tagged w/ Your vote is your voice
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Blogged by David Safier
Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election Tabulating Software
Pima County, AZ, Election Integrity Group Creates Software to Analyze Diebold GEMS Databases, Wants to Share Capability With Others...
Guest Blogged by David Safier of Blog for Arizona
Just in time for the elections, the Pima County, Arizona, Election Integrity Committee has developed computer tools to examine election databases created by the Diebold/Premier system. The EI group is offering to examine data from any jurisdiction in the country that uses Diebold's faulty GEMS (Global Election Management System). GEMS will tabulate about half the nation's votes on November 4th...
Last year, the Pima County EI group won a groundbreaking legal case which gave it access to all the county’s computer-generated databases since 2002. Recently, computer programs were completed to examine the databases. They have already revealed problems and inconsistencies that warrant further examination. For example, they found that a few dozen memory cards from optical ballot scanners were uploaded twice, causing changes in vote counts. (A document by Tom Ryan gives more details about the capabilities of these tools and possible problems they have uncovered.)
The programs search for such things as unusual increases in vote tallies, changes in configuration information, and similar indicators that could point to vote flipping or other inappropriate activity. They go through the election from start to finish --- from the Logic and Accuracy tests to the early voting and election day counting to the final wrap up. The results can then be displayed in a spreadsheet.
Anyone interested in more information should email ElectionIntegrity@earthlink.net.
This program isn’t a magic bullet that will prove an election has been rigged. By pinpointing specific problem areas, the results allow investigators to focus on the portions of the GEMS database where possible election fraud is most likely to have occurred.
When the Pima County EI group won access to GEMS databases dating back to 2002 in a court ruling, it was also granted access to all databases from future elections. As a result, it’s likely that Pima County will have the most carefully monitored elections in the nation.
Election Integrity groups outside of Pima County that suspect election fraud have a huge hurdle in front of them – gaining access to the GEMS databases. Hopefully, the newly available tools will encourage them to put pressure on local officials to make the data available.
The long term objective of the Pima County EI Committee is to distribute the programs widely, but currently the data examination is only being done in Tucson. The programs are still evolving in their scope and sophistication, and the analysis team in Tucson is still learning how to use the tools to maximum advantage. Years of work has given the team a familiarity with the GEMS systems that usually isn’t available elsewhere.
This PDF goes into more detail about the computer tools. The Pima County EI group can provide more information, including technical details about the GEMS databases. Please email questions to ElectionIntegrity@earthlink.net.
Blogged by David Safier
Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election... more
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Sara Palin has gone too far! Mainstream media should be all over this. Where are they? She is not just a cheerleader who will say anthing to win. John McCain chose her to be a heartbeat away from President. If she doesnt know she is lying, thats even sadder.
No one is really held accountable any more. We just move along, they are campaiging? If they openly lie during the campaign, how can they be trusted? Sara Palin has gone too far! Mainstream media should be all over this. Where are... more
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It seems that the final days of the presidential campaign have made Erica Jong and her friends more than a little anxious.
A few days ago, Jong, the author and self-described feminist, gave an interview to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the choicest bits of which were brought to my attention by the reliably sharp-eyed Christian Rocca, the US correspondent of Il Foglio, who published excerpts on his Camillo blog. Basically, Jong says her fear that Obama might lose the election has developed into an "obsession. A paralyzing terror. An anxious fever that keeps you awake at night." She also says that her friends Jane Fonda and Naomi Wolf are extremely worried that Obama will be sabotaged by Republican dirty tricks, and that if an Obama loss indeed comes to pass, the result will be a second American Civil War.
Here's a translation of Jong's more spirited quotes to the Milan-based Corriere, as selected by Rocca.
"The record shows that voting machines in America are rigged."
"After having stolen the last two elections, the Republican Mafia ..."
"If Obama loses it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me. And it's not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets."
"Bush has transformed America into a police state, from torture to the imprisonment of reporters, to the Patriot Act."It seems that the final days of the presidential campaign have made Erica Jong and her... more
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TODAY at http://www.operationitch.wordpress.com
- Time for a trillion dollar tag sale at the Pentagon
- U.S. Elections: Is the fox guarding the henhouse?
- HOWARD ZINN WON'T BE VOTING FOR OBAMA AFTER ALL
-Obama undertakes a presidential Internship
****don't forget to see the last video, on CULTURE WARS, and leave your ideas*****
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmHH9xzGv58
Today was a rushed video, with no script or editing. I'm sorry. You will have to wade through 7 minutes of content to get what I can normally deliver in 3- but I am rushed today- for reasons I explain in the video.
But let's chat about TAXES in the comments.
What do you think of Obama's tax plan?
Hey- did you see that ZINN retracted his endorsement of Obama? check the story here:
http://www.operationitch.comTODAY at http://www.operationitch.wordpress.com
- Time for a trillion dollar tag... more
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Professor Jonathan Turley said there is an "uncanny similarity in term of timing," drawing a comparison with voting scandals shortly before the previous two presidential elections.
by: David Edwards and Andrew McLemore
The McCain campaign's allegations of voter fraud "look like" an attempt to suppress voting in battleground states, said a professor of George Washington University.
Professor Jonathan Turley said there is an "uncanny similarity in term of timing," drawing a comparison with voting scandals shortly before the previous two presidential elections.
"I think it is fair to say that some of these challenges do look like suppression efforts," Turley said in an interview on MSNBC. "So I think there is really grounds to be concerned here."
The allegations of voter fraud made by the McCain campaign about ACORN and Sen. Obama's alleged connections to it sound similar to another scandal during President Bush's administration, said Robert Bauer, a lawyer or the Obama campaign.
"This is an astonishing repeat of the kind of toxic intrusion of politics into the lawful administration of justice that we saw during the U.S. attorney scandal," Bauer said. "We're seeing a repeat of that."
The Obama campaign asked Friday for a federal investigation into whether the Bush administration and the McCain campaign have been illegally working together to spread "unsupported, spurious allegations of voter fraud."
The campaign's attorney wrote the request to Attorney General Michael Mukasey after learning from an Associated Press report that the FBI is investigating the controversial organization ACORN, Bloomberg reported.
In Wednesday's final presidential debate, McCain insinuated that Obama is involved with the organization and claimed it is attempting to sway the November election.
"We need to know the full extent of Sen. Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating maybe one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy," McCain said.
Democrats and Barack Obama have attacked the controversy as ridiculous political mudslinging, the Associated Press reported.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, has championed liberal causes since 1970. This year, ACORN hired more than 13,000 part-time workers and sent them out in 21 states to sign up voters in minority and poor neighborhoods.
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow suggested the McCain campaign's allegations are an attempt to reduce the turnout of newly registered voters, most of whom are Democrats.
"To keep turnout low, prevent votes from being counted and scare voters into thinking there are massive voting shenanigans and that their vote won't count anyway," Maddow said.
The MSNBC host cited a comment from Steve Schmidt, McCain’s chief strategist as an implication of their plan.
"The scenario for winning for us is a narrow-victory scenario," Schmidt said in an interview with The New York Times.
This video is from MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast October 17, 2008.
Professor Jonathan Turley said there is an "uncanny similarity in term of... more
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By Mike Farrell
"You really do hate America!" This was the parting shot from a man I had just debated on a television show shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Because hes a notorious right-wing blowhard, I laughed it off as the raving of a crackpot in extremis.
Little did I know.
Soon, those of us who opposed the Iraq war, torture, "extraordinary rendition" Guantanamo, spying on innocent Americans and other illegal tools in the Cheney/Bush black bag began to hear variations on that theme from people one would have expected to know better. And its gotten worse as they've become more desperate' or do the depths to which we've fallen suggest a fault line in America's culture?
Only a short time ago, we dissenters were called 'Saddam-lovers', ;America-haters' or, when they really wanted to cut deep, 'French!' But that usually came from the relatively unhinged, like my debate partner. Today, similar imprecations fall readily from the lips of media bloviators while the hoi polloi lurches toward lynch-mob tenor with screams of 'traitor' 'terrorist' and 'off with his head'; insults not aimed at lowly actors but rather at the man who could be the next president of the United States. Worse, they are winked at and ignored, or even defended and embraced by some of those from whom we expect better.
As one in the crucible of this volcanic yet potentially transformative moment, John McCain, who claims to put 'Country First', 'should reread the novel';The Ugly American. Sarah Palin can watch the movie.
Fifty years ago, Eugene Burdick and William Lederer's book exposed the boorish behavior some of our citizens exhibit while abroad, warning that a 'mysterious change seems to come over Americans'; when they are amid people and cultures seen as different. While the ensuing half-century proved those in developing countries to be neither less intelligent, less capable nor less interested in improving their lives than human beings elsewhere, this breed of Americans, inclined to 'isolate themselves socially' per Burdick and Lederer, seems to have turned inward, chanting 'USA, USA!'
As the world prospered behind their backs, those affected by this insular strain of American nationalism metastasized into swaggering jingoists full of Cold War machismo, content to wave the flag and 'Go for the gold.' For them, the collapse of the Evil Empire proved the world's sole superpower could do as it damned well pleased: 'We're No. 1' baby! Anybody who doesn't like it should get the hell out of the way.
'[L]oud and ostentatious'; per the book, this parochial group bequeathed its 'mysterious change' to generations of Know-Nothings who stuck to their own, seeing 'difference'; as a threat. Dumbed-down by television and wary of anyone lacking sufficient fervor for their triumphant “Christian nation,” they made those of different color, heritage or belief into 'the other'; a practice encouraged by coded appeals to racism from their would-be leaders. With Nixon's 'Southern strategy' and 'silent majority' setting the stage, Reagan's 'welfare queens' and Bush the First's 'Willie Horton' spread the contagion while conferring it legitimacy.
Embraced as true conservatives and stoked by hate-radio millionaires, these changelings seduced the Republican Party, laid claim to the flag and launched a 'culture war'. Adopted by anti-government hucksters, empire-seekers and profligate free-marketeers, they divided the nation with a God and Country ethos that declared the Bible inerrant, reviled homosexuality, 'permissiveness' liberalism and critical thinking, denied women equal rights, and children any at all, and cowed the media into submission.
Continued at link...By Mike Farrell
"You really do hate America!" This was the parting shot... more
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Joe the Plumber? More like Joe the Keating Family Operative
Questions: Why is Joe the Plumbers ties to Charles Keating being ignored by mainstream media? Why havent they told ordinary Americans about his ties to Charles Keating? Would Joe the Plumber get the traction if people knew about his connections to the Keating family? Do they really think Joe the Plumber is being used by John McCain by accident?
Sounds like a Karl Rove strategy to me. Done in plain sight.
By David Neiwert Thursday Oct 16, 2008 8:59am
I guess it's no wonder John McCain was so happy to use "Joe the Plumber" as a debate prop last night -- he's a partisan Republican who also happens to be a member of McCain's old friends, the Keating family.
From Martin Eisenstadt:
Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.
Now I guess we know why Joe is telling the press that Obama is a "socialist" and that the Obama tax plan "infuriated" him. After all, it would hit families like the Keatings and their minions the hardest.
Not to mention that Obama's economic-recovery plan would put the crimps on influence peddlers like McCain's old friends, the Keating Five.
But he sure made for a good one-day story.
Joe the Plumber? More like Joe the Keating Family Operative
Questions: Why is Joe... more
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast - Drinking the ACORN Kool-Aid: How Cries of Voter Fraud Cover Up GOP Elections Theft
Virtually the entire mainstream electronic media drank ACORN Kool-Aid this month brewed up by the Republican National Committee. Almost no one seriously challenged John McCain's comical assertions that ACORN, a grassroots voter registration group, "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."
While the Republicans had the distracted media searching for links between Obama and ACORN, RNC operatives were busily completing one of the most massive voter suppression and purging efforts in American history, stealing hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes across the embattled swing states and striving to arrange chaos and endless lines at the voting booths next week.
First the facts about ACORN. Months ago, we obtained, as part of our investigation for Rolling Stone magazine, the Republican's list the GOP alleged were the very worst cases of vote and registration fraud by ACORN and similar groups. We went through the names the GOP asserted were "obviously, undeniably and clearly fraudulent" voter registrations.
First, there was Melissa Tais, a dubious ACORN registrant. Her two voter registration forms show, admittedly, suspiciously different signatures. Republicans suggested Melissa was part of a massive fraud to allow Democrats to vote twice.
They were wrong. Ms. Tais, a Cerrillos, New Mexico, waitress, told us she had signed one form on a table and one form holding the paper in her hand. Hence, a second, wobbly signature.
Then there was Patricia White, who Republicans claimed was a fictitious voter. When we filmed her at home in Albuquerque, she seemed real enough.
And so on, through the entire GOP list -- not one fraud. And these were their best cases out of the five million "illegal voters" who Republican leaders claim have infiltrated America's voting rolls.
The overblown histrionics about ACORN do not surprise those of us who have been watching the RNC's election manipulation antics. For eight years White House operatives have been trying to gin up press stories about voter fraud. David Iglesias of New Mexico was one of seven U.S. Attorneys fired by the White House for their refusal to bring voter fraud prosecutions. "We took over 100 complaints," from the GOP, he told us, "We investigated for almost 2 years, I didn't find one prosecutable voter fraud case in the entire state of New Mexico."
Iglesias, a McCain supporter, has, for the first time, leveled a new and serious charge: Despite finding none of the 200 voters guilty, he says the White House nevertheless ordered him to illegally prosecute baseless cases against innocent citizens, just to gin up voter fraud publicity. His refusal, he says, cost him his job. "They were looking for politicized -- for improperly politicized US attorneys to file bogus voter fraud cases."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast - Drinking the ACORN Kool-Aid: How Cries of... more
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With reports of voting problems rife in the media, and instances of vote flipping seen in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas, elections watchdogs are on their toes for any more foul play.
In spite of their activism, 50,000 voters have been lopped off Georgia's rolls.
CNN's Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein reported:
College senior Kyla Berry was looking forward to voting in her first presidential election, even carrying her voter registration card in her wallet.
But about two weeks ago, Berry got disturbing news from local election officials.
"This office has received notification from the state of Georgia indicating that you are not a citizen of the United States and therefore, not eligible to vote," a letter from the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections said.
But Berry is a U.S. citizen, born in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a passport and a birth certificate to prove it.
Berry is one of more than 50,000 registered Georgia voters who have been "flagged" because of a computer mismatch in their personal identification information. At least 4,500 of those people are having their citizenship questioned and the burden is on them to prove eligibility to vote.
Experts say lists of people with mismatches are often systematically cut, or "purged," from voter rolls.
The Associated Press reported that federal judges have order Georgia to stop using Social Security Numbers and driver license numbers to verify voters' immigration status.With reports of voting problems rife in the media, and instances of vote flipping seen... more
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I find it disheartening that you can't pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV and get impartial news. I DON'T want to know what those at the newspapers or television stations feel - I want to know the NEWS. It almost seems like they are being paid to write or broadcast only THEIR version of the stories and NOT what's really going on out in the world. It amazes me how they've helped contribute to the following Obama has in the polls - I ask those of you in the media - could you give us the truth that is out there or is it too late for that? I want more then what your boss just wants me to know. Wake up America!I find it disheartening that you can't pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV and... more
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From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
Palin did not know that Russian oil officials would be visiting her home state this week.
DOVER, New Hampshire (CNN) – The campaign of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said the Alaska governor was unaware of a visit by Russian energy officials to Anchorage on Monday.
Eight high-level officials from Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy conglomerate, traveled to Anchorage earlier this week to meet with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the chief executive of ConocoPhillips to discuss energy projects and the possibility of expanding into new markets.
The meeting on Alaskan soil comes at a time of chilly relations between Russia and the United States following Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August. Both Palin and John McCain have been critical of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the campaign trail, and Palin raised eyebrows last month in an interview by saying that Putin “rears his head” by dispatching Russian jets into Alaska’s airspace.
Palin has argued that her state’s proximity to Russia, as well as trade missions between Alaska and Russia, have helped give her the foreign policy experience necessary to be Vice President. But the campaign said the governor did not know that the Gazprom delegation was meeting with the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, who is a Palin appointee.
Asked if Palin supports Gazprom doing business in Alaska, an aide to the governor said that “Alaska state officials routinely meet with government representatives from energy companies around the world.”
“Alaska has been, and will remain, very selective about companies with whom they do business,” said Palin spokesperson Tracey Schmitt.
UPDATE: The commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, Tom Irwin, tells CNN he informed Palin’s chief of staff, Mike Nizich, about the meeting before it took place two days ago. Irwin did not know if Nizich had passed the information along to the governor.
Irwin told CNN that he exchanged emails with Palin on Wednesday about energy issues, but that neither of them mentioned the Gazprom meeting in their messages. Despite Palin's absence from the state, Irwin said “it remains business as normal, and the governor has stayed very involved in state activities and is still leading state government.”
He noted that Monday's meeting with the Russian officials actually took place in the governor’s conference room in the Atwood Building in Anchorage, which he said is a common practice for large meetings and only requires on-site approval by office staffers.
Irwin stressed that the meeting with the Russian delegation was simply “a presentation of what they do” and that there was no specific pitch made about any business interest in Alaska.
From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
Palin did not know that Russian oil... more
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from: Allen L Roland"s Radio Weblog
George W Bush, who used to blow up frogs as a child, has taken a giant step towards not only destroying America with his economic policies but the world has now been so infected with his politics of greed that we may now be facing a global recession : Allen L Roland
Despite a brief short covering sellers rally in the market a few days ago ~ the stock market is selling off substantially today and nothing has fundamentally changed concerning America’s underlying economic problems.
America is still deeply in debt and the latest bailout schemes will increase our debt by two or three more times.
A record 91 percent of Americans are "dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States," according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. Another 84 percent of those polled "predict the economy is going to get worse."
Prof. Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor at New York University, and increasingly well-known as the economic "seer who saw it coming" , foresees 2-year recession and calls for debt relief to households. http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/7976/
Here are the basic facts ~ We have no real manufacturing base, we are not saving anything, we have not fixed the huge derivatives nightmare, and we have not learned from our excesses and gone back to a sound and properly regulated economic and financial policy.
There will be other meltdowns soon and probably right after the elections ~ because the market fundamentals are not improving as central banks flood new money into the system to give the appearance of financial stability. It was Henry Kissinger who wrote ~ " It's not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true."
As such, every device will be ultilized by the Cheney/Bush administration to give the appearance of financial stability, including the use of the infamous Paulson Plunge Protection team, to give the perception of stability going into November's election. http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2007/03/08.html
But here is the obvious truth ~ the Cheney/Bush/McCain administration has been a crime syndicate and their greed is a rapidly spreading cancer which has infected the entire global financial sector. It's Rivero's rule in action ~ all organizations and countries will eventually reflect the moral integrity and character of its leaders. As such, we have done the world a disservice with our economic policies which hopefully will be eventually rectified by President Obama.
Note: Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
from: Allen L Roland"s Radio Weblog
George W Bush, who used to blow up frogs... more
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A poll of the last debate says Obama won by a landslide
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A bipartisan report released today by the House Oversight Committee finds that President Bush made a "legally unprecedented and an inappropriate use of executive privilege"; when the administration withheld Patrick Fitzgerald"s interview with Vice President Cheney on the CIA leak scandal. A separate report also criticizes Bush"s assertion of executive privilege regarding his recent climate change and Clean Air Act decisions:
On CIA leak scandal: "The assertion of executive privilege prevents the Committee from having access to a complete set of records and thus results in the Committee"s inability to assess fully the actions of the Vice President."
On the environment: "The assertion of executive privilege under these circumstances has stymied the Committee"s investigation of the [California] waiver and ozone decisions. For these reasons, the Committee finds that the President"s assertion of executive privilege is wrong and an abuse of the privilege";
A bipartisan report released today by the House Oversight Committee finds that... more
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We must work for an election we can trust! We need to stand up for our Constituion and our Rights. Now is the time, today is the day!
Vote for change!
Obama/Biden 08We must work for an election we can trust! We need to stand up for our Constituion... more
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Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald stated our current V.P. Dick Cheney had put a "cloud" over the White House. Sarah Palin would bring the clouds with her.
ETHICS: Investigator hasn't said who else may be under scrutiny.
By TOM KIZZIA
The state Personnel Board investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of Walt Monegan has broadened to include other ethics complaints against the governor and examination of actions by other state employees, according to the independent counsel handling the case.
Two other ethics complaints involving Palin are known. One, by activist Andree McLeod, alleges that state hiring practices were circumvented for a Palin supporter. The case is not related to Monegan's firing. The other, by the Public Safety Employees Association, alleges that trooper Mike Wooten's personnel file was illegally breached by state officials.
John Cyr, the PSEA executive director, said Monday the union plans to amend its complaint to be sure the board investigates "harassment" of Wooten as well.
Petumenos has not spoken to the press, in keeping with the secrecy of the state process. But he gave a rough description of the investigation's course in two letters to an Anchorage attorney threatening a lawsuit over Palin's effort to waive confidentiality.
Attention is turning this week to the Personnel Board -- the state's official avenue for investigating ethics complaints -- after release of the Legislature's Troopergate investigation last Friday. The Legislature's investigator concluded that Palin was within her rights to fire Monegan as public safety commissioner, but abused her power and broke the ethics law in joining her husband to push for the firing of Wooten, who was once married to the governor's sister.
Palin reversed an earlier pledge and refused to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation, calling it politically biased. In an unusual twist, she filed the ethics complaint against herself before the board, saying she hoped to "clear the air" by an inquiry through proper channels. She asked the board to decide if she broke ethics laws or acted improperly in dismissing Monegan or in dealing with Wooten -- basically the same ground Branchflower covered.
Petumenos has requested a copy of Friday's legislative report, including confidential backup material, said Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, chairman of the Legislative Council. Elton said the council will meet Thursday to vote on whether to give Petumenos all the material gathered by its investigator, Steve Branchflower.
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald stated our current V.P. Dick Cheney had put a... more
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By Bill Boyarsky
Todd Palin seated behind a White House desk and shaping national policy could be one of the most dangerous aspects of a potential Sarah Palin presidency.
An overlooked part of the Alaska state trooper investigation is its finding on the influence of Gov. Palin"s husband, Todd the "First Dude"; or, as he is known around the Alaska statehouse, the "First Gentleman".
This is crucial in view of the age of the Republican nominee, John McCain, 72, and the fact that he has suffered from melanoma skin cancer. His doctors have pronounced him in excellent health, but his age and the serious nature of this type of cancer should focus attention on his running mate and her operating methods.
A fascinating picture of Todd Palin"s influence in Alaska"s capital is provided in the report of a legislative investigation that concluded that Gov. Palin unlawfully abused her power in seeking the firing of a state trooper once married to her sister. The report, released Friday, also criticized Palin for allowing Todd Palin to push hard for the dismissal of Trooper Mike Wooten.
Wooten had been married to the governor"s sister. Their divorce was messy. So, apparently, was Wooten"s career as a trooper. He had been accused of illegally shooting a moose, drinking beer in a patrol car and using a Taser gun on his stepson. He was disciplined before Palin became governor and was allowed to remain a trooper.
When Palin took over, the Wooten case was high on the family agenda, with Todd Palin leading the effort to get rid of the trooper. As Associated Press writer Mike Apuzzo put it in his story on the report, Todd Palin had "extraordinary access to the governor"s office" and he "used that access to try to get [Wooten] fired";
His target was Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he refused to fire Wooten.
The report, by investigator Stephen Branchflower, a retired state prosecutor, shows how Todd Palin operates.
Monegan"s secretary, Cassandra Byrne, said that on Jan. 4, 2007, she received a phone call from the governor"s office. An aide told her "the First Gentleman would like to have a meeting with Commissioner Walt Monegan. At the time, I was not familiar with the term "First Gentleman"; "So I kept asking "Who?"; and she eventually said "Todd Palin", I said, "Oh, OK"; so we set the time and the place which was the governor"s office in Anchorage.
Investigator Branchflower said that when Monegan arrived there he was directed into the governor"s office. Todd Palin, wearing a business suit, was alone, waiting for him. "Mr. Palin was seated at a large conference table and invited Mr. Monegan to sit," the report said.
Monegan said, "What I recalled was Todd sitting there. He had three stacks of paper in an array in front of him"; dealing with the Wooten case. One was from the Department of Public Safety, under which Alaska state troopers serve.
(continued at link)By Bill Boyarsky
Todd Palin seated behind a White House desk and shaping national... more
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The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A judge has ordered Michigan election officials to stop automatically canceling a voter's registration if the card is returned as undeliverable.
Federal Judge Stephen Murphy in Detroit ruled Monday in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and a group representing college students.
More than 1,400 voters in that category have been disqualified so far in 2008. The judge says it's unclear how many cancelations actually are wrong but it's a violation of federal law.
Murphy says those people shouldn't be prevented from voting if they can produce more proof of residency at the polls.The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A judge has ordered Michigan election... more
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