My Opinion on Bev Harris & BBV (Warning: Harsh Language) [View All]

For those who do not know me, I was responsible for the New Hampshire voter study, and helped make the recount in New Hampshire possible. You can search in the archives for the blow by blow details of how it actually happened. I spoke with Bev Harris only a few times, as most of my contacts with her organization were through Andy Stephenson (who is no longer affiliated with her group). I have been out of the loop recently due to my father's health, so what I am about to share must be taken in that context.

Bev Harris seemed to be someone who cared about election fraud investigation. Her group was able to raise money for their FOIA requests by also mentioning the New Hampshire recount (despite the fact the only support they provided was participation in a press conference with Ralph Nader), which caused a great deal of problems for fund raising efforts to cover the cost of the recount in New Hampshire as people thought they had already "helped" by giving her group money instead of the Nader campaign. I do not believe the confusion generated by the tie-in between Black Box Voting and the New Hampshire recount was "on purpose" but more in the nature of a really chaotic time, with things changing on a minute by minute basis. In short, I do not think the confusion was intended as deception.

As I said, BBV contributed ZERO SUPPORT to efforts to investigate fraud in New Hampshire, despite repeated requests for someone from their organization to help. At one point, it looked like we were going to have someone there to analyze the data they had requested with their FOIA request, but that person never showed up for reasons which have NEVER been explained; to the best of my knowledge, the data has not been collected at this point, or analyzed for any patterns of error. I am NOT happy about this.

In the early weeks following the election, Bev and her crew were active in Florida. A public posting on original signed machine tapes being found in a trash bag was made by Bev Harris and supported by testimony from Andy Stephenson, who was also a witness to the events which were all caught on video tape (per the public posting). If true, this was evidence of criminal conduct, and would have provided the excuse required for the Kerry team to unleash their resources. I personally had several conversations with skeptical people who were within one or two degrees of separation from the top people on the Kerry team who bluntly stated they needed to see the purported evidence for support to be forthcoming. Keith Olbermann, one of the few respected journalists covering the election fraud investigation, also had his producers request more information on the topic from the BBV team, to no avail.

To date, this "evidence" of criminal conduct has not been made available to the public despite repeated requests by myself and numerous other respected members of the voter fraud investigation community. The opportunity that was lost because of this can not be calculated, and the damage to our democracy as a result is intolerable. And yes, there are Kinkos in Florida, as well as people who can easily be found who can copy videotape, and anyone who wants to pretend the "Votergate" people wouldn't have provided it if some pressure from BBV was applied is working hard at playing dumb; I'm not interested in arguing the point.

BBV is not equipped to prosecute criminal activity; that is not within the scope of their charter, nor should anyone expect them to do so. If BBV actually has evidence of the kind they PUBLICLY claimed, at this point I believe THEY should be prosecuted for conspiracy after the fact for covering it up and/or not revealing it. (Did I mention I'm a little pissed off? I've watched the recount deadline for state after state pass by, with little that could be done because of a lack of financial and human resources -- problems which could have been easily remedied if one person had displayed better judgment -- and I'm not talking Kerry!)

I believe Bev Harris had good intentions; unfortunately, perhaps due to exhaustion, she has displayed some amazingly BAD judgment. For example, at one point volunteers from Common Cause were recruited to collect the FOIA requests from each of the counties in Florida (as opposed to three people driving to each one of them). Only one detail had to be worked out -- getting them the checks so they could pick stuff up. (Training and documentation had already been taken care of by another person.) Ms. Harris did not have time to address the funding issue, but she did have "time" to personally drive around the state of Florida for days instead. In my not-so-humble educated opinion, setting her and her team up in one place, and bringing the information to be analyzed to her while using the opportunity to train more people in the analysis skills (on what to look for) would have been a better use of her time; unfortunately, Ms. Harris did not agree, and another opportunity was lost.

It takes a lot of work to alienate as many people as BBV has done, but Bev Harris has displayed a remarkable skill when it comes to doing so. The public "incident" with Andy Stephenson consumed valuable time, and drained energy from an important ongoing investigation, while the public debacle with Keith Olbermann was so unnecessary as to be ridiculous. To say that Ms. Harris is lacking in common sense people skills would be an understatement.

Furthermore, instead of having investigations occur in fifty states (which her FOIA requests would have created: volunteers were mobilized to assist with it, and funding for which was available), she haphazardly investigated only some sections of Florida, did a little work in Washington, and nothing in any other part of the country.

I am a small business owner, and I have learned a great deal in the years I have run my company. It takes more than just being good at one thing to oversee a large project successfully; I have to be a manager, good with the public, able to collect funds, take care of my books, as well as the thousand and one details the government requires of me for the privilege of working for myself. The most important skill of all, however, is prioritizing my time and resources. If I don't display that critical ability, it doesn't matter how talented a database developer I am, because my business will fail.

Ms. Harris has made critical mistakes in the last two months; she over promised and under delivered. While I am sure her intentions were the best, she did not manage available resources in a fashion that would have benefited this country for decades to come. Some people work hard, and some people work smart. Ms. Harris worked hard, but not smart. I am NOT impressed with her or her organization, and would recommend anyone interested in fixing the voting system in this country look elsewhere if they wish for effective and competent leadership in this ongoing effort.

Some people may find my indictment of Ms. Harris' incompetence harsh; I am sharing my opinion, based on my experience, and people may ignore it or not as pleases them. I will add only this to my report:

At a certain point, TRYING isn't enough. If you can't DO IT, get out of the way so someone else can instead.

Regards,
Ida M. Briggs
www.invisibleida.com