The real fraud is the theft of our democracy, by deliberate suppression of the right to vote and to have one's vote counted

Hampering the vote | By Robert Kuttner | October 28, 2006

POLLS SHOW Democrats picking up between 20 and 30 House seats, enough to take control of the House. But brace yourself for a very long evening -- that could go on for days.

The Republicans' superior ground operation -- they spend more on targeting voters and getting out the vote -- has received some attention in the press. But far more ominous is the organized effort to suppress voter turnout, directed entirely against groups likely to vote for Democrats.

An exhaustive report, "Voting in 2006: Have We Solved the Problems of 2004?" by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Century Foundation, and Common Cause, catalogs new, sickening assaults on our democracy:

Hurdles to voter registration. Several states, led predictably by Florida and Ohio, have added criminal penalties for voter-registration efforts that violate deliberately complicated rules . In Florida, the Legislature added fines for nonpartisan groups that turn in registration materials late. This put League of Women Voters volunteer efforts in many minority areas out of business.

The Republicans' superior ground operation -- they spend more on targeting voters and getting out the vote -- has received some attention in the press. But far more ominous is the organized effort to suppress voter turnout, directed entirely against groups likely to vote for Democrats.

An exhaustive report, "Voting in 2006: Have We Solved the Problems of 2004?" by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Century Foundation, and Common Cause, catalogs new, sickening assaults on our democracy:

Hurdles to voter registration. Several states, led predictably by Florida and Ohio, have added criminal penalties for voter-registration efforts that violate deliberately complicated rules . In Florida, the Legislature added fines for nonpartisan groups that turn in registration materials late. This put League of Women Voters volunteer efforts in many minority areas out of business.

In Ohio, where the notorious secretary of state, Ken Blackwell, is also the Republican candidate for governor, technical violations of complex voter-registration laws are now felonies. Republicans even tried to disqualify Blackwell's opponent, Ted Strickland, from running, on the ground that he had voted in past years from two different Ohio addresses (where he lived).

Excessive ID requirements. In states that require voter ID, common-sense documentation such as a utility bill or tax receipt has long been accepted. Other states have accepted a signed affidavit or signature match, and experienced no fraud problems. But in several Republican-controlled states, such as Florida, Georgia, and Missouri, photo-ID requirements have been added, disqualifying people -- mostly poor, elderly, minority (and likely to vote for Democrats) -- who lack driver's licenses or passports or special voter cards. In Florida, the requirement could disqualify 300,000 voters.

Impediments to voting. In Arizona, an anti-immigrant ballot initiative passed in 2004 requires voters to bring proof of citizenship. In the first two months after the initiative passed, 70 percent of voter-registration applications in Maricopa County (Phoenix) were rejected for lack of adequate documentation. In Ohio, where voters in heavily Democratic and minority precincts waited for as long as 10 hours and countless gave up because of mysterious shortages of voting machines, the state belatedly required roughly equal allocation of voting machines. This remedy takes effect in 2013!

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Republicans defend these vote-suppression measures as necessary to combat fraud. Once, big-city Democratic machines made sure people voted "early and often." But the right has been unable to produce evidence of deliberate ballot fraud today.

In Washington State, where Democrat Christine Gregoire won the governorship in 2004 by 133 votes, Republican litigators spent millions seeking improperly cast ballots. All they found were exactly five former felons who had unintentionally neglected the paperwork necessary to restore their franchise.

The real fraud is the theft of our democracy, by deliberate suppression of the right to vote and to have one's vote counted. ...

Investigators Say Speaker’s Aide Hindered Inquiry of Hill Security Contracts

CQ TODAY – APPROPRIATIONS | Oct. 27, 2006 – 6:38 p.m. | Investigators Say Speaker’s Aide Hindered Inquiry of Hill Security Contracts |By Steven T. Dennis, CQ Staff

Two former House committee investigators who were examining Capitol Hill security upgrades said a senior aide to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert hindered their efforts before they were abruptly ordered to stop their probe last year.

The former Appropriations Committee investigators said Ted Van Der Meid, Hastert’s chief counsel, resisted from the start the inquiry, which began with concerns about mismanagement of a secret security office and later probed allegations of bid-rigging and kickbacks from contractors to a Defense Department employee.

Ronald Garant and a second Appropriations Committee investigator who asked not to be identified said Van Der Meid engaged in “screaming matches” with investigators and told at least one aide not to talk to them. Van Der Meid also prohibited investigators from visiting certain sites to check up on the effectiveness of the work, the investigators said.

Van Der Meid oversaw Capitol security upgrades for Hastert, R-Ill., and worked closely with the office that was charged with implementing them, the investigators said.

K. Lee Blalack, a lawyer for Van Der Meid, said Friday that neither he nor Van Der Meid would comment on the matter.

John Scofield, a spokesman for the Appropriations Committee, said the former investigators were taken off of the investigation, but denied that it was terminated. ...

Blackwell purged Ohio Voter Rolls Oct 1st.- I am going to assume purge went to no-one registered GOP

ACTION ALERT: Blackwell purged Ohio Voter Rolls Oct 1st.- Vote Early. | by KStreetProjector | Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 05:59:14 AM PDT

A friend, in a position to be present at lunches of GOP insiders here in DC called me on Thursday, they know of my ongoing efforts to make hackable voting end.

My friend was present as a group of Moderate GOP members with Ohio ties lamented how far the party had strayed. There was consensus at the table there was no way they should retain control. The table conversation began with the assumption they party would lose control in this election. The moderates started planning how to take back control of the GOP from the extremists.

Then, one insider, probably an extremist, but certainly very close to Mr. Ken Mehlman abruptly stopped the conversation. He told table that it was impossible they would lose either house. He also predicts an Ohio GOP sweep.

He informed the group that over the last year, in four critical states the GOP needs to hold huge purges of the voter rolls have just been finished.

The insider did not say which four states, but did say Ohio was among them.

His claim was a new Diebold voter registry system had been installed over the last year. The last week of July and the first week of August a "test run" was made of the systems ability to purge ineligable voters. The purge generated names and test letters sent out to 1.2 million Ohio addresses with a focus on University's, Apartment addresses with high turnover. He claims they made the letters seem just functionary, but they have an action component to avoid being purged from the rolls.

The Insider warmed and said that Blackwell was brilliant in how he did this. The letter went on for a long time about changes in Ohio voting and security and suggested people who might have any concerns about their voting status could come by county offices and confirm their continued voting eligability before election day.

He further added, that since it was conducted as a "test" they only sent letters to a limited number of suspect addresses and "I suspect Blackwell chose criteria very very favorable for us."

Further the insider stated that Blackwell had only purged the lists after a full 60 days was given for people to respond. Which means even if a voter was on the "termination" list, they would still have been eligable to vote in the primary.

He told they table they believe the purge has probably caught up "hundreds of thousands of students, activists and wanderers with no real job" would show up at the polls and have to vote provisionally.

He predicted to the table that tens of thousands of voters will show up on election day, and once the provisionals are used up will simply not be able to at all.

He also said that this "operation" (The Insiders word, my friend was specific about this" had turned up a lot of additional fascinating information including a number of Democrats in elected office who are registered to vote in several places, and they may explore how to use this information against them.

I am going to assume, Mr. Blackwell's "test" purge went to no-one registered GOP. His criteria is something I am trying to get a copy of now.

probe will attempt to determine if Weldon used his influence to help secure $1 million in contracts for his lobbyist daughter

CNN confirms DOJ probing Rep. Curt Weldon | David Edwards | Published: Monday October 16, 2006

Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) is being investigated by the Bush Administration's Department of Justice, CNN has confirmed with two sources on Capitol Hill.

The probe will attempt to determine if Weldon used his influence to help secure $1 million in contracts for his lobbyist daughter, Karen Weldon.

The U.S. Congress has made a mockery of democracy with this incumbent protection racket

Thomas J. DiLorenzo: Our monopoly government | The Examiner | Oct 13, 2006 4:00 AM (19 hrs ago)

BALTIMORE - If the Sherman Antitrust Act applied to government, almost every member of the U.S. Congress would face millions in fines and possibly jail time. That’s because the U.S. Congress is a monopolist par excellence.

Consider the U.S. House of Representatives, where 99 percent of incumbents won re-election in 2004; 98 percent in 2000; and 96 percent in 1990. It’s been that way for at least the past four decades with a few brief exceptions, such as the 1994 “Republican Revolution.”

Politicians have created virtually insurmountable “barriers to entry” (to borrow a phrase from economics) that all but guarantee lifetime tenure to anyone elected to Congress ...
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What are the barriers to entry? First, the 17,000 staffers for the 535 members of Congress — compare this figure to about 1,000 employees who assist the 650 members of the British Parliament. This army of “Hill Rats,” as they are called on Capitol Hill, constitutes a taxpayer-financed, full-time public relations/campaign staff for incumbents. Most challengers, by contrast, rely on unpaid, amateur volunteers (Sen. Barbara Mikulski employs 53 staffers, whereas Sen. Paul Sarbanes employs 44 of them).

In theory, staffers help to craft legislation. In reality, they spend most of their time campaigning for their boss’s re-election. Campaign managers are routinely picked from a congressman’s staff. ...
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Then there’s the “franking privilege,” a euphemism for taxpayer-financed postage for incumbent campaign mailings. By law, there can be no spending limits on postage for congressional mailings.

The proliferation of committees and subcommittees constitutes an even higher barrier to political competition. The main function of committees and subcommittees is to distribute “pork,” not to carefully contemplate legislation. A member of congress from an agricultural region will want to sit on as many farm committees and subcommittees as possible, for example, in order to direct congressional farm pork to his constituents. A member from the city, on the other hand, will want to sit on all the “urban affairs” subcommittees for the same reason. Mikulski sits on 15 committees; Sarbanes is on eight.
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The Department of Homeland Security has become a fountain of congressional pork-barrel spending, and is subsequently “supervised” by no fewer than 13 committees and 60 subcommittees. The DHS has been distributing so much pork that state and local governments can’t even spend it all.

North Carolina reportedly spent only about 30 percent of its homeland security money in a recent year, according to Professor James Bennett of George Mason University, author of the new book, “Homeland Security Scams.” Dick Cheney’s home state of Wyoming is probably the last place in America any terrorist would want to target, but it receives more DHS money per capita than any other state, according to Professor Bennett.

The U.S. Congress has made a mockery of democracy with this incumbent protection racket.

The only hope for a return to some semblance of real democracy — and genuine political competition or “federalism,” as the founding fathers called it — is in a massive devolution of power from Washington to the state and local levels, similar to what exists today in Switzerland. What is needed, in other words, is a second American revolution (a peaceful one this time) that would allow us to return to Jefferson’s vision of small and decentralized government. That’s the only way that Americans will ever be the masters, rather than the servants, of their own government.

Thomas J. DiLorenzo is professor of economics at Loyola College and author of “How Capitalism Saved America” (Crown Forum/Random House).

The only surprise in Washington now is that the Congressional Republicans managed to reach that point of decayed purpose so thoroughly, so fast.

The Foley Matter | Published: October 3, 2006

History suggests that once a political party achieves sweeping power, it will only be a matter of time before the power becomes the entire point. Policy, ideology, ethics all gradually fall away, replaced by a political machine that exists to win elections and dispense the goodies that come as a result. The only surprise in Washington now is that the Congressional Republicans managed to reach that point of decayed purpose so thoroughly, so fast.

That House leaders knew Representative Mark Foley had been sending inappropriate e-mail to Capitol pages and did little about it is terrible. It is also the latest in a long, depressing pattern: When there is a choice between the right thing to do and the easiest route to perpetuation of power, top Republicans always pick wrong.

The news about Mr. Foley should have set off alarm bells instantly, even if the messages the leaders saw were of the “inappropriate” variety rather than the flat-out salacious versions that surfaced last week. But there was certainly no sense of urgency in their response, which seemed directed at sweeping the matter under the rug rather than finding out precisely what was going on.

The obvious first step — notifying the bipartisan committee that oversees the page program — was never taken, presumably because that would have meant bringing a Democrat into the discussions. After Mr. Foley assured everyone that he was simply engaged in mentoring, whatever leadership inquiry there was ended with telling him to stop e-mailing the youth who got the inappropriate letter.

It’s astonishing behavior for a party that sold itself as the champion of conservative social values. But then so was the fact that a party that prides itself on fiscal conservatism managed to roll up record-breaking deficits, featuring large amounts of wasteful pork earmarked to the districts of powerful legislators or the profit sheets of generous campaign contributors. So was the speed with which the party that billed itself as the voice of grass-roots exurban and suburban America turned itself into the partner of every special-interest lobbyist with a checkbook. ...