State Officials Say Kathy Rogers, Democratic Director of State Elections Division Under Outgoing Democratic Secretary of State, Said to be Going to Work for Un-American Voting Machine Company
(At least now she'll be getting paid for it!)
By Brad Friedman on 12/23/2006, 3:19pm PT  

We're shocked. SHOCKED! Knock us over with a feather!

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that Georgia state officials are claiming that Kathy Rogers, the recently resigned Director of outgoing Secretary of State Cathy Cox's State Elections Division, is going to work for Diebold.

Rogers resigned on November 30th, and rumors have been swirling ever since in the state where Diebold first planted it's dirty claws with paperless touch-screen voting machines in 2002 (along with the state of Maryland). Democrats Cox and Rogers have been apologizing and covering for the deceptive and anti-democratic Voting Machine Company ever since.

Cox even went so far as to appear on a Diebold promotional brochure singing the company's praises.

"Rogers apparently will serve as a liaison between elections officials throughout the United States and Diebold," according to the AJC...

Rogers has been a staunch defender of Diebold's equipment, vehemently denying claims that the machines can be easily hacked. In numerous interviews with the Journal-Constitution and testimony before public officials, Rogers has expressed confidence in Diebold and said the elections process in Georgia has numerous checks and balances to detect and prevent electronic voting fraud.

Rogers did not return a message left on her cellphone Friday. David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold, could not confirm any details Friday about Rogers' employment with the company. Cox, through a spokesman, declined comment.

[Incoming Secretary of State Karen] Handel said she was told about Rogers' job with Diebold by the employee who has replaced Rogers as head of elections. Members of the State Election Board were told the same.

The BRAD BLOG has many times suggested there are likely a number of reasons these horrendous Elections Officials, like Rogers and Cox, continue to cover up failures by Voting Machine Companies. Of course, if they admit that the machines they vouched for when they requested millions of dollars from their states to pay for these untested, unreliable, inaccurate, hackable, disenfranchising voting machines are actually not safe at any speed, they'd be run out of their comfy positions (and rightly so!) But now we may have yet more evidence that going along with the program, apologizing, covering up, whatever is necessary, may win you, in the end, a cushy new job working for the very Voting Machine Companies you've been helping out all along.

With Cathy Cox now out of a job (thankfully!) given her failure in the recent GA Gubernatorial race, one wonders how long it'll be before she receives her payout as well from the industry that she has worked so hard to keep in business --- at the expense of her own constituents --- lo these many years.

Said one of the Election Integrity advocates in Georgia...

"It is another indication of how tight vendors and lobbyists are with public officials," said Garland Favorito, founder of VoterGa, a nonpartisan group working for changes in elections. "I can't say there is a conflict of interest because she should be free to pursue the best career option. But her unwavering testimony at the Legislature in favor of Diebold and voting that cannot be verified, audited or recounted defied common sense to the point that it amazed nearly all of us."

Rogers has, in fact, been an incredible spokesperson for Diebold voting systems in statement after statement, testimony after testimony. From Georgia to Washington D.C. where she testified, profusely, to the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission how wonderful the state's Diebold voting machines are. If Diebold, in fact, has hired Rogers, they won't likely find a better spokeshole for their democracy-undermining products.

But lest we give the Republicans in the state a completely free ride, Handel, GA's incoming Republican SoS who appears to be quite concerned about the apparent conflict of interest, may be well advised to keep her own powder extra dry here. According to AJC...

Handel recently appointed Rob Simms as deputy secretary of state, the No. 2 post in the agency. Simms previously worked as a partner for Atlanta lobbyist Massey & Bowers. One of the firm's principals, former Secretary of State Lewis Massey, is the lobbyist for Diebold in Georgia.

The log rolling continues.

(Hat-tip Emily Levy and "Cookie Wookie" at DU.)

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Article Categories: Diebold/Premier, Georgia