Former Republican turned Democrat says: 'I'm Purple with a Blue Tint'
On Opponent Tom Feeney and Friends: 'The values of the Republican party have ceased to exist', Will Ask Feeney to Take Polygraph!
By Brad Friedman on 2/15/2006, 1:03pm PT  

NOTE: In his first broadcast interview since the news of his potential run against Tom Feeney has been made public, Clint Curtis will be one of our guests this evening on The Young Turks radio program, where I'll be sitting in as Guest Host. Tune in via Sirius Satellite Channel 146 or at www.TheYoungTurks.com to listen, watch and call in from 6p-9p ET!

On Monday, we broke the story that vote-rigging whistleblower Clint Curtis is exploring a run for the U.S. Congress in Florida's 24th district. He hopes to challenge Rep. Tom Feeney, the man who Curtis alleges asked him to create a vote-rigging software prototype back in 2000 when they both worked at the same firm. Curtis was a software programmer, Feeney was the company's general counsel and registered lobbyist, even while he served as speaker of the Florida Legislature.

Curtis has now officially set up a website to support the campaign and raise much needed funding to take on both Feeney and an opponent in the Democratic primary race (Curtis was previously a life-long Republican until his experience with Feeney and friends left him with a distaste for Republican party politics).

See our previous item for more details on Curtis' extraordinary story and Feeney's alleged corruption and continuing failure to tell the truth about any number of things. If you're not familiar at all with Curtis' story, it's a remarkable one, and worth the read. A Quick Summary is available here.

I have been talking to Curtis for a while about running against Feeney since not long after The BRAD BLOG broke his story. In fact, I first brought up the notion with him back in January of 2005 when I met him in person for the first time at the Freedom Cinema Festival in Park City, UT where I was interviewing him on stage for a live festival event.

In hearing about Curtis' decision to finally go ahead and announce an exploratory campaign in hopes of running against Feeney --- and first against primary opponent Dr. Andy Michaud --- I sent several questions to Curtis via email last weekend. Here are those questions and his answers --- on his reasons for running, his chances of winning, how he plans to take Feeney head-on and confront him directly about corruption from the vote-rigging allegations to Feeney's cozy relationship with Tom DeLay. And of course, whether or not he'll ask Feeney to take a polygraph test, as Curtis himself has successfully done on questions relating to these matters...

BRAD BLOG: What convinced you to finally decide to run against Feeney?

CLINT CURTIS: Feeney is the poster boy for corruption. He is deeply involved with Abramhoff, vote fraud, and protection of a company engaged in spying for Communist China. This will be a pure good versus evil fight. I couldn't ask for a more Darth Vaderish opponent. I believe that most of the people of this district, whether Democrat, Independent or Republican, are interested in integrity. While my first love is that of computer programming, it appears that it is my destiny to challenge and correct that which is wrong.

BB: Are your hopes of running against Feeney simply a matter of revenge?

CC: There is nothing to seek revenge for, except as a concerned citizen that seeks to remove the corruption that he represents.

BB: Do you consider yourself a "protest candidate" or do you consider yourself a legitimate candidate for Florida's 24th Congressional District?

CC: I am not running to protest anything. I am running to make sure that every voter has confidence that their vote will count, that medical care be made available to every citizen while not becoming a socialized medicine situation, that the country becomes energy independant today (not 20 years from now), and that the saftey and security of this country be protected rather than forfieting our technology advantage to the only country that is a real threat.

BB: What do you consider to be your chances of defeating the well-funded, well-entrenched Feeney?

CC: As I said earlier, this battle seems almost destined to happen. I think that I may be the only candidate that can wrest control away from Feeney in an area he defined. [ed note: The conservative 24th district was carved out while Feeney was speaker of Florida's statehouse.] As with most battles of good vs. evil, good can only win if it receives suffiecient help. If my campaign does not receive both unprecedented financial support as well as huge volunteer efforts, this could be a very difficult quest to fulfill.

BB: What will be your top issues?

CC: Stopping Election Fraud, Developing Energy independance, Ending Congressional Corruption. Getting out of Iraq, Stop the gutting of NASA.

BB: What do you see as Feeney's his vulnerabilitites?

CC: Feeney is his own worst enemy. Feeney will be Feeney. Even those that support him, know what he is.

BB: Feeney carved out that district for himself while as House Speaker. It's very conservative I'm told. What makes you think a Democrat could win that seat?

CC: I do not think a normal Democrat could win in this area. That actually gives me an advantage because I am not a normal Democrat. Having been a Republican for four decades and a conservative in philosophy, I am something of a hybrid. I term it as a conservative Democrat. I believe that I am Democrat enough to appeal to the Democrats but just Republican enough to pull the 10% Republican votes and sway the conservative independent vote. That is the total that it will take to break Feeney's hold on this district. In a sense I guess you could say I am not exactly blue and not exactly red. I guess I am purple with a blue tint.

BB: Why are you running as a Democrat, instead of as a Republican against Feeney in the Primary? Since you have said you were previously a life-long Republican?

CC: I was a Republican for forty years. The values of that party have ceased to exist. Earmarked programs have reached an epidemic. Balanced budgets are only a memory, and corruption is at an all time high.

Controlling government and keeping them out of private affairs has been replaced with high tech spying on every American citizen and the largest growth in Goverment in the history of this country. Until the Republicans can get back to practicing the values they used to define, they are a party without a soul.

BB: What chance do you think you have against your primary opponent? Won't your run divide the S. Florida Dems between two different candidates?

CC: I will have a harder time against the primary opponent than against Feeney. Everyone has told me that Dr. Andy is a really nice guy and his issues seem to parrot the standard Democratic stance. While that makes him a purer Democrat than me, it will make it impossible for him to appeal to the conservative citizens of this district. Should he win the primary, I would expect he would be easily defeated in the general election with a 65% to 35% margin. That is the demographics of the way this district was drawn. And that is without even needing to resort to vote flipping.

BB: Do you think that Feeney's supporters will be supporting Dr. Andy against you?

CC: I am certain that Feeney's supporters won't be supporting me. Anything they donate to Dr. Andy takes away from what they can do for Feeney directly. It would be to their advantage to circumvent the battle in the primary. To let this battle reach the actual election would mean that the MSM would no longer be able to ignore the vote fraud prototype issue. If I reach the general election I will take Feeney to task. I will fight like a Republican.

BB: If you win the Primary, do you plan on asking Feeney to face you in debates? And do you expect he would do so?

CC: If I win the Primary I will not only ask Feeney for debates but also for a public polygraph test where we will both be grilled on such subjects as:

1. Did you know that Bush intented to invade Iraq prior to his election in 2000?
2. Have you ever assisted a company that had spies working for them to maintain high security clearances and obtain contracts?
3. Have you ever attempted to manipulate an election using illegal means?
4. Have you ever traded your vote to a lobbyist for personal gain?

I expect that he will be too busy to attend.

BB: Tom Feeney and his supporters are very well financed! Will you be able to raise the money you need to take on this Republican money machine?

CC: That is the key. It will be up to the citizens of this country. While this is just another congressional district in Florida it could also be our line in the sand. This is a national concern. Feeney is the architect of vote machine fraud against the honest citizens of this country. I was hesitant to lead this battle because if we lose it could damage the cause of democracy in this country. I am now convinced that fearing a loss is not a valid reason for never entering the fight.

I am confident that all those individuals around the country who care about the direction of this country will help to defeat the demon of democracy. I just googled my name and came up with over eight million hits. If each of those pages could generate just a few dollars each we could easily out finance Tom Feeney. If people will volunteer, and volunteers can come from across the nation, we can crush the person that systematically has helped steal our right to vote.

I realize that most people will not be able to donate the $2100 maximum amount or have the time to send out correspondence or make canvassing calls. It is obvious that some things will have to be done by local volunteers and that long distance assistance would not be practical in all cases, but this is our chance to make a stand. I hope every honest citizen in this country will join me on this quest.

###

Clint Curtis' exploratory campaign website is at www.ClintCurtis.com.

For more info on The BRAD BLOG's continuing investigative series on
The Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney/Yang Enterprises Vote-Rigging Scandal series, please see:
- A Quick Summary of the story so far.
- An Index of all the Key Articles & Evidence in the series so far.
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Article Categories: Tom Feeney, Clint Curtis