Feb
16

The Senate unanimously punks out

If the Senate Democrats weren’t suffering from a severe collective case of battered spouse syndrome, they would be all fired up about the sorry state of our election system, and doing everything they could to make it better. By “better,” I mean, basically, “more honest,” which, in this case, could work only to the Democrats’ advantage. After all, the party’s top dogs tend to care far more about (a) their own careers and (b) the party’s welfare than they do about the state of the Republic.
Such short-sightedness is all too human, and so there’s little point in our decrying it. In any case, such self-interest would at least help save us from the looming fascist order–if (again) the Democrats would only act out of self-interest, rather than continuing to acquiesce so masochistically in BushCo’s grand subversion of American democracy, or what’s now left of it. They cannot, will not, face the truth about the nature of BushCo’s regime. Thus they keep rubber-stamping Bush’s steps toward absolute control of the election system, as they just did last night, approving the appointment of an outright Bushevik to Bush’s EAC.
This cave-in–and the current rush to pass Rush Holt’s bill’ which will finally do more harm than good–make clear that the Democrats feel much assured by their big “victory” in November. They tell themselves that they gave Bush the “thumpin’” that he so quaintly mentioned in his first press conference after E-Day. They tell themselves that their big win of 29 House seats was a sort of proof that things can’t really be so bad, or they would not have been permitted to perform so well.

What they cannot, will not, face is the unpleasant truth about that last election: that there was vast election fraud from coast to coast again; that the volume of complaints from the grass roots (remember them?) was evidently greater than it was two years before; that the Dems arguably won not a mere 29 states but at least 50 (and probably did better in the Senate than they think). In short, they will not, cannot, face the fact that Bush did not just get a “thumpin’,” but was routed–and that it was not Rahm Emanuel/Chuck Schumer who deserve our praises for the (actual) devastation of the Bush Republicans, but the people, who turned out in record numbers, and with a new doggedness, to vote against the Bush regime and all its works. The Democratic party will not give them any credit for that action, or help those who were disenfranchised once again.
There are currently four Democrats, all of them in Florida, challenging the outcome of the 2006 election, and collecting evidence of election fraud in every case; and they’re doing it with no help from the party, which also pressed a number of other “losing” Democratic candidates to do the “gracious” thing and shut their mouths–as if it were “ungracious” to assert, and to defend, the right to vote.
Before Election Day, Republicans refused to talk about election fraud because it would hurt their interests, they having lately “won.” Now it’s the Democrats who play the issue down, or keep ignoring it, for the very same reason. Thus both parties seem inclined to sell the voters out.
This is not about affixing printers to the DRE machines, or any other trivial (and useless) technical adjustment. It’s about confronting those who can’t and won’t confront the enemies of what was once was the world’s most promising democracy. We must confront them now, and force them to confront and overwhelm those enemies, or we can kiss the Constitution, and the Planet Earth, goodbye.
MCM

Guest Blogged by John Gideon

As much as we may disagree with People for the American Way (PFAW), of late, concerning their position fully supportive of the deeply flawed and potentially quite dangerous Holt Election Reform bill (HR811), we think they’re dead right on this issue, from a press release sent to The BRAD BLOG today (full release at end of this article)…
The Senate Did What?

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Senate confirmed last night by unanimous consent the nominations of Caroline Hunter and Rosemary Rodriguez to the Election Assistance Commission, approving the nominations without debate and without recorded roll call votes. The nomination of Hunter, a partisan operative with no experience in election administration, had been widely criticized by civil rights and voting rights advocacy groups.

The confirmations took place even though the Rules Committee had not yet considered the nominations, and no hearings were held.

And PFAW Director, Ralph Neas had this to say:

“We are deeply disappointed that the Senate did not take to heart its responsibility to provide open, transparent oversight of the EAC through this confirmation process,” said PFAW President Ralph G. Neas. “Confirming these nominees under the cover of night sends exactly the wrong message to millions of Americans who are counting on Congress to improve our nation’s election system. It’s too late to get these confirmations right, but it is not too late to improve oversight of the EAC. We will strongly support congressional efforts to enact additional EAC oversight and reporting requirements.”

The full press release from PFAW is below, followed by details on just why the RNC’s former White House liason and Ohio 2004 operative, Caroline Hunter, should be a great concern to democracy lovers as well as Democrats in the Senate who have failed here to perform their mandated oversight duties…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2007

CONTACT: Nick Berning or Stacey Gates at 202-467-4999 / media@pfaw.org

The Senate Did What?

Questionable EAC nominee confirmed yesterday with no hearing and no oversight, underscoring need for reform

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Senate confirmed last night by unanimous consent the nominations of Caroline Hunter and Rosemary Rodriguez to the Election Assistance Commission, approving the nominations without debate and without recorded roll call votes. The nomination of Hunter, a partisan operative with no experience in election administration, had been widely criticized by civil rights and voting rights advocacy groups.

The confirmations took place even though the Rules Committee had not yet considered the nominations, and no hearings were held. People For the American Way, which has made election reform the key priority in its 2007 legislative agenda, strongly criticized the lack of transparency in the confirmation process and called for additional oversight and reporting requirements for the EAC.

“We are deeply disappointed that the Senate did not take to heart its responsibility to provide open, transparent oversight of the EAC through this confirmation process,” said PFAW President Ralph G. Neas. “Confirming these nominees under the cover of night sends exactly the wrong message to millions of Americans who are counting on Congress to improve our nation’s election system. It’s too late to get these confirmations right, but it is not too late to improve oversight of the EAC. We will strongly support congressional efforts to enact additional EAC oversight and reporting requirements.”

Neas added that the lack of transparency was particularly significant in this case because the nomination of Hunter had been widely criticized, and because the EAC has suffered a series of stumbles in recent months. In particular, the EAC has been criticized by nonpartisan academics and commentators for failing to disclose its decreditation of Ciber Labs, which certi
fies
election equipment used by two-thirds of the country, and for an extremely problematic change of course on a recent voter ID study it commissioned.

“Hearings are always important, but they are especially important when a nomination faces questions like the ones that were swirling around the nomination of Caroline Hunter,” Neas said. “We’re talking about putting a partisan political operative with no election administration experience in a position that could affect the outcome of the 2008 elections. It’s not like the EAC doesn’t have enough problems already. Hopefully this will serve as a teachable moment and will motivate members of Congress to enact comprehensive election reform.”

The EAC, which was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, is responsible for producing guidelines for the use of election technology, establishing recommended minimum election administration standards for states, and distributing funding to states to help them meet HAVA requirements.

###

And why is there a concern about Caroline Hunter? As pointed out by Warren Stewart at VoteTrustUSA:

“In her role as Deputy Counsel to the Republican National Committee, Ms. Hunter assisted the RNC and State Parties in some way with HAVA implementation. She also defended the RNC’s attempt to use a list of over 23,000 names for challenges in the 2004 presidential election in Ohio.”

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 is the defining law concerning the mandated qualification of EAC commissioners. It mandates that commissioners “shall have experience with or expertise in election administration or the study of elections.” Hunter has voted in the past, we can only assume, and that seems to be her only experience with election administration or study of elections beyond her partisan work for the RNC.

Source: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4155


February 16, 2007   //   General   //   No Comments   //  

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