As a formerly dumbed down Democrat, I start this blog to counter the division created by the left / right paradigm. There are the the Elite and then there are the rest of us. This left / right paradigm is used to divide and conquer. This technique is as old as time.
Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane Crash:
To: STATE EDITORS
Contact: Ilene Proctor PR, +1-310-858-6643
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush's 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport. Velvet Revolution ("VR"), a non-profit that has been investigating Mr. Connell's activities for the past two years, can now reveal that a person close to Mr. Connell has recently been discussing with a VR investigator how he can tell all about his work for George Bush. Mr. Connell told a close associate that he was afraid that George Bush and Dick Cheney would "throw [him] under the bus."
A tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr. Connell's life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove had threatened him and his wife, Heather. VR's attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, notified the United States Attorney General , Ohio law enforcement and the federal court about these threats and insisted that Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Mr. Connell's not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged. Mr. Connell, a very experienced pilot, has had to abandon at least two flights in the past two months because of suspicious problems with his plane. On December 18, 2008, Mr. Connell flew to a small airport outside of Washington DC to meet some people. It was on his return flight the next day that he crashed.
On October 31, Mr. Connell appeared before a federal judge in Ohio after being subpoenaed in a federal lawsuit investigating the rigging of the 2004 election under the direction of Karl Rove. The judge ordered Mr. Connell to testify under oath at a deposition on November 3rd, the day before the presidential election. Velvet Revolution received confidential information that the White House was extremely concerned about Mr. Connell talking about his illegal work for the White House and two Bush/Cheney 04 attorneys were dispatched to represent him.
An associate of Mr. Connell's told VR that Mr. Connell was involved with the destruction of the White House emails and the setting up of the off-grid White House email system.
Mr. Connell handled all of John McCain's computer work in the recent presidential campaign. VR has received direct evidence that the McCain campaign kept abreast of the legal developments against Mr. Connell by reading the VR dedicated website, www.rovecybergate.com.
VR demands that the Ohio Attorney General and the United States Justice Department conduct a complete investigation into the activities of Mr. Connell and determine whether there was any foul play in his death. VR demands that federal law enforcement officials place the following people under protective custody pending this investigation. Heather Connell who
is the owner of GovTech Solutions, Randy Cole, the former President of GovTech Solutions, and Jeff Averbeck, the CEO of SmartTech in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Both GovTech and SmartTech have been implicated in the rigging of the 2000 and 2004 elections and the White House email scandal. Our prior request to have Mr. Connell protected went unheeded and now he is dead.
Was Sought In Controversies Over E-Voting And Missing White House E-Mails; His Death Sparks More Controversy
- (CBS/AP) Federal investigators are looking into a small plane crash in Ohio which claimed the life of its pilot, a Republican media consultant who was instrumental in the presidential and gubernatorial campaigns of three members of the Bush Family.
Michael Connell,45, of Akron died Friday when his plane crashed near a vacant house in Uniontown while attempting to land at nearby Akron-Canton Airport.
But the fatal accident is also raising questions about Connell and his work for key political figures and lobbyists, which has targeted him in investigations over missing White House e-mails and a lawsuit alleging electronic voting fraud.
Following Last Friday's fatal accident, CBS Affiliate WOIO reported that Connell, who had recently been subpoenaed to testify in relation to a lawsuit alleging vote rigging in the 2004 Ohio election, was warned at least twice about flying his plane because his plane might be sabotaged.
Quoting an anonymous close friend of Connell's, WOIO correspondent Blake Chenault also reported that twice in the past two months Connell, who was an experienced pilot, canceled flights because of suspicious problems with his plane.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the crash.
Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Tony Bradshaw said that Connell's plane hit a flagpole two miles from the runway and crashed on the front lawn of a vacant Ohio house. The crash sparked a fire that damaged the house's garage, but no one was inside the Uniontown home.
There were no passengers on the plane, and no one on the ground was injured.
Neighbors told The Canton Repository that they heard what sounded like an engine sputtering before the crash and that the noise sounded like it was coming from a plane.
A Republican Loyalist
(New Media)
Beginning as a political campaign worker and Congressional staffer, Connell became a key Republican media consultant who developed Internet strategies for the 2000 and 2004 Bush-Cheney campaigns. He was founder and CEO of Cleveland-based New Media Communications, which built Web sites for President Bush and former presidential nominee John McCain, according to the company's Web site, and he was the chief IT consultant for Karl Rove.
Connell's ties to the Bush family extend back to working on campaigns for George H.W. Bush and Jeb Bush, for whom he built the campaign site jeb.org. In 1999 he told the Cleveland magazine Inside Business, "I'm loyal to my network, I'm loyal to my friends, and I'm loyal to the Bush family."
He was also quoted as saying, when asked to predict the Internet's role in the upcoming presidential race, "There are things we will be doing on Election Day that haven't even been dreamt of yet."
The rise of the Republican Party in Washington in the '90s, and esepcially after the 200 Election, meant that Connell's network of connections was expanding as well. Having worked with Ohio Congressman Bob Ney and Governor Bob Taft, Connell's IT skills were sought after for the campaigns and Congressional sites for dozens of GOP candidates and officeholders. The New Media Communications Web site (now turned off, with a memorial to Connell in its place) boasted, “New Media’s client list reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of Republican politics.”
In 2000 Connell cofounded with his wife Heather GovTech Solutions to pursue government contracts.
GovTech's clients for databases, content management systems and other services included the White House, the Energy Department, several Republican-led Congressional committees and a few dozen congressional members' Web sites.
The Center for Public Integrity reported that in 2002 and 2004, the General Services Administration allowed federal agencies to purchase services directly from GovTech without a full bidding process.
In 2004 Connell helped form an online advertising firm called Connell Donatelli, which administered the Web site for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a 527 developed to attack Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
Connell’s central role in building the IT infrastructure of the White House and his association with Karl Rove has brought him into the controversy surrounding missing White House e-mails relating to the firing of U.S. Attorneys and other topics, and the fate of e-mail communications sent by Rove and other administration staffers which were sent via a Republican Party Web site, gwb43.com, rather than through a whitehouse.gov address.
Connell's Internet expertise also led him to be subpoenaed earlier this year to testify in an Ohio federal court regarding alleged voter fraud in the 2004 election. Despite exit polls showing a lead by Democratic nominee John Kerry of more than 4 percent, Mr. Bush won the state's vote by 2.5 percent, along with its crucial electoral votes.
Much has been written about problems at the polls in Ohio that year, where voters in many (predominantly Democratic) precincts were forced to wait hours because of a shortage of working voting machines. A lawsuit being pursued by attorney Clifford Arneback seeks to answer questions about this and other ballot problems. [For example, in Franklin County Mr. Bush received 4,258 votes in a precinct where only 638 voters cast ballots.]
Questions have also been raised about how votes from Ohio Counties were tabulated. Computer expert Stephen Spoonamore, a Republican who works in detecting fraud in network architecture and protecting computer infrastructures, has testified that the Ohio election returns he saw were indicative of a "KingPin Attack," in which a computer is inserted into the communications flow of an IT system, with the intent to change data as it passes to its destination.
Last month, U.S. Judge Soloman Oliver refused Connell's request to quash a subpoena connected to the lawsuit, King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association v. Blackwell, and demanded his testimony relating to his IT work.
In his deposition given in November, Connell denied any knowledge of vote rigging.
Since his death Friday, the Internet has buzzed with news about an IT entrepreneur, until now in the background of Republican politics, whose sudden death has sparked conspiracy theories and thrust him into the center of continuing controversies involving White House communications and electronic voting.
Meanwhile, a man the Akron Beacon-Journal recounts as a devout Catholic who organized annual missions to aid communities in El Salvador with as much passion as he devoted to the businesses he built, leaves behind his wife of 18 years and four children.
Weather appears clear; 'Ear-witnesses' heard on tape describing sounds leading to crash
UPDATE: Audio interview with OH attorney who recently deposed Connell, asked for his protection from AG, in election fraud case...
I'm not sure what, if any, light this video --- as shot by local eye and ear-witnesses in Akron, OH --- sheds on the plane crash and death of high-ranking GOP IT operative Mike Connell. But, as it may reveal something, to somebody, in the still-unexplained, and surprisingly-timed crash, I suppose it may useful to put it on the record here.
For example, despite scattered reports that bad weather may have contributed to the cause of the crash, the weather seems to have been clear, at least on the ground, at least by the time the witnesses arrived, as seen in the video. Reports of "mist" seem to be belied in the early part of the video, shot through the front window of the car which does not appear to have its windshield wipers on. [UPDATE: RAW STORY also reports weather data during the hour of the crash, noting visibility was clear, and temperatures just above freezing.] Also, several descriptions of what was heard by the "ear-witnesses" as the crash occurred, may be of value as well...
VelvetRevolution.us' Emily Levy, who pointed the footage out to me, wrote: "This is disturbing for a couple of reasons at least. One is just that it shows ten minutes of the fire, in which we now know Connell's body was burning up. The second is that there's no concern expressed for the pilot or any passengers by the guys doing the filming. Near the beginning they refer to it as 'awesome.'"
Of course, as the folks who were video-taping drove to the scene and described the noise as "awesome," they didn't necessarily know what they were going to find when they got there, which was burning wreckage, eventually attended to by the fire department, as also seen in the video. Connell, as the pilot of the small single engine plane, was the only passenger on board.
Our original story on the crash is here. Our followup post, an exclusive interview with Cliff Arnebeck, the attorney who had subpoenaed Connell as part of a federal election fraud conspiracy case in OH (and had asked for protection for Connell from both the U.S. and OH Attorneys General after tipsters reported threats to Connell by Karl Rove) is here. Both stories offer links to previous BRAD BLOG coverage of the case involving Connell.
NOTE: Arnebeck, whom we also interviewed on last night's Peter B. Collins Show (I'll try to post the audio shortly) is also scheduled to be on this evening's Lou Dobbs' Tonight on CNN to discuss the crash and the Connell case.
UPDATE: Here's the audio from last night's PBC Show. I've broken it into two halves to make it easier to download/listen. Of most note, at least to me, were the comments from Arnebeck (which RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna, who joined us in the first part of the hour, also referred to when she was on) about Connell's attorneys being unwilling to confirm or deny the reports of threats to Connell by Karl Rove, but their insistence on any questions about such threats being sealed in the deposition that he was compelled by a federal judge to give on 11/3/08. I tried to press Arnbeck on that point as much as I could, and on the possibilities of unsealing that portion of the depo, now that Connell is dead, near the end of the interview...
• Brad w/ Peter B. and RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna. Download MP3 or listen online (appx 19 mins)...
• Brad w/ Peter B. and attorney Cliff Arnebeck. Download MP3 or listen online (appx :23 mins)...
'It's hard not to believe there was something deliberate about it'...
A few developments this week in the case of Mike Connell, the GOP IT guru who died in a single-engine plane craft last December, just after being forced to testify in a long-standing OH 2004 voting rights case, but before the case could come to trial. As The BRAD BLOG has long covered both the lawsuit, and Connell's central role, I wanted to make sure the new developments were noted here. Forgive my quick copy and paste, necessarily, given the circumstances of the week which still have me otherwise distracted in many ways. Background links on the entire Connell story are included at the end of this item...
The sisters of Michael Connell, a GOP IT consultant and former associate of Karl Rove who died in a plane crash last December, are now questioning the circumstances surrounding his death.
“Shannon Connell of Madison says her brother Michael rarely talked about work,” a local Wisconsin paper reported Thursday. “She knew he ran an Ohio company called New Media Communications that set up websites for Republicans including former President George H.W. Bush and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. But it wasn’t until after he died last December, when the small plane he was piloting crashed, that she learned via the Internet of his tie to a voter fraud case and to allegations that presidential adviser Karl Rove had made threats against him.
“‘At first, it was really hard for me to believe Mike was dead because somebody wanted him dead,” the paper quoted Shannon as saying. “But as time goes on, it’s hard for me not to believe there was something deliberate about it.”
“A native of Illinois, Shannon moved to Madison in 2002,” the paper adds, “the same year as her sister, Mary Jo Walker. Walker, a former Dane County Humane Society employee, has similar concerns about their brother’s death: ‘It doesn’t seem right to me at all.’”
Karl Rove case witness killed in plane crash, sisters want answers Web guru was potential witness in Ohio voting fraud case ... Shannon and Mary Jo both say their brother, a devout Catholic, seemed upset in the weeks before his death. Mary Jo feels he was "stressed out and depressed" on his birthday last November; Shannon says he atypically did not respond to an email she'd sent. ... Shannon Connell, for her part, dismisses reports that her brother was warned not to fly, but still considers the crash that killed him "very suspicious." Michael was an experienced pilot, and his plane had recently been serviced. Plus there's the timing — "after the deposition and before the trial. It just seems very convenient."
Previous BRAD BLOG coverage since the death of Mike Connell...
Velvet Revolution Calls on John McCain to Fire Michael Connell for Covering Up for Karl Rove in Federal Election Manipulation Lawsuit
Last update: 8:27 a.m. EDT Oct. 7, 2008
WASHINGTON, Oct 07, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Velvet Revolution ("VR"), a non-profit dedicated to clean and accountable government, today calls for Republican candidate John McCain to fire computer expert Michael Connell from his campaign for covering up alleged election manipulations of Karl Rove and others. Mr. Connell, the GOP's top computer expert, was subpoenaed based on a September 19th court order to testify under oath in an Ohio federal lawsuit looking into serious allegations that Mr. Rove has directed a strategy to illegally manipulate elections through the use of computer technology. Rather than cooperate in the investigation, Mr. Connell hired attorneys close to the Bush/Cheney Administration and refused to appear for the deposition arguing client (GOP) confidentiality. Those attorneys have said that they will do everything possible to keep Mr. Connell from testifying before the November general election.
Mr. Connell's refusal to comply with a federal subpoena looking into credible evidence that the upcoming presidential election will be manipulated is at odds with John McCain's promise to run a clean campaign. Another GOP cyber security expert, Stephen Spoonamore, has stated that Mr. Connell has vast experience and knowledge of the GOP computer networks at issue in the federal lawsuit. Mr. Connell has admitted to Mr. Spoonamore "that in his zeal to 'save the unborn' he may have helped others who have compromised elections."
Cliff Arnebeck, the Ohio election attorney who issued the subpoena, said Friday that he is aggressively moving to enforce the subpoena. "Mr. Connell has information about how the votes are tabulated in key states in the upcoming election. In order to ensure that the election is fair and accurate, Mr. Connell needs to testify under oath and pursuant to a lawful subpoena about how these votes are tabulated, whether the tabulation will be compromised and whether anyone has directed him to compromise those tabulations."
According to federal filings, Mr. Connell is working for John McCain to help him win the election. VR believes that unless Mr. Connell testifies under oath about his apparent knowledge of election manipulations, Mr. McCain should fire him. If he does not, the McCain campaign will appear to be in league with Mr. Connell to cover up criminal conduct and engaging in election tampering. This will call into question the results of the November election and again cast a shadow over our election process.
Velvet Revolution Calls For A Special Prosecutor And Congressional Investigation
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The GOP's top computer expert, Michael Connell, CEO of GovTech Solutions, was subpoenaed on September 22nd to testify under oath in a federal lawsuit in Ohio regarding his knowledge of election rigging and vote manipulation in past elections and the upcoming election. Mr. Connell, using the Karl Rove playbook, immediately moved to quash the subpoena and stated that he would not comply because he needs to maintain the confidentiality of his Republican clients. Cliff Arnebeck, the attorney representing the opposing parties, says that he will quickly move to "enforce the subpoena."
Michael Connell, after hiding under the radar for almost two decades as the GOP's secret IT weapon for manipulating elections, has now been thrust into the limelight by other GOP whistleblowers, most notably world renowned cyber-security expert Stephen Spoonamore, who identified Mr. Connell as the person with the most intimate knowledge of GOP computer networks including those in the White House and Congress. Mr. Connell, who has worked for the Bush political network since 1986, has been at the scene of virtually every electoral scandal of the past decade -- running Florida computers during the 2000 election and Ohio election computers during the 2004 election, helping to create Swift Boat Veterans for Truth IT network, putting his computer servers in control of the most sensitive Congressional IT networks, and setting up Karl Rove's off grid White House email system used in the firing of the US Attorneys for political purposes.
Our whistleblowers have implicated Mr. Connell in the destruction of the White House emails. Mr. Connell's former employee, David Almacy, worked as the White House Internet and E-Communications Director during the time those emails were "lost." Apparently, Mr. Connell knows where those lost emails are and how and why they were destroyed.
On Monday, Attorney General Mukasey appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the political firings of US Attorneys who would not do the bidding of the White House. We believe that the Attorney General should also appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the conduct, actions and knowledge of Michael Connell and his confidential work for Karl Rove and George Bush. We also believe that Members of Congress should hold hearings and place Mr. Connell under oath to testify about election rigging, destruction of White House emails, and spying on Congress.
Rove Puppet "Michael Connell" Testified Today - denies knowledge of ‘04 Vote rigging in Ohio
By GREG GORDON - McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- A Republican computer consultant denied under oath Monday that he knew of any GOP effort to steal the 2004 election for President Bush by rigging Ohio's vote totals, an attorney who questioned him said.
A federal judge on Friday ordered Michael Connell, whose firms had consulting contracts with Bush's campaign and with the Ohio secretary of state's office in 2004, to submit to a limited, closed-door deposition in a suit alleging schemes to fix the vote.
A transcript of the deposition was unavailable, but Clifford Arnebeck, the plaintiffs' attorney, whose clients include the Rainbow Coalition and other liberal groups, said that during some two hours of questioning, Connell "denied any knowledge of the altering of votes." Click here to find out more!
Connell also denied knowing of any leftover "Trojan Horses" - bits of computer code that could play havoc with Tuesday's vote counts, Arnebeck said.
Connell's appearance, on the eve of the 2008 presidential election, culminated weeks of jockeying over his testimony, amid unsubstantiated allegations that he's been subjected to threats of retaliation if he tells all he knows, and U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver ordered the sealing of any questions about threats to Connell.
Allegations of Republican schemes to shift 2004 votes from Democratic challenger John Kerry to Bush have swirled around Ohio for four years, initially fed by exit polls that showed Kerry winning the election. Bush won the state by 118,601 votes to secure a second term.
Oddities in Ohio's 2004 presidential election continue to surface, including evidence of document shredding and disclosures of the presence of partisan operatives in the office of former Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who's been criticized for his office's handling of the election.
Records show that Blackwell hired Connell's Govtech Solutions, LLC, of Richfield, Ohio, as an Internet consultant. SMARTech Corp. of Chattanooga, Tenn., was retained to provide a backup server, which was needed because the secretary of state's Web site got more than 40 million election-night visits, said a spokesman for Ohio's current Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat.
During the same year, Bush's campaign paid New Media Communications, which was owned by Connell, more than $806,000 to for Web services, according to Federal Election Commission records. Connell's firm also has served as a consultant to John McCain's 2008 Republican presidential campaign.
SMARTech was paid more than $72,000 by Bush's 2004 campaign and has hosted hundreds of Republican Web and e-mail sites, including the gwb43.com site for politically related e-mails by Bush White House employees, whose disappearance triggered an outcry from congressional Democrats during last year's Justice Department scandal.
Arnebeck called SMARTech's role "an outrageous conflict of interest."
A 2004 election-night computer architecture map for Blackwell's office appears to suggest that as many as 51 of Ohio's 88 counties periodically sent their results to the secretary of state's office. Jeff Ortega, Brunner's chief spokesman, said that computer technicians in her office have been unable to determine how many, if any, counties transmitted results directly from vote tabulators, rather than from separate computers to shield against outside access to vote counts.
Stephen Spoonamore, a cybersecurity expert who's assisting the plaintiffs in the suit, alleged in an affidavit that SMARTech appears to have had the ability to intercept election returns before they were publicly disclosed. Spoonamore describes himself as a "lifelong Republican."
James Hocker, who was the chief information technology official in Blackwell's office, told McClatchy that there's "no truth" to the allegation.
SMARTech President Jeff Averbeck couldn't be reached for comment.
Blackwell didn't respond to e-mails sent via a close associate or to a message left with the Buckeye Institute, a policy institute with which he's loosely affiliated.
Brunner, who took office in January 2007, has dropped all outside consultants and says she's linked counties to her office via secure, dedicated lines.
She told McClatchy that after she took office, employees advised her that about six months earlier, "the Blackwell administration started shredding paper."
(McClatchy Newspapers correspondent Tish Wells contributed to this report.)
EON video posts on breaking Ohio story and Election Protection Movement
Plaintiffs' counsel and Plaintiffs' cyber security expert Stephen Spoonamore in the King Lincoln case before US District Judge Algenon in Columbus have identified Connell as a key witness to Karl Rove's various maneuvers affecting elections during this decade."
The 'Connell Anomaly' Pt.1
Attorney Cliff Arnebeck, cyber-sleuth Steven Spoonamore and author Mark Crispin Miller explain the background the 'Connell Anomaly,' named for Mike Connell, allegedly Rove's IT fixer, who, in a late-breaking story, has been ordered by District Judge Solomon Olive to testify on Monday.
According to Arnebeck's press release,
"Connell was a key inside IT contractor for Ken Blackwell in the administration of the 2004 and 2006 elections, while managing the IT function for the Bush Presidential campaigns and other Republican partisan campaigns in 2000, 2004 and 2006.
Plaintiffs' counsel and Plaintiffs' cyber security expert Stephen Spoonamore in the King Lincoln case before US District Judge Algenon in Columbus have identified Connell as a key witness to Karl Rove's various maneuvers affecting elections during this decade."
This fast-moving 58-minute documentary by award-winning filmmakers James Heddle and Mary Beth Brangan explores the issues and strategies embodied in America's growing grassroots, people-powered 'Election Protection movement.
Scientists, journalists, activists, attorneys and whistleblowers reveal how, why and by whom the last two presidential elections were stolen, even as they work on many fronts to keep it from happening again.
Election Day is one day away. Tomorrow, tens of millions of Americans will head to the polls. Is the nation’s voting system ready for the unprecedented turnout? In record early voting, more votes have been cast before Election Day than ever before. Already, reports of voting irregularities, long lines, malfunctioning machines and badly managed polling stations are pouring in from across the country. We speak to NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller, author of Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy. [includes rush transcript]
Today Attorney Cliff Arnebeck, who last week filed papers seeking discovery and depositions from Karl Rove and others for election manipulation, wrote to Attorney General Mukasey asking for protection for GOP IT guru Michael Connell and his wife Heather. Mr. Arnebeck stated that he had received credible confidential information from various sources indicating that Rove and his henchmen threatened Mr. and Mrs. Connell. In short, Rove et al, either directly or indirectly, demanded that Connell take the fall for the election manipulation or the Justice Department would target Mrs. Connell for some lobby related money laundering.
Arnebeck, an officer of the federal court, took these threats seriously. First he reported this to the federal judge handling the case, the Ohio Attorney General and the United States Attorney in Columbus.
Next he wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey insisting on protection for the Connells.
In a short interview with VR, Mr. Arnebeck stated that Rove et al “had just made things a lot worse for themselves. It is a federal crime to threaten a witness – they are engaging in obstruction of justice, blackmail, suborning perjury, and intimidation. These charges alone could land them in the penitentiary for a very long time.”
The complete, short email, sent from Arnebeck to AG Mukasey, follows in full below...
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:51 AM To:XXXXX Subject: Report of Rove threats against witness Michael Connell
Dear Attorney General Mukasey:
We have been confidentially informed by a source we believe to be credible that Karl Rove has threatened Michael Connell, a principal witness we have identified in our King Lincoln case in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, that if he does not agree to "take the fall" for election fraud in Ohio, his wife Heather will be prosecuted for supposed lobby law violations.This appears to be in response to our designation of Rove as the principal perpetrator in the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act/RICO claim with respect to which we issued document hold notices last Thursday to you and to the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform. See: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6189 and http://www.archive.org/d...tionFraudInOhioCourtCase.
I have informed court chambers and am in the process of informing the Ohio Attorney General's and US Attorney's offices in Columbus for the purpose, among other things, of seeking protection for Mr. Connell and his family from this reported attempt to intimidate a witness.
Concurrently herewith, I am informing Mr. Conyers and Mr. Kucinich in connection with their Congressional oversight responsibilities related to these matters.
Because of the serious engagement in this matter that began in 2000 of the Ohio Statehouse Press Corps, 60 Minutes, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, C-Span and Jim VandeHei, and the public's right to know of gross attempts to subvert the rule of law, I am forwarding this information to them, as well.
7/19/08: New VR Interview With Ohio Attorneys Who Have Targeted Rove
On July 17, VR sat down with the two Ohio attorneys who have filed to take targeted depositions of Karl Rove and others to expose their strategy of election fraud. The ten minute interview is a real eye opener because they talk about how they plan to bring back the rule of law to this country and hold those accountable who have undermined it over the past eight years. And they name names familiar to everyone—Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney, Ken Blackwell, Grover Norquist, Michael Connell and others. This is a must see video so watch it here.
7/18/08: VR Video Of The Ohio Press Conference Announcing The Civil Suit To Target Rove For Manipulating Elections
VR was present at the Ohio press conference yesterday and filmed it. We will be posting an edited clip for YouTube shortly but for all those who want to see it unedited, you can watch it here in eight segments for a total of one hour and two minutes. We also have this available in high resolution for members of the press upon request.
7/18/08: Ohio Attorneys Launch Targeted Discovery To Expose Election Manipulation By Karl Rove And Others
Yesterday, Ohio Attorney Cliff Arnebeck launched a new legal strategy to expose a national strategy of election manipulation directed by Karl Rove. The implications are stunning. Arnebeck has asked the Ohio Federal Court to allow for targeted under oath depositions of key individuals including Rove, Bush IT guru Michael Connell, Jack Abramoff, Ken Blackwell and others. This will be the first opportunity ever to place these individuals under oath.
Arnebeck indicated that he has amassed a great deal of information from various sources including whistleblowers implicating Rove. He wrote in yesterday’s court filing that the “suspected lead perpetrator of this conspiracy against the civil rights of the plaintiffs and against the rule of law in the United States is Karl Rove…. Rove’s politicization of the Justice Department is currently being investigation by the US House Judiciary Committee.” See pdf.
Arnebeck also notified both Attorney General Mukasey and the Chamber of Commerce that he intends to “assert an Ohio Corrupt Practices Act/RICO claim against Mr. Karl Rove and others based upon their activities beginning in 2000 to illegally use corporate treasury money and government power to establish single faction dominance in the United States, military dominance in the world and generally undermine the rule of law as it had developed over the course of the past century.”
VR was at the press conference and extensive coverage is here on our Election Protection Strike Force and on THE Brad Blog. Raw Story has also covered this with new details on the possible manipulation of the 2002 Senate Max Cleland Senate race. VR will have a complete video of the press conference up shortly.
7/16/08: Ohio Federal Election Lawsuit to be Re-Opened to Protect 2008 Election—Discovery to Include Karl Rove Emails
Today, Ohio attorney Cliff Arnebeck, lead attorney in the lawsuit over the 2004 Ohio election contest, issued the following press release.
“Counsel for plaintiffs in the federal King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell case will hold a press conference at 11 AM Thursday July 17, 2008 in the Mezzanine conference room of LeVeque Tower.
We are filing to lift the stay in the case in order to proceed with targeted discovery in order to help protect the integrity of the 2008 election. We also will be providing copies of document hold notices to the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and the US Justice Department for Karl Rove Emails from the White House.
Our new data security expert in the case, Stephen Spoonamore, one of the leading authorities on data security in the world, is planning to attend the conference and will provide some of his perspectives in this matter.
Representatives from one of our plaintiffs, League of Young Voters, will also be attending.
We look forward to seeing you there tomorrow.
Cliff Arnebeck, Attorney for the Plaintiffs”
Velvet Revolution will be covering the press conference and will have video shortly. Stay tuned for some very important information regarding the suit.
CLIFF ARNEBECK, lead attorney in the controversial King-Lincoln v. Ohio Sec. of State lawsuit, talks about the aim of the suit and the impact on the planned fix of the recent election of deposing under oath Mike Connell, head IT operative for the Republican Party and the McCain campaign, on the day before the vote.
Source : ohio.com UPDATE: Pilot killed as plane crashes in Lake Twp.
By Jewell Cardwell, John Higgins and David Knox Beacon Journal staff writers
POSTED: 11:30 p.m. EST, Dec 19, 2008
LAKE TWP.: A single-prop, private airplane crashed next to a vacant house on Charolais Street Northwest Friday evening, exploding into flames and killing the pilot.
Michael Connell, 45, of Bath Township, was alone in the plane, according to State Highway Patrol Lt. Eric Sheppard.
Connell was a prominent Republican political consultant. He founded New Media Communications in Richfield, which developed campaign Web sites for Republican presidential candidate John McCain and President George W. Bush.
The plane was attempting to land around 6 p.m. Friday at Akron-Canton Airport when it crashed about three miles short of the runway.
Taylor Fano, who lives two doors away from the crash site on Charolais, said she heard the crash.
''It blew up and shook the ground a little bit,'' Fano said. ''I was standing in the kitchen and I looked out the window and all I saw was fire.''
Fano said the plane came down in the front yard at 2017 Charolais, then skidded along the side of the house.
The plane came down between two houses, separated by about 100 feet, in the upscale neighborhood. Neighbors said one of the homes was unoccupied, while the other was lighted with holiday decorations.
They said wreckage from the plane could be seen sticking up from the ground.
''It took out the flagpole and the cement blocks surrounding the flagpole like a little planter,'' Fano said. ''It skidded across the driveway and right in between a line of pine trees and a small fence around an in-ground pool.''
Neighbor Julie Hufstetler, who lives across the street from the crash site, said she was getting ready for a party at their home when she heard the explosion.
''It was kind of a swish and a boom,'' she said.
When she looked outside, she saw flames billowing from the garage.
Greentown Fire Department Capt. Lorin Geiser said he arrived within three minutes of getting several 911 calls about a plane down.
Geiser said the crumbled fuselage from the plane was fully engulfed. It took less than five minutes to extinguish the flames.
The burning debris apparently set fire to the side of the garage of the unoccupied home.
There was no interior damage to the house.
Several neighbors, bundled up against the frigid temperature, were walking around taking pictures with their cell-phone cameras.
The plane was on final approach to Akron-Canton Airport's Runway 23 when it went down, said Kristie Van Auken, spokeswoman for the airport.
Van Auken identified the plane as a Piper Saratoga, a single-engine propeller craft capable of carrying up to seven passengers.
The plane, which was made in 1997, is owned by a Richfield corporation, Sierra-November Aviation, at 3046 Brecksville Road, according to the Federal Aviation Administration registry.
FlightAware, a Web site that tracks flight plans, reported that the plane was coming from College Park, Md., departing at 3:31 p.m. and scheduled to arrive at Akron-Canton at 5:43 p.m.
The plane had flown from Akron to College Park Thursday morning.
Van Auken didn't think the plane was based at the Akron-Canton Airport, but added, ''We can't verify that at this time.''
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were expected at the crash site Friday night. An FAA spokeswoman said investigations typically take weeks and even months or longer to complete.
In addition to the Greentown Fire Department, others responding included firefighters from Hartville, Uniontown, Plain Township and North Canton.
Van Auken said several members of the airport operations staff were also at the crash scene.
LAKE TWP.: A single-prop, private airplane crashed next to a vacant house on Charolais Street Northwest Friday evening, exploding into flames and killing the pilot.
Michael Connell, 45, of Bath Township, was alone in the plane, according to State Highway Patrol Lt. Eric Sheppard.
Connell was a prominent Republican political consultant. He founded New Media Communications in Richfield, which developed campaign Web sites for Republican presidential candidate John McCain and President George W. Bush.
The plane was attempting to land around 6 p.m. Friday at Akron-Canton Airport when it crashed about three miles short of the runway.
Taylor Fano, who lives two doors away from the crash site on Charolais, said she heard the crash.
''It blew up and shook the ground a little bit,'' Fano said. ''I was standing in the kitchen and I looked out the window and all I saw was fire.''
Fano said the plane came down in the front yard at 2017 Charolais, then skidded along the side of the house.
The plane came down between two houses, separated by about 100 feet, in the upscale neighborhood. Neighbors said one of the homes was unoccupied, while the other was lighted with holiday decorations.
They said wreckage from the plane could be seen sticking up from the ground.
''It took out the flagpole and the cement blocks surrounding the flagpole like a little planter,'' Fano said. ''It skidded across the driveway and right in between a line of pine trees and a small fence around an in-ground pool.''
Neighbor Julie Hufstetler, who lives across the street from the crash site, said she was getting ready for a party at their home when she heard the explosion.
''It was kind of a swish and a boom,'' she said.
When she looked outside, she saw flames billowing from the garage.
Greentown Fire Department Capt. Lorin Geiser said he arrived within three minutes of getting several 911 calls about a plane down.
Geiser said the crumbled fuselage from the plane was fully engulfed. It took less than five minutes to extinguish the flames.
The burning debris apparently set fire to the side of the garage of the unoccupied home.
There was no interior damage to the house.
Several neighbors, bundled up against the frigid temperature, were walking around taking pictures with their cell-phone cameras.
The plane was on final approach to Akron-Canton Airport's Runway 23 when it went down, said Kristie Van Auken, spokeswoman for the airport.
Van Auken identified the plane as a Piper Saratoga, a single-engine propeller craft capable of carrying up to seven passengers.
The plane, which was made in 1997, is owned by a Richfield corporation, Sierra-November Aviation, at 3046 Brecksville Road, according to the Federal Aviation Administration registry.
FlightAware, a Web site that tracks flight plans, reported that the plane was coming from College Park, Md., departing at 3:31 p.m. and scheduled to arrive at Akron-Canton at 5:43 p.m.
The plane had flown from Akron to College Park Thursday morning.
Van Auken didn't think the plane was based at the Akron-Canton Airport, but added, ''We can't verify that at this time.''
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were expected at the crash site Friday night. An FAA spokeswoman said investigations typically take weeks and even months or longer to complete.
In addition to the Greentown Fire Department, others responding included firefighters from Hartville, Uniontown, Plain Township and North Canton.
Van Auken said several members of the airport operations staff were also at the crash scene.
CLIFF ARNEBECK, lead attorney in the controversial King-Lincoln v. Ohio Sec. of State lawsuit, talks about the aim of the suit and the impact on the planned fix of the recent election of deposing under oath Mike Connell, head IT operative for the Republican Party and the McCain campaign, on the day before the vote.
Ohio Attorney Cliff Arnebeck, who notified Attorney General Mukasey yesterday about threats made by Karl Rove against the GOP's high-tech guru, Mike Connell, as we reported last night, will join Peter B. Collins and me during my weekly Friday 5pm PT appearance on PBC's syndicated radio show.
You'll be able to listen online at www.PeterBCollins.com if his show is not aired in your town. And you may call in with questions and comments for Arnebeck or myself at 888-5-PeterB (or post them here, and I'll try to ask them). Hope you'll tune in!
POST-SHOW UPDATE: Arnebeck joined us for the first half-hour of the show and dropped a few interesting details during our discussion. Among them: 1) Bush can't pardon someone convicted under a civil RICO case, which is what Arnebeck is compiling. (Also, can't remember if it came up during the interview, but as some have suggested that Rove simply invoke Executive Privilege to avoid being deposed in this case, Exec Privilege does not come into play in such a case. It only refers to Congressional testimony.) 2) Connell had agreed to meet with the House Judiciary Comm. several months ago, but so far Judiciary hasn't followed up. 3) Arnebeck makes a tantalizing reference to the finding in the Paula Jones case that sitting Presidents may be deposed in civil cases. More detail on those points and others in the audio interview.BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman [Permalink Download MP3 or listen online here...
Diebold Vote Company Whistleblower and GOP Cyber Security Expert Both Say That 2002 Chambliss Senate Race Was Rigged
Nov. 21, 2008
WASHINGTON
In an exclusive interview, a former Diebold vote machine contractor who was in charge of preparing the 2002 election between Saxby Chambliss and Max Cleland has stated that the software patches placed on the voting machines in the weeks prior to the election could have rigged the election in favor of Republican Chambliss. The contractor, Chris Hood, was ordered by the President of Diebold, Bob Urosevich, to install uncertified software patches on machines in predominantly Democratic counties, according to Mr. Hood. Saxby Chambliss won a surprising victory after trailing badly in the pre-election polls.
The interview with Mr. Hood, posted by Velvet Revolution ("VR"), a DC based non-profit dedicated to a clean and accountable government, can be seen on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKnIghBsU58.
Rebecca Abrahams, a former ABC News producer who conducted the interview, states, "Jim Martin should be concerned about the veracity and validity of the November election results after anomalies in the last election and the statement by Chris Hood. In fact, voters should demand to know if Chambliss had any knowledge that the 2002 election was rigged and whether he knew that Georgia citizens voted on electronic voting machines that had been patched with uncertified software days before the election in clear violation of Georgia law."
Stephen Spoonamore, a cyber security expert and lifelong Republican, has also stated that he believes that the 2002 Georgia Senate race was rigged in favor of Chambliss. "If you look at the case of Saxby Chambliss, that's ridiculous. The man was not elected. He lost that election by five points. Max Cleland won. They flipped the votes, clear as day," Spoonamore said in another exclusive interview posted on YouTube by VR at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzKbigGoMoo.
VR has been working with whistleblowers who have stated that the GOP, under the direction of Karl Rove, has been using computers to change election results. In order to protect the runoff election from such manipulations, a federal RICO lawsuit is being pursued in Ohio to take depositions from those who have been implicated in this illegal strategy. The attorneys in that case are sending document holds to Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel asking that she retain all memory cards and hard drives used in the runoff, and all documents related to uncertified patches. Cliff Arnebeck, the lead attorney in that case states, "Karl Rove has made a career out of rigging elections. Electronic voting machines like those being used in Georgia are his favorite tool, so this important race cannot be watched too closely."
CLIFF ARNEBECK, lead attorney in the controversial King-Lincoln v. Ohio Sec. of State lawsuit, talks about the aim of the suit and the impact on the planned fix of the recent election of deposing under oath Mike Connell, head IT operative for the Republican Party and the McCain campaign, on the day before the vote.
It’s one of the lingering mysteries of the 2004 presidential election.
In a key county in Southwest Ohio – amid vague references to “homeland security” – officials locked everyone else out of the board of elections as they counted punch-card ballots. President Bush emerged with more than 72 percent of the votes in Warren County, helping him narrowly win Ohio – and a second term.
Secrecy surrounding the count galvanized bloggers, anti-Bush activists and conspiracy theorists from around the globe. To this day, the lockdown is cited as evidence of an election stolen from Sen. John Kerry and the Democrats.
Now with another presidential election coming, The Enquirer, through public-records requests and interviews, can unravel the story of what happened on the night of Nov. 2, 2004 – and how officials tried to spin the event afterwards.
- A casual conversation about terrorism between the county emergency services director and a friendly FBI agent in a parking lot may have been the final trigger for the lockdown.
Warren County’s Administration Building – which houses the Board of Elections offices – was shuttered to the public shortly after the polls closed. The lockdown came on top of government warnings issued to elections officials nationwide, stating al-Qaida might attempt terrorist attacks on polling places.
- In the weeks after the election, county officials were bombarded with hundreds of angry e-mails and hit with intensifying media scrutiny from across the country. “Stop destroying our democracy!” wrote a North Myrtle Beach, S.C. woman. One e-mail came from an angry overseas voter living in the United Kingdom.
- As national criticism mounted in the following weeks, a county commissioner was persuaded to gut a press release, while trying to align conflicting versions of what happened.
The county sheriff suggested the official leave out references to the FBI, warning,
“This is inviting the hornets out of the nest.’’
No conclusive evidence has ever emerged showing the lockdown affected the vote count, which was monitored by Democratic and Republican observers. But on the Web, it became one of the oft-cited “irregularities” in the 2004 election in Ohio.
“You can Google it and get 10,000 versions” of what happened, says Pat South, then and now president of the Warren County Board of Commissioners. She acknowledged this month that the county made a mistake in locking the building and miscommunicating as to when, how and who recommended it. “2004? Hindsight? Wrong move,” she says.
LOOKING BACK
The fall of 2004 was a time of election fervor – and terrorism paranoia. President Bush and challenger John Kerry criss-crossed Ohio. Fear-provoking campaign ads filled mailboxes and airwaves. Meanwhile, the nation was placed on “orange’’ alert – the second-highest level – several times.
Federal officials blanketed the nation with terrorism warnings in September and October, prompting 18 Ohio counties to activate their Emergency Operations Centers on Nov. 2, 2004. Forty-eight other Ohio county emergency centers were on standby Election Day in case of an emergency, according to state records.
Among the warnings to county officials was a four-page Oct. 4 memo from the Ohio Army National Guard that stated: “Homeland Security Department has indicated al-Qaida is plotting to disrupt US elections. Potential exists that disruptions could occur at campaign stops and/or polling places in the upcoming elections. Many polling places are located in churches, schools, community centers, local and state government facilities.”
While no terror incidents occurred anywhere in the United States on Election Day 2004, Ohio Emergency Management Agency incident reports, obtained last month by The Enquirer, show a “terrorism threat rumor’’ in Tuscarawas County and complaints about people of “Middle Eastern descent’’ in Allen and Lorain counties.
The Lorain County incident turned out to be an international monitoring group photographing a polling place in Grafton. The Allen County incident was reported to the Defense Department as suspicious people in a gold minivan with California plates. It turned out to be four Latino males doing a film project, according to state EMA records.
In Warren County, Lebanon police, two county pick-up trucks and a bomb-sniffing dog helped guard the Administration Building on Election Day.
Board of elections officials compiled a list of people approved for after-hours access to the Administration Building. The list didn’t include reporters or other approved ballot-counting observers.
Among those locked out were an Enquirer reporter, a TV reporter, and a stringer from the Associated Press. The AP had stringers at all 88 boards of elections, and only in Warren County were they not allowed in. James Lee, spokesman for then Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, told the Enquirer then that no other county had similar restrictions Election Night.
“We weren’t trying to hide anything from them,’’ said then-Warren County Board of Elections Director Susan Johnson, who now works at the Clinton County Board of Elections. “It had never ever been the practice (for the media) to be in the room with the counting anyway.’’
The building’s front doors were locked shortly after polls closed at 7:30 p.m. Even Jeff Ruppert, Warren County counsel for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, was initially denied admission before presenting credentials. Ruppert told reporters he observed nothing inappropriate at the board of elections.
The Ohio Republican Party’s election night rally in Columbus exploded in cheers at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday as Fox News Channel became the first to called Ohio for Bush. NBC later called the state as well.
But Kerry spokeswoman Mary Beth Cahill issued this statement at 1:30 a.m.: “The vote count in Ohio has not been completed. There are more than 250,000 remaining votes.”
FBI, OR NOT?
Frank R. Young, director of the county’s Department of Emergency Services, said in an interview last week that he recommended the lockdown.
He said it was inspired, in part, by a conversation he had with an FBI agent in October, while planning security for an unrelated public event. That conversation took place in the parking lot of the Hamilton Township Administration Building.
Young asked the FBI agent how seriously to take the threats. The agent – whom Young would not identify – told him: “We take it very seriously. There are factions in this country that want to go after – and see disruption of whatever it is – whether it’s an election or whatever.’’
Young said the conversation “was not necessarily what prompted the actions… We just wanted to have some extra protection around the building, because you never know what kind of a nut is out there.’’
But Warren County Sheriff Tom Ariss has a different recollection of decisions leading to the lockdown: “My understanding is the FBI was never contacted. They never talked to anybody.”
The FBI looked into whether anyone had told Warren County authorities about a threat to the board of elections, FBI spokesman Michael Brooks said last week. “We concluded that there was no information given to Warren County of an imminent terrorist threat to that county or to Southern Ohio,’’ Brooks said. “None of our agents did anything wrong (or) advised of any type of any terrorist threat or anything like that.’’
THE PRESS RELEASE
In fact, Ariss advised South, the commission president, to leave out references to the FBI or Young in a press release South was preparing amidst the hubbub over the lockdown that month.
In a Nov. 15, 2004, e-mail to South, county Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel and others, Ariss wrote: “This is inviting the hornets out of the nest. I still like the press release that was made up on Friday.’’
South complied, cutting more than half the detail from her draft press release including this line: “While there was never any specific terrorist threat or warning directed against the County Administration Building or any venue in Warren County, we were adequately convinced that if any attempts were going to be made to interfere with the election process, Warren County was one of three counties ranked at highest risk.’’
“I’m pretty sure that that was a ranking from emergency management,’’ South said Thursday. She thought it came from Young via the FBI.
In an interview last week, Ariss insisted that Young “would never talk to anybody (from the FBI) in a parking lot, because they wouldn’t know who the hell he was. But I better keep my mouth shut,” he said with a laugh. “I won’t even touch it. Just knowing the FBI, they would have no reason to be up here. . . Had there been any concern, it should have been addressed to us because we are the provider of security on the county buildings.’’
“Well, he wasn’t there,’’ Young said of the sheriff.
“It’s terribly disconcerting,’’ Daniel J. Hoffheimer, a Cincinnati attorney, said of the discrepancies about whether the FBI was involved or not.
Hoffheimer, who was Kerry’s legal counsel in Ohio, said, “Here you’ve got two people … who have two different recollections, or two different stories about what happened, and at least, for now, no way of resolving which is the truth.’’
AS OHIO GOES. . .
After returns were certified, Bush won Ohio by 118,601 votes out of more than 5.6 million cast statewide. The Republican president beat Kerry by nearly 42,000 votes in Warren County, including a 14,000-vote boost early Wednesday morning that prompted television news networks to project him as the winner in Ohio.
Bush won Ohio by 50.8 to 48.7 percent and Warren County by 72.3 to 27.7 percent.
In a federal lawsuit and subsequent books, Richard Hayes Phillips, a scientist from Canton, N.Y., and Columbus attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Robert J. Fitrakis, among others, documented what they described as abnormalities in the county’s punch-card ballot counts, including high numbers of Republicans who voted in favor of gay marriage in Southwest Ohio – contrary to elsewhere in the state – and supporting a Democratic candidate for chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. They contend the anomalies indicate ballots were mishandled, miscounted or tampered with, and that the Warren County “lockdown’’ allowed this to happen undetected. Their lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
Hoffheimer said no one may ever know the full story of what happened in Warren County, or Ohio that night.
“But Bush still carried the state by a large enough margin that it seems unlikely … that even with all of these errors that Kerry could have won Ohio,’’ Hoffheimer said. Changes recommended by South and others are now in place: A window for media and other observers was installed overlooking the boardroom where vote tabulations take place, according to current Board of Elections Director Michael E. Moore. And three polling precincts that had been in the county administration building in 2004 have been removed.
Warren County will never lock down its administration building during an election again “unless there was well-documented, unquestionable’’ cause, South promised.
“Could things have gone smoother here? Yup, we learned some lessons,’’ Young said. “It’s just like any fire, flood or tornado that you would have. Sometimes you sit back and you say, ‘What could we have done better to approach that situation?’ I learned to stay the hell away from it…. The only time (since 2004) I had anything to do with the polling place is when I walked in to vote. That was it.’’
A few developments this week in the case of Mike Connell, the GOP IT guru who 
