My friend Andy Stephenson. PHOTOS

[goodboy]

This was the last time I saw him alive. He stayed with me before heading to Johns Hopkins.
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DU Meetup in Dublin Ohio - Andy was very sick, but still conducted his class on election auditing.
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Pictures from Andy's memorial in Seattle, which I was fortunate enough to perform for, thanks to the kindness and generosity of DU'ers.

William Rivers Pitt
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The band
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Some DU'ers who made it to Seattle to remember Andy
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He was a Patriot.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. Never met him in real life but he seemed like a really good dude. nt

[upi402]

2. This is so cool to see

I've heard about him and read about him, but never met him.
Thanks!

[cry baby]

3. Crying remembering those days.

Thanks for the photos.

[Raine1967]

4. ...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Thank you for your beautiful post, my dear goodboy...

He sure was a Patriot.

I was devastated when I arrived home after a trip, where I had no internet access, and found out he'd died...

I had been sure he would make it.

May he rest in peace.

We will never forget you, Andy!

[awoke_in_2003]

18. DU hasn't been the same...

without him

[elehhhhna]

6. he is darling, you are beautiful

thank you

he was a very generous man

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. What great pictures. Thank you.

[Melissa G]

8. Andy.

[Snotcicles]

9. VVPB

Voter Verified Paper Ballots

[riderinthestorm]

10. Sniff! Time to go grab some kleenex....

Truly one of DU's finest moments. Everyone really pulled together to help.

A sad K and R....

[coffeenap]

11. Thanks for this. I will always remember him.

He changed my life and my son's. A good friend for too short a time.

[eridani]

12. Thanks for the memorial photos

I was there, and he still inspires me to keep plugging away on election integrity.

[Skittles]

13. thank you so much for these photos

I contributed to a fund for Andy - he was a wonderful guy

[loose wheel]

14. Who was he?

I'm new around here, and haven't heard of him before.

[Woody Woodpecker]

17. You have to understand Andy to know Andy.

A very long history going way back to his God_N_Bush_Cheney days....

I think Kelvin Mace has described his history and the VVPB needs.

Vaya Con Dios, and you are not forgotten, my friend. My heart goes to Ted.

[awoke_in_2003]

20. He was a heavy weight...

that always had a kind word for fellow DUers, and fought tirelessly for verifiable voting (paper ballots)

[Hissyspit]

33. Original DUer and anti-election fraud activist.

Freepers interfered with his medical treatment and pretty much got him killed.

[ljm2002]

62. He was a tireless advocate for voter verified paper ballots...

...and against using proprietary machines to "count" our votes.

He became ill with pancreatic cancer. There was a DU fund drive to which many of us contributed, to raise the $50K he needed for treatment at Johns Hopkins -- the only treatment that offered some hope of survival.

When he got to JH, the funds we raised had been frozen (by Paypal, IIRC), due to some Freepers who questioned the validity of the whole thing (beats me why they were allowed to do that). So Johns Hopkins declined to go ahead with the treatment.

Eventually the money was un-frozen and he did finally get treated, but by then it was too late and he died. Of course we can't know for sure if it would have been successful in the first place, but it would have been nice if he had gotten the chance to find out.

May they rot in hell for what they did. I mean that sincerely.

[bigwillq]

15. Great photos. A great man.

K and R

[Mnemosyne]

16. ...

[Aerows]

19. He seems to be a good man

I didn't know him. I hope that when I die, there will be some DUers there, but even more, I hope to live and be there for the DUers.

[awoke_in_2003]

21. I just realized...

it has been seven years.

[progressoid]

48. Doesn't seem possible.

Seems like just yesterday.

[awoke_in_2003]

49. I was thinking that, too...

I guess times does go faster as you get older. I hope it gets even faster, because living in this country is getting unbearable.

[randome]

22. He was the first to respond to my first post back in 2001.

We had a discussion about whether or not there was a difference between a journalist and a celebrity journalist, and which category Dan Rather fit in.

Always interesting times on DU.

[tandot]

23. I can't believe it has been that long

Andy is one of those DUers I'll never forget. I still blame freepers for what happend.

I also remember Kephra and Nostamj. No one could beat Kephra with latest breaking news and Nostamj had the greatest selection of toons.

What a loss

[grasswire]

43. hey, the perps admit it now.

Shameless.

[s-cubed]

24. He stayed with me just before HUD surgery. I visited him at Johns Hopkins.

I wasn't smart enough to take a picture, so thank you.

[riverbendviewgal]

25. I never met Andy

but I remember him on DU.....so sad that he could not get the medical help he needed , all because he could no afford it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. Thank you so much for posting these!

[philly_bob]

27. Met him only once. We disagreed on some obscure point.

But the disagreement was polite and he was the soul of calm and mellowness. This was at the Nashville election reform conference.

As I understand the story, right-wing pranksters delayed his medical treatment. Let us always remember that.

[madrchsod]

28. i just wish i could forget what happened to him.

i know i should forget and move on but sometimes i just can`t forgive and forget the evil that was done to him.

andy was taken from the world before his work was done but he expected us to carry on. it certainly looks like this year we will need to do that.

[Tsiyu]

32. I feel the same way

I still have the letter he sent me and will cherish it always.

When he was about to go in for surgery I was so hopeful. Then when the freepers got a hold put on his funds and his treatment was delayed I was sure that evil always wins.

May he rest in the peace he was not afforded in this life.

[xfundy]

39. What did the freepigs do?

How is that legal?
From what I understand after reading this, they cut off his funding somehow?

And old RimJob is still living and bilking his idiot flock?

What can I do to contribute my time (it's all I have, no money anymore) to strike back?

Please DUmail me, I don't usually check back on my posts.

Somebody needs to be sent to their Hell for this. Hopefully several. I will do what I can to speak out against any Freek and get their fucking funds cut off. Hope they enjoy reaping what they've sown. Bastards.

[grasswire]

44. I don't think RimJob had anything to do with it.

It was the toxic bunch who now hang out at a place called conservativecave.com. In particular, it was one freeper w/ user name franksolich. Reportedly, his real name is Fred Grady, from Nebraska. Anyone who really wants to follow that story will find plenty on the Internet, still.

[tech3149]

55. Rule # 1 Never Forget!

All the wonderful works and thoughts of those who preceded us. The insults and crimes of those who work against us will have less meaning. I hold my love for those common spirits and contempt for their adversaries as strongly as I can. It gives me the strength to carry on.

[philly_bob]

29. Wikipedia has no entry for Andy Stephenson

Another right-wing dirty trick. Anybody know Wikipedia well-enough to get him back in? Especially the dirty tricks.

[MADem]

40. It's a trick, all right, but I dunno who did it...

He's mentioned in THIS article...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacking_Democracy

But he's the only guy without a blue link. Wassup with THAT, as the kids say?

[grasswire]

45. uh.........it was there just a couple of months ago I think

a long long annotated page. Freepers were trying to get it amended, but Ken Burch was putting up a fight.

[philly_bob]

78. Yes, at one time there was a Wikipedia page on Stephenson.

I saw it. Gone now...

[philly_bob]

81. Here's some links re dirty-tricks, including RWers crowing about it....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125124194
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4049823
http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php?topic=75121.0

I'd love to see somebody get the full story back on Wikipedia.

[mzmolly]

30. A very sweet soul

was he.

I am sorry he did not live to see a President Obama.

[midnight]

31. Andy Stephens taught me that if we spent as much time getting people to the polls as

we did counting the votes....We could have a voice in our Govt. I will always be grateful for Andy's courage and message...

[MADem]

37. I took that lesson away, too.

I generally spend election day ferrying people to the polls, now, even in the off years and even for the local elections. This last presidential contest, with the help of a van, I got over a hundred Medicare - loving seniors to the voting booths to vote for the POTUS.

I guess Andy really got 'em there--I just did the driving!

[midnight]

79. Do you know or did Andy ever mention who his inspirations were?

[MADem]

80. He might have made mention, but if he did I don't specifically recall.

We can still read his words of wisdom, on DU2.

I miss him, and I miss Kephra, too--I always started my day with Kephra!

[Obamavana]

34. Just looking at him

I want to know him...who was he?

[yewberry]

47. Andy

Andy was a DUer back in the old days when we were still learning about about voter manipulation and suppression. He was very active in work around what was happening with voting machines (in particular with right-leaning tech companies supplying elections boards with their own proprietary software, e.g. Diebold).

Andy got sick. He had pancreatic cancer, which is a very difficult cancer to treat. He didn't have medical insurance, and there was a pretty surprising effort across Dem sites (and particularly on DU) to raise money to get him treatment from the best possible doctors.

Unfortunately, there was a group of, uh, 'people' who believed that Andy was faking his illness. They spouted their vile beliefs and accusations in several locations, going as far setting up an entire website to debunk Andy's illness (scamdy.com). They essentially decided that their mission was to catch Andy in some great lie, so they effectively placed a bounty on his head, They tried to catch him out, sending people to his hospital or to his home while he was sick with cancer. Worst of all, they contacted Paypal, the site through which all of the fundraising for Andy's surgery had been raised, and claimed that it was a scam.

Paypal held the funds.
Andy's surgery was delayed.
Andy later died.

We did love him.

[Snotcicles]

56. I wish Maddow or Hartmann would do a piece about what had happened. That was a terrible time around

here. It would illustrate just how nasty/evil those people are and how long they have been that way.

[MADem]

35. Andy gave it his all. He was so young to go, too...and was subjected to so much stress at the end.

I'm glad you put this up, to remind us about how hard he worked, and how we can't let down our guard when it comes to vote stealing, voter suppression, and all those other dirty tricks the GOP pull.

[mahina]

36. What a loss.

Auwe.

Aloha e Andy, wherever you may be.

Thanks brother for posting. It's amazing that it's been seven years.

Was just thinking how DU changed when we lost Kephra too.

Aloha all. Love now.

[Aristus]

38. I took a day off once to drive up to his sandwich shop in Seattle to meet him.

He wasn't in that day. I left a note saying 'hi', and he PM'd me back. Never got to meet him face-to-face...

[denbot]

41. Thank you for the pictures, and the post.

Andy was a great voice for our democracy. If anyone needs a contrast between us and them, remember how those "christians" over at rim-job's cesspool reacted to Andy's illness..

[lonestarnot]

42. He was one of the first DUers I became attached to as an anonymous poster.

I remember being depressed for a long period after he passed away and remember examining my thoughts on being depressed for the loss of someone I had never met or heard the sound of his voice. Knew him only from what I read of him and by him here.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

46. Thank you for posting this

I met Andy on my visit to the US in 2003 at a DU get-together. Sadly my memories of him are not as clear as I'd like them to be but I do remember that he was full of passion for his beliefs and he seemed like a nice and sincere guy. I was aware of his activism, especially during the 2004 election.

What happened to him still makes me shake my head in disbelief today. I could never have imagined that people could have been so cruel and so lacking in humanity as to do what they did to him.

He was taken from us too soon. And we are the worse off for it. May he rest in peace. In his own way, he made the world a better place. Thank you to those DU'ers who helped him during his final days.

RIP Andy

[OverseaVisitor]

50. For Andy

[KaryninMiami]

51. 7 years- wow. What an amazing time that was- I still think of him often.

We were together in DC at an event - big group of us many from DU-- can't recall which event it was- Will Pitt was there- I think Patty and Senator were there too- maybe Take Back America- have a great memory of a fun dinner at a very long table. Lots of laughs and great conversation. And later that year we were all in Nashville- at the election reform conference--what a wonderful event that was- totally amazing gathering of people from all over the country. I have photos from it somewhere.

And I have these great memories of long, late night conversations with him. And the now famous story about how when they wheeled him in to surgery, he looked up at the nurse and and asked her if she had voted- and she said she had- and his next words, just before he went under with the anesthesia, were "But do you know if your vote counted?"...

I had a surgery a day after he did. In fact, the reason I could not go to Seattle was because I was still recovering. My surgery was not nearly as dangerous or terrifying as his was (pancreatic cancer is about as horrific as can be imagined as is the whipple surgery which is what is the name of the surgery Andy underwent). I knew knew when I went into the hospital was that Andy had made it through however and remember being very relieved. The day after my surgery, my cell phone rang- I was still in the hospital- and much to my shock it was ANDY- I could not believe I was hearing his voice so soon after his surgery- I remember weeping in the hospital bed upon hearing his voice but he made me laugh away the tears. He was so sweet and so loving and very very funny.

I'm sure he is smiling today that we are thinking of him- back at ya Andy! We love and miss you and are so grateful for the seeds that you planted. I also know that he is expecting that we will all keep fighting for verifiable elections and that we remember we are STILL Voting on those damn machines...

[xxqqqzme]

73. It was the electoral college

vote on January 6, 2005. I believe a congress person from Ohio rose to challenge the vote. and a lone Senator, Barbara Boxer, stood in support of the challenge. There was a demonstration the day before the vote and we gathered in front of the White House, the day of the vote, We walked to congress to hear the vote. I believe Will Pitt had a pass to be in the gallery that day. After Boxer stood in support, a group of Californians walked over to her office to thank her. I had a giant card signed by CA Democrats I was able to leave w/ Boxer's staff.

There was a gathering for lunch on Jan 5. I got to the bar early as did Andy. I got to meet and talk to him for about an hour before anyone else showed up. I saw him at the next morning but he left because he was not feeling well. But he joined the mass DU gathering that evening at the same bar. It was after I returned to CA that we all learned of nature of Andy's illness. I contributed to the fund because how could you not do any and every thing you could for such a dedicated, delightful person. I only remember all this because January 6 was my birthday.

I know there are pictures or video of Andy going through dumpsters in Ohio retrieving voter tally tapes that had not been signed off therefore not counted. Or was that the documentary I'm remembering.

[badhair77]

52. Thanks for posting this, goodboy

We must remember those who fought the good fight before us.

I was lurking in 2004. I came here to find others who were as upset about that election as I was. I will never forget the camaraderie of DUers as they spoke and raised funds for Andy. Again, we must honor those who went before and paved the way.

Thanks for the Jackson Browne video also - simple but important message.

[grantcart]

53. What a wonderful tribute to Andy

For those of us that joined after 2005 this OP and thread fills in a lot of missing points.

I also understood that he transformed DU during his illness by constantly updating DU with news updates and creating what is now LBN.

[Crunchy Frog]

60. This was before he became ill. He was a tireless poster of latest breaking news stories

and kind of set the tone for how LBN evolved, IIRC.

[graywarrior]

54. Nice

I miss Andy.

[Woody Woodpecker]

76. He'd be glad to see that duck of yours

finally freed after 8 long years.

[graywarrior]

77. He was a hoot!

I saved some of his PMs

[Cooley Hurd]

57. .

Thank you for posting this.

[JNelson6563]

58. It seems like yesterday...

I have to say this is one of the most beautiful posts I've ever seen. Thank you so much for this!

It seems with this post you are carrying on Andy's work of inspiring people. Well done.



Julie

[Crunchy Frog]

59. This is bringing up alot of memories, and I've got tears in my eyes.

And if I think about it more, my blood is going to start boiling.

I remember the incredible generosity and love this brought out, and the almost unbelievable cruelty and hatred...

[lavenderdiva]

61. Thank you for posting this wonderful tribute

Andy seemed to be such a sweet soul. I 'met' him late one night here on DU, after his diagnosis. I will always remember Andy and his brave fight through his illness, and for our voting rights.

[juajen]

63. Tears, after years have gone by, for a memorable and beloved DUer.

[emsimon33]

64. I think Andy would be disappointed that we still have voter fraud

but he may have been proud that Obamacare passed.

[stevedeshazer]

65. My Sweet Lord. It's been seven years?

Andy was an amazing human. I met him once when he was running for Secretary of State in Washington. He was at a union rally in Longview. And he was a poster here as god_bush_n_cheney .

Thanks for those pics and memories, goodboy.

[LaurenG]

66. Oh ... thanks

7 years.

[Lifelong Protester]

67. Wow! I was only a 'lurker' in 2004

and as such, probably missed out on Andy. I had never heard that heartless story of the funds being delayed by the freeper crowd. I am sickened by the level they will and would stoop too.

Rest In Peace, and of course, the best way to honor Andy is to

KEEP UP THE FIGHT!

[Little Star]

68. Thanks!

[Coexist]

69. :: sniff :::

[truedelphi]

70. Still Missing you, Andy, and Wiley50 too.

We used to say that voting activists could never rest, but it never occurred to us how EVERYONE ends up resting eventually.

Cannot imagine either of you two resting in peace. I hope you guys are having some kick ass FUN wherever it is you are.

[GreenPartyVoter]

71. kick

[SugarShack]

72. Thanks for posting.

[blm]

74. my Gbnc....my Andy....my sparring partner....my pal....my compatriot

.

[Tsiyu]

75. ....

Good to see you, though the occasion is a sad one