BBV-CA-Kevin Shelley.... This STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN

[Warren DeMontague]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/28/BAG028FO861.DTL

SF Chronicle, today:

SACRAMENTO
State freezes $17.5 million in voter funds
Finance director awaits audit of Shelley's spending

The Schwarzenegger administration said Friday it would freeze spending authorization for $17.5 million in federal voter funds until an audit determines if Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has properly spent previously distributed funds.

...

Schwarzenegger's finance department said it would allow for spending of $17.6 million to modernize voting machines and "buy out" old punch-card systems, but that it would withhold the remaining $17.5 million for so-called "discretionary" purposes -- including election office and poll worker training, disability and language access and electoral system mandates.

...

Carol Dahmen, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office, said the decision to freeze spending authority could gravely harm the secretary of state's management of the November election.

"We are disappointed that the Department of Finance has denied disbursement of (Help America Vote Act) funds given the crucial need of ensuring an accurate and secure election in November," Dahmen said in a prepared statement.

Dahmen said the funds were needed for compliance with state security measures, monitoring of electronic voting equipment, and polling place monitoring.

...

So, let me get this straight. Kevin Shelley comes down, hard and in public, against paper-trail free electronic voting. All of a sudden he's got everybody and his bastard brother Bob digging through his underwear drawer.. and -voila!- now the state needs to freeze federal funds for, among other things, monitoring of electronic voting equipment.

Oh. And the audit? It's "supposed to take three months".

How Conveeeeenient.

[marlakay]

1. why is he still getting such great approval ratings?

It must be the actor thing. For every one thing I think he does that is okay, he does about 50 stupid things I hate!!

[shanti]

45. exactly

many californians are star struck. you should see the saccharin ad the gropenator has out now touting "buy kah-lee-for-nia". he makes me :puke: i can't even bring myself to watch any movies with him in it!

[xxqqqzme]

86. steroid boy gets high poll ratings

the same way squatter's CA ratings R next 2 Kerry - LIES - ALL LIES. California's votes R going 2 B stolen in Nov. Call your registrar of voter's office 2morrow and volunteer 2 work the polls on 11/2.

[Cleita]

2. What has he done that is okay, other than to talk about it

and then do the opposite when no one is looking? Someone needs to warn Assnold that maybe the auditors should take a hard look at the election that recalled Davis and put Assnold in charge. That to me stinks to high heaven and no one has raised an eyebrow.

[Zan_of_Texas]

3. Maybe someone DID warn Arnold

and maybe that's why he is shrinking the money for oversight.

Reminds me of how Dubya made sure the 9-11 Commission got very little money to do its work.

[Eloriel]

28. I've posted this repeatedly, but I'll post it again

On the MONDAY before Arnold's surprise announcement on Leno that he was running in the Recall election, a NewsMax columnist whom I'd never heard of (or possibly Fox -- I googled and couldn't find the article again today) wrote that the Bush/Cheney campaign considered New York and California "ripe for the picking." RIPE FOR THE PICKING. It was laughable, EXCEPT to those who suspect that our elections can and are being stolen via electronic voting machines.

I warned DUers repeatedly -- especially those sanguine Californians -- to do what they could NOT to let Arnold win.

NOW look where we are.

[Cleita]

29. Eloriel some of us listened.

I tried to bring this up with my local Dems. club because one of the "dialing home" BBV errors was found in my county. I was dismissed with a remark, "You surely don't believe that do you?". To which I replied that the evidence was compelling. However, our meeting started and no one wanted to discuss it afterwards. If my experience was in fact statewide, then there you have your answer.

I believe more Californians are getting on board right now. I really wish I wasn't so tied up with my husband's health care needs, I would get in my car and start knocking on doors in city hall and any government elected officials offices across the state to make them listen.

[Eloriel]

59. I didn't mean to paint everyone with too broad a brush

but i was VERY frustrated by the attitudes of some DUers (who probably aren't even with us anymore, come to think of it).

Thanks for what you did and continue to do. There were some DUers who were very active and shared my alarm about Ahnuld.

[Warren DeMontague]

38. Those sanguine californians

did what we could. Bush won't win CA, he wont steal CA, he won't "pick" CA. I don't think that's what this is about. Fudging a few (sixty, seventy) thousand votes for Bush in FLA is one thing. Overcoming a Million Vote Margin (what gore won by in 2000-- and I guarantee you it's much higher for Kerry this time) is a horse of another color. No one is going to "pick" CA for Bush-Cheney. But this is upsetting nonetheless-- My hope is, with enough attention, we can get them to free up the funds, and maybe start some people asking questions as to why the all-of-a-sudden dogpiling on Kevin Shelley.

[shanti]

46. shelley

isn't he planning a run for the governor next go-round? that could be the reason right there, to cut him off at the knees early.

[Warren DeMontague]

55. Yeah. I'm certain that's part of it.

He's been named as one of the top contenders.

And I'm sure it contributes to Ahhhnold's unwillingess to give him anything but the finger.

[ParanoidPat]

52. "sanguine Californians"?

LOL! :evilgrin:

[hunter]

70. We need to understand the deeper motives behind this mess...

BBV is not simply a reckless bid for the Republicans to grab onto and hold power.

Here on DU I read a lot of alarmed cries about "pink tutu" Democrats, etc., who won't fight this or that (especially BBV) but it is becoming clear to me this is because these Democratic politicians know how the cards are falling, and they are scrambling to get out of the way.

The sorry truth is that the United States economy has essentially lost its legs. The only thing propping us up now is massive Enron-style accounting fraud.

Any middle class American, especially those who live in California, can see symptoms of this fraud. The California home my wife and I bought for about $200,000 in 1998 now sells for well over $600,000 even as the quality of our neighborhood and city services deteriorates.

Education costs and health care costs have shot through the roof. Yet somehow U.S. citizens go on believing this is not "inflation" because the Consumer Price Index (a bullshit number if there ever was one) and other indices remain sort of "flat."

Our miserable political and economic leaders are utterly terrified. They don't know where they will stand after an economic crash, and they can easily visualize ferocious mobs of peasants armed with pitch forks and torches storming into their country clubs and gated communities.

People like George W. Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who are insiders on these Enron-style economic frauds, recognize electronic election fraud as one more tool in the kit they use to maintain their positions of power. They have learned to appreciate the complicated sorts of economic deceptions that an electronic economy allows for, and they wish to extend these sorts of electronic fraud into our elections.

If they are not succesful, and we manage to hold onto reasonably fair elections, perhaps we will elect a brave leader who will know how to recover from this economic mess without too much pain.

If we don't, this current economy based upon fraudulant accounting may last a little bit longer, but the eventual crash will be horrible.

Either way, this can't continue long. Political leaders such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, who are insiders in these economic deceptions, are not doing themselves (or their constituents...) any favors by covering the mess up. When the crash comes their careers as political and economic leaders will be over.

This airplane is going down, and we should be looking for some sort of survivable landing. Instead our leaders are pretending the flight will merely be "delayed," and that the big holes in our wings are normal.

Buckle your seatbelts.

[ParanoidPat]

71. "ferocious mobs of peasants armed with pitch forks and torches".....

......LOL! At the end of the meeting in Sacramento, as we were being thanked for our concerns and summarily dismissed, I asked the VSP members and other people representing the State "How many people with torches and pitch forks do we have to bring to get you to do your job?"

That question was met with several sets of raised eyebrows and a couple of nervous glances back and forth.

They left without answering. :shrug: :evilgrin:

[Andy_Stephenson]

4. I have raised both eyebrows over this...

Yes indeed...

[ParanoidPat]

9. Tell me about it!

:eyes:

[Warren DeMontague]

5. I've raised my eyebrows several times... Seems to me a no-brainer.

Arnold & Enron had a secret meeting in May, 2001...
We have this "Energy Crisis" that turns out to be totally manufactured, Gray Davis takes the blame, and Arnold becomes governor.

It's ridiculous, even if no one cooked the books.

[Athame]

23. and then Arnold stops the lawsuit against Enron

But, no big deal, eh?

Eyebrows, meet hairline!

[Warren DeMontague]

39. Well, Enron has been horribly under-reported in the Press.

Same "liberal" SF Chronicle that thinks Kevin Shelley being, quote, a "difficult boss" is front page news.

[shanti]

48. do you remember?

they said the SAME DAMN THING about gray davis, that he was "difficult" and "abusive to staff".

[shanti]

47. thank you!

we were screaming the ahnold/enron connection from the rooftops, but no one was listening:-(

[CanIgonow]

6. With CA being so crucial to a Kerry-Edwards victory, could

someone like Soros make funding avalilable through Moveon or others for the voter education part of this process that the Arnold cabal is trying to withhold?

[Warren DeMontague]

7. My Letter to the Governator:

I suspect they'll disregard a whole bunch that are exactly the same, but if anyone else wants to write a similar letter using some of these ideas, I urge you to do so:

http://www.govmail.ca.gov/

Governor Schwarzenegger:

It is with great dismay that I read today of your administration's intent to indefinitely freeze $17.5 Million in Federal Voter Funds for the state of California. While I appreciate the need for fiscal responsibility, as a concerned voter and citizen I must strenuously protest that, while no one has proven any mismanagement or wrongdoing on Secretary of State Shelley's part, what HAS been proven is that the American People MUST have faith in their electoral process. To withold such a large chunk of funding earmarked for election security, access, and security monitoring right before a very important election is terribly irresponsible, particularly in light of the fact that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing connected to these funds. As you are no doubt aware, a "three month long" audit will mean that this funding is totally unavailable for the November election. Secretary of State Shelley has shown every willingness to deal with any allegations of impropriety fairly, quickly, and above the board. Therefore I strongly urge you to not allow this investigation to interfere with the public's right to have full faith and confidence in free and fair elections come this November.

Thank you for your consideration.

[Cleita]

8. Thanks for the ideas.

I'll work on something similar and get it to his office.

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Use the media blaster!

Write LTTE to motivate CA citizens and put the public pressure on to show Ahnold's hand on this. Keep them coming till there is overwhelming media attention to it.

[Warren DeMontague]

37. I fired off two LTTEs yesterday before posting this thread

Haven't tried the media blaster but that's an excellent idea.

Anyone wanting suggestions or inspiration on LTTEs let me know.

[Joanne98]

50. Here's mine. Short and simple.

So. Your witholding Shelly's money for the election? Do you really think your fooling anybody. You WILL NOT steal the election for Bush BECAUSE I'm starting an e-mail campaign aimed directly at your WIFE and her family. We'll see what they think about your scheme

People may disagree about going after Maria but I don't think anything else will scare him off. I doubt if his wife knows shit about this scandal.

[tkmorris]

10. Anyone remember that ridiculous poll recently?

The one that showed Bush suddenly within the MOE in California despite having been at a double digit deficit to Kerry since Spring? Everyone thought that was just silly, I mean what was the point? Faking Ohio made some sense, some people might believe that one but no way anyone would believe he really won California. Right?

Wrong. These clowns are nothing if not audacious. They are going to try to steal Cali. Someone convince me I'm wrong.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. They'll have to cook the books bigtime to pull it off.

I've seen that one poll debunked on GOP electoral sites. The sample was bad. There's no way it's 49-46 or whatever. If Kerry doesn't show at least close to double digits over Bush in November, the democratic process in California is mortally ill.

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. Kiss Ca. goodbye.

It gone. It's the chimps in November.

THIS IS WHY WE HAD THE RECALL ELECTION OF GRAY DAVIS!

THIS IS WHY THEY WANTED AHHHHHNOLD!

WE ARE FUCKED!!!!!

[ParanoidPat]

14. SMACK! SMACK! Snap out of it SOLDIER!!!

THAT'S AN ORDER! :evilgrin:

This ain't over till it's OVER! It's up to ALL of us to get out there and get involved. It's a lot easier than a second 'civil war'. :)

[in_cog_ni_to]

22. Bev said that she was sending her info to Ahhhhnold

because HE REQUESTED to see it. Now he does this? I would love to snap out of this nightmare, wish I could, but it's NOT looking good for us. :(

[RedEagle]

26. Well Now, That's Quite Damning

Arnold sees what's happening, and instead of putting a freeze on the machines, he puts a freeze on any security that might, in some small way, help.

Since he asked for the evidence, he's now culpable for the crime.

If the press had any ethics in CA, they'd be all over this and it would be a bad, really bad PR move for Arnold.

You have voting machines in question- heck, the illegal access has been demonstrated time and time again. Shelley has seen it and that's been revealed on the CNBC show, Dean asked Shelly, "Now that you've seen it...what are you going to do?"

Arnold just tied Shelley's hands while the hatchet men go to work and showed him the consequences of standing up for democracy.

(Irregardless of what Shelley has or has not done outside of this venue)

Those funds are federal funds and have to be accounted for.

California is being denied any security in voting in this election.

California is being denied the federal funding that is supposed to help make elections better.

Arnold, like the voting systems board, is looking the other way. Who should be investigated about how money is spent? Ultimately, if the machines cannot be secure, the people cannot elect their chosen representatives. Those representatives will be picked by concerns that Arnold favors.

Who should be investigated? Anyone who is in a position that can do favors for the vendors, especially Diebold. That would not be Shelley at this time, but includes many others up to and including Arnold. Typical ploy, investigate the wrong thing and the wrong people.

This could be an extremely bad PR move for Arnold, if the media gets into the fray.

We'll see how many of them act like hand puppets.

[in_cog_ni_to]

27. It IS damning and straight from Bev's keyboard

to DU. He requested the info and now he's doing this? Only Bev would know if he's actually received the info yet. I would assume he has because her thread on the Ca. electronic voting machines and Ca. was early last week. That's when she posted that info to me.

[RedEagle]

31. Reality is that he probably already had it

I imagine soon after the recent meetings where the CA Voting systems board declined to do anything and huddled with Diebold, Arnold knew and I'll bet he's been kept up to date all along.

The request was a formality. A PR move to make him look like he cared.

Anyone close to the power on this issue already knows and has seen what's been found.

Trying to skew it to make it look like they care is all that is happening. Control the slant, control the news, and do the dirty work by preventing election security via no money- when it's there to use.

Arnold goofed when he put a freeze on funds to protect the election.

[Warren DeMontague]

53. I hope you're right. I hope others are paying attention.

Where's the precedent for freezing almost $18 Million in funds because a state official "might" have done something wrong with funds that are totally unrelated?

And how full of sh*t are these other justifications: Shelley might have improperly "put his picture on pamphlets and materials".. Like Arnold's stupid picture isn't on the state governor's website? The guy's the Sec. of State-- I can't imagine his picture is worth 17 Million dollars.

I suspect they've had him in their sights ever since he had the nerve to come out for paper ballots-- well, I'm off to buy a Chronicle and see what crap they're peddling today.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. I Will Personally Eat my underwear if Bush takes CA in November.

I don't think that's what this is about-- it'd be too obvious. There's no way they could arrange something like that; Bush is about as popular as a root canal in this state. No, but it's disturbing nonetheless. And worth responding to with emails and the like. There's enough people in this state with a healthy suspicion of paper-free electronic voting machines. I think the crucial thing is to raise the profile of the issue.

[in_cog_ni_to]

21. Too obvious?

That's what they want us to think. That's what they WILL say after they steal this election. "Us? Steal the election? There's no way we would or could do that, there were too many people watching us."

They hack the voting machines and change the vote totals, HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THEY DID IT???? There's no way to know. We're screwed.

Why are we being shown "close" polls from Ca.? It's to set it up so people think it's actually close. Then when they steal it....people will believe it because the polls SAID it was a close race.

After all, Ca. DID elect Ahhhhhnold, didn't they?
Bush will win because of Ca.'s "popular" Gropenator.

[Warren DeMontague]

34. Okay. Let's get a few things straight.

Because people who don't live in California always seem to want to make some weird generalizations along the lines of your post. Now, trust me on this- I live here, okay?

First off, that one "close" poll from CA, from Research USA or whatever, has been thoroughly and repeatedly debunked. The only people I've seen giving it any creedence, whatsoever, are a few folks on this board. None of the electoral websites seem to take it seriously. You have 20 or so polls from the past 3 months with Kerry ahead by more than 10 percent. There are no "polls" we're being shown--- You have exactly ONE dubious poll which is way out of whack, and it's taken from a sample that everyone admits was tainted, okay? That's not a "Trend"

As for "CA did elect Ahhhhnold"... Um. Get past that. Arnold is a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, action movie star. He is about as indicative of the Republican Party as a whole as the Michaleangelo's statue of David is indicative of Rocks. But don't take my word for it-- ask the CA GOP, who can't figure out why Arnold's "appeal" isn't rubbing off on their other candidates. Bottom line? He's a fluke.

As for your, "there's no way to know". You're in Illinois, right? If the election was held tomorrow on Electronic voting machines, and Alan Keyes beat Barak Obama 70% to 30%, people in Illinois would smell a turd, right? Same thing here. Okay? Bush can't win California. He can't. Everybody here knows that. The Republicans Know it.

This is a serious issue, but hysteria doesn't help.

[in_cog_ni_to]

41. I'll take your word for it

because "I" don't live there, BUT Ahhhhhnold withheld funds for a reason. What are local polls saying? Are they showing a 70% for Kerry and 30% for Bush? Are they close? If not, I feel better. If they are, I stand by my "hysteria" that they will steal it.
Close polls sets it up and I don't doubt for ONE MINUTE that Ahhhhhnold would let it happen. After all, he DID get in office by the repukes paying for a recall. It is a serious issue and so was recalling Davis and voting in a damn republican as Governor of Ca.. I don't care if he's a fluke...he's still a repuke and will further their damn agenda. Remember Ahhhhhhnold's May 2001 meeting with Enron? I DO.

[Warren DeMontague]

42. Believe me, man, I've been talking that Enron Meeting up to

everyone who'll listen. And I meant no offense by the "hysteria" line, really I didn't. But I've got a pretty good feel for the pulse of California, and for them to pull something like saying Bush "carried" it would be like the dog pulling back the curtain to reveal the little man pulling the levers-- there's no way they could make that argument w/o people getting really suspicious.

The Recall was a sham, yes, but the specifics of that situation were complex. I fully agree that the energy crisis was a set up.. However, Gray Davis didn't help matters much by combining his personality (which was somewhere between wet noodle and moldy tangerine) with his total unwillingness to have anything to do with the progressives who make up the energized base of the Dem. party in CA. He was completely in bed with the prison guard's union, (not like Arnold isn't, as well) and he steadfastly did a number of things that severely alienated him with people on the left. So, he was not the greatest governor in the world- I can admit that. Nevertheless, he shouldn't have been recalled, and I actively worked against it. But to play that up as a "tectonic shift" in the minds of the CA voting populace is ridiculous... just look at the Boxer/Jones race. A year ago, the GOP was telling everyone they really thought they could get rid of the "ultra-liberal" Barbara Boxer. Now it is extremely unlikely that that will happen.

[in_cog_ni_to]

43. I hope you're right. I PRAY you're right!

I loooove your description of Gray's personality....somewhere between wet noodle and moldy tangerine :bounce:

Gave me a chuckle. :hi:

OK, I'm depending on you and your fellow Californians to get Kerry elected....in spite of the electronic voting machines.

[shanti]

49. why do you even believe in the "polls"?

they are all rigged anyway, propaganda.

[ParanoidPat]

60. In the 2000 election Gore won by 1,293,774 votes in California.......

......since then, our economy has gone to shit, the 'high tech' industry has all but disappeared, hundreds of thousand out of work, foreclosures are way up, schools are closing left and right, the number of people living below the poverty level as well as the number of newly homeless are sky-rocketing.........what exactly does anyone think Bush* has done that would improve his chances here this time around? :shrug:

http://vote2000.ss.ca.gov/Returns/pres/00.htm :evilgrin:

Candidate-----------Party----Votes---Percent

Al Gore--------------Dem---5,861,203---53.5
George W. Bush-------Rep---4,567,429---41.7
Howard Phillips------AmI------17,042----0.1
Ralph Nader----------Grn-----418,707----3.9
Harry Browne---------Lib------45,520----0.4
John Hagelin---------Nat------10,934----0.0
Patrick J. Buchanan--Ref------44,987----0.4

[oasis]

15. I can't stand Rethuglicans. They will not steal another election if we put

their feet to the fire on this.

[nolabels]

17. As a mechanic, I never take my dog to the local carpenter to get care

I don't got to grocery store to buy my tires. I don't expect the electric company to pick up my garbage at the curb. And would never go to a political lobbyist to tell me what kind of computer to buy.
(old news but just should be common sense)

Posted on Mon, Feb. 24, 2003

Santa Clara County faces key decision on electronic ballots

By Katherine Corcoran

Mercury News
(snip)
Skepticism voiced

But in Silicon Valley, where about 42 percent of households have someone working in the technology industry, people are more aware of the fallibility of computers. In fact, some of the best brains in the cyber world, who happen to reside locally, are also the loudest voices demanding that electronic ballots should also be printed on paper that voters can inspect. The county registrar would also keep a copy of the paper record to check the computer in case of irregularities or recounts.

Otherwise, they say, voters have no way to verify that the votes they punch on the screen are the same as those recorded by the computer, and officials would never know if an election had been stolen. Trusting the machine to self-audit, critics say, is akin to an IRS audit on someone who created his own receipts.

``It goes to the heart of our democracy,'' computer scientist Barbara Simons told supervisors last month. ``If we care about democracy, there's no more important issue before this board.''

Santa Clara County, like many other counties, is under court order to replace its punch-card voting system -- the same system that created so much havoc in Florida -- by the presidential primary in March 2004. After a nine-month process, the county staff recommended in January that supervisors negotiate a $20 million contract with Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, maker of electronic voting systems across the country, including in Riverside County in California.

Sequoia's systems don't produce paper ballots that voters can verify, and supervisors didn't ask for such a device in their bid proposal. Vendors and election officials say paper ballots aren't needed because the machines have internal safeguards, are certified by federal and state governments and tested repeatedly before and after elections.
(snip)
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5250435.htm

[Hekate]

18. Kickin' this. Let us know how the Media Blaster works!

BTW, Paranoid Pat, well done with the "Snap out of it, Soldier!" We all need that from time to time.

Hekate

:kick:

[0rganism]

19. Diebold and the GOP really brought the hammer down on Shelley

They've gone above and beyond the call in their attempts to squash him, even after he tried to cut a deal. They're going after his career. When the republicans finish with Shelley, he won't be electable to his local school board. Watch this hit job as it happens, it's a textbook case of multi-front attack and character assasination.

Best bet for Kevin Shelley is writing a tell-all and hoping it hits the NYT bestsellers.

[harmonyguy]

30. Hammer ? is that like GEMShammer?

Wasn't GEMShammer the name of a program up on thecloseo open ftp site?

HG

[MGKrebs]

20. With reduced funds, maybe Shelley

should reduce the number of polling places in Repub, err, I mean 'certain' neighborhoods.

[loudsue]

24. This has GOT to STOP!!!

Can't the courts get involved in a lawsuit or something? Is there a court in California that has power to force the Gov. to turn over the funds anyway? A court who can determine whether this is blackmail, or RICO, or ANYTHING??

Questions....Lots of questions!! What can be done in the shortest amount of time?? We know the repukes ignore swarms of letters... it's their favorite thing. Is there any LEGAL action of any kind that can stop these nazis in their tracks?? Is there anyway to start a major demonstration??

:kick::kick::kick:

[Cleita]

32. Maybe our Supreme Court can, but someone is going to

have to start the ball rolling.

[Eloriel]

25. And then there were those who were simply delighted when

the Governor's staff called Bev Harris and asked for a personal demonstration of the BBV hack -- because after all this is a "nonpartisan issue."

And, of course, it IS a nonpartisan issue, for those citizens and elected officials who actually have America's best intersts at heart and want our democracy to actually survive. Not all that many people in the GOP (and too few Dems in power, frankly) demonstrate that key profilem, and it certainly eliminate all fascists including people like the Gov. of CA.

[ParanoidPat]

51. They know that WE know......

.....It's about time! :evilgrin:

Stay tuned!

[Eloriel]

61. My fear is that they want to find out exactly how MUCH you know

and get a better handle on how to prepare for the cover up (such as withholding funds for the training, security, etc., which strikes me as a very good start).

All I can say is good luck, Pat.

I agree that sunshine is the best disinfectant. But ya have to have enough OF it -- the sun peaking thru storm clouds for a few seconds doesn't exactly cut it.

[loudsue]

33. Can County Election officials be contacted by CITIZENS, and asked

to print paper ballots before the election, and use marking pens??

Maybe each County can get some rich person or organization to print up new ballots for that county in a hurry? To save Democracy? And then just have judges watching the votes counted at each precinct on election nite?

Why not? There HAS TO BE a way to get local citizens in each county to do something to avert an election disaster!!!

I'm on the east coast...so, I don't have a clue what can be done in California. But we have to do something!!

:kick::kick::kick:

[Warren DeMontague]

35. I think the thing to do is contact the media. I've already started.

And the governor's office. The SF Chronicle had this sort of tucked away in the Bay Area section yesterday. I think if enough people make the connections

Shelley Investigates Electronic Voting Security---> Shelley Investigated---> Funds for EV Security Frozen

They'll have to pull back on this.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

36. Remember that OTHER Austrian that "rigged" elections and caused....

panic and fear and used intimidation to get what he wanted???

Austria is a Country that is not worthy of the Earth! 9 Million Turds, that all!

:puke:

:grr:

[Warren DeMontague]

40. Well, that's probably not fair

I mean, I don't blame Bodybuilders in general for this situation, either.

[revree]

56. A friend who studies Nazi connections to Americans said Ahnold is

definitely being groomed by the Nazis to become Prez.

[Joanne98]

44. I've said this from the beginning.....

I'm really worried about California. Ar-nold will do anything he's told. I think we should start an e-mail campaign but instead of blasting him, we should take on his wife. She's a Kennedy. How DARE she help Ar-nold steal the election for Bush. I tell you they're going to try it. You can just see it coming. Another "historic" election. How many electoral votes is that? 135? I forgot, but it's the jackpot. We've only got 60 days.

[goclark]

58. I agree,the fix is in!

We have got to DO something.


I just don't understand why people think that Arnold would not bend over backwards to be President some day.

I am so disappointed in his Stepford Kennedy wife.

[goclark]

54. Voter Alert should come to California ASAP

Something is definitely up in California.
Arnold would agree to anything with any girlie man to get his mug on TV.

We can all sit back in California and believe that no one can mess with the votes. Even if they mess with ONE vote that is ONE vote too many!

America is absolutely nothing if every vote is not counted and valued. This group will stop at NOTHING!!!! We have got to be Pro Active before it is way too late.

The Kerry Camp needs to start a VOTE ALERT immediately...

This is a WAR of the Ballot Box and we can not win by simply getting bumper stickers,registering voters,sending out people to slap down the Swift Lies --that may be working for some but many in America are not really listening to all the intellectual debate folks.

Let's tell the American people the truth! The Kerry Campaign needs to say LOUD and CLEAR...

"Folks,we need to ALERT you right now that we are hearing that something is NOT RIGHT with the voting procedures in California, here is the situation etc. etc. etc.."

"We have asked former President Carter (or another Democratic super star) and a team of lawyers to fly to California immediately. We have asked them to set up a meeting with all those responsible for seeing that YOUR VOTE COUNTS!"

"It is CRITICAL that you meet them on the steps of the Finance Office in Sacramento on September _ at 10 am."


We need to keep them guessing as to what city will be next, just like they do us with the Security alert fear stuff.

We can not take this sitting down. I know there are many other patriots like Bev and the NAACP and ACLU that are working to keep this election on the up and up. But Californians need to hear directly from the Kerry campaign that we are well aware of what they are trying to do and We ain't going to take it any more.
Let's fight fire with fire!!!

:bounce:

[BevHarris]

57. FWIW - The Arnold demo has nothing to do with the audit freeze

The request from Swarzenegger's office came after conversations with Jim March. He was going to San Francisco to get a demo video done. Arnold doesn't have it yet.

The freezing of the audit funds is VERY bad. Also, very suspicious. I'm looking at both the governor's office and the Attorney General's office as problems on this. (See article about this on http://www.blackboxvoting.org -- scroll down) The A.G. is investigating Kevin Shelley, and the freezing of the funds will block the meaningful audit steps put in by Shelley.

Exactly what are they so afraid of?

Bev

[ParanoidPat]

62. "Exactly what are they so afraid of?".........

Ummm, Bev, IIRC, you let them know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we know who, what, where, when and how. My gut feeling is that the Governors office knew what happened at that meeting before we left the room. :)

Whatever demo Governor Gropenator wants to see is only to gage how damaging your presentation is so they can work on their talking points to dispute it.

Again, just my gut feeling, but I believe that, in true conservative fashion, they reacted just a little too swiftly by launching another attack against Kevin Shelley and freezing the audit funds. Considering the tremendous interest by some members of the national press and the fact we still have two months before the election, this may be the biggest mistake they've made yet!

It's all in how we frame their subsequent actions in light of the facts that they have been presented with. :evilgrin:

Right now they look pretty damning!

[Warren DeMontague]

64. It seems to me they have only the slimmest of public "justifications"

for the freezing of this whopping 17.5 Million dollars. Something About Shelley's picture going out on some pamphlets, or something. Bearing in mind that Shelley's alleged campaign donation issues have nothing to do, whatsoever, with these funds, It's gotta be a stretch for them to try to justify this, doesn't it?- That is, presuming enough people call them on it.

[Warren DeMontague]

63. Well, at least I'm not hallucinating, here---

someone much more informed than myself on the whole subject thinks it stinks, too.

Glad you're aware of this, Bev.

[Warren DeMontague]

65. Whoa! Check this out!

Same SF Chronicle Article

In a letter to legislative budget leaders, Department of Finance Director Donna Arduin said she would authorize spending of only half of the $35.1 million authorization request, pending the outcome of an audit ordered Thursday by a legislative panel.

Donna Arduin? Hmmm? Who's that?

Turns out Gov. Schwarzenneger's Director of finance, Donna Ardun has ties to-- guess who? Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. Wow! What a surprise!

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/000646.html

Governor Elect Schwarzenegger put a good spin out in the last several days by naming a large, bipartisan and impressive transition team. What should get more notice however is the person Arnie selected to be his primary budget advisor and auditor-in-chief of the state books between now and the presentation of his first budget in January.

Instead of selecting someone experienced in California budget history for the job of doing his audit, Arnie reached outside the state to someone with direct ties to the Bush family, and chose Donna Arduin, who is currently working for Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Again, Arnie could have chosen from numerous people within the state, such as former staffers for the Legislative Analyst’s Office, Bureau of State Audits, legislative members or their staffers who were well versed in state budget history and issues. But instead he chose to put someone in this critical task who has the mark of approval of the Bush brothers and specifically the White House. Who exactly is Donna Arduin?

Well, she currently Director of Jeb Bush’s Office of Policy and Budget in Florida, who was previously deputy budget director in both New York (under Pataki) and Michigan. She is considered a tough conservative who cuts pork out of budgets so that taxes don’t have to be increased, but she is also deemed autocratic by her critics.

As Florida’s Budget Director, she is an advocate of supply-side tax policy, and has already come under fire for her economic growth and revenue assessments in Florida, while flacking Jeb Bush’s accomplishments. She has also earned the wrath of Florida GOP Senators for a lack of credibility in touting the soundness of Bush’s tax and economic policies, with the senators claiming that neither she nor Bush fully and accurately account for the insufficient revenues base Florida has to meet future needs, instead touting how swell things are in the here and now.

She is apparently a party to Bush’s refusal to close sales tax exemptions for certain groups in order to fully fund Bush’s education reform promises, something which rankles the Florida GOP Senate moderates, who claim that Bush underfunds his education reform program. Ominously, she has a track record already of someone who is more willing to raid special funds and trust fund surpluses to redirect revenues into the general fund to finance deficits, rather than raising taxes.(Wow. I Guess the purse strings only get pulled tight under some circumstances, huh?---Imp.)

And to cap it off, she is a strong supporter apparently of former Florida Secretary of State Kathleen Harris.

***

More on Donna Arduin:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/10/27/MNGA22JV341.DTL

Contact:

http://www.dof.ca.gov/
Department of Finance
915 L Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
[phone]

[in_cog_ni_to]

68. Holy shit.

That's all I'm going to say, impeachdubya. Except....Kerry should see this.


:grr::nuke::grr::nuke::grr::nuke::grr::nuke::grr::nuke::grr::nuke:

[Tight_rope]

83. I am sooo fucking pissed now!....Blood pressure just shot up!

I can feel my blood in my veins heating up!

[Warren DeMontague]

66. Suggested Email To Send To Concerned Californians (and others)

Hi, folks. I don't spam people, generally, unless it's really important. Well, this is really important. No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, generally we all agree that elections (particularly after what happened in 2000 in Florida) need to be transparent and reliable-- the public needs to have confidence that when they vote, their vote will be counted and it will be counted accurately. Now, some of you may be aware that the CA Secretary of State, Kevin Shelley, in April announced that he would not certify certain electronic voting machines until adequate security measures could be put in place. If you've been reading the papers, Kevin Shelley has suddenly become the target of several investigations- and as a result, Gov. Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance has decided to freeze 17.5 Million dollars in Federal voter funds until a three month long audit can be completed... Okay, it doesn't take a math whiz to figure out that these funds will not be available for the November election- an election that could be the most important one of our lifetimes. And what are these funds earmarked for? Among other things, "state security measures, monitoring of electronic voting equipment, and polling place monitoring." Catch my drift? The Secretary of State has declared that Electronic Voting must be reliable enough to have the full faith of California's voters-- and now, coincidentally, the Governor's office is freezing funds that are designed to ensure just that. The investigations into Shelley's activities have to do with campaign donations; not federal funds. Whether the Secretary of State did anything wrong, this money has nothing to do with it.

Anyone truly concerned with the sanctity of the electoral process should contact Gov. Schwarzenegger, and tell him that, given the importance of November's election, The State of California must do everything within its power to be sure all voters are able to cast their votes with the full faith that those votes will be accurately counted. This money must be available for its intended purpose, before November. Tell the Governor that electoral confidence is an extremely important issue to all Californians. Any investigations can and should take place unhampered without damaging the ability to securely conduct the November election.

Here is the web page for contacting the Governor:

http://www.govmail.ca.gov/

Keep it simple and straightforward, if you can. This is about as crucial as anything I've seen.

Please forward this to whoever you know in the State of California, or elsewhere, who might be concerned with ensuring a fair, reliable election come November. (If possible, copy all the text and email it in a new message, to avoid an excessive amount of "Forwarded Message:" type clutter, etc.) If we get enough people to pay attention to this, perhaps we can demonstrate that the citizens of this state really care about their votes being counted. Thank you.

[goclark]

67. Thanks this is critical

I just heard that horror Drier (R) from California on cable.
He was asked was California a state that could be in play for the Republicans.

He said Yes, that Arnold would be at the convention tonight letting everyone know that he is firmly for this President.


The fix is in folks, the fix is in to mess with California.

They will say that Californians voted in record numbers for Bush because of their love for Arnold.

We CAN NOT let this happen.

[Warren DeMontague]

74. Well, I will tell you one thing.

Bush magically 'carrying' California means the election is as phony as a three dollar bill. Period, no question.

[deek]

76. thank you

Fabulous email.

[shance]

69. Californians could use some tips on how best to proceed***

I will send this information out to friends.

What are other effective steps Californians can take due to the limited amount of time before the election?

[Warren DeMontague]

73. The only ones I can think of are:

Get people aware- sending the email is a good way.

Write the Governor, and writing the AG of California may be pertinent as well.

And write the newspapers- particularly the SF Chronicle, because they are the ones who seem to have the sights of Shelley. I find it interesting that, as far as I know, my local paper hasn't touched the Shelley story much at all. Maybe this means there's not a whole lot of factual basis. Certainly it's interesting that, despite the fact that no one has proven any wrongdoing on his part, they've run a negative hit piece every day for the past week on the guy- and, like I said, now it's into... "He tells lewd jokes and has a bad temper". I mean, okay, so maybe he's a jerk- but can we have our voting funds?

[shance]

77. Absolutely. In the article yesterday quoting "some Republicans"

"appeared to believe" Shelley had used funds for political purposes,

Where and how does constitute the freezing of HAVA funds? Where is the evidence of wrongdoing?

Its not a secret that "some Democrats" have appeared to believe that Republicans have used funds for political purposes many times.

I'm curious where an accusation can constitute the authority to freeze these funds?

[Warren DeMontague]

78. And the intense interest in "no bid" contracts is especially precious.

I can think of a lot of much larger Governmental No Bid Contracts that haven't magically caused any big rivers of money to stop flowing.

[wadestock]

72. Tip of the Iceberg....

"the decision to freeze spending authority could gravely harm the secretary of state's management of the November election"....

This pales in comparison to the games that will be played this time around. With the margin of victory so close the last time...most within a few percent or so, they've had time to consolidate their efforts to screw with the voting.

The voting machine industry has been consolidated into just a few players and some of the key players have their identities secret. Microsoft may have connections to all of this that began to be reported in 2000. I've read the voting machine companies went to court to get their code declared proprietary. All it takes is one bad apple to compromise any one of several of these new voting systems.

[shance]

75. Time to think tank specifics. Letter to Californians - a great beginning.

That gets the ball rolling and hopefully people thinking.

I would imagine some of these suggestions have been tossed around. However, I havent seen many suggestions that have been laid out in a summary to make it easier for individuals to take some action, other than the great suggestion and letter written by ID* (impeachdubya)on this thread.



Here are a few thoughts on what I think could be beneficial. Please add thoughts and/or suggestions.

a) A great idea for us to send out an email like IDs* to our friends and aquaintances as mentioned earlier.

b)Keeping track of progress of specific actions being taken on the California board to keep better gage of what's being done and what seems to be working well.

c)Im one who wonders if contacting the Governor's office is the best way to utilize our time right now. It may be, however due to the obvious actions he has taken to block the funding and implementations of procedures that would help to ensure a fair election, Im not so sure that should be a top priority.

c) Seems that a group effort of contacting the California Democratic party/(maybe here is where Governor's office fits in?), and asking specifically what has been done to correct the flaws found in the GEMS software that allows for ballot data to be altered and changed by an outside party?

d)Another suggestion is to contact those Democratic leaders who have shown themselves to be actively concerned about the issue like Barbara Boxer and any others that come to mind. To post other California legislators and/or officials who have been helpful in this issue would be great.

e) I have no idea how to contact Move on more specifically True Majority who has been very involved on this issue, but needless to say, they could make a significant impact on getting the information out on the freeze in funding and the current GEM's problem.

f) Perhaps something overlooked: seems like it might be a very good idea to call the SOS office and repeat our support of the actions Kevin Shelley took regarding decertifying the flawed machines and relay that we now more concerned due to the freeze in the allocated funds that were issued to deal with the voting problems. Seems to me, regardless of the current smear job and accusations, Shelley continues to need our support, unless someone has reason to believe otherwise. I think what remains important is the fact that he stood up and did what was right and consequently is now getting hammered for it and what seems to be a well-timed and over zealous assault.


I believe it is key we support those who have done the right thing. If we don't, there will be no reason for them to continue to fling themselves into a fire when no one there to help pull them out*

[Warren DeMontague]

82. Agreed. Those are excellent ideas.

I'll dispatch an email to Kevin Shelley's office tomorrow.
I found it interesting that today was the first day that the Chronicle didn't trumpet new Shelleygations-- and there was an LTTE from a lady in Oakland suggesting that the heat and flak was due to his opposition to EV.

Good. Good.

[shance]

84. Thanks alot ID***might I say likewise.

And kudos to Lady Oakland***

two steps forward.....

:)

[goclark]

79. Now is there anyone that still believes in Arnold at DU?

If he would hire the lady that has ties to Jeb and Kathleen Harris to be in charge of anything that even starts like the word V O T E. he is a crook just like Jeb is - the fix is in folks, the fix is in.

[Warren DeMontague]

81. I haven't come across anyone who "believes" in him, myself.

I always thought the recall stank to high heaven, too. Another in a long line of the GOP kicking and bitching and trying to overturn an election that didn't go their way.

Clinton's Impeachment-->2000-->The Recall. Same crap, different year.

[ContinentalOp]

85. You say you don't believe in him and yet you said:

"Um. Get past that. Arnold is a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, action movie star. He is about as indicative of the Republican Party as a whole as the Michaleangelo's statue of David is indicative of Rocks."

So you're "believing in" and perpetuating the whole myth of Arnold: the socially liberal, atypical Republican who is outside the party system. This kind of bullshit makes me so angry! So what if he leans the right way on a couple of idiotic wedge issues and he's married to a "Kennedy." He's still a privatizing, tax-cutting, Enron-meeting-with, spawn of a Nazi. When it comes to the true Repuke agenda he falls right in line. It's all about money, greed and fascism. I can't undertand how anyone here still believes that Bush and his cronies actually care about abortion or gay marriage. These are simply bones thrown to their bigoted, fundamentalist followers. The true agenda is and always has been economic and Arnold marches in goose step with the economic goals of this administration. To think that there's no chance for them to steal CA is recklessly idealistic. Sorry for the rant but I still can't believe that he's our governor and there are only two options that explain it. Either we have grossly overestimated the intelligence and liberalism of the people of CA and there really is a strong conservative streak that could be exploited by Bush. Or it's simple theft, fraud and BBV in which case the recall and a few hyped polls can easily set the stage for another coup in November. Unfortunately I worry that the reality could be a combination of those two effects.

[Warren DeMontague]

88. You're cutting and pasting. I stand 100% by what I said.

The gist of that post was that Arnold's "victory" doesn't translate into support for the rest of the GOP in California. It doesn't. (Go talk to Bill Jones's senate campaign workers. Off the record, with a few drinks, I'm sure they will lamentedly tell you the same thing.) To make it sound like that means I support the man is twisting my words in the worst sort of way. Stop it.

Don't fire off a bunch of crap at me that I'm "perpetuating the myth of Arnold". I railed day and night against the recall. But like it or not, he is pro-choice and pro gay rights, at least marginally. Those may be "idiotic wedge issues" to you, but to lots of people they are extremely important cultural delineating lines that are drawn in the public debate. I'm sorry you don't care about them, but lots of people do.

I keep yelling to everyone who will listen about Arnold's 2001 meeting with Ken Lay. Unfortunately the "liberal" media won't touch that, and they soft-pedaled the Enron story beyond belief. You would think that a bunch of guys laughing about "f&*king grandma millie up the &$$ for $300 a megawatt hour" while they bilked the state out of billions of dollars (and made comments, concurrently, about the political undertones of their activities) would be worth huge, front page headlines. We got that story buried on page 6.. (Because it was "old". And when it was "new", it was "unproven"-- so they didn't have to cover it, either time)... You want to rant and rage at someone, take it up with the damn press. Okay? I'm not the enemy here. So don't be taking my shit out of context, please. Thank you.

[goclark]

89. agree 100%

[althecat]

80. It seems to me that the gloves are definitely coming off here....

This is the leadup to the stealing of another election. Only a massive public groundswell and grass roots effort is going to save this election from being Liebolded.....

Fuckers....

[cthrumatrix]

87. you are right and our press is SILENT... Bev has it documented