Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 01/21/07 - HAVA Crook Bob Ney in Jail!

[freedomfries]

Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 01/21/07 - HAVA Crook Bob Ney in Jail!

:nopity:

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.
:patriot:

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.
If you can:
:argh:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

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
:patriot:

[freedomfries]

1. Nat: Reuters: Republican crook sentenced to 30 months in prison

Republican crook sentenced to 30 months in prison

Alaska Report
Reuters
January 20, 2007

Washington, D.C. - Former Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio was sentenced on Friday to 2-1/2 years in prison for his role in the Jack Abramoff political corruption scandal that helped Democrats win control of the U.S. Congress.

Standing before the judge, a sorrowful Ney apologized to his family, friends and former constituents and said in brief remarks that he would continue "to battle the demons of addiction that are within me."

The former U.S. lawmaker had pleaded guilty to illegally accepting trips, meals, drinks, tickets to concerts and sporting events and other items worth tens of thousands of dollars in return for official acts performed for lobbyist Abramoff and his clients.

He abandoned his re-election race in August because of questions about his links to Abramoff, and is the only lawmaker convicted and sentenced in the scandal.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said that after Ney serves his time he will be on probation for two years and must perform 100 hours of community service in each of the years.

He also is required not to drink any alcohol while on probation. The judge also fined Ney $6,000.
:nopity:
http://www.alaskareport.com/reu77406.htm
HAVA the biggest crime still unpunished!

[freedomfries]

9. BradBlog: Bob Ney sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for bribery scandal

Bob Ney sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for bribery scandal

BradBlog.com
January 19, 2007
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4047

Ohio's Former U.S. Congressman, Author of Help America Vote Act, Loses Voting Privileges as Felon, Keeps $29,000 Annual Congressional Pension...

It's now just over a year to the day since we first described the now-disgraced and now-former Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) as the "Soon-to-be-Indicted Bob Ney" in our exposé connecting the dots between him, his former Chief of Staff turned Diebold's top lobbyist on Capitol Hill, David DiStefano, Jack Abramoff's Greenburg Traurig firm and the whole Help America Vote Act (HAVA) sham which Ney pushed through Congress via his crooked chairmanship of the U.S. House Administration Committee.

Back then, few had heard of him. But today, Ney was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in the federal pen after pleading guilty to "illegally accepting trips, meals, drinks, tickets to concerts and sporting events and other items worth tens of thousands of dollars in return for official acts performed for lobbyist Abramoff and his clients."

Ney's long-overdue trip up the river comes despite defense pleas for mercy and sentencing to rehab in light of their claims that it was the evil bottle that dunnit. As ever, Ney continues to avoid taking responsibility. Happily, the judge didn't buy it. Oh, well. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

As a felon, Ney will no longer be able to vote in the state of Ohio, even as America will be stuck with his disastrous and cynical HAVA legislation for years. And despite House Democrats' plans to remove pensions for convicted members, apparently the action will not be retroactive. So Ney will get to retain his $29,000 annual pension from the House. Forever. Nice work if you can get it.

Anyway, another one bites the dust. Now, about the soon-to-be-indicted George W. Bush...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4047

[mopinko]

22. i want trials, goddamn it. these f'ing pleas!!

these guys and their plea bargains are doing a great job of keeping a lid on this shit. I WANT TO SEE THESE TRAITORS IN THE DOCK, GOD DAMN IT!!!!

[Kurovski]

23. "accepting trips, meals..." etc,

maybe Abramoff can bake him a cake with a file in it?

[freedomfries]

2. Nat: AP: Former GOP Rep. Bob Ney sentenced to 2½ years in bribery scandal

Former GOP Rep. Bob Ney sentenced to 2½ years in bribery scandal

Associated Press
Boston Herald
January 20, 2007
http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=178208

WASHINGTON -- Former Republican Rep. Bob Ney was sentenced to 2½ years in prison Friday for trading political favors for golf trips, campaign donations and other gifts in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

Ney, the first congressman convicted in the federal bribery investigation involving lawmakers, their aides and Bush administration officials, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy and making false statements.

The six-term lawmaker from Heath, Ohio, who once chaired the House Administration Committee, accepted golf and gambling trips, tickets to sporting events, free meals and campaign donations arranged by Abramoff and his associates.

”You violated a host of laws that you as a congressman are sworn to enforce and uphold,” said U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who recommended that Ney serve his time at a federal prison in Morgantown, W.Va., about an hour-and-a-half drive from his birthplace in Wheeling.
http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=178208

[freedomfries]

3. Nat: LATimes Service: Lobbying Scandal: Former Rep. Ney going to prison

LOBBYING SCANDAL
Former Rep. Ney is going to prison Former Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio was sentenced to 30 months for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Los Angeles Times Service
The Miami Herald
January 20, 2007
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/elections/16504241.htm

WASHINGTON - Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, on Friday became the second former member of the House of Representatives to be sentenced to prison for his role in the lobbying scandals that helped doom the Republican's majority in Congress in November's midterm elections.

Ney, 52, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and was fined $6,000. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle ordered Ney to perform 200 hours of community service. She also recommended that Ney enter a prison alcohol rehabilitation program for an admitted drinking problem.

''You violated a host of laws that you, as a congressman, are sworn to enforce and uphold,'' Huvelle told Ney.

In brief remarks to the judge, Ney apologized to his family and constituents. ''I will continue to take full responsibility, accept the consequence and battle the demons of addiction that are within me,'' he said.

Ney pleaded guilty in October to two counts of conspiracy to commit multiple offenses involving the use of his elected office for corrupt purposes. Co-conspirators in Ney's case included lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Ney's former chief of staff and two aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, all of whom have pleaded guilty in the investigation.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/elections/16504241.htm

[freedomfries]

4. CA: SF Tech experts to study electronic voting

SF Tech experts to study electronic voting

SBC5.com
Bay City Newswire
January 20, 2007
http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2007/01/20/n/HeadlineNews/ELECTRONIC-VOTING/resources_bcn_html

The Department of Elections in San Francisco is enlisting software and system security experts in the community to tackle the question of ensuring the integrity of electronic voting.

A task force announced recently is being created to review source code -- the technical language that amounts to a recipe for a computer program -- in its application to electronic voting machines.

Like other local governments across the nation, San Francisco has paid private vendors to provide electronic voting machines.

Though the machines' computer interfaces have generally won acclaim for voter ease-of-use, problems have sprung up with reports of machines not operating properly, or election results that may have been tipped by faulty collection of actual voter preferences.

The manufacturers of voting machines have resisted the public release of the source code underlying their technology, citing security and proprietary information concerns.
...
"One of San Francisco's goals is to have a review of its existing voting system that will set the foundation for transparent operation of all voting systems," according to a release from John Arntz, director of the Department of Elections. "A second goal for the review process to result in becoming the cornerstone in the development of security standards applicable to all voting systems."
http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2007/01/20/n/HeadlineNews/ELECTRONIC-VOTING/resources_bcn_html

[nicknameless]

7. .

:nuke:

[nicknameless]

25. WOO-HOOOOO!

According to Supervisor Ammiano's office, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has NOT signed off on a switch to DREs.

As of right now, San Francisco still has paper ballots and OpScans.

A pox on CBS News for ruining my weekend with their lousy journalistic practices.

[EFerrari]

26. I'm so glad you posted this! Have had hands full today and that worry.

A pox and no lotion on CBS News!

[MissWaverly]

27. Great news!

Let San Franciso, shine as a beacon to any BOE that has not yet committed to these machines.

[whistle]

5. He received a 30 month sentence and must be kept in prison

....until the very last second

[diva77]

21. he might be able to shave off some time; he still gets lots of moola

http://www.timesreporter.com/index.php?ID=63267&r=0

snip

Ney will collect a congressional pension estimated at $29,000, despite the conviction. Although the Senate has passed a bill denying government pensions to convicted lawmakers and the House is expected to follow suit, the legislation is not retroactive.

Ney could get time taken off his sentence for good behavior in prison.

Under Bureau of Prisons rules, up to 54 days per year could be taken off his sentence if he avoids violations while incarcerated.

oops - on edit I see that Freedomfries in post #9 already posted these details

[freedomfries]

6. FL: Grassroots groups battle for fair elections

Groups battle for fair elections
Florida coalitions have different agendas

James Miller
Daytona Beach Journal
January 21, 2007
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD03POLE012107.htm

Susan Pynchon thought she would take off a couple of months from real estate to dig in and get answers about how elections were run in Volusia County.

That was 2004, and the co-founder of the Florida Fair Elections Coalition hasn't gone back to selling houses.

She's still digging -- and not just in Volusia County.

"It's been a nonstop roller-coaster ride ever since," she said Friday, after a day focusing on her independent investigation into the 2006 general election in Sarasota County. A congressional race there is under scrutiny because of the number of ballots on which no vote was registered in the race.

Pynchon is not alone. The number of grass-roots groups watching over elections in Florida and nationwide has grown exponentially since the disputed 2000 presidential race that put George W. Bush in the White House.

They've been called nuts and political partisans and praised as defenders of democracy.

Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall says the Volusia group doesn't influence her much. She argues members' records requests can be fishing expeditions and their access demands can impede security. Pynchon says the group helped trigger changes in Volusia --including a requirement that ballots be fed into tabulators in public.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD03POLE012107.htm
:patriot:

[freedomfries]

8. CA: Debra Bowen questions early primary in California

California Considers Early Primary

Steve Lawrence, AP
SFGate.com
January 20, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/20/politics/p011535S86.DTL&type=politics

California is considering moving up the date of its presidential primary again in hopes of gaining more clout in picking White House nominees, a little more than two years after abandoning a similar effort.

State Sen. Ron Calderon said Friday he plans to introduce a bill on Monday that would move the primary from June to February, making it one of the earliest in the country.

"California is the biggest and most influential state in the union, yet our current June presidential primary virtually ensures that the nominees will be determined long before our voters cast their ballots," Calderon, the chairman of the Senate elections committee, said in a statement.
...

Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a Democrat, said California should have a larger voice in presidential politics. But she acknowledged that it could be difficult to make changes in the state's electronic voting machines if the presidential primary is held next February.

"If the top-to-bottom review finds that significant changes need to be made, it would be difficult to implement them in time for a February primary election that's less than 13 months away," Bowen said in a statement.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/20/politics/p011535S86.DTL&type=politics

[freedomfries]

15. CA: Secretary of state very skeptical of voting machines

Secretary of state very skeptical of voting machines

Thomas D. Elias
Taft Midway Driller, CA
January 19, 2007
http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/articles/2007/01/19/news/opinion/opinion03.txt

Anxious time is just about to begin for the two interest groups that have done more than anyone else in recent years to make Californians feel uncertain about the integrity of their elections.

Those two groups: The makers of electronic voting machines of various types, many of whose devices have been shown to be both hackable and problematic in other ways. And county voter registrars who bought those machines largely with many millions of dollars derived from the federal Help America Vote Act, which was more concerned about speed of conversion to new technologies than whether they were trustworthy.

Now comes Democrat Debra Bowen, elected last fall and just now about to move into her new job as secretary of state, California's top elections officer. As a state senator from Marina del Rey for the last eight years, Bowen was the Legislature's leading skeptic of new-fangled voting machines and their bells and whistles.
...
“We are going to do a top to bottom review of every voting system in use anywhere in California,” Bowen said in an interview. “Yes, I would consider decertifying machines that my predecessor approved. Unfortunately, we've spent a lot of money on equipment that's not ready for prime time. Any Fortune 500 company would have sent those machines back with a letter saying they just don't do what they're supposed to.”
http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/articles/2007/01/19/news/opinion/opinion03.txt

[freedomfries]

10. TX: Charles Reed: Taking America back from corporations

Charles Reed, guest column: Taking America back from corporations

Charles Reed, Guest Column
The Waco Tribune-Herald
January 19, 2007
http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/01/19/01192007wacreed.html

The 109th Congress was the most wasteful, most irresponsible, most incompetent and most corrupt in American history.

The Democrats have taken over. They promise to restore congressional oversight of government and end political corruption.

Despite good intentions, I believe they will fail.

Political corruption is so widespread and systemic in Washington that bold reforms are needed to control it. The Democratic reforms are much too small.

Congress does an effective job of representing the interests of the corporate rich. The oil companies, the drug companies, the military contractors and big media don’t have a better friend anywhere. But can anyone point to any act of Congress in the last six years that significantly benefits ordinary American citizens? I can’t.

Without bold political reforms, trying to control corruption in Washington is like trying to get a milk cow to give birth to a racehorse. The laws passed by Congress are the natural and predictable results of that corrupt corporate system. If we want change, we first must reform that corrupt system.
...
I suggest the following reform agenda:

* Restore paper ballots for all elections;

* Publicly finance all public elections;

* Adopt mixed-member proportional representation;

* Outlaw corporate lobbying;

* Outlaw corporate gifts to foundations and think tanks.

Voting machines count votes faster, divert billions of public dollars to private corporations and steal public elections. In the last six years, they have been used to steal presidential, senatorial and congressional elections. A second Boston Tea Party to dump all of them into Boston Harbor would cause less pollution there than what they do to our democracy.
http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/01/19/01192007wacreed.html
:patriot:

[freedomfries]

11. UT: Orem likely to use paper ballots in the future

Orem likely to use paper ballots in the future


Reva Bowen & Caleb Warnock
Daily Heraltd, Orem, UT
January 17, 2001
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/206879/4/

Orem voters may use paper ballots in upcoming municipal elections -- and other cities may follow suit.

Orem's municipal election is months away, but the city is acting now to find an affordable and efficient way to count votes. State officials say the cost to hold municipal elections is going to rise, and many Utah cities are expected to make similar decisions between now and June.

Orem city recorder Donna Weaver gave a presentation to the Orem City Council at a recent meeting, outlining four options for conducting future municipal elections. In the end, she recommended an established system the city could "stay with" -- paper ballots with an optical scan counter.

Other options include using the county's electronic machines, outdated punch cards or paper ballots counted by people.
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/206879/4/

[freedomfries]

12. FL: District 13 voting machine dispute could complicate March election

District 13 voting machine dispute could complicate March election

Carol E. Lee
Herald Tribune, Sarasota, FL
January 20, 2007
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070120/NEWS/701200561

SARASOTA COUNTY -- Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent has a March election to prepare for, and no voting machines.

The county's 1,500 touch-screen machines remain sealed and stored in a warehouse, cited as evidence in a lawsuit over the disputed 13th Congressional District election held in November.

On Friday, Dent filed a motion with a judge asking for permission to use some of the county's machines in the March 13 local elections.

Dent -- who is named a defendant in the lawsuit filed by the District 13 Democratic candidate, Christine Jennings -- said she will need at least 800 of the machines for the election.

The motion comes a week before her office is supposed to begin ballot design for the March contests.

"This is something we knew, but we never expected because the Jennings lawsuit requested we keep eight machines" set aside in order to review the data on them, she said.
...
One of Jennings' lawyers gave the supervisor a list of eight stipulations they would want her to comply with when conducting the election.

His two chief requests were that Dent's staff only unseal about half of the machines, so no information is removed from the others, and that they do not use machines that had an undervote rate of more than 20 percent.

"The elections in 2007 have to go on," said Sam Hirsch, a lawyer for Jennings. "But they don't have to go on on all 1,500 machines."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070120/NEWS/701200561

[freedomfries]

13. FL: Even Buchanan's wife hit voting snag

Memo: even wife hit voting snag

StPetersburg Times Wire
January 20, 2007
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/20/State/Memo__even_wife_hit_v.shtml

Things have gotten even weirder in the messy 13th Congressional District race in Sarasota. As part of the litigation over the more than 18,000 undervotes in the November election, losing Democratic candidate Christine Jennings found evidence that even Republican winner Vern Buchanan's wife, Sandy, had trouble getting her vote to register. "Mrs. Buchanan indicated that she had to hit the button more than once, I think she said three times - to record her vote for Mr. Buchanan," wrote Buchanan campaign communications director Sally Tibbetts in a Dec. 26 internal memo to campaign manager Ron Turner. Jennings wants an investigation by independent experts to get to the bottom of this. Buchanan, who was sworn in, wants to move on.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/20/State/Memo__even_wife_hit_v.shtml
:shrug:

[freedomfries]

14. FL: Goc Charlie Crist can right civil wrongs

Crist can right civil wrongs

Brandon L. Hensler
St. Petersburg Times
January 20, 2007
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/20/Opinion/Crist_can_right_civil.shtml

Charlie Crist has an opportunity to be Florida's "Civil Rights Governor." It won't come easy - it will require difficult and prolonged work with the Legislature, county school boards and other institutions to create new legal protections and strengthen programs that address racial and ethnic disparities, such as in graduation rates.

There are three elements of a civil rights program that our new governor can begin to implement immediately.

On his Web site, Gov. Crist proclaims, as his singular civil rights priority, "that once a prisoner serves his or her debt to society, the state should automatically restore his or her civil rights so that the ex-offender may vote and become gainfully employed." We couldn't agree more, and it is an issue that Gov. Crist can swiftly address through an executive order.

Florida is one of only three states that permanently takes away the civil rights of people who have been convicted of crimes but have completed their sentence and all terms of probation. Intended to deny rights to African-Americans during the post-Civil War era, the law was never redacted from Florida's Constitution and continues to deny basic rights to Floridians - to the tune of approximately 1-million citizens.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/20/Opinion/Crist_can_right_civil.shtml

[freedomfries]

16. IN: Voter-ID opponents seek another review

Voter-ID opponents seek another review

Theodore Kim
The Indianapolis Star
January 18, 2007
[e-mail]
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070118/LOCAL/70118025

Plaintiffs challenging Indiana’s voter identification law believe that a federal appeals court erred when it upheld the law earlier this month and are seeking a rehearing, according to a motion filed today.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld the decision by a lower court to keep the law in place. The panel concluded in a 2-1 vote that the measure has not hindered voters.

But the plaintiffs, who include Democrats and civil liberties activists, are requesting the entire 12-judge court weigh in. They argue there is plenty of evidence showing that the law has caused voting problems.

Passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in 2005, the law requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID before they can vote.

“The voter ID law allows the right to vote of certain Indiana residents to be severely burdened without cause and without consideration of less drastic alternatives,” according to the plaintiffs’ motion.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070118/LOCAL/70118025

[freedomfries]

17. SecurityFocus: Two e-voting test labs recommended by NIST

Two e-voting test labs get thumbs up

Security Focus
January 19, 2007
http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/412

The U.S. federal agency in charge of government technology standards approved on Thursday the accreditation of two laboratories to perform certification of election computers.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommended that iBeta Quality Assurance and SysTest Labs be allowed to test election equipment under the current guidelines, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) said on Thursday. If the EAC approves the recommendations, the two companies will be the first to receive credentials under the new Voting System Certification and Laboratory Accreditation Program.

"EAC's Voting System Certification and Laboratory Accreditation Program represents the first time the federal government will accredit test laboratories and certify voting equipment," the EAC stated in a press release on Thursday. "In the past, these functions were performed on a volunteer basis by the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), which did not receive any federal funds."

The security and reliability of electronic voting systems continues to worry many election experts and security researchers. During the 2006 midterm elections, a combination of ballot problems and the lack, on e-voting machines, of an obvious warning for voters who failed to vote in a race led to massive undervoting in Sarasota County, Florida, and likely gave the election to Vern Buchanan, a Republican representative.
http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/412

[freedomfries]

18. ElectionArchive: Fixed rate audits do not work for elections

How Big Should an Election Audit Be?

Thank you
Kathy Dopp
Election Archive
January 17, 2007
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/ElectionAuditEstimator.pdf
:yourock:

[freedomfries]

19. Nat: 'Surging' to Iran: The fruit of stolen elections [II]

Bush, Iran and Armaggedon

Joseph A. Palermo
The Huffington Post
January 18, 2007
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/bush-iran-and-armageddo_b_38948.html

[freedomfries]

20. Nat: 'Surging' to Iran: The fruit of stolen elections [I]

Bush's Iraq Plan - Goading Iran into War Analysis

Trita Parsi
ZNet
January 15, 2007
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=11859

[rumpel]

24. k&r

:kick:


thanks, freedomfries :hi: