Back to the scene of the...
Howard Wilkinson reports:
Warren County was one of the places in Ohio where Rep. John Conyers believes election day irregularities may have disenfranchised thousands of voters in the 2004 presidential election.
Saturday night, the Michigan Democrat – the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee – will visit there himself, as the main speaker at a Warren County Democratic Party dinner at Shaker Run Golf Club. It’s a dinner that will also feature Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland and most of the other statewide Democratic candidates.
But at least one Warren County Democratic leader – state representative candidate Jeff Ruppert – said he doesn’t expect to hear much from Conyers Saturday night about the 2004 election and the strange, still-unexplained lockdown of the board of elections ordered by election officials that night.
“I think he was invited just as an inspirational speaker who could talk about what we could expect if the Democrats take the House this year,’’ said Ruppert, a Franklin lawyer who was an official Democratic election observer at the Warren County Board of Elections that night in November 2004. “We’re really not looking back to what is in the past.’’
Karen Morgan, press secretary to Conyers, said that as of Thursday afternoon she had not seen a copy of Conyers’ speech and couldn’t say what his topic would be.
In January 2005, after hearings conducted by Conyers in Washington and Columbus, the minority staff of the Judiciary Committee issued a report critical of Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, now the GOP candidate for governor, and saying voting irregularities in Ohio may have disenfranchised thousands of voters.
The report pointed to the Warren County incident, where county officials locked the media and others out of the board of elections, claiming the FBI had told them of a serious terrorist threat. FBI officials said no such warning was issued.
Ruppert was locked out of the board offices briefly that night. After producing identification, he was let back in, and later told Conyers’ investigators that he had seen nothing improper inside the Warren County Board of Elections that night.
“A lot of people in my party don’t want to hear it, but I still don’t believe there was any wrong-doing in the vote count that night,’’ said Ruppert, who is running for the seat being vacated by State Rep. Tom Raga, R-Mason, who is Blackwell’s running mate.
Tom Grossman, chairman of the Warren County Republican Party, said he doesn’t understand why Warren County Democrats – “all three of them’’ – would want to hear a speech from Conyers about the 2004 election.
“It’s over; it was a fair election and that’s all there is to it,’’ Grossman said.
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at 5:51 PM, August 17, 2006 
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at 5:55 PM, August 17, 2006 
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Post a Comment*Off topic, but, this just in:
I want you to be the first to hear the best news for civil liberties that we’ve had in a long time. A federal court in Michigan has ruled that the Bush administration’s NSA program to monitor the phone calls and e-mails of millions of Americans without warrants is unconstitutional and must be stopped. It’s news of a stunning courtroom victory that your continuing support made possible.
I couldn’t be more proud of lead counsel Ann Beeson and the rest of our legal team, including attorneys Jameel Jaffer and Melissa Goodman. As you know, the day that we learned about this massive and systematic spying, ACLU lawyers started working on this lawsuit. The hours and the blood, sweat and tears they have put into it have now paid off. Just as your support of this important work is paying off.
This ruling, in the first federal challenge ever argued against the president’s program, is a landmark victory against the massive abuses of power that have become the hallmark of the Bush administration, and is a victory for all freedom-loving people in our country.
U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor declared that the NSA program violates Americans’ rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, but also the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) passed by Congress.
Judge Taylor summed it up perfectly when she wrote in her decision:
We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no power not created by the Constitution.
You and the ACLU have been working so hard on this because you understand that this case is about more than putting an immediate end to the Bush administration's warrantless spying program; it is an important step in the battle to curb the government's abuses of power. Believe me, we could not have come this far without the effort and passion of all the ACLU members and activists. Your support on these issues has been invaluable. You are making a difference.
Now we need you to stand with us in our crucial efforts to hold the president accountable in the weeks and months to come as we gear up for the next battle to protect our rights, with two congressional committees poised for September votes to try to legalize this spying under Vice President Dick Cheney’s supervision.
Instead of demanding that the President answer for breaking the law, Cheney and his allies want Congress to rewrite our laws to condone his behavior and give him and all future presidents a blank check to conduct domestic spying programs without individual warrants. Your efforts today are crucial to ensure that Congress doesn't undo this historic victory.
Today, we are celebrating and analyzing this decision. Tomorrow there will be much work to do. Your involvement, belief in and support of our work have never been more important than right now.
From all of us at the ACLU, thank you for your partnership in all of our efforts.
Sincerely,
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
ACLU
I told you those wRong wingnuts were whacko !!
...crime. Scene of the crime. Just say it Carl. SCENE OF THE CRIME!
CRIME !!
If I was too stupid to vote, I'd feel disenfrachised too. Just another reason to *NOT* elect Cranley.
http://www.johncranley.com/newsroom_details.asp?id=859
CRANLEY SIGNS VOTING RIGHTS PLEDGE
TO FIGHT NEW SCHEMES DESIGNED TO SUPPRESS VOTING
(Cincinnati--OH-1) Today, Congressional Candidate John Cranley signed a pledge to the people of the First Congressional District of Ohio that he would fight for voting rights. Mr. Cranley will fight against new anti-voter schemes in Congress designed to suppress the vote AND will work to strengthen the Voting Rights Act.
Mr. Cranley was joined by Civil Rights Legend Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Congressman Artur Davis, who represents Birmingham and Selma (AL-7), and Former Vice Mayor Alicia Reece to support Mr. Cranley's candidacy and voting rights pledge.
Mr. Cranley's opponent, Steve Chabot, has cast votes designed to suppress voter efforts. Specifically, Steve Chabot has cast votes to stop non-profits from using their own funds for non-partisan voter registration activities if they wish to receive federal funding.
In October of 2005, The Republican Study Committee, of which Chabot is a member, crafted an anti-voter rights and non-profit gag provision that disqualifies non-profits from federal funding if they, or an affiliated organization, have engaged in non-partisan voter activities, voter registration, voter education, voter identification and/or public education and grassroots activity in the preceding 12 months or while applying for funds – with their own money.
Despite calls from hundreds of organizations, including the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to oppose this voter suppression provision, Chabot repeatedly voted for it. The bill is now in the Senate. [H AMDT 596, 10/26/05; Motion to recommit with instructions to strip out the anti-voter rights and non-profit gag provision, 10/26/05; HR 1461, 10/26/05 more at: http://www.ombwatch.org/gseresourcecenter]
Once elected to Congress, Mr. Cranley will make sure to fight against new voter suppression schemes, like the non-profit gag, and will work to strengthen voting rights.
Mr. Cranley's pledge:
VOTING RIGHTS PLEDGE
Whereas, the right to vote is a hallmark of American freedom; and
Whereas, the right to vote has not always been readily available to all Americans; and
Whereas, recent elections and actions by Congress have revealed that there are still forces within our country who will go to considerable lengths to make it more difficult for some Americans to exercise the right to vote; and
Whereas, every branch of government, and especially the United States Congress, should take whatever steps necessary to ensure that no American will ever be unfairly denied the right to cast a vote, and whereas Congress should take steps to prevent anyone from being discouraged from voting;
Therefore, I hereby proclaim that as an elected official, I will continue to work to uphold the precious right to vote and remove any and all barriers intended to discourage Americans from exercising that right; and
Further proclaim that, upon election to the United States House of Representatives, I will always vote to uphold the Voting Rights Act and support efforts to make it easier for Americans to take full advantage of the right to vote.
Proclaimed today, on the Seventh Day of July, 2006 by:
John Cranley, Candidate for the United States House of Representatives from Ohio’s First District.
John Cranley
Interesting Ruppert claims he saw nothing untoward in Warren County that night. I did not realize lawyers could "see" a software program tabulating punch cards at the speed of 36,000 cards per hour. Couild Rupert see that every punch card was tabulated with the correct precinct code? Candidate ballot rotation makes this extremely important. I am assuming Ruppert checked the printed precinct codes on each ballot and made sure they were preceded by the correct header card.
Did Ruppert observe the pre-election testing of the tabulation software?
Methinks Ruppert is quite computer illiterate.
If a FALSE level 10 Homeland Security Alert in Warren County, OH during the most contested presidential election in modern times doesn't raise your curiosity, perhaps you should read this article:
"Free Press Uncovers Evidence of Ballot Tampering in Warren County"
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2006/1355
Or Just:
Click Here !!
*****
It's sad that to find out what's really happening to our country you have to go to smaller and alternative papers. Hats off to the corporate media (including the Enquirer) for keeping the majority of the citizenry apathetic and uninformed.
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