Rove's tech guru dead in small plane crash -- here's who he was.

Who was Mike Connell?
Pokey Anderson
December 20, 2008

Investigative journalists online have been digging into the story of Mike Connell for two years. Connell's largely unknown role in elections and government technology infrastructure should be a top story of the year, yet major media have ignored it.

Last night, a small plane crashed and burned near Akron, Ohio, reportedly carrying only one person, Mike Connell.

Connell was close to Karl Rove, but Rove reportedly had threatened him of late. Connell's testimony re the Ohio 2004 election was being compelled in an Ohio court.

Ohio election attorney Cliff Arnebeck sent a letter to US Attorney General Mukasey, July 24, 2008:

Dear Attorney General Mukasey:

We have been confidentially informed by a source we believe to be credible that Karl Rove has threatened Michael Connell, a principal witness we have identified in our King Lincoln case in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, that if he does not agree to "take the fall" for election fraud in Ohio, his wife Heather will be prosecuted for supposed lobby law violations ...

Who was Mike Connell? Who was he connected to? What did he have to do with the Ohio 2004 presidential election results? What about the US attorney firings? Find out in the independent media.


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Free Press.org

Are Rove's missing e-mails the smoking guns of the stolen 2004 election?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
April 25, 2007
Free Press.org
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2562

The GOP's cyber election hit squad
by Steven Rosenfeld and Bob Fitrakis
April 22, 2007
Free Press.org
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2553
also http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042407A.shtml

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ePluribus Media, a collaborative citizen journalist site, first uncovered the complex Mike Connell story.

Ken Blackwell Outsources Ohio Election Results to GOP Internet Operatives, Again
by luaptifer
Tue Nov 07, 2006
ePluribus Media
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2006/11/7/115314/922

Ohio's election website still sent real-time results to GOP mirror server
by intranets
Thu Nov 09, 2006
ePluribus Media
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2006/11/9/61233/1283

The GOP, GeorgeWBush.com and the Line that Jumped the Congressional Firewall
Mar 27, 2007
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/3/26/22612/9031

Who is Michael L. Connell? Part I: The Atwater School of Politics
Mar 28, 2007
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/3/28/143050/889

Who is Michael L. Connell? Part II: Behind the firewall
Apr 02, 2007
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/4/2/6328/14926

Rove -ing emails: what else could go missing?
by Todd Johnston and Luaptifer
ePluribus Media
Sun Apr 22, 2007
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/4/22/33926/1773

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BradBlog stories on Mike Connell

7/17/08: Ohio Attorney Files to Lift Stay on '04 Election Case, Cites Allegations, Evidence of Massive Fraud by a Number of GOP Operatives, http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6189

7/22/08: GOP Tech Guru Mike Connell 'High IQ Forrest Gump...At Scene of Every Single Crime' Say Ohio Attorneys, http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6206

7/24/08: Rove Threatened GOP IT Guru If He Does Not 'Take the Fall' for Election Fraud in Ohio, Says Attorney, http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6214

7/25/08: Cliff Arnebeck, OH Attorney, Interviewed Live on Peter B. Collins Show, http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6217

7/26/08: So Who Is Mike Connell? A Clip from 'Free For All' Gives You an Idea... , http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6220

9/29/08: STAY LIFTED IN '04 OHIO ELECTION FRAUD CASE, GOP 'TECH GURU' SUBPOENAED, http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6445

10/31/08: BREAKING: Federal Judge Compels GOP IT Guru Mike Connell To Give Deposition in Ohio '04 Election Case, http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6600

11/24/08: 'Document Hold' Served by OH Attorney to GA SoS in Advance of State's U.S. Senate Run-off Election, http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6696

12/19/08: BREAKING: MIKE CONNELL, GOP 'IT GURU', KILLED IN SOLO PLANE CRASH, http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6765

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Velvet Revolution website, Rove Cybergate: http://www.rovecybergate.com

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Raw Story has done a number of stories on Connell, including

Republican IT consultant subpoenaed in case alleging tampering with 2004 election
Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane
Monday September 29, 2008
Raw Story
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Republican_IT_consultant_subpoenaed_in_case_0929.html

'Karl Rove's IT guru' Mike Connell dies in plane crash
RAW STORY
Saturday December 20, 2008
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Karl_Roves_IT_guru_Mike_Connell_1220.html

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A researcher, writer and broadcaster, Pokey Anderson has interviewed dozens of computer experts, attorneys, journalists, election officials and citizens involved in election issues around the country over the past five years. A portion of her research was included in a cover story on election vulnerabilities for The Nation by Ronnie Dugger. Her research on some of the security vulnerabilities of electronic voting machines appears in "Peering Through Chinks in the Armor of High-Tech Elections," http://www.votersunite.org/info/PeeringThruChinks.pdf. She co-anchors The Monitor, a national and international news show on KPFT Radio in Houston. Previously, she spent a year researching the Enron collapse for a book with former Enron VP Sherron Watkins.

I have wondered, are you the same Pokey Anderson of some Houston radio reknown, years back?

Here's something mentioning Connell that I ran into a couple of months ago and have been wondering about ever since. (Barry Jackson was one of those shadowy Bush White House figures who generally flew under the radar -- deputy to Karl Rove, ran the Rove political propaganda unit grandly known as the Office of Strategic Initiatives, had an rnc.com email account.) At the very least, it suggests that Connell wasn't just some right-wing computer whiz who happened to hook up with Karl Rove. These connections go way back.


http://www.madison.com/post/entries/309141

There was a national PR campaign to garner support for the Contras. During the mid-1980s, Barry Jackson was the chair of the Johnson County, Iowa, Republican Party. He handled an extensive rent-a-mob and dirty tricks operation, which chased then-candidate Tom Harkin around to disrupt rallies. During that period, I ran into Barry Jackson and Mike Connell at the Deadwood, an Iowa City campus bar. (Yes, the Mike Connell currently in trouble for hacking election computers for Karl Rove,) We were not friends, but enjoyed arguing. I invited them back to my home on Bloomington street, where we continued drinking and debating. During that session, Jackson bragged of his involvement of burglaries at several East-Coast CISPES (committees In Support of El Salvador) offices.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/28/122458/646

Connell was part of Jackson's crew at the University of Iowa in the early 1980s. I was there and remember then them well. Connell isn't the only computer jock out of that crew. Former Iowa State Rep and GOP chair Steve Grubbs is now the CEO of Victory Enterprises. Grubbs was initially a member of the Maranatha shepharding cult.

In 1984, Jackson was leading a College Republican dirty tricks squad against Dem Candidate Tom Harkin. The Republican incumbent, Roger Jepsen, was a joke. He was channeling funds from the South Afikan BOSS to Iowa Right-To-Life. That financed a traveling rent-a-mob and phone-bank scams through Per Mar Security and Research. They stole a student election at the University of Iowa and stripped the left groups of funding, did black bag jobs, and sent thugs to attack anti-aparthied demonstrations.

One of the funny things, they had to scramble to cover the stink when one of their guys, skipped to Bahrain with all the proceeds from the homecoming buttion sales. Little gangster do grow up. Now we have a major problem in America.