James Baker and Ralph Munro Must Step Down

According to Brad Friedman of www.bradblog.com, ACVR American Center for Voting Rights is a group recently created by high-level Bush/Cheney/RNC Officials and is anything but "non-partisan." The
ACVR leadership includes Mark F. (Thor) Hearne, the National Counsel for Bush/Cheney '04 Inc. and Jim Dyke, the RNC's Communications Director.

ACVR's genesis coincided with the creation of a "bi-partisan" blue-ribbon commission convened to study and recommend solutions for Electoral Problems in 2004. The co-chairs of the Baker/Carter Commission are former President Jimmy Carter, and current-Bush Family loyalist and long-time clean-up man, James A. Baker, III.

The ACVR report was presented to Congress in a U.S. House Administrative Committee hearing on the electoral mess in Ohio by (votehere?). The then-three-day old GOP front group, acting as a
"voting rights" organization, was curiously the only such group called as witnesses in the hearings convened by the committee's Chairman, Rep. Bob Ney R-OH). Bob Ney, by the way, was one of the sponsors
of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and is well known to favor paperless voting.

So, to recap, a GOP front group posing as a voting rights group presented a skewed report to a committee chaired by a known opponent of voter-verified paper ballots that secure the counting of our votes cast on electronic machines. This is an outrage to the goals of election reform.

Baker's position as co-chair of this commission has been denounced by a real voting rights organization, Velvet Revolution. Baker was diligent in his efforts to discount the votes of hundreds if not thousands of Americans in Florida during the 2000 Bush/Gore election debacle. As a consequence, VR is calling for the immediate removal of James Baker from this
commission.

Ralph Munro who is on the board of directors at VoteHere has also been named as a participant; clearly, VoteHere (www.votehere.com) intends to use these hearings push its "paper-trail" non-solution solution.

Both Mr. Munro and Mr. Baker have obvious conflicts of interest. Mr. Baker is with The Carlyle Group which owns Populex Voting (www.populex.com). Like VoteHere, Populex advocates a voter-verifiable "paper ballot card". Let's not mince terms here: we the people will accept nothing less than a voter verified paper ballot as the ballot of record. A "paper ballot card" is not a ballot of record and therefore does not secure the vote or the accuracy of a recount.

I am stepping up to the plate to back VR's call for Baker's removal. In addition, Mr. Munro must also be excluded because of his ties to VoteHere. If this Commission is to have any credibility whatsoever, it should replace its GOP clean up crew with members of respected voting rights groups whose aim is, transparently and simply, electoral reform.

Andy Stephenson

is a heavy hitter in his own write.

Always puts bush interests and his own above country,govt,citizens..

"American Dynasty" by Kevin Phillips lays out the entire bush history with some intriguing facts..But it implies what bush really is and that is a red,white and blue-blooded criminal enterprise who is planning on being the king of Amerika for a long long time.

"There ought to be limits to freedom"
quote from King George Bush the second {KGB II}

Ya'll...

Andy

We have kind of been expecting it. Before the election, 50 Republican members of the House wrote a letter to the Justice Department screaming about Dem fraud.

Ney has been saying he will have a hearing in March....we knew it would be just like this.

What can we do?

Write the press?

Write our representatives?

What would be the most effective course of action?

carterweb@emory.edu

Inform them of this travesty and the threat to Jimmy Carter's good name and reputation that would have ill effects on the Carter Center as well, particularly given the Center's involvement and advocacy of fair elections around the world.

and send to all the lists you are on.

That ought to be good for some press, if we still had one in this country. Not exactly a bastion of democracy, Saudi Arabia, is it?

http://velvetrevolution.us/content/electoralreform/BakerCarterComm_PressRelease_033005.php

3/30/05: VR Calls for James Baker to Resign as co-chair from newly formed Blue-Ribbon Election Reform Commission!


NEWS RELEASE: MARCH 30, 2005

ELECTION REFORM COALITION CONDEMNS INCLUSION OF
JAMES A. BAKER III AS CO-CHAIR OF BI-PARTISAN ELECTION
REFORM BLUE-RIBBON COMMISSION

Bush Family friend, loyalist, operative and architect of the
2000 Bush/Cheney strategy to keep American's votes from being
counted has no place as Co-Chair of bi-partisan commission
with esteemed former-President Jimmy Carter

Velvet Revolution calls for Baker's immediate removal from Commission

VelvetRevolution.us ("VR"), a leading Election Reform advocacy group -- comprised of nearly 100 affiliate organizations which represent the vast majority of America's Voting Rights and Electoral Reform movement in America today - today strongly states our opposition and condemnation of the recently announced Baker/Carter Commission that has been formed to study and recommend solutions for the myriad of electoral irregularities documented in the 2004 general election.

The reason we must condemn this otherwise greatly needed blue-ribbon commission is due to the installation of James A. Baker III as the commission's co-chair.

Indeed, we applauded the true bi-partisan spirit of the two fine former statesmen, Presidents Carter and Ford, on a similar blue-ribbon commission convened after the 2000 election to examine election related problems. However, in this case, the selection of a partisan political operative and Bush Family loyalist such as Mr. Baker, in place of the esteemed former-President Ford, will irreconcilably sully the credibility of such a commission and render it's findings completely suspect, wholly useless and, regrettably, without merit. Mr. Baker is no President Ford.

While former President Jimmy Carter is a superb choice for the post - having proven himself to be an honest broker, with a lengthy and esteemed history of supervising and presiding over free and fair elections around the world - Mr. Baker is, in fact, the architect behind the invidious scheme implemented to ensure that the votes of all Americans would not be counted in the unfortunate and un-democratic 2000 Presidential Election fiasco. The regrettable -- and indeed reprehensible -- actions of James Baker on behalf of Bush/Cheney '00 Inc. were antithetical to the free, fair and trustworthy elections process which must be the cornerstone of the world's most important democracy.
More
http://velvetrevolution.us/content/electoralreform/BakerCarterComm_PressRelease_033005.php

I already posted on Conyers' blog.

Not to mention that there should be high-level minority participation on the Commission on both sides. (Not just Blackwell, in case ANYONE'S considering that.)

- Carter (Carter Center): carterweb@emory.edu

- Congressional Black Caucus (do you have contact info for them?)

- Dr. Robert A. Pastor, CDEM Director - Executive Director of the Commission: rpastor@american.edu (202) 885-2728
See my post below:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x351775#351946

- Doug Chapin, Director of electionline.org (Research Director for the Commission): feedback@electionline.org
1101 30th Street NW, Suite 210
Washington, DC 20007
202.338.9860
202.338.1720 (fax)

- Shouldn't Barbara Boxer, Rev. Jesse Jackson be informed too?
EDIT: So add Nader too (then Cobb also).

- Contact Person for the commission: Todd Sedmak - tsedmak@american.edu (202) 885-5951

---------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a list of the commission members (ANYONE - please fill in with contact info - at least for the "friendlies":

Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform

Members Biographies


Co-Chairs:

President Jimmy Carter

President Carter was the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and 83rd Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. In 1982 he founded the Carter Center as a forum for mediating conflicts and promoting democracy, health care, and human rights. He co-chaired with former President Gerald Ford the National Commission on Election Reform.

The Honorable James A. Baker, III

James A. Baker, III has served in senior government positions under three United States Presidents. He served as Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, and White House Chief of Staff. Mr. Baker is presently a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Botts and Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

Executive Director:

Dr. Robert Pastor

Dr. Robert Pastor is the Director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management and Vice President of International Affairs at American University. Before coming to AU in 2002, Pastor was Professor at Emory University and Founding Director of The Carter Center’s Latin American and Democracy Programs, where he organized the monitoring of elections all over the world. He was Senior Advisor to the National Commission on Election Reform.

Other Members:

Ms. Betty Castor

Betty Castor was the 2004 Democratic Party nominee for the US Senate from Florida. Castor served as Florida Commissioner of Education from 1986-93. She served three terms as a state senator from the west coast of Florida, becoming the first female to hold the position of President Pro Tempore (1985-86).

Hon. Tom Daschle

Tom Daschle was elected and served as a U.S. Congressman (1978-86) and U.S. Senator from South Dakota (1986-2004). From 1994-2004, he was the Senate Minority Leader. In 2005, Senator Daschle joined the Legislative and Public Policy Group of the law firm Alston & Bird, LLP.

Ms. Rita DiMartino

Rita DiMartino was the Vice President of Congressional Relations for AT&T where she assisted in AT&T's relations with the administration, with Congress, and with state governments. DiMartino was appointed in February 2002 as the Principal U.S. Delegate to the Inter-American Commission of Women and also the Principal Representative to the Inter-American Children's Institute.

Hon. Lee Hamilton

Lee Hamilton is president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Prior to becoming director of the Woodrow Wilson Center in 1999, Hamilton served for 34 years in Congress representing Indiana's Ninth District. During his tenure, he served as Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was Vice Chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States and co-chair with Senator Howard Baker of the Commission to Investigate Certain Security Issues at Los Alamos.

Ms. Kay Coles James

Kay Coles James was the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management from 2001 to 2005. James served as a Senior Fellow and Director of The Citizenship Project at the Heritage Foundation. Under President George H. W. Bush, James was an Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services.

Dr. Benjamin Ladner

Benjamin Ladner is the President of American University in Washington, D.C. As President since 1994, Dr. Ladner has led the transformation of AU into a distinctive, global university with a reputation as "a private university with a public responsibility." Dr. Ladner serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Consortium of fourteen Universities in the Washington Metropolitan area. Before coming to AU, he was President of the National Faculty, an association of university professors founded by Phi Beta Kappa.

Mr. David Leebron

David Leebron was appointed president of Rice University in Houston, Texas in 2004. Leebron joined Rice from Columbia University School of Law, where he was Dean since 1996 and a faculty member since 1989. Prior to that, he was a professor of law at New York University and director of NYU’s International Legal Studies Program.

Dr. Nelson Lund

Nelson Lund is the Patrick Henry Professor of Constitutional Law and the Second Amendment at George Mason University in Virginia. Professor Lund served in the White House as associate counsel to the president from 1989 to 1992. He served as a law clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Dr. Shirley Malcom

Shirley Malcom is Head of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is a trustee of the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Malcom served on the National Science Board, the governing board of the National Science Foundation from 1994-2001, and has served on the Boards of the Carnegie Corporation and the H. John Heinz III Center for Science.

Hon. Bob Michel

Bob Michel was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois from 1957 to 1993. He served as Minority Whip for the ninety-fourth through ninety-sixth Congresses and Minority Leader for the ninety seventh through one hundred third Congresses. He was Vice Chair of the Carter-Ford National Commission on Election Reform.

Hon. Susan Molinari

Susan Molinari is Chairman and CEO of the Washington Group, a government relations and lobbying firm, and the President of Ketchum Public Affairs. Molinari served in Congress from 1990 to 1997 representing Staten Island, NY. In 1994, she was elected to the Republican Majority Leadership, making her the highest ranking woman in Congress. Unanimously re-elected to the House Leadership in 1996, Molinari was also selected by GOP Presidential candidate Senator Robert Dole as Keynote Speaker at the Republican National Convention in San Diego.

Hon. Robert Mosbacher

Robert Mosbacher is chairman of Mosbacher Energy Company. He is the past chairman of the Republican National Committee and served as National Finance Chairman for the election campaigns of Presidents Ford and George H. W. Bush. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Bush from 1989 to 1992.

Hon. Ralph Munro

Ralph Munro was the Secretary of State for Washington State from 1980 to 2001. Under Mr. Munro’s leadership, Washington State saw significant advancement in the efficiency of state election services including absentee voting, voter registration, election reporting and voter information.

Mr. Jack Nelson

Jack Nelson, former Washington Bureau Chief of the Los Angeles Times, has been a journalist for more than 50 years. He covered the past six presidents and every presidential campaign from 1968 through 1996. Since retiring in December, 2001, he has taught as a visiting professor of the University of Southern California’s School of Journalism. In 2002 he was a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He was presented the Drew Pearson Award for Investigative Reporting, the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism, and was named a Fellow by the National Society of Journalists.

Mr. Spencer Overton

Spencer Overton is Associate Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School where his scholarly interests include voting rights, race, and campaign finance. Overton was Charles Hamilton Houston Fellow at Harvard Law School and serves as a director of the National Voting rights Institute and the Fannie Lou Hamer Project. He practiced law with Debevoise and Plimpton and is on the Board of Common Cause.

Hon. Tom Phillips

Tom Phillips was first appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in 1987, and was subsequently elected as Chief Justice and served until 2004. Justice Phillips worked as an attorney with Baker Botts from 1974-1981. From 1981-87, he was a district judge for Harris County. He was elected President of the National Conference of Chief Justices (1997-98), and was a member of the Committee on Federal-State Relations of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Ms. Sharon Priest

Sharon Priest was the first woman elected Arkansas Secretary of State in 1994 and was President of the National Association of Secretaries of State. She has chaired the Arkansas State Election Improvement Study Commission, the State Board of Election Commissioners, and currently chairs the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission. She has been elected to public office six times from 1986 to the present, including Little Rock Board of Directors (1986-90), Vice-Mayor of Little Rock (1989-90), and Mayor of Little Rock (1991-92).

Mr. Raul Yzaguirre

Raul Yzaguirre is presidential professor of practice in community development and civil rights at Arizona State University. From 1974 to 2004, Yzaguirre was president of the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s leading Hispanic advocacy organization and the largest constituency-based national Latino organization.
http://domino.american.edu/AU/media/mediarel.nsf/1D265343BDC2189785256B810071F238/0C0A0C2B9D2F70A485256FCE00622C64?OpenDocument

I went to http://velvetrevolution.us/content/electoralreform/BakerCarterComm_PressRelease_033005.php and it has Conyers, etc., but also list Nader as a supporter for paper ballots.

I was under the impression, that Nader was not a friend to us. Am I mis-interrupting something here?

He is a friend to the cause.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0414-01.htm

Coalition of Electoral Reform Groups Call for James Baker's Resignation from Electoral Reform Commission; Plan Presence at April 18th "Public Hearing"

WASHINGTON -- April 14 -- Scores of voting rights and electoral reform organizations nationwide have united to demand real electoral reform proposals from the private, blue ribbon, Baker/Carter Commission on Federal Election Reform. They are organizing a visible presence at 10:00 a.m. in front of the Kay Spiritual Center on the American University campus in Washington, D.C. where the Commission is planning what they call "public hearings."

These groups, including Code Pink, Progressive Democrats of America, U.P. (United Progressives) for Democracy and Velvet Revolution, are opposed to the inclusion in any form of James Baker III on the Commission. Baker was the lead attorney in Florida for the 2000 Bush/Cheney campaign which engineered Bush's selection as President by five Supreme Court justices.

The pro-democracy groups are also opposed to two other members of the Commission who have direct ties to Mr. Baker's law firm, Tom Phillips and Robert Mosbacher, and to Ralph Munro, CEO of VoteHere, a company that manufactures vote-counting machines.

On April 11, Congressman John Conyers, minority chair of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to Jimmy Carter expressing his concern about the inclusion of Mr. Baker and strongly urging that the Commission include members of the voting rights coalition.

The last two national elections here have been marred by irregularities that have called into question the legitimacy of the results. In 2004, there were literally tens of thousands of documented cases of impropriety that, in many cases, significantly affected the vote count. Over the past five months, grassroots electoral reform groups have joined together in a pro-democracy campaign calling for a range of reforms in order to restore integrity, trustworthiness and accountability to the elections process. Some of their demands include: a constitutional right to vote for all citizens, paper ballots as the official record of all votes cast, independent analysis of all vote machine software and hardware before and after elections, unified national standards for national elections, election day registration, independent and non-partisan administration of elections, a strengthening and reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, public financing of elections and fair ballot access for all candidates and parties.

The pro-democracy coalition will hold a press conference outside the Kay Center following the conclusion of the "public hearing" at 2:30 p.m.

###

Please check your PMs.

The internet(s) will NOT just roll over and play dead!

PM sent.

It seems that most of the people involved in the movement to stop the black box voting methods in U.S. elections, post primarily in the 2004 Election forum, and it sometimes misses the larger audience that is required to GET BACK OUR RIGHT TO HAVE OUR VOTES COUNTED ACCURATELY!!

This is something that ALL DUers need to get involved in, so please bring the message to the broader forums (GD/Politics and GD).

The GOP just seems so frikkin' OBVIOUS in their efforts to keep on stealing elections right under our noses, and most Americans are not even aware of what is being done under the radar by these creeps.

If we had an honest media, this would be a HUGE story, and a scandal to beat all scandals. Unfortunately, the media is totally complicit.

:kick::kick::kick:

posted here? This is not just a bbv forum. Plenty of other voting rights issues have been discussed here.

You know, each day it's :wtf: but this is seriously :wtf: time.

No, no, no, no. Not Baker! :grr:

Who can I write, call, email???

"Dr. Robert A. Pastor, CDEM Director, is the Executive Director of the Commission. ”We will assemble a group of academic advisors that will prepare background analyses <how about Steve Freeman et. al.?> for the Commission,” said Dr. Pastor, “and we will reach out to seek the views of representatives from a wide-ranging group of non-governmental organizations involved in election-related issues*.” http://domino.american.edu/AU/media/mediarel.nsf/1D265343BDC2189785256B810071F238/0C0A0C2B9D2F70A485256FCE00622C64?OpenDocument

*Can we influence the witness list? Can we get people like: Andy, Steve Freeman, Bob Fitrakis, Cliff Arnebeck, Clint Curtis, etc. on the list to testify?

Email and/or call Dr. Robert A. Pastor and let him know who you think should be on the commission, and who should testify: rpastor@american.edu (202) 885-2728

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Bio here: http://www.american.edu/internationalaffairs/cdem/staff/rpastor.html
Vice President of International Affairs
Director, Center for Democracy and Election Management
Director, Center for North American Studies
Professor of International Relations

Quotes from Pastor:

Nov. 3, 2004 - 60 Minutes: "Counting The Vote" "We have a system that is so decentralized that it's dysfunctional," says Robert Pastor, a professor at American University, and an expert on elections. "Each county and municipality designs its own ballot. Each county has a different voting machine. Each county trains its poll workers differently. Each county has a different registration system. That's why it's so dysfunctional."

Pastor helps third world countries set up their elections, and he says most of them do it better than we do. "With regard to the administration of elections, the U.S. election system is one of the worst of 118 democracies in the world," says Pastor.

10/23/04 - NPR interview "Legal Battle Looms over Voting Rules"
An Interview by NPR's Scott Simon with Robert A. Pastor:
http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=WESAT&showDate=23-Oct-2004&segNum=2&mediaPref=WM
<Pastor is described as: "...helped monitor and mediate elections around the world for the Carter Center...">

<more links here:>
Center for Democracy and Election Management - Home
www.american.edu/ia/cdem/

<Info on Center for Democracy and Election Management:>
http://search.american.edu/search?q=Center+for+Democracy+and+Election+Management&btnG=Search&site=default_collection&output=xml_no_dtd&client=default_frontend&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&oe=UTF-8

Nice one, Tom!

is not in the interest of Democracy. We must fight against his influence in the cause for election reform. Carter must be aware of him, no?

P.S. Hope you are feeling well Andy.

I understand this is one of McPherson's goals as well. They seem to really be beating the drum with this. Is it just a distraction from real problems, another Republican disenfranchisement trick, or, as I am afraid, something more sinister?

Any thoughts?

far more sinister.

Dear Dr. Pastor;

Far more than a handful of us across America have grave concerns about the make-up of the National Election Reform Commission.

With the exception of former president Jimmy Cater, where are the election experts? Where is the representation from those who were dissenfranchised? Where is the input from computer scientists (and I don't mean Diebold representatives), attorneys who were involved in recount effrots, David Cobb, Rep. John Conyers, and others who possess a great deal of knowledge that is being glossed over or repressed?

When you lock opposing views out of the process, you invite the skepticism you have received. The commission is viewed by many Americans as simply a Bush Administration tool to "shut up" those who have concerns about the way the 2004 election was mismanaged.

Are you aware of the thousands of grassroots election reform organizations formed since November 2? There are at least three in Minnesota alone!

Tens of thousands of citizens and election reform groups have adopted the "Voters Bill of Rights." It should be the Commission's guiding document because it's from voters, not parties or political appointees. It's really quite simple. http://www.casemn.org/

Please take a look at the results when you type in "election reform" into Google. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=election+reform+&btnG=Google+Search It takes a tenth of a second to return 12 million entries for election reform. Just think if you spent an hour or two investigating whether the 2004 election and the need for reform is an important issue to Americans. There are far more than six or seven people that want election reform and want it now. If you think otherwise you have been grossly unprepared and uninformed.

It is a cruel joke to have a national commission to look into election reform without including broad and inclusive representation from those with the desire, knowledge and concerns needed to assess what went wrong and how to correct it.

To have a sham commission is worse than having none at all.

Sincerely,

Me
St. Paul, MN

or these guys would get away with it.

:hi:

Ask them to step down.