COWARDLY KERRY edition of Cowardly Democrats....
We must confess, we here at CowardlyDemocrats.blogspot.com have felt hopeless, impotent, and violated as John Kerry seized the Democratic Presidential nomination in mid-summer 2004 (by joining the Dem. 'centrist' bash-Dean mob), then immediately went on his WATER-SKIING VACATION (hello? A guy who makes a big deal of his vacation, certainly does not feel that he has much work to do...) then went on his summer of DO NOTHING campaigning (...we believe it was the Washington Post's Oliphant who drew a cartoon portraying Kerry and Edwards as Rip Van Winkles, SLEEPING through the campaign season); and then stood there like a dumb punching bag during the presidential debates as Mr. Bush, practically dripping scorn and condescension, looked into the cameras and said "My opponent is a flip-flopper."
Not only did Kerry not have the kahones to say, "I believe it is President Bush who is the flip-flopper... he once swore to get Osama bin Laden 'dead or alive,' and then in his October 2003 White House press conference the president said "I'm not that concerned about him [bin Laden] anymore.. he really doesn't concern me", but then Kerry allowed Bush to go on camera denying he ever made those comments, comments that are available for the whole world to see at the White House web site!
As if going AWOL in the summer of 2004, and going "SOFT" in the post convention campaign wasn't bad enough, Senator Kerry then practically did all he could to polish Bush's boot heels re the DIEBOLDIZATION of the Ohio (and national) voting process!
John Kerry doing NOTHING to PUT SOME HEAT on the CRIMINAL CONDUCT of Diebold corporation - FINANCIAL misconduct, restraint-of-trade misconduct, conflict-of-interest misconduct, and vote-fraud misconduct - - - is nothing short of CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE or dereliction of duty of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry to protect America's voting citizens on the eve of a crucial election.
The fact that Wally O'Dell, the Ohio-for-Bush campaign co-chair in 2004 was also THE CHAIRMAN OF DIEBOLD vote-machine co. was not enough SLEAZE to attract Senator Kerry's attention. (O'Dell has since resigned as Chairman of Diebold, based on financial misconduct investigations. Not only do the Kerry-Lieberman Democrats ALLOW Diebold's financial shennanigans to disappear under a rock, but they also ASSIST the Republican party, press, and media in IGNORING the vast potential for VOTE FRAUD in electronic tabulating systems that are 100 times more easily "HACKED" than state-certified gambling machines or ATM banking software.)
NOW we learn the the criminally corrupt Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, he of endless conflicts of interest and Tom DeLayesque sledgehammer brutality re the voting citizens of Ohio, had almost $10,000 of Diebold stock in his portfolio.
Under the tender "leadership" of cowardly Democrats like John Kerry, America is once again a SEGREGATED NATION: ONE standard of Justice for Democrats, from Martha Stewart to Susan McDougal to Democratic voters ROBBED of their votes; and an entirely DIFFERENT, much looser standard of "justice" for Republicans, from Ken Lay to Enron to Neil Bush to Halliburton to Diebold to Kenneth Blackwell, Katherine Harris, and other systematic Republican VOTE FIXERS.
Blackwell accidentally held shares in election-machine maker
ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14256784.htm
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell revealed Monday he accidentally invested in shares of voting-machine manufacturer Diebold Inc. last year, a period when he was sued by other manufacturers over contracts that Diebold was up for.
In a required ethics filing, Blackwell, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, said his investments are directed by an accountant and financial adviser without his knowledge or help, "similar to a blind trust." He said a manager of his investments account at Credit Suisse First Boston bought 178 shares of Diebold stock at $53.67 per share in January 2005.
Blackwell said the manager did not follow instructions to avoid such investments. He said 95 shares were later sold at a loss but he still held 83 shares until discovering them and liquidating them Monday, also at a loss.
He discovered them while reviewing his 2005 investments to prepare for Monday's filing with the Ohio Ethics Commission, a form required of all statewide candidates.
"While I was unaware of this stock in my portfolio, its mere presence may be viewed as a conflict and is therefore not acceptable," Blackwell said in a letter dated Monday included in his filing.
January 2005 also was the month Blackwell ordered that counties should use optical-scan voting machines rather than more expensive touch-screen systems.
The North Canton-based company predicted it would earn less money in 2005 because of Blackwell's decision. That didn't stop Texas-based Hart Intercivic Inc. from suing, saying the order left two rivals, Diebold and Election Systems & Software, eligible for bidding.
Blackwell reversed his decision in April and announced a deal with Diebold of $2,700 per touch-screen machine.
That prompted a lawsuit from ES&S saying the decision eliminated the opportunity for counties to choose from more than one touch-screen vendor.
Blackwell has said the Diebold machines are the only electronic machines to meet federal and state standards under the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
Candidates use the annual ethics forms to disclose their debt, gifts, investments and travel. What had been a mundane political duty took on new meaning last year after Gov. Bob Taft's failure to report several golf outings led to his no contest plea to ethics violations.
Taft's failure to report golf outings and other gifts he received as governor led to his no contest plea in August, becoming the first Ohio governor to face such charges in office. He was fined the maximum $4,000.
Anticipating criticism, Blackwell quickly released a copy of comments by Judith Grady, who oversees the secretary of state's compliance with the 2002 federal voting act.
In a May 9 statement given as part of the ES&S lawsuit, Grady said Blackwell was not involved with price negotiations with Diebold.
Bob Paduchik, a spokesman for Attorney General Jim Petro, Blackwell's rival in the GOP primary, called for further investigation "considering Ken Blackwell's history with Diebold."
Democrats weren't buying Blackwell's explanation. "If he can't manage to know what's in his checkbook, why would the people of Ohio want to trust this man with the state's checkbook?" said Brian Rothenberg, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party.
Petro made several out-of-town trips at taxpayer expense totaling $5,192 last year, according to his 2005 form filed Friday. By contrast, he reported $3,546 in similar expenses last year.
All but two trips were to meetings of the National Association of Attorneys General. The other two were to Washington to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, said spokeswoman Kim Norris.
Blackwell also listed among other gifts the cost of a trip to Texas last August paid for by the Texas Restoration Project, a ministers' organization that opposes gay marriage.
Blackwell's campaign previously has acknowledged the flight aboard a plane owned by Pastor Rod Parsley, minister of a large nondenominational church in suburban Columbus.
A group of liberal ministers has filed an IRS complaint alleging that Parsley and a second conservative pastor have improperly promoted Blackwell over other candidates.
ON THE NET
Ohio Ethics Commission: http://ethics.ohio.gov/ethicshome.html
Not only did Kerry not have the kahones to say, "I believe it is President Bush who is the flip-flopper... he once swore to get Osama bin Laden 'dead or alive,' and then in his October 2003 White House press conference the president said "I'm not that concerned about him [bin Laden] anymore.. he really doesn't concern me", but then Kerry allowed Bush to go on camera denying he ever made those comments, comments that are available for the whole world to see at the White House web site!
As if going AWOL in the summer of 2004, and going "SOFT" in the post convention campaign wasn't bad enough, Senator Kerry then practically did all he could to polish Bush's boot heels re the DIEBOLDIZATION of the Ohio (and national) voting process!
John Kerry doing NOTHING to PUT SOME HEAT on the CRIMINAL CONDUCT of Diebold corporation - FINANCIAL misconduct, restraint-of-trade misconduct, conflict-of-interest misconduct, and vote-fraud misconduct - - - is nothing short of CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE or dereliction of duty of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry to protect America's voting citizens on the eve of a crucial election.
The fact that Wally O'Dell, the Ohio-for-Bush campaign co-chair in 2004 was also THE CHAIRMAN OF DIEBOLD vote-machine co. was not enough SLEAZE to attract Senator Kerry's attention. (O'Dell has since resigned as Chairman of Diebold, based on financial misconduct investigations. Not only do the Kerry-Lieberman Democrats ALLOW Diebold's financial shennanigans to disappear under a rock, but they also ASSIST the Republican party, press, and media in IGNORING the vast potential for VOTE FRAUD in electronic tabulating systems that are 100 times more easily "HACKED" than state-certified gambling machines or ATM banking software.)
NOW we learn the the criminally corrupt Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, he of endless conflicts of interest and Tom DeLayesque sledgehammer brutality re the voting citizens of Ohio, had almost $10,000 of Diebold stock in his portfolio.
Under the tender "leadership" of cowardly Democrats like John Kerry, America is once again a SEGREGATED NATION: ONE standard of Justice for Democrats, from Martha Stewart to Susan McDougal to Democratic voters ROBBED of their votes; and an entirely DIFFERENT, much looser standard of "justice" for Republicans, from Ken Lay to Enron to Neil Bush to Halliburton to Diebold to Kenneth Blackwell, Katherine Harris, and other systematic Republican VOTE FIXERS.
Blackwell accidentally held shares in election-machine maker
ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14256784.htm
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell revealed Monday he accidentally invested in shares of voting-machine manufacturer Diebold Inc. last year, a period when he was sued by other manufacturers over contracts that Diebold was up for.
In a required ethics filing, Blackwell, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, said his investments are directed by an accountant and financial adviser without his knowledge or help, "similar to a blind trust." He said a manager of his investments account at Credit Suisse First Boston bought 178 shares of Diebold stock at $53.67 per share in January 2005.
Blackwell said the manager did not follow instructions to avoid such investments. He said 95 shares were later sold at a loss but he still held 83 shares until discovering them and liquidating them Monday, also at a loss.
He discovered them while reviewing his 2005 investments to prepare for Monday's filing with the Ohio Ethics Commission, a form required of all statewide candidates.
"While I was unaware of this stock in my portfolio, its mere presence may be viewed as a conflict and is therefore not acceptable," Blackwell said in a letter dated Monday included in his filing.
January 2005 also was the month Blackwell ordered that counties should use optical-scan voting machines rather than more expensive touch-screen systems.
The North Canton-based company predicted it would earn less money in 2005 because of Blackwell's decision. That didn't stop Texas-based Hart Intercivic Inc. from suing, saying the order left two rivals, Diebold and Election Systems & Software, eligible for bidding.
Blackwell reversed his decision in April and announced a deal with Diebold of $2,700 per touch-screen machine.
That prompted a lawsuit from ES&S saying the decision eliminated the opportunity for counties to choose from more than one touch-screen vendor.
Blackwell has said the Diebold machines are the only electronic machines to meet federal and state standards under the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
Candidates use the annual ethics forms to disclose their debt, gifts, investments and travel. What had been a mundane political duty took on new meaning last year after Gov. Bob Taft's failure to report several golf outings led to his no contest plea to ethics violations.
Taft's failure to report golf outings and other gifts he received as governor led to his no contest plea in August, becoming the first Ohio governor to face such charges in office. He was fined the maximum $4,000.
Anticipating criticism, Blackwell quickly released a copy of comments by Judith Grady, who oversees the secretary of state's compliance with the 2002 federal voting act.
In a May 9 statement given as part of the ES&S lawsuit, Grady said Blackwell was not involved with price negotiations with Diebold.
Bob Paduchik, a spokesman for Attorney General Jim Petro, Blackwell's rival in the GOP primary, called for further investigation "considering Ken Blackwell's history with Diebold."
Democrats weren't buying Blackwell's explanation. "If he can't manage to know what's in his checkbook, why would the people of Ohio want to trust this man with the state's checkbook?" said Brian Rothenberg, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party.
Petro made several out-of-town trips at taxpayer expense totaling $5,192 last year, according to his 2005 form filed Friday. By contrast, he reported $3,546 in similar expenses last year.
All but two trips were to meetings of the National Association of Attorneys General. The other two were to Washington to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, said spokeswoman Kim Norris.
Blackwell also listed among other gifts the cost of a trip to Texas last August paid for by the Texas Restoration Project, a ministers' organization that opposes gay marriage.
Blackwell's campaign previously has acknowledged the flight aboard a plane owned by Pastor Rod Parsley, minister of a large nondenominational church in suburban Columbus.
A group of liberal ministers has filed an IRS complaint alleging that Parsley and a second conservative pastor have improperly promoted Blackwell over other candidates.
ON THE NET
Ohio Ethics Commission: http://ethics.ohio.gov/ethicshome.html
posted by verifi at 11:37 PM
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