Wally O'Dell, Diebold CEO, resigns!

[garybeck]

DIEBOLD CEO WALDEN O'DELL RESIGNS!
Controversial, Partisan Head of Voting Machine Company Steps Down Citing 'Personal Reasons'
Fraud Securities Litigation -- as previously reported in a BRAD BLOG Exclusive -- is Imminent!

Diebold, Inc. (stock symbol: DBD) CEO Walden O'Dell has resigned due to what company officials describe in a press release as "personal reasons". Reuters is reporting that O'Dell will be replaced by the company's president and chief operating officer, Thomas Swidarski.

As The BRAD BLOG reported exclusively late last last week, the filing of a securities fraud class action litigation against the company, O'Dell and other current and former members of their Board of Directors is now imminent. The BRAD BLOG has learned that the case may be filed in Ohio Federal District court as early as today or tomorrow. We will, of course, have more details when that occurs.

O'Dell has faced a great deal of criticism for his statement to Republican fundraisers, prior to the 2004 Presidential Election, that Diebold was committed to delivering the electoral vote of the state of Ohio to George W. Bush. O'Dell was part of Bush's "Rangers and Pioneers," a group of individuals who had raised at least $100,000 each for Bush/Cheney's 2004 re-election campaign.

In the wake of the controversy concerning O'Dell's involvement with the Bush/Cheney campaign, a corporate policy was instituted to disallow involvement in political campaign by senior executives at the company. A report late last week, however, revealed that several Diebold executives had continued to donate to GOP campaigns even after the policy was enacted.

full article at Brad Blog

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002149.htm

[MissWaverly]

1. I hope this is another scandal unraveling

Kick to the Greatest Page!

[I Have A Dream]

2. This is wonderful news! n/t

[sabra]

3. Pass the popcorn

:popcorn:

[intheflow]

6. Make mine with extra butter!

:popcorn:

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. We really need to cut back on the butter

don't you think? We've all be eating way too much popcorn since the 2000 selection.

[sepia_steel]

4. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet nt

[Botany]

5. Chickens coming home to roost?

please let the dam break so that the information of the stolen election gets out.

[azmouse]

7. Why does it seem that every person involved

with the Reps in any way is crooked?
How long til America wakes up about these people? :banghead:

[ReadTomPaine]

8. Quick answer.. it's not a coincidence, it's a job requirement. n/t

[BR_Parkway]

10. Cause they pretty much are crooked, it seems like what it is!

Wizards 6th rule wasn't it?

[Occulus]

60. not at all

Wizard's Sixth Rule: The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.

The Republicans are in violation of the most insidious of all the Wizard's Rules, the Wizard's Third Rule: Passion rules reason.

They are also implicated by the Wizard's Fifth Rule: Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.

edited to add: They USE the First Rule: People are stupid. They will believe any lie, either because they want it to be true or they are afraid it IS true.

[Bill Bored]

9. Here's another source:

<http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-12-2005/0004232513&EDATE>

They must really want that Blue State business!

On a related subject, if each of us bought 1 share of their sorry ass stock, we could show up at shareholders meetings and raise bloody hell about how they run their elections division! So I was wondering, why this hasn't been done yet??? Can anybody answer it?

From the above article:
- challenges raised about reliability and security of the company's
election systems products, including the risk that such products will
not be certified for use or will be decertified;
- changes in laws regarding the company's election systems products and
services;
- potential security violations to the company's information technology
systems;

[fudge stripe cookays]

33. THAT is a genius idea!!!

:thumbsup:

Let's start spreading this around wherever we can-- forward it through e-mails, blogs, and everything else!

fsc

[Ellipsis]

35. Stock closed at 37.73.

This is a good idea.

For simplicity, may I suggest...

http://www.oneshare.com/

[vanboggie]

57. Liebold Stock

Should be selling cheap very soon.

One down, two to go.

[Boredtodeath]

64. It HAS been done

By none other than ex-DUer Jeff Seeman. You know, that guy who keeps running for congress in Ohio.

Jeff went to a shareholder meeting and publicly asked them (I THINK it was O'Dell) lots of questions about their voting division. He was dismissed.

I'll look for the report here on DU........

edit: link to DU report of this process from the archives
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1458921

[Bill Bored]

73. Thanks for the link.

I've heard this didn't work, but not sure why. Maybe not enough shares? MAybe the CEO didn't care about bad publicity? Maybe there wasn't enough evidence to present. Maybe it was presented badly? I'll read this report but it's something to keep in mind in the future if we can get our act together. Meanwhile, there's always good old Leon county, FL!

[mzmolly]

11. Yowza!

:toast:

[Hissyspit]

12. Well, it's something, but is it real change or just window dressing?

What do we know about Swidarski, besides the fact that he, well... works for Diebold!?

[Faygo Kid]

14. Bingo. Let's not get excited until we know about Swidarski, and the Board

I doubt very much, given their history, that this is an honest cleanup. These guys and the Bush Administration are too close. Positioning themselves for the 2006 election is what this is likely all about. Posturing, and getting rid of somebody stupid enough to be open about their partisanship.

[minvis]

53. Here's some quotes from Swidarski

This is from an article in a college newspaper in 2003.


Last month Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich authorized the State Board of Elections to proceed with the statewide installation of Diebold AccuVote-TS (touch screen) electronic voting machines.

Diebold Election Systems has come under heavy criticism for alleged security flaws in their machines, which critics say leave the machines open to tampering.

The Diebold paperless touch-screen voting systems were first deployed on a statewide basis in Georgia for the 2002 election. Despite trailing the Democratic incumbents in both races by 5 to 11 point margins the week before the race, Republican candidates were the winners of both the governor's mansion and a seat in the U.S. Senate, according to the Diebold-generated results. This marked the first time a Republican candidate won the Georgia gubernatorial race in 130 years.

Because the Diebold system is paperless and the counting of the votes is done out of sight, there is no way for a voter to know if his or her vote was counted correctly.

In July, a team of computer security experts from Johns Hopkins University and Rice University published a report on the software likely used in Diebold's AccuVote-TS model. The study prompted national debate over the security of electronic voting machines.

"We found some stunning flaws," says Avi Rubin, lead researcher on the report.

Diebold Election Systems President Thomas Swidarski defended his technology as the safest, "most advanced out there." He dismissed the Hopkins study as a "homework assignment" by a bunch of graduate students aimed as a "misguided, personal attack" on his company.

The study contained an analysis of unencrypted source code for an electronic voting system found on an unprotected FTP server maintained by Diebold.

The voting system examined by Rubin's team had "significant security flaws" and fell "far below even the most minimal security standards," according to the report.

Some of the biggest flaws cited: voters can cast multiple ballots with no built-in traceability; administrative functions can be performed by regular voters; and the system is open to tampering by insiders such as poll workers, software developers, and janitors.

The American Free Press asked Diebold spokesman Joe Richardson if the software code examined by Rubin's team had been used in Diebold machines during the Georgia 2002 election. "We are still looking into that," Richardson responded.



The rest of the article is linked below. You may have to sign in to see the other pages.

http://www.thequindecim.com/media/paper618/news/2003/10/15/Features/Controversy.Still.Surrounds.Electoral.Machines-528288.shtml?page=1

I'm afraid it's more of the same if this article is any indication.

[Hissyspit]

58. See, that's what I'm talking about. But I guess on a symbolic level

it is still important that he was forced out. And Swidarski seems to be pathetically defending the company and their technology and thus the potential profit, but not necessarily showing polictical bias.

Thanks for finding that, by the way.

[AX10]

13. Please let this be another scandal.

[Ellipsis]

16. Perhaps Diebold will wish to sell off it's voting machine division

Cheap!

Thanks for the news.

[Bill Bored]

20. Not even necessary. See post #9!

I know it may not be fashionable to ask progressives to buy stock, but there is a form of democracy in publicly traded corporations. You just have to be an OWNER to have a say.

Again, I ask, why haven't we been doing this with Diebold? At least they are still publicly traded.

[Carolab]

38. Bill, buying Diebold stock is a fantastic idea.

How can we make this a DU activism????

[foo_bar]

69. then you can film a documentary, "Foger and Me"

[sasquatch]

17. Beutifal

:thumbsup:

[katty]

18. just the beginning...thank you, Santa!!

[ReadTomPaine]

19. One down... plenty left to go! Great news! n/t

[NightOwwl]

21. MSN article doesn't even mention Diebold makes voting machines.

"NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) - Diebold Inc., a maker of automatic teller machines, said Monday that Chairman and Chief Executive Walden W. O'Dell has resigned "for personal reasons."

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=AP&Date=20051212&ID=5347618

Not a teeny tiny peep about their involvement.

[marions ghost]

66. good point

the sins of omission of the corporate media are especially blatant when it comes to election issues
-- :eyes:

[lonestarnot]

22. And another one gone another one gone another one bites the dust!

hey hey:toast:

[Botany]

23. Happy Happy Joy Joy

[Patsy Stone]

24. Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy

Personal reasons... Always a good excuse. He wants to spend more time with his family. Another good one.

Yay! Yay! Yay!

[Botany]

28. Did I ever tell you that you are my Fav EDV?

please don't tell the others.


Wally has a big house less then 4 miles from where I am sitting right now. I hope he sings
like a birdie about diebold and the elections to save his ass.

CBS news tonight not one word about O'Dell but 5 minutes of Karl Rove produced crap about Gov.
Blanco of LA running a P.R. campaign with Katrina ..... This right after she released memos
confirming she had tried to get help from bush, FEMA, and homeland security.

Do not expect the house of cards to go down w/out a fight.

I wonder when the Wally O'Dell story makes the MSM?

[rpannier]

25. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! n/t

[SharonRB]

26. One more down...how many thousands to go?

:popcorn:

Make mine without butter, please.

[thereismore]

27. Now if we could get him to talk... yikes! nt

[McCamy Taylor]

29. Is Diebold going bankrupt and hoping for a federal bailout?

If so, Warren O'Dell would make it hard for a GOP Congress to give Diebold lots of money since he promise to deliver Ohio's votes to Bush in 2004 and many Americans believe he stole the election for W. If Diebold is counting on a big federal bailout that will allow it to continue to rip off the voters through the Nov. 2006 elections, it will first have to get rid of any executives who are obviously partisan (like O'Dell) and replace them with stealth partisan execs.

Moral: if Diebold goes bankrupt NO FEDERAL BAILOUT! Let Diebold's customers vote on scratch paper.

[madrchsod]

30. we won`t coincide until all the votes are counted......

several hours later---we give up! now everyone just accept the fact that george bush is your president.


just how corrupt is ohio?

[roguevalley]

31. proof of the existence of God. :)

[David Zephyr]

32. Is it true that Diebold investors are going to lose big on their stock?

Is there any truth to that speculation?

[UrbScotty]

34. Poor baby.

:sarcasm:

Bye, whore. Hope you and your f***er friends reap what you have sewn.

[jaredt112]

36. Great

Now we need the chief of the election-systems division of Diebold to resign.

[Einsteinia]

37. The cake topper takes off his tux

And yet they still have the same corp. culture

earning them the notoriety of the "Enron of Evoting Systems."

Do not be fooled that this giant is going to change their ways just because their cake topper decided to take off his tux.

[Quakerfriend]

39. Several days ago, Bradblog posted this

about a Diebold 'insider' who was ready to spill the beans:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Diebold_insider__alleges_...

[longship]

40. EX-Cellent!!

Just excellent.

Now, let's get Diebold unlisted on the stock exchange.
And while we're at it, let's get them out of the voting business.

[PurpleChez]

41. Neener, neener, neener!!!

Go to hell, you old bastard.

[Donkeykick]

42. I Wonder...

Just how much money that Dubya and the GOP will raise to help him get out! :rofl:

O'Dell has faced a great deal of criticism for his statement to Republican fundraisers, prior to the 2004 Presidential Election, that Diebold was committed to delivering the electoral vote of the state of Ohio to George W. Bush. O'Dell was part of Bush's "Rangers and Pioneers," a group of individuals who had raised at least $100,000 each for Bush/Cheney's 2004 re-election campaign.

[Bouvet_Island]

43. I don't want to be creative

But such an occurence means there are a lot of people wanting information, as an example the shareholders curios about what is going to happen. And on the other hand there is the people that obviously have the desired information, but are reluctant to provide it, eg. the Diebold management. The problem for the management is that, and particularly if the company have enemies, it can lead to a big rumor mill, then to panic in the stock exchange, with collapse of the company to follow and a new board. If the company's enemies were to troll stock trading forums, different flavors of blogs and with the possibilities of anonymity and impersonation the internet afford, it is very easy to imagine a scenario where such a situation could get out of hand. Full anonymity on internet is a matter of using a simple tool like http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html|JAP>. I imagine it would be feasible for a small number of people to make enough hysteria to really make things bad.

Eg "I am a former employee of Enron. The story don't need any introduction, safe to say I wasn't exactly one of the profiteers. The years since Enron, I have been doing volounteer work for several corporate transparency groups, providing expertize in the type of computerized modelling of risk companies do when they intend to do "unethical" things, a matter Enron excelled in. They would have precise calculations of when the price of bribing officials would likely be higher than getting the same result through other ends like bought campaigns, or swallowing the loss. As you probably know, the current situation is exactly what preceded the Enron collapse. While Diebold have a real business model and are selling real products, lets just say that the class action suit is not anywhere near what caused what we saw today and that there are something really big coming up that will affect far more than this company. While Enron was the n. 1 contributor and before the crash - beneficiary of the Bush 2000 campaign, it seems Diebold have been among the largest, if not the single largest contributor to 2004 and obviously not without similar benefit. I would advise anyone, and particularly people with personal savings in this company's stock to pull out now, don't make the experiences I made. With peace, E."

People posting stuff like this, maybe much just much simpler stuff than this around the net, it could be very PITA for enron management. Because they can hardly make a communication saying "they are not a new Enron", that would probably just work against itself ... Eg that story smells very much like a smear or the type of blah the internet is full of, but then people deciding to examine for themselves about the "biggest contributor" phrase would easily get validation. They would have to trust Diebold both about vote count and about not being an enron type company, or probably trust them with none of them.

[markbark]

44. Why is it

that whenever Diebold is discussed I always think of the Blackadder III episode "Dish and Dishonesty?"

H: And now, finally, a word with the man who is at the centre of this bye-
election mystery: the voter himself. And his name is Mr. E. Bla--
Mr. Blackadder, *you* are the only voter in this rotten borough...?

E: Yes, that's right.

H: How long have you lived in this constituency?

E: Since Wednesday morning. I took over the previous electorate when he, very
sadly, accidently brutally cut his head off while combing his hair.

H: One voter, 16,472 votes -- a slight anomaly...?

E: Not really, Mr. Hanna. You see, Baldrick may look like a monkey who's
been put in a suit and then strategically shaved, but he is a brillant
politician. The number of votes I cast is simply a reflection of how
firmly I believe in his policies.

H: Well, that's excellent. Er, well, that's all for me -- another great day
for democracy in our country. Vincent Hanna; Country Gentleman's Pig
Fertilizer Gazette; Dunny-on-the-Wold.



--MAB

[Peace Patriot]

46. Dunny-on-the-Wold? Is that like Dummy of the World? Could they mean...

...???

[marions ghost]

65. I took it to mean

Toilet (dunny) on the (River) Wold = re. all those British country towns named something on a river

[AnnieBW]

45. Na na na na

Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye!

[mod mom]

47. Great News!

[trogdor]

48. Shorter O'Dell

BANK!

[ms liberty]

49. How many scandals before we reach critical mass? I can't take much more!

[mermaid]

50. Why Does This Not Come As A Surprise??

Hot damn, gimme some popcorn, and let me settle back to watch the show!! Please tell me Fitz is gonna investigate vote-tampering!!
We know they're guilty!!

:popcorn:

[fearnobush]

51. And the M$M is still afraid or compliant to not report this stuff.

Freedom my ass.

<>
<>

[meowomon]

68. Leon County Florida is dumping the Diebold machines

Leon County's (Tallahassee, Florida. Remember us from back in 2000?)supervisor of elections is dumping the Diebold equipment after Black Box came in and proved they coutd be hacked. I called the local paper and they weren't interested! http://www.sendthelesbianstocanada.com

[derby378]

52. My wife says this explains why Nero wants Alito on SCOTUS

Because, just like 2000, this election is headed to the Supreme Court. Bush wants the deck thoroughly stacked so that the fix will be in once and for all.

[fearnobush]

56. My exact thoughts. He doesn't like the idea of dark skinned people voting.

He will rule in favor for every new Jim Crow voting law that is sure to come unless the GOP owned and operated voting machines are stopped.


"Alito has also taken part in one significant voting rights case in which the circuit was divided. He was part of a three-judge panel that heard a case in which black voters challenged a school board's at-large system of electing members. Alito and another judge found that the voting method did not deprive minority voters of an equal chance to elect board members of their choice. The dissenter, Judge Max Rosenn, a Nixon appointee, wrote that at-large districts hamper minority representation. Rosenn said that Alito and the other judge allowed a voting system "which only by a series of flukes and anomalies has permitted any minority representation at all. This cannot be the desire of Congress, and it most certainly is not that of the Supreme Court."
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/02/AR2005110202724_2.html>

<>

[dennis00]

62. DIEBOLD

Change that to:"You don't count because we do the count."

[awoke_in_2003]

67. i think what he is saying is

we don't count (votes) because we already know who we want to win.

[Independent_Liberal]

54. Personal reasons?

Oh no, I can see it now. He's gonna get it! Ahhhhhhhiiiiiiieeeeeee!!!!!!

:D

[PegDAC]

55. I'm reserving judgement

until i figure out what it means for '06.
:hi: :dilemma:

[Hissyspit]

59. See my post #12 above.

It's the pessimist in me.

[Demeter]

61. If Elections Were His to Sell To the Highest Bidder, Why Fraud?

How much money does an evil-doer need, anyway?

[zbdent]

63. Of course he resigns . . . his work is done

and the presidency was "delivered" to the President, as promised.

Now, he will see if Bush follows through with HIS promise, which is to pardon him pre-emptively for any crimes he might have committed . . .

[yurbud]

70. Yahoo story cited evoting concerns as risk for future

We are making a difference and need to keep the heat on these assholes.

I would still prefer to see them get out of the election business all together, but this is a good start.

This also might be related to a recent story covered by Bradblog:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1972438

Press Release Source: Diebold, Incorporated

Diebold Announces Management Changes

Monday December 12, 4:19 pm ET
CEO O'Dell leaves company


NORTH CANTON, Ohio, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Diebold, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD - News) today announced senior management changes instituted by its board of directors. Walden W. O'Dell, Diebold chairman and chief executive officer, has resigned from the company and its board of directors, effective immediately
<snip>

Some of the risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

• competitive pressures, including pricing pressures and technological developments;
  
  
• changes in the company's relationships with customers...
  
  
• changes in political, economic or other factors...
  
  
• acceptance of the company's product and technology introductions in the marketplace;
  
  
• challenges raised about reliability and security of the company's election systems products, including the risk that such products will not be certified for use or will be decertified;
  
  
• changes in laws regarding the company's election systems products and services;
  
  
• potential security violations to the company's information technology systems;
  
  
  
  
  
  The rest (boring):
  
  http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051212/clm060.html?.v=31
  

[jrandom421]

71. Remember Comrade Stalin

"Those who cast the votes, decide nothing. Those who count the votes, decide everything."

And my fav:

"Trust is good. Control is better"

[Ellipsis]

72. Still dancing a jig to this news...Kick.

[bionaut111]

74. SECURITIES FRAUD LITIGATION FILED AGAINST DIEBOLD

A Securities Fraud Class Action suit has been filed against Diebold, Inc. (stock symbol: DBD) naming eight top executive officers in the company as co-defendants. The suit has been filed by plaintiff Janice Konkol, alleging securities fraud against the North Canton, Ohio-based manufacturer of Voting Systems and ATM machines on behalf of investors who owned shares of Diebold stock and lost money due to an alleged fraudulent scheme by the company and its executives to deceive shareholders during the "class period" of October 22, 2003 through September 21, 2005.

http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewstory.php?storyid=4023

I hope this company goes down. I doubt it. Once the companies join the gangster ruling elite, they generally get away with murder...literally. But that being said, I still hope they go down.

[paineinthearse]

75. Could this be related?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x405199