OH cover-up: pre-election e-mail mentions getting "rid of" Kerry; recount

[ProSense]

BWC tried to keep $215M loss under wraps prior to '04 vote

Documents reflect director's concern about possible 'leak'

By JAMES DREW
and STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

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The allegation that high-ranking bureau officials covered up the MDL hedge-fund loss has emerged in the state's civil lawsuit seeking to recover the $215 million investment loss. That lawsuit is pending in federal court in Columbus.

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Mum on MDL

Under the pressure of the scandal surrounding the bureau's failed $50 million rare-coin fund with GOP fund-raiser Tom Noe, bureau officials on June 7, 2005, revealed the losses in the MDL investment - after concealing them for more than eight months. Three days later, the bureau sued MDL and several of its principals, alleging fraud and breach of contract.


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Political environment

As the extent of the MDL losses were becoming clear in the fall of 2004, e-mails show that the upcoming elections were on the minds of high-ranking bureau officials, including Mr. Conrad, a longtime aide to Republican U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, who was on the Nov. 2, 2004, ballot.

In an Aug. 27, 2004, e-mail to Mark Nedved, then the bureau's legislative lobbyist, and another high-ranking aide, Mr. Conrad wrote: "How to start each day with a positive outlook … 1. Open a new file in your PC. 2. Name it 'John Kerry.' 3. Send it to the trash. 4. Empty the trash. 5. Your PC will ask you, 'Do you really want to get rid of John Kerry?' 6. Answer calmly, 'yes,' and press the mouse button firmly. 7. Feel better already."

On Oct. 28, 2004, Mr. Conrad arranged to have lunch with Mr. Samuel on the day after the election.

"GREAT point … We can discuss the recount," Mr. Samuel wrote.

It also was on Oct. 28, 2004, in which Mr. Conrad, in an e-mail to two aides about his decision to not include information about the MDL hedge-fund loss in a weekly report to Mr. Taft, wrote, "There are 13 copies of it made and we don't need it getting unnecessarily passed around."

On Election Night, about an hour before polls closed, Mr. Conrad wrote to Mr. Annarino: "Too bad the election outcome isn't sounding too good!" Exit polls showed Mr. Bush trailing Mr. Kerry in Ohio.

more...

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060813/NEWS24/608130338/-1/NEWS

[MissWaverly]

1. Your link doesn't work or maybe it's my computer

[ProSense]

3. It works for me, but try this:

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060813&Category=NEWS24&ArtNo=608130338&SectionCat=NEWS&Template=printart

[MissWaverly]

5. still no good, could you put a snip up

since I put Norton security on, I now have censorship. I would like to know how they knew
there would be a recount in Ohio in October. A recount that I paid $200 for that never really
happened but Ohio still won't provide; oh, they're busy prosecuting the small fry, who are
"nice people." But we the people, have to live with the results.

[ProSense]

6. I found the article through Google.

Try searching the title, it should come up!

[MissWaverly]

7. Thanks, will do

[1monster]

2. They must read DU. Someone here has a screen shot of a window

aksing: "Do you really want to delete the entire Bush Administration?"

Definitely YES!

[annabanana]

4. Ah, what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive.

Beautiful, is it not?

[OzarkDem]

8. And keeping it quiet

also probably cost taxpayers millions more.

[Supersedeas]

14. no reason for the Corp Media to be concerned

[Imagevision]

9. It amazes me no Dems question electronic voting, like it's a non-issue...

[OzarkDem]

10. In Ohio Dems are questioning it

Dem leaders here are questioning it quite a bit, even to the point of encouraging people to vote absentee.

[OzarkDem]

11. Kick - this is important

[ProSense]

12. More coverage

Former BWC head urged aides to stay mum on investment loss

Monday, August 14, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The former head of the state’s insurance fund for injured workers urged subordinates to be discrete about the fund’s $215 million investment loss in the days leading up to the 2004 election, a newspaper

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MDL founder Mark Lay alleges in court documents that bureau officials hid the loss until after the election, in which Ohioans narrowly voted for President Bush over Democratic Sen. John Kerry, giving Bush the electoral votes he needed for re-election.

The bureau is suing MDL to recoup its losses.

“State officials have left little doubt that the timing and substance of their public disclosures, as well as their entire litigation strategy, have been manipulated and planned for political purposes,” Lay’s attorneys wrote last month in asking a federal judge to dismiss the case.

more...

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=302145

Report: Former BWC head urged aides to stay mum on investment loss

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The former head of the state's insurance fund for injured workers urged subordinates to be discrete about the fund's $215 million investment loss in the days leading up to the 2004 election, a newspaper reported Sunday.

In an Oct. 27, 2004, e-mail message to the Bureau of Workers' Compensation's chief legal counsel and ethics officer, John Annarino, agency director Jim Conrad noted his worry that news would spread about the loss in a hedge-fund investment with Pittsburgh-based MDL Capital Management.

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In other messages to top aides, Conrad openly discussed his desire for Kerry to lose.

more...

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-08132006-697558.html

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/15267239.htm

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/15267251.htm

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/business/15267251.htm



Any mention on the broadcast networks, cable news?

[saltpoint]

13. Bush cheated. Pete Rose is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame because

he cheated, caught gambling on games he played in and managed. Sorry for all you Rose fans -- and I used to be one of them -- but I dont' think we should abide cheating in any form.

Cheating is wrong. Most 6-year olds know that. It takes something balanced and true and makes it skewed and untrustworthy.

Bush/Cheney cheated Kerry/Edwards in Ohio and possibly elsewhere. In cheating Kerry/Edwards in Ohio, Bush/Cheney cheated the United States of an opportunity to be led my infinitely more moral men.