06_12_03_DeGregorio_EAC.pdf
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http://www.newstribune.com/stories/011001/sta_0110010068.asp



http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachineCompanies.htm

There are several organizations that are promoting electronic voting around the world. Many of these organizations appear to have strong ties to the Republican Party and the intelligence community (CIA, NSA, etc.)

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Ace Project - "Three leading international organizations that provide electoral assistance have worked together to produce the ACE Electronic Publication. The project partners are the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs - http://www.aceproject.org/main/english/pi/pid04.htm
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IFES - The International Foundation for Election Systems http://www.ifes.org Since 1987, IFES has supplied world governments with election observation and analysis and has developed into one of the world's leading centers of election information and resources. Comment: It appears that the organization was founded and is currently chaired by right wing members of the Republican Party (GOP), although they also have directors that come from the Democratic party. IFES funding comes from USAID that has historic connections to the CIA, according to reports (see red section below)
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Current FUNDING FOR IFES - 80% from U.S. gov't sources including USAID http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/ USAID's history goes back to the Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe after World War Two and the Truman Administration's Point Four Program. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act into law and created by executive order USAID.Since that time, USAID has been the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms. Is IFES a business or advocacy organization? Finally, under the leadership of our Strategic Business Development division, we are com-mitted to broadening our valued partnerships with USAID, DFID, SIDA, FINNIDA, the UNDP and other funders.With our new strategic plan in place,IFES will offer more products with the same independent,responsive,research-based project development on which our partners have come to rely. http://www.ifes.org//biennial_low_PRINT.pdf

# IFES founder, the late F.Clifton White http://archives.ashland.edu/white.html ... is a longtime rightwing Republican strategist. In the 1950's he and William Rusher, publisher of the National Review, helped to turn the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP youth arm, from a moderate to a very conservative group. (18) White played an important role in the preconvention campaign of Barry Goldwater in 1964. (23) White was or is a member of The Conservative Network, a small group founded in 1985 by Reagan administration presidential appointees to bring the administration's conservative political philosophy into the private sector. (17) White is on the board of the National Republic Institute for International Affairs, the Republican Party's conduit for NED funding. (2) He is on the board of the Center for Democracy, a conservative group "working to promote and strengthen the democratic process. "(2) The Center for Democracy is heavily funded by NED. (28) White is also on the board of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs. (2) http://www.publiceye.org/research/Group_Watch/Entries-71.htm
# http://www.namebase.org/gw/ifes.txt (dated) Excerpts - "It appears that the bulk of IFES funding comes from NED (National Endowment for Democracy) - see current funding below.(26) NED is a quasi- governmental organization conceived by the Reagan administration and funded by Congress to "promote democracy" overseas.(27) NED's funding comes from the U.S. government, primarily from the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID).(2) The current focus of IFES work is in Nicaragua with Via Civica. ViaCivica, a grassroots electoral organization working on voter education and registration. It receives additional NED funding through the Costa Rican political/electoral training firm Counseling Center for Democracy (CAD). CAD receives NED funding for its work with Via Civica through the America's Development Foundation, another conservative "democracy building" organization.(27) According to Henry Quintero, who was hired by IFES specifically for the Nicaraguan project, IFES assists in Via Civica's electoral training and education work and provides them with materials such as flyers, bumper stickers, and the like.(28) Via Civica, through the CAD project SISTEMAS, provides a wide range of educational and election work, including election analyses and demographics, opinion polls, surveys, electoral training workshops, an election "hot line," and poll watching.(6) Via Civica claims to be nonpartisan but is closely associated with the Nicaraguan National Opposition Union (UNO), the U.S. backed coalition opposing the Sandinista government.(2) In a recent interview, Henry Quintero said that in addition to Nicaragua, IFES has election projects in Hungary, Namibia, India, USSR, and Paraguay.(28)F. Clifton White worked with CIA director William Casey on the Reagan administration's pro-contra propaganda network.(2) According to a November 1986 memo from Walter Raymond to National Security Adviser John Poindexter, White was to be in charge of the formation of a group modeled after the bipartisan cold war champion, Committee on the Present Danger, but focusing on Central America.(2) White and Richard Scammon of IFES lunched with the Soviet Central Election Commission to the U.S. during their November 1989 visit.(10)"
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William J. Hybl, Chairman - Bush appointee and senior adviser to the 56th UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2001) William J. Hybl is the Chairman and Chief Executive Office of the El Pomar Foundation, one of the largest foundations in the Rocky Mountain region. The El PQmar Foundation provides grants for programs in education, health care, the environment, amateur sports, human services, and the arts, with special emphasis on excellence in nonprofits. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Broadmoor Hotel Inc. and President Emeritus of the United States Olympic Committee. In addition, he is a member of the International Olympic Committee and on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic Foundation.In 1981, he served as Special Counsel to President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Hybl was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 1972 to 1973. Having received three consecutive presidential appointments, from 1992-1997, Mr. Hybl served as Vice- Chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy http://www.un.int/usa/ga56_hybl_bio.htm Chairman and CEO of the El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs, CO, the largest foundation in the Rocky Mountain region; President of the United States Olympic Committee during four Olympic Games and member of the International Olympic Committee; former member of the Colorado House of Representatives and Assistant District Attorney of the Fourth Judicial District of Colorado; former U.S. representative to the U.N. General Assembly and special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. http://www.ifes.org//board.htm El Pomar is known as an extreme right wing group http://www.cat.org.au/a4a/fake29.html
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