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host · 01-10-2008, 01:00 PM

I've moved this series of exchanges, posted over at the <a href="http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=130016&page=2">Comeback Clintons</a> thread, because the exchanges between Ustwo and dc_dux SHOWCASES the different perspectives we at TFP, (_and I'm assuming, across the country), have regarding the background of the origins of the controversy discussed in this thread...are we experiencing in the US, a republican driven voter supression "Op", or a sincere response to the problem of Vote Fraud?

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...96#post2377396

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ustwo

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lasereth

Apparently there's a huge rumor going around the Internet about the diebold machines borking the results and Obama really had 38% with Clinton at 34%. Has anyone else read this? The hand-counted votes are supposedly the aforementioned with the diebold machines putting Clinton winning. The page that had this information is currently DOSed. Can anyone else find anything, or is this just Internet rumors circulating with no basis as usual?

I have to wonder why the diebold machines didn't 'work' right in 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_dux

Republicans are still better at voter suppression in NH, like they did in the 2002 senate election.

<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4088097&page=1">How to rig an election</a>

And we still need Congress to enact the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01487:">Ballot Integrity Act</a> to require a verifiable paper trail for electronic voting.

Those lousy Republicans!!!!

http://www.politicalgateway.com/main...d.html?col=434

Quote:

Part one of a two-part series.

All reasonable people know it -- it was well documented by various media sources throughout the 2004 election and now we have the concrete proof: Democrats and their operatives were far and away more involved in voter intimidation, fraud, suppression and, yes, disenfranchisement, than Republicans. It's not even close. But don't take our word for it liberals, read the 368-page report by the non-partisan American Center for Voting Rights yourself.

Quote:

Remember the incident involving allegations of Democratic operatives slashing the tires of Republican get-out-the-vote vans in Milwaukee? Here are the actual indictments in the case:

The following is a list of the individuals charged with slashing tires on the morning of November 2, 2004, and their connections to the Democrat campaign in 2004:

Michael J. Pratt

* Paid $7,965.53 by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in 2004
* Pratt’s father is former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt, who chaired the Kerry-Edwards campaign in Milwaukee

Sowande Ajumoke Omodunde (a.k.a “Supreme Solar Allah”)

* Paid $6,059.83 by Gwen Moore for Congress and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in 2004
* Son of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)

Lewis Gibson Caldwell, III

* Paid $4,639.09 by Gwen Moore for Congress and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in 2004

Lavelle Mohammad

* Paid $8,858.50 by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and America Coming Together ($966 for canvassing work in June and July) in 2004

Justin J. Howell

* Paid $2,550.29 in 2004 by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (62)

I'm not sure you want to go this route there dc, not sure at all.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...07#post2377507

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_dux

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ustwo

I have to wonder why the diebold machines didn't 'work' right in 2006

Those lousy Republicans!!!!

http://www.politicalgateway.com/main...d.html?col=434

I'm not sure you want to go this route there dc, not sure at all.

Ustwo.....do you really know the facts about the non-partisan American Center for Voting Rights.....the source of your examples of alleged voter suppression by the Democratic party.

I'm not sure you want to go this route there Ustwo, not sure at all.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...69#post2377569

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ustwo

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_dux

Ustwo.....do you really know the facts about the non-partisan American Center for Voting Rights.....the source of your examples of alleged voter suppression by the Democratic party.

I'm not sure you want to go this route there Ustwo, not sure at all.

Funny I was thinking just prior, how will my source be questioned instead of the incident.

So are you saying that tire slashing didn't happen?....

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...90#post2377590

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_dux

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ustwo

Funny I was thinking just prior, how will my source be questioned instead of the incident.

So are you saying that tire slashing didn't happen?

I am saying there was no evidence that it was a premeditated act with the knowledge of, or planning by, the Democratic party as alleged or implied by the "non-partisan" (give me a break!) ACVR and its director, Thor Hearne, a Republican party operative and former General Counsel for Bush/Cheney 04....rather than an independent and unsanctioned act of vandalism by Democratic campaign workers whose fathers were prominent Democrats. I cant say I am surprised by the way Hearne (and you) would like to portray it.

We obviously see the two cases differently.... the unsubstantiated ACVR allegation regarding the role of the Democratic Party in the tire slashing and the admission in court of NH phone jamming by a Republican party operative and his sworn testimony citing the involvement of the Republican Party of NH (and the advance knowledge and acquiescence of the national party)

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...11#post2377611

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ustwo

So in your world if a bunch of republicans on the republican payroll planned attacks on democrat assets such as the tire slashing then it would just be some guys doing it?

Homey doesn't think you would present it that way......

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...12#post2377612

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_dux

Its not how I present it...it is the evidence and testimony presented in the two courts of law.

In the one case, there is testimony pointing to Republican party complicity (including plea bargains by high level Republican party officials) and in the other case, there is nothing to indicate the Democratic party's involvement.

Chuck McGee, former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party and Republican consultant Allen Raymond (GOP Marketplace's former president) both pled guilty to conspiracy and James Tobin, (regional director of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee at the time) was sentenced to 10 months in prison for his role in the NH phone jamming.

Dont you think that McGee, Raymond and Tobin, all with direct ties to the RNC, are a bit higher political operatives than the low level "bunch of guys" who slashed the tires?

<h2>The exchanges between Ustwo and dc_dux, from the other thread end here, and my post, a reaction to their exchanges, begins:</h2>

<h3>....and here is an article describing the sentencing of the accused tire slashers and the role that "Rick Wiley, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin", played in the sentencing of the tire slashers:</h3>

Quote:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=418855
4 get jail in election day tire slashing
Judge says probation doesn't atone for crime
By MEG JONES

Posted: April 26, 2006

Tossing aside a plea agreement that called for probation, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael B. Brennan sentenced four Democratic Party workers to jail Wednesday for slashing tires on 25 vans rented by Republicans to take voters to polls for the 2004 presidential election.

Calling the vandalism more than harmless hijinks, Brennan admonished the men, including the sons of two prominent Milwaukee politicians, for disenfranchising voters. The judge said he had received letters from county residents upset over the crime.

"They see you tampering with something they consider sacred, and that's the ballot box," Brennan said during a two-hour sentencing....

...
At the time of the pleas, Assistant District Attorney David Feiss said that if the defendants collectively paid $5,317.45 restitution by their sentencing Wednesday - which they did - he would recommend they all get probation. Misdemeanor property damage carries a possible maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.

But Brennan said stiffer punishment was needed.

"This case has to be an example of what happens if you interfere in voters' rights," Brennan said....
....Before Brennan sentenced the defendants, Rick Wiley, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, told the judge that the crime warranted more than probation. "I think it's kind of a travesty that the defendants here can kind of go on their merry way."

After listening to Brennan sentence the men, Wiley smiled and said, "I think the judge did a great job. I think it's going to deter people in the future" from campaign vandalism....

But....should not, as far as accountability and punishment, ONE SIZE FIT ALL, when it comes to impeding and suppressing the vote, especially when it stems from a highly organized conspiracy, engineered at very high levels of government, professional association, and partisan political organizations, instead of from the random decision by a few misguided partisans, to engage in slashing of tires of a fleet of voter transport vans, in one location, on one election day?

Let's begin with a look at "Rick Wiley, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin".... but, before we do that, let's pinpoint the origin of the vote suppression sentiment as republican party policy:

1980, the co-founder of the conservative republican Council for National Policy declared:

Quote:

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...te#post2345838

Paul Weyrich - "I don't want everybody to vote ...."

Quote:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=588156
State GOP official pushed vote fraud issue
Posted: April 7, 2007

Daniel Bice
No Quarter

The mystery is solved.

For weeks, it was unclear who whined to the White House last year that not enough voter fraud cases were being prosecuted in Milwaukee.

Now we know.

The state Republican Party went straight to the top in its efforts to make voter fraud an issue in Wisconsin.

Sources tell No Quarter that Rick Wiley, then the executive director of the state GOP, directed a staffer in 2005 to prepare a 30-page report on election abuses in Wisconsin <h3>so Wiley could pass it along to a top White House official.</h3>

That document, entitled "Fraud in Wisconsin 2004: A Timeline/Summary," turned up last week in the horde of White House and U.S. Justice Department records released by the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

"The report was prepared for Karl Rove," said a source with knowledge of the situation. <h3>"Rick wanted it so he could give it to Karl Rove."</h3>

Yeah, that Karl Rove, President Bush's political mastermind and his deputy chief of staff.

The same guy who was knee-deep in helping decide which U.S. attorneys to keep or to boot.

So the head of the state party went to the political arm of the White House with a report supposedly documenting widespread abuse of election laws in Milwaukee, violations that the party clearly believed weren't getting the attention they deserved. In late 2005, U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic, a Bush appointee, announced that his probe found no evidence of a conspiracy to steal the 2004 election here.

Was Wiley - or his boss at the time, then-Chairman Rick Graber - hoping the Bush team would ax Biskupic, as it did the other top federal prosecutors last year?

"I'm not sure it was that nefarious," said the knowledgeable source. "I think the idea was to make Rove aware of the situation in Wisconsin."

Gee, that's an awfully generous reading of the facts.

Look at what White House officials have put on the record.

Last month, Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said that, beginning in mid-2004, the White House received complaints that federal prosecutors were not vigorously pursuing complaints of voter fraud in Philadelphia, New Mexico and Milwaukee. She said the president met with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in October to discuss those concerns, among other things.

White House Counsel Dan Bartlett made it clear in a March 13 press briefing who specifically was coming under criticism.

"Over the course of several years, we have received complaints about U.S. attorneys, particularly when it comes to election fraud cases - not just New Mexico, but also Wisconsin and Pennsylvania."

Then consider the high-profile testimony from Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson.

Under questioning from Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sampson said Rove was leaning on the attorney general.

"I do remember learning - I believe, from the attorney general - that he had received a complaint from Karl Rove about U.S. attorneys in three jurisdictions, including New Mexico," Sampson said on March 29.

"And the substance of the complaint was that those U.S. attorneys weren't pursuing voter fraud cases aggressively enough."

Hmmm, who were those two other prosecutors that Rove brought up to Gonzales? Were they from the areas named by Perino and Bartlett?

More to the point: Was Biskupic on the chopping block?

For now, that question will remain unanswered.

U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl or Russ Feingold - both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee - failed to raise the question at the Sampson hearing.

And everybody else's lips are sealed.

Wiley, now with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign, was unavailable. Chris Lato, the party's former press guy and now a WTMJ-AM (620) reporter, also didn't return calls. Graber, now the U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, has declined to talk.

Biskupic had little to say early in the week, repeating his earlier statements that he didn't know anybody was complaining about him.

On Friday, he did not return calls.

Which is understandable, given the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling late last week that tossed his case against a former state worker.

So it was a tough week for Biskupic, but at least he still has his job.

Quote:

http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2...ied-about.html
News From The U.S. Election Reform Movement

Tuesday, January 25, 2005
News Exclusive: G.O.P. Lied About Democratic Tire-Slashing in Wisconsin; Affected Vans Were Designated Primarily for Poll-Watchers, No Voters Affected

By ADVOCATE STAFF

You could be forgiven for thinking that five street criminals doing dirty work for the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign in Wisconsin swung the general election in the Badger State to the Democratic candidate.

You could be forgiven for that misapprehension, given the claims by the national and Wisconsin G.O.P. that the twenty-five Bush-Cheney vans whose tires were slashed in Milwaukee on Election Day were designated solely for emergency transportation of Republican voters who otherwise would not have voted -- and who, under the scenario put forward by Republicans, may not, in fact, have ultimately voted.

The Wisconsin tire-slashing has been used by Republicans for the past sixty days to fend off Democratic accusations that most if not all of the coordinated voter suppression efforts on Election Day were engineered by the Republican Party.

In some radical conservative quarters, the rumor-mongering has even led some Republicans to openly speculate that Bush really won Wisconsin.

Then again, maybe not.

Especially now that a substantial piece of the Republican tire-slashing scenario -- utilized so effectively by the G.O.P. to deflect Democratic criticism of the presidential election in Ohio -- appears to have been a lie.

A good one, too. Because it worked.

Witness, for example, the Republican-fueled hysteria over the tire-slashing incident in the days and weeks following the election:

"About thirty rented cars and vans that were to be used in the Wisconsin Republican Party's get-out-the-vote effort had their tires slashed Tuesday morning..."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137323,00.html
-- Fox News Channel, November 3rd, 2004

"...a state Republican party news release accused [Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann] of 'dragging his feet' in the investigation of the election-day slashings of tires on twenty vehicles Republicans had rented to drive voters to the polls..."
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=292520
-- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, January 12th, 2005

"Said [Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Rick Wiley], 'This was a coordinated act of political sabotage allegedly involving several paid staffers of the Democrat Party of Wisconsin...."....Early on the morning of the November 2nd, 2004 election, tires on twenty vehicles were slashed while parked in a lot in the 7100 block of West Capitol Drive. The vehicles were to be used by RPW in part to help voters get to the polls, including the elderly and disabled..."

-- The Conservative Voice, January 12th, 2005

"Two sons of prominent Democratic politicians and three paid party activists will face felony charges as a result of a widely-publicized attempt to keep Republicans from voting on Election Day in Milwaukee..."

-- Front Page Magazine, January 24th, 2005

Then witness, if you will, how the story imperceptibly, yet on a crucial point, suddenly changes, and with nary an asterisk from the mainstream media:

"The sons of a first-term congresswoman and of Milwaukee's former acting mayor were among five Democratic activists charged Monday with slashing the tires of vans rented by Republicans to drive voters and monitors to the polls on Election Day."

-- The Washington Post, January 25th, 2005

And now consider, for a moment, where the story stands at this very minute:

"The GOP rented more than 100 vehicles that were parked in a lot adjacent to a Bush campaign office. The party planned to drive poll watchers to polling places by 7 a.m. and deliver any voters who didn't have a ride...[Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Rick] Wiley didn't say whether the vandalism prevented anyone from voting, but he said poll watchers were about two hours late."

-- CNN, January 25th, 2005

<h3>Is that it?

Is this the Republican response to the House Judiciary Committee's 102-page report on voting irregularities? That Republican "poll watchers" -- largely designated, incidentally, to "cage" minority voters at polling places around the country -- were "two hours late"?

And can it be that the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin can't even identify a single Republican voter disenfranchised by the tire-slashing -- which, as it turns out, was in no way sponsored, supported, condoned, or sanctioned by the Kerry-Edwards campaign or the Democratic Party of Wisconsin?</h3>

The G.O.P.'s fraudulent media blitz over the slashed tires is made all the more nauseating by the fact that Republicans have claimed since 2000 -- erroneously, as it turns out -- that the U.S. Civil Rights Commission never found a single African-American who was disenfranchised by Republican antics leading up to the 2000 general election.

[Hint: try starting with Jeb Bush's illegal purging of 90,000 legitimate voters from the Florida voting rolls prior to Election Day 2000, with tens of thousands of them being, quite conveniently, Democratic-leaning minority-group members].

See Related Stories:

("Democrats Charged in Election Day Tire-Slashing in Wisconsin," CNN and The Associated Press, 1/25/05)
http://web.archive.org/web/200502090...es.slashed.ap/

("Democratic Activists Face Charges," The Washington Post, 1/25/05)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...4.html?sub=new

("Wait for Criminal Charges in Tire-Slashing Case Now in Its Third Month," The Conservative Voice, 1/12/05)

http://web.archive.org/web/200501131...p?storyid=1971

<h3>The question for the thread is; how does the following, well documented ALL OUT effort by highly connected republican politcal officials to hype an issue - VOTE FRAUD, which apparantly is rare to the point that it almost never occurs, compares to the arrest of a handful of partisan "tire slashers", working to render a small fleet of republican party voter transfer vans, inoperable on one election day, in one location?</h3>

Is it more reasonable to dismiss the tire slashing for what it has been reported to be....an uncoordinated incident of partisan motivated vandalism of little consequence, except for the way it was used as part of a massive hyped, campaign of disinformation intended to deflect from the well planned, long standing conspiracy to actually suppress the vote, nationally, election after election, by the opposing major political party....or to focus on the "tire slashing" as the smoking gun, highlight of the REAL problem?

Quote:

http://www.bradblog.com/?page_id=4418
<center>KEY BRAD BLOG ARTICLES IN THE SERIES SO FAR 
(Most recent articles at bottom of list.)</center>
<blockquote>03/22/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1276">The First Report Concerning the "American Center for Voting Rights"</a> 
Group shows up to testify at phony hearings on "Ohio Election Irregularities" held by House Administrative Comm. Chair Bob Ney (R-OH) 
03/22/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001276.htm">New 'Non-Partisan' 'Voting Rights' Org Appears Little More than Republican Front Group!</a>

<a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1282"><center><img src="http://www.bradblog.com/Images/AC4VR_Hearne_RNLAOhio.jpg"></center></a>
03/23/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001279.htm">High-Level Republicans from the New 'Non-Partisan' 'American Center for Voting Rights' Explain Themselves...</a>
03/24/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1282"> 'Voting Rights' Group Leader Withholds Bush/Cheney/RNC Ties During Congressional Testimony!</a>
03/24/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1283">Mystery Solved! Location of 'American Center for Voting Rights' Found! Exclusive Photographs!</a>
<a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1283"><center><img src="http://www.bradblog.com/Images/AC4VR_WhoIsRecord.gif"></center></a>
<a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1283"><center><img src="http://www.bradblog.com/Images/AC4VR_299_POBox_Headquarters.jpg"></center></a>
03/25/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001283.htm">Air America Picks up Our Story on the ACVR!</a>
03/26/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001286.htm">Help Counter the ACVR/GOP Disinformation Campaign!</a>

<a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1292"><img src="http://www.BradBlog.com/Images/AC4VR_JimDyke.jpg" hspace="6" vspace="3" border="0" align="right"></a>03/28/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1292">'Non-Partisan' Ring-Leaders of GOP 'Voting Rights' Front Group Currently Very Active Partisans!</a>
03/29/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001293.htm"> Bush's 'Hometown' Crawford Paper reports on ACVR!</a>
03/30/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001295.htm"> Right-Wing Extremist 'News' Service Attempts to Legitimize Phony GOP 'Voting Rights' Group!</a>
03/30/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001296.htm">RNC Political Director Cites Report by RNC 'Voting Rights' Front Group to RNC Email List!</a> 
PLUS: ACVR has the inside skinny on the Baker/Carter Commission! ACVR News Release published just 24 minutes after commission was announced!
03/31/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001298.htm">Revealing More About the Phony 'Voting Rights' Org and the Collusion of the Rightwing Echo Chamber of Friends Who Support It!</a> 

GOPUSA Runs CNS Story on GOP Front Group ACVR! The axis-of-evil-acronyms.
04/12/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001316.htm">The ACVR Lands on the Baker/Carter Blue-Ribbon Election Reform Commission!</a> 
Anyone surprised?
<a href="http://larisaunplugged.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/11/themap.gif"><img src="http://www.atlargely.com/images/2007/04/11/themap.gif" hspace="6" vspace="3" border="0" align="left"></a>04/14/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001322.htm">RAW STORY EXPOSÉ FINDS ACVR COLLUDING WITH BAKER/CARTER COMMISSION!</a> 
Surprised yet? Story includes loads of other troubling related issues!
04/27/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001357.htm">New ACVR Details from Columbus Free Press</a> 
Bob Fitraks connects a few more dots on the phony GOP Front Group.

06/22/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001486.htm">ACVR Continues Attempts at Defrauding American Voters</a> 
Issue smokescreen press release in reply to DNC Election 2004 Report. 
Preparing to release their own 'Voter Fraud' report even as Exec Director Thor Hearne lies on video tape.
08/2/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001650.htm">ACVR Delivers Onslaught of Disinfo Today!</a> 
Releases Report, Six Press Releases Focusing on Democratic 'Election Fraud' 
Massive Republican Voter Disenfranchisement Virtually Unmentioned, Phony Quotes by 'Democrat' Used in Releases

08/2/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001651.htm"> ACVR Scams American Democracy</a> 
GOP Grateful, DNC Still Keeps Head in the Sand
08/3/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001653.htm"> Rightwingers, 'News' Sites Fall Hook, Line & Sinker for ACVR Scam Report</a> 
Blogs and 'Journalists' Alike Fall Over Themselves to Cover Phony GOP 'Voting Rights' Group Propaganda
08/8/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001671.htm">ACVR Adds a 'Democrat' to Their Team! And he's a Fake too!</a> 

Brian Lunde shows up as an ACVR scamster. They claim he's a Democrat, but whaddaya know? He's also works with Karl Rove, and is a donor to Bush/Cheney '04 and to a PAC dedicated to "Maintaining a Republican Majority" --- like all good Democrats, of course!
08/15/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001707.htm">Indicted GOP Moneyman Abramoff Tied To ACVR, the Phony GOP 'Voting Rights' Group!</a> 
The DNC Finally Fights Back at the Republican Run 'American Center for Voting Rights' Hoax! 
PLUS: Proof that Republicans only pretend to hate Marxists and More on ACVR's Fake 'Democrat'!
08/18/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001727.htm">The Mainstream Media Catches on to the ACVR Fraudsters!</a> 
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review calls them and the Pennsylvania Republican Party out for the America and democracy-hating sheisters they are.
10/6/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001898.htm">'Non-Partisan' 'Voting Rights' Group Founder Works for White House!</a> 

ACVR's Jim Dyke Moonlights to Push Bush Supreme Court Nominee 
'Honesty and Integrity' in the Bush-Era Now at it's Bushiest Level of All Time!
10/11/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001911.htm"> 'Non-Partisan' 'Voting Rights' Group Founder Now Works for Dick Cheney's Office!</a> 
Will the "non-partisanship" ever stop?!
11/23/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002065.htm">Ohio's U.S. Rep. Bob Ney Reportedly on Verge of Indictment</a> 
Corrupt Ohio Congressman, who gave ACVR their "big break" in Congress, may be headed to slammer!
12/15/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002166.htm">ACVR Frivolous Legal Attacks Against Legit Voting Groups Have All Collapsed</a>

12/30/05: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002217.htm">Connecting More Dots Between ACVR and More High-Level GOP Officials</a>
1/10/06: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002261.htm">The Soon-to-be-Indicted Rep. Bob Ney's Connection to Ohio Electoral Fraud and More!</a> 
A BRAD BLOG EXPOSÉ: The dots begin to converge --- big time --- between Ney, former staffers turned Diebold lobbyists, Jack Abramoff, the ACVR, HAVA legislation, pay-offs and other top-level GOP operatives!
4/10/06: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002676.htm">Karl Rove Thanks ACVR's Thor Hearne for Work on 'Clean Elections' in 2000 and 2004</a>

10/11/06: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3609">U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Withheld Report Showing 'Voter Fraud' (as Opposed to ELECTION Fraud) Not a Problem!</a> 
Democracy Hater, GOP Operative, Thor Hearne of the Phony Anti-American Front Group 'American Center for Voting Rights' is Back Spreading Propoganda for the Republicans! 
And the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is Set to Help Them in a Hearing this Friday...
10/13/06: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3611]">The EAC's Buried Report on 'Voter Fraud' --- or Actually Lack Thereof --- and 'Thor' Hearne's Continuing Loathesome Attempts to Destroy American Democracy</a> 
No Wonder Hearne's Phony GOP Front-Group, ACVR, Didn't Want to See the Report Released 

They're Named Three Times as the Only Group Forwarding the 'Voter Fraud' Bullshit!
10/16/06: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3628"> Missouri Supreme Court Declares State Photo ID Laws Unconsitutional (Again!)</a> 
Court Rulings (and Facts) Continue to Pile Up Against Those Who Hate Democracy (Like Thor Hearne and the ACVR), Who Want to Keep YOU From Being Able to Vote! 
Decision Echoes Other Such Findings in Georgia and Arizona...
10/27/06: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3677">Bush's U.S. Elections Assistance Commission is Hopelessly Compromised, Misleading America and Utterly Failing in Their Job of Overseeing U.S. Elections</a> 
Current Chairman Paul DeGregorio Now Running a Desperate Misinformation Propaganda Campaign Just Days Before Election...

12/5/06: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3879"> Discredited Mark F. 'Thor' Hearne's Permanent Seat at the Discredited EAC Table</a> 
Founder of Phony Anti-Democracy GOP Front Group, Bush/Cheney Operative, Welcomed Again as 'Expert' at America's Federal Elections Oversight Commission Hearings...
<img src="http://www.BradBlog.com/Images/RoveHearneGOP_DoJ_DemocracyHaters.jpg" hspace="6" vspace="3" border="0" align="right">3/15/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4276">EXCLUSIVE: New Details on the Phony 'Voter Fraud' Angle in the U.S. Attorneys Purge Scandal...</a> 
An Insider's Report from a New Mexico Election Attorney on the Firing of David Iglesias and the Rove/DoJ/Republican Efforts to Create a 2004 'Voter Fraud' Scare in the State... 
RELATED? - The GOP 'Voter Fraud' Front Group ACVR Goes Suddenly AWOL!

3/16/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4280">NY Times on the Phony 'Voter Fraud' Claims Behind U.S. Attorney Purge</a> 
More Evidence that the Bush Administration Used the Dept. of Justice for Little More Than a Blunt Political Instrument 
Even as Democrats Continue to Rubber Stamp Wildly Inappropriate White House Appointments to Oversee the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission...
3/26/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4324"> Evidence Suggests U.S. Attorney Firings May Have Been Part of White House Scheme to Help Game 2008 Election</a> 
Karl Rove Associate and GOP Operative Tim Griffin's Appointment in Arkansas --- and Others Like it --- Are Worth Noting as the Scandal Continues to Unravel...
3/30/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4341">EAC Finally Releases Previously Withheld, 9 Month Old Report on 'Voter ID' Concerns After Congressional Prodding</a> 

One of Several Reports 'Buried' by EAC, Shows Drop in Voter Participation in Wake of Poll Restrictions, Is Shamelessly Described as 'Draft' 
Election Law Professor Warns: 'Chance for EAC to be an Honest Broker Above Politics Are Fading'...
4/5/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4372">The GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Canard Appears Again, This Time in U.S. Attorney Purge Scandal</a> 
NM's David Iglesias Pressured by Republicans to Bring 'Voter Fraud' Charges Against Voter Registration Group 
But Prosecutor Found No Case Worth Bringing...
4/11/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4391">U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION ALTERED FINAL REPORT ON 'VOTER FRAUD' FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES</a> 
NY Times Finds Original Bi-Partisan Draft Report, Buried by the EAC, Concluded Fears of 'Voter Fraud' Were Overblown 
Altered, Politicized Report Follows Familiar White House Pattern, Brings Additional New Concerns About Continuing Status of EAC... 

Guest Blogged by Arlen Parsa with additional reporting by Brad Friedman
4/15/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4410">Federal Judge Finds Against U.S. Dept. of Justice in Missouri 'Voter Fraud' Case</a> 
Democratic Secretary of State Acted Properly, Voter Registration Database Meets Federal Standards, No 'Voter Fraud' Found...
4/19/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4429">A Direct, As Yet Unreported Connection in the U.S. Attorney Purge Scandal Leading Straight to the White House</a> 
Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins Was Fired Just After Reports Surfaced of Investigation into Law Firm of Top Level White House/GOP Operative and Close-Friend-of-Rove, Thor Hearne 

Prosecutor Was Replaced by Rove Aide Timothy Griffin...
<a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4447"><img src="http://www.bradblog.com/Images/PresidentsMenMissouri_DoJ.jpg" hspace="6" vspace="3" border="0" align="right"></a>4/23/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4447">THE UNDERLYING CRIME: White House Interference into a U.S. Attorney's Criminal Investigation in Missouri</a> 
High-Level White House, DoJ, Rove Operatives Went to Work While now-Fired Prosecutor Bud Cummins Was Building a Case Against Missouri Governor Matt Blunt and the WH Connected MO Law Firm Lathrope & Gage...
5/2/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4494">High-Level White House/DoJ Operative Thor Hearne Hired a High-Level White House/DoJ Operative to Put out Fire in Missouri Investigation Leading to Dismissal of U.S. Attorney</a> 

Powerful GOP Missouri Lawyer at Powerful GOP Missouri Law Firm Admits Bringing Powerful GOP Attorney William Mateja in to Manage DoJ Investigaton of Lathrop & Gage, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt 
Firm Also Recently Hired Governor's Sister Amy... More is Still to Come...
5/2/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4500">McClatchy: 'Missouri Was Ground Zero' For GOP 'Voter Fraud' Scam, Thor Hearne and ACVR at Center of Scheme</a> 
National Mainstream Media FINALLY Picks up on, Exposes the 'Non-Partisan' 'American Center for Voting Rights' Fraud...
<a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4519"><img src="http://www.bradblog.com/Images/AC4VR_Logo_Against_OwnedByACORN.jpg" hspace="6" vspace="3" border="0" align="right"></a>5/7/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4519">EXCLUSIVE: ACORN Takes Control of High-Level GOP Front Group ACVR's Internet Domain Names!</a> 

Abandoned Webspace of White House-Connected 'Voter Fraud' Group, 'American Center For Voting Rights', Purchased by DC Attorney; Handed Over to Non-Profit Which They Had Targeted for Years! 
As More Allegations of DoJ Corruption in Missouri --- 'Ground Zero' for the ACVR Republican Fraudsters --- Continue to Reach Towards the Oval Office, Underscore Need for Congressional Investigation...
5/17/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4568">CEO RESIGNS FROM MISSOURI LEGAL FIRM EMBROILED IN U.S. ATTORNEY PURGE, GOP 'VOTER FRAUD' SCAM</a> 
Is the Noose Tightening Around Lathrop & Gage, Thor Hearne, Gov. Matt Blunt and the American Center for Voting Rights Corrupt Law Firm?
<a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4647"><img src="http://www.BradBlog.com/Images/ThorHearne_LookingAtYou.jpg" hspace="6" vspace="3" border="0" align="left"></a>5/18/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4576">Finally: The ACVR's 'Voter Fraud' Scam Outed in All Their Ignominious Shame in New Slate Article!</a> 

Rick Hasen's: 'The Fraudulent Fraud Squad - The Incredible, Disappearing American Center for Voting Rights'
6/6/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4647">NPR Covers the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) 'Voter Fraud' Scam</a> 
'Liberal Blogger Brad Friedman' Interviewed in Report on Disappearance of GOP 'Vote Fraud' Fraudsters and Their White House Connections 
Nobody from ACVR Agrees to Speak to Them on Record, But the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Says Thor Hearne Has Some Complaints About The BRAD BLOG...
6/7/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4652">Post-Dispatch: ACVR's Thor Hearn Blames The BRAD BLOG for His Demise</a> 

(Imagine What We Could Have Done if the GOP Gave US the Million Dollars That Thor Had?!)
6/12/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4680">Wikipedia Entry for GOP 'Voter Fraud' Front Group Co-Founder, Thor Hearne, Scrubbed of References to ACVR</a> 
Latest Edit Performed by Someone at Hearne's Lawfirm, Lathrop & Gage, According to Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog...
6/13/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4684">GOP Vote Fraudster Thor Hearne's Attempt to Disappear Himself from Wikipedia Continues</a> 

PLUS: The GOP 'Voter Fraud' Legislation-Influencing Front Group Lied on Their Tax Disclosure Forms, Claiming They DID NOT Attempt to 'Influence Legislation'...
6/15/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4691">Hearne Created In-State Missouri 'Voter Fraud' Front Group, Funded It With ACVR Dollars</a> 
Group Was Run by Another Shady Character Involved in Missouri Fee Office Scandal, Connected to Jack Abramoff Groups... 
Guest Blogged by Howard Beale of Fired Up! Missouri
6/15/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4693">'Hello,' He Lied: Thor Hearne Says 'No Conspiracy Afoot' Behind Effort to Scrub ACVR References from His Wikipedia Page</a> 
Tells Paper It Was Marketing Department at His Lawfirm, Lathrop & Gage, Who Dunnit 

Beyond That, Has No Idea Why His 'Client' ACVR's Website Disappeared... 
PLUS: More on Todd Graves & Tim Griffin...
6/19/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4705">Three Fresh Thor Hearne/ACVR Exposés for Your Phony 'Voter Fraud'/US Attorney Purge Pleasure...</a> 
Coverage at Columbus FreePress, TPMCafe and National Journal...
7/1/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4760">ACVR Reached into New Mexico U.S. Attorney Firing; More Details Unearthed in GOP 'Voter Fraud' Front Group's Central Role in Republican National Strategy to Game Elections</a> 

Founder, Front Man, Thor Hearne, Crawls Out from Under His Rock to Provide a Few Laughs 
Even as His Vote Suppression Efforts Continue to Haunt the DoJ, America's Electoral System...
8/26/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5006">Another Media Outlet Digs Into the Nefarious Thor Hearne and His 'American Center for Voting Rights'</a> 
Many Questions, Legal and Otherwise, Still Unanswered Concerning the Mysteriously-Funded 'Non-Partisan' GOP Front Group
12/12/07: <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5434">Thor Hearne, the GOP's 'Voter Fraud' Fraudster, Gets His Groove Back</a> 

<h2>Files Amicus Brief to SCOTUS in Indiana Photo ID Case, on Behalf of New Congressional 'Clients'</h2> 
Dems Indignantly Issue More Harshly Worded Statements, as Voter Suppression Mainlined by Bush DoJ...

I offer an apology for taking until the last lines (right above this sentence) to connect all of the above to the subject of this thread....but....it turns out that it is that involved, and here we are !