Notes from Conyers Hearing - Democratic Underground

jmknapp

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Mon Dec-13-04 04:38 PM
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Notes from Conyers Hearing

Edited on Mon Dec-13-04 04:47 PM by jmknapp

I attended the Conyers hearing at City Hall, Columbus, Ohio today and want to blog a few notes while it's relatively fresh in my mind. I didn't write down a lot since I was busy taping with a camcorder, so this has to be from memory. If anyone can host a video or audio file, please let me know.

An amusing incident happened right off the bat, before the hearing started. I was talking with a friend who brought up Clint Curtis and whether his story was legit. I said that I heard that Arnebeck is giving him some credence. A lady in the seat in front of me turned around and said, "What are you saying about Clint Curtis?" I just repeated the bit about Arnebeck and said, "So maybe he's for real." She said, I can assure you he's for real," and the guy next to her turns around and sticks his hand out and says, "Hi, I'm Clint Curtis." Ha! it was a real Marshall McLuhan moment.

He seemed like a clean-cut and level headed person. I asked if he was going to testify and he said that he wasn't sure. I asked "Did you come all the way up from Florida today?" and he replied that he had, remarking on the bitter cold weather today in Columbus.

Arnebeck was there, as was Cobb, Jesse, Conyers, Waters, Nadler, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, State Sen. Miller, Fitrakis, Truitt, Bill Moss, Steve Rosenfeld, Columbus Councilwoman Tavares, Ronnie Dugger, Harvey Wasserman--left out a bunch.

Opening statements were made by Conyers and other panel members followed by a long speech from Jesse. Conyers said that this is just the beginning of hearings. Nadler said that the disenfranchisement is intentional. Many references were made to the meeting of electors happening a block away at the Statehouse, and that it was premature and unconstitutional before the recount has been completed. Jackson called the electors' votes today "provisional ballots" which elicited a snort from the crowd.

The chambers were standing room only with people spilling out into the hallway. There was a lot of applause during the speeches.

Cobb got up to speak, and my arms being tired from taping Jesse, I decided to skip taking him, as his testimony at the DC hearing was largely a commercial for the Green Party. I wish I had taped him though because this time it was substantive, and he ended with some startling allegations about Triad Corp. rigging a recount. It went something like a "technocrat" whistleblower came to Cobb and revealed that Triad employees were very worried about the recount matching the tabulated count, and to ensure this they had posted the "answers" around the counting rooms, disguised as emplyee information bulletins so as not to attract the attention of observers. That way they would just make sure that the recount matched the original count. Something like that. I'm sure someone will post a transcript.

This really got Conyers' attention, as well as that of Maxine Waters, and they set up a followup private meeting with Cobb. Cobb said he has the name of the whistleblower.

Professor Norman Robbins (professor emeritus, Case Western) presented a statistical study showing systematic voter disenfranchisement, particularly in the area of of rejected provisional ballots. In his presentation he used a graph I had sent him, which was pretty cool. Evidently, based on his team's analysis, voters were purged from the registration rolls in Cuyahoga County late this year, and thus were forced to fill out provisional ballots Nov. 2, which were then rejected for the reason "not registered." His team has identified hundreds of voters who were purged and subsequently rejected.

Arnebeck then called a surprise witness of sorts, and that was one Clint Curtis. Curtis approached the microphone and was sworn in under the penalty of perjury. Arnebeck then questioned him lawyer-like on the well-known (in these DU parts) story about his writing vote-hacking software at the behest of the Florida speaker of the House. there was a lot of followup from the panel. Nadler in particular honed in on the specifics of how the vote could be so hacked and yet leave no trace. I got this on tape if anyone cold host it. Of course, maybe Pacific or some other web entity will put it up hopefully.

Testimony was then taken from a number of activists and voters who told stories of trouble voting on election day. Most of this testimony was good, although several Larouchies weighed in, as well as a black fellow railing about the Council on Foreign Relations. OK, that's enough for the present. I'll have to review the tape to jog my memory as to what transpired.