More from the Diebold rally: Congressional candidate vs. CEO

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I ran into this candidate at a Kerry Meet-up tonight. I'm printing this with his permission.

Congressional candidate vs. Diebold CEO

I figure this headline will attract some attention, huh????
This morning in my hometown of Canton, Ohio, there was a protest scheduled outside a shareholders meeting for Diebold.
I arrived at 9am, 30 minutes before the protest and began looking for the area to set up in. We found it (just over the hill at Kent State U - Stark County campus) after a bit of searching. There were a total of about 75 people, including representatives from TrueMajority and eventually, Black Box Voting (Bev Harris).
As I arrived, there was a crowd of people with a few Diebold representatives, and they would only speak to a few people from the crowd. A friend of the campaign, Marilyn Scott, was at the center of the discussion, so they invited her in. She grabbed my arm and made sure they selected me to enter as well. A third woman came (Mary) in also. The TrueMajority rep was addressing the crowd, so went at it alone.
We met for about 5-10 minutes with Walden O'Dell, CEO of Diebold. He gave as few answers as he possibly could, and stuck to his talking points. Marilyn Scott addressed what she had to say, including the lack of security,. and his Bush fundraising letter. Mary asked why they are not living up to the standards of the HAVA Act.
He claimed that they ARE living up to the standards and that they are certified equipment. I didn't believe him either, but he stuck to that point. So I used an old Michael Moore trick.
My words...."So you're only willing to live up to what the Federal Government says is the bare minimum. You aren't willing to have your machines take even one step beyond the minimum. Why not step forward and SET the standard and BE the ones who provide a paper trail. Then you can go out to the millions who doubt Diebold's integrity and say 'despite not being legally required to do so, we will provide a paper trail to your votes. We do this to show everyone that we truly care about America's votes.' BE the guy who sets the standard, not the one who only does the bare minimum. You could shut every protester up and cut their argument off at step one with that simple act of honesty."
He refused and claimed that there was no way to provide a paper trail and fell back on the standards argument. Itold him "I'm a politician, and you just gave us a politician's answer."
The meeting was abruptly ended after that.
We went outside, held a press conference, and then we addressed the crowd as to what happened inside. Bev showed up, we rallied more, and then something even better happened.
A shareholder came out to speak with us. He flew in from Mexico to be there and issued a statement to Diebold that he felt their practices were intentionally deceptive and that he was not pleased with the activitiers his company was taking in this field. He gave his statement to every protester and stuck around for 30 minutes talking to everyone.
I have a copy and will transcribe it later.
I am honored to know that within 5 hours of speaking my mind to Wally O'Dell, it was announced that his company may face criminal prosecution.
And I am honored to have stood in the presence of Bev Harris.

[NMDemDist2]

1. great! this is the biggest "issue" of the election.

glad we use black pens and fill in the ===== =====>>

next to our candidates names. Bless you folks in the "Diebold" states for the good fight!

[hedda_foil]

2. The Congressional candidate is Jeff Seeman

(Formerly AWD on DU) He's running a stunningly good campaign, including a great appearance on The Majority Report (AAR). He's running against one of the most rancid rw'ers in Congress, and has a decent shot at beating him. If you feel like kicking in a little (or even a lot!) his website is http://www.jeffseemannforcongress.com/

[ParanoidPat]

3. I can't afford to kick in but....

.....I can kick this for AWD! :evilgrin:

We miss you Jeff! :hi:

TYBOB!