BRAD BLOG SPECIAL COVERAGE:

...OVERVIEW...

On December 6th, 2004, in an explosive exclusive, The BRAD BLOG (www.bradblog.com) published a sworn affidavit [PDF] by Florida software programmer Clint Curtis. In his affidavit and videotaped sworn testimony presented before members of the U.S. House Judiciary committee, Curtis claims to have been asked by U.S. Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) to design a "vote-rigging software prototype". This request took place in October 2000 during a meeting at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI), a computer consulting firm in Oviedo, Florida.

Curtis, a life-long Republican up until then, had been a programmer at YEI, which had several top-secret clearance contracts with the state, NASA and other government agencies. Curtis' understanding at the time was that the prototype he was being asked to create (built to the very precise specifications of Feeney) was to address Feeney’s concerns that the Democrats might attempt to electronically rig the election and Feeney wanted to know what to look out for in that event. After informing YEI CEO Mrs. Li-Woan Yang that he would not be able to hide the vote-flipping routines in the software source-code as Feeney had requested, Curtis testified that Mrs. Yang informed him that the program was needed to "rig the vote in South Florida ".

At the time of the alleged meeting, Feeney was the incoming Speaker of the Florida House, and also a registered lobbyist and the general corporate counsel for YEI. Previously, he had been the running mate of Jeb Bush during his 1994 unsuccessful first bid for Florida Governor. In November 2000, Feeney gained national notoriety after declaring open defiance of the Florida Supreme Court by vowing to choose Presidential electors for George W. Bush regardless of whether a court-ordered recount showed that Gore won Florida . He eventually ascended to the U.S. Congress and today sits on the House Judiciary Committee. Although he was outspent two to one by his Democratic opponent in 2002, Feeney beat him handily at the polls and then ran unopposed for the same seat in 2004.

...CONFIRMED LINKS TO CHINESE ESPIONAGE...

Curtis also reported in his affidavit and to the Florida State Inspector General that YEI was employing an illegal Chinese alien by the name of Hai Lin "Henry" Nee who was inserting "wire-tapping modules" into sensitive database programs which YEI had built for NASA and other companies. Curtis also alleged that the brother of Mrs. Li-Woan Yang, the YEI CEO, had been a deported Chinese spy.

Since the time of Curtis' allegations, Hai Lin "Henry" Nee has been arrested, and has pled guilty to charges of espionage related to send missile guidance chips used in Hellfire anti-tank missile systems to China. The arrest was the result of a four year sting operation by the Homeland Security Office's Immigration and Customs Export (ICE) bureau. Although Nee admitted in his pleading to have sent such chips "ten to twenty times in the past year" to China, he was sentenced (10/2004) to just three years probation and a $100 fine!

Federal officials in the Florida Inspector General’s report investigating claims by Curtis have confirmed that Nee was an illegal alien as of January 2000 and that YEI had over billed the Florida Dept. of Transporation on their contacts. Yet for reasons still unknown, Federal officials refused to disclose information on Nee's alien status to the Florida IG until after Nee's prosecution had concluded in October of 2004.

...YEI DENIALS EXPOSED AS LIES...

Mrs. Yang and the attorneys for YEI (Tom Feeney's former law-partner and current contributor, Michael O'Quinn) still insist that Nee never worked for them even though the Florida Inspector General’s report confirmed otherwise. Moreover, weekly time records published by The BRAD BLOG show that Nee worked 40 to 60 hours a week at YEI on their contract with the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT). As Curtis also charged in his affidavit, the recent Florida IG's report found YEI owing approximately $300,000 in questionable charges to the FDOT where Curtis had been working at the time he originally blew the whistle on these allegations.

...THE DEAD INSPECTOR GENERAL...

The original Inspector General assigned to the case, Raymond Lemme, had contacted Curtis in mid-June of 2003, after both Curtis and the other whistleblower on the case had been fired without cause – both on the same day. (Eventually, both of them would win their whistleblower cases against FDOT on the matter.) Curtis says in his sworn affidavit that Lemme had advised him in mid-June that he would be very happy about his upcoming report and he should keep his ears open for it because, he told Curtis, "this goes all the way to the top."

Two weeks later, Lemme was found dead in a Valdosta, Georgia motel room.

The police report determined the death was a suicide. However, The BRAD BLOG exposed a number of troubling inconsistencies in the police report including photographs from the crime scene which the Valdosta police report claimed would not exist due to a failed "flash memory card" in the camera. In reality, however, the photographs do exist and are now posted along with the other troubling inconsistencies and anomalies in this part of the story.

The Valdosta police department now admits that they re-opened the Lemme case after "interest from the Internet" in December 2004, but then re-closed it quickly after they received a phone call (confirmed by the Valdosta police, but so-far unexplained) from FDOT.

...FEENEY'S DENIALS EXPOSED AS LIES...

Tom Feeney has categorically denied all charges made by Curtis and has refused to comment on the record about any of the allegations beyond telling MSNBC that "Curtis has defamed a lot of people". In the meantime, The BRAD BLOG, has so far been unable to find any holes or inconsistencies in any of Curtis' claims. On the contrary, the bulk of Curtis’ claims have so far been proven truthful and legitimate based on a multitude of hard evidence obtained from public documents, court records, newspaper accounts, emails and other materials from a long three year paper trail.

On the other hand, statement after statement made by Feeney, YEI and their attorneys on this matter have turned out to be demonstrably untrue and incorrect based on documented evidence as reported by The BRAD BLOG in myriad subsequent reports.

...LOCAL MEDIA GETS ON THE STORY...

Even though this scandal links a powerful Republican Congressman to Chinese espionage, the national media has largely ignored the story so far. But in Florida , several local newspapers have jumped on the story, including the Seminole Chronicle, Oviedo Voice, St. Petersburg Times, and New Times Broward Palm-Beach. While some reports have been more responsible than others, all largely confirm the bulk of items reported by The BRAD BLOG and many of the claims by Curtis' himself.

...CLINT CURTIS PASSES POLYGRAPH TEST!...

After many months and many requests and many challenges from both critics and Mainstream Media types, The St. Petersburg Times reports --- and The BRAD BLOG can confirm --- that Clint Curtis took a polygraph test on March 3rd, 2005...and passed!

The lie-detector test, administered by Tim Robinson, the retired chief polygraph operator for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, found that Curtis was indeed found to be truthful in all of his responses!

...CLINT CURTIS RUNS FOR CONGRESS AGAINST FEENEY!...

On February 13th, 2006, it was announced on The BRAD BLOG that Clint Curtis had decided to run the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida's 24th District. He defeated his primary candidate, only to "lose" to Feeney in the general. After going door to door to collect affidavits from voters, finding that many more voters attested to voting for him, than were reported by the Diebold voting machines in the district. The Democratic-led U.S. House Administrative Committee refused to review his affidavits presented as part of his Federal Election Contest.

In 2008 he ran for the nomination again, but he was unable to overcome the support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) for their hand-picked nominee, Suzanne Kosmas who will run against Feeney in November's general election.

...FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY ON FEENEY/CURTIS SCANDAL DEBUTS...

In September of 2008, a feature-length documentary film, Murder, Spies & Voting Lies: The Clint Curtis Story, by filmmaker Patty Sharaf, was released on DVD and on LinkTV. The film also features Brad Friedman and recounts The BRAD BLOG's extraordinary four-year odyssey breaking, investigating and reporting the Curtis story amidst a corrupt, disinterested and frightened corporate mainstream media.

The story and the investigation continue…

Additional details and a list of key articles can be found at BradBlog.com/ClintCurtis

For more information or interviews concerning this story, or for help in scheduling an interview with Clint Curtis, please contact Brad Friedman via email at Brad@BradBlog.com