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| 7-13-08: Former voting machine exec l... |
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Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 8845
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? 
Votes: 1 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008 - 9:57 am: | 
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Hardly anyone seems to remember this, but in 2004, a trial balloon went up suggesting that Democrat John Kerry team up with Republican John McCain as his running mate.
Mixing Democrats and Republicans on a presidential ticket is an appalling idea. The two power-parties already have a tight fisted grip on American politics. Such semi-mergers will eliminate or manipulate such diversity of choice as we have left.
This weekend, another such merger has been testing public opinion waters. Republican Chuck Hagel is reported by the Associated Press as saying he will consider the Vice President slot with Barack Obama. This particular suggestion traces back to Hagel himself; there is no evidence that Obama has suggested this. The rumors may actually originate from the Republican Party, or could even come from one of the Democratic rivals wanting to get on the ticket with Obama.
As for the idea itself, it's great, if you are in favor of moving to a one-party system and allowing a presidential ticket with ties to the nation's largest voting machine company. Hagel was CEO of one of the nation's most problematic voting machine companies, Election Systems & Software*, before he ran for office. His votes were counted by the company he formerly managed, while he still had up to $5 million in ownership in its parent company. His campaign finance manager, Michael McCarthy, owned another huge chunk through the McCarthy Group investment firm.
*American Information Systems (AIS) changed its name to Election Systems & Software (ES&S) in 1997.
Details: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-3.pdf
SLIPPERY SLOPE TOWARD A ONE-PARTY SYSTEM
I liked having slightly more illusion about this great nation of ours than this current trial balloon permits. The uniparty concept is perilous.
Someone is testing the waters on this idea. I first heard about it in May -- and there was quite a bit of talk about it around June 20. But this weekend, it was launched in full force, with three successive Associated Press stories, the last one appearing about midnight (Pacific time) Saturday night.
The story was pushed out as follows:
(Obama) "Obama has invited Chuck Hagel to accompany him to Iraq."
(He also invited a Democrat.)
(Hagel) "I will consider an offer to be Vice President for Obama"
Then, and this is always very creepy to me, these trial balloon stories were immediately set upon by the Internet political propaganda teams. These operatives are as obvious as a rhino in a tea room. After each Obama/Hagel story is posted, up pop half a dozen comment posts, all sounding very much the same. They look something like this:
Gail from Illinois: "I think Hagel would be the ideal running mate, Obama would win in 2008!
MichiganMike: Obama/Hagel 2008!
Sue from Florida: Hagel is exactly what Obama needs!
IndyJohn: Hagel has always been my hero, he'd be a perfect running mate.
Sometimes, the comments are closed off before counterbalance can appear.
CHUCK'S FAVORITE VOTING MACHINES
Hagel worked for the George H.W. Bush administration in the 1980s.
Cellular technology pushed into the US by selling off territories in a "lottery" type mechanism. One of the best territories in the "lottery" went to Chuck Hagel, who reportedly cornered the cell phone market in Washington DC and surrounding Virginia and Maryland areas.
In the late 1980s, Chuck Hagel went to Saudi Arabia where he got the cell phone network going. He then went to work for George H.W. Bush in a privatization effort.
Originally from Nebraska, he had been living in the Washington DC area. He moved back to Nebraska to take the helm at ES&S, then called AIS. He headed the AIS Board of Directors while Bob Urosevich ran the company. (As you may recall, Urosevich then went to run Diebold Election Systems.)
In 1994, Bob Urosevich left AIS and Hagel become CEO. This lasted until Hagel announced his run for the US Senate. He announced his candidacy two weeks after stepping down as AIS CEO. He also held stock in AIS and also in its parent company, McCarthy Group. AIS changed its name to Election Systems & Software in 1997.
Michael McCarthy, who heads McCarthy Group, was Hagel's campaign finance director. When I first broke the story about Hagel and the voting machine company in 2002, Michael McCarthy's son was working in Hagel's DC office.
Hagel was reportedly not expected to win the 1996 primary, but he did, and it was such an upset that it made national news. "Can lightening strike twice?" one headline read, referring to the even more improbable prospects for Hagel winning the general. He did win. AIS/ES&S counted 80 percent of his votes.
By 2000, he was being talked about as the potential running mate for George W. Bush. He made the "short list" but Bush chose Dick Cheney instead. Hagel stated to the press in 2003 that he would consider a run for the presidency, and that was the event that caused me to call Alexander Bolton of "The Hill" to persuade a more mainstream media outlet to run a story on Hagel's voting machine company ties.
Hagel did not disclose his ownership in the voting machine company. He did disclose up to $5 million in McCarthy Group, but failed to disclose the underlying assets of McCarthy Group as required. He did not disclose that he had been CEO of the voting machine company, even though that was clearly required. He was required to list every position held during the past two years; he listed a volunteer position with the Red Cross, but failed to mention that he was CEO of the voting machine company that counted his votes. According to Bolton, Hagel's 1996 documents have been removed from the Senate Ethics Committee repository, along with the letters from the Ethics Committee asking him for proper disclosure.
Sources tell me 2003 Ethics Chairman Victor Baird took the position that Hagel failed to properly disclose the McCarthy underlying assets. Hours before Alex Bolton was set to interview him, Baird resigned. The new ethics chairperson took the official position that Hagel had done nothing wrong.
ES&S is now the largest voting machine company in the US, and certainly one of the most heavily criticized, for miscounting elections, voting machine malfunctions and questionable billing and contract procedures -- although the "most problematic" title is one that is hotly contested by all contenders.
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Hugh W. Busey
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Hbusey
Post Number: 2
Registered: 7-2007
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008 - 12:28 pm: |
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Bev, Your posting Re: Chuck Hagel's possible duplicity is alarming to say the least. His "independent" thinking appealed to me but I was totally unaware of his association with AIS/ES&S. So apparently was the Senate Ethics Committee *OR* they have tried to cover it up. Either way would be a strong cause for concern.
This information must get Obama's vetting staff. If your facts are confirmable, I'm sure George Stepanopolis' crew is hot on the case after announcing Hagel's joint trip with Obama to Iraq this morning.
And on it goes. |
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 8846
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008 - 3:57 pm: |
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Bear in mind that nothing from the Obama campaign suggests they are considering Hagel for VP. The invitation to Iraq could be unrelated; the suggestions of Hagel as a potential VP are attributed to Hagel himself.
But Hagel's very close association with George Bush Sr., and the fact that George W. Bush had him on the short list for VP in 2000, are well documented and easily found in a Lexis Nexis search. |
Catherine Ansbro
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Catherine_a
Post Number: 5120
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008 - 5:11 pm: |
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And Hagel's surprising election results (to say the least) are documented in Bev's book, which you can download here.
Hagel's background in the electronic voting industry--combined with his personal shocking election upset wins, which occurred long before anyone was paying much attention to the electronic voting machine issue--has always made me wary of him, even though I respect his approach on a number of policies.
There are too many unanswered questions, too many indications of something dangerously unsavory, in how he has achieved such powerful positions, for me to be able to support him in this, or indeed other, capacities. |
Scott S. Cooper
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Sscoopcomcastnet
Post Number: 20
Registered: 6-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008 - 2:06 am: |
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I would definitely side with Catherine's innate suspicion of Hagel in general...it's much to convenient that he rose to the top so fast...his buoyancy was a little to fast and his "seeing the light" has been a little to connected to his VP hopes or re-election campaign "Beware Greeks bearing gifts" Troy's message comes to mind! |
Catherine Ansbro
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Catherine_a
Post Number: 5125
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 6:24 am: |
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Bev,
Where is "Saneth"'s new post which should be here? I can see the first few words at thread level, but nothing shows up here within the thread itself. Was a post deleted? |
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 8942
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 6:58 am: |
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It was deleted because it was off topic, he didn't use a real name, and the address listed with his account was not valid. |
Dale McClain
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Dale
Post Number: 187
Registered: 10-2008
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, April 9, 2010 - 8:56 am: |
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QUOTE:
Mixing Democrats and Republicans on a presidential ticket is an appalling idea. The two power-parties already have a tight fisted grip on American politics. Such semi-mergers will eliminate or manipulate such diversity of choice as we have left.
=========================
To Bev,
In the archives of BBV can be found some highly controversial material.
Not the least of which is the discussion of a “one party system.”
As we rapidly approach 2010 and 2012 elections
Which are flawed beyond belief -- it occurs to me that some one somewhere should be posting some ideas on BBV that might help point to a method
To restore some sanity into our democratic process
where none seems to exist today.
Am I wrong when I question where we stand with the
Current vote counting methods (Diebold, Es&s, Hart, Optiscan etc.) that are completely out of control?
Consider if the USA is moving toward becoming a banana republic --it would be an upgrade.
Dale McClain |
Brant Lamb
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Brantl
Post Number: 2502
Registered: 1-2005
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, April 12, 2010 - 1:04 pm: |
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You need campaign finance reform, more than any other thing. |
Dale McClain
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Dale
Post Number: 189
Registered: 10-2008
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, April 12, 2010 - 11:20 pm: |
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Brant , Glad you said that!
I just sent my kid brother such a message.
You may read my mail.
Dale
=========================
Dear Brother Dean,
The article by Frank Schaeffer needs a little more scrutiny.
It certainly reflects a lot of points of view that should appeal to
“the reactionary white, rube, uneducated, crazy
American far right, combined with the educated but obtuse neoconservative war mongers, religious right shills for big business, libertarian Fed Reserve-hating gold bug, gun-loving
crazies, child-molesting acquiescent "bishops", frontier loons and evangelical gay-hating flakes”
But let me caution you that the theme he has chosen follows a theme that is straight down the middle of the road endorsement of the “ONE PARTY SYSTEM” now in full swing in the good old USA.
He mentions : “American idiot nation
that voted Bush into office. Twice!”
As I recall those were hotly contested two party
System elections using an untried method of electronic vote counting that has now become the
Chosen method of controlling elections.
The privatization of election processes as well as privatization of many of the prison systems should be cause for alarm but of coarse he knows the answer: quote:
“And the legion of young new supporters was too busy texting to pay
attention for longer than a nanosecond. "Governing"?! What the hell
does that word, uh, like mean?"“
Dean, he talks about the beginning of a miracle of
national rebirth right under (their) jaded noses.
Yes it is the birth of the “ONE PARTY SYSTEM” I think. Consider the blending we have seen of Democrats and Republicans changing sides and in the case of Republican Chuck Hagel Chairman of the Atlantic Council who wanted to be vice president to Obama in 2008 . He is a powerful advocate of electronic voting and one time owner of a voting machine company .
I do not understand Frank Schaeffer’s
Statement about:
Who failed are the movers and shakers
behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned "news" into
just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted
infantile country.
I guess he wants us to keep quiet and just accept the fact we are becoming more and more of a Banana Republic.
I would like to believe Obama is not a puppet but when I see who is pulling the strings it makes me shudder.
Dale McClain
PS: Words in the article like :Bitterly divided country, Two Wars, Economic crisis, Torture, Global Warming, Financial deficit, Reincarnation of Hitler, Psalm 109:8, Deranged commentators, The Poor, The sick, Gays, Misbegotten War in Iraq, The Moved Trial, Loaded Weapons, and Stopped free fall of Jobs ? He gets a lot of mileage out of one article. |
V. Kurt Bellman
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Formerelecdir
Post Number: 3506
Registered: 4-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 6:48 am: |
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One quibble. This:
"As I recall those were hotly contested two party
System elections using an untried method of electronic vote counting that has now become the
Chosen method of controlling elections. "
While 2004 was undeniably a step toward more universally electronic voting compared with 2000, among Presidential elections, that trend only fully flowered in 2008. 2000 on the other hand was almost NO difference on that status from 1992 and 1996.
HAVA was passed in autumn of '02, but most jurisdictions employed waivers until '06. That midterm was the biggest change from the previous federal election year, but '08 was the first presidential year fully employing HAVA's changes.
Somehow tying Bush's "elections" generally to electronic voting is more than revisionist history, it's more like fiction.
In fact, it's CLOSER (yet still not fully accurate) to suggest Bush's 2000 "election" caused HAVA, and hence the electronic voting that exploded under it. HAVA is a one-bill education in what's wrong with bipartisanship. In the autumn of 2002, the Republicans controlled the House and the Democrats controlled the Senate, and what HAVA became was the worst parts of all 4 caucus' wishlists.
==========================================
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
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Dale McClain
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Dale
Post Number: 190
Registered: 10-2008
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 9:29 am: |
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Hi Kurt, I see you have been reading my mail.
Well I am glad you did!
Your post will help me straighten out my
“revisionist history,”
=========================
Revised version :
"As I recall those were hotly contested two party
System elections. The 2004 election used an untried method of electronic vote counting that has now become the chosen method of controlling elections. "
==========================
If that is all you have to “quibble” about --- I am Happy!
Dale McClain
PS I will tell my brother what you posted. |
V. Kurt Bellman
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Formerelecdir
Post Number: 3507
Registered: 4-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 10:17 am: |
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Any time, Dale. You may have noticed that I have decided to put the word "election" in quotes whenever I refer to 2000. I have come to the conclusion that that was an erroneous outcome, but not due to either electronics nor intentional human misconduct on or after Election Day. It was an erroneous outcome due to human misconduct combining with poorly written law well in advance of Election Day 2000.
The Supreme Court acted properly faced with the law it had, IMHO.
That election proved the wisdom of Dickens' observation "sometimes the law is a ass".
Incidentally, those same laws are STILL "a ass" to this day, and we've given them far more companionship.
==========================================
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
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