Abramoff money = election fraud

[Ian David]

Abramoff money = election fraud

From Anonymous:

I was thrilled to see someone write about the Ney-HAVA connection. We need a journalist to pick up this story. Here is my synopsis of the events:

The real story behind Abramoff is that it is not simply about "influencepeddling." It is in fact influence peddling to affect election outcomes.

In the equation of Abramoff Money Laundering the following holds true:

Input = Abramoff money
Output = Election fraud

Follow the story below from the first small potatoes case to the final mother-of-all-election-fraud cases in US history:

*Small potatoes: *The first players in the Abramoff drama to be sent to jail were former New Hampshire GOP Chair Chuck McGee and his boss former Bush New England Campaign Manager Jim Tobin. In 2002 the NH GOP paid $15,600 to a firm that jammed the NH Dem get-out-the-vote phone lines.

Days before the payment was made, the NH GOP accepted 3 payments of $5000 each from the following sources: 1) Abramoff client the Mississippi Choctow Tribe 2) Abramoff client the California Aqua Tigua Caliente Tribe 3) Tom Delay's ARMPAC.

Input: Abramoff money --> Output: Election fraud

*Mother-of-all-election-fraud: *In 2002 House Administration Chair Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio was a prime sponsor of the (sic) "Help America Vote Act" (HAVA). In fact, HAVA was actually written in Bob Ney's office. HAVA, under the guise of resolving the 2000 election fraud issues, was actually written to promote the distribution of computerized voting systems across the nation. The bill was designed to send $3.8 billion taxpayer dollars straight into the pockets of corporations like Diebold, whose voting equipment has now been unequivacolly proven to provide an open door to election rigging. Diebold, one of the prime lobbyists for HAVA, was at the time a client of Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff's firm.

I have compiled plenty of information on this issue, which I am ready to provide in order to get this story out. I have access to eye witnesses and players who were physically present and participating in Bob Ney's office when HAVA was written. As sexy as congressional scandal is, it pales in comparison to the real story behind the Abramoff affair: the theft of our democracy.

More:
http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/2006/01/abramoff-money-election-fraud.html

[chimpymustgo]

1. This is the critical link and bottom line. Follow the money!!!

Hey Woodward - wanna get on this one?

[Botany]

2. Thanx IanDB1

I live in Ohio and heard the phone hacks in 04.

[roseBudd]

3. you heard the Mighty Texas Strike Force threatening felons?

[babylonsister]

4. This could surely be a journalistic project that might

garner some brave, independent soul a lifelong reputation a la Woodward and Bernstein if presented correctly.
Where are those fearless journalists?

[Peace Patriot]

5. YES! YES! YES! YES! THIS IS *IT*! KICK AND RECOMMEND!

I've been waiting for this one to break. I picked up that one of the Abramoff tribal favors was supposed to be dumped into HAVA, but Bob Ney decided not to do that because HAVA was "too important." Can't remember where I read it--it was just this little buried tidbit in one of the Abramoff news articles--but I thought "Bingo!".

Not that I needed any confirmation that HAVA was a corrupt piece of legislation from first to last. Its effect on our election system is enough to tell you that (giving Bushite corporations control of the tabulation of our votes with 'TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code, and virtually no audit/recount controls). But here were the crooks who were steering it through Congress--Ney and Abramoff--viewing it as a top priority above their dirty bribes. Add in Delay, who prevented a "paper trail" requirement (bottled it up in committee), and you have a veritable vipers' nest of corrupt Bushite Republicans determining how Americans will vote. And one other name we will likely find mixed up in this is Christopher Dodd (Dem-CT), an advocate of electronic voting who apparently advised John Kerry on the issue.

I haven't read the rest of the post at "markcrispinmiller.blogspot" yet. I'm going there now. Kudos to "Anonymous" for connecting the Ultimate Dots. Thanks to IanDB1 for posting this!

---------------------------

For those who keep waiting for what people at DU call the "mainstream media" to do its job, don't you realize yet that WE are the "mainstream media"?!

We, you and me, ordinary Americans, who research these things, and post our results and our opinions here--The Million-Voiced Media of the Leftist Blogosphere--actually represent the great progressive majority of Americans, as opposed to the narrow spectrum, highly controlled, war profiteering corporate news monopolies, who represent a couple of rightwing CEOs--those who brought us Bush's war in the Middle East, and the other crime of the century, the 2004 election.

They, acting in concert, DOCTORED their own exit polls on everybody's TV screens, late on election day, to FORCE their exit poll data (Kerry won) to "fit" the "results" of Diebold's and ES&S's SECRET formulae (Bush won), thus depriving the American people of major evidence of election fraud (that Kerry won the exit polls), and squelching all protests and calls for investigation. They put FALSE NUMBERS on our TV screens in order to convince us that Bush won!*

And the tragedy is that these liars and criminals--the war profiteering corporate news monopolies--have been able to peddle the ILLUSION to the great progressive American majority that IT IS IN THE MINORITY! They do this by giving a Big Trumpet to the 30%-40% rightwing minority, to promulgate their views way out of proportion to their numbers. Thus, many members of the REAL majority feel isolated and alone, despite being surrounded by progressives, and wonder where their country went--and become increasingly depressed, disempowered, and, above all, DISENFRANCHISED.

And THAT, my friends, is the biggest problem that we have--in addition to having lost our right to vote--that the majority of Americans, who greatly oppose Bush, have bought this fantasy rightwing nation and fantasy rightwing democracy. It is an ILLUSION!

-------------

*(This was not the normal adjustment of exit polls to fit the demographics of the election. This was a highly abnormal--indeed, impossible--forced "fit." For instance, in order to create a Bush win in the exit polls, they had to (among other things) posit a 100% turnout of Bush 2000 voters, leaving out the percentage of Bush 2000 voters who had died in the meantime. Their "adjustment" was full of impossible tweaks like this. The exit polls we saw on our TV screens--late in the day, after their 'computer breakdown'--were as phony as the election results. See TruthIsAll.net.)

[WilliamPitt]

16. Is MCM going to write about this?

I don't want to poach his story.

[sellitman]

32. The more the merrier from my view point Will.

I would try to contact him and work together, but this story is bigger then both of you. (I mean that will all due respect)

Kicked & voted!!!!



Kevin

[KoKo]

6. Well said, Peace Patriot. Kick & Recommend this thread...

[MelissaB]

8. ditto!

:kick: and recommend

I've been waiting for this connection!

[zann725]

7. In the "money laundering"/EF/Abramoff scandal...keep eyes on Noe

in Ohio. "Coingate."

[Al-CIAda]

9. K&R'd

[LeahD]

10. K & R! n/t

[DemReadingDU]

11. K&R

edit to add:
This would be fantastical if this story got out that Abramoff money linked to Election fraud.

Yay, Mark Crispin Miller!

[autorank]

12. I am autorank and I RECOMMEND this post.

What a great pre-cognitive post! You're doing the thinking we all need to do ahead of time.

Here is my favorite "reasoning by sign" proof of this:

http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.a.htm

What's this? Take a look. You'll see two names juxtaposed on the page as endorsers of this far right Dominionist organization:

Jack Abramoff (we know who he is!)


Howard Ahmanson, Jr. (So. Cal billionaire; funded right wing for decades, generously; started voting machine compoany ESS)

So you think, when these guys got together to figure out how their religious cult could rule the world, they talked about fixing a few elections here and there. Just asking?

[cyberpj]

14. Oh sweet Jesus. WHO WILL TAKE THIS STORY ON FOR OUR COUNTRY?!

Hard to believe there's not one national news journalist willing to do this.

History will tell the story that the information was there for the taking and no one took it.

[autorank]

36. Well, "Scoop" Independent Media and Mark Crisipin Miller take it on

They do all the work for CM (corporate media) but those lazy dogs must be afraid to crib and get credit. Might lose their job, have to sell the BMW's, service the polls themselves. It's a sad, sad day. What's really amazing is that the media outlets are HQed in NYC. You think that might have pissed them off. Sad day. But we'll prevail. The internet is a great way to get this out, absent the stooges doing their jobs.

[cyberpj]

37. Believing in "drip...drip...drip...." is all that keeps me going. Get to

critical mass.

Keep talking.

Keep pressuring.

Keep pushing.

[cyberpj]

38. p.s. "Scoop" and MCM are heroes I read often. We need BIGGER tho. nt

[autorank]

41. MSM can just American Coup II, write epic articles. It's all there and

elsewhere. They're lazy or spending too much time at the "Water Cooler".

It will happen soon.

[Straight Shooter]

29. ES&S and Diebold are run by brothers. Check out this archived DU post.

"Diebold's Walden O'Dell, a top Bush fundraiser, publicly committed himself to delivering his home state Ohio's votes to Bush. At Diebold, the election division is run by Bob Urosevich. Bob's brother, Todd, is a top executive at "rival" ES&S. The brothers were originally staked by Howard Ahmanson, a member of the Council For National Policy, a right-wing steering group stacked with Bush true believers. Ahmanson is also one of the bagmen behind the extremist Christian Reconstruction Movement, which advocates the theocratic takeover of American democracy.

"The four companies are interconnected; they are not four "competitors". Ahmanson has large stakes in ES&S, whose former CEO was Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. When Hagel ran for office, his own company counted the votes, and his victory was considered "an amazing upset". Hagel still has a million dollar stake in ES&S.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x31265

Follow the money ...

[jasmeel]

13. This is awesome! What is Abramoff NOT connected to? Does

John Conyers know about these connections?

[lala_rawraw]

15. Let Me Make it Easier even...

Look at the map at the bottom of this article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/bakedcooked-election-ref_b_7629.html

[cyberpj]

40. This is an EXCELLENT MAP I've seen before. Good time to post as topic

again if you feel inclined.

Lots of new eyes here.

Just EXCELLENT.

We should be sending this to editors and prosecutors daily.

[lala_rawraw]

42. you can post both the article and the map

here, I don't mind... up to you. i just think it is important to understand just how infected this whol business is.

[bleever]

17. YOW! Kicking this so hard I might have broken something.

Just a few months ago we were wondering if all this Abramoff stuff might possibly, eventually, unearth the election fraud.

BAM! Here it is!

[texpatriot2004]

19. Yes! The election fraud issue is coming out now...drip, drip, drip

:hi:

[Patsy Stone]

33. It's always fun

until someone loses an eye. Please don't hurt yourself. :)

It all had to come together somehow, didn't it?


And: YESSSS! (with a dainty yet forceful K&R thrown in)

[cassiepriam]

18. Duh. Golf trips, dinners and hookers just minor expenditures.

The real money is for making sure that the repugs have total power forever.

[Imagevision]

20. And lets remember Blackwells role in the recount...!

[Independent_Liberal]

30. I hope Blackwell gets indicted!

I want to see that fucker go down!

[TheGunslinger]

21. Wonder if the FBI is aware of that as that email posted on RawStory

shows that the FBI case is far from over. Calling Abramoff a "middle guy" and there are "bigger targets"

[ClayZ]

22. Wabi Sabi it is simple!

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There's a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in." Leonard Cohen, "Anthem".

[freedomfries]

25. bingo!

Thanks for posting Ian!
:hi:

[annabanana]

23. We need this on DU's front page for Mon. morning!!

I want EVERYone who checks out the 10 greatest idiots page to see THIS!!
KKK&RRR!!!

[TheGunslinger]

24. Werd.

[veness]

26. Mark on NOW on Air America Phoenix!

Mark Crispin Miller being interviewed NOW on the M&M Show!

Listen live at: www.airamericaphoenix.com .

[livvy]

27. Here's a link to an interesting list of connected names.

I'm not familiar with the website, so I can't confirm or recommend what's posted. I found it through a Google search, and the list seems to be pretty fact oriented.

http://polunatic.blogspot.com/2005/11/follow-money-abramoff-and-co.html

Follow the money - Abramoff and co.
If we could join the dots with the following people and organizations, it just might shed some more light on Abramoff's "cash for Dubya access" scheme . Not getting much information from the Washington Post. The list grows. Thanks to Wikipedia for the research.

[livvy]

28. Here's an older article from MCM's site.

According to this, the RNC made multiple payments to Sproul, not only for pre-election work, but for work after the election as well, perhaps to shift the focus away from the election.

http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/2005/06/team-bush-paid-millions-to-nathan.html

Thursday, June 30, 2005
Team Bush paid MILLIONS to Nathan Sproul-and tried to hide it!

A News from Underground Exclusive!
by Mark Crispin Miller and Jared Irmas

A huge expense
In the months before the presidential election, a firm called Sproul & Associates launched voter registration drives in at least eight states, most of them swing states. The group-run by Nathan Sproul, former head of the Arizona Christian Coalition and the Arizona Republican Party-had been hired by the Republican National Committee.>snip

It seems that Sproul did quite a lot of work for the Republicans. Exactly how much did he do? More specifically, how much did the RNC pay Sproul & Associates?

If you went online last week to look up how much money Sproul received from the Republicans in 2004, you would have found that, according to the party (whose figures had been posted by the Center for Responsive Politics), the firm was paid $488,957.

In fact, the RNC paid Sproul a great deal more than that. From an independent study of the original data filed by the Republicans with the Federal Election Commission, it is clear that Sproul was paid a staggering $8.3 million for its work against the Democrats.>more

[chat_noir]

31. Kick

:mad:

[Ian David]

34. See also: Diebold Check stub from Diebold to Abramoff

Diebold Check stub from Diebold to Abramoff
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/2197/15714.html

[cyberpj]

39. EXCELLENT. nt.

[Steve A Play]

35. Someone else to look into a little more closely

Bob Ney's former chief of staff David DiStefano

http://cspan.politicalmoneyline.com/cgi-win/x_bna_lookup.exe?2/28/2003

Registrant: DiStefano, David (formerly operating as Capitol Network)
Lobbying Issue Codes (if provided): GOV - Government Issues
Date Posted: 2/28/2003
Specific lobbying issues: Help America Vote Act
Client: DIEBOLD
Description: Electric voting machines
Contact & Phone: David DiStefano - 614.358.8626
PAGES: 2

LobbyWatch - The Center for Public Integrity

#----Company---2003-----2004---Total
108) Diebold $50,000 $140,000 $190,000

Remember Bob Ney's unreported $20,000 trip to England paid for by FN Avation? You remember, the one where he went to a "posh London casino" with the head of FN Avation, a convicted felon, and a Syrian businessman/gambler? You remember, the same casino where he returned later and turned a $100.00 bet into $34,000.00 in winnings in two hands of a three card game?

Ney cites national security in withholding trip details Friday, December 09, 2005

<snip>

The month before flying Ney to London, FN Aviation hired DiStefano effective Jan. 1, 2003.

FN Aviation paid DiStefano to monitor trade legislation in the U.S. House, according to the records. DiStefano, who left Ney’s office in 1998, described FN Aviation’s business as aircraft sales and leasing, according to the records. (Could they have been for rendition flights?)

(Roy C.) Coffee was hired by FN Aviation a few weeks later. Coffee, an aide to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush before coming to Washington, was part of the O’Connor & Hannan lobbying firm in Washington in 2003.

DiStefano and Coffee now work together in the new Washington office of Locke Liddell & Sapp, the Texas-based law firm of White House Counsel Harriet Miers.

DiStefano and Coffee have been regular campaign contributors to Ney and other Republicans. Dating to the 2002 election cycle, DiStefano has given at least $12,750 to Ney and Coffee more than $6,000, campaignfinance records show.

DiStefano and Coffee separately reported terminating their relationships with FN Aviation at the end of 2003. They had reported during 2003 that FN Aviation had undergone a name change to FAZ Aviation. As a result, the records regarding their work apparently went undiscovered because they are stored under FAZ Aviation, not FN Aviation, in the congressional lobbyistdisclosure database.

Coffee did not return calls.

DiStefano left a phone message saying his work for FN Aviation had nothing to do with indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose ties to Ney are part of a federal investigation. But DiStefano did not detail what he did for FN Aviation and did not return calls seeking more information.

<more>

There seem to be lots of name changes with these lobbying firms and businesses that make it hard to track the money trail. That wont stop some of us from searching and "connecting the dots". :)

Steven P. :kick:

[orleans]

47. he didn't give much to ney in 04 in terms of money

http://opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?Order=D&txtName=DiStefano&txtState=OH&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2006=&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&txt2000=&txt1998=&txt1996=&txt1994=&txt1992=&txt1990=&txtSoft=N

(it's a horribly long link--if it doesn't go through go to opensecrets.org and look up distefano in ohio)

[Old and In the Way]

43. The Mother of All Corruption Scandels.

No wonder why Bush acts like King and the Republican Rubberstampers in Congress aren't too concerned with voting against the interests of the American people. They know they can steal the election and the Mainstream Media will provide the cover.

[autorank]

45. ...and it's been this way a long tme. n/t

[autorank]

44. The day will soon come when all of us who have worked on fraud can say...

WE WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG

I believe!!!

[Wilms]

46. .

[hootinholler]

48. Further he held HAVA ammendments to add paper to elections

In committee. I found it last November.

-Hoot

[applegrove]

49. Sorry. No buy. Money means election advertising. It means votes the

old fashioned way. By dominating voters minds.

Why Anon - why would we stop talking about proof of the need for election spending reform? There is meat in that there problem. And over 80% of Americans would like to see election spending reform with teeth.

No smoking gun on diebold.

Transparency now.

So 30,000 Dem votes will not be lost to the Supreme Court. So GOP will not be able to create apathy or strife in Dem voters. So each riding has advance plans for enough ballots.

So much we need to work on.

I think that poll that showed over 80% of Americans wanting cutbacks to election spending really freaked somebody out!!

You gotta go where the proof is!

[AtomicKitten]

50. Abramoff paid for a townhome in Texas for Delay fundraising.

Money goes for MUCH more than advertising with this crowd.

[barbaraann]

56. They probably got the townhome so they could provide prostitutes.

That's how things work in Texas.

[berni_mccoy]

51. Money is used to buy political favors, not winning hearts and minds

The MSM wins the hearts and minds... no political ads necessary.

Money is used for much more important things like bribing law makers and paying criminals to committ crimes.

[applegrove]

52. Political favors to big corporations result in huge amounts of money.

Enough to spread around. And win elections with endless funds.

Over 80% Agree! Time to cut back on election spending laws... AGAIN! ONLY THIS TIME FOR REAL!

[BillORightsMan]

53. HAVA > Ney > Blackwell - Three Degress of Separation?

As has been pointed out, Ken Blackwell was the Ohio b/c 04 campaign manager AND Uber-Marshall of the Ohio election voting process as Ohio SOS. J. Kenneth Blackwell appeared on the MSNBC program "Countdown with Kieth Olbermann" on November 29, 2004 and proclaimed:

We have a system that allows us to manage a free and fair election, free of fraud, free of intimidation, and that‘s what we delivered on Election Day.

And we‘re very, very proud of it and we have the most scrutinized election system in the United States. And we are we have met every test. Every test, we have made. And I‘m very proud of the 50,000 co-workers and election officials who delivered a free and fair election.

Right. And we all have been paying for this LIE ever since.

Got Vote? :patriot:

Do read the article at The Yurica Report:
Blackwell’s Un-American Scheme: Under the Guise of “Character and Civic Renewal” Ohio State Foists a Religious Moral Code upon Its Citizens Can you say Dominionist?

[Wilms]

54. .

[izzybeans]

55. Is anonymous Mark Crispin Miller or is it an anonymous person posting

just asking, because I'm confused.

[mod mom]

57. It is not MCM, it is someone else.

[izzybeans]

58. Does MCM endorse these postings?

I want to be excited by this, but I'm reserving that for now.

on edit: By my question I mean, is this a person whose identity he is protecting or is this someone else posting this information?