Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Saturday, June 10

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

Campaign Finance Reform
Clean Elections Now



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 new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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.



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




Yesterday's ERD on the problems encountered during this week's primaries:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=432756&mesg_id=432756

Article published Jun 10, 2006
Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae spend big to gain Congress' favor

By Faith Bremner
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — While Congress debated legislation that would rein in mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, lobbyists for one of the companies bragged about keeping one committee chairman “on the sidelines” and buying “unparalleled access” to another, according to documents obtained by Gannett News Service under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents, together with a report released last month by two agencies that regulate Freddie and Fannie, suggest why Congress has been slow to tighten laws that would protect taxpayers from their trillion-dollar debts. Congress has debated legislation for nearly seven years.

>snip

In their annual performance evaluations, Freddie Mac's lobbyists bragged to their bosses about their successes in fighting reform legislation and other bills they deemed threatening to their mission.

Among the accomplishments they cited:

* Securing “unparalleled access” to Oxley and his committee members. In four fundraising events, lobbyists raised $189,500 for Oxley alone.

>snip

Keeping former Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm, R-Texas, “on the sidelines” while his committee considered legislation to give more teeth to Fannie and Freddie regulators.

Freddie Mac lobbyists held a fundraising dinner for Gramm that raised $45,000 on the day the senator's committee held a hearing on the bill. Gramm, who now works for a banking and financial services group in New York, was out of the country and unavailable for comment, his spokeswoman Michelle Creeden said.

>more

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060610/LIFESTYLE06/606100318/1046

No Tolls on the Internet
Saturday, June 10, 2006
By Lawrence Lessig and Robert W. McChesney Special to The Washington Post

Congress is about to cast a historic vote on the future of the Internet. It will decide whether the Internet remains a free and open technology fostering innovation, economic growth and democratic communication, or instead becomes the property of cable and phone companies that can put toll booths at every on-ramp and exit on the information superhighway.

>snip

Now Congress faces a legislative decision. Will we reinstate net neutrality and keep the Internet free? Or will we let it die at the hands of network owners itching to become content gatekeepers? The implications of permanently losing network neutrality could not be more serious. The current legislation, backed by companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, would allow the firms to create different tiers of online service. They would be able to sell access to the express lane to deep-pocketed corporations and relegate everyone else to the digital equivalent of a winding dirt road. Worse still, these gatekeepers would determine who gets premium treatment and who doesn’t.

>snip

Without net neutrality, the Internet would start to look like cable TV. A handful of massive companies would control access and distribution of content, deciding what you get to see and how much it costs. Major industries such as health care, finance, retailing and gambling would face huge tariffs for fast, secure Internet use — all subject to discriminatory and exclusive dealmaking with telephone and cable giants.

>snip

The smell of windfall profits is in the air in Washington. The phone companies are pulling out all the stops to legislate themselves monopoly power. They’re spending tens of millions of dollars on inside-the-Beltway print, radio and TV ads; high-priced lobbyists; coin-operated think tanks; and fake grass-roots operations with such Orwellian names as Hands Off the Internet and NetCompetition.org.

>more

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=290906&Category=14

Take Action Page

Media and Democracy

Tell Congress to Vote NO on COPE!

The absurdly named Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE) would place control of the Internet in the hands of a few powerful corporations, end consumer protections against abuses by cable companies and expand the digital divide by allowing telecom giants to discriminate against rural, minority and low-income neighborhoods. Tell Congress to stop this dangerous bill in its tracks!

Think the Internet Will Always be Open?

You think the Internet will always be the great freewheeling information superhighway you've grown to love? Well, think again. Media giants want to privatize our Internet. Now it's your turn to tell the telecom and business leaders what you think!

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=189958

June 10, 2006

Independent Spending Tarnishes Golden State Politics

By Ned Wigglesworth
TheRestofUs.org

Campaign spending by independent expenditure committees for and against candidates in the run-up to Tuesday's California primary was massive. IE committees, which are not subject to Prop 34's contribution limits, cannot coordinate in any fashion with candidate campaigns or their spending is treated as a campaign contribution subject to limits.

In addition to the much-discussed $10,000,000 ad campaign on behalf of Phil Angelides by the Tsakopoulos clan, IE committees spent tens of millions of dollars across the state on legislative and statewide office races, often propping up or attacking candidates in Democratic races on either side of the Business/Labor divide.

Much of the spending came from committees who took contributions far exceeding the limits on contributions to candidates. For example, Angelo Tsakopoulos contributed $6,130,000 to his pro-Angelides committee, far above the $22,300/election limits on contributions to Angelides' official candidate committee (his daughter Eleni chipped in another $2.5 million). Leaders for an Effective Government, an IE committee which spent nearly half a million bucks supporting AD 12 candidate Fiona Ma and opposing her opponent Janet Reilly, took in $50,000 from a realtors' PAC this year, far more than the $5,000 limit on PAC contributions to candidate committees. The California Alliance for Progress and Education, which spent $2 million supporting mostly business Dems in Senate races, took $400,000 from the dentists PAC and $500,000 from the realtors.


>big snip

Electoral influence is very nearly a zero sum game. As wealthy interests gain more influence, the public's power and voice in government diminishes accordingly. This undermines the quality of representation in government, with the corresponding erosion of public interest in elections and government and the problems which attend such disinterest.

>more

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/06/independent_spe.html

Globe trotting pols good, bad, ugly
By Boston Herald editorial staff
Saturday, June 10, 2006

As if voters weren’t angry enough at Congress right now for its apparent inability or unwillingness to get anything done (at least anything that doesn’t reek of pork), now comes a new report on congressional travel.
Knowing elected officials are traipsing around the globe on somebody else’s dime always grates on their constituents, but even more so when gasoline is over $3 a gallon and a trip to the Cape is looking like a really big deal.
Now if the truth be known, the study of disclosure forms filed between January 2000 and June 2005 by the Center for Public Integrity put the Massachusetts delegation in about the middle of the pack of well-traveled lawmakers. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton) led that local list with $126,000 worth of trips. But many of those were for speeches to gay rights or college groups. And, yes, there is a big difference between delivering a commencement address and delivering a 20-minute talk at some plush resort followed by several days of golf on the tab of a private sponsor.
During the 5 years scrutinized by the center, members of Congress and their aides took some 23,000 privately-financed trips valued at $50 million. And why are we not surprised that topping the list of travelers is the office of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who officially resigned yesterday? DeLay and his aides accepted about a half-million dollars in travel during the period studied. DeLay has been indicted on state charges of campaign finance violations and two of his former congressional aides have already pleaded guilty to federal influence peddling charges.

>more

http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=142947

Show me the money

By TERRY L. STAWAR
newsroom@newsandtribune.com

>intro snip

This may, however, turnout to be an instructive campaign with national significance. Inflammatory billboards and provocative phone calls to voters have already characterized this ongoing contest. In the last campaign when I saw billboards featuring Hill’s abortion position and more recently when I received phone calls asking if I knew about contributions to Sodrel’s campaign from Tom Delay’s organizations, I wondered who was paying for all this stuff. As the Jack Abramoff scandal still resonates, campaign finance reform may still have an ounce of life still in it.

To probe a little deeper into the issue of campaign finance in the 9th district, I consulted the political moneyline.com Web site www.politicalmoneyline.com /cgi-win/x_candidate.exe?DoFn=&sYR =2006). The New York Times has called this the “Granddaddy of all independent campaign Web sites.”

Looking at the campaign contributions that have been reported from Jan. 1, 2005 to April 12, 2006, Congressman Sodrel has collected approximately $1.28 million in campaign contributions to Mr. Hill’s $795,773. This is a massive 69 percent lead in campaign contributions for the incumbent during this period.

But where does this all this money come from. The two major sources of contributions are political action committees (PAC’s) and individual contributions. Political action committees are generally groups associated with some organization, business, industry, or ideological position and generally come from out of district. Some of the PACs are considered to be “single issue” PACs and are looking to get legislative support for some hot button issue like abortion, gun control, or gay rights. Individual contributions usually originate closer to home, but also may come from people out of the district.

>more

http://www.news-tribune.net/opinion/local_story_160174822.html?keyword=topstory

Tougher 'pay to play' ban backed
Friday, June 9, 2006

By OSHRAT CARMIEL
STAFF WRITER

A bipartisan group of concerned citizens and officeholders presented Bergen County officials this week with a proposal aimed at severing what the group sees as a clear link between campaign contributions and the awarding of county contracts.

The resolution, designed to reform the practice widely known as "pay-to-play," would bar those doing business with the county, and their relatives, from making campaign contributions to candidates or political parties during the term of their business contract.

It also calls for a one-year waiting period between making a political contribution of more than $300 and getting a county contract.

>snip

The proposal is part of a statewide effort by the Citizens' Campaign, a government accountability group, to reform government contracting practices.

>more

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk1JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2OTQ1NzcyJnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==

The scandal remains the same

By John Fairbanks

posted June 9, 2006

As you read this, Rep. Tom DeLay and his staff are busy clearing out his office in preparation for his scheduled resignation from Congress.

>snip

Perhaps among all those files and memos that will be leaving Room 242 of the Cannon House Office Building will be DeLay’s famous ledger, which The Washington Post described this way in a 1995 story:

“The Texas Congressman was standing at his desk that afternoon, examining a document that listed the amounts and percentages of money that the 400 largest political action committees had contributed to Republicans and Democrats over the last two years. Those who gave heavily to the GOP were labeled ‘Friendly,’ the others ‘Unfriendly.’

“‘See, you’re in the book,’ DeLay said to his visitor, leafing through the list. At first the lobbyist was not sure where his group stood, but DeLay helped clear up his confusion. By the time the lobbyist left the congressman’s office, he knew that to be a friend of the Republican leadership his group would have to give the party a lot more money.”

>snip

DeLay may be gone, but the machinery and the mission it was built to accomplish are still in place, and so-called reform legislation, tepid though it is, is unlikely to pass this year. Why? Because there is much more at stake than money.

We are not talking about a run-of-the-mill cash-for-influence operation. DeLay’s goals were much higher and more dangerous to democracy. He and his circle of cohorts in and out of Congress were working to build a one-party political system in the United States. In addition to monkeying with the electoral process in Texas (and Ohio, if the new Rolling Stone article by Robert Kennedy, Jr., is accurate), they bullied K Street lobbying firms into hiring Republicans over Democrats, turning the largely bipartisan lobbying houses into Republican fortresses. DeLay personally dispatched a group of GOP Hill staffers to disrupt the vote count in Florida in 2000, an event now immortalized as “the Brooks Brothers riot.” Inside Congress, they bent or ignored legislative rules to move their agenda, twisted the arms of any of the troops who hesitated to follow their orders, and handed out harsh penalties to those who weren’t persuaded by pressure.

>more

http://www.vermontguardian.com/commentary/062006/DeLayScandal.shtml

Press Release


Humboldt County, CA Passes Measure Limiting Corporate Political Power

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
www.GP.org

Thursday, June 8, 2006

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org

Humboldt County, California, voters pass ballot initiative repealing corporate 'personhood'
Green candidates nominated in California, endorsed in Minnesota

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Voters in Humboldt County, California, passed Measure T, an innovative ballot initiative repealing the legal status of corporations as 'persons', limiting corporate influence on politics, on Tuesday, July 6.

Green Party activists led the effort to pass Measure T; the party and its candidates already refuse contributions from corporations.

"This is more than an issue of campaign finance reform -- it's a major step in the movement to bring real democracy to our political system," said Forrest Hill, Green candidate for California Secretary of State <http://www.voteforrest.org>. "Measure T is a model for other towns, cities, counties, and states to restore the original purpose of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was to ensure equal protection under the law to human beings, not to corporations, which are artificial legal creations."

For more on Measure T, visit
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2006_06_01.shtm> (Green Party release, June 1)
http://www.votelocalcontrol.org (Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights: Yes on Measure T)
and
http://www.duhc.org (Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County)

>more Green Party Election News

http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2006_06_08.shtml

where is Humboldt county? I think I want to move there.

Former DeLay staffer racked up $85,000 in travel in 26 months
06/08/2006 @ 2:04 pm
Filed by Robert Brodsky - Center or Public Integrity

Republished by permission of the Center for Public Integrity. (Raw Story)

As chief of staff to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Susan Hirschmann spent months away from Capitol Hill, visiting exotic international locales while conferring with heads of state and staying at oceanside resorts — most of the time with her lobbyist husband in tow.

The travel wasn't cheap, but it cost her hardly a dime.

>snip

And along the way, she also might have violated House ethics rules:

* News media reported that travel for her husband on a May and June 2000 trip to Great Britain was paid for by Jack Abramoff, an apparent violation of the rule that bars lobbyists from sponsoring travel for members of Congress and their spouses.
* A document related to the same trip shows that Hirschmann extended her travel past the maximum time allowed by rules.
* On a 2001 trip to South Korea, she and her husband traveled at the expense of a group registered as a foreign agent, an apparent violation of the rule that bars members of Congress from accepting travel from foreign agents.
* On seven occasions she filed her disclosure forms after the 30-day post-trip deadline.

>snip

But those excursions pale in comparison with the couple's subsequent travel.

>much more

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Former_DeLay_staffer_racked_up_85000_0608.html

Thursday, June 8, 2006
Thinking It Through by Dr. Richard Reeb

Clearly, candidates for public office in California have a major challenge to arouse voters' interest in their campaigns. Tuesday's primary election had one of the lowest turnouts of eligible California voters ever, 34 percent. The lack of excitement, or perhaps too much "negativity" in the Democratic primary for governor, was frequently mentioned as the cause. After reviewing some of the election results, I will examine other causes.

>large snip

Tuesday's low turnout state wide reflects a 30-year trend downward. According to the Field Poll, there was a high state voter turnout of slightly more than 70 percent in the presidential election of 1976, but a steady drop thereafter to the mid 30s by the gubernatorial election of 1986 and a slight rise over 50 percent in the presidential election of 2000. A number of factors that have contributed to this trend are worth mentioning.

* The media. The Fourth Estate has consistently reduced election coverage to sound bite, horse race, inside story coverage and everything else except what matters to those who are involved and genuinely interested. One result has been indiscriminate public cynicism against all the "rascals." Media have also contributed to the notion that politics is a spectator sport to be followed, commented upon and criticized, but less actually participated in.

* Campaign finance reform. Closely related to the first, the attempt to reduce the influence of money in politics has instead diverted it to nonparty organizations (with fewer limits on fund raising and spending) and to costly media advertising, thereby decreasing the incentive to rely upon traditional precinct work which energizes voters while it energizes the base. The latter contributed to George W. Bush's success in the "red" states, though not California, of course.

>more

http://www.desertdispatch.com/2006/114977649993096.html

Posted on Thu, Jun. 08, 2006


Political conventional wisdom, in the end, seems wise after all

By Ruth Marcus

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith died this year, but he left behind the conventional wisdom. Galbraith coined the phrase in 1958 to denote those comfortable ideas ``which are esteemed at any time for their acceptability.''

Coincidentally, in the weeks after Galbraith's death, I came across assaults on two pillars of the conventional political wisdom: that negative attack ads are bad and that disclosure of campaign finance information is good. Neither argument is ultimately convincing, but both serve as provocative warnings against the complacent repetition of accepted verities.

>snip

Bauer's case in point involves 527s, the independent groups that drew attention in 2004, when financier George Soros lavished $24 million on efforts to oust George W. Bush, and when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth helped defeat John F. Kerry. Perhaps disclosure in those cases produced the cynicism that Bauer laments. But it can't be that the political system would have been better off if such spending had been cloaked in secrecy, as was the case before Congress required reporting in 2000.

In the case of 527s, Bauer correctly argues, those disclosure rules only presaged demands for additional regulation; Congress is now considering legislation that would require these groups to abide by the same campaign finance rules as other players.

This is where Bauer and I part company: Congress was right when it moved to end unlimited ``soft money'' donations to political parties, and it would be wise -- now that such activity has shifted to 527s -- to act there as well. But the fact that some disclosure rules precede substantive regulation doesn't mean that all such reporting requirements do, or should, lead to more. In some cases, sunlight is sufficient.

>one more

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/14768406.htm

Voters cheated in primaries
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 06/10/06

This week's primary election was almost a non-event, with 7 percent of the state's registered voters taking part. In Monmouth County, turnout was only 5.9 percent.

But don't blame the electorate. Most of the races were uncontested. Party leaders have rigged the system to discourage primary fights. Open competition is seen as destructive. The goal is to minimize internal discord and save the campaign funds for the general election. That may benefit the parties, but it cheats the electorate. Democracy is the loser when campaigns are devoid of discussion about issues and how candidates would address them.

>snip

This lack of competition buttresses the argument for extending public financing of candidates in the state's "clean elections" program to the primary election. Challengers would have money to get their message out and force the party favorites to respond. They might even win. The electorate was better informed when seven Republicans sought the gubernatorial nomination last June. It wasn't so with the Senate race this year.

To compensate, voters and good-government groups must make sure Menendez and Kean speak to the issues important to New Jersey voters. Canned speeches and sound bites won't do. Neither has run for statewide office before, so they should be even more visible and responsive to residents' concerns. Campaigns should be an ongoing dialogue between the candidates and the public. That was absent from the primary; the public should insist on it for the general election.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060610/OPINION/606100332/1029/POLITICS

How Clean Money, Clean Elections
Campaign Reform Works

The Clean Money, Clean Elections (CMCE) approach is designed to provide a clear alternative to the current system of raising and spending largely special-interest money to finance election campaigns. It allows qualified candidates to run for public office without compromising their independence since they won't have to ask for money from those with a vested interest in public policy. The system is completely voluntary and candidates who do not wish to participate are able to raise and spend private money for their campaigns, as they do today.

Qualification -- Candidates first must meet ballot access requirements, and then must meet the eligibility threshold for Clean Money funding. Most CMCE proposals require candidates to collect, during a pre-defined qualifying period, a prescribed number of signatures and $5 qualifying contributions from registered voters in their state or district. To cover minor costs during the qualifying period, candidates are permitted to raise a limited amount of seed money from private sources in amounts not exceeding $100 per contributor.

Primary funding -- Candidates who meet CMCE requirements and agree not to raise or spend private money during the primary and general election campaign periods receive a set amount of money from the Clean Money fund.

General election funding -- Candidates who win their party primaries and qualifying independent candidates who agree to the voluntary restrictions receive a set amount of general election funding from the Clean Elections, Clean Money fund.

Non-participating candidates and independent expenditures -- In order to maintain a financially level playing field, Clean Money, Clean Elections candidates who are outspent by privately financed opponents, or targeted by independent expenditures, are entitled to a limited amount of matching funds.

http://www.publicampaign.org/congress/howitworks.htm

Much more information at this site:

Clean Money, Clean Elections

A new kind of politics is taking root in America called Clean Money, Clean Elections (CMCE) campaign finance reform. CMCE reduces the influence of special interest money and provides a level playing field by offering qualified candidates a limited and equal amount of public funds. It's a bold, new experiment in campaign finance reform, seeking to restore democracy and the principle of one person, one vote.

If you're looking for real solutions to clean up the campaign finance mess in this country, you've come to the right place. We can show you what's wrong with the system and how you can help fix it. Please browse the site and dig into the information.

http://www.publicampaign.org/

Find Your State

Clean Money, Clean Elections In the States!
The success of Clean Money/Clean Elections in Maine, Vermont, Arizona, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and North Carolina has given greater energy and focus to campaign finance reform efforts in many states, including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. Click on your state to find contacts, and see how you can help fight for Clean Money, Clean Elections campaign finance reform.

http://www.publicampaign.org/states/index.htm

Get Local!
Federal campaign contributions by state.

These profiles can show you who's making the big political contributions in your state, as well as where the money's coming from (by city, by zip code, and graphically with our "money maps"). You'll also find links to a money profile of your Senator and representative, with a detailed look at where their campaign warchest came from.

You can also enter a zip code to find out who's making political donations in your area, which candidates your neighbors are supporting, and more:

http://www.opensecrets.org/states/index.asp

This is really a fascinating site if you are interested in campaign finance. There is much detailed information about where the money comes from, how much, etc.

Top politicians lead the PACs
By Deirdre Shesgreenand By Jaimi Dowdell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/29/2006

WASHINGTON

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond took a tropical getaway this month to the Florida Keys. There, he and a group of deep-pocketed donors dined, socialized and went fishing at a lavish lodge and spa.

Bond, R-Mo., isn't up for re-election until 2010, and he finished his last race with hefty reserves - nearly $1 million - in his campaign account.

>snip

Set up separately from regular re-election accounts, leadership PACs are an increasingly popular tool politicians use to rake in extra campaign dollars that they then dole out to their colleagues - usually the party's most vulnerable incumbents or top challengers.

Critics say the accounts are a way for elected officials to get around campaign finance limits and wring yet more money out of special interests. In the process, critics contend, the PACs give lawmakers an extra political fund to dip into for travel, consultants and other items that fuel their own ambitions.

"They . . . are commonplace and have become the modern-day version of the
old-fashioned slush fund," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a campaign reform group that advocates banning the leadership accounts. "Often leadership PACs involve very substantive funds' being spent in ways other than giving money directly to candidates."

>more

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/B232AB92824A38A98625715F006F908F?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22dowdell%22

Testimony of Chellie Pingree, President, Common Cause
Before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
Possible changes to House Rules governing gifts of travel
June 7, 2006

Chairman Hastings, Ranking Member Berman and members of the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct, thank you for the opportunity to testify before this committee as it considers possible changes to House rules governing gifts of travel from private sources.

The goal of any changes you recommend to existing travel rules should be to prevent the kinds of abuses that have come to light as a result of the investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It is clear that Mr. Abramoff
supplied numerous members of the House with things of value, including trips.

Mr. Abramoff sponsored trips for members to the famous St. Andrews golf course in Scotland. Not only were these trips organized and paid for by a lobbyist, they were in large part recreational in nature. I am sure that all of you are aware of these stories, as I am sure you are also aware that these are violations of existing House rules.
– 2 –
Common Cause believes the first change that needs to occur is enforcement of the rules that already exist. There are some specific rules changes I will get to in a moment, but the biggest challenge facing this Committee is the prevailing sense here and around the country that no one cares about ethical standards in Washington and that there is no oversight, enforcement or punishment for bad behavior. It is no surprise public approval of Congress stood at 22 percent as of April, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

>more

PDF file:

http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/ETHICS_COMMITTEE_CHELLIE_6-7-06.PDF

Elections

Tell Your Friends to Lobby for a Paper Trail

Tell your friends to call their Representative today and urge them to support a bill for a voter-verified paper ballot (HR550), which has been introduced by Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ). The Holt bill sets a high standard for integrity and security, while acknowledging the need for accessibility. Its passage would go a long way to make our election system more secure and give voters confidence in their vote.


Give 550,000 Americans in D.C. Voting Rights

The DC Voting Rights Act will be considered by the Committee for Government Reform this Thursday. This bill, H.R. 5388, DC Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act, is a fair and politically viable way of correcting an injustice that has existed for over 200 years by giving the citizens of the District of Columbia voting representation in the House.

Tell Congress We Want Meaningful Election Reform

It's time for Congress to step up to the plate and fix the broken system. Voters must be able to trust that their votes will be counted and that the election will be fair, open to all qualified citizens, and auditable. We must be able to feel confident that machine manufacturers and election officials answer to no interests except those of the voters.

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=189958

Public Financing

What is public financing? (direct link at page)

Common Cause strongly supports public financing of elections. It is a proven way to give voters more control over government, make politicians accountable to their voters rather than their campaign contributors, and level the playing field by giving all citizens a fair shot at getting elected.

Common Cause has been a leader in pushing for public financing of campaigns for more than 30 years. We led the successful fight for presidential public financing in 1974, and we are working to improve the system. We are also leading a long-term effort to pass public financing for congressional races.

In the states, Common Cause chapters have worked for the passage of groundbreaking public financing systems in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Florida, and Michigan. Since then, we have worked to defend and strengthen these laws and enact new public financing systems in other states and cities such as New York and Los Angeles. We are also helping to defend against constant attacks on clean elections laws in Maine and Arizona, which we helped to establish.

Our most recent victories were in Connecticut (December 2005) and Albuquerque (October 2005). We are actively involved in campaigns in California, Maryland, New Mexico, and Tennessee.

>more links and info

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=202895

CLEAN ELECTIONS WORKS!

THE POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE 2002 ELECTION IS CLEAR!

Clean Elections Candidates Won State's Top Offices:

· Clean Elections candidates won seven out of nine statewide offices: Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Corporation Commissioner (2-yr seat), Corporation Commissioner (4-yr seat), Mine Inspector.

· 36% of Arizona's legislature is comprised of Clean Elections elected officials free of ties to special interests and big money donors.

· Nearly 1/2 of the House of Representatives (27 of 60 members) were elected via Clean Elections.

· Five Arizona State Senators were elected via Clean Elections.

· 41% of all state offices (statewide and legislative) are now held by Clean Elections candidates.

Increased Voter Participation:

· Number of donations to political campaigns more than tripled thanks to Clean Elections, from 30,000 private donations in 1998 to more than 90,000 $5 Clean Elections qualifying contributions in 2002.

Increased Voter Turnout:

· Turnout increased by more than 10% statewide over 1998 levels.

Increased Voter Choice:

· 24% increase in number of candidates in primary, from 199 in 1998 to 247 in 2002.

· 13% increase in total number of candidates in general election, from 150 in 1998 to 170 in 2002.

· 64% increase in number of candidates for statewide office in general election, from 14 in 1998 to 23 in 2002.

· The number of minority candidates in 2002 was triple the number in 1998.

Increased Competition:

· 50% increase in contested Senate races, up from 10 in 1998 to 21 in 2002.

Decreased Influence of Big-Money-Special-Interests:

· In 1998, 79% of all races were decided by money-- the candidates with the largest campaign war chests won. In 2002 only 2% of all races were affected by disparate funding. In all other races, funding was comparable for all candidates.

Provided Adequate Funding for Candidates:

· 139 candidates participated and 39 won their races. At least one candidate won despite having less than half the funding of his opponent (Tully vs. May).

Non-partisan: Republicans and Democrats Benefited!

· Of the 39 clean candidates elected, 22 were Republicans and 17 Democrats.

Strongly Supported by the Public:

· 64% of Arizonans support public funding for campaigns (Arizona Republic poll, Oct., 2002) and 66% specifically support Clean Elections (KAET poll, June, 2002).

· 80% of Arizonans believe that contributions influence votes on public policy (Behavior Research Center poll, December, 2001).


The above Word Doc. was copied from this link, which is a Wisconsin Campaign Finance Reform site:
http://www.wi-cfr.org/
It's about half way down the page embedded in this sentence:
"See how well 100% public financing of campaigns has worked in Maine and Arizona here."

Edit Board Memo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2006

TO: Editorial Board Members and Interested Parties
FROM: Public Campaign
RE: Campaign Finance Scandals Major Theme in Tuesday’s Elections

As Washington continues to reel from seemingly endless revelations of lawmakers trading legislative favors for campaign contributions, candidates in key races Tuesday are facing tough questions about money and politics scandals. Scandal has been a particularly strong theme in the special election in CA-50 to replace former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, sentenced in March to over eight years in federal prison for accepting bribes from defense contractors. Scandal also has dogged Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), both of whom have connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

CA-50, Special Election to replace Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R), Republican Brian Bilbray v. Democrat Francine Busby. School board member Busby has hit her opponent Bilbray, a former congressman, for his ties to the scandal-ridden GOP. Bilbray served three terms in Congress before losing reelection in 2000, after which he went to work as a lobbyist. Among his clients were a group of investors who had contributed to his campaign and lobbied him successfully to back a Mexico water pumping scheme. When he left Congress, these same investors hired him to lobby on their behalf, according to a recent report by the Project on Government Oversight.

CA-11, primary, Rep. Richard Pombo v. former Rep. Paul “Pete” McCloskey Jr. Pombo faces questions about his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The lobbyist and his clients contributed $36,000 to Pombo, according to The Washington Post. Seven thousand dollars came directly from Abramoff and his wife, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, also has gotten hit for doing the bidding of mining, logging, and energy companies. Over the course of his congressional career, he has collected $1.3 million from agribusiness and $462,000 from energy interests for his campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

MT-Senate, primary, Sen. Conrad Burns v. Bob Keenan. Burns took more campaign money from Abramoff and his lobbying clients than anyone else in Congress, according to The Washington Post, collecting $146,590. Burns, who serves as chair of the Interior Subcommittee on Appropriations, has been forced to answer repeated questions about his directing $3 million to the wealthy Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, an Abramoff client, for a program to fix old schools. In April, the tribe said it would return the federal grant. Emails from a Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigation of Abramoff’s dealings showed that the lobbyist was trying to get Burns to call Interior Secretary Gale Norton to support the grant, according to Congresspedia.

>more

http://www.publicampaign.org/pressroom/pressreleases/release2006/release_06_06_06.htm

Governor's race may set a record
Gabrieli, others likely to spur spending pace

By Frank Phillips and Brian Mooney, Globe Staff | June 10, 2006

Christopher F. Gabrieli, a wealthy venture capitalist who is self-financing most of his campaign for governor, set a $15.36 million spending cap for his Democratic primary campaign yesterday, rejecting a plea from the party chairman to agree to a much lower spending level for the three-way race.

While Gabrieli insisted that he has no intention of spending up to his declared limit, campaign finance specialists say election spending for the entire gubernatorial campaign probably will surpass the record total of $30.6 million set by six campaigns in 2002.

Gabrieli was required by state election laws to declare the limit of his expenditures yesterday, but he downplayed the importance of the figure, saying he chose the number because he received 15.36 percent of the delegates' vote at last week's Democratic Party convention. He faces Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and corporate lawyer Deval L. Patrick in the Sept. 19 Democratic primary.

``It's an arbitrary procedure in our view," Gabrieli said after filing the statement with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. ``We decided to pick a number that has been pretty lucky in my life lately."

>more

http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/articles/2006/06/10/governors_race_may_set_a_record/

Curry election results not certified
By Marlena Hartz : Freedom Newspapers
marlena_hartz@link.freedom.com
Created on: June 9, 2006 - 10:44PM - 8215

The results of Tuesday’s Curry County primary were not certified in a special meeting of the county commission Friday, yet county officials remain confident in the election results, according to officials.

Deputy County Clerk Coni Jo Lyman recommended the county commission not certify the results.

>snip

According to Lyman, several state mandates caused hiccups in election tabulation.

The county had not used the state-mandated Internet-based software prior to this election. In addition, procedures for the tabulation of absentee votes and provisional ballots are more rigorous, Lyman said.

Also, Lyman said she discovered a data entry mistake in the tabulation of votes for probate candidate Kevin Duncan. An incorrect number, off by 10 votes, was entered into the tabulation system, Lyman said.

>more


http://www.pntonline.com/engine.pl?station=portales&template=storyfull.html&id=8215

Saturday, June 10, 2006
Glitch-free election reported by clerk

19 percent of eligible voters cast ballots

Jane Moorman News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jmoorman@news-bulletin.com

The process of finalizing the primary elections results was started Friday as the Valencia County Commission convened as the canvassing board and directed the county's election bureau to review the race totals, precinct by precinct.

>snip

Commissioner Georgia Otero-Kirkham asked why it took so long to compile the results on Tuesday. "With such a low turn-out, why did it take until 1:30 a.m. to complete the process?" she said.

Lawrence Kaneshiro, election bureau director, said that the optical scanning equipment that was used was not able to interface electronically with the tallying software, so the absentee results had to be entered by hand.

>snip

"We had a problem with static electricity at Katherine Gallegos Elementary School. When people walked across the rubberized gym floor, some would gave a static shock when they touched the voting machine. This froze the machines sometimes, but the numbers were never lost," Gallegos said.

"We also lost electricity for about 15 minutes at the Los Chavez polling place where Precincts 7, 19 and 37 were voting. But each machine has a battery that it operates from so none of the machines were down," she said.

>more

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/62158-06-10-06.html

Runoff set for Tuesday's primary runoff election
By MICHELE PAGE

World Staff Writer

June 13 is the day for run-offs in the 2006 preferential primary elections and the ballots have many state races listed but few local ones.

For lieutenant governor, Sen. Tim Wooldridge and Bill Halter will be vying for the votes, and in the attorney general race, Rep. Dustin McDaniel and attorney Paul Suskie will square off.

>snip

The Phillips County Election Commission hopes that by utilizing only paper ballots the fiasco of the primary election on May 23 will be avoided. Computer glitches delayed the final tally several days.

http://www.helena-arkansas.com/articles/2006/06/09/news/news2.txt

Arkansas News Bureau

Saturday, Jun 10, 2006

By Doug Thompson

The Democrats have a three-way runoff that ends Tuesday, and every registered voter who didn't cast a ballot in the Republican primary on May 23 can vote.

It doesn't matter if you didn't vote in the primary, nor if you voted with a non-partisan ballot in the judicial elections. Anybody can decide they're a Democrat by Tuesday except for those who cast Republican votes this year.

The runoffs are all state races. There are no Washington or Benton county runoffs, Democratic or Republican.

I'm not making any endorsements. All this column will do is give a simple, quick run-down of who's running for what, and measure up each of the prospective nominees with their Republican opponents in the fall. I'll throw in some comment on local legislative races too.

The lieutenant governor's race is between Bill Halter of North Little Rock and state Sen. Tim Wooldridge of Paragould. The winner will face state Sen. Jim Holt, R-Springdale, in November.

http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/06/10/DougThompson/336568.html

Arkansas Democrat Gazette

BY DANIEL NASAW
Posted on Saturday, June 10, 2006

Eight Arkansas counties won’t be using touch-screen voting machines in Tuesday’s runoff election, officials said.

Those counties, which participated in the $ 15 million equipment purchase from Election Systems & Software, will be using paper ballots or lever voting machines — violating a new state law requiring touch-screen machines at every polling place.

Officials in those counties reached Friday said they decided to forgo the $ 3, 000 iVotronic touch-screen machines either because the equipment vendor never delivered functional ballot programming or because election workers lacked confidence that the Omaha, Neb.-based company could provide the equipment on time.

“We’re using strictly paper,” said Jean McCanliss, chairman of the Lonoke County Election Commission. “We did not figure that ES&S had enough time to get everything ready like they were supposed to.”

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/157171/

WMTV ABC Channel 8

POSTED: 6:49 am EDT June 10, 2006

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Maine's top election official has issued a final reminder encouraging voters to take part in Tuesday's primary election.
Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said this will be the first election for 17-year-olds to cast ballots in Maine. A new state law allows 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, if they turn 18 before the general election in November.

http://www.wmtw.com/politics/9351117/detail.html

Lawrence-Journal

The Associated Press

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Wichita — Wichita lawyer Robert Beattie, the author of a book on the BTK killer, has filed for secretary of state as a Democrat.

“Kansas needs an independent, professional secretary of state focused on protecting the voting process,” Beattie said in a statement after filing Friday.

Beattie, 50, said he plans to increase voter registration and turnout by modernizing the state’s chief election office.

“My priority as secretary of state will be to guarantee all Kansas voters have access to the ballot and to guarantee a reliable election,” he said.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/jun/10/btk_book_author_files_secretary_state/

Sun-Sentinel

Brent Kallestad
The Associated Press
Posted June 9 2006, 6:35 PM EDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--A proposed rule change that would prohibit counties from testing their voting equipment without state approval will be argued Monday, a measure that could create some discomfort among Florida's independently elected elections supervisors.

One of the more outspoken of Florida's 67 supervisors, Leon County's Ion Sancho, conducted a test last year where elections office workers hacked into a Diebold optical-scan voting system in an effort to show that it could be made to produce false results.

And it turned out, Sancho's experiment exposed problems that prompted the state as well as California to develop better security safeguards.

But now state officials want more influence in any future tests on voting equipment, hoping to require the supervisors to submit a plan to the Division of Elections and notify the manufacturer beforehand.

``Hutzpah is the word that comes to mind,'' Sancho said Friday. ``The state should not be so concerned about protecting the voting companies from embarrassment when their equipment has security vulnerabilities.''

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0610votingchecks,0,1588.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Optical scanners are answer

June 10, 2006
The principal duty of election officials is:
A) to maintain public confidence in the electoral process; or

B) to adopt technologies that make their jobs easier.

If you answered "A" - and we trust most hardworking election officials would, too - you'll understand why we suspect the era of touchscreen voting devices may be remarkably short-lived.

Earlier this month, Colorado became the latest state to be sued for approving various touchscreen machines that plaintiffs say could easily be compromised by hackers and may not accurately record votes. The growing legion of touchscreen critics has attracted some impressive computer experts on its side, too.

We frankly aren't nearly as worried as these critics over the reliability and security of touchscreen devices; Denver has used such machines for more than a decade, for example, with few problems. (Oddly, Denver is not even a target of the suit; the Colorado litigation covers nine other counties and the secretary of state.)

But the public clearly has qualms about the touchscreens that aren't likely to vanish. And if that indeed is the case, then the logical alternative for counties saddled with them is an optical scanning system.

Unfortunately, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 - passed in the wake of the 2000 election fiasco - is pushing election officials into adoption of the very touchscreen technology that is under siege. That's because the law requires each polling place to offer at least one machine that will let disabled voters cast ballots without assistance. Touchscreen devices are the best way to satisfy that mandate.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_4763964,00.html

The Arizona Republic

Voter sign-up rules assailed
Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 10, 2006 12:00 AM
Attorneys from several Latino, tribal and election watchdog groups asked a federal judge Friday to suspend the state's law requiring Arizonans prove they are citizens before they can register to vote.

Citizens - including many Latinos, American Indians or soldiers living overseas - could lose their right to vote in the 2006 elections, even though they properly filled out a federal mail-in voter registration card, because they lack a driver's license or an easily obtainable copy of their birth certificate, the groups told U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver.

The federal registration cards require voters to check a box swearing, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens. But since the 2004 passage of Proposition 200, Arizona election officials have in a handful of cases rejected the federal registration cards if the applicants cannot show proof of citizenship.

The advocacy groups want Silver to issue a temporary restraining order that would allow the federal cards to be used without further proof of citizenship in upcoming voter registration drives. Ultimately, they want Silver to declare Prop 200's voter-identification requirement unconstitutional because it adds new restrictions to voters' rights outlined in federal law.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0610prop200suit0610.html

By RANDY HOGAN
World Managing Editor

Former West Helena Mayor Johnny Weaver has filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Charlie Daniels alleging discrimination in the arbitrary elimination of signatures from his petition seeking to get on the ballot as a candidate for state representative. Weaver's attorney, Jimmie Wilson, filed the suit in Phillips County Circuit Court on May 31.

On April 28, Weaver filed his petition to qualify as an independent candidate for District 13 state representative. Daniels, having the final review of the petition, rejected it as having insufficient number of signatures of qualified voters.

District 13 covers only Phillips County.

According to state law, the number of required signatures to qualify a candidate for the House seat candidacy is 234. The suit states that Weaver submitted a petition bearing the signatures of 291 eligible voters.

The suit alleges that Daniels used an "arbitrary capricious" method of approving the signatures on Weaver's petition. The suit claims that Daniels presented only 214 qualified signatures on the petition as valid.

http://www.helena-arkansas.com/articles/2006/06/09/news/news1.txt

In the suit, Weaver alleges that the actions of Daniels violates the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993 and the 1965 Federal Voters Right Act. It further claims that Daniels' actions were "predicated upon Constitutional consideration of race."

ABC Channel 7, Denver
UPDATED: 7:15 pm MDT June 9, 2006

Mullins Says Issue Of Validating Signatures Can Be Sorted Out Later

DENVER -- A Denver District Court judge ruled Friday afternoon that the secretary of state should include Marc Holtzman on the Aug. 8 primary ballot as a Republican candidate for governor.
Judge Michael Mullins said the courts can sort out the other issues later and determine whether Holtzman had enough valid ballot signatures to get on the ballot.
Mullins said that Holtzman would suffer irreparable harm if he were kept off the ballot now and it was later determined that those votes should be counted. He said if courts rule that Holtzman did not get enough signatures, votes cast in his favor would not be counted.
"This is a victory for good government, open access, and all the people of Colorado," Holtzman said. "I want to personally thank everyone who has extended words of encouragement and support during this process."

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/politics/9350232/detail.html

Eufaula Tribune

By: Patrick Johnston - Tribune managing editor
06/09/2006

Voting was delayed Tuesday morning at Mount Andrew after two voting machines were reportedly stolen from the community's polling location.

Barbour County Sheriff Marshall Williams Jr. said the cases for the two machines-including one machine for handicapped voters-were still at the polling location. However, the actual machines that tabulate the vote totals were taken.

"That is a federal offense," Williams said Tuesday afternoon. "I've contacted the FBI, and they've contacted the attorney general's office. We'll file the reports on it."

Williams said the county had extra machines available and was able to send those machines to Mount Andrew early Tuesday morning. He said there was little delay in voting.

"They're getting to vote and everything is going well," Williams said.

Williams added they have no leads on who might have stolen the machines. At least one of the machines was valued at $6,000.

Redistricting concerns

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16765055&BRD=2235&PAG=461&dept_id=439676&rfi=6

Eufaula Tribune
06/09/2006

Nearly 700 votes failed to be tallied in Barbour County due to a technical malfunction involving the vote at the Clayton courthouse precinct, according to an Associated Press report. However, the votes will not affect any local or statewide race.

Circuit Clerk David Nix told AP those votes did not automatically add into the county's total when the machines ran the tally from the primary election Tuesday night. Nix said a technician will arrive Monday to repair the equipment and determine how it malfunctioned. He said the county's totals would be tabulated then.

Nix said election officials have gone over printed material displaying the votes and that the 690 uncounted ones would not affect the outcome of any local or state race.

Machines found

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16768267&BRD=2235&PAG=461&dept_id=439676&rfi=6

Article Last Updated: 06/10/2006 06:57:56 AM PDT

Dublin-based CEO says company not to blame
By Ben Semmes, STAFF WRITER

DUBLIN — It is primary season and Jack Gerbel, president and CEO of Dublin-based UniLect Corporation, just finished meeting with election officials in Charlottesville, Va.
"(The preliminary election) is being held all over the state this coming Tuesday," said Gerbel, reached on his cell phone. "We've got about 24 counties (in the state), about one out of every four."
Gerbel is still enthusiastic about his Patriot touch-screenvoting system despite a setback nearly two years ago when his company's machines were linked to problems in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
"Our first customers were in 1995 and we have had only two problems since then," said Gerbel, a 40-year veteran of the election equipment industry.
The first, and probably most damaging, occurred in Carteret County, N.C., Nov. 2. One of
UniLect's Patriot control units, which serves as the hub for a number of electronic touch-screen ballot machines, failed to record 4,532 of the 7,538 ballots cast in a precinct. To make matters worse, the state race for agriculture commissioner was separated by about 2,600 votes and state-law prohibited a partial re-vote.

http://insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_3922059

Columbia Daily Tribune

Related story on Page 3A By JACOB LUECKE
Published Saturday, June 10, 2006
of the Tribune’s staff

Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren is looking for some tech-savvy help for the Aug. 8 primary election just in case the county’s new touch-screens blink to error screens and its paper trails become paper jams.

The county will roll out its new touch-screen voting booths and electronic ballot scanners for the first time in August. The new technology and the potential for glitches have Noren concerned that her pool of generally elderly election judges might not have the skills to troubleshoot if problems arise.

"Democracy is not going to survive if all we do is leave this up to senior citizens to run," said Noren, who once calculated that the average poll worker was 73. "Everybody needs to participate in this process. We need people with some technical skills."

Election supervisor Karl Miller said he is computer literate, but he knows some election judges are nervous about the change to new technology.

"While I’d probably qualify as a geezer, being 71 years old, there are those who have been dealing with the old system all their lives and are apprehensive," he said.

Poll worker Liz Schmidt, 75, said she uses a computer for e-mail, but said she’s not an effective troubleshooter. "If it doesn’t work, there’s nothing I can do to fix it," she said. "Then I call my kids."

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/Jun/20060610News002.asp

Techahapi News

By News Staff Report
Posted by editor - Sat Jun 10, 2006 08:33:40 PDT

Tehachapi resident Don Maben will continue in the office of 2nd district supervisor for four more years.

Maben said he looks forward to fulfilling established goals, especially the Tehachapi Area Specific Plan, a joint plan between the county and city dealing with future area development.

Due to the slow processing of the election results, he is also committed to having an investigation of the voting machines in Kern County.

“I want to see it fixed before the November election,” he said.

http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/viewarticle.php?cat_id=383&post=16958

the narcosphere

By Benjamin Melançon,
Posted on Sat Jun 10th, 2006 at 10:03:19 AM EST
Imagine being in a big street fight with smoky exhaust blowing in your face. That's what we face in every struggle for justice and freedom in a country and a world filled with the messages and images of a media so intent on showing us things that don't matter, starving us of truth, that they end up showing us the evil of banality.
Given that the government, directed by a few out to benefit at the expense of the many, is often the street gang we're up against, perhaps tear gas is a better metaphor than smoke. I guess it would be hard to bring every person into a road construction site or a protest being beat down by thugs on public payroll, but trying to walk in an area where heavy things can hit you and grey smoke is in your eyes and obscuring your view is the best way I can think of to have people get the metaphor, and to face the harm done by bad media head-on.

Yeah, I'm asking you to give to the Fund for Authentic Journalism. But my renewed thoughts on the media machine that seeks to disorient and disperse almost every move people make for more power over our lives comes from, finally, a famous name explaining how the 2004 U.S. election was stolen.


Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House. BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/6/10/10319/6204

California Progress Report

June 10, 2006.

By Kathay Feng
Executive Director, California Common Cause
When we think of rigged elections, people usually think of stuffed ballot boxes or, more recently, stuffed electronic voting machines. But rigging an election is much easier than that. All you have to do is manipulate the district lines to change a district from a swing district to one that is tailor made for you and gives you a 15-point partisan advantage and you can be assured that no scandal or ethics violation can keep you from losing. Redistricting rigging helped Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham win his seat by a whopping 22% over his Democratic opponent in 2002.
When Cunningham was forced to resign in 2005, convicted of receiving multi-million dollar bribes, gifts and prostitutes from lobbyists and defense contractors, he left his North San Diego County seat open. The ensuing race in June narrowed to one between former congressman and lobbyist Brian Bilbray and relative newcomer school board member Francine Busby. Despite the furor caused by the flagrant ethics scandals that brought Cunningham down, San Diegans in congressional district 50 had little choice really.
District 50 has been redistricted to ensure that no Democrat could win it. Political pundits (Democrat and Republican) predicted the best Francine Busby could do was to win 45% of the votes and come close to Bilbray. And in fact, that’s what she got.

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/06/rigged_election.html

Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Day Three has begun here in Las Vegas, and what better what to kick off the festivities than with a morning keynote address from Governor Howard Dean, the great DNC Chairman?

Before we heard from Dean, we were treated with an appearance by Bush impersonator James Adomian, who did the State of the Union impression on YouTube last January.

NDN leader Simon Rosenberg followed, introducing Dean to the crowd.

Here's a rush transcript of most of Dean's remarks, courtesy of thereisnospoon.

snip

QUESTION: In your mind, how real is the danger of paperless voting?

ANSWER: Our position is that we should not have black box voting. Optical scan with a paper ballot is the only legitimate form of voting. It is very clear that you cannot trust machines—not even ones with a voter verified paper trail. What you need is a system that we have in Vermont, where you use paper ballot and optical scan, with all the ballots you can count. We have the Democratic Lawyers’ Council, and we fight ID laws that are trying to return us to Jim Crow, we fight against the sort of suppression tactics that Blackwell did in Ohio. These machines cannot be relied on, and the American people know that. We’re going to bring paper trail voting back, just as Governor Bill Richardson did in New Mexico.

QUESTION: I think that all roads lead to publicly financed elections. Is there some way to make this a sexier subject?

ANSWER: It’s not a very sexy subject. We need to get dirty money out of politics—and not just the Tom Delay type dirty money. The truth is that most politicians don’t just take a check and say I’ll vote for you. But it’s also perception: most people believe that politicians do that. The problem is like the voting machines: it’s not just the real problem, it’s also that there’s a reason to suspect. We need public financing of campaigns, and it’s already started in several states in the SouthWest.

http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2006/06/live-from-las-vegas-dean-addresses.html

Roanoke.com

Paul Edward Bevins, a former police officer for the city of Norton, pleaded guilty to perjury and embezzlement, as well as two unrelated charges.
By Laurence Hammack
981-3239

For bickering with the mayor of Appalachia over his water bill, Franklin Thacker had his home raided by police officers in a trumped-up search for drugs, prosecutors say.

One of the officers who, according to prosecutors, acted at Mayor Ben Cooper's command that night pleaded guilty this week. It was the first conviction to result from an ongoing investigation into fraud and corruption in Appalachia.

snip

Cooper and 13 others are charged in a scheme that included buying votes with beer, cigarettes and even pork rinds. Other votes were fraudulently cast with absentee ballots stolen from the mail, according to a grand jury indictment.

As police delved into an election fraud probe that yielded about 1,000 charges -- two alleged crimes for every vote cast in the May 4, 2004, town election -- a possible motive emerged: Victory at the polls enabled the winners to run a corrupt police force, McAfee said.

A grand jury in March charged two Appalachia police officers along with Cooper, two town employees, a second candidate for the council and six of his family members. Cooper has since resigned as mayor and acting town manager, but remains a member of the council.

"It kind of mushroomed from there," McAfee said of the investigation, which has since taken another turn. Investigators now believe gambling houses on the town's Main Street paid off some council members in exchange for assurances that police would not interfere in their illegal business.

snip

Also this week, three more people were charged in the growing election fraud case: an election worker accused of lying to a special grand jury, a convicted felon charged with voting in the election and Rex Bush.

Bush is the brother of former Appalachia Mayor Gary Bush, who lost a re-election bid in 2004.

Rex Bush is accused of making false statements on the absentee ballot application for another man and then fraudulently casting the vote himself -- a charge that until now had only been leveled against Cooper and his supporters.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-68874

Modesto Bee

Downloading results twice behind miscount; error fixed by final tally
By TIM MORAN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: June 9, 2006, 12:43:42 AM PDT

Errors in downloading election results Tuesday night caused the reported vote totals for several Stanislaus County candidates to be higher with 75 percent of the precincts reporting than the final total.
The unofficial results posted on the Stanislaus County clerk's office Web site Tuesday night showed vote totals for supervisor candidates declining by as many as 410 votes between the 75 percent report and the final.

All the results are unofficial until a canvass takes place and the vote count is certified by the county Board of Supervisors, which is expected to take place June 27.

Each of the eight supervisor candidates appeared to lose votes between the partial count and the full count Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

No votes were lost, county Clerk-Recorder Lee Lundrigan said Wednesday — but some votes were double counted in the 75 percent posting, released about midnight.

The problem involved an election worker downloading results from a computer card twice, Lundrigan said.

The worker clicked a mouse to download the precinct results, waited a few seconds, and seeing nothing happening on the screen, clicked again, Lundrigan said. That caused the computer to double count the results.

The first time the problem happened, 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lundrigan had her staff take the computer count back to zero and start the count over.

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12289833p-13025652c.html

ABC KFSN

A ballot computer and a thousand blank Fresno County ballots that were reported missing turned up at the home of a Sanger man on Wednesday.

The items were stolen from the home of an election worker in Southeast Fresno early Tuesday morning.
Sonny James Avalos has been arrested for grand theft of voting equipment.

The ballots were voided so they couldn't be used in Tuesday's election.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=4248773

Sorry, I have to comment: why is an election worker sent home with ballots in the first place?

Tucson Citizen

Published: 06.10.2006

The Associated Press

PHOENIX - A federal judge is considering whether to order Arizona election officials to accept federal mail-in voter registration forms without requiring additional proof of citizenship as mandated under a 2004 state law approved by voters.

Tribal, Hispanic and other groups recently sued the state to challenge Proposition 200 provisions that require would-be voters to submit proof of citizenship when registering and proof of identity when casting ballots at polling places.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/15430.php

The Arizona Republic

Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 10, 2006 12:00 AM
Attorneys from several Latino, tribal and election watchdog groups asked a federal judge Friday to suspend the state's law requiring Arizonans prove they are citizens before they can register to vote.

Citizens - including many Latinos, American Indians or soldiers living overseas - could lose their right to vote in the 2006 elections, even though they properly filled out a federal mail-in voter registration card, because they lack a driver's license or an easily obtainable copy of their birth certificate, the groups told U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver.

The federal registration cards require voters to check a box swearing, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens. But since the 2004 passage of Proposition 200, Arizona election officials have in a handful of cases rejected the federal registration cards if the applicants cannot show proof of citizenship.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0610prop200suit0610.html

Colts Neck's Schatzle now leads by six votes, not five

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 06/10/06

BY BOB JORDAN
FREEHOLD BUREAU
COLTS NECK — The margin of victory in the Republican primary for Township Committee has widened.

Both of the provisional ballots cast in Tuesday's primary have been accepted and counted by county election officials, pushing James C. Schatzle's win over Carol Barnett for the final GOP nomination to a margin of six votes. Schatzle had led by five votes based on the original results.

Each of the provisional voters picked two candidates. Schatzle was named on both ballots, while Barnett and incumbent Benjamin T. Forrester were named on one each.

According to the New Jersey Voter Rights Handbook, voters must use provisional ballots if their voter registration is not complete — such as missing a signature — in the poll book, or if the county election registration commissioner was not notified of an address change.

Those who cast provisional ballots have two days to provide identification materials to the county commissioner or the vote will not be tallied, according to the handbook.

Hedra Siskle, administrator for the Monmouth County Board of Elections, said Friday that no provisional ballots in Colts Neck were disallowed.

The updated tally puts Forester and running mate Schatzle at 702 and 606 votes respectively. Barnett picked up 600.

Barnett could not be reached for comment Friday. She had said she is considering asking for a recount and also will ask that officials look into polling "irregularities."

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060610/NEWS01/606100381/1004/NEWS01

muskogeephoenix.com

By Liz McMahan
Phoenix Staff Writer

State Rep. John Auffet, D-Stilwell, has filed a petition with the state Election Board contesting the candidacy of one of the two opponents he drew in his race for re-election.

Auffet protested Michael Greenwood, who filed as an independent for the House District 86 post.

He alleges that Greenwood, 38, of Colcord has not been registered as an independent voter for the required length of time.

The deadline for changing party registration was Dec. 4, 2005. Auffet claims Adair County voter registration records show Greenwood did not change his registration until Jan. 6, 2006.

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060610/NEWS01/60610006/1002

Toledo Balde

Article published Saturday, June 10, 2006

Democrat has $2.6 million, compared with $1.3 million for Blackwell

By JIM TANKERSLEY and JIM PROVANCE
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

Ted Strickland leads at the polls and at the bank.

Mr. Strickland, a Democratic congressman from Lisbon, reported $2.6 million on hand in his run for governor yesterday, double the $1.3 million reported by his GOP opponent, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.
Mr. Blackwell narrowly outraised Mr. Strickland from mid-April to June and has banked $6.6 million for the overall campaign, to Mr. Strickland's $6.1 million. But a final spending blitz in his May 2 primary win over Attorney General Jim Petro, including nearly $700,000 in television advertising, forced Mr. Blackwell to refill his account quickly.
A Blackwell spokesman, Carlo LoParo, declared yesterday's totals "really good" and evidence of "a united Republican Party rallying around Ken Blackwell."
Several recent polls, including the Ohio Poll, show Mr. Strickland beating Mr. Blackwell. A Strickland spokesman, Keith Dailey, said the fund-raising numbers showed unusual momentum for a Democratic candidate. "I'm not sure why Mr. Blackwell's folks would be happy about having only half of what we have," he said.
Mr. Strickland's top donors included nearly $130,000 from labor unions and $10,000 from Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. Mr. Blackwell's totals included $130,000 from members of the Lindner family in Cincinnati.
The Ohio Republican Party gave Mr. Blackwell $530,000, and it sent $15,000 on May 31 to Citizens for Tax Reform, a group that had worked with Mr. Blackwell on a ballot measure to limit state spending; Mr. Blackwell and legislative leaders agreed to back away from that measure, in favor of a legislative-enacted cap, late last month.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060610/NEWS09/606100360

Fort-Wayne.com

JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - With Tuesday's Republican and Democratic primaries looming, "I don't know" and "I don't care" appear to be more on voters' lips than any candidate's name.

Barbara Roebuck said she would spend her weekend sorting out who wins her vote in the Democratic gubernatorial primary matching Columbia lawyer Dennis Aughtry, Clearwater state Sen. Tommy Moore and Florence Mayor Frank Willis.

"I'm not sure if I know their agenda. I'm not sure if their agenda is going to help me," Roebuck said outside a pharmacy here. While Roebuck said she has seen ads that Moore and Willis are running on television, "for me, it's a facade," she said. She puts more stock in what friends and neighbors think.

In South Carolina's primaries, not many of the state's 2.4 million registered voters cast a ballot. The average turnout in statewide primaries since 1996 is 8 percent for Democrats and nearly 15 percent for Republicans.

The state Election Commission said Friday afternoon that 24,910 ballots had been returned. That's on par with the 32,626 absentee votes cast in 2002 primaries for statewide races.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/14789140.htm

at the precincts

The Free-Lance- Star

Voters in Tuesday's Democratic primary will have the option of voting electronically.


Date published: 6/10/2006


By JESSICA SCHONBERG

Fredericksburg area voters can leave their pens and pencils behind when they go to the polls for the Democratic primary Tuesday.

Voters now will have the option of voting on recently purchased electronic voting machines.

The machines were purchased to comply with the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which also says that every precinct in the country must have at least one disability-accessible voting system by the first election in 2006.

The systems feature touch screens and audio headsets.

Fredericksburg purchased seven Election Systems & Software AutoMark voting systems at a cost of $25,000--all covered by the federal government.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/062006/06102006/197558

The Union.com

Still 260 in Nevada City race uncounted
The Union staff
June 10, 2006

County Clerk-Recorder Kathleen Smith reported Friday that 4,576 absentee voter ballots were received by mail and delivered to the polls on Election Day.

Smith's Election Office is one day into the 28-day canvass period following the election, during which all absent voter ballots received on Election Day, provisional ballots cast, and ballots that require duplication must be processed and tabulated.

Smith reported through a media release Friday that 344 voters who claimed to be properly registered in Nevada County, but whose qualifications could not be immediately established, did cast a provisional ballot. Nearly 1,200 ballots were damaged and/or voted in ink and could not be tabulated by the county's optical scan equipment.

In Nevada City, there are a total of 260 remaining ballots to be counted.

Nevada City council challenger Barbara Coffman leads incumbent Kerry Arnett by four votes - 420 to 416 - to fill the second spot in a four-candidate race in which the top two become councilmembers. If Coffman's lead holds, both Arnett and fellow incumbent Conley Weaver will be unseated from the council. Challenger Sheila Stein has garnered the most votes in that race with 484.

http://www.theunion.com/article/20060610/NEWS/106100179

software?)

Clovis News Journal

By Marlena Hartz: Freedom Newspapers
marlena_hartz@link.freedom.com
Created on: June 9, 2006 - 10:41PM - 20397

The results of Tuesday’s Curry County primary were not certified in a special meeting of the county commission Friday, yet county officials remain confident in the election results, according to officials.

Deputy County Clerk Coni Jo Lyman recommended the county commission not certify the results.

“I don’t think any races will change,” she said in a telephone interview with the Clovis News Journal.

“I just don’t feel confident. I want to make sure I am 100-percent right.”

According to Lyman, several state mandates caused hiccups in election tabulation.
The county had not used the state-mandated Internet-based software prior to this election. In addition, procedures for the tabulation of absentee votes and provisional ballots are more rigorous, Lyman said.

Also, Lyman said she discovered a data entry mistake in the tabulation of votes for probate candidate Kevin Duncan. An incorrect number, off by 10 votes, was entered into the tabulation system, Lyman said.

Some of the Tuesday races were close. Just 40 votes separate winner Duncan from his opponent Michael Wells, according to unofficial results posted on the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Web site, www.sos.state.nm.us.

snip

Marquez also verified there were “unexpected glitches” with the new Internet-based software.

http://cnjonline.com/engine.pl?station=clovis&template=storyfull.html&id=20397

Wow, can I steal 5 or 10 of these;) for monday and tuesday?

GREAT JOB!!! BOTH OF YOU SEARCH A HOLICS! ANONYMOUS