-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">eGroups eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/1406/_/973859556/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com >From Disinfo.com Votegate 2000 Recently in the Ivory Coast and Peru, when there were dubious returns in elections, the American press covered the stories with a smug detachment. After all, what could you expect from ignorant Third Worlders in Africa and Latin America? Maybe it's time we looked in the mirror. Al Gore is not a person I have much sympathy for, and his cronies seem clueless when they whine unconvincingly that Ralph Nader may have cost him the election. That Gore alienated so many voters says everything about Gore and what the Democratic Party stands for, and their attempt to scapegoat Nader and his supporters is a charge that won't stick. Still, what is happening now in Florida appears as crooked as a swamp- land real estate deal in the Sunshine State. To begin with, the neo- fascist anti-Semite Pat Buchanan won 3,407 votes in Palm Beach, a liberal, Jewish county: he won only 786 in Broward County and 561 in Miami-Dade, two nearby counties that were much larger. 19,000 other votes were also disqualified due to double-punching, a mistake only made by 3,783 voters in the U.S. Senate race. With less than 1,800 votes separating Bush and Gore in the state, these are major voting issues. The cause of these two suspicious facts was the design for the Palm Beach County ballot, a design ironically approved by a Democrat, County Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore. GOP hacks have tried to use her approval as proof that this is a non-issue, but their denial is bogus: confusion in voting isn't a political issue, it's a violation of the basic right to have a say in the government which represents you. The facts clearly show thousands of people who were trying to vote for Gore were confused and may have voted for Buchanan (or both) instead. Though it likely was not intentional subterfuge, a fuck-up is a fuck-up, and this is a mistake that has national effects. And I don't even have the space to discuss missing ballot boxes, voters turned away from polls due to lack of ballots, and the harassment of African-American voters by Florida Highway Patrol pigs. I'm sure that James Shelby Downard is chuckling in his grave, knowing that a central figure in the Votegate 2000 scandal, Clay Roberts (director of the Florida Department of Elections), has a name which echoes both Clay Shaw (the only man ever formally charged with involvement in the JFK conspiracy) and Bruce Roberts (the writer of the Gemstone Files, an underground conspiracy classic which alleges a Mafia combine secretly runs our country). Despite all this, I don't believe this is an example of the Collier description in Votescam. Votescam is too much of a bunch of powerful guys in a smoke-filled room deciding what the agenda of a country will be. This appears more like a crooked fiefdom trying to control its piece of the pie, only in this case, this is the slice that matters. Which is why I don't think it's going to stand. Jeb Bush knows that what passes for democracy in Florida is now becoming a national issue, and he also knows it's neither helping his brother or his state avoid a black eye. Further, while Florida is a GOP state under Bush, the Federal courts (where presidential election lawsuits will be filed) are pure Klinton Kounty, as the Elian affair showed. Clay Roberts may claim that Everything is under control, but nobody's going to buy that. Keep in mind one thing: anything that makes people stop drinking beer and watching television and start asking questions freaks THE MAN out. Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey has provided a Solomon-like solution to the dilemma: have a run-off between Gore and Bush in Florida to decide all the suspicions around the voting. You don't need to build a temple in Jerusalem to know that's the least objectionable solution to the problem. Of course, this is not what the Republican Party wants done, as a run-off would eliminate the Nader factor and would likely have huge voter turnout, which works against them. Stay tuned. Robert Sterling [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.konformist.com www.disinfo.com ***** Florida Petition Model Thu, 9 Nov 2000 Alex Burns <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Robert, In an email earlier today, I mentioned a model petition for targeting Florida media. Here it is: http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?ItemId=9237 Regards, Alex -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- |d|i|s|i|n|f|o|r|m|a|t|i|o|n| http://www.disinfo.com/ Alex Burns - Editor -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ***** http://www.feedmag.com/templates/daily.php3?a_id=1389 Fla. official convicted of vote fraud helped with GOP absentee ballot effort 11.08.00 LAST NIGHT'S presidential election has yet to be decided, and it seems Florida is the straw that will break the electoral camel’s back. This takes place amidst accusations from both sides that the media called Florida’s results too soon. There are also a number of allegations regarding voting irregularities in several counties in the Sunshine State. It seems, however, that Florida’s history of voter fraud is just as storied as the Bush political legacy. The most famous -- or infamous -- case involves the now derided ex-mayor of Miami, Xavier Suarez, whose last election in 1997 was overturned because of charges of voter fraud and falsification of records. And Suarez's relevance might not be limited to past election irregularities. The charges in the mayoral race centered around allegations that addresses and names of Florida voters were falsified and altered by campaign staffers shared by Suarez and then city commissioner Humberto Hernandez. The case was originally reported by the Miami Herald, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. Hernandez -- along with thirteen other volunteers and city officials -- was found guilty of the charges and received a 364 day prison sentence for his crimes. Both Hernandez and Suarez were members of Dade County’s ultra-conservative Cuban-American Community, which vociferously charged racism and anti-Cuban bias amongst the prosecution. Roberto Pineiro, the judge in the Hernandez case, said at the time that the defendant attempted to "deflect the focus of the vote-fraud investigation by playing…the race card." The charges and ensuing controversy resulted in the ousting of Suarez as the city’s mayor and the beginning of years of legal wrangling and back-and-forth accusations, with Suarez to this day claiming he is still the rightful mayor of Miami. While Suarez was intensively investigated by the Dade County Prosecutor’s Office, he was never charged or officially found guilty of any wrongdoing. However, a civil case was later brought by eleven Dade County absentee voters and resulted in overturning the Suarez election. In that case, the jury found that Suarez and his staff did engage in vote fraud, specifically tampering with 5,000 absentee ballots. In an interview this morning, Suarez told FEED that he was "in no way involved in any wrongdoing," and boldly promised to run for the office yet again in the next election. What is most stunning, though, is that Suarez now sits on the executive committee of the Miami-Dade Republican party and was specifically involved this year in helping get out the Republican vote. Suarez, who told FEED that he is working to become the committee’s chairman, said that leading up to last night’s election he "helped fill out absentee ballot forms and enlist Republican absentee voters in Miami-Dade County." If the 2000 or so disputed votes in the Palm Beach area are in fact returned from Buchanan to Gore, these same ballots may very well decide the presidential election in the coming hours. "Dade County Republicans have a very specific expertise in getting out absentee ballots," he said. "I obviously have specific experience in this myself." When told of this, Kendall Coffey, lead attorney in the original Suarez suit, said, "He said that?" Coffey, a recognized expert in absentee ballot law, added, "This is striking. Florida has a troubled history in absentee ballots. Republicans often tell voters that they can use absentee ballots if it is more convenient for them, but the law requires that there must be an inability or barrier to voting in person." Coffey went on to say that Suarez’s participation in any part of enlisting absentee ballots troubled him deeply. "Suarez was found to have taken part in systematic and massive absentee ballot fraud. He was found to have done significantly better in absentee balloting than in the general vote." He went on to say that since that time, while some improvements have been made, "no one watchdogs absentee balloting, other than the campaigns themselves. The election commission has no authority to oversee the distribution of coordination of absentee ballots until they are counted." "These ballots are going to decide the outcome of the closest race in a generation and, given Suarez’s and this state’s murky history with regard to absentee balloting, this calls for meticulous and vigorous investigation." Evan Shapiro is a New Yorker. He has a wife Jill and two daughters, Jenna and Jamie. He runs a communications company, FourFront, specializing in corporate communications. ***** Absentee Ballots and Buchanan Votes Add Wrinkles to Recount "Lawyers and advisers for the two nominees raced to Florida this morning to investigate two potentially crucial situations," the Washington Post reports. "In one, Democrats claim that more than 3,000 Gore votes in Palm Beach County may have been mistakenly recorded as votes for third-party candidate Patrick Buchanan because of oversized ballots whose lines were skewed." Buchanan won 3,407 votes in Palm Beach County "but got only 789 in Broward County, which lies immediately to the south, and 108 in Martin County, which is immediately to the north of Palm Beach. Hillsborough County, which tends to be conservative, gave Buchanan 800." ***** Mail Governor Jeb Bush, ask for re-vote Thu, 9 Nov 2000 Ed Burns <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> After learning that 19,000 probably democratic votes in Florida were barred due to incorrectly cast ballots [1], I felt it was time for some SPAM. Please email Florida Governor Jeb Bush <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2] and request a re-vote in Palm Beach Co. Now is the time to mobilize! Here is a sample message [3]. Ed P.S. Please visit [2] and vote in their little on-line poll on this issue. References ---------- [1] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? file=/chronicle/archive/2000/11/09/M N83574.DTL&type=election [2] http://www.myflorida.com/myflorida/email.html [3] Sample letter to Gov. Jeb Bush Dear Governor Bush: I am writing as a concerned citizen to ask that you support a re-vote in the Florida County of Palm Beach. I am outraged that the democratic process is being circumvented in the first election of the new millennium, and perhaps the most important election in American History. Please do your duty as a civil servant of the citizens of Florida and the American people and support a re-vote. Anything less would be a breach in democracy. Sincerely, NAME ADDRESS ***** Thu, 9 Nov 2000 Norman Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ARROGANCE OF TV NETWORKS: COMPOUNDING A NATIONAL CRISIS By Norman Solomon / Creators Syndicate A few hours before dawn Wednesday, the nation's TV networks foisted their second outrageous blunder of the night on the American people. After "calling" the state of Florida for Al Gore earlier in the evening, the same networks announced that George W. Bush had won Florida -- and the White House. With a typical flourish, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw declared: "George Bush is the president-elect of the United States." But before the sun rose on the East Coast, the networks were correcting themselves again, acknowledging that Florida was too close to call. By then, the arrogance of the television networks had compounded a distressing specter: The Electoral College might end up giving the presidency to someone who came in second in the country's popular vote. Twenty-four hours after the polls closed across America, the reporters and commentators on the airwaves and cable channels seemed to be reeling from the succession of extraordinary events. Surely, millions of Americans were also stunned, as if the previous long night had been a vivid and protracted bad dream. In effect, the TV networks made a bad situation worse. They added to the night's quickly escalating sense of confusion, disorientation and uncertainty about the election results. Despite their vast resources and profuse assurances that they knew just what they were doing, the biggest television outlets -- ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and PBS -- incorrectly proclaimed that the winner of the presidential race had been determined. The list of those networks is a dishonor roll for American media. Like most busy people, the executives and journalists who run the news operations of the TV networks don't have much time to spare for soul-searching. And it's unlikely a lot would change even if some genuine introspection took place. It's not a good sign that top execs are treating the networks' election-night madness as a public-relations problem. The rushed and faulty projections for election results were dramatic manifestations of the kind of intrinsically flawed coverage of politics that goes on all the time in national media. Major outlets cast huge shadows across political landscapes, from campaign trails to gubernatorial offices, legislative bodies and the White House. But even the most influential reporters and pundits are in the habit of acting like they're mere observers. Although journalists at key media institutions pose as flies on the walls of national politics, they're apt to function more like movers and shakers. Far from just telling us what's happening, the biggest- name journalists -- the ones holding forth on the networks throughout election night -- are always shaping the media terrain through which politicians walk. Meanwhile, journalists and the politicians they cover are routinely financed -- one way or the other -- by many of the same business interests. Numerous firms that own powerhouse media outlets or pay for extensive advertising also spend gobs of money on lobbyists and campaign contributions. And the phenomenal amount of lucre that went into the 2000 elections is just a pittance compared to the hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate profits riding on future government policies set in Washington. So, where are we now? After a year filled with denunciations of the pernicious roles played by money in politics, the big money has as tight a grip on the electoral process as ever. Not coincidentally, whether Bush or Gore prevails, the man who'll move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. next January has long been cozy with economic elites of the nation. After bringing us the fiascos of last Tuesday night, the TV networks assure us that they'll quit being so arrogant. And actually, it's easy to stop. They've done it hundreds of times. Periodic self- critiques and public shows of repentance are ingrained rituals for news organizations, which tout only corporate-friendly presidential candidates as serious contenders. On the surface, the willingness of the TV networks to "call" elections prematurely and inaccurately may seem like an unfortunate quirk. But it's a reflection of what constantly happens when news operations -- bent on outdoing competitors -- put the drive for profits above public service. The people calling the shots at the major networks are acutely aware that they must strive to boost the bottom line of the parent company. It's a metaphor for the profound ways that Campaign 2000 has left democracy in the dust. _________________________________________________ Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist. His latest book is "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media." ***** November 9, 2000 Nader and the Virtues of Gridlock Election 2000: The Best of All Possible Worlds by Alexander Cockburn So it all came out right in the end: gridlock on the Hill and Nader blamed for sabotaging Al Gore. First a word about gridlock. We like it. No bold initiatives, like privatizing Social Security or shoving through vouchers. No ultra-right-wingers making it onto the Supreme Court. Ah, you protest, but what about the bold plans that a Democratic-controlled Congress and Gore would have pushed through? Relax. There were no such plans. These days gridlock is the best we can hope for. Now for blaming Nader. Fine by us if all that people look at are those 97,000 Green votes for Ralph in Florida. That's good news in itself. Who would have thought the Sunshine State had that many progressives in it, with steel in their spine and the spunk to throw Eric Alterman's columns for The Nation into the trashcan? And they had plenty of reason to dump Gore. What were the big issues for Greens in Florida? The Everglades. Back in 1993 the hope was that Clinton/Gore would push through a cleanup bill to prevent toxic runoff from the sugar plantations south of Lake Okeechobee from destroying the swamp that covers much of south-central Florida. Such hopes foundered on a "win-win" solution brokered by sugar barons and the real estate industry. Clinton signed off on it, in a conversation with Alfonso Fanjul overheard by Monica Lewinsky as her the commander in chief deferentially accepted his marching orders. Another issue prompted some of those 97,000 to defiantly vote for Nader: the Homestead Air Force Base, which sits between Biscayne National Park and the Everglades. The old Air Force base had been scheduled for shutdown, but then Cuban-American real estate interests concocted a scheme to turn the base into a commercial airport. Despite repeated pleas from biologists inside the Interior Department as well as from Florida's Greens, Gore refused to intervene, cowed by the Canosa family, which represented the big money behind the airport's boosters. Just to make sure there would be no significant Green defections back to the Democratic standard, Joe Lieberman made a last-minute pilgrimage to the grave of Jorge Mas Canosa, once the godfather of the sinister Cuban-American National Foundation. You want one final reason for the Nader voter in Florida? Try the death penalty, for which Gore issued strident support in that final debate. Florida runs third, after Texas and Virginia as a killing machine, and for many progressives in the state it's an issue of principle. Incidentally, about half a million ex-felons, sentences and probation fully served, are disenfranchised permanently in Florida. A crucial number of these would have voted for Gore the crime fighter and supporter of the War on Drugs. Other reasons many Greens nationally refused to knuckle under and sneak back to the Gore column? You want an explanation of why he lost Ohio by four points and New Hampshire by one? Try the WTI hazardous-waste incinerator (world's largest) in East Liverpool, Ohio. Gore promised voters in 1992 that a Democratic administration would kill it. It was a double lie. First, Carol Browner's EPA almost immediately gave the incinerator a permit. When confronted on his broken pledge, Gore said the decision had been pre- empted by the outgoing Bush crowd. This too was a lie, as voters in Ohio discovered a week before Election 2000. William Reilly, Bush's EPA chief, finally testified this fall that Gore's environmental aide Katie McGinty told him in the 1992 transition period that "it was the wishes of the new incoming administration to get the trial-burn permit granted. The Vice President?elect would be grateful if I simply made that decision before leaving office." Don't think this was a picayune issue with no larger consequences. Citizens of East Liverpool, notably Terry Swearingen, have been campaigning across the country on this scandal for years, haunting Gore. So too, to its credit, has Greenpeace. They were particularly active in the Northeast, during Gore's primary battles with Bill Bradley. You can certainly argue that the last-minute disclosure of Gore's WTI lies prompted enough Greens to stay firm and cost him New Hampshire, a state which, with Oregon, would have given Gore the necessary 270 votes. And why didn't Gore easily sweep Oregon? A good chunk of the people on the streets of Seattle last November come from Oregon. They care about NAFTA, the WTO and the ancient forests that Gore has been pledging to save since 1992. The spotted owl is now scheduled to go extinct on the Olympic Peninsula within the next decade. Another huge environmental issue in Oregon has been the fate of the salmon runs, wrecked by the Snake River dams. Gore thought he'd finessed that one by pretending that unlike Bush, he would leave the decision to the scientists. Then, a week before the election, Gore's team of scientists released a report saying they thought the salmon could be saved without breaching the four dams. Nader got 5 percent in Oregon, an amazing result given the intensive carpet- bombing by flacks for Gore like Gloria Steinem. Yes, Nader didn't break 5 percent nationally, but he should feel great, and so should the Greens who voted for him. Their message to the Democrats is clear. Address our issues, or you'll pay the same penalty next time around. Nader should draw up a short list of Green non-negotiable issues and nail it to the doors of the Democratic National Committee. By all means credit Nader, but of course Gore has only himself to blame. He's a product of the Democratic Leadership Council, whose pro- business stance was designed to regain the South for the Democrats. Look at the map. Bush swept the entire South, with the possible exception of Florida. Gore's electoral votes came from the two coasts and the old industrial Midwest. The states Gore did win mostly came courtesy of labor and blacks. Take Tennessee, where voters know Gore best. He would have won the election if he'd carried his home state. Gore is good with liberals earning $100,000-$200,000. He can barely talk to rural people, and he made another fatal somersault, reversing his position on handguns after telling Tennessee voters for years that he was solid on the gun issue. Guns were a big factor in Ohio and West Virginia too. You can't blame Nader for that, but it's OK with us if you do. As for Nader holding the country to ransom, what's wrong with a hostage taker with a national backing of 2.7 million people? The election came alive because of Nader. Let's hope he and the Greens keep it up through the next four years. Not one vote for Nader, Mr. Alterman? He got them where it counted, and now the Democrats are going to have to deal with it. If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist/ and sign up. Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) Visit the Klub Konformist at Yahoo!: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/klubkonformist
