Support The Challenge In Ohio

[Guest B.D.]

Yes, Cheating Chimpy McSmirk seems to have managed to steal another one. Most of us have given up and moved on rather than be sick about the outcome of the presidential election.

 

How ironic is it that Bush & Company would dare to condemn the crooked election in the Ukraine after what they have pulled during the last two U.S. presidential cycles.

 

Just think of all the lives of great young Americans that would have been spared had Gore taken office after winning in 2000. Now, after their criminal plotting and scheming in 2004 to eek out a whopping 51% to 49% 'win', they act as though they have a mandate! (Well, compared to 2000...)

 

Just think of how Bush's family and friends have profited through the holdings of the Carlyle Group on the war that he lied us into. How many of the troops are even aware that they are fighting more for the investors in Exxon-Mobile than for the freedom of Americans or Iraqis?

 

The lying 'Swiftboat Veterans for Truth' were an obvious Rovian scheme to divert attention from and suppress the truth about their boy's background. A fair comparison of the Bush and Kerry history can still be found at: http://www.independent-media.tv/itemprint....nd%20The%20Hero

 

But there are some in Ohio who are not taking this lying down. They know that the election was stolen in their decisive state, and they are mounting a legal challenge. While it is doubtful if they can change anything, they must be applauded for focusing attention of the truth of this criminal conspiracy to subvert the will of the American voters!

 

The complete suit is contained in an article that is a MUST READ and can be found at: http://www.freepress.org/departments/displ...ay/19/2004/1028

 

 

The following are sited as EXAMPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY VIOLATIONS:

 

· AUGLAIZE COUNTY - voting machine errors. A former employee of ES&S, “the company that provides the voting systems in Auglaize County, had access to and used the main computer that is used to create the ballot and compile election results…a violation of county board of election protocol…Mr. Nuss was suspended and then resigned.”

 

· CUYAHOGA COUNTY - (1) “more than 10,000 voters” were kept from voting; (2) in a mostly black precinct, confused results for Kerry and third party candidates indicated “fraud, error, or mistake”; (3)“there was an effective denial of the right to cast a provisional ballot and have that provisional ballot counted. 8,099 were “ruled invalid,” about 1/3 of those cast; (4) “voters were misled when they received phone calls incorrectly informing them that their polling place had been changed”; and (5) in some cases, “arrows on the absentee ballots did not align with the correct punch hole” which “led to voters casting a vote for a candidate other than the candidate they intended to support.”

 

· FRANKLIN COUNTY - (1) In some absentee ballots, there was lack of alignment in the punch card hole, such as occurred in Cuyahoga County; (2) about a dozen voters were told that their voting location had been changed by someone “claiming to be from the County Board of Elections..”; (3) “there was a discriminatory assignment of more voting machines per registered voter to precincts with more white voters than African-American voters..”; and (4) there were “numerous reported instances of vote hopping (in which a voter selecting Kerry for President saw the choice displayed on the machine ‘hop’ to Bush for President).”

 

· KNOX COUNTY – (1) Mostly white precincts received more voting machines than precincts with a majority of African-American voters; and (2) certain precincts lacked enough voting machines.

 

· HAMILTON COUNTY – (1) Mostly white precincts received more voting machines than predominantly African-American precincts; (2) there were some voting machine errors keeping voters from inserting ballots “all the way into certain machines…”; (3) candidates Kerry-Edwards names were omitted from some absentee ballots; and (4) a Republican precinct judge was asking every voter for their address and “being a jerk about it.”

 

· JEFFERSON COUNTY – “some challenged voters were not notified that their registration was challenged and their right to vote was in question. Their names were merely published in a nearly unreadable list in the local newspaper.”

 

· LAKE COUNTY – “some voters received a memo on bogus Board of Elections letterhead informing voters who registered through Democratic and NAACP drives that they could not vote.”

 

· LUCAS COUNTY – (1) there was “discriminatory assignment of voting machines to precincts; and (2) machine errors “snarled the process throughout the day. Jammed or inoperable voting machines were reported throughout the city. Lucas County Election Director Paula Hicks-Hudson said the Diebold optical scan machines jammed during testing in the weeks before the election.”

 

· MAHONING COUNTY – (1) voting machine errors included one precinct “recorded a negative 25 million votes”; (2) twenty to thirty “ES&S iVotronic machines needed to be recalibrated during the voting process because some votes for a candidate were being counted for that candidate’s opponent”; (3) about a dozen of these machines had to be reset because they “essentially froze.” And, (4) “there were numerous reported instances of vote hopping (in which a voter selecting Kerry for President saw the choice displayed on the machine ‘hop’ to Bush for President).”

 

· MERCER COUNTY – Voting machine errors showed “289 people cast (punch card) ballots, but only 51 votes were recorded for president. The county’s Web site appeared to show a similar conflict… It would appear that about 4,000 votes (nearly 7%) were not counted for a candidate.”

 

· MIAMI COUNTY - (1) In Concord Southwest precinct “voter turnout was a highly suspect and improbable 98.55%. In Concord South precinct, there was a highly improbable 94.27% voter turnout.” (2) After all precincts had reported, “18,615 votes came in” and are “statistically suspicious..”

 

· MONTGOMERY COUNTY - Voting machine errors showed two precincts with “25% presidential undervotes. This means no presidential vote was recorded on ? of the ballots. The overall undervote rate for the county was 2%. The undercount amounted to 2.8 percent of the ballots in the 231 precincts that supported candidate Kerry, but only 1.6 percent of those cast in the 354 precincts that supported candidate Bush.”

 

· SANDUSKY COUNTY - (1) There was an overcount “when a computer disk containing votes was accidentally inserted into the vote tabulating machines twice by an election worker.” (2) Also, it was “discovered some ballots in nine precincts were counted twice.”

 

· STARK COUNTY - “The Election Board rejected provisional ballots cast at the wrong precinct in the right polling place.” This had been allowed in other elections.

 

· TRUMBULL COUNTY - a voter forged a registered voter’s name and gave a different address. When the registered voter arrived, she was allowed to vote.

 

· WARREN COUNTY - “there were irregularities in the county on election night when officials locked down the county administration building and blocked anyone from observing the vote count.”

 

· IN SEVERAL COUNTIES, besides Franklin and Mahoning, “there were numerous reported instances of vote hopping..” Kerry voters saw their votes go to Bush.

 

 

 

The attorneys are basing their arguments on Ohio’s Revised Code 3515.16, entitled “Testimony in Supreme Court.” All testimony will be given in the form of depositions.

 

Michael I. Shamos from the Institute for Software Research International, at Carnegie Mellon University, believes “it is possible to overturn the Elector’s vote to match the will of the people if the irregularities are enough to overcome the margin of victory.”

___________________________________________________________________________

 

Everyone who believes in the Constitution of the United States, free elections, and the democracy that so many have fought and die for should support this effort. There are links here to various articles with more information on this travesty that was the 2004 'election' in Ohio.

[Guest B.D.]

And why didn't anybody raise hell about Cheating Chimpy's being wired during the debates?

[Guest Human]

BD, I just want to say ; If the Democrats will be this bitter, then thankyou for the next elections that you will be giving my group"Republicans.

[Guest B.D.]

It's is not bitterness, but that is typical of you malicious, manipulative repugs.

 

Instead of addressing any of the truths presented as evidence, you simply pull out a label like bitterness and resort to name calling to distract form the facts of the criminal actions of your fearless 'leaders'.

 

As in Watergate, the 'October Surprise', Iran Contra, Florida 2000, and Ohio 2004, your party has learned that it can manipulate the religious sheeple with lies and non-issues (abortion, gay marriage, etc.) and then conspire to deny the voting rights of minorities in order to win elections. Otherwise you lose every time.

 

And then after you 'win' these elections, your people ignore the needs of the citizens and instead do the bidding of your corporate financial benefactors (pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, etc. ) who have proven by the patterns of their behaviour that they need more regulation, not less.

 

I guarrantee if a special prosecutor was around today (this office has been abolished thanks to Ken Starr's abuse of his power), he'd have a lot more interesting ***brown trout*** than a few **inappropriate material**.

 

I'll gladly compare the criminality of Whitewater to the Harkin stock swindle, the lies about Monica vs. the lies about weapons of mass destruction and Bush family ties to the bin Laden family, Hillary's efforts on health care to Laura Bush's murdering the high school boyfriend who knocked her up, Clinton's bold anti-war efforts to Bush's refusal to show up two years before his committment was up because he couldn't pass a piss test, the list goes on and on.

 

You guys treat anyone who disputes the judgement of this bogus administration as un-American, nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Your guys are NOT conservatives, a conservative would never spend his way deep into debt. They are liars, manipulators, and war mongers who support immoral profiteers (such as Halliburton).

 

Bush/Cheney/Carlyle/Harkin represent the military industrial establishment that Eisenhower warned about upon his retirement.

[Guest B.D.]

One more thing, ######, I do not represent the democrats and never claimed to.

 

I speak for myself!

 

But I know that Iraq never attacked the U.S., had no palns or ability to do so, but that Bush & Co. continue to reward unquestioning loyalty no matter how inept the performance.

[Guest Hey, you moron 'human']

Bush wasn't wired during all three debates?

 

Bush's people didn't conspire to reduce the number of young and minority voters who cast votes for Kerry last November?

 

Can you tell me why we started the war in Iraq (defying the UN)? Was it because Saddam defied the UN?

 

Can you honestly say that Bush legally and ethically won the elections either in '00 or '04?

 

Can you say that Rumsfeld has done a good job of protecting our troops?

 

Can you say that the Cheney/Halliburton connection does not represent a conflict of interest? (While we're on this subject, what do you say about Halliburton's using an offshore maildrop where there were no employees to dodge paying US taxes and laws so that they could illegally deal with Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya while Cheney was CEO, a position that he got not because he had ANY business experience but because of his government and pentagon connection!)

 

Can you defend the fact that Bush & Co. squandered the goodwill of the citizens of all of our long-time allies (which was 100% with the US after 9/11 but was pissed away by attacking Iraq).

 

Or, rather than addressing any of these issues, are you instead going to label me and distract the matter by 'defending' marriage and talking about Jesus?

[Guest Human]

Well!! Bd, at least you didn't call me a Human being "Then I might have been insulted".

 

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To the one who called me a "Moron",,I "human" have been called worse.

 

When I worked in Congress I was called by other Democrats there as "Homest, a breath of fresh air".

 

Time is a great teacher.

[Guest Bob Fitrakis]

Ohio Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell refused to appear at a deposition on Monday, Dec. 27. The deposition was part of an election challenge lawsuit filed at the Ohio Supreme Court. Meanwhile John Kerry is reported to have filed a federal legal action aimed at preserving crucial recount evidence, which has been under GOP assault throughout the state.

 

Richard Conglianese, Ohio assistant attorney general, is seeking a court order to protect Blackwell from testifying under oath about how the election was run. Blackwell, who administered Ohio’s Nov. 2 balloting, served as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign.

 

James R. Dicks, Miami County assistant prosecuting attorney, filed a motion to block a subpoena in his county while Conglianese filed to block subpoenas in 10 key Ohio counties.

 

President George Bush, Vice-President Richard Cheney and White House Political Advisor Karl Rove received notice that they will be deposed Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 28 and 29. The trio’s Ohio attorney, Kurt Tunnell, so far claims his clients have not been properly served. Under Ohio law, the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court is responsible for serving the three.

 

Meanwhile, the Election Protection legal team has collected new statements under oath describing more voting and vote-counting problems on Nov. 2.

 

Voters in Trumbull County have testified that on election day they received punch-card ballots where holes were already punched for Bush. Meanwhile, a notarized affidavit signed by Angela Greene, who voted at Whitehall Yearling High School in central Ohio’s Franklin County, stated that one of the malfunctioning electronic voting machines at her polling place was delivered without a cartridge—meaning votes cast might have gone uncounted.

 

In Miami County, Blackwell certified a 98.6 percent turnout in the Concord Southwest precinct, comprised of 520 votes for Bush and 157 for Kerry. This statistically improbable turnout has all but 10 of the 689 registered voters casting their ballots on election day. A preliminary canvas by The Free Press of less than half the precinct found 25 registered voters admitting they had not voted, meaning the official tally was almost certainly fraudulent.

 

The nearby Concord South precinct certified a 94.27 percent voter turnout, with 468 alleged votes for Bush versus 182 for Kerry. Miami County is included in the election challenge since it somehow reported nearly 19,000 additional votes after 100 percent of the precincts had reported on election day.

 

In Madison County, where public records requests were filed to obtain voting records, the voting results provided by the Madison County Board of Elections came directly from a private company, Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. An email dated Nov. 29, 2004 from Brandon Sandlin of Triad reads as follows: “Hello to all in Madison County! Attached you will find the cumulative report (oh49unov.pdf) with over and under votes reported as well as the official abstract (oh49abs.pdf). These reports may be printed for your records and then mailed to the state along with your other certification reports.” Coming from a private corporation, Triad’ s letter underscores the barriers to making a reliable independent public assessment and recount of Ohio’s presidential tally.

 

In Mahoning County, the Washington Post reported new affidavits documenting electronic “vote hopping” from Kerry to Bush. This means voting machines highlighted the choice for Bush before the voter recorded a choice of his or her own. The legal team has been told by a computer expert that this may mean the machines were pre-set on a Bush vote as a default. The Free Press has obtained dozens of such sworn statements of vote hopping.

 

The legal team is also exploring new evidence that in Coshocton, Ohio, write-in votes wrongly defaulted to Bush when run through the voting machine.

 

On Dec. 23, U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to Triad President Brett A. Rapp inquiring whether or not Triad possessed remote access capabilities for any of the 41 counties where its election tabulation software or computers are in use.

 

Attorneys for the election challenge team are also exploring ties between Triad and the Tallahassee-based company Datamaxx. Ohio public safety and police agencies use the Datamaxx DMPP2020 software for its LEADS computer systems. Datamaxx makes numerous remote access products that law enforcement can access with mobile and handheld computers. CommSys, a Dayton, Ohio-based company provides technical support for Datamaxx.

 

The Free Press has also obtained a list of all voting machines assigned in Franklin County, including serial numbers. The list contains at least 42 machines originally assigned to predominantly African-American and inner city wards that voted 80 percent for Kerry, and where voters waited in line for three hours and more on election day. These 42 machines were blacked out on the list, raising the question of whether these were among the 68 machines the Franklin County Board of Elections has admitted holding back in the warehouse despite obvious shortages at certain polling places. Affidavits from poll workers confirm that numerous requests for more machines were made through election day, but that few if any were delivered.

 

Franklin County Board of Elections Chair Bill Anthony claims that low-level poll workers refused to accept the machines assigned by high-ranking election officials. But he has yet to provide specific details. Anthony has repeatedly claimed that he was a watchdog for Democratic interests in the election, but he was a political appointee of the Republican Secretary of State.

 

Under Ohio election law, the members, directors and deputy directors of all boards of elections are assigned by the Secretary of State. They hold these paying jobs at his discretion regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican. A major argument of those who claim Ohio’s 2004 presidential election was fraud-free centers on the myth that local precincts are run as bipartisan operations, deflecting charges of partisan interference while failing to account for the fact that the principles all owe their jobs to the secretary of state, who in this case served as co-chair of the state’s Bush-Cheney campaign.

 

These problems add to the established pattern of problems that favored Bush at Kerry’s expense.

 

Despite the legal stonewalling, lawyers directing the election challenge case are still pursuing evidence-gathering efforts. Three expert witnesses are scheduled to be deposed on Thursday and Friday, including specialists in statistics and vote counting irregularities.

 

The challengers are seeking a Jan. 4 hearing before the Ohio Supreme Court. Members of Congress meet in Washington on Jan. 6 to evaluate the Electoral College vote. Led by Rep. Conyers (D-MI), it is virtually certain numerous members of the Congressional Black Caucus will challenge that vote. But the assent of a senator is required for the challenge to go forward, and thus far none has definitively confirmed.

 

Despite ducking depositions, Blackwell is escalating his public appearances in hopes of becoming Ohio’ s next governor. On Jan. 12, Blackwell is scheduled to speak at the exclusive Scioto Country Club on the topic of “Ethics in Leadership.” Blackwell became nationally known after disenfranchising voters who had not registered on 80-pound bond paper stock under an archaic Ohio law. He reversed longstanding Ohio tradition that allowed voters to cast provisional votes by county by ruling that none of these votes would be counted unless the voter was in the right precinct. He also was recently censured for running a “get out the vote” campaign for Issue One, a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and spousal benefits.

 

Meanwhile, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was reported to be filing a brief in federal court in relation to the activities of Triad and events in Hocking County, where serious questions have arisen as to the integrity of the recount. Kerry previously circulated a letter to all 88 counties requesting information on how the vote was conducted. The Kerry campaign raised millions of dollars from grassroots supporters with the promise that “all votes would be counted.” But the Democrats are not known to have helped fund the legal work of the Green and Libertarian Parties and their grassroots Election Protection supporters, who have raised the money for the shoestring campaign that has kept the legal challenges alive thus far.

 

An Election Protection rally in downtown Columbus has been set by Rev. Jesse Jackson for 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 3. It will be followed by a national gathering in Washington Jan. 6, to take place as Congress evaluates the Electoral College and the Ohio votes, which have allegedly given George W. Bush another term in the White House.

 

 

Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of the upcoming Ohio’s Stolen Election: Voices of the Disenfranchised, 2004, a book and film project from http://freepress.org.?

[Luke_Wilbur]

In a letter sent to supporters Wednesday, Kerry said he would not take part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors because, despite widespread reports of voting irregularities, his legal team had "found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election."

 

Kerry said he planned to introduce election reform legislation and push for congressional hearings on the voting irregularities.

 

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[Guest B.D.]

Kerry declined because he understnads that the deck is stacked against any chance of changing the outcome. He knows that these sick repugs will label him as they did Gore, it's all a game of win at any cost to them.

 

This way they can feed at the trough of corporate PAC money. They should all be gassed.

 

And you, the simp who compliments himself while calling himself 'human', you may be thrilled with yourself, but I am unimpressed...

[Guest Human]

Bd may I suggest, mental counseling? You really have allot of hate there.

 

Here is a Number that might Help you; National Mental Health Association Resource Center

(800) 969-6642

(800) 433-5959 (TTY)

 

 

Oh!!!! this will be the last time that you, and I will type to each other.

[Luke_Wilbur]

Guys,

People have a right to differences. That is what makes this country great. Why can't we discuss view points without making it personal. Find some common ground. Hateful bantering get us nowhere.

[Guest B.D.]

Luke, what has happened above is typical of Bush and his supporters. My postings address the pattern of criminal conspiracies that republicans consistently resort to in desperatation to grab the White House by any means they can. This has never been in evidence as egregiously as during the two campaigns that have led to the two term seizure of power by George W. Bush.

 

Mr. Fitrakis and I have outlined above many of the 'irregularities' that resulted in the declaration that Bush 'won' this past election, none of which were mistakes but rather were calculated criminal efforts to thwart the will of the American voters.

 

That this one Bush supporter, 'human', has the audacity to respond, not by addressing or refuting even ONE of the issues addressed here but instead by calling me names and suggesting mental counciling says much. It says that he is a coward and cannot use logic and civility to debate issues. This is because he defends the indefensible.

 

And it is a pity that he can't eve attempt to discuss what is posted by others, perhaps he cannot read that much text because his lips would get tired or his limited comprehension abilities or attention span do not allow it.

 

Actually, he just refuses to acknowledge the truth - that Kerry, a decent, ethical, intelligent, Christian man with a record of a lifetime of service to his country was not his choice for president because he bought the propaganda, lies, and deceptions of the campaign of a lying, cheating, scheming, hypocritical, dope, whose extremist policies consistently screw the American people so to show favor for his corporate financial benefactors.

 

Bush is not a conservative, a conservative would never squander the budget surplus or sacrifice American lives in pursuit of radical schemes.

 

We were told that we needed to URGENTLY go into Iraq ONLY because he was developing nuclear weapons and because he was involved in 9/11. We now know that both were lies. The efforts to sell alterior justifications for our tragic rush to war and blame of faulty intelligence is simply an effort to deceive the public, they can never admit any mistakes, and refuse to note that this intelligence came from the George Bush Center for Intelligence.

 

Their medicare prescription scheme helps no patients, they won't even sign up for it! It is instead designed to give cover to a pharmaceutical industry that consistently screws Americans but takes care of republicans. (Just ask former Rep. Tauzin!)

 

This social security 'reform' is a dangerous gamble designed only to benefit those already heavily invested in the stock market (such a large infusion of new investment would have to increase stock prices, at least temporarily). Then, if Bush's history is any indication, they'll dump this stock on insider information just before it tanks leaving so many regretting their having trusted him. Just as his pals at Enron did to their employees and stockholders.

 

They look away as the news media continue to be consolidated but posture about morals over a half-second of nudity and an occasional four-letter word.

 

They squander American tax dollars to bribe media pundits into selling their bogus policies as desirable and successful.

 

While Bush garners support from morons like 'human' by discussing 'moralist' non-issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and the teaching of creationism, the bumbling decisions of his administration are destroying our future and hastening the approach of Armageddon - they actually want this terrible war. And the tragic loss of life means nothing to them, since not one of them has ever served in any military where there was even a remote chance that they'd face combat.

 

And while so many Americans send their children off to war, none of the Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld family will ever be serving in the line of fire.

 

Oh, for the days of Clinton/Gore, when we enjoyed peace, real prosperity and eagerly anticipated great days ahead, when we could afford the luxury of being entertained by a silly sex scandal.

 

The future is depressing, thanks to the failed policies and lies of Dubya. We are attacked by terrorists for our presence in the mideast and since we'll remain there forever we will continue to be subjected to such attacks. So we continuously increase 'security' and watch as our freedoms and way of life further erode.

 

Our brave young soldiers are dying at ever increasing rates in Iraq, while Bush & Co. contemplate expanding this war into Syria and Iran (can Egypt and North Korea be far behind? What about Cuba?) As if our troops aren't overextended already!

 

We are the laughingstock of the entire world for giving Bush a second term. Although no one finds it at all funny.

 

And I doubt that this war will end during the lifetime of anyone reading this.

 

C'mon, 'human', can't you address even ONE of these issues in any way other than by denigrating me?

[Guest blingbling]

This is response to Human's post. The Republicans are going down : )

 

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By Dennis J. Willard and Lisa A. Abraham

Beacon Journal staff writers

 

COLUMBUS - Waiving a trial and promising to cooperate in an ongoing state and federal investigation, former Bureau of Workers' Compensation Chief Financial Officer Terrence W. Gasper pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of money laundering and failing to report 150 incidents of receiving free meals, travel, sports tickets and entertainment over several years.

 

Gasper's plea is the latest development in an extensive corruption probe that threatens to shake the longtime Republican grip on Ohio government in a statewide election year.

 

Flanked by two attorneys, Gasper said ``my plea is guilty, your honor,'' after Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Guy Reese listed the charges against the man who once oversaw the bureau's $19 billion investment portfolio.

 

His plea in Columbus followed a federal court appearance earlier in the day in Akron before U.S. District Judge David Dowd where Gasper pleaded guilty to a single count of racketeering for accepting money, a Florida condominium and gifts from others who wanted contracts for investment opportunities with the state's huge fund for injured workers.

 

Dowd spent more than an hour going over Gasper's agreement with the federal authorities, before finally asking Gasper for his plea.

 

``I plead guilty, your honor,'' he replied.

 

The terms of the agreement are not being released until after Gasper is sentenced, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Benita Pearson said after the hearing that the bureau's losses and Gasper's illegal gains totaled $20 million to $50 million.

 

Origin of scheme

 

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said Gasper admitted that he and Tom Noe, a Republican fundraiser at the epicenter of a bureau investment scandal, hatched a plan over dinner at a Columbus restaurant in March 2001. The men agreed to disguise a $25,000 payment to Gasper to secure a second $25 million contract for Noe to invest in rare coins and collectibles, O'Brien said.

 

Noe disguised the money as an investment in a company run by Gasper's girlfriend, but when investigators raided the coin collector's Maumee, Ohio, home last year, they found documents that indicated the $25,000 ended up in Gasper's hands.

 

The $25 million unbid contract was approved in July 2001.

 

Gasper was also cashing in on perks in his job, but did not disclose the freebies on annual financial disclosure statements filed with the Ohio Ethics Commission.

 

The state money-laundering charge is a third-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years and a $10,000 fine. Failing to disclose the freebies, which is an ethics violation, is a first-degree misdemeanor with a possible six-month sentence and $1,000 fine.

 

Judge Reese set a Nov. 9 sentencing hearing to give Gasper time to cooperate with a joint task force that has been probing bureau investments.

 

On the federal charges, Gasper faces a sentence of five years and 10 months to seven years and three months. But Dowd noted that he is free to sentence Gasper to more or less time in prison if he believes it is appropriate.

 

In the federal case, Gasper agreed to plead guilty to an information -- a document agreed to by Gasper and prosecutors -- which detailed his crimes. In doing so, Gasper agreed to plead guilty without having the case presented to a grand jury and without going to trial.

 

Racketeering acts

 

The charge includes four specific racketeering acts that took place between November 1998 and October 2004. They include three acts of extortion for taking money, a Florida condominium and college tuition payments for his son, and other gifts. Two investment brokers, a securities marketer and a rare coin dealer provided the gifts in exchange for them being allowed to invest bureau money.

 

The fourth racketeering act is that Gasper used the mail and phone lines to carry out his scheme.

 

Though not named in the information, the coin dealer has been identified as Noe, whose failed investments of bureau money sparked the yearlong scandal and investigation.

 

The investigation also led to ethics charges against Ohio Gov. Bob Taft last summer for failing to report gifts from Noe. Four Taft aides have pleaded guilty. Noe faces state charges in the investment scheme and recently pleaded guilty to federal charges that he illegally funneled campaign donations to President Bush's re-election campaign through a host of other Toledo-area Republicans.

 

Dowd agreed to place under seal the names of the unnamed persons who were part of the racketeering enterprise.

 

Gasper declined to comment to reporters following the Akron hearing and managed to leave the courthouse without exiting the front door -- bypassing a throng of photographers and television cameras.

 

In Columbus, Franklin Prosecutor O'Brien said at a press conference that Gasper has an obligation and a motivation to cooperate with investigators, and that more federal and state charges will come soon against unnamed targets of the task force investigation.

 

O'Brien acknowledged the investigation is ongoing during a contentious election year in which voters will decide races for all five statewide offices, including governor, but the Republican prosecutor said every lead will be chased down.

 

``No one will be overlooked through fear or favor,'' he said.

 

The bureau hired Gasper at the behest of Paul Mifsud, former Gov. George Voinovich's chief of staff, who died in 2000.

 

In 1997, Gasper was given power of attorney to approve investment contracts by bureau Administrator James Conrad, who was named to his position by Voinovich and retained by Taft until the governor forced him to resign last year.

 

Gregory White, U.S. attorney for the northern district of Ohio, said 30 full-time investigators have interviewed more than 250 people, issued about 500 subpoenas and scanned more than 1 million documents for the investigation that has spanned 20 states.

[NelsonJacobsen]

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

-- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Americans of all ilk should be concerned about the ability to tamper with voting seeing how no party can stay in the office for ever. The fact that every four years our country has been able to have an election, save 2000, which overturns a sitting government is the one of the hallmarks of our great country. This is not an issue of us vs. them voting is the foundation of our Republic.

[Guest Mark S. Tucker]

The Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.

 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ma...te_fraud_3a.htm

[Guest human_*]

Like I said, Fantasy Politics. I rest my case, and then some.

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The Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.

 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ma...te_fraud_3a.htm

[Guest Jeff_*]

Don't worry the Liberals will be crying in November when Spencer takes Hillary's seat.

 

Boo Hoo you babies. Its time to change your diapers.

[Guest human_*]

Oh!!! You should see the democrats going off now. They are salivating at the thought of taking the house, and ALL the investigations that they are going to launch IF they take back the house.

 

Ya know, I finally came to the conclusion that the democrats REALLY ARE Vindictive.

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Don't worry the Liberals will be crying in November when Spencer takes Hillary's seat.

 

Boo Hoo you babies. Its time to change your diapers.

[Guest blingbling]

No you Human you are absolutely wrong. WE WANT JUSTICE

 

Look up the word in the dictionary. You might learn something.

[Guest human_*]

Blingbling;(the american people are not stupid; they fully understand that the democrats are trying to win elections by using legal tricks to unsurp the election process.

 

I mean this with NO ill intent what so ever;

 

Blingbling, and if it makes your day to hate my group then <shrug> Hey!!! "Then by all means" have FUN hating my Group

"The Republicans").

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

No you Human you are absolutely wrong. WE WANT JUSTICE

 

Look up the word in the dictionary. You might learn something.

[Guest BlingBling]

I do not hate Republicans. But, I do not adore NeoCon beliefs of sending our troops in the line of fire for monetary gains. A life is worth more than money any day.

[Guest human_*]

I see your point, you think that the Iraq War was a mistake, and on that Point I agree with you.

 

In my view point Iran should have been the main target for the United States, and Iraq as a secoundary goal.

 

But to say that the Republicans did this "for monetary gains" is just plain wrong. Show me the proof.

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I do not hate Republicans. But, I do not adore NeoCon beliefs of sending our troops in the line of fire for monetary gains. A life is worth more than money any day.

[Human]

Please note that this following article is the type of justice that the democrats have "thru their own actions" have instilled in Latin America.

 

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

 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2208447

Mexican leftist warns of unrest, Fox denies fraud

 

Jul 18, 2006 — By Kieran Murray

 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - President Vicente Fox rejected claims on Tuesday of fraud in Mexico's election to replace him but the leftist who claims he was robbed of victory warned of unrest if all the votes are not recounted.

 

Fox had stayed out of the growing dispute about the July 2 election, narrowly won by ruling party conservative candidate Felipe Calderon, but he finally weighed in on Tuesday during a visit to Spain.

 

"In Mexico, there is no electoral fraud. Never," Fox told a small group of demonstrators protesting the alleged vote-rigging.

 

He was ridiculed by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the left-wing candidate who says election results that showed him losing by about 0.6 percentage points are bogus.

 

Lopez Obrador said the president was living in a world of his own, which he called "Foxilandia." Fox's election victory in 2000 ended seven decades of corrupt one-party rule in which elections were often rigged.

 

The July 2 presidential vote has split Mexico between left and right and Lopez Obrador has pulled hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets to back his demand for a full recount.

 

With 41 million votes cast, official results gave Calderon a winning margin of around 240,000. Lopez Obrador again warned on Tuesday of unrest if all the ballots are not counted again.

 

"If we want political, economic and social stability, the votes must be counted," he said in a television interview. "We will channel these protests peacefully as far as we can but there are millions of Mexicans offended by the fraud.

 

"The people are very upset and we are not talking about a minor issue. We are talking about an affront to democracy."

 

Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, has appealed to Mexico's electoral court to order a vote-by-vote recount across the country but Calderon's team says that would be illegal and insists he won fairly.

 

FORMAL DECLARATION

 

The court has to rule on legal challenges to the election by August 31 and formally declare the winner on Sept 6.

 

While Lopez Obrador's team is planning a campaign of civil resistance, Calderon is intent on looking like president-elect by meeting with trade unions and religious groups. He accuses Lopez Obrador of trying to blackmail Mexico with the street protests.

 

"I am not going to break, I am not going to fold," the Harvard-educated former energy minister said in a speech to trade union groups on Tuesday. "I believe in the force of law, in the force of the peaceful over the force of the violent."

 

As Calderon left the meeting, a small group of PRD supporters hurled insults at him and banged on his car.

 

Lopez Obrador later declined to criticize the protesters, saying, "I don't condemn it. I condemn electoral fraud."

 

An opinion poll released on Tuesday showed about 56 percent of Mexicans think the election was clean but 35 percent believe there was fraud.

 

Lopez Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City with a long history of leading protests, insisted he would not back down.

 

"When I defend a just cause, even if I am alone, I don't give up," he said.

 

(Additional reporting by Monica Medel)

 

 

 

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No you Human you are absolutely wrong. WE WANT JUSTICE

 

Look up the word in the dictionary. You might learn something.

[Guest BlingBling]

A public outcry in Ohio has forced the state to delay its plans to destroy the ballots from the contested 2004 Presidential elections. Allegations of fraud and disenfranchisement in the state continue to cause people to question the results which declared Bush the winner by a 130,000 vote margin.

 

Ohio State Senator Jeff Jacobson asked Blackwell in July 2003 to disqualify Diebold Election Systems' bid to supply voting machines for the state, after security problems were discovered in its software, but was refused. Blackwell had ordered Diebold touch screen voting machines, reversing an earlier decision by the state to purchase only optical scan voting machines which, unlike the touch screen devices, would leave a "paper trail" for recount purposes. The controversy was inflamed the next month when Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, sent a fund-raising letter to Ohio Republicans, stating that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Although he clarified his statement as merely a poor choice of words, critics of Diebold and/or the Republican party interpreted this as at minimum an indication of a conflict of interest, at worst implying that those newly purchased electronic voting machines which did not leave any verifiable paper trail represented a risk to the fair counting of ballots.

 

On April 4, 2006, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Blackwell "owned stock [83 shares, down from 178 shares purchased in January 2005] in Diebold, a voting-machine [and ATM] manufacturer, at the same time his office negotiated a deal" with the company. After discovering the stock ownership, Blackwell promptly sold the shares at a loss. He attributed the purchase to an unidentified financial manager at Credit Suisse First Boston who he said had, without his knowledge, violated his instructions to avoid potential conflict of interest.

 

When Cuyahoga county's primary was held on May 2, 2006, officials ordered the hand-counting of more than 18,000 paper ballots after Diebold's new optical scan machines produced inconsistent tabulations, leaving several local races in limbo for days and eventually resulting in a reversal of the outcome of one race for state representative. Blackwell ordered an investigation by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections; Ohio Democrats demanded that Blackwell, due to his prior role in acquiring the Diebold equipment as well as his status as the Republican gubernatorial candidate in this election, recuse himself from the investigation due to conflicts of interest, but Blackwell has not done so.

 

On January 6, 2005, representatives from the 50 American states met to certify the electoral votes for president and vice president. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones raised an objection to Ohio's votes, on the grounds that they were not "regularly given". This was the first objection to an entire state's votes since 1877, and resulted in separate debates and votes on the objection in both Houses. (A similar objection occurred in 2001, with Rep. Maxine Waters challenging Florida's votes, but in that instance no Senator joined the objection, so it could not be legally recognised.)

 

See CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE H121

 

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/ge...21&position=all

 

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/News/NewsList.aspx