Any Connection? Abramoff & Diebold Fixing of Elections. Point of Origin?

[Blaze Diem]

Looking to trace the origin of the Diebold vote-fix scam.
Who's idea was this and when did the process first begin to develop?
Considering Abramoff's involvement in all things scam-related to wheeling & dealing for GBush, some group or some person(s) had to have created the absolute need to get Bush in the White House. At all cost, I might add.
My hunch says Jack Abramoff played a pivotol role in bringing this neocon need to reality.
The only way Bush ended up in the White House, was, first to force the election to the decision of the Supreme Court, via the voting mishaps in Florida, thus sending it to the Supreme Court where Bush cronies were ready and waiting.I believe a few SC's knew waht was coming their way.
Second election was an obvious bait & switch, compliments of Diebold.
I do not believe the first election nor the second was by chance in either case.
I believe it was pre-orchestrated by those who wanted their agenda pushed forward at all cost. This was planned far back in the Clinton administration.
My question therefore, leads me to ask just how much of this planning was begin, promised and eventually carried out by the biggest and dirtiest dealer of them all, Jack Abramoff?
And just who gave Jack the go ahead to set it in motion?
ABRAMOFF WORKS FOR SOMEBODY.
Who sent him off with such free reign?
Who is at the top of this whole pyramid?
Cheney? Rove? Someone above even them?

Just wondering if anyone would like to explore this further.

Thanks
Blaze
& a gracious Thanksgiving to all you DUers

[babylonsister]

1. Were it ever thus. Amen. nt

[diva77]

2. Rep. Ney, one of the principal authors of HAVA is under investigation for

accepting favors from Abramoff and returning favors via congressional activities

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/

[Blaze Diem]

4. Like reading a who-done-it crime story..

Who then is at the very head of this beast?
Corporate? Fundies? Foreign factions?
Geez who freaking knows where this trail leads, as we are only at the beginning of retracing the steps.

I want Jack to squeal..I dearly want him in a headlock until he cries for his freakin mama.

Who enlisted Jack's help?

[Starlight]

6. Isn't that the truth. n/t

[Peace Patriot]

10. I think you nailed it right there. I didn't know this. HAVA shenanigans

were not on my radar at the time, and who knew about Ney or Abramoff? Not me.

But I've been wondering since. How did the electronic voting boondoggle--$4 billion to Bush buds at Diebold and ES&S--get achieved? And what happened to the Democrats on Bushite companies owning and controlling the tabulation of our votes with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code? (I know that, on the paper trail, Tom Delay bottled it up in committee; wouldn't let it get to the floor, where all and sundry would have had to vote transparent elections up or down. Nothing the Dems could do about that, with bully Delay blockading it, and it being just after 9/11. But what about the secret programming code, and Bushite partisans owning it? Looking at it in Calif., the CA 2 to 1 Dem majority state legislature just let it go by. No notice taken of Diebold, except by the new Dem Sec of State Kevin Shelley, and they got rid of him with Dem collusion; no notice at all taken of ES&S, or of Sequoia, where the former Repub Sec of State Bill Jones now works! )

H.A.V.A. = Help America Vote Act. (Right.) Supposed answer to Florida "hanging chad" scandal of '00; replace it all with electronics (as it turns out, run by the likes of Wally O'Dell. Jeez.)

For an easy to read pamphlet on the perils of electronic voting ("Myth Breakers"):
http://www.votersunite.org

One of the myths is that H.A.V.A. requires conversion to electronic voting. IT DOES NOT!

What few lame controls H.A.V.A. mandated have been delayed (...ahem) and not implemented due to UNDERFUNDING and lack of political will of the Fed oversight group (Election Assistance Commission--EAC). Testing of electronics, meeting standards, etc., all slowed down. And no paper trail (let alone real ballot backup) was ever required.

We need...

1. Paper ballots hand-counted at the precinct level (--Canada does it in one day, although speed should not even be a consideration, just accuracy and verifiability)

or, at the least...

2. Paper ballot (not "paper trail") backup of all electronic voting, a 10% automatic recount, very strict security, and NO SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code!

-----------------

See new Bob Koehler column on the fiddled results of recent *ELECTION REFORM* (!) initiatives in Ohio:
http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?custid=67&catid=1824

(We can't achieve transparent elections BECAUSE the election system is non-transparent! Bloody irony.)

----------------

We also need an electronic election fraud scandal to hit the airwaves, to prevent them from fiddling the numbers in '06 and '08, with public and media pressure--because I don't think we can get rid of these machines before that.

I was thinking the Ohio initiatives scandal might do it--such an obvious flip-over of the results. But maybe Ney and Abramoff will do it for us. Otherwise, we need...

..parallel elections, independent exit polling, intense statistical analysis of results, and other tools for verifying the next set of elections--to hopefully at least get evidence in '06 to prevent fraud in '08.

For a project for statistical monitoring and challenges of the '06 and '08 elections (they need donations!), see:
http://www.UScountvotes.org

--------------

We can no longer depend on the media exit polls for verification. In 2004, the war profiteering corporate news monopolies fiddled their own exit polls, on everybody's TV screens late on election day, to FIT the results of Diebold's and ES&S's secret formulae--thus depriving the American people of major evidence of election fraud. Some alert bloggers/techies grabbed screen shots of the real exit poll results (Kerry won), and that's what all the fuss has been about (some of it). The tweak they did to their exit polls, to make it look like Bush won, was impossible. (See http://www.TruthIsAll.net.)

The corporate news monopoly exit pollster, Edison-Mitofsky, has promised that we will never again get to see their real results. They will prevent it next time. Ergo, we need independent exit polls. I'm hoping the Dem Party or SOMEBODY will do independent exit polls. (Dems, where are you? Are you still out of your minds on this matter? Are Diebold's and ES&S's lavish lobbying worth it to you?)

(Somebody explain to me how the Dems could tolerate Bushite corporations counting all our votes in secret, without one word of objection. Ney, Abramoff, Rove & Co. couldn't have done this without Dem silence.)

[diva77]

13. And, of course, Ney is from Ohio!!!

[Catrina]

25. And Ney was one of the first Republicans

to agree to 'look into the question of election fraud' promising to participate in hearings, when the controversy arose last year. I know that because a rightwinger gave me a link to show that Republicans were taking it seriously. At the time, I gave him credit for at least acknowledging that there was a problem. I had no idea who he was, had never heard of him before that.

Now, I'm thinking that when the saw the huge amount of awareness and activism that occurred after the election, they planted him in the middle of the 'solution' ~ that's how they operate, it seems. They 'take the bull by the horns' sometimes, rather than deny or fight something that is becoming so obvious and with the potential to grow out of their control, they 'get involved', giving their opponents a false sense that they too are concerned. But what was Ney's real motive?

It is possible that he was enlisted to get involved. Abramoff was into so much of what gave the Republicans the power they have now.

I have read that Norquist and Abramoff go way back, to Abramoff's College Republican days. And that Abramoff's former assistant, Susan Ralston, was passed on to Rove (he used her then as his Rove contact, and she reported to Norquist, as to who should or should not get access to Rove.

Susan Ralston is Filipino ~ and Abramoff has been involved in other shady dealings with the Philipines. A few weeks ago, there was a story about a Filipino spy in the WH, I think. The 'Aspens' seem all to be connected somehow. I think it's entirely possible, given Ney's now known association with Abramoff, that a connection in the election fraud issue, is not beyond belief.

[AntiFascist]

32. Ney, Feeney, and Reed went on trips to Scotland with Abramoff...

LA TIMES- March 13, 2005:

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/806898651.html?dids=806898651:806898651&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+13%2C+2005&author=Chuck+Neubauer&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Lobbyist%27s+Clients+Bump+Into+DeLay+Flap


Lobbyist's Clients Bump Into DeLay Flap
Head of a conservative think tank says it received donations from an Indian tribe and a gambling company before a golf junket.

<snip>

Abstract (Document Summary)

The Times reported Wednesday that the lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, arranged trips that included golf junkets to Scotland for Republican Reps. Tom Feeney of Florida, Robert W. Ney of Ohio and of Texas. All three filed travel disclosure statements listing the National Center as the sponsor of those trips.

She said she had known the Choctaws were a major client of Abramoff and she had been under the impression that eLottery also was a client because of its gambling business.

In e-mails obtained by Senate investigators, Abramoff boasted of helping set up DeLay's golf trip to Scotland. DeLay met, the National Center said, with Conservative politicians in Britain, including former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.


From the March 9 LAT article:


But two other congressmen and three House aides also
played St. Andrews on separate junkets with the lobbyist that may
have violated House rules, records show.
...
And, like the Texas Republican, all omitted disclosing the key role
of beleaguered lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

<snip>

The think tank's blunt contradictions of the congressmen's reports
raise questions about whether Ney
and Feeney violated House rules and filed false documents to
disguise gifts from a lobbyist.

It is the latest twist in a mounting ethics scandal surrounding one
of Washington's most prominent lobbyists.

Ney and Feeney, through spokesmen, blamed others for any filing
errors.

<snip>

Feeney had not previously been tied to the Abramoff controversy.
A year after the Ney trip, Abramoff was headed back to Scotland on
a chartered jet with Feeney.

<snip>

Also on the trip with Feeney were Reed and two congressional aides —

Mark Zachares and Bob R. Brooks Jr.

Both aides listed the National Center as their trip sponsor,
although the nonprofit agency also flatly disputed that. The aides filed their travel disclosure reports with the House clerk's office hours after receiving e-mails from Abramoff's Washington law office that advised them and Feeney what to report.


Everyone remember Tom Feeney???

On Edit: just want to point out that Scotland is known for integrated circuit R&D...don't know if this is relevant.

[AntiFascist]

33. kick

:kick:

[roseBudd]

19. Reform Ohio Now constitutional amendments are the worst example

Low turnout in an offyear election, effective attack ads against RON, ineffective pro RON TV ads and no exit polls. It would have been a miracle if RON passed. Only the liberal elite internet leftists even know about Blackwell's dual election role and election bias or the campaign contributions limit being raised in Ohio. I had to tell my mother and hubby how to vote on RON.

[sam sarrha]

3. story i heard was that the mob went to him and his partner and told them

that they wanted them to do these projects.. they declined and the partner was executed mob hit style.. and he fell in line and did what they wanted..

probably the Bu$h crime family goons..'Bu$hitCo' or the people that own them...

[Blaze Diem]

5. Bush crime family is my guess too,

they're involved in dirty secret deals around the world.
Their associations go way back to grampa Prescott...the underbelly of the world, the obsession with power & money. Its something that can never be achieved without "criminal thinking".

Old Jack is screwed either way. HE may as well do the world a huge favor, go down in history as the man who broke the * crime family, and clear his soul.
A walking stiff. Does he have a wife & kids?

[Rene]

18. You all should read Manhunt by Peter Maas to learn all about GHWBush/

Carlyle and all the rest of the s--t that started when he was head of CIA during Vietnam era.....
It's no wonder Kennedy wanted to shut down the CIA.

[drm604]

8. Interesting.

Do you have a source for this story? Do you know the name of the partner and how he died?

[drm604]

7. I'd love to explore it.

Some thoughts:

Where do we start?

Do you have anything beyond just a hunch?

Should it be explored openly on a public site like DU or should there be some kind of private mailing list or restricted website?

Is it possible that the answer is already out there if someone just gathers and properly organizes all of the publicly available information? I think that there is a lot of good info here on DU and elsewhere that needs to be somehow organized and searched for connections. It's possible that different parties have different pieces of info but no one party has the whole picture. But there's so much information that I wouldn't know where to even start.

Is there some kind of software available that's helpful in finding and organizing this kind of disjointed and fuzzy information?

Is the whole thing about to be blown open for us anyway by Fitzgerald along with the Delay, Abramoff, Scanlon, coingate, etc. investigations?

Any ideas?

[AntiFascist]

9. It could be a lot more complicated with respect to vote fraud....

I'm not saying I know anything concrete, but considering that Abramoff is a member of the CNP (Council for/of National Policy), as is Grover Norquist and Olie North. The CNP also has ties to management of several voting system companies.

The CNP is an umbrella organization for many radical right-wing groups which seem intent on eliminating the separation of church and state. CNP member R.J. Rushdoony, the father of Christian Reconstructionism, teaches that every aspect of society must eventually come under biblical law. CNP members Pat Robertson (who seems to promote domestic destruction on behalf of God) and Ralph Reed's organization The Christian Coalition has the stated goal of mobilizing Christians (presumably their brand of Christians) until they are at the head and the top of the political system. With such extremism, it would not be surprising if Abramoff had other enablers who feel that their god trumps democracy. There is also a concentration of CNP members in Ohio government.

[drm604]

12. Interesting info.

In my opinion at least some of these people aren't really sincere and are simply using the Christian right for their own personal goals of wealth and power. This is almost certainly true of Abramoff, and probably true of Reed, and maybe even Robertson. Could it be that the CNP's demise will come about due to internal corruption? Google returns lots of CNP information.

[alfredo]

14. Aren't the Urosevich brothers tied to a Reconstructionist cult?

Bob Urosevich is currently president of Diebold. Todd is vice president of ES&S

Both Abramoff and the Urosevich brothers are reconstructionist. Not sure if they are part of the CNP, though Abramoff is.

CNP list
http://www.seekgod.ca/topiccnp.htm

[AntiFascist]

20. The well-known cult is the one in Arlington Virginia....

called The Family.

The central money figure funding Abramoff and Urosevich is Howard F. Ahmanson. As far as accounting is concerned, some claim to have proven that Deloitte & Touche is the key auditing firm that services Cybernet's bank Deutsche Bank Allegen (AG), Goldman Sachs, Halliburton, Diebold, Howard Ahmanson & Co, and a dozen or more companies tied to Enron. Ahmanson Jr. is a senior council member of the CNP and there is reportedly a trust fund private account which is linked into the voting system companies, in addition to ownership in Diebold and ES&S via Todd and Bob Urosovitch.

I'm just reporting hearsay, as I said nothing I know to be concrete. Last time this was touched on things got rough, so stay low!

[alfredo]

29. I guess they think anything is acceptable when

they are doing "God's work.

[Peace Patriot]

11. Recommended! Please keep kicked for further exploration of Ney-

Abramoff-H.A.V.A. Note: I think Christopher Dodd may be dirty on H.A.V.A. (And, yes, I think maybe a private investigation needs to be undertaken.)

[femrap]

26. Dodd was a HAVA sponsor, right? Now if what Kerry said

is true: 'Dodd won't look into voting fraud.' What does that mean?

I do know that Wally has a home in Columbus, Ohio. Ney lives 30 miles to the east in Heath, Ohio. Wally's plant is in NE Ohio...Canton/Youngstown area, I believe. And the one who really has the dirty fingers is Blackwell....Sec'y of State (now running for governor of Ohio) who resides in Columbus. And he is depending on those crazy religious wackos to put him into office.

Rove, I bet, is on the top of this pyramid....he is the KING of Campaigns.

I would love to be a mole on this.

[Wilms]

15. Good question. n/t

[Joanne98]

16. Here's the History. Early funding came from CHRISTIANS!

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
Increasingly, investigative writers seeking an explanation have looked to Diebold’s history for clues. The electronic voting industry is dominated by only a few corporations – Diebold, Election Systems & Software (ES&S) and Sequoia. Diebold and ES&S combined count an estimated 80% of U.S. black box electronic votes.

In the early 1980s, brothers Bob and Todd Urosevich founded ES&S’s originator, Data Mark. The brothers Urosevich obtained financing from the far-Right Ahmanson family in 1984, which purchased a 68% ownership stake, according to the Omaha World Herald. After brothers William and Robert Ahmanson infused Data Mark with new capital, the name was changed to American Information Systems (AIS). California newspapers have long documented the Ahmanson family’s ties to right-wing evangelical Christian and Republican circles.

In 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported, “. . . primarily funded by evangelical Christians – particularly the wealthy Ahmanson family of Irvine – the institute’s $1-million annual program has produced 25 books, a stream of conferences and more than 100 fellowships for doctoral and postdoctoral research.” The chief philanthropists of the Discovery Institute, that pushes creationist science and education in California, are Howard and Roberta Ahmanson.

According to Group Watch, in the 1980s Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr. was a member of the highly secretive far-Right Council for National Policy, an organization that included Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, Major General John K. Singlaub and other Iran-Contra scandal notables, as well as former Klan members like Richard Shoff. Ahmanson, heir to a savings and loan fortune, is little reported on in the mainstream U.S. press. But, English papers like The Independent are a bit more forthcoming on Ahmanson’s politics.

I googled Christians+Diebold
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Christians%2BDiebold&btnG=Google+Search

There's all kinds of info......

[annabanana]

17. k & r....n/t

[mzmolly]

21. It goes all the way to the top ~ the Bush Crime Family.

IMHO.

[NVMojo]

22. It's not just Diebold, add in Sequoia. A Dem will not win in Nevada

for decades because of the dirty deal made with these machines. The only Dems who will win will only do so with Republican votes.

[kster]

24. A lot of Republicans voted

for Kerry, but the machine conveniently switch them back to the bush column. The point is it doesn't matter if Repugs vote for the democrat, because it is whoever controls the machine that picks the winner.

[sagesnow]

23. I live near Omaha, NE

if I can be of any help in research needed in Nebraska.

[drm604]

27. k&r

:kick:

[EC]

28. Look and see if Abermoff was in Florida for Jeb's

election...See Brad's Blog for testimony of Chris Curtis, I believe that's where it started...

[diva77]

30. Can we move this post to the Election Reform Forum (I don't know how to)

[0007]

31. No different between Meyer Lansky who had many many

Republican Senators in his back pocket during Fulgencio Batista days in Cuban, and Jack Abramoff.

Lets not forget who we're dealing with and what kind of snakes.

I'm sure there may be some Democratic Senators on junior's payroll, but they must go down too.