Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY, 10/31/05

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”You can corrupt some of the government some of the time
but you cannot corrupt all of the government all of the time.”

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.

Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY, 10/31/05

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

If you can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.

If you want to know how post "News Banners" or other images, go here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391



All previous daily threads are available here:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm

Please

"Recommend"

for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

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1. OH: “NOE in CHAINS” He plus 24 Accused of Laundering Funds to Bush

But wait, only Noe is indicted. Why won’t the Federal prosecutor charge the rest. This may be Kosher but it bears watching. Now we have a face to attach to the Ohio election fraud follies. Will Noe turn in Blackwell? Time will tell. And Tom, next time you get arrested, please dress at least as well as your attorney. Show some respect.

Noe is freed on $1 million bond in Florida; coin dealer set to appear in Toledo federal court on Monday

http://toimages.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=TO&Date=20051029&Category=NEWS02&ArtNo=510290385&Ref=AR&MaxW=240

Tom Noe, right, leaves federal court in Orlando, Fla., with his attorney.
( ASSOCIATED PRESS )

By MIKE WILKINSON and JAMES DREW
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

ORLANDO, Fla. - Tom Noe got his first taste of the federal justice system yesterday when he appeared in shackles and handcuffs before a U.S. magistrate on charges that he laundered $45,400 into President Bush's re-election campaign.

http://toimages.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=TO&Date=20051029&Category=NEWS02&ArtNo=510290385&Ref=AR&MaxW=240
Photo
Tom Noe, right, leaves federal court in Orlando, Fla., with his attorney.



Mr. Noe left the federal courthouse in the afternoon after posting a $1 million bond secured by the Florida Keys home that is listed under the name of his wife, Bernadette. He did not talk to reporters.

Mr. Noe, 51, surrendered to the FBI in the morning, and authorities fingerprinted him, took his mug shot, and placed him into a holding cell. He shared the cell with other detainees, some of whom were suspected drug offenders, officials said.

Myles Malman, Mr. Noe's attorney in Florida, said Mr. Noe maintains his innocence.

"He looks forward to returning to Ohio and continuing his cooperation and resolving this case," Mr. Malman said.

The court appearance occurred a day after a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Mr. Noe, the controversial former coin-dealer whose failed $50 million rare-coin investment with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation has brought scandal to the Statehouse.

Prosecutors charge that Mr. Noe provided money to 24 people in order for them to give money to the Bush-Cheney campaign. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of nearly $1 million if convicted on three separate counts.

Mr. Noe is expected to appear in a Toledo federal court Monday, when he will be arraigned on the charges before U.S. Mag-istrate Vernelis Armstrong.

The Noes have lived in Florida for several months after selling their Maumee River condominium to former state representative Lynn Olman and their Catawba Island home to a Findlay industrialist.

The court appearance took place in Orlando because the federal courthouse in the Miami area was closed because of the damage caused by Hurricane Wilma.

Meanwhile, prosecutors again found themselves yesterday answering questions about why they did not name nor indict any of the 24 people who they believe Mr. Noe used to funnel $45,400 to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Prosecutors said they cannot talk about other people not named in the indictment. But, they said that it is Justice Department policy not to prosecute low-level participants in a conduit scheme if they help prosecutors convict the "big fish."

<snip>

She said she hopes voters will "judge her for what I do."

Both Gov. Bob Taft and his former chief of staff, Brian Hicks, were convicted earlier this year with ethics violations stemming in part from their relationship with Mr. Noe.

Most Ohioans became familiar with Mr. Noe after The Blade began writing stories in April about his failed coin deal with the state. His attorneys have since acknowledged that up to $13 million is missing from the funds.

For years, Mr. Noe has been a confidant of top Republican politicians, someone they can expect a campaign check from and whom they could appoint to a key commission or post. Over time, Mr. Noe would be appointed to the board at Bowling Green State University, the Ohio Board of Regents, and the Ohio Turnpike Commission.

<snip> illegal

Rep. Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island), urged President Bush yesterday to return all of the money Mr. Noe raised for the campaign. He raised at least $100,000 and was dubbed a "pioneer" by the campaign.

"Prosecutors have made it clear that President George Bush took dirty money from Tom Noe. In fact, this money may very well belong to the injured workers and small businesspeople of Ohio," Mr. Redfern said.

The Bush-Cheney campaign has donated $6,000 that it received from Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, to charity, according to a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. The Noes gave $4,000 to Bush-Cheney and $2,000 to the RNC.

From 1998 until earlier this year, the Bureau of Workers' Compensation invested $50 million with Mr. Noe's coin business. The revelations led to search warrants and investigations involving 11 agencies, including both U.S. attorneys in Ohio and the prosecutors of Lucas and Franklin counties.

Investigators are also looking at other suspect investments of the bureau, including one fund that lost $215 million in an offshore hedge fund.

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2. OH: Reform Ohio Now Web Site – A Site to See!!!

This is the site, ground zero, for cleaning up Ohio. The Reform Ohio movement is a reaction to all of the corruptions visited on the Buckeye state by, guess who, the all Republican state government…Taft, Petro, Blackwell, Noe (well, he’s the mascot). This is a vital movement. One can only imagine what will happen if they try to steal this one.


http://www.reformohionow.org/

Vote YES on Issues 2, 3, 4, & 5

Ohio has always been a great state, but times are tough. Ohio leads the country in job losses, and young people are leaving in droves. Our capitol is racked by numerous scandals, and elected officials still pander to big donors and ignore working people.

But now there's something we can do about it.

Vote YES on Issues 2, 3, 4, & 5 on November 8 - real, common-sense reforms to take our state back from the politicians who have failed us:

* Issue 2: Makes it easier to vote by allowing all Ohioans to vote by mail
* Issue 3: Helps stop the influence of big money in elections by greatly reducing campaign contributions.
* Issue 4: Stops the politicians from drawing their own legislative districts and puts an Independent Commission in charge of this process.
* Issue 5: Places a bi-partisan Board of Supervisors in charge of Ohio's elections, instead of a partisan official who backs candidates and takes sides in elections.

Reform Ohio Now, a non-partisan group, is working with thousands of volunteers across the state to pass these reforms. The Canton Repository called us "fresh air in the stale room that has become state government." But we can't do it without your help, so get involved today.

Beat the smear campaign! Join our grassroots effort today in your area: click here. Or help support our work by making a donation. It's easy!

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3. Nation: BradBlog Blasts Feeney Op/Ed on Hypocracy

Pure Brad Friedman, informative and aggressive. A tireless activist for election integrity, Brad and BradBlog are not backing down.

Tom Feeney, Alleged Election Rigging Conspirator, Op/Eds Against 'Voter Fraud'

http://www.bradblog.com

Republican U.S. Congressman, Bush Crony, Attempts to Restore 'Voter Confidence' by Disenfranchising Voters, Offering Misleading Information and Calling for Unconstitutional Measures at Poll

Published Same Day as U.S. Appellate Court Upholds Decision that Georgia's Photo ID Law is Unconstitutional 'Poll Tax'


Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) wrote an Op/Ed this week in the Orlando Sentinel in hopes of fooling the American public into supporting his atrocious new "Election Reform" bill in the U.S. House. His Op/Ed which supports his bill's call for National Photo ID requirement at the polls, was published the same day that the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a previous decision by a Federal Court that Georgia's recent bill requiring Photo ID amounted to a new "poll tax" and was therefore unconstitutional.

Here's the Counter-Op/Ed I just sent to the Sentinel in reply to Feeney's. I've added links here to the items I mention in the letter and for easy access to just some of the criminal conspiracy allegations made against Feeney as reported since last December by The BRAD BLOG. Contact info for the Sentinel, if you should wish to conatct them or write a letter as well, is at the bottom of this item...

[jarnocan]

7. NOV 2nd is tooo important a day to just let slide....

There is a petition concerning the Feeny bill (against) and to support Rep. Russ Holt's HR 550 at Vote Trust and http://vvlobbydays.blogspot.com
Also www.worldcantwait.org http://flickr.com/groups/worldcantwait/ Please send your pics and support US all on NOv. 2nd!

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9. Direct link for Feeney-BradBlog story.

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001958.htm

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4. MI: Big Problems with Detroit Election Official

Absentee ballots tainted?
Some Detroit voters are incapacitated, without valid addresses, raising question of mayoral election's fairness.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0510/30/A01-365796.htm

Sunday, October 30, 2005
Detroit News exclusive report

By David Josar, Lisa M. Collins and Brad Heath / The Detroit News

A Detroit News investigation raises serious questions about the handling of absentee ballots under Detroit City Clerk Jackie Currie as the city prepares to choose a mayor, City Council and school board Nov. 8.

Currie has been accused of irregular election practices in several lawsuits, and a review of election results, property records and databases of registered voters uncovered procedures that experts and other election officials described as questionable.

Among findings by News reporters were ballots cast by people registered to vote at abandoned and long-demolished buildings; a master voter list with 380,000 incorrect names and addresses -- including people who have died or moved out of the city; and a practice of hand-delivering ballots from senior citizens and disabled voters that were filled out in private meetings with Currie's paid election workers.

If the mayoral race came down to a close vote demanding a recount of absentee ballots, the result could be chaotic.

But the most poignant findings were stories from those in nursing homes who had recently voted absentee.

Among them is Charles B. Allen, a resident at the Passion Caring Home for the Elderly who stared blankly one day last week when asked to name the mayor of Detroit. He's never heard of Kwame Kilpatrick and can't recall whether he voted in August.

"I just don't know," Allen said. Six years ago, a Wayne County probate judge declared the 87-year-old legally incapacitated due to dementia and Alzheimer's.

But according to city records, he voted in the August primary by absentee ballot.

<snip>

She, along with her deputy, Vernon Clark, denied there are any problems with the vote in Detroit.

"Prove it," Currie said. "P-R-O-V-E." Where have we heard this before?

<snip>

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5. Zanzibar: The Wonderful World of Election Fraud – BushCo’s Every Where

Could this be a trial run for 2006…BushCo is “oursourcing” our elections.

Zanzibar opposition alleges kidnappings, fraud

http://za.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-10-30T080959Z_01_BAN029451_RTRIDST_0_OZATP-TANZANIA-ZANZIBAR-ACCUSATIONS-20051030.XML

Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:10 AM GMT9

ZANZIBAR (Reuters) - Zanzibar's opposition said on Sunday six of its workers had been seized and "widespread irregularities" were taking place as a presidential election began on the semi-autonomous islands.

Two aides and a driver for opposition leader Seif Sharif Hamad's were "kidnapped" by authorities in the early hours, along with three regional secretaries in Zanzibar's Stone Town, Civic United Front (CUF) officials told Reuters.

"There are also widespread irregularities across the board," a spokesman said, alleging names were missing on voter lists and two polling stations were simply not opened.

Police and government officials were not immediately able to comment.

The accusations followed scuffles between rival supporters as polling began at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT).

Opposition voters beat and dragged away government supporters they said were bussed in to vote in areas such as Stone Town where the CUF was strong, witnesses said.

About half the Indian Ocean archipelago's 1 million population were eligible to vote in a close tussle between a ruling party in power for four decades and an opposition led by a former prisoner standing for the third time.

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6. Nation: Don't Miss this Overview from the Guardian--Amazing

Besieged Bush faces attacks from friends as well as foes

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1604573,00.html


As the President sees his ambitious plans for his second term mired in a swamp of scandal and investigations, Paul Harris maps out what the future may hold for the radical Republican revolution and the divided Democrats

Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer

<snip>.

These are times of deep crisis in America. The stunning image of FBI agents scouring the most exclusive suburbs of Washington, just a mile or so from the White House, sums up the mood of fear, paranoia and siege mentality now gripping the Bush administration.

President George Bush has just had the worst single week of his political life. It first saw the 2,000th US soldier die in Iraq. Then came the humiliation of Harriet Miers withdrawing her candidacy for the Supreme Court. Finally, came the hammer blow of Plamegate that saw top White House aide Lewis 'Scooter' Libby face five criminal charges and perhaps a lengthy jail term.

And there is no end in sight to the troubles. Bush's political guru Karl Rove is still under the shadow of investigation by the Plamegate prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. A trickle of former allies, friends and colleagues have also begun openly to turn on Bush. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, has blasted the march to war with Iraq, blaming it on a right-wing 'cabal' in the administration. Brent Scowcroft, a close confidant of Bush's father, has also gone public. He last week slammed the war in Iraq and revealed the younger Bush had not spoken to him in two years.

That sums up Bush's mood: bitter and angry at his perceived enemies who are then cast out of the inner circle. The formerly watertight Bush White House is starting to leak badly, revealing an inside picture of a President furious at the way his second term has collapsed around him and unwilling to blame himself for any of the disasters. Bush has always had a temper, but now reports of furious tirades against senior staff, and even of rows between Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, have begun to emerge.

<snip>

That is typical of the mood of many senior figures in the Democratic Party. The Democrats are still engaged in a bout of introspection after last year's devastating loss. In fact, far from being able to capitalise on Bush's many crises, they are also in danger of becoming a victim of them. Iraq has split the Democrats. The favourite to secure the 2008 nomination, Hillary Clinton, is a hawk on Iraq. She has campaigned for a bigger military and refused to condemn the war. Kerry meanwhile - at last - has come out punching, sounding like his 1960s Vietnam protester incarnation. 'Despite all the troubles of the Republicans, the Democrats have not got a single message of a positive alternative to the Republicans,' said Haas 'The message, "We are not those guys", will not be enough.'

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8. Nation: Fitrakis & Wasserman Go to Town on GAO Report

These are the experts. This article is a masterpiece.

GAO Report Confirms Key Stolen Election Findings

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0510/S00331.htm

Monday, 31 October 2005, 1:11 pm
Opinion: Bob Fitrakis
Powerful Government Accounting Office report confirms key 2004 stolen election findings

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
October 26, 2005
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1529

Read the Full GAO Report:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf

As a legal noose appears to be tightening around the Bush/Cheney/Rove inner circle, a shocking government report shows the floor under the legitimacy of their alleged election to the White House is crumbling.

The latest critical confirmation of key indicators that the election of 2004 was stolen comes in an extremely powerful, penetrating report from the General Accounting Office that has gotten virtually no mainstream media coverage.

The government's lead investigative agency is known for its general incorruptibility and its through, in-depth analyses. Its concurrence with assertions widely dismissed as "conspiracy theories" adds crucial new weight to the case that Team Bush has no legitimate business being in the White House.

Nearly a year ago, senior Judiciary Committee Democrat John Conyers (D-MI) asked the GAO to investigate electronic voting machines as they were used during the November 2, 2004 presidential election. The request came amidst widespread complaints in Ohio and elsewhere that often shocking irregularities defined their performance.

According to CNN, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee received "more than 57,000 complaints" following Bush's alleged re-election. Many such concerns were memorialized under oath in a series of sworn statements and affidavits in public hearings and investigations conducted in Ohio by the Free Press and other election protection organizations.

The non-partisan GAO report has now found that, "some of concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes."

The United States is the only major democracy that allows private partisan corporations to secretly count and tabulate the votes with proprietary non-transparent software. Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others, has asserted that "public elections must not be conducted on privately-owned machines." The CEO of one of the most crucial suppliers of electronic voting machines, Warren O'Dell of Diebold, pledged before the 2004 campaign to deliver Ohio and thus the presidency to George W. Bush.

Bush's official margin of victory in Ohio was just 118,775 votes out of more than 5.6 million cast. Election protection advocates argue that O'Dell's statement still stands as a clear sign of an effort, apparently successful, to steal the White House.

<snip>

The GAO documentation flows alongside other crucial realities surrounding the 2004 vote count. For example:

• The exit polls showed Kerry winning in Ohio, until an unexplained last minute shift gave the election to Bush. Similar definitive shifts also occurred in Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico, a virtual statistical impossibility.

• A few weeks prior to the election, an unauthorized former ES&S voting machine company employee, was caught on the ballot-making machine in Auglaize County

• Election officials in Mahoning County now concede that at least 18 machines visibly transferred votes for Kerry to Bush. Voters who pushed Kerry's name saw Bush's name light up, again and again, all day long. Officials claim the problems were quickly solved, but sworn statements and affidavits say otherwise. They confirm similar problems in Franklin County (Columbus). Kerry's margins in both counties were suspiciously low.

• A voting machine in Mahoning County recorded a negative 25 million votes for Kerry. The problem was allegedly fixed.

• In Gahanna Ward 1B, at a fundamentalist church, a so-called "electronic transfer glitch" gave Bush nearly 4000 extra votes when only 638 people voted at that polling place. The tally was allegedly corrected, but remains infamous as the "loaves and fishes" vote count.

• In Franklin County, dozens of voters swore under oath that their vote for Kerry faded away on the DRE without a paper trail.

• In Miami County, at 1:43am after Election Day, with the county's central tabulator reporting 100% of the vote - 19,000 more votes mysteriously arrived; 13,000 were for Bush at the same percentage as prior to the additional votes, a virtual statistical impossibility.

• In Cleveland, large, entirely implausible vote totals turned up for obscure third party candidates in traditional Democratic African-American wards. Vote counts in neighboring wards showed virtually no votes for those candidates, with 90% going instead for Kerry.

• Prior to one of Blackwell's illegitimate "show recounts," technicians from Triad voting machine company showed up unannounced at the Hocking County Board of Elections and removed the computer hard drive.

• In response to official information requests, Shelby and other counties admit to having discarded key records and equipment before any recount could take place.

• In a conference call with Rev. Jackson, Attorney Cliff Arnebeck, Attorney Bob Fitrakis and others, John Kerry confirmed that he lost every precinct in New Mexico that had a touchscreen voting machine. The losses had no correlation with ethnicity, social class or traditional party affiliation---only with the fact that touchscreen machines were used.

• In a public letter, Rep. Conyers has stated that "by and large, when it comes to a voting machine, the average voter is getting a lemon - the Ford Pinto of voting technology. We must demand better."

But the GAO report now confirms that electronic voting machines as deployed in 2004 were in fact perfectly engineered to allow a very small number of partisans with minimal computer skills and equipment to shift enough votes to put George W. Bush back in the White House.

Given the growing body of evidence, it appears increasingly clear that's exactly what happened.

[DemReadingDU]

10. Thanks to everyone for doing this thread!

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11. You're welcome from all of us!

:hi: