Blackwell was Dubya's Ohio Chairman?

Did I hear this right? Is it true?

Shouldn't there be a federal statute that NOBODY who has vote counting responsibility can be associated with a campaign?

First Katherine Harris was Dubya's chairman in Florida in 2000 and now Blackwell in Ohio? This is a basic flaw in the electoral system.

of the vote-counting!

"Shouldn't there be a law..." What are ya, some sort of librul or somethin'?

You bet your Sweet BiPPy I am!!!! (with apologies to Laugh-in)

I'm from Madison too, born and raised - now living in Mc Farland.

HI!

I'm so glad to see more and more Wisconsin DUers show up - particularly in the Madison area! Yippee!!! :hi:

The conflict of interest is appalling.

Same thing in 2000. Katherine Harris was the chair of the Bush Campaign in FL. I'm surprised Glenda Hood didn't get the job this year? I guess that would have been a little too obvious.

for being such a good team player though! Ya' know it's gonna be something good (like Harris got?)

Welcome to the Machine....

then Rage against the machine.........

companies who manufacture voting machines, software, etc. have no business contributing money to any political party or candidate. And LOGIC would say that any elected official who is responsible for overseeing elections should not be associated with any campaign as long as they hold that office. But what in the world does LOGIC have to do with anything?

;)

but Homeland Security says it knows nothing!!!!

WHERE ARE THE MEMOS?

WHO SENT THEM?

---------


AMY GOODMAN: Can you summarize your piece in today's Cincinnati Enquirer?

ERICA SOLVIG: Well, the story that ran today is reiterating the County Commissioner’s stance of Homeland Security concerns. They say, as you have already mentioned, that the county was facing a terrorist threat that ranked 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. We talked to several officials with the homeland security department as well as the FBI. They knew of no increased terrorism concerns in Warren County in particular, and just, again, raising the continuing concerns regarding Homeland Security and being locked out of the building. The primary focus of all of the articles has been on, you know, the First Amendment issues and the open government issues that are raised when the public and the media are locked out of the process.

AMY GOODMAN: You have interviewed a number of people for your pieces; among them was a news director at a local TV station?

ERICA SOLVIG: That's correct.

AMY GOODMAN: What did he say?

ERICA SOLVIG: He called this a red herring. Bob Moreford, the News Director at channel 9, CWPO TV, the ABC affiliate here said he had never seen anything like it, and WCPO as well as the Associated Press and the Inquirer all received the same response when they tried to get into the building on election night, and that was being locked out. Moreford said that he considered it a red herring. He continued to say, “That’s something that's put up when you don't know what else to put up to keep us out.”

AMY GOODMAN: We're taking a look at Keith Olbermann's blog from MSNBC. He was quoting the statement given out by Warren County Commissioner Pat South to MSNBC. You have also been quoting her a great deal. It's quite a remarkable quote. It says, “About three weeks prior to elections, our emergency services department had been receiving quite a few pieces of correspondence from the office of Homeland Security on the upcoming elections. These memos were sent out statewide, not just to Warren County, and they included a lot of planning tools and resources to use for Election Day security.” Pat South went on to say, “In a face-to-face meeting between the FBI and our director of Emergency Services, we were informed that on a scale from 1 to 10, the tri-state area of southwest Ohio was ranked at a high 8 to a low 9, in terms of security risk. Warren County in particular was rated at 10, 10 being the top highest risk. Pursuant to the Ohio-revised code, we followed the law to the letter that basically says no one is allowed within 100 feet of a polling place except for voters, and that after the polls closed, the only people allowed in the Board of Elections area where votes are being counted are the Board of Election members, judges, clerks, poll challengers, police, and that no one other than those people can be there while tabulation is taking place.” And yet, Erica Solvig, now the Department of Homeland Security and FBI are denying that they ever talked about a security risk here?

ERICA SOLVIG: They're saying that they were not aware of any increased security risk in Warren County on Election Day. The county has declined to give us the agent's name who told them this, because they haven't talked to this agent - this is an FBI agent - anytime recently. But the Homeland Security officials that we have talked to in the area, as well as the FBI, are unaware of any increased security risk on Election Day. Again, the primary concern was being locked out of a public building on a night when the entire nation was watching, waiting for the results.

AMY GOODMAN: Is Warren County, Ohio, republican or democrat?

ERICA SOLVIG: It is Republican, but politics aside this was an unprecedented action on their part. As far as we know and as far as the Ohio Secretary of State's office knows this is the only county in the state that locked the public out of the building.

AMY GOODMAN: One more time, as you point out in today's Cincinnati Inquirer piece, Pat South the commissioner describes the FBI agent coming to her?

ERICA SOLVIG: The FBI agent apparently spoke with some county officials who then relayed the information to the commissioners. He actually spoke directly to Frank Young, who is quoted in the article as well.

more
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/10/1536254

This is one of the most curious aspects of the Warren County vote.

It doesn't make sense on so many levels that it's hard to wrap your head around.

Like: Why would they do this in a Bush/Repub county? What effect would barring the press from the vote count do? Why won't they release the name of the (alleged) FBI agent? Something is greatly amiss here.......it's just plain weird.......

They say there's memos. Homeland Security and FBI have denied any terror threat.

Was someone impersonating an FBI agent?

Who sent the memos?

Serious stuff here.

If there were memos from Homeland security they should be made public.

Homeland security should DEMAND to know the name of the FBI agent who briefed the local officials...

And again, I have to ask why, why why?

on edit: Who signed the memos??????? was there contact information on the memos........

Editorial


You have to wonder if officials in Warren County confused Lebanon the city with Lebanon the country. On election night last week, the county commissioners ordered a complete security lockdown at the County Administration Building, citing a homeland security threat.

...

The lockdown apparently was done at the recommendation of Frank Young, the county's emergency services director, who said he got information from an FBI agent during a conversation about general Election Day threats that made him think Warren County could be a terrorism target. According to South, the county was ranked 10 on a 1-to-10 threat scale.

Who knows why? Young declined to identify the agent he said gave him the warning, and the FBI said they never issued any such warning and never had any reason to suspect a specific threat against Warren County.

The only warning anyone else recalls was a general caution issued across the country earlier this year by federal homeland security officials that there was a potential for terrorist strikes in the days leading up to the elections.

That warning led to sensible precautions in most other jurisdictions - more security personnel, screening those entering buildings and a heightened awareness about the possibility of trouble. But nobody but the officials in Warren County felt the need to lock all the doors, refuse to let the press or other observers in to witness the vote counting, and generally treat the county building as if it were Fort Knox.

We appreciate Warren County officials' sense of concern, but their overreaction is exactly the kind of disruption people opposed to our system of free and open government hope to achieve.

more
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041112/EDIT01/411120370/1020/EDIT

I would like a link to a solid source.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/246954p-211523c.html

There are many more, but they require registration. This link is faster.

Katherine har i mean Blackwell is impartial and really doent care who wins.
geeeeeesh if i was Kerry i would have conceded to and worked underground to get ar0ound this gop schill.

Going toe-to-toe with him in the open would only summon his reinforcements. Underground is the only possible chance. That, plus
a head fake courtesy of the Cobb/Badnarik-sponsored investigation request. They demanded that Blackwell recuse himself from further involvement. Brilliant! :toast: (Sorry, I channelled a Guinness commercial there for a moment. ;))

Blackwell is the co chair of the nation

LOL! Very good!

Matt Blunt, who is MO's SOS and now the gov-elect (God help us) was shrub's MO campaign chair.