ROVE's Fraudulent "Think Tank" On "Voter Fraud" Vanishes Due to Revelations Of DOJ Wrongdoings

[kpete]

Karl Rove's Fraudulent "Think Tank" on Spurious "Voter Fraud" Vanishes Amidst the Revelations of DOJ Complicity with the White House on Prosecuting Trumped Up or Insignificant Minority "Voter Fraud" Cases 6/10

THE FRAUDULENT FRAUD SQUAD

RICHARD HASEN tells of the case of the incredible, disappearing American Center for Voting Rights


12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, June 10, 2007

Imagine that the National Rifle Association's Web site suddenly disappeared, along with all the data and reports the group had ever posted on gun issues. Imagine that Planned Parenthood inexplicably closed its doors one day, without comment from its former leaders. The scenarios are unthinkable, given how established these groups are. But even if something did happen to either, no doubt other gun or abortion groups would quickly fill the vacuum.

Not so for the American Center for Voting Rights, which has vanished with no notice, little comment and with no apparent replacement. This operation – the only prominent nongovernmental organization claiming that voter fraud is a major problem – simply stopped appearing at government panels and conferences sometime late last year.

Its Web domain name has expired, its reports are all gone (except where they have been preserved by its opponents), and its general counsel, Mark Hearne, has cleansed his résumé of his affiliation. He also won't speak to the press about the group's demise.

Its life and death says a lot about the Karl Rove-led Republican strategy of raising voter fraud as a crisis in American elections. One part of the attack, at the heart of the Justice Department scandals, involved getting U.S. attorneys in battleground states to vigorously prosecute cases of voter fraud. After exhaustive effort, Justice discovered virtually no polling-place voter fraud, and its efforts to fire U.S. attorneys who did not push the voter-fraud line enough has backfired.

.............
more at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-hasen_10edi.ART.State.Edition1.436da28.html

[blogslut]

1. cool

I love that it's in the DMN. :)

[johnaries]

2. What? "Voter Fraud" is a Fraud?

You mean there aren't any dead people voting? Who'd a thunk it? All I can think to say is -

HA - HA!

[hippiechick]

31. of course there's dead people voting ...

... but when they vote <R> it's ok, so the Think Tank doesn't need to 'investigate'.


:puke:

[mod mom]

3. Subpoena "Thor" and ask him how he got to be a VR "expert" on a panel for a Bob Ney

chaired House Administration Committee Hearing in Columbus OH in March '05 after only 3 days of activity. Perhaps Brad and Bob Fitrakis (who was there at the hearing could pose some questions for him.

[mod mom]

4. Take your pick on which of these made him a VR expert:

Counsel for Bush-Cheney-2000 in Bush-Cheney, 2000, Inc. v. Baker, 34 S.W.3d 410 (Mo. App, 2000), successful emergency appeal quashing Circuit Court order holding polls open beyond legal closing hour.

Successful redistricting on behalf of Republican plaintiffs and NAACP interveners.

Appointed by Missouri Secretary of State to Missouri Committee on Help America Vote Act to advise on Missouri implementation of Help America Vote Act and related state legislation and rulemaking.

National election counsel to Bush-Cheney, ’04.

Village Attorney and Prosecutor, Town of Grantwood Village, Missouri (1995 – 2004).



http://www.lathropgage.com/people/detail.aspx?attorney=1584

ANYWAY WAY YOU LOOK AT IT HE IS A VERY PARTISAN OPERATIVE, NOT AN IMPARTIAL VOTING RIGHTS ADVOCATE.

[BrainGlutton]

9. I thought Thor Hearne himself had mysteriously disappeared . . .

But I might have read the stories wrong. Does anybody know where Hearne is?

[mod mom]

11. He won't speak to the press:

Hearne won't speak to the press about ACVR's demise. No other group has taken up the "voter fraud" mantra.
The death of ACVR says a lot about the Republican strategy of raising voter fraud as a crisis in American elections. Presidential adviser Karl Rove and his allies, who have been ghostbusting illusory dead and fictional voters since the contested 2000 election, apparently mounted a two-pronged attack. One part of that attack, at the heart of the current Justice Department scandals, involved getting the DoJ and various U.S. attorneys in battleground states to vigorously prosecute cases of voter fraud. That prong has failed. After exhaustive effort, the Department of Justice discovered virtually no polling-place voter fraud, and its efforts to fire the U.S. attorneys in battleground states who did not push the voter-fraud line enough has backfired. Even if Attorney General Gonzales declines to resign his position, his reputation has been irreparably damaged.

http://www.slate.com/id/2166589/pagenum/all/#page_start

[starroute]

12. Or haul Bob Ney's ass out of jail and ask him...

... whether he set up a phony voting rights panel purely for the purpose of having Thor Hearne testify before it.

Don't forget that Ney was a co-sponsor of HAVA, worked to block touchscreen voting integrity legislation, and in 2003 had set up hearings on Democratic soft-money groups.

I've got no evidence that he and Hearne were working hand in glove on those 2005 hearings, but I'm more than half convinced they were -- and I'd love to see the matter explored.

[cmd]

25. Excellent idea

Ney is neck deep in voter suppression. I'm sure there is a Ney, Abramoff, Rove triangle that needs to be exposed.

[femrap]

32. Yea, bring Ney up to the Hill to testify....

all dressed in his prison oranges and shackles. Man, I'd pay $$$$ to see that!

[malaise]

5. The criminals are on the run n/t

[seemslikeadream]

6. Who is R. Doug Lewis?

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=51

[loudsue]

33. Don't I recall correctly that, during the BBV research on DU, many years ago,

that nobody could ever trace R. Doug Lewis' past to any accurate degree? Didn't he sort of emerge whole cloth out of nowhere at some point? And didn't it also appear, if I recall correctly, that he had some shady connections tracing back to CIA or some-such?

Thanks, Seemslikeadream, for ALL your excellent research!! :applause:

:kick:

[seemslikeadream]

35. I'd really like to know WHO that guy is

:hi:

[Patsy Stone]

7. Another of the BFEE's shell corporations collapses in the sunshine.

Along with the OSP, their work here is done. Better clean up the loose ends and hit the road before someone asks you to testify.

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. They must be in stealth mode to cover their asses. Heaven knows they've all

committed enough crimes. They should be busy covering them up until the end of the term.

I hope the Democrats were smart enough to make copies of all those missing reports.

[Rex]

10. Too many fire to put out IMO.

I doubt they can stop ALL their criminal enterprises before 2009. Just too many of them now to stop.

[annabanana]

13. And the silence speaks volumes!. . . . . .n/t

[ChairmanAgnostic]

30. as does the silence of MSM.

Corporate media refuses to cover bush and his cronies. Period.

[cosmicdot]

14. link to the full Slate Hasen essay

http://www.slate.com/id/2166589/

[The Count]

15. Not too hard when you fit in a mailbox, non?

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1283

[BlooInBloo]

16. What about Google cache, memoryhole. etc? It's actually rather difficult to make websites truly...

... disappear.

[Gabi Hayes]

17. here's the ACVR nut, from the People for the American Way site

In spite of laying the blame for 2004 election problems in the laps of Democrats and progressive non-partisan organizations, ACVR’s Republican-affiliated operatives somewhat disingenuously assert that they are “committed to working with national and local leaders from both major political parties as well as election officials and grassroots activists to restore citizens’ faith in the American electoral process.”<5>

Thanks to efforts like ACVR’s, calls for stricter – and in some cases nearly impossible - identification requirements for voters are being advocated across the country. However, these tougher requirements are not justified by any serious or widespread problem.<6> Rather, restrictive voter identification policies threaten to exclude millions of eligible voters and fall hardest on people who have traditionally faced barriers at the polls. A report by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU notes that as many as 20 million voting-age Americans do not currently have state identification cards – especially among “the elderly, students, people with disabilities, urban residents, low-income individuals, and people of color.” <7>

ACVR is nonetheless promoting a set of “reforms” across the country that consist predominantly of calls for restricting access to the ballot box by requiring government-issued photo ID at the polls and for voting by absentee ballot. (ACVR states that government issued ID “should” be available to all citizens without cost – however that does not appear to be one of the reforms being advocated by ACVR.)

ACVR officials promote their right-wing “reform” agenda by testifying before state and federal panels supporting restrictive election reform. The group actively participates in “voter education initiatives concerning election reforms” and also sponsors symposiums and conferences with “prominent legal scholars and election officials to address ways to improve and reform the election process and increase public confidence in fair and honest elections.”<8>

[LibertyorDeath]

18. Wayback Machine should have it What's the URL

http://www.archive.org/index.php

[Roland99]

20. Here ya go!!! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

http://web.archive.org/web/*/%20http://www.ac4vr.com

blah...won't parse right but the wiki article has a clickable link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Center_for_Voting_Rights

[mcg]

27. One page mentioned Chairman Bob Ney, now a convicted felon.

From
http://web.archive.org/web/20050324134634/www.ac4vr.com/news/index.html

03.21.05
Committee to Continue Oversight on Election
Reform with a Field Hearing in Ohio on Monday

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Committee on House Administration, led by Chairman Bob Ney (OH-18), will travel to Columbus, Ohio, this Monday, March 21st, to convene a field hearing on the 2004 election and the implementation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). This will be the second in a series of oversight hearings that the Committee is holding on this issue.
...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ney

[Canuckistanian]

19. "6:"

"6: The number of days the American Center for Voting Rights, a new, "non-partisan," "voting rights" organization, had been in existence before it was called to testify by Republican members of Congress before a House Administration Committee hearing on March 22. The American Center for Voting Rights was formed by a lawyer for the Bush-Cheney campaign and the notoriously anti-voting rights Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, who described the group as a non-partisan, voting rights advocacy group. He testified and submitted a report on Ohio election irregularities, which highlighted the Mary Poppins Conspiracy in this country. If you haven't heard about it, the Mary Poppins Conspiracy consists of many, many ineligible voters—using the names Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive F. Turkey—fraudulently voting in elections."

Rep. John Conyers Jr.


http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2005/05/13/the_gops_attack_on_voting_rights.php

[TexasLawyer]

21. kick

[Bitwit1234]

22. The one thing I say constantly is.....GET ROVE PLEASE

I would love to see congress investigation committees get something very incriminating on rove. We know the DOJ wont'

[libodem]

23. And as the trail grows cold

He's mounting new hate campaigns. In full glossy media hype, technicolor and disinformation. Rove is a snake. They do their damage, slighter away , and strike again, somewhere unexpectedly. Like playing the bop the gopher. I hope someone is anticipating, a Republican bashing, media blitz, on our side. It would be nice to be dishing out the dirty tricks for once, and make them rush around trying to repair the damage.

[guruoo]

24. Already scrubbed from internet archive....

http://web.archive.org/web/*/americancenterforvotingrights.com/*


0 pages found for http://americancenterforvotingrights.com/


Sorry, no matches.

Keep in mind...

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There is no text search. Enter a web address in the box above.
*

Click here to search for all pages on americancenterforvotingrights.com/
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[muriel_volestrangler]

26. Was that the right URL?

SourceWatch says it was "ac4vr.com" - see
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Center_for_Voting_Rights_Legislative_Fund#Domain_Name_.26_Website

http://web.archive.org/web/*/ac4vr.com/* gives results,
roughly up to the end of May, 2006.

[mcg]

28. Look where they redirect to now.

It looks like ac4vr.com was the real URL, maybe
www.americancenterforvotingrights.com was redirected to it.

http://www.ac4vr.com
now redirects to the Slate article
http://www.slate.com/id/2166589/pagenum/all/#page_start
The Fraudulent Fraud SquadThe incredible, disappearing American Center for Voting Rights.

http://www.americancenterforvotingrights.com
now redirects to the article 'The Truth About Fraud'
http://truthaboutfraud.org/

There was at least one other web site involved in this disinformation campaign,
see Related Domains in these pages
http://www.aboutus.org/Ac4vr.com
http://www.aboutus.org/FraudFactor.org

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

29. Gone the way of TalonNews.com, eh? Fake like everything else in

their administration. Their legacy will be storefront crap like this, unfortunately the whole country, and its democratic system of government, will be just as fake soon, the direction they're taking us.

[bobthedrummer]

34. kick

[RoccoR5955]

36. Greg Palast Wrote...

In "Armed Madhouse" about this. There was a US Attorney in New Mexico who he spoke to about this, who said that there are Mexicans committing voter fraud. When confronted on how many were prosecuted, there was silence. Yeah, Mexicans are going to come over the border, to vote for someone that doesn't run their country. Right.

Bushco, Inc. wanted to find people who were committing voter fraud, and there was no evidence of voter fraud. Inglesias was with them up until it became something that he could be put in the slammer for. Inglesias did not want to commit a crime, and thus, was fired.

At any rate, John Conyers met with Greg Palast on 1 June on NYC concerning the e-mails that Palast snagged from the republicans. Palast has five hundred pages of caging lists. It seems that this investigation into the US Attorneys is far from over, and they are getting their ducks in order, so that the maximum number of people will be held responsible for this, and we can get to the root of this.


Believe me, if you read "Armed Madhouse" by Greg Palast, it will all be there, in black and white for you to see. It's ALL there.

[bobthedrummer]

37. Information warfare reload -kick

[bobthedrummer]

38. .