Potential Whistleblowers?

[kk897]

We're looking for someone on the inside to give us damaging proof or testimony, right?

I just posted this on another thread but decided that maybe it deserves its own, so I'll just paste it here. Sorry if this isn't protocol!

I picked up an interesting article before the election:

Board Of Elections Worker Resigns

Worker Doesn't Give Reason For Resignation

POSTED: 5:52 pm EDT October 24, 2004
CLEVELAND -- The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections said the woman in charge of the absentee ballots resigned, NewsChannel5 reported.

Board of Elections Director Michael Vu said Sondra Robinson did not say why she was resigning.

Robinson worked for the board of elections for three years.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/3845657/detail.html


I found it fishy at the time, but have never seen a followup. Does this perhaps warrant a new thread? I'm pretty new DU and don't know the protocols that well yet.

Maybe this woman could be a whistleblower.

I'm in Ohio and have tried to find information about SR. The only thing I've found so far was an odd 2002 posting on FindLaw:

"Mr. Conover. What if someone intercepts your mail, makes copies of it and threatens to blackmail you with it? My Ex accessed my email account AFTER he moved out. Then he made copies of it. I would like to take legal action but do not know where to begin. Any help would be appreciated.

Sincerely SRR"

Then it gives her email address, which I'm not including, since I have no way of knowing if it's even the same SR. Still, it kind of made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this or other potential whistleblowers they'd like to talk about? Is there any way to persuade these people? Obviously, the $200K reward that one group is offering isn't enough to sway anyone... yet.

[merh]

1. May I suggest that you go to the political activism fourm and

read some threads to determine which DUers seems to be the most involved in the investigations. Then pmail that poster or posters with this info and ask them if they are aware of this. If you can't pmail, begin a thread with a title that will draw attention. :shrug: Folks on that forum may be able to better respond and if they feel it is legitimate, will be in a position to get it to someone that can follow through with it. Just a suggestion.

[kk897]

2. and thanks for it!

It's just that I've seen people in this forum taking on this sort of research, too...

but I'll look them up over there. There's so much going on here at DU it's a little hard to take it all in!

[merh]

4. Any time, on the weekends it will get crazy with opinion posts

and those doing the research are probably better found at the activism forum. I know what you mean about so much going on here, some times it makes my brain hurt (heehee). A belated welcome to DU and thanks for this info, I think it is very interesting and a whistleblower is what we need. Good luck & welcome :hi:

[kk897]

5. activism forum doesn't seem that active

in the voter fraud thing... there's more going on in the election forum, I think, but I'll keep digging.

And thanks for the welcome! DU people are good people!

[merh]

7. You many want to email bbv with it at their tips section

http://[e-mail]

Good luck and great catch! ;-)

[kk897]

8. plus, now I find I can't send a private message

Guess I've got too few posts. I'll have to work on that (heh).

[EST]

26. Fairly often, this place gets so very busy that

some functions have to be limited. That's generally the reason you may find yourself unable to perform an activity you were able to, before. Check the rules and notices. Skinner is pretty good about informing.

[IAMREALITY]

3. I think that is in fact verrrrry interesting and I hope

More details can come from that.

Great Job and Welcome to DU!!!

:hi:

[O.M.B.inOhio]

6. bigger reward for whistleblower?

Thoughts on a bigger bribe to come forward? What if there were a Dean Donations Bat-like thing comprised of pledges? Make a cap of a couple $million, so there's no incentive to hold out too long. You pledge some figure and are responsible to paying, but the payment is not made unless someone comes forward with damning evidence of detailed testimony. (I'd pledge on credit, but I'm tapped out from the MoveOn, ACT, DNC donations, so I'm wary of giving again, as are may of you, I'm sure.)

Also, anyone here know the legal protections offered a whistleblower exposing fraud? How about the legal penalties for complicity?

The Democratic Party now has all that extra Kerry money; they ought to put up the cash for a good whistleblower.

[merh]

10. Don't confuse monies collected for a campaign with monies that

can be used to pursue this investigation. The FEC is pretty strict on how monies raised to campaign for an election can be used. They is why K/E had to set up the GELAC fund, the FEC provided that they could collect monies for pursuing election fraud/irregularities and the legal fees associated with same and allowed them to set up the fund. But, the campaign monies cannot be used for this.

[kk897]

11. bigger rewards might not mean that much

since we're talking about the strong-arm tactics of Rove et al, most likely.

For instance, let's say that the BoE's Sondra Robinson is the same person as the woman quoted on FindLaw. Sounds like material for intimidation or blackmail to me, should nefarious types wish to use it for that purpose. I can't help but think that this woman discovered something and was threatened and forced to resign.

I wouldn't rule out actual physical threats, either. If you're afraid for your life or your family's life, you might not be so anxious to speak up no matter how big the reward, and I don't think it's beyond the Rethugs to take such a step.

But then, I'm polishing my tinfoil hat as we speak.

[O.M.B.inOhio]

27. Mild defense of bigger reward.

Yes, if they're threatened, the thought may occur to them that they'll always feel threatened, long after the election. So $millions could be a lure, but that $200,000 that's "on the table" now isn't. And if there were a $2MIL reward, a conspirator might be afraid that another person involved would step forward, and they'd get nothing but jail time.

My optimism can impair my realism at times.

[Woo]

9. Don't know...

I don't know if this falls into this category or not -- OR if you have read this -- but in the Jeff Fisher's Website was hacked thread there is someone claiming to have documents of some type that *might* be something -- they seemed distressed because they didn't know who to go to -- or contact...

Maybe you can talk to him/her, although they didn't sound like they were ready to trust anyone.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=65488&mesg_id=65561&page=

[kk897]

12. Yeah, Woo, I did read that thread

Do you think I should post this info over there? We're talking about Ohio here, rather than Florida... would it be appropriate?

[Woo]

13. Yeah..

If someone has proof of something -- I don't think it matters what state it is in.

[kk897]

15. Just cross-posted

Hope that's okay!

[anamandujano]

14. just a thought

People resign and change jobs for various reasons, not just displeasure at any sh*t going down, think Theresa Lepore, various FBI and CIA people before, during and after 9/ll, now Colin Powell, etc. I think of it as people laundering.

Having said that, a whistle blower would be nice. Although, I can't help but remember the people who came forward after 9/ll, a lady who testified and a man, both claiming it could have been stopped and speaking of intervention by higher ups (who have all been promoted for their inefficiency, like Condoleeza Rice) that impeded the functioning of the agencies that could have protected us. Haven't heard from those whistle blowers for awhile and their information did nothing to dampen this slide into hell we are experiencing.

[kk897]

16. sadly...

Yes, Sibel Edmonds (is that how you spell it?) comes to mind.

Of course, there's that Pentagon Papers guy, Daniel Ellsberg, urging whistleblowers to come forward on Iraq. It's not a good atmosphere for them, that's for sure.

[anamandujano]

18. I was referencing aqents Wright and (I think) Schneider

both discussed in this link--

http://www.prisonplanet.com/Pages/230904_whistleblowers.html


Lots of other links here--

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=CIA+FBI+whistleblowers+%2B+9/11&spell=1

[MominTN]

17. Whistleblower

If someone had information that lead to a conviction and the election turnover, they should get in touch with Cameron Kerry or Kerry's attorneys. They would need protection. I think that getting the reward would happen after the fact.
If you know how to get in touch with the person who resigned, you might persuade her to step forward. Most people aren't aware of the reward nor do they know who to turn to. Everyone doesn't sign up for weblogs.
Please do whatever you can to get in touch with her and make her aware of the importance of our voting process to our democracy. She can send an email from a public library to [e-mail] with enough information like a cell phone number for them to get in touch with her. She can meet with them in a public place or at a police station.
Good luck!

[kk897]

19. SR

Well, unsurprisingly, I suppose, the two-year-old email address I found for *a* SR on FindLaw is no longer valid. It was worth a shot, I suppose.

[BlueDog2u]

21. Definitely

Now you have some further facts. You did your best based on the current information.

[kk897]

22. Possibly more

Well, I did find a SR in the Cleveland area using Yahoo's people search function, but no email address. Street address and phone number, yes, but no email address. Hm.

[noamnety]

20. Dickson City PA had some resignations

"Voter registration officials knew the election judge resigned back in May. We knew there were some resignations in Dickson City and many council men were informed of that."

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=2518483

[kk897]

25. interesting...

I found the timing and location of Sondra Robinson's resignation quite significant. Plus, there's like zero followup and nada on the Web. Seems important to me, but maybe I'm paranoid. MmHm.

[sled]

23. Sondra Robinson LINK

http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgiqa.dll?SR=&MEM=1&Search=Search&F=Sondra&L=Robinson&T=&S=OH

[kk897]

24. Yes, that's the same info I found on Yahoo

I've just written to the Cuyahoga Country BoE and now here's what I wrote to the Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter who mentioned her resignation in a story before the election:

Dear Mr. Hagan---I read with interest the story you and Mr. Sloat wrote on October 24, 2004, titled "Courts won't allow voting in wrong precincts."

What interested me most wasn't so much the court ruling as the curious timing of the sudden and unexplained resignation of Sondra Robinson, the woman in charge of Cuyahoga County's absentee ballots. Before the election, as you may recall, there was some controversy surrounding the design of the ballots, with some people claiming that voters might be confused by it and accidentally vote for a candidate other than their choosing.

I have attempted, in vain, to find out more about this angle to your story. With absentee and provisional ballots, and the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections itself, being at the center of such intense scrutiny, I feel it may be worth looking into the reasons for Ms. Robinson's resignation.

If you have any more information about Ms. Robinson and her work with the Board of Elections, I'd appreciate hearing about it, whether in the pages of the Plain Dealer or in some other forum.

Thank you for your time,
(My name and city)