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!
Holy Testical Tuesday, Batman!!
I will be counting the seconds and minutes until this comes to pass!!
BTW, Brad, You Rock!!
ok! There is something boiling here… can you feel it?
Outstanding news Brad.
And, earlier this evening I saw the first ‘Did Bush Know?’ statement. Brings fond memories of those days in the 70’s when we lived in Georgetown and the buz was ‘Did Nixon Know?’ …. oh yes, in_deed, this is going to get intense.
"I Declare The 2004 Election Invalid: Someone I do not know was prevented from voting"
here was a pretty lengthy interview on C-Span today with Cliff Arnebeck, an attorney for Alliance for Democracy, who is going to file a suit tomorrow in Ohio challenging the election result. This is different from demanding a recount. This organization is actually saying it believes–BASED ON EVIDENCE–that the election result is INCORRECT.
Mr. Arnebeck said they have evidence that shows the election result was actually the opposite of what’s been reported. He says that Kerry won 51% of the vote in OH, and he seems to claim he can prove it.
Here’s a transcript of the relevant parts…
Quote:
"The only logical explanation is that there was a movement of some 65,000 votes or so that were cast for Kerry into the Bush column. Which created a margin that is approximately the total margin by which Bush was reported to have won Ohio. So our current view of the evidence is that this is where the fix occurred.
"There were a variety of other problems in the election. There was the suppression of black voters in Franklin Co. by shorting machines in black and high Democratic performance districts. There was what we would call a precinct shuffle in Summit Co. and Cuyahuga Co. where a deliberate confusion was created about where people could vote. They cast their provisional ballots…there were election officials were telling them that they could vote in any precinct of the county and it would be counted. And then you’ve got Blackwell saying they won’t be counted.
"Our present feeling is that this is, while a serious conspiracy to violate the civil rights of a protected class of voters namely those of the black race, that this is not where the real fix occurred. This is something we will discuss in the lawsuit, but we intend to focus very, to hone in very aggressively in full tilt litigation with full discovery on what we believe is the fraud that occurred in the southern part of the state with the shift of votes.
"Look at the two races. In effect the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court race is a benchmark race for the presidential race because both of these races were competitive, they were running neck and neck. All right so this gives you a basis to say "all right what happened in this situation and how does it relate to the other, the benchmark." Now a more ingenious approach might have been if you’re going to do this you should have made the adjustment also in the Supreme Court race too, so this wouldn’t stand out. This stands out like a sore thumb.
I think what happened is, all this civil rights violation was a red herring intended to stimulate the public interest groups and civil rights organizations to hone in on this, on this horrendous, horrendous attack on the rights of black voters. They thought that’s what we would go after, the clock would run out, we wouldn’t be able to prove our case. The real fraud occurred in this switching of votes in southern Ohio. That’s our present view of the evidence."
But nothing will happen from it because we’re not the "majority of the majority", and the media is too busy felating Falwell. :angry:
Thank God.
Cliff Arnebeck is my hero.
I am starting to get excited.
I think that if the Repugs try to stop this movement like they did in 2000, we should all invade D.C., strike, consume no more of anything than is absolutley necessary; shut the country down. Ironic that we have to learn about how to protect Democracy from the Ukranians.
Why isn’t this on every television news station in the country?
I can not understand how something like this can go unnoticed.
I’ve signed all the petitions. I’ve written the news programs. I’ve done all I can except go to the Whitehouse and picket, and it’s just to cold for that. LOL!
But seriously, what else can we do? How do we yank these smug sons-of-bitch’s heads out of their asses and force them to do something about this voter fraud?
I’m seriously about to just give up and say fuck it! Let Bush ruin himself in the next four years.
We all know he will, but I’m sure he’ll take us down with him.
Great news….. the Republicans want to make it look like a "Witch Hunt" Those damn Dems are at it again…picking on us poor misunderstood Republicans..trying to make it a purely partisan issue…..not one honest, patriotic one in the whole bunch…
Other problem I see is who is going to prosecute when evidence of a massive conspiracy to committ vote fraud is found? Certainly not the handpicked torturer himself, Gonzales..the Supreme Court, probably not, they put Bush in the White House illegally in 2000….I don’t know if we have one Democrat that has enough balls to go before a Republican majority in the Senate and Congress..do you? And the mainline corporate media whores won’t report it either…..
Thank you very much, Claudia.
Can’t wait to see what comes of this!
hey there, it is now almost 1400 killed dead army boys, marines, squids and zoomies in iraq and John Kerry wouldn’t have changed that…………………. Does anyone really believe that if it wasn’t for us loudspoken fucks that the DEMS would have really gotten involved in this…if they ever expect me to vote for one of them again they better start a real serious pissing match and LURCH better be standing taller then all other takers. I put my heart and soul into Kerry and I do not want to regret it.
we do need a constitutional ammendment! where we the people can recall senators congressmen presidents. over the years they have taken the power of we the people and subverted it to their own needs not ours. it may really be time for a revolution to take our country, our constitution back. put the we the people back in charge. districting should be outlawed by the government who subvert it for themselves. get online on the phone walk to washington if you have to. don’t let this election stand.
SOoooo looking forward to getting to the Meat of all these issues! It truly is time to have our democracy back to by the People…For the People!!
Look at the Ukrainian issue…..isn’t it a joke that Bush/Powell…are SUPPORTING Fair voting proceedures there……..hummm…they need to admit that their own back yards have a lot to be desired!
Hello Liberals: If you don’t know I will tell you the cable news is owned by VIACOM, Rupert Murdock. etc. big Bush backers. All the cable news and most of the radio stations are owned by republ. backers. Starting to make sense? This is now a government that works to protect the corporations more than it protects the people. Notice who gets the tax cuts? DEMS can’t get on tv. Well, they can once in a while but usually it’s against two neocons. Didn’t they treat Kerry like crap? Let bush’s lies all slide? Kerry’s been working on this and so have the dems for years. They now have no votes, no power. The power is with us. So get busy and be an activist. Don’t sit around waiting for somebody to tell you what to do. Kerry was a prosecutor, he knew it would take this long to make a protest of the election. Maybe he knows more than us and maybe we need faith. Check out the dems website, the senators and see what they are doing. Just because the tv isn’t kissing their butt doesn’t mean they are sitting on it. Take the strength and solidarity we used to get out the vote and put it to work now!!!
Hello Liberals: If you don’t know I will tell you the cable news is owned by VIACOM, Rupert Murdock. etc. big Bush backers. All the cable news and most of the radio stations are owned by republ. backers. Starting to make sense? This is now a government that works to protect the corporations more than it protects the people. Notice who gets the tax cuts? DEMS can’t get on tv. Well, they can once in a while but usually it’s against two neocons. Didn’t they treat Kerry like crap? Let bush’s lies all slide? Kerry’s been working on this and so have the dems for years. They now have no votes, no power. The power is with us. So get busy and be an activist. Don’t sit around waiting for somebody to tell you what to do. Kerry was a prosecutor, he knew it would take this long to make a protest of the election. Maybe he knows more than us and maybe we need faith. Check out the dems website, the senators and see what they are doing. Just because the tv isn’t kissing their butt doesn’t mean they are sitting on it. Take the strength and solidarity we used to get out the vote and put it to work now!!!