BBV's board "saddened" by "backlash" of "particular web forum".

[LoZoccolo]

The Board of Directors of Black Box Voting hereby gives a statement of unequivocal support for Black Box Voting Executive Director Bev Harris, her work and tireless dedication to accountable voting in the United States.

We are saddened by the backlash of a particular web forum, media complacency towards facts and ignoring the critical story about public record access denial in 13 Florida counties and elsewhere. Theresa LePore was served papers at a public meeting -- not a retirement party. LePore, of butterfly ballet fame, already has quite a record in lawsuits brought by citizens and one by Congressman Wexler for verifiable voting.

(snip)

Many people are working hard to achieve transparent elections. Ms. Harris managed to break information of that work to the general populace. We can only assume that the revelation of the state of our elections to the general public was not welcome and that Ms. Harris's investigations are getting close to some uncomfortable truths, given the viciousness of the attacks on her recently.

(snip)

Note: Please contact Bev Harris if you can help by providing a high-speed scanner to scan in .pdf documents. Returned from Florida with boxes of records, would like to get them on the Web.

I didn't see this posted on here before - did anyone else see it on the 14th when they say they posted it?

How many other organizations have to put out a statement by their board saying they support someone?

http://www.blackboxvoting.org

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Oh dear.

Another Great Moment in Bad PR. Oh well. Burn all the bridges.

[Wat_Tyler]

2. I think Bev's read a few too many biographies of Stalin.

[CountAllVotes]

16. I think Bev

should hide that bottle of Jack Daniels she been sippin' on.

:kick:

[Bleacher Creature]

3. Board of Directors???? n/t.

[tridim]

6. I've been asking who these mysterious "board of directors" are for awhile

and have yet to get any answer. Can anyone name just one besides Bev? Rove maybe? *duck*

[LoZoccolo]

I've seen the list, actually.

It's not on the web site for some reason, but someone else posted it here. I also heard that three of them are her family members.

[Bleacher Creature]

10. Well if that's the case . . .

I hearby pronounce that my Board of Directors supports me.

(Do pets count??)

[bunny planet]

65. Yes, my three cats and my budgie all believe that fraud took place.

Me too.

[LoZoccolo]

8. dupe - self-deleted

[ohio_liberal]

9. David Allen has posted this several times

Board of directors:
- Linda Franz (Washington state), with knowledge of HAVA and pending voting machine legislation;
- Jim March (California), with expertise in lobbying and computer programming. March has been heavily involved in analysis of the Diebold software, and testifies regularly at California
Voting Systems Panel hearings;
- Joseph M. Bailey III (Washington state), founder of an electrical workers union for people of
color
- Thalia Dudley (Washington state), a member of the Dudley family, an African-American family who has fought for the right to vote every generation for five generations;
- Vickie Karp (Texas), who is also chairperson for the Coalition for Visible Ballots, and recently made the news with a billboard campaign about the need for paper ballots
- Agrippa Williams (Washington state), renowned for his work keeping black history alive, and the recipient of many awards for outstanding citizenship (he once gave a kidney to a complete stranger in order to save his life.)

[tridim]

11. Thanks

[ohio_liberal]

12. Welcome

:)

[Kelvin Mace]

34. 3 members of the board are Bev's family

According to William Pitt, confirmed by Andy Stephenson.

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org

[Freddie Stubbs]

45. I'm sure that they are unbiased

[Must_B_Free]

53. Plus, "non-profi"t does not mean people work for free

I don't know any facts regarding paid positions, but non profits don't expect people to work for free. So it is entirely that the dontion money is going to members of Bev's family as salary.

Andy can confirm the details regarding his former situation with BBV. What I do know is that he was partner in a Subway in WA and he sold his shareto free him up for activism. I would presume he would have had to have been paid by BBV to make ends meet.

[BlueInRed]

59. I know Vickie works for free

sadly-she's a friend and misguided on some facts. I know she firmly believes that Bev's been misquoted, etc. I was disappointed in the board's statement. :(

[Straight Shooter]

4. Take some of that donated money and PLEASE get Bev Harris media training

The woman is clueless as to how she is being perceived by the general public and former supporters. Her baby is going to get thrown out with the bathwater, the way she's dealing with this situation.

[Cocoa]

32. you assume she's sincere

which I think is a very very bad assumption.

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. What particular web forum?

"backlash of a particular web forum"

Which forum are they talking about? Olbermann's? DU? Daily KOS?

[ohio_liberal]

7. I'm guessing DU

...considering this is where she always posted messages.

[liberalla]

52. Last week was also the on air conversation and

grilling by Randi Rhodes. That's the most recent public fiasco that comes to my mind. It was in that conversation that Randi said she had learned Andy was was no longer working with Bev, and Bev acted like she didn't know that. She was very ambiguous and indirect. She was trapped and couldn't get out--wouldn't give any straight answers.

[Kralizec]

13. Tolerance. n/t

[LoZoccolo]

14. Yes, tolerance.

Like when there is a misunderstanding between your people and their people, you try to work it out in private before posting a big thing on your web page.

Tolerance.

[dweller]

15. .

dp

[bunny planet]

66. LOL

Escheresque indeed.

[Snivi Yllom]

17. Any bets on how long it is before she deletes this?

And pretends she did not write it?

[elehhhhna]

18. Interesting order she used in lsiting her disappointments...

it's us first, THEN the lack of MSM attention on BBVoting. Weird.

[eridani]

61. The trashing of Andy is no longer there

Edited 12/16, so it was two days.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&omm=0&om=71&forum=DCForumID4410

The following is no longer there--someone probably talked to a lawyer.

The six-member Board of Directors of Black Box Voting has unanimously voted to terminate the employment of Associate Director Andy Stephenson, for:
- Repeatedly lying to various members of the board of directors
- Misrepresenting results of investigations
- Mishandling telephone communications and withholding information
- Temper tantrums and hanging up on members of the organization
- Outburst at the Florida Supervisor of Elections meeting, offending public officials
- Failing to assist, show up, or even call while Kathleen Wynne and Bev Harris repeatedly requested assistance when they were accosted by Volusia County police

[Andy_Stephenson]

62. This is a good thing

I am glad she did this. Thanks Bev.

[slutticus]

19. Backlash?

She threatened a lawsuit.

You reap what you sew b****.

[JohnnyCougar]

20. Odds that Bev herself wrote that-- 1.5:1

It is written with the same style that Bev writes. It is very unprofessional, and is written from the same victimization standpoint that Bev alwyas uses.

Man, Bev sure is the victim of countless merciless attacks by everyone. I think she's trying to crucify herself to turn herself into a "Jesus for the people" or something.

Not to mention, the message contains the same paraniod delusions that Bev constantly voices, such as the "we are getting close to sensitive information, that is why everyone is attacking us" bullshit.

This lady has been profiting at the expense of liberals for sometime now. First it was the Clinton Cigars, and now it's the BBV crap she is pulling. I haven't seen her produce shit so far.

Furthermore, what kind of board of directors would ask for a document scanner in an official statement? Didn't we just give them more than a quarter million dollars? Why don't they buy one themselves? Jesus.

[SomthingsGotaGive]

22. I reckon its much much more than that.

It's probably more like $4 million.

Why else would she avoid the question.

250k is chump change. I would think her a resourceful, and capable person if thats all she had to work with.

So would everybody.

$4 million would explain why she was avoiding Randi and all questions regarding donations.

So until I hear otherwise I will say minimum $4 million dollars has been raised for BBV.org since Nov 2 2004.

PLEASE someone refute that with facts.

[JohnnyCougar]

25. Wow....no...not 4 million.

I don't even think that is possible. How much could Kerry raise in a month on just online donations? Keep in mind, Bev doesn't get most of the large, $1000 donations that Kerry would get. Plus, only about 10% of Kerry supporters would even donate to BBV. Most Kerry supporters don't even think there was fraud. And even if they do, how many of them know about Bev's site? Christ, I knew about it, and i still didn't donate.

I predict that Bev has raised about as much as the Green party has so far, which hasn't been more than half a million, by my calculations.

[SomthingsGotaGive]

50. I agree with your math.... but

A few DU'rs gave 500+

Besides until she proves otherwise.....

She's holdin a $4 million loot bag.

I hope to make her prove me wrong.

I hope I am wrong.

[JohnnyCougar]

64. Man, if I gave her $500, i would be PISSED.

Perhaps she will use it wisely in the end, though, despite all her troubles

[high density]

21. What an embarrassment.

I can't believe she's still bitching about Olbermann. She had her chance with him and completely failed because she couldn't concede anything for a five minute interview.

We are saddened by Bev Harris' inability to get a clue.

[Vinnie From Indy]

23. My Board of Directors Voted Last Night

A motion was brought before the board to vote on whether to declare Bev Harris loony tunes. The motion was recognized, seconded and a voice vote was taken. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative.

A separate motion to create a new award to honor the mind numbingly stupid idea of Bev's board to post a bill of particulars on her web site in regard to the dismissal of Andy was recognized and seconded.
The Board directs that a committee will formed for the sole purpose of designing the award statue and official certificate of shame to be given to Bev at the first opportunity.

[anamandujano]

24. why are posts like this allowed?

but i'm not allowed to point out how nasty they are?

[mattclearing]

26. I think you just did.

:)

[Vinnie From Indy]

27. It's called freedom of expression

It could also be called using satire to make a point.

[anamandujano]

29. your post is not the worst by a long shot

your talents could be put to better use against our common enemy

[Kelvin Mace]

43. Bev Harris has made herself the enemy

by lying, libeling and slandering her allies and other BBV activists.

Bev Harris recently declared George Bush and Freepers her supporters.

Bev Harris now accuses US of "thwarting" her "investigation".

The media is not failing to cover this issue because they are "covering up" they JUST DON'T WANT TO GIVE BEV HARRIS ANY MORE FREE PUBLICITY FOR HER CULT OF PERSONALITY.

Maybe they remember Jim Jones.

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org

[anamandujano]

44. so you welcome these threads

jim jones?

the media is failing to cover this story because of harris?

don't you think this spat is outweighing more important stuff?

[Kelvin Mace]

46. We cannot harbor, defend or condone

people who lie, distort and attack without just cause their own allies. We cannot, as one BevBot suggested, defend Bev the same way the GOP defends Tom Delay.


It is just WRONG. Either we clean house, or we become the enemy we despise.

The media is not "failing" to cover her, they are *avoiding* her because they think she's a nasty person with a vile temper who will betray anyone in her quest for glory.

You folk are prepared to excuse *any* behaviour on Bev's part because it is easier than facing the truth that you have been taken in by a megalomaniac.

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org

[anamandujano]

48. i'm not excusing anything

i'm not defending anyone. the only time i ever hear of her is here. maybe she's picking fights to keep her name out there. both sides now look very bad.

[bunny planet]

67. I'll repeat what I said in an earlier thread.

Bev Harris is kryptonite for our cause. Let's stop giving her any thread time. After January, we can attempt to address what happened to our money? For now, we must distance ourselves from her. She is a nut and we will be tainted by further association with her.

[Terre]

28. Any chance to get a Financial Statement?

I donated as well, and I'd love to see what income and expenses, etc. has been. Is it a requirement that if an individual asks, that a nonprofit 501c(3) is obligated to provide a copy?

[carolinalady]

41. The 501(c)3 was formed this past year--so this will be their first

reporting year. After they file with the IRS it will be available at this web site: http://www.guidestar.org/

[eridani]

63. There is a financial statement of sorts now on blackboxvoting.org

Someone might want to save it to check against 501(c) reports later.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&omm=0&om=84&forum=DCForumID4410

About 20 people wrote to me with questions after the Randi Rhodes show. I spoke with one of Randi Rhodes’ producers this morning, and had a very good conversation. There was a misunderstanding, and we discussed ways to deal with it.

Some of Rhodes’ listeners asked for an accounting of donations. Here is more information:

I founded Black Box Voting in June, 2004, and to provide its seed money, I donated my revenues and the rights to the Black Box Voting book. In addition, I persuaded two benefactors to provide $10,000 each. This yielded just under $30,000, and the entire organization survived on that for many months -- two full-time salaries, supplies, travel, investigations, press conferences, web site development and all.

I knew it would be a tough go of it to take an organization with almost no funding (and therefore no infrastructure -- no administrative support, no equipment, no development director, no business manager, no secretary) and turn it into a viable long-term organization to do consumer protection for elections.

I was fortunate to find six courageous, ethical, and committed people to serve on the board of directors. A well-known author, Will Pitt, has apparently been reporting that three members of the board are my family members. This is incorrect, but I am lucky enough to have one member of my family on the board, Thalia Dudley, my sister-in-law. She is a tremendous asset to the board. Other board members were chosen for the combination of strengths they possess, and are not related to me whatsoever.

We believed that our organization would survive, because in the 12 weeks before and after the election, interest would peak and we could, hopefully, obtain enough donations to put in an infrastructure and get some basic computer and telecommunications equipment, in addition to some administrative staff. We are also aware that for our organization, this kind of fund raising will happen only every four years, and it will be a challenge to stay alive in the mean time.

From September through November, members of our organization did over 300 interviews, including international wire service stories and TV spots on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC, and many local stations. We also provided interviews for over 100 print media outlets, like newspapers and magazines. Five members of Black Box Voting conducted interviews, many of us nonstop for months on end. Randi Rhodes was one such interview, and of course I appreciate what she did to fund raise.

One thing that caused a miscommunication, I think, is that I did not know that Randi Rhodes was going to do the fund raising. I learned about it after it started, when I was in a meeting, when to my astonishment my phone lost its mind. Apparently my cell phone number was being given out over Air America.

The fund raising was specifically for Freedom of Information requests, and was never for the purpose of overturning an election. I am confident that Randi Rhodes was accurate about that, because the letters we got with donations had notes saying "heard about you on Randi Rhodes, this is for the FOIA."

American people were hurting, because they saw that the election was not transparent or accountable. Some people began to hope that Black Box Voting would reverse the>presidential election.

Now, let's look at this idea for a moment: John Kerry literally ran away from the idea of doing any auditing or recounts, and only grudgingly agreed to be involved at all. He invested none of millions that he had raised from his donors was "to make sure every vote counts."

Instead, our small organization, with just two full time employees and a volunteer, were supposed to bootstrap our way into overturning a presidential election -- without the support of the candidate himself -- something that has never been done in history, and an activity that our nonpartisan nonprofit 501c(3) status specifically prohibits.

I hear the angst in America, from people who know this election was not trustworthy. I do believe that the person most responsible for failure to get an accountable election is John Kerry himself.

A handful of people mailed us checks with the words "for a recount" on them. I think this was due to the proximity, I’m sure accidentally, of news about the Ralph Nader recount with news about Black Box Voting’s FOIA request and auditing.

We were careful to identify those checks, and made arrangements for these to go to Help America Recount, a 527 organization that is set up for this purpose. Our nonprofit status does not allow us to become involved in recounts.

I am also confident that most people donated for exactly what we do, because most checks -- when they say anything -- say "for auditing" or "for the FOIA" or "help restore clean elections."

Our financial statements will be released with a precise accounting, but here are interim figures as of the end of November:

Donations tagged to Randi Rhodes show: $23,800 All donations, some of which we have allocated to building infrastructure and off-election funding droughts: About $300,000

We have spent or committed about $19,000 of the $23,800 Randi Rhodes money. This was for FOIA requests and related legal expenses.

(By "committed" I mean that Palm Beach County has assessed $4,400, but is now saying we can't have all the records, so of course we haven't handed over the money yet, and Snohomish County, which wants $2500, suddenly got caught up in a hand recount for the governor's race and couldn't deliver some of the documents).

--Our board of directors has taken no compensation at all.
--Kathleen Wynne -- bless her! -- has taken no compensation at all, though she has devoted week after week of 14-hour-a-day work specifically for our organization. We have offered her a position. She has more than earned it!
-- My salary is $60,000 per year, about half what I was making before I took on this mission.
--Andy Stephenson was making $48,000 per year.

We are replacing the Associate Director position with two people: A media specialist/investigator and an administrator, and we will incur considerable expense in our end of year accounting. We are putting in infrastructure, including more permanent office space, a decent phone system, a decent computer system, a high speed scanner to get the FOIA documents on the Web, and a much better Web site under new hosting.

This will add one salary, and will add fixed cost for office space and additional accounting. In addition, we need to bring in a development director to write grant proposals and set up a permanent fund raising structure.

In our travels, I have learned that this is truly a nonpartisan issue. Everyone wants clean elections, and everyone realizes that having a wholly independent organization, completely funded by the grass roots for the purpose of acting as a watchdog for elections, is a very important thing to do.

Now, as to why I did not travel to Ohio: I have testified in front of the legislature many times. Each time, I was asked to do so. I was not asked to go to Ohio and testify, and I certainly wouldn’t just barge in without an invitation. I did let people of influence know that I would be happy to go to Ohio to do whatever is needed. I am not printing their names here, because that seems like an invasion of privacy. One is a lawyer who has been helping with the recount, one has been involved in strategy, and one is a leading Ohio voting integrity group head.

I remain willing to go on Randi Rhodes show, go on Keith Olbermann’s show, or go to Ohio for the hearings, but I do need an invitation to do so.

I hope this answers at least some of your questions.

Have a blessed day,
Bev Harris
Black Box Voting
http://www.blackboxvoting.org

[carolinalady]

30. I don't see it posted now.

[LoZoccolo]

37. I still see it.

Here's the full text:

Statement of Support for Bev Harris
The Board of Directors of Black Box Voting hereby gives a statement of unequivocal support for Black Box Voting Executive Director Bev Harris, her work and tireless dedication to accountable voting in the United States.

We are saddened by the backlash of a particular web forum, media complacency towards facts and ignoring the critical story about public record access denial in 13 Florida counties and elsewhere. Theresa LePore was served papers at a public meeting -- not a retirement party. LePore, of butterfly ballet fame, already has quite a record in lawsuits brought by citizens and one by Congressman Wexler for verifiable voting.

Ms. Harris has documented the miscommunication leading up to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's editorial comments about her alleged refusal to appear on his show, stemming from producer's inability to contact Ms. Harris, not a refusal by her.

We would like to extend Mr. Olbermann the opportunity to get the facts and real story. We hope that as a journalist, he would give equal opportunity and time to Ms. Harris to set the record straight and report the critical story- the way information is not adding up in this election.

Ms. Harris and Black Box Voting are nonpartisan participants investigating problems in our election process and remedies necessary to insure honest voting. Proper auditing procedures must happen throughout with auditing of voter verified paper ballots and internal auditing of voting systems to create totally transparent elections.

When auditing processes are broken or non-existent, the opportunity for mistakes or fraud exist.

Black Box Voting's goal is to investigate and document the existing reality of elections in America and use such documentation for legislative and/or judicial reform.

It appears that some well meaning people have identified our efforts as among the most likely to overturn the results of the last election. But our goal is accountable elections, regardless of outcome.

Some would like us to release information as we obtain it. Releasing all investigative results prematurely could compromise further investigations and at least one legal action in progress.

Investigations may reveal problems irrespective of party -- not always a popular revelation. It is crucial to realize that our election system, in spite of the apparent partisan funding behind most voting systems, didn't devolve simply because of partisan involvement. It will not be fixed by partisan involvement.

Good people of all political persuasions want elections that people in the United States can trust and have confidence in. Until we have the ability to verify that process at every step in the most transparent way possible, doubt will linger.

Many people are working hard to achieve transparent elections. Ms. Harris managed to break information of that work to the general populace. We can only assume that the revelation of the state of our elections to the general public was not welcome and that Ms. Harris's investigations are getting close to some uncomfortable truths, given the viciousness of the attacks on her recently.

We, the people, have a right to oversight of our elections. When we get that oversight, it will be because of people who dared show current reality. Bev Harris is one of the people America will owe a debt of gratitude.

Update SATURDAY, DEC 11, 2004: Computer guys -- here is the WinEDS audit log from the Snohomish County central tabulator for Nov. 2. Snohomish County is now trying to do a hand count for the Washington State gubernatorial race. Sequoia touch-screens. Good luck.

Note: Please contact Bev Harris if you can help by providing a high-speed scanner to scan in .pdf documents. Returned from Florida with boxes of records, would like to get them on the Web.

[Terre]

42. Thanks SO much!

Off to bookmark the site.  :)

[Hamoth]

31. New term: Bev baiting

So many posts here are clear attempts to instigate argumetns about bev. I call this bev baiting and I think it derails the forum from our critical discussion of more pressing matters.

Who CARES what bbv board of directors feels about a web forum?

this is clearly here to prompt a liberal-on-liberal argument that is thoroughly unproductive no matter your opinion of BBV or Bev harris.

Scam artist? then stop promoting her.
REal deal? Then stop promoting arguments against an ally by participating.

Let this thread SINK.
Just say no to Bev-baiting.

[Terre]

35. B4 we let the thread sink

Could someone post an answer to my question (#28) if they happen to know it off-hand? Thanks.

[LoZoccolo]

38. Arguments? Nah.

I don't really expect many people to disagree with the main current of opinion here.

Plus there isn't much to argue about. There are people that go "Rove would love all the people that go against Bev" and some other people try to explain differently to them and that's about it.

[LoZoccolo]

39. Plus, she's coming after us here.

We can only assume that the revelation of the state of our elections to the general public was not welcome and that Ms. Harris's investigations are getting close to some uncomfortable truths, given the viciousness of the attacks on her recently.

No we can't "only assume" that. Six people do not come to this ridiculous conclusion as the "only" explanation for something, especially when several people here have made it clear why they are attacking Bev.

[LoZoccolo]

40. Furthermore...

...if that's the way that the board really thinks, then it just furthers the notion that it would be much better to direct our efforts to a more credible organization.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vinnie From Indy]

36. I wouldn't call it "Backlash"

I would call it "blowback".

[Freddie Stubbs]

47. There was also a backlash on BBV's website's forums

But it was all quickly deleted.

[Merlynn]

49. I'm confused.

Why would you need a scanner for .pdf documents?
Aren't they made in Adobe??

[Kelvin Mace]

54. Remember what I said about her

having no technical know how?

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org

[femme.democratique]

51. I think Bev's middle name is "Rove"

I hate to say this but it smells like she's just waiting for the right time (ie when Ohio gets really good and gets more mainstream coverage) to come clean with her evidence. She claims theres fraud on both sides (hence the "uncomfortable truths" - doesn't surprise me really, given that dems have a history with this over the decades, though not quite at the level we're presently seeing from KKKarl & Co.) - however, I don't see any Democrats owning black box voting machine companies, and not nearly the level of outright conflict of interest on "our" side.

I read that a few years ago she was selling Bill Clinton cigars, is she really just a Freeper? I believe she is genuinely interested in uncovering fraud though I think she may have misrepresented herself and her affiliations in this forum in order to get people behind her.

[Skip Intro]

55. Oh brother

you have got to be kidding

[Kelvin Mace]

60. She is an self-centered opportunist.

She is petty, spiteful, vindictive, insufferable, meglomaniacal and a liar, but not a fraud or a "plant".

I have many reasons to dislike this woman, but I can't stand by for this speculation. I swear, folks get a grip. Karl Rove is a despicable human being but let's not see him everywhere.

I'm not picking on you, just trying to remind folks to not see the bogeyman everywhere.

<s>

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org

[Skip Intro]

56. I'm saddened by the whole thing too. What ABOUT those 13 FL counties?

Anybody talking about that here anymore?

[justice4all]

58. good question

I've been lurking and following her saga on this forum. I'd like to keep an open mind but at this point am waiting to see some results. I took a look at her web site. It starts with the message at the top of this thread. I'll be more impressed if/when I see her accomplish something. It's hard to tell from the web site what her "plan of action" is.

[aloneinva]

57. I don't understand?

If those are public records why would htey be hidden? Did they turn down your request?

[RunningFromCongress]

68. Can someone explain this one thing to me

it seems that at BBV's own convenience the structure of the organization changes from

A) A seemingly large group with a "Board of Directors" making and releasing statements

to

B) "2 person staff and a volunteer"

I have a feeling this "Board of Directors" might be 2 people. One of whom is praised by said board.

I dunno, I'm just confused. I've never seen an organization have a 2 person staff at the same time it has a multi-member Board of Directors.