Alabama's former Democratic governor speaks out

[questionseverything]

Tom DeLay was part of the conspiracy to defeat me. The Hammer, in concert with his Republican co-conspirators, began laundering thousands of dollars through his Texas ARMPAC to a front group the Alabama ARMPAC, a political action committee, to funnel illegal contributions to my opponent, Tom DeLay's colleague and Jack Abramoff and Rove's friend, Congressman Bob Riley. Riley had befriended Abramoff by voting in lock step with Abramoff's clients on multiple congressional votes at a time when Mike Scanlon was first working for Riley as a congressional aide before he changed jobs to work for DeLay.

DeLay didn't stop with sending illegal funding to my Republican opponent; he also funneled money to The Alexandria Group, a lobbying firm with Abramoff and DeLay ties. The money coincided with the hiring of a self-described "Ballot Security Expert", a man named Dan Gans. Gans, who had been on Riley' staff, was in a remote South Alabama Republican-controlled county the night of my re-election.

All the votes were in and counted, and all networks had called the election in my favor.

Then after midnight, the poll watchers and media were sent home. In the basement of the courthouse, a couple of people were still at work in the Sheriff's office. A computer glitch was discovered. A private recount took place to "correct" the "computer glitch" giving my opponent just enough votes to be declared the winner. The next morning my margin of victory was erased. I asked for a hand recount of just one voting place. The state attorney general, Karl Rove's client, stepped in and stopped the recount. Then contrary to state law, the secretary of state and the attorney general declared my opponent the winner. Dan Gans who then was working for the Tom DeLay/Abramoff affiliated Alexandria Group took credit on their

more at link...http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10270

[questionseverything]

1. over and over

i hear but the poor folks in red states vote against their own economic interest but since citizens are not allowed to oversee their elections...how do we really know who was elected?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. K&R nt

[July]

21. Hey, is that pic Mafalda?

One of my favorites!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

22. Indeed it is. nt

[questionseverything]

3. when asked why the msm

will not cover this....siegleman replied....

Mark, I mention the vote stealing in every interview. 60 Minutes cut it out. Don Abrams didn't want to go there either. I have told the story to the Washington Post and LA Times.
he hook is Rove's fingerprints are found there too. First, in that Rove's friend Jack Abramoff hires Dan Gans,was in charge of " electronic ballot security" in Baldwin County, Alabama,where the votes were stolen. Gans, working for the Alexander Strategies Group, claims credit for the win on his website, which he then takes down when Abramoff gets arrested. The second is Rove's business partner, Kitty Mc Cullough (a/k/a Kelly Kimbrough) is given credit for the electronic vote switch by the state Republican Party.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5889

(btw don abrams was the guy that called out rove for denying his congressional supeona and was off the air for years)

[hootinholler]

4. I didn't realize the Delay connection

[questionseverything]

6. Tom DeLay/Abramoff/Rove

yes basically seigleman wanted alabama to have a lottery to fund education,abramoff's clients(an indian tribe with a casino) did not want the gambling competition but my big point is

how many election results are "changed" by insiders

i stand with bev harris of blackboxvoting.org

The public must be able to see and authenticate these four essential steps for an election to be public, democratic, and valid: (1) Who can vote (voter list); (2) Who did vote (3) The original count; (4) Chain of custody.

[hootinholler]

8. Fuck Bev Harris!

That bitch has done more to hurt the anti machine voting movement than anyone I have heard of. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she is a GOP operative.

Note to jury: If you want to hide this because I called Bev Harris a bitch, fine. But there is no woman on the fucking planet who deserves the title more. Just ask anyone who was around in 2004 when she was fucking over Andy.

[questionseverything]

10. whoa

i am willing to look at anything but you need to provide some explanation for that..like who is andy?

[hootinholler]

14. Hopefully someone will be along who has the capacity to explain.

5 years later and it's still on my last nerve.

Andy Stephenson, if you knew about BBV back in the day, you would agree.

[questionseverything]

15. personalities aside

do you agree with this statement?


The public must be able to see and authenticate these four essential steps for an election to be public, democratic, and valid: (1) Who can vote (voter list); (2) Who did vote (3) The original count; (4) Chain of custody.

[hootinholler]

16. No I do not.

First, technically those are not steps.

1, 2, and 4 I agree (if you are speaking about the ballot custody), but 3 is irrelevant. The only count that matters is the certified count, and it must be reproducible from the ballots in evidence. The other thing is that there must be a way for the tally to be challenged. That's just off the top of my head.

Perhaps the Election reform group would be a great place to discuss this as an OP?

[questionseverything]

18. 3.original count

i think the original count is very relevant...i am a hand count paper ballot advocate and that hand count would be totally transparent....from the original count to the certified count,any change should be documented (not changed in the middle of the night with only one party present as it was done to seigleman)

of course the certified count should be able to be recreated but it should not be able to pop out of anywhere..therefore the original count is important

[hootinholler]

19. It's simply part of the data used to arrive at the certified count

The certified count must be repeatable. The best way to get that is with a paper ballot marked with an indelible ink.

Personally, I think we should let the sixth-grade all across the country count elections as a civic duty.

Oh, here's a memorium post about Andy.

[questionseverything]

20. yes,school kids could do the counting

it is that simple but if the school kids report d's 92,r's 53, we need to make sure that is what the certified count says also(unless some documented change occurs)

[sabrina 1]

5. This miscarriage of justice should be a cause for every Democrat who cares about, justice, vote

stealing, corruption, nailing Karl Rove for all the harm he has done to the this country, and because Siegelman was a great Democrat.

It is sad the way Dems do not stand up for their own. If Siegelman was a Republican, like Ted Stevens, this would have been over years ago and any Democrats remotely involved would be in deep trouble.

Where is the Dem Leadership when one of their own is railroaded by Karl Rove and that convicted criminals, Tom Delay and Abramoff?

This is a shameful case and leaves a stain on the US Judicial System when rogues like Delay and Rove and Abramoff can get away with doing this to a good, decent person like Siegelman.

[questionseverything]

7. plus 1

ty sabrina

[DirtyDawg]

9. Until Obama...

...directs his AG to review, and do whatever is needed to overturn, this mess - and to pay damages to this good man for a blatantly illegal Federal prosecution - and for Obama to issue a pardon forthwith to restore his freedom, I'll continue to see his, BHO's, Presidency as fatally flawed...oh yeah, fix the spying and drone shit too...

[questionseverything]

12. former ag's agree

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Former Gov. Don Siegelman's request that the U.S. Supreme Court review his conviction has the support of more than 100 former state attorneys general, who say the justices need to step in and prevent prosecutors from turning regular political donations into criminal acts.
"Because most of us have previously run for political office as candidates aligned with a major party, we are acutely aware that allowing prosecutors to cast a wide net in campaign contribution cases will stifle the legal ability of campaigns to raise needed funds for fear of politically motivated prosecution of themselves and their donors," the group wrote in a brief filed Thursday in Washington, D.C.
The brief was signed by a bipartisan group of 113 former state attorneys general, led by former New York Attorney General Robert Abrams.

[starroute]

11. There was even a branch of DeLay's ARMPAC in Alabama

It was active from 1998 to 2002 and collected more than $750,000, all of it from out-of-state donors. Most of that was spent on Texas redistrictricting, but $11,000 went to Bob Riley and another $122,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee (which itself sent money to Riley, even though he was then running for governor and not for Congress.) Alabama's laws regulating in-state PACs are notorious lax, which is what makes this sort of carpetbagging attractive.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060122/NEWS/601220394/1013/EDITORIAL2

Sunday, January 22, 2006

A look at the contributions and expenditures forms of DeLay’s Alabama PAC is enlightening, perplexing and infuriating, all at the same time.

Many of the contributions came from big law firms in New York, Washington and Texas, telecommunication and pharmaceutical firms and various single-interest companies like R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Inc., which contributed $30,000 on Oct. 21, 2002. Two weeks earlier, General Cigar Holdings (DeLay is known to enjoy a fine cigar now and then) also contributed $10,000.

But what’s up with the $5,000 contribution from the Sam Katz for Mayor Campaign Committee in Mechanicsburg, Pa., that was received on Jan. 12, 2000? Or the $5,000 from The Scooter Store in New Braunfels, Texas, that came in on May 24, 2002?

The Lexington, Ky.-based National Thoroughbred Racing Association, where Michael Brown presumably was doing “a heck of a job" before being tapped as FEMA director by President George W. Bush, also chipped in $15,000 on Aug. 23, 2002.


(On edit: The Scooter Store are the people who just went out of business after being investigated for Medicare fraud. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57602952/the-scooter-store-shutting-down-after-federal-scrutiny-cbs-probe/)

(And this seems to explain Sam Katz. I guess DeLay was the go-to guy for anybody with shady interests to protect. http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2004-08-20/article/19452?headline=Governor-s-San-Pablo-Casino-Deal-Fulfills-Hopes-of-GOP-Operatives-By-RICHARD-BRENNEMAN--By-RICHARD-BRENNEMAN)

[Uncle Joe]

13. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, questionseverything.

[hog]

17. Over and over

This is far from the first time a politician has been sent to jail to get him out of the way. My old friend, Governor Marvin Mandel, of Maryland, was convicted, forced to resign, and sent to prison for doing something that wasn't a crime. Like the Alabama governor, he wasn't allowed to remain free while appealing his case to the Supreme Court. When his case finally got to the court he'd already been forced to resign as governor and spent many months in prison. The Court ruled in his favor. How do you give Marvin and Don the years of their lives that were lost?