Update on Wendy Orange - ESS Whistleblower

[garybeck]

If you don't know who Wendy Orange is read this first:

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1806520

Having seen no evidence that ESS Whistleblower Wendy Orange had testified before the Judiciary Committee, I made several efforts to call her.

After unsuccessful attempts, I contacted a DUer in her area and he went to her house.

We found out that although Wendy did blow the whistle on ESS, she is also a Bush supporter and not interested in giving her testimony to Conyers or anyone else.

Is that ironic or what?

So for you lawyers out there, I have a question -- can a person be forced to testify under circumstances like this?

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. I'm no lawyer, but I would imagine that if someone were

issued a subpoena to testify and refused to show they could be found in contempt of court/congress...whichever venue issued the subpoena. I don't think you can compell someone to talk without such procedures though. A lawyer can correct me if I'm wrong.

[Liberty Belle]

4. True. But the Dems can't subpoena anyone.

It would take a full Congressional investigation with Republican cooperation to gain subpoena power.

She could, of course, be subpoenaed in a lawsuit, such as the one filed by Arnebeck, if her testimony is germaine.

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. Exactly

[bmoney07]

32. did she make any sworn testimony or was this something that the

news picked up? Cause if she has made some sworn statements then I do not know how she wouldn't be requested to give testimony in the event that congress opens up an investigation.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

2. she should be forced to

and if her party loyalty overrides her respect for the legitimate elections, or, for that matter, the Constitution, well, enough said.

[Verve]

3. Is she stupid?? This is not about Bush/ Kerry! This is about FRAUD!

If our party was cheating I would hope the majority of us would speak up if we had insider information. It's the ethical thing to do.

How can she sleep at night knowing she's letting a company destroy our country?

[Liberty Belle]

5. How can we contact her? Can we urge her to go to Congress

on the 6th and speak out?

[catgirl]

7. Great work Gary!

So, she blew the whistle, found out it benefited Bush, and decided to condone it. That's messed up. How about a little protest in front of her house?

[Straight Shooter]

8. You ask, how can she sleep at night?

Vampires don't sleep at night.

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. That was my thought.

If I were in her shoes it would probably have been a clear sign that I was associating with the wrong crowd. There's someone who can't see beyond the end of her nose.

[garybeck]

15. she said she was "very pleased" with the results of the election

I guess when she blew the whistle she didn't realize who she was blowing it on, or she wouldn't have done it?

[Pacifist Patriot]

18. That's so sad.

Wonder how pleased she'll be at her arraignment.

[merh]

23. Maybe she wants to live?

:eyes: They are a scary bunch after all.

[dandrhesse]

27. I don't get it either

how can they be so arrogant as to think this monster they have created will spare them? Power is all consuming, no one is indispensable.

[pbartch]

49. If I knew something about vote fraud.........I would tattle

and then write a book!!!!

[femme.democratique]

6. I must say, what a stupid bitch! eom

[catgirl]

10. Why hasn't Conyers subpoenaed her?

Does he think she'll lie under oath to protect Bush?

[femme.democratique]

12. I don't think they have subpoena power...only the full judiciary committee

can force someone to testify, I believe.

[spooked911]

31. she's cute though!

[leveymg]

9. If Offered Immunity, She Has to Testify or Else Contempt Charges Can Be

brought against her. That assumes, of course, that Congress or any prosecutor would seek to subpoena and/or indict her. Not likely these days, I'm afraid.

[garybeck]

13. I think there will be subpeonas if...

depending on what happens tomorrow, and what the GAO does. There's a decent chance that we're only in the beginning stages of this and there will be a widened investigation that takes months if not years.

tomorrow could just be the beginning

[whometense]

20. I don't think you can say this enough times.

I'm hoping one of these times it will sink in. Tomorrow is not the end of this, no matter what happens.

This is a long haul issue, and I believe everyone who is hoping for a quick fix is going to be disappointed. When I feel impatient I remind myself of:

• Watergate
  
• BCCI
  
• Iran-Contra
  

And then (try to) take a deep breath.

[dewaldd]

16. COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY--we need to send her nice cards in the mail

[garybeck]

19. I don't want to be the one to post her address but

if you read the article on her and use some simple search tools online you can get her address

[garybeck]

17. Personally I don't think we should let her decide to bury the story

Evidently she did file a lawsuit against ESS regarding her termination and the lawsuit does include testimony about ESS illegal activities.

Presumably, the lawsuit would be part of the public record. We are trying to get a copy of the lawsuit paperwork.

I don't think she should be able to decide. If her story sheds light on the truth about ESS and the election, the american people have a right to know about it.

We're going to take a look at her lawsuit, and make every effort to contact Arnebeck, Conyers, etc, to use the power of subpeona to force her to tell her story.

By the way, it occurred to me that a Bush supporter giving testimony like this would be even more credible.

Gary

[catgirl]

21. Any word about Doris Sadler or Oranges' husband?

And I wonder if any "people" have gotten to them. To blow the whistle, then
hide in a hole? She was repulsed enough to go to the news with the info. I wonder if she has been threatened by someone.

[Carolab]

43. Excellent work Gary

And you are correct that coming from a Bush supporter it lends more credibility. Did you file a FOIA request for it?

[garybeck]

22. Lesson being learned: We are the media, We are the investigators

We can never assume that any piece of important information is being investigated unless we've seen it at the hearings, or read about it in the lawsuit paperwork.

if we find something important, we must do what we can to make sure it gets into the right hands.

[pixelthief]

24. Well perhaps

we should compell her to come forward.

Mount a campaign of annoyance until she does the right thing. Protest @ her house. Call her. Whatever.

What would Rove do?

[garybeck]

25. Rove would never be in this position

the Dems have been walked all over far too much to even consider what Rove would do in this situation. It would never get this far, or even close.

[pixelthief]

26. Agreed

It would never have gotten this far is the repukes had "lost". They would never have conceded.

But I disagree that we shouldn't consider what Rove would do. Not only should we anticpate it, we should learn from it.

[garybeck]

33. It is a temptation

to learn from the evil ones and copy their tactics.

I say resist.

If we try to act like Karl Rove we will drag this country even deeper into a hole.

I believe our best solution is to use the Constitution, the Internet, and all the legal tools we have to make people aware of the truth.

Jesus said, "the truth will set you free".

I'm banking on it.

[no_vote_no_count]

28. She probably only blew the whistle because

she thought it was an instance of Dems trying to commit fraud, so she thought she'd better speak up. If she had had an inkling that it might not have been Dems and that it might be to benefit * or Repubs, she would have kept silent, I'm sure. Makes you wonder how many other "Wendy Oranges" there are on other county BOEs who did realise the benefit so they decided not to speak out...

[CoffeeCat]

29. Let me get this straight...

Ms. Orange found fraud on Bush's part and STILL remains a Bush supporter?

Has the world gone mad?

Somebody needs to put the squeeze on this Orange.

[garybeck]

34. "The ends justifies the means"

it's their motto

[spooked911]

30. What a story! This should be all over the news!

Jeesh.

What a pathetic media we have.
:mad:

[AmerDem]

35. Forward this onto Conyers

Even if there is nothing by law to make her testify maybe a simple call or visit by such a high ranking official would prompt the women to speak.

[glitch]

36. Yikes - outed to history as a collaborator. Kind of feel sorry for her.

Not much, just a little.

[Verve]

41. I'm glad you clarified you statement.

If she doesn't do the right thing, it's her own damn fault!:hurts:

[VTGold]

37. People keep thinking even after the door shuts - you never know.....

...she may start to see and hear stuff in the not too distant future that makes her change her mind.

[garybeck]

38. I got the impression

that she would only testify if forced to

[VTGold]

39. Yeah but there are many more fights to come....

You never know what might change in her 6 months, 1 year, 2 years down the road.

In future our best friends will be betrayed republicans.

[garybeck]

40. I say our best bet on Wendy is to use subpeona power

People like this will not testify unless they're forced to. At which point their testimony becomes 500% more valuable.

[Boredtodeath]

42. Forced testimony

only results in "I don't remember" answers.

A subpoena won't make a Bush supporter act like a liberal and tell the truth. It will only give them amnesia.

[Verve]

44. GaryB was there a new car parked in her driveway or did she move to a

bigger house recently? Any shiny, new, redneck toys on the lawn such as a trailer; a red decked out ford pick up truck, or new hunting gear? Is she and her hubby suddenly not working because a "rich uncle" just died and left them lots of moola?

It sure would explain why she's "happy" about the election results.

Maybe, she's not stupid, just unethical?

[Igel]

45. So did this affect the primary?

I mean, the best you get out of it based solely on her statements is that fraud could have been committed before 3/30/04. Anything else is reading info into her statement. Here testimony would be of use for establishing a record of uncertified software, but doesn't bear on whether there was uncertified software in November.

Is anybody arguing that the primary results (or other measures, whatever was on the Ohio primary ballot) were off. Of course, I'm assuming that Ohio had their primaries before 3/30, but most states do.

[democraticinsurgent]

46. thanks gary for posting this

i am the DU'er who dropped by Wendy's house yesterday.

Lots of good thoughts being kicked around here. Due to some other obligations I wasn't able to spend much time on this today, but I will soon find out more about her lawsuit with ES&S.

Couple of things I learned from Wendy's mom, who was there at the house:

Her mom is a union person and spoke like a true Democrat/believer. She said that Wendy has gone through a lot on this and just wants it to be over. She said that she wasn't able to tell me much more. I said someting to the effect that "it must have been hard to be asked by your company to do something illegal". Her mom looked at me straight in the eye and said, "you don't know the half of it."

I think there is a lot more to find out here and I'm going to keep digging.

(By the way, they live in a smallish house in a relatively new subdivision. Nothing that smacks of any kind of payoff...)

Rick

[kitkat65]

47. Dumb observation... wendy ORANGE!

[rumpel]

48. Would she not have to be sued to be deposed or subpoenaed by

a bi-partisan investigative committee?

[bush_is_wacko]

50. I would think our government can depose a hostile witness if need be.

they do it in trials all the time. BTW, not a lawyer and will look around to see if one posts.

[Niche]

51. But she did have a crisis of conscience by leaving the comp.

Legally I don't know but what's supporting * got to do with a shadiack of a company who controls the vote.

[fooj]

52. And she still supports Bush?

She's just as crooked as the rest of them then!