We couldn’t be more honored. A stunning and ringing endorsement from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s ranking minority member!
Read the good congressman’s full statement of support on ConyersBlog! But here’s a quick quote…[emphasis added]
No. Not if the political movement that brought about the challenge to Ohio’s electors has anything to say about it. The activists over at VelvetRevolution want action now in their “Divestiture for Democracy” campaign. Today, I am formally endorsing this campaign and have sent letters to every single voting machine company asking for their support of this effort.
Conyers also sends a very clear message in his letter to the Voting Machine Companies, even threatening to introduce legislation to deny the companies HAVA funds (federal money from the Help America Vote Act which was earmarked to purchase E-Voting machines from these vendors), if they don’t follow the recommendations made by VR: [emphasis added]
Your company has an obligation to take these actions now. Congress has funded the(“HAVA”) with taxpayer money to buy vote counting machines from companies such as yours. Moreover, your company is performing a purely governmental function by counting the vote. Therefore, you have a duty to all Americans to act in a fully transparent way just as would any government entity. It is time for your company to demonstrate good corporate leadership in this area by announcing that you will take these vital steps. It is my position that only companies that take these actions deserve to be funded under HAVA and I will urge my colleagues to support legislation to that effect
Conyers’ Letter to the 9 Voting Machine Companies here.
Conyers’ Letter to Brad here.
Yes! Yes!!!
Outstanding!!!
That is just FANTASTIC! Good news for a change. We need it so badly. WOW, congratulations Brad! Thank you!
Wonderful. I love it when credit is given where credit is due.
Oh, hell yes.
~A!
WOWWWW!!!
Gee, Brad, can we say, we knew you when?
We’ve been solidly behind you for so long now and it’s wonderful to see recognition from the esteemed Congressman! Now if only we can get the major media to recognize your efforts!
One additional thought for Brad and everyone –
Is there some way that someone can offer a large reward to anyone working at any of the 9 companies who has any solid information on how the votes were rigged?
If we can get the word out, I bet we could collect contributions. It would have to be enough to provide a long-term income for the individual as he/she would be out of work and probably blackballed from other companies, so we’d have to offer enough of a cushion for protection of the individual and family.
I may be dreaming, but this dream keeps feeling more and more real every time I think of it. There has to be someone out there who is afraid of losing a job that knows something substantial about this – I know that this has to be the case. We just have to draw them out! Any suggestions?
Congratulations! on this point I am all for you.
I saw this a while ago over at Raw Story. Congrats, Brad! This snowball just keeps getting bigger…lets keep it rolling!
Outstanding! I just sent messages to my congressman and two senators (Ohio no less!) telling them to get on board or be left behind in the process.
WAY TO GO BRAD! Awesome and impressive and worth the wait!
GREAT!
Now get Scalia to sign on!
Brad-
Congradulations, a very, very good idea.
"One person can truly make a difference"
Brad – you the man!
Brad-
Your actions provide hope and a sense of empowerment at a time when those things are in short supply for us. I believe that endeavors like these can provide the wellspring from which flows the reemergence of our democracy. Thanks for your efforts and inspiration!!!
Thank you to all for your kind words. We’ll get a democracy back yet in this country!
Please do what you can to ask folks to hit that "SEND EMAIL TO THE COMPANIES" link at http://www.VelvetRevolution.us/Campaigns/DV4D
Let’s call out ALL the folks!
More good news to come!
Way to go Brad! Very good news indeed.
We can only hope that this will begin to get mass media attention and thereby the national attention of voters.
Ilene #6 "Is there some way that someone can offer a large reward to anyone working at any of the 9 companies who has any solid information on how the votes were rigged?"
So many things would have to go right for them to step forward. A case is now being prosecuted against Diebold by Black Box Voting (link here), one of the participants in VR. They have won an early victory in the sense that Diebold agreed to pay several million dollars, but the case is not over yet.
One thing that has come out is that these companies can (and do) keep their employees in the dark, order them not to talk to anyone outside the company, and limit access to information.
You know it’s good news if Very Worried brings out the dancing bananas!
Yes, Winter Patriot.
They don’t look very worried at all!
Chuck #7 –
Thanks for the thumbs up.
This is absolutely wonderful, Brad. Onward and upwards with the Velvet Revolution!
Veryworried #16 – Love them!
Ilene #6 – electionfraudbounty.org is raising $1 billion in pledges for information on election fraud leading to convictions.
Dredd #17 – I guess I’m just desperate to grasp at as many straws as I can – I’ve had this one thought about creating a reward in mind for so long that I wanted to just get it out there to see if there could be anything to it. If Clint Curtis can come forward, there has to be some way to get to others because I only see these 9 companies banding together and stonewalling this request for divestiture. I know that we are on the right path with Velvet Revolution but I still feel like screaming, little good that would do!
Brad, I know this is only the first step and I’m behind you completely. I just want more to happen and happen quickly – the Republicans are trying to steamroll over all of us with the assistance of the voting machine makers. Having Rep. Conyers backing your plan makes it even more imperative to do something now and we are all incentivized(sp?) by this.
I sense a feeling of invincibility on the part of our right-wing legislators because they feel inside that no matter what they do, the election will be rigged again in 2006 to stack the deck even higher in Congress! Why do the right thing when the machine makers will assure their fixed victory?
With this in mind, what incentives really do the 9 have to do the right thing? I can’t wait for the next steps!!!
Justice Through Music has been offering a reward for months, by the way.
And Ilene, economics are a *great* incentive to do the right thing. There is more to come, of course, but for now, asking *everyone* you know to hit that "SEND EMAIL TO THE COMPANIES" button over at http://www.VelvetRevolution.us/Campaigns/DV4D will go a longer way than you might realize.
Do it! Get the word out!
Has anyone else had trouble logging onto the Velvet Revolution website? Hitting Brad’s link above or typing in the correct web address (www.VelvetRevolution.us) results in the message: "SERVICE UNAVAILABLE". What up? I’m not having trouble logging onto any other web addresses.
Forget the above message- I finally got onto the Velvet Revolution website. I guess my initial suspicions mean I really am starting to believe in a "vast right-wing conspiracy"!
Quite remarkable Brad.
Maybe now would be the time to invest in an honest vote-counting (yes, counting) start-up company. I hope there is some competition out there — if some of the bigger guys can’t summon the strength to lay their wares on the table for inspection.
Hi Robert,
Yeah, maybe the idea of gaining access to more HAVA funding will encourage them to participate in VR’s request. Although I think just the fact that taxpayer money purchases their service should be enough to make them all comply.
VeryWorried #16, Winter Patriot #18 – those are dancing bananas? To my warped and undercaffeinated brain they looked like condoms *L* Aw geeze..
As far as the right being over-confident – that’s a good thing, because it’s when people get over-confident that they let their guard down and make really stupid mistakes. They think they have all their tracks covered, but every crime leaves clues behind. They have SO underestimated the power of the force that is on their tail right now.
Y’all be patient, the train’s on the right track and pickin up steam – and it’s going to roll right over the crooks involved in this!
Karma works, and it’s nearly payback time!
I agree, KBE! I don’t feel bad about giving them a little more time to dig their hole deeper – it’ll save us the trouble when it’s time to bury their miserable, lying, thieving, murderous asses…
I think they’re overconfident in Florida because Feeney was cleared by the state legislature’s ethics committee in 2002. As Brad pointed out, though, that’s a bit like Halliburton being cleared of wrongdoing by Dick Cheney’s energy task force.
Since Clint Curtis’ allegations go back to 2000, the local media might have thought, "That stuff has been dealt with." Not so, and each lie by Feeney, Nee, and Yang makes the Curtis affidavit look better and better. It appears the Florida media are slowly waking up to the truth.
Perhaps its time for the senior executives and major shareholders of these companies to be identified, and voters encouraged to email or telephone or write to them personally to voice their concerns, send copies of Conyers speech and letters to them, and ask them to do the moral thing by ensuring that paper trails are used to make every vote count?
Kes #30, I’m keeping the dancing condoms for when justice prevails in America.
I hope they won’t have deflated by then.
Brad, this is a huge achievment and breakthrough for you. I’ll be proud to say I knew you when 🙂 I just hope that Mr. Conyers can gather enough support to force a Congressional investigation seeing as how the thugs control all the mechanisms right now. In any case, I feel very positive about this and thank you for your forward looking efforts to hold these companies to their responsibilities to our country and it citizens.
I think it’s overly pessimistic to assume all nine companies are equally corrupt, and therefore would bond together to confront VR.
If I were the C.E.O. of one of the smaller outfits that lacked the close ties to the Bush administration that Diebold and E. S. & S. have, and my company were honest, I’d welcome VR. As the process moves forward, don’t be surprised if a lonely voice or two says, "These reforms are needed."
This could become a turf war not between liberals and conservatives, but between honest companies seeking a fair marketplace and corrupt ones with political connections. That should be fun to watch if it happens. Let Van Pelt tell the head of one of his competitors, "You think I’m a crook. I resent that."
Brad, of course, gets the credit for starting the ball rolling.
I emailed all the folks I know asking them to join the VR Divestiture of Democracy Campaign.
It must be wonderful to be so delusional. I bet none of the respondents saw the irony in Ilene hoping that someone could actually get some evidence of your conspiracy theory. And, getting all excited about John Conyers signing on is amazing. BIG whoop there! You may want to consider trying to find a life.