The BRAD BLOG has learned that a D.C. Ethics watchdog group has met with, and is now investigating the claims made by Clint Curtis in an affidavit [PDF] that we released exclusively here yesterday.

According to a spokesperson Naomi Selligman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Curtis was referred to the group by aides on Capitol Hill after they recieved and reviewed Curtis' affidavit.

From Selligman's email to BRAD BLOG:

Seligman confirmed the email by phone, and has informed The BRAD BLOG that Republican Majority Leader Tom Delay has since sought to have CREW found in contempt of Congress for their role in having drafted the complaint against him.

FYI... Mr. Curtis' dog was shot and killed a few hours after I published my original story on the BRAD BLOG. This is the second time that Mr. Curtis has been the apparent victim of intimidation through such tacticts. Another one of his dogs was killed in 2002.

Here is part of an emotional note I wrote to my friend at Crooks & Liars just after I'd heard of the incident and while I was unable to post at the main BRAD BLOG site due to the heavy traffic after I published the story.

I have seen speculation that the dog story is a hoax or something. And I certainly don't expect anybody to take my word for it.

To that end, I hope to have info from a police report (and I don't know that one was yet filed or not, checking into it) when I can get it.

But as I believe folks have found most of my other reports (See the Raymond Lemme issue for example) have, in fact, been confirmed and are real, I hope you will give the benefit of the doubt until anything I have reported has been proven to be incorrect.

I encourage your skepticism in the entire affair. I have tried to remain equally as skeptical about all of these charges since I initially heard of them, at least until I have seen substantiation. Most have been substantiated with evidence. The most notable charges for this moment concerning election charges are clearly less substantiated with hard evidence. At this time.

MUCH STILL DEVELOPING...THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!

I can report that there is much moving on this story.

So I can't post as quickly as I'd like to as I'm fielding calls, talking to folks, etc.

Curtis has been getting many interview requests and has spoken to a number of mainstream (and not as mainstream) organizations.

Will post here as much and as quickly as I can.

Hope to answer many of the "Frequently Asked Questions" I've seen lately on all of this, on Curtis, on the Affidavit (and even on me).

I encourage skepticism in everything here. Have tried to be as skeptical about it all myself from the beginning. And continue to be on every aspect of it.

So far, as I reported originally, I haven't found any holes in Curtis' story. And there are loads of paper trail on it going back years. Newspaper articles, public records (lots of those, since there have been many court hearings on all the Yang (FEI) and Florida Dept. of Transportation stuff, etc).

So to that end, I'll be posting here all day as much as I can, between all the off-line stuff I am now doing as well.

Many folks have had trouble find information about the FDOT Investigator who was said to be working on the case, and who Clint Curtis says in his Affidavit (PDF), was close to a break on the case. Curtis quotes him as saying "he had tracked the corruption 'all the way to the top'".

The newspaper obit for Lemme follows...

As well, I have about 25 more pages of documents on the Lemme case from the police records (all public records, by the way, from the Valdosta Police Dept).

I'll be posting much of that shortly here as well!

In stunning revelations set to rock the vote from Tallahassee to Capitol Hill --- and perhaps even a bit further up Pennsylvania Avenue --- a Florida computer programmer has now made remarkable claims in a detailed sworn affidavit, signed this morning and obtained exclusively by The BRAD BLOG!

- Affidavit in .PDF format -

The programmer claims that he designed and built a "vote rigging" software program at the behest of then Florida Congressman, now U.S. Congressman, Republican Tom Feeney of Florida's 24th Congressional District.

Clint Curtis, 46, claims that he built the software for Feeney in 2000 while working at a sofware design and engineering company in Oviedo, Florida (Feeney's home district).

Curtis, in his affidavit, says that as technical advisor and programmer at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) he was present at company meetings where Feeney was present "on at least a dozen occasions".

Feeney, who had run in 1994 as Jeb Bush's running-mate in his initial unsuccessful bid for Florida Governor, was serving as both corporate counsel and registered lobbyist for YEI during the period that Curtis worked at the company. Feeney was also concurrently serving as a Florida state congressman while performing those services for YEI. Feeney would eventually become Speaker of the Florida House before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. He is now a member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

At an October 2000 meeting with Feeney, according to the affidavit and BRAD BLOG interviews with Curtis over the past three days, Feeney inquired whether the company could build a "vote fraud software prototype".

At least three YEI employees are said to have been present at that meeting; Curtis, company owner, Mrs. Li Woan Yang, and her executive secretary, Mike Cohen. Two other YEI employees may have come in and out at different points of the meeting according to Curtis.

Curtis says that Feeney "was very specific in the design and specifications required for this program."

"He detailed, in his own words, that; (a) the program needed to be touch-screen capable (b) the user should be able to trigger the program without any additional equipment (c) the programming to accomplish this needed to stay hidden even if the source code was inspected."

Though there was no problem with the first two requirements, Curtis explained to the Congressman that it would be "virtually impossible to hide such code written to change the voting results if anyone is able to review the uncompiled source code"

Nonetheless, he was asked at the meeting by Mrs. Yang to build the prototype anyway.

Curtis, "a life-long Republican" at the time, claims that it was his initial belief that Feeney's interest was in trying to stop Democrats from using "such a program to steal an election". Curtis had assumed that Feeney, "wanted to be able to detect and prevent that if it occurred."

Upon delivery of the software design and documentation on CD to Mrs. Yang, Curtis again explained to her that it would be impossible to hide routines created to manipulate the vote if anybody would be able to inspect the precompiled source code.

Mrs. Yang then told him, "You don't understand, in order to get the contract we have to hide the manipulation in the source code. This program is needed to control the vote in South Florida." [emphasis in affidavit]

Mrs. Yang then took the CD containing the software from Curtis, reportedly for later delivery to Feeney.

In other meetings with Feeny prior to the 2000 elections, it became clear to Curtis that Feeney had plans to suppress the vote in strong Democratic precincts. In the affidavit, Curtis claims that in those meetings Feeney had "bragged that he had already implemented 'exclusion lists' to reduce the 'black vote'." Feeney also mentioned that "proper placement of police patrols could further reduce the black vote by as much as 25%."

Curtis says that he submitted his resignation to YEI effective December 2000, but stayed on until they had found someone to replace him in February of 2001. He eventually became employed by the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) after leaving YEI.

But the scandals didn't stop there.

In May of 2001, while at FDOT, Curtis and another FDOT employee, Mavis Georgalis, discovered and then reported several allegations to the Inspector General at FDOT concerning over-billing by YEI --- who had been an FDOT contractor --- and software that was never delivered by the company. Allegations also included the employment of a suspected illegal alien, Mr. Hai Lin Nee, who worked as YEI's "quality control" manager.

Both Curtis and Georgalis were reportedly harassed after filing their complaints about malfeasance at YEI and pressure mounted on the FDOT --- purportedly from the powerful Feeney who was still working with YEI --- to have them both fired.

In November 2001, after Curtis filed his complaints at FDOT, both he and Georgalis' were subsequently sued by YEI "in retaliation" for their complaints against the company. The charge was "theft of intellectual property", which Curtis has catagorized as "ridiculous" in interviews, because the "intellectual property" in question was, in fact, software that FDOT had long ago paid YEI to develop for them.

YEI was represented in the lawsuit by Congressman Feeney's law firm.

When the two had sought help from FDOT in fighting YEI's suit against them, they were told that FDOT couldn't help them because FDOT had not been named in the suit.

After several rounds of court battles, Georgalis was finally successful in having FDOT added to the suit as a third co-defendant. The suit was originally filed in Seminole County, but moved to Leon County upon the addition of FDOT.

In April of 2002 --- on the very same day --- Curtis and Georgalis were both fired by FDOT without explanation.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported extensively in 2002 on the case. They reported at the time that Curtis had written to the Inspector General at FDOT to inquire why no investigation had yet been made into YEI. As well, Curtis had contacted the Florida Bar, since Feeney was a member, to inform them that "Feeney has used his position to promote the profits of Yang Enterprises, from whom he received compensation under the guise of lobbyist and attorney."

According to The Orlando Sentinel in 2001, of 160 Florida congressmen, Feeney was the only known registered lobbyist. He would later be cleared of all ethics violations brought against him in the Florida house on these matters by the Ethics Committee which included four Republicans appointed to the committee by Feeney. Curtis was never interviewed by the Ethics Committee concerning his allegations.

After Curtis and Georgalis were fired by FDOT, each attempted to file "Whistleblower Suits" in the state of Florida. Georgalis' suit was successful and FDOT was eventually ordered, after lengthy court battles, to reinstate her with full back-pay by the circuit court. Curtis' suit was not successful due to having missed the filing deadline for the suit.

That suit, filed over three years ago, is still pending. The reason, explained Curtis, is that YEI has since avoided all defendants attempts to depose company employees in the case.

By May of 2002, the FDOT had finally taken up the investigation into malfeasance by YEI.

In one particularly chilling paragraph in the affidavit, Curtis explains what became of Raymond Lemme, the inspector at FDOT who was said to be pursing the allegations against YEI, Tom Feeney and the other reported matters:

"[I]n June of 2003, he told me that he had tracked the corruption 'all the way to the top' and that the story would break in the next few weeks and I would be satisfied with the results. A few weeks later, on July 1st, Mr. Lemme was found dead with his arm slashed in a hotel room in Valdosta, Georgia."

The death was ruled a suicide by the Valdosta Police. The BRAD BLOG has obtained and is currently reviewing many official documents related to Mr. Lemme's death.

Mr. Hai Lin Nee, "the ilegal alien" who had worked at YEI and was reported by Curtis, was arrested in March of 2004 on espionage charges which included "shipping radar guidance system chips for Hellfire Anti-Tank Missiles to a company in Communist China."

Curtis discussed in detail, during our interviews, Mr. Nee having placed "wiretapping modules" into software code created by the company. The secret "wiretapping modules", Curtis claims, were to download information from programs built by YEI for contractors, and then either copy or send that information via Email back to YEI. Such software, Curtis claims, was created for companies such as NASA with whom YEI held substantial contracts.

According to both the Curtis affidavit and email dated November 22, 2004 obtained by The BRAD BLOG, YEI is currently under investigation by the FBI.

That information was sent to Curtis after he had attempted on several occassions to notify law enforcement authorities of his seemingly remarkable story of espionage, possible vote tampering and other ethical concerns.

In July of this year, in an email we've reviewed which purports to be from a current YEI employee whose name we are withholding, Curtis was sent the following message in regard to a book that the employee had learned Curtis was working on:

In what he describes as "an attempt to get this story out there", Curtis told part of the tale on a website, www.justaflyonthewall.com where he has changed the names of some of the specific parties involved. (e.g. "Wong" is substituted for "Yang" on the site)

Additional charges by Curtis also include that databases and information were routinely sent by Mrs. Yang to her brother in China who, Yang had told Curtis on one occasion, had previously been deported for "being a spy". The BRAD BLOG has not yet been able to confirm the espionage charges concerning Mrs. Yang's brother.

Curtis' affidavit is being turned over this afternoon to staffers at the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. An investigation into Curtis' story is pending.

While we've been working on this story for several days in order to get it right, we had hoped to hold it a bit longer to confirm a few more of the details. As well, we had hoped to allow the Judiciary Committee and others time to comment before making this story widely available.

However, as of late Sunday night, Curtis' story has been reported elsewhere on the Internet by Wayne Madsen. His detailed account references an older, very short affidavit that Curtis had made in regards to the information contained in a self-published book on some of these matters.

While Madsen's article was independently researched and reported --- and offers some very good detail in relation to Curtis, YEI, FDOT and Feeney, much of which that we can confirm --- he then ties those stories to a much grander CIA/Bush family conspiracy.

While we have looked somewhat cursorily over the last several weeks into some of the larger matters which Madsen discusses, and has been reporting on for some time, we cannot confirm any of those grander details as playing any part in this particular story. While his claims may be true, The BRAD BLOG has seen no evidence to support them as being related to the Curtis story at this time.

Frankly, we find the information related in Curtis' sworn affidavit, and via our interviews with him and others directly related to his story to be rather stunning as is, and we will stand by our reporting of those matters at this time.

Given the importance of the many allegations in his story if they are true --- and we have so far been unable to identify any major holes or discrepancies in his information --- we thought it necessary to release the full details contained in this sworn affidavit immediately so that Curtis' story and the explosive allegations contained therein could be more accurately assessed.

DEVELOPING...HARD...

UPDATE: For a great deal of follow-up info on this story, please see BRAD BLOG TOO which we've had to set up for now as a supplemental site while we arrange for the bandwidth required on this site to continue reporting the story here! Due to the heavy traffic, I am largely unable to access this site to post to it, until we can up the bandwidth here. Sorry for the inconvenience...

Brad Friedman is a freelance writer, investigative blogger, software designer and all around trouble maker. He broke the story of the "White House Website Scrubbing" amongst other stories, and has been closely following the story of "GRAND THEFT AMERICA" since Election Day at his site, The BRAD BLOG, which can be read --- when it's not being overwhelmed by traffic --- at http://www.BradBlog.com

In a clear sign that The BRAD BLOG has hit the big time and is doing everything precisely correctly, the wingnuts over at FreeRepublic.com have now officially tagged us as "(Puke liberal Blog site!)" in a recent posting there which covered our exclusive scoop last week on the House Judiciary Committee Dems' upcoming hearings on the Ohio election.

In a comment posted to the above-linked Freeper article, one of the Kool-aid sippers mentions: "I bet none of these accusations is supported by affidavits. Stuff like this disappears when a sworn statement is required."

Such insightful predictions may very soon come back to haunt the oxygen-starved Rethugs over at the rightwing extremist website. Stay tuned...

But until then --- on behalf of all of us here at The BRAD BLOG --- we thank the Freepers for bestowing us with such a high honor!

(Details at Blue Lemur)

NOTE FROM BRAD: Postings have been light here over the weekend as I've been working on some important stories hopefully to come here soon. Thanks for your patience, and please check back...

"I would like to welcome you to the Ukraine," said Susan Truitt of the Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections. AP wire story here.

[ed. note: The photo above is from AP who's catalog of photos from the event is damn slim for the moment. If anyone has links to a page with more photos from the event, please email me the link! Thanks!]

The Chicago Tribune has published today a provocative, and well-researched article about a number of Election 2004 concerns. All without a single mention of the word "blog", "leftwing" or "conspiracy theory"!

A detailed analysis by the Tribune of voter rolls in a number of states has revealed several notable concerns. (NOTE TO NY TIMES, BOSTON GLOBE and NEWSWEEK: An "analysis" is what investigative reporters sometimes do prior to announcing there is nothing worth investigating. NOTE TO BRAD BLOG READERS: Click on any of those links to find out how you can help encourage those outlets to do their job!)

Among the concerns revealed by the Tribune report published today:

The BRAD BLOG congratulates the Chicago Tribune's Geoff Dougherty, Sarah Frank and the other "Tribune staff reporters" who contributed to this investigative analysis of America's democratic voting system. All are to be commended for doing the job for which they are paid, and for which so many in this country and the world desperately rely upon to provide a check and balance to those in the unchecked and corrupt corridors of power.

(Thanks Fin for the tip!)

A follow-up with updated information on our several previous reports...

A supplement to the letter sent to Ohio Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell by House Judiciary Committee Dems concerning numerous voting irregularities in Ohio was obtained earlier today by The BRAD BLOG. The supplement, which includes an invitation for Blackwell to appear at next week's just-announced committee hearings, has now been posted within the past hour at the House Judiciary Committee Democrats website. We will excerpt details below.

As well, a request has been filed with Warren Mitofsky, head of the news consortium that conducted the Exit Polling on Election Day, to release the "raw data" from that controversial polling. Details follow below on that as well.

Additional information has been provided to Blackwell in a supplemental letter, which also requests explanation for the incidents described. The first item is based on information reported exclusively by BRAD BLOG last Wednesday evening in our report about the judge in Delaware County, OH who had issued a "temporary restraining order" to stop the Green/Libertarian sponsored recount from happening in that county.

Our investigation revealed that the Delaware County Board of Elections website was still publicizing an outdated edict from Blackwell concerning the paper-weight requirements of voter registration forms in Ohio despite the rulings reversal over a month prior to Election Day.

After drawing negative publicity about Blackwell's arcane ruling which mandated that voter registration forms must be submitted only on "white, uncoated paper of not less than 80-pound text weight", the ruling was then lifted on Sept. 29th.

Yet, as we reported Wednesday, the Delaware County Board of Elections website still features the following text, as of this posting, on the front page of the site a full two months since the ruling was lifted, and over a month since Election Day itself:

Here is a screenshot taken last night from the page...

As reported exclusively last night on The BRAD BLOG, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Democrats have minutes ago officially issued a press release announcing public hearings will be held on the Hill next week in regards to Voting Irregularities in Ohio.

Witness to testify (detailed below) include the three names mentioned in our report last evening, along with many other notable players in this saga.

The full text of the "Press Advisory" is at the bottom of this item.

As well, The BRAD BLOG can further report that Judiciary Committee staffers are working on additional investigation concerning matters in Ohio and other states. Details will be forthcoming, including additional supplemental material added to the thorough 15-page letter sent yesterday to Ohio Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell requesting explanations for the many troubling reports of voting irregularities and tabulation in the Buckeye State. (See this previous BRAD BLOG article for detailed excerpts of that original letter.)

DEVELOPING...

PDF of "Press Advisory" now posted at Judiciary Committee Dems website here.

As reported exclusively here last night, a stunning, thorough and well sourced letter was sent yesterday by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Democrats demanding explanations from Ohio Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell concerning numerous voting irregularities, mistabulation errors, voting-machine malfunctions, misallocations and reported voter suppression.

The detailed 15-page letter can be read here in PDF format.

We will be breaking more news momentarily about the Judiciary Committee's investigation and public hearings to be held next week as mentioned last night, along with additional news about that continuing investigation.

In the meantime, several new allegations were included in the 15-page letter to Blackwell, who also served as Co-Chair in Ohio for the Bush/Cheney 2004 Re-Elect Committee.

Many of the allegations to which the committee is seeking explanation from Blackwell have previously been discussed on the BRAD BLOG, though the letter adds some new details to several of them, all thoroughly sourced and footnoted in the original letter.

Here are some of the extended excerpts from the letter which shed additional and new light to some of the most troubling or noteworthy new pieces in the developing Ohio puzzle...

A source inside the House Judiciary Committee has informed The BRAD BLOG that Democratic members of the committee will be announcing public hearings in Washington to begin next Wednesday on Voting Irregularities in Election 2004.

Scheduling is currently under way and the hearings are "99% certain" according to the source, who hopes the official announcement will be made tomorrow.

The hearings will be held by the Democratic members only at this time since all Republican members of the committee have refused to take part in the investigation so far.

The House Democrats hope to hear testimony from a number of witnesses concerning the thousands of reported cases of mistabulated votes, voter suppression and other concerns about electronic voting on Nov. 2nd.

Witnesses being scheduled to testify include Attny. Cliff Arnebeck, who is leading a group of attorneys filing litigation in Ohio to have the election results set aside, Bill Fitrakis, reporter and editor of the Columbus Free Press whose continuing detailed reports cataloging voter suppression and other related matters on the ground in Ohio have set the standard for what real investigative journalism looks like, and possibly Jesse Jackson who has been outspoken of late on all of these matters.

As well, the House Judiciary committee Democrats have today sent a detailed letter [PDF] to Ohio Sec. of State (and Co-Chair of Ohio's Bush/Cheney Re-Elect Committee), J. Kenneth Blackwell, requesting his assistance in responding to some 15 pages of documented allegations and concerns that the committee has compiled to date in regards to Ohio's election.

VERY LATE UPDATE: If you get the chance, read that PDF letter to Blackwell! It's loaded with terrific investigative information and tough questions for the Ohio Sec. of State/Co-Chair Bush-Cheney Re-Elect Committee. Will try to pull out some specifics in a fresh post tomorrow. But read it if you haven't yet! And pass it on!

UPDATE 12/3/04: The Judiciary Committee Hearings are now CONFIRMED and have been announced in a "Press Advisory. See this update for details! Also, for detailed excerpts from the 15-page PDF letter to Blackwell, see this update!

Despite a graphic that would appear to represent many troubling concerns, The Boston Globe yesterday in a 2,000 word report succeeded in adding virtually nothing to the story of Voting Irregularities in Election 2004.

Brian C. Mooney's story which looked an awful lot like "reporting" at first blush, was, in actuality, just "repeating" of everything that most of us following this story already know. In fact, I don't believe they added anything to the story which hasn't already been reported here over the last four weeks.

They did, however, make certain to follow the previous lead of their corporate-owners, The New York Times in assuring readers that --- though there have been thousands and thousands of reported incidents, and tens of thousands of mistabulated votes already discovered --- there is nothing at all worth investigating.

And investigation is precisely what The Boston Globe chose not to do. (Unless one considers reading The BRAD BLOG to be "investigation").

Please feel free to ombud@globe.com?BCC=TheB....com&Subject=Please INVESTIGATE Voter Irregularity, Mistabulation and Fraud NOW!">click here to politely let The Globe know what you think of their lack of investigation into this matter. Include name, address and phone if you wish to have your messages considered for publication. (Only name will be used for publication).

With 2.8 million votes cast in Washington state, a margin of 42 votes (yes, 42!) separates Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire from her Republican opponent.

She is calling for a manual recount of all ballots in the state for accuracy. The previous machine recount changed the margin from 261 to 42, but, accorrding to a MoveOn.org statement, irregularities such as "counties that can't explain where they found additional votes, precincts with more votes recorded than there are registered voters, and voters who were inexplicably purged from the rolls" has prompted the candidate to seek a manual recount of all ballots.

Funds for this recount are needed by today to guarantee the recount occurs! DONATE HERE!