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Post Number: 389
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 9:54 am: | 
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by Bev Harris & Kathleen Wynne
Black Box Voting has obtained check stubs showing that Diebold Election Systems appears to have misreported its lobbying fees to Rose & Kindel.
Black Box Voting Director Jim March met privately last week with staffers for new California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, to provide these documents and urge McPherson to remove new appointee Adan Ortega Jr. due to conflict of interest.
Ortega has been a senior communications executive at Rose & Kindel. The curious selection of an executive for the Diebold lobbying firm for a position with the office of Secretary of State was noted by the Los Angeles Times, but so far no one has reported the actual amount of money paid by Diebold Election Systems to Rose & Kindel.
The reported amount -- over $100,000 -- shows that Diebold Election Systems has been a major client.
However, check stubs obtained by Black Box Voting indicate that Diebold has been paying significantly more for Rose & Kindel lobbying than they reported. From April through June, 2004, Diebold reported only $7,526 -- yet the check stubs reveal actual payments for May and June alone totalled $45,248.
The Rose and Kindel invoice for May, 2004 was actually $15,142.87, and the invoice for June 2004 was $30,105.65. No mathematical manipulation produces a match with any reports filed for 2004.
Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has so far ignored complaints from citizens, voting integrity groups, exposure in the press, and documentation showing both significant payments and under-reporting the lobbying fees, and Rose & Kindel's executive Ortega remains an appointee for the new McPherson regime.
March, a Republican, had endorsed McPherson as a fair-minded independent thinker. He has called for the resignation of Ortega.
Adan Ortega Jr., senior communications manager for Rose & Kindel (Diebold's main California lobbyist) was appointed by Secretary of State Bruce McPherson as a key staff member for the state of California S.O.S. office.
Two problems:
1. Conflict of interest
2. Failure to properly disclose
DOCUMENTS:
Check Stub: Paid June 2004, $45,248.53 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-pymts.pdf
Summary Worksheet http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/ROSEKINDEL-worksheet.pdf
Diebold Lobbyist Payment Disclosure Documents:
Quarter 1 2002: Missing
Quarter 2 2002: $10,000 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-rept-apr-jun02.pdf
Quarter 3 2002: $15,020 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-rept-jul-sep02.pdf
Quarter 4 2002: Missing
Quarter 1 2003: Missing
Quarter 2 2003: Missing
Quarter 3 2003: $7,500 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-rept-jul-sep03.pdf
Quarter 4 2003: $22,560 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-rept-oct-dec03.pdf
Quarter 1 2004: $15,000 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-rept-jan-mar04.pdf
Quarter 2 2004: $7,526.55 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-rept-apr-jun04.pdf
Quarter 3 2004: $30,766.66 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-rept-jul-sep04.pdf
Quarter 4 2004: $10,000 http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/rose-kindel-rept-oct-dec04.pdf}
News articles confirming Ortega's role at Rose & Kindel:
2 March 2005
The Orange County Register
... Adan Ortega Jr., 42... a senior communications-management adviser with GCG Rose & Kindel, ..
1 March 2005
US Fed News
SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 1 -- ... Adan Ortega Jr., 42, of Fullerton, is senior communications management adviser with GCG Rose & Kindel. Previously, he was vice president of external affairs at Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
17 March 2005
Los Angeles Times
Home Edition
SACRAMENTO
... McPherson's advisory team also includes Adan Ortega Jr., a former deputy secretary of state ... advisors include ... Adan Ortega Jr., a former deputy secretary of state who is now a member of the lobbying firm that represents Diebold Election Systems. |
