C-SPAN to Cover Baker-Hearn Commission Hearing on April 18th

[Wilms]

Note: C-SPAN to Cover Baker-Hearn Commission Hearing on April 18th

COMMISSION ON FEDERAL ELECTION REFORM

April 18, 2005

American University
Washington, DC

Hearing Schedule

10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Panel I: Elections and HAVA: Current Status

Hon. Gracia Hillman, Chair, U.S. Election Assistance Commission
Ms. Chellie Pingree, President, Common Cause
Ms. Kay J. Maxwell, President, League of Women Voters
Prof. Henry Brady, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of California , Berkeley

11:30 - 11:45 a.m. Break

11:45 a.m. - 12:45 pm Panel II: Access and Integrity

Ms. Barbara Arnwine, Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
Mr. John Fund, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Member and Author of Stealing Elections
Ms. Colleen McAndrews, Partner, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltchak
Mr. Arturo Vargas, Executive Director, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials

12:45 - 1:30 p.m. Break

1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Panel III: Voting Technology and Election Administration

Mr. Jim Dickson, Vice President for Governmental Affairs, American Association of People with Disabilities
Prof. David Dill, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University, and Founder of VerifiedVoting.org
Hon. Ron Thornburgh, Secretary of State, State of Kansas
Prof. Richard L. Hasen, William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola Law School , and Co-Editor of Election Law Journal

2:30 - 4:15 p.m. Break

4:15 - 4:45 p.m. Press Statement and Questions and Answers

Interested members of the public are invited to view this via closed-circuit at Kay Spiritual Center. Seating is first-come, first-served.


more + links to panelists' bio's:

http://www.american.edu/ia/cfer/sched0418.htm

[tommcintyre]

1. Post the REAL biographies of the panelists to this post:

Thanks for posting this. I want to see it "gavel to gavel".

However, I thought it would be useful if we had more accurate info on who these people really are, and what their REAL agendas are.

I'll start out with a couple (one good, one bad). Tomorrow (if someone hasn't already done it), I'll transfer the background info from: The Raw Story and BradBlog articles and Andy's post.

If it gets too "messy" here, maybe it can be compiled into one organized thread?

Here goes:

[tommcintyre]

2. John Fund: Evaluation - VERY BAD

He is a "hit man" on the level as the fake group (ACVR) who created the 31 page report that focused on alleged Democratic "vote" fraud. Expect him to try to turn the focus away from election fraud, and the REAL needed solutions (paper ballots, mandatory random audits, open source code, etc.).
-------------

Sunday October 31, 2004
John Fund's book on voter fraud is a fraud

In his recent book Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Democracy (Encounter Books, September 2004), Wall Street Journal op-ed columnist and author John Fund uses distortions and half-truths to impugn Democrats who, he states in his introduction, "figure prominently in the vast majority of examples of election fraud described in this book."

Fund has made numerous media appearances to promote his book. In October alone, he appeared on FOX News Channel's Special Report with Brit Hume, CNN Daybreak, twice on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, twice on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and on National Public Radio's The Tavis Smiley Show. Numerous conservative columnists have promoted the book, including George F. Will, Michelle Malkin, Jonah Goldberg, and R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

Following are some of the false or unfounded claims in their order of appearance in Stealing Elections.

CLAIM: "Every single recount of the votes in Florida determined that George W. Bush had won the state's twenty-five electoral votes and therefore the presidency." (p. 28)
<more>
http://mediamatters.org/items/200411010001

You want more?:puke:

The following is from this site:
"Blogs For Bush is online community and group blog covering the presidency of George W. Bush and organizing bloggers who support the President."
-------------
Interview With John Fund, author of "Stealing Elections"

<Interviewer's intro: "As Election Day gets closer, more and more stories of voter fraud surface – and the more concerned I personally get. ... Which party is more prone to fraud? What really happened in Florida back in 2000? What could be done to fix it?"
<snip>
JOHN FUND: "...it's Democrats who have a greater opportunity to cheat. They control political machines in both inner cities and rural areas where a few dollars to buy votes is often greatly appreciated."
<snip>
JOHN FUND: ""Make it easy to vote, but tough to cheat." I think Democrats often hold the unconstrained vision, and Republicans focus more on the Rule of Law."
<snip>
INTERVIEWER: "What I ultimately took from that chapter was that if any candidate benefited from voter fraud in Florida it was Al Gore...
<snip>
JOHN FUND: <A common myth is:> "...a great many people were listed falsely as felons and denied the right to vote. The number was almost certainly less than 200. On the other hand, investigations by the Palm Beach Post and Miami Herald found that 5,600 felons who should not have been allowed to vote did. Another scandal involves charges that voters were intimidated and blocked from casting ballots. Investigations by both the Justice Department and the Democratic Attorney General of Florida turned up no evidence of this."
http://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/archives/002620.html

Had enough?

Conclusion: This is clearly "deja vue all over again". The fact that John Fund is even on this panel demonstrates the malicious intent of Bushco to attempt to rewrite history once again - to turn our strength (overwhelming evidence that they cheated) against us.

The only way this commission can possibly be redeemed is if Carter, Daschle, and other friendlies GRILL THE SOB!

[FreedomAngel82]

14. Disgusting

The thing with that argument that democrats were stealing why didn't they make it to where Kerry won? Duh.

[marions ghost]

17. Thanks for your info on John Fund

he came across as advocating "transparency" today so I was a little confused...I see we should not give him any benefit of the doubt.
Another self-serving skunk.

[tommcintyre]

18. Yes... I was just thinking (after seeing him) he is dangerous...

because he comes across much more benign than he is.

[tommcintyre]

5. David Dill: Evaluation - Pretty Good

A strong and vocal proponent of what is needed for fair and accurate elections.
Here is a list of the topics he covered in the documentary, Invisible ballots:

History of voting systems
The Help America Vote Act
Problems with electronic voting
Errors & glitches in real elections
Fraud and tampering
Conflicts of interest
Should voting be privatized?
Honesty, oversight, transparency
The need for skilled poll workers
The voter-verified paper ballot
http://www.invisibleballots.com/iballot.cfm?x=info
------------
The reason I only gave him a "pretty good" rating is I don't expect him to say the election was stolen:

<excerpt from:>
Nov. 10, 2004 Was the election stolen?
The system is clearly broken. But there is no evidence that Bush won because of voter fraud.

"Given my current state of knowledge, it seems unlikely there will be enough bogus votes found to reverse the election," says David Dill, the Stanford computer scientist who's been leading the charge against paperless electronic voting machines for the past two years. At the same time, though, Dill adds that he's making "a highly qualified statement," and that he does not want to "declare the election over and done with." Odd things did occur last Tuesday, and even if the results aren't overturned, "it's extremely important that we seize this opportunity to review everything we can about this election," Dill says. "Having people comb through these results will give us more confidence in the legitimacy of this election. We shouldn't gain that confidence by resorting to the head-in-the-sand method we usually employ in the United States."
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/11/10/voting/print.html

He IS the founder of verifiedvoting.org and they do have the March 31st analysis archived there http://verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5689 (plus other damning articles: "The Sun Revolves Around the Earth and George W. Bush Won the Election in Ohio", etc.). But I couldn't find ANY other more current statement by Dill, than the one above, regarding whether or not the election was stolen. Who knows, maybe he'll surprise EVERYONE - wouldn't that be nice.

I remain hopeful, but I won't be surprised if EVERYONE (Dems included), "tow the party-line", "Bush really won", yada,yada, yada.

But ya never know... that's why I'm watching it gavel t gavel. ;)

G'night.

[KoKo]

3. When did the name change from Baker/Carter to Baker/Hearne?

Is Jimmy Carter involved with this at all? Last I heard he said Carter Center wasn't and now the Commission has been renamed.

[tommcintyre]

6. Naw.. I think Wilms is being sarcastic

Jimmy's still there:


http://www.american.edu/ia/cfer/

[MelissaB]

4. Nominated for people in other forums to see.

[keepthemhonest]

7. nominated greatest

and yes wondering about the name of the commission as well.
Last I knew Jimmy carter was involved but the Carter Center was not direstly involved only because Jimmy Cater was.

Thanks for the info Tom on some of these people.It would be interesting to know what their agendas are.

[Wilms]

8. kick n/t

[berniew1]

9. People with access need to submit real documentation to the hearing

how does one submit evidence??

I suggest submiting
http://www.flcv.com/ohiosum.html
http://www.flcv.com/fla04EAS.html
http://www.flcv.com/summary.html

and backup
(which is referenced by URLs)

[FreedomAngel82]

15. Another good site

is http://www.votecobb.org and also http://www.bradblog.com They have some good evidance as well.

[KaliTracy]

10. thanks for this information. Important that others not in this forum see

it -- Nominated.

[LatePeriduct]

11. Its getting hot in here...

Kicked

:popcorn:

[Wilms]

12. .

[merh]

13. kick

:kick:

[Wilms]

16. Schedule from cspan.org

10:30 AM EDT -1:00 (est.) LIVE
Commission on Federal Election Reform

Federal Election Reform

ID: 186346 - 04/18/2005 - 8:00 - No Sale

Chellie Pingree , Common Cause
Gracia Hillman , U.S. Election Assistance Commission
Maxwell, Kay, President, League of Women Voters

A panel discussion from the first meeting of the Commission on Federal Election Reform on the Help America Vote Act.

The beginning and end of this live program may be earlier or later than the scheduled times. Federal Election Reform



11:45 AM - 1:00 PM EDT (est.) LIVE
Commission on Federal Election Reform

Integrity of Elections

ID: 186346 - 2 - 04/18/2005 - 1:00 - No Sale

Arnwine, Barbara R., Executive Director, Lawyers Cmte. for Civil Rights under Law
Fund, John H., Columnist,

A panel discussion from the first meeting of the Commission on Federal Election Reform on the access and integrity of elections.

The beginning and end of this live program may be earlier or later than the scheduled times.

[LatePeriduct]

19. kick