I read this comment by “shoephone” at Washblog:
I was disappointed that Will produced a photo that presumes much and explains nothing. I’ll wait for the facts on what’s actually IN the study. Or file folder. Or pretty white and yellow binder.
I want to explain the binder in the photo, and exactly what is in it. First, this is from Mike Lindblom’s excellent story in the Seattle Times:
A previously unreleased report shows that when the state’s Alaskan Way Viaduct project team examined a four-lane-tunnel concept in January, the group thought the tunnel could handle the expected traffic.
Since then, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) reversed course, concluding Feb. 13 that the option nicknamed “Tunnel Lite” — in which cars would use the shoulders as exit-only lanes at peak times — would be unsafe. Gov. Christine Gregoire promptly declared she would only support a $2.8 billion six-lane elevated highway.
Staffers in the pro-tunnel administration of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels say they’re outraged the DOT didn’t mention the 50-page report during weeks of intense public debate. A state DOT administrator called the report relatively insignificant and said the issues it covers have been aired in public.
The fifty page report mentioned in the article is, in fact, an executive summary of the eight hundred and fifty page report prepared by Parsons Brinckerhoff, well-known engineering firm.
WashDOT calls that 850 page report “relatively insignificant,” or a “glorified file memo.” That report, which approved of the Hybrid Tunnel, was ignored four weeks later when Governor Gregoire announced the Hybrid Tunnel wouldn’t work.
That’s the report in the binder. WashDOT flip flopped, and now they’re trying to hide it.
Nice work, dude.
Look, did you even read the executive summary? Or are you just quoting what Lindblom says it said?
Because if you’re just quoting what Lindblom said, I can read him and I don’t need you or your spin.
Because if you haven’t read what’s in it, then you know what I know, which is dick.
But I don’t pretend to be some hotshot “progressive” commentator. I’m just a crusty old Democrat, and smartboy trendoids like you and Goldy are pushing the needle on my bullshit meter right into the red zone.
You want credibility? Do some goddamn work! And spare me your expert commentary, based on a picture of a fat binder. Even Josh Feit does more work than you have done here.
I commented over there on Washblog, perhaps I’m a bit cynical :)
@ 2
Linking to Lindblom was to show shoephone that I didn’t “make up” the study out of thin air. If she doesn’t believe me, she can believe the Seattle Times.
Thanks for your passion, Ivan. If I’ve pissed you off, it means I’m hitting the right notes.
Politics ain’t beanbag, yo!
@ 3
It’s sucks that I’m banned, because I wanted to chime in a little bit. Oh well B)
Will – I’m sure I didn’t say that you “made up” what was in the binder. I merely pointed out that producing a photo of a fat binder, without actually showing us what’s in it (yes, with links provided) didn’t give us much to go on. I did, actually, read yesterday’s Times article, but it only mentions the 50-page report, and not the 850-page study it was based upon. (Lindblom should have done that.)
In any event, this post is better than the first one. But I still would like to know how I can get a peek at the big study. I’m not aware that it’s available to the public, and I’m not sure I want to take Tim Ceis’ word for what’s in it. Anyway, since PDFs are hard my tired eyes I probably won’t start through it until tomorrow.
And dammit, I just realized that the LWV forum at Town Hall was tonight, not next week. Did anyone go?
@6 You should be able to get a look-see under the Public Records Act.
The full report should only take me 850 hours to get through.
GOP DONOR ARRESTED ON TERRORISM CHARGES
ABC News reports:
“The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) won’t say what it plans to do with thousands of dollars in campaign donations it received from an accused terror financier.
“Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari gave $15,250 to the NRCC since 2002, according to FEC records ….
“The indictment against Alishtari … charges him with … transferring $152,000 between banks to … purchase night-vision goggles and other equipment … for a terrorist training camp. …
“The NRCC would not confirm it had received donations from Mr. Alishtari, or that he had received numerous awards from the organization ….”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/3x26uv
GOP CONGRESS REMOVED BARRIERS TO MARTIAL LAW
Just before losing their majority in the November election, Republicans in Congress stealthily made it easier for Bush to impose martial law. From a New York Times editorial:
“A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration’s behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law.
“The provision, signed into law in October, weakens two … important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging in law enforcement. … The other … limits a president’s use of the military in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights. … Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any ‘other condition.'” … [T]hese new presidential powers were slipped into the law without hearings or public debate. The president made no mention of the changes when he signed the measure, and neither the White House nor Congress consulted in advance with the nation’s governors.
There is a bipartisan bill … that would repeal the stealthy revisions. Congress should pass it. …”
Quoted under Fair Use; for more information, see http://tinyurl.com/yp838r
Egypt Jails Blogger for Anti-Government, Anti-Religion Comments
Democracy is messy, and George W. Bush doesn’t like its messiness, so he’d probably like to adopt the Egyptian model here in the USA:
“Blogger gets 4-year term in Egypt
“By Miret el Naggar and Hannah Allam
“McClatchy Newspapers
“CAIRO, Egypt — An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced an anti-government Internet blogger to four years in prison in a landmark case that has sent shockwaves through the country’s growing community of online dissidents. …
“Amer received three years in prison on charges of contempt of religion and an additional year for defaming U.S.-allied President Hosni Mubarak. …”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/39bd9r
Gregoire need not worry about “Tunnelgate”. Maybe some principled liberals from Horse’s Ass will snipe at her over this, and take away some from her base. But at the same time, Gregoire’s more loyal supporters are working hard at the election fraud necessary to secure her re-election in 2008:
SEWER OF CORRUPTION, PART CLXXVI:
Potential fraud feared in drive to sign up voters
By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times staff reporter
Hundreds of voter-registration cards submitted as part of a drive to sign up low-income and minority voters may have been forged by paid canvassers, a King County election official said Thursday.
Problems were found with many of the 1,829 forms within a day after they were received from ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, whose canvassers have been under investigation in some other states for possible registration fraud.
“When we opened the box we very quickly noticed there were hundreds of forms where the handwriting was the same,” said election spokeswoman Bobbie Egan. “We were able to see very quickly and clearly there appears to be evidence of possible forgery.”
An election worker called the voters’ phone numbers listed on 400 of the registration cards — and found that only two were correct, Egan said. Those two people said they hadn’t filled out registration forms during the drive last fall.
etc.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....rn23m.html
Will @ 5:
Bullshit is bullshit whether it pisses me off or not. All you have told us is that Lindblom says this is what the study says. For this I need you?
re 10: It’s nice to see the media getting right to the bottom of “paid canvassers” who might have faked a few registration cards. How does that translate to “voter fraud”?
In the meantime, maybe we should try to teach some reporters how to spell, “DIEBOLD”!! And that’s just the tip of the Republican turtlehead of vote fraud.
re 10: Don’t squeeze me. I’ll scar your face.
Richard Pope: I know that you are a fair person (If you are the real R. Pope that is posting and not a sock-puppet Richard. So if you want a “fair and balanced” view, check out this blog.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
Blackhead @ 12-14
ACORN successfully sued the State of Washington to throw out the requirement to verify SSN or DOB before approving voter registrations. Judge Ricardo Martinez of federal court in Seattle said the law could unconstitutionally prevent legitimate citizens from voting. This ruling was in August 2006. Emboldened by this victory, ACORN submitted hundreds or thousands of totally bogus registrations in October 2006.
I don’t trust the voting computer machines (i.e. DRE’s) one iota. Maybe Diebold has some Republican connections. I don’t know. I heard that the other company that provides these computer machines is owned by the leftist government of Venezuela (i.e. Hugo Chavez). If they can steal an election for one regime of a given stripe, they can steal an election just as easily for another regime of a different stripe.
Richard Pope has lost his mind and is no more fair and balanced than faux news.
Pope @ 10: ACORN employees are paid by the hour, not by the signature.
Will: I’m struggling with figuring out how the supposed suppression of a report changes any of the facts in terms of what needs to go on the Seattle waterfront; seems as though when two sides dig their heels in, process gets manipulated, or shipshod communication gets revealed as some kind of ill intent. People like the Times are looking for a diversion, while the PR machines get to cranking out their propaganda. We shouldn’t fall for it.
Will — At this stage all you have is BS. There’s something in a binder, including a 50 page summary of whatever that is (50pp is an executive summary???).
You don’t say what that is. What was studied? Structure? Capacity? Safety? Who studied it, and how? Was it conclusory, or investigatory. How was it vetted? Is it just a CYA pile of intermediate work product, i.e., proof that X number of budgeted hours were spent at desks and not strip clubs?
I assume there are perfectly good answers to these questions … but you haven’t suggested any.
15.
SSN and DOB are irrelevant to the issue your stated earlier. Within your own post:
“Problems were found with many of the 1,829 forms within a day after they were received from ACORN…”
-and-
“Officials have sent letters asking ACORN-registered voters for more information, Egan said, and, “a vast majority are coming back as undeliverable.””
The current law and administative procedures, it appears, uncover fradulent reginstration forms, and the recent clean-up by the SS found only one potentially fraudulent vote amid tens of thousands of deceased and inactive registrations.
The problem is signature gatherers obviously paid by the signature, not identification. In a voting environment where almost all the counties vote by mail, and the largest is already 70% absentee, how important are registrations at invalid addresses? Particularly in relationship to, say, thirty thousands ballots thrown in the sea?
Those soggy ballots may have meant a President Gore, instead of President Meglomaniac, but Democrats certainly have whined a lot less about that much more suspect and important election loss.
17.
I stand corrected. I guess filling in forms gets one the enough money at $9.00 an hour as does doing it by the piece.
Whatever the impetus of fradulent activity, identification requirements won’t fix it. SSNs and DOBs are just as easy to make up as the names and addresses.
Ah, Mr. Pope. Be careful of opening this here, as you’ll get me back on my “just add a thumbprint” soapbox.
Seriously, I’ve been in favor of simply adding a spot on the voter registration form, along with corresponding spots on the voter roll and absentee ballot security envelope for a thumbprint.
It’s effectively free, so we’re not denying anyone the vote due to financial issues, and if folks are dumb enough to try cheating, we have a wonderful evidence trail to deal with them.
We could even end up with folks walking around showing off ink-stained thumbs.
This is just too cheap and easy a fix. There must be some downside to it that I’m not seeing, because neither side seems to like it.
Harry Tuttle @ 23
That is why the SSN and DOB should be verified against the records maintained by the Social Security Administration. A person has to produce valid identification (i.e. birth certificate type stuff) to get an SSN. Most people get this as part of being born here or when they register as a legal immigrant. The SSA also tracks naturalizations of alien SSN holders.
In fact, federal law — Help America Vote Act — requires each state to verify its voter registration database in this manner.
Unfortunately, ACORN sued over Washington’s law, and federal judge Ricardo Martinez found it to be unconstitutional — since it could possibly prevent or delay the registration of an eligible citizen under unusual circumstances. This ruling is currently on appeal to the 9th Circuit.
ACORN took advantage of this August 2006 ruling to flood local county auditors with thousands of bogus registration forms. Thanks to Judge Martinez, the county auditors have no choice but to accept and process the registrations — even if they are all in the name of “Mickey Mouse” or “Roger Rabbit”.
The only way to purge the bogus ACORN Democrat registrations is for either the county prosecutor (or a concerned citizen, like Lori Sotelo) to formally challenge each bogus registration individually. This requires a lot of research and evidence to verify that the person doesn’t really exist — basically they have to prove a negative. Then paperwork has to be completed on each individual voter, and notification sent by certified mail. A hearing has to be held for each bogus voter, and the county auditor has to prepare a formal order — with findings of fact and conclusions of law — on each bogus registration.
All this requires a lot of time and expenses — time for auditor staff to investigate everything, time for prosecutor staff to put together the paperwork, time for the county auditor and deputy prosecutor to hold hearings and prepare formal orders, time for auditor staff to implement the cancellation order, lots of copying expenses, and lots of postage — especially certified return receipt mail.
So we are probably looking at $100 or more per bogus registration for the county to actually get these things cancelled. Too bad we can’t bill this to ACORN (or at least transfer the funds from Ron Sims executive office budget).
If these bogus registrations are not cancelled, the bogus “voters” will be able to vote. If they are poll voters, they will have to produce identification or cast a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot would have to be accepted, if the signature on the ballot envelope matched the signature on the bogus registration. If voting by mail is used (either bogus registration is for absentee ballots, or the county goes to all vote-by-mail), then ballot must be accepted if signature on the envelope matches the signature on the bogus registration.
So if ACORN submits hundreds of fraudulent Democrat voter registrations, which are all signed by the same person, signature matching shouldn’t be any problem. Just get that same person to sign for “Mickey A. Mouse”, “Mickey B. Mouse”, “Roger A. Rabbit”, etc. Since everything will be in the same handwriting, every signature will match up 100%!
re 25: You seem very concerned about an extremely cumbersome and unlikely way for someone to steal a few hundred votes, but you seem totally UNCONCERNED about mechanized Republican vote fraud on a large scale ( like that in Snohomish county, which is still in the courts.
If the fraud benefits Republicans, you seem blithely unconcerned and even a little annoyed that the topic is brought up at all. I’m sticking to the Republican vote fraud in this state alone.
It has also not escaped my attention that you have not looked at this blog http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
Which I mentioned in this thread before to aquant yourself with a fair and balanced view of voting problems.
But, then again, they don’t tell you what you want to hear at Black Box voting, do they?
http://www.votersunite.org/info/lehtolawsuit.asp
Lehto and Wells v. Sequoia and Snohomish County
“On April 7, 2005, Paul Lehto and John Wells filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court against Sequoia Voting Systems, Inc. and Snohomish County, Washington.”
CHECK IT OUT, RICHARD POPE — IF YOU DARE!!!!
http://www.washblog.com/story/2006/11/5/195659/921
“So you’re going to have uncertified machines, you’re going to have hackable machines you’re going to have secret vote counting. You think these elections are valid?”
Paul Lehto, election integrity attorney in California’s Busby-Bilbray Recount and complainant in Lehto and Wells v. Sequoia and Snohomish County
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.
“Liberty,” he said, “is a well-armed lamb, contesting the vote.”
@13 If you read that article, Richard, it appears the problem is not orchestrated or premeditated registration fraud, but rather a few scruffy individuals hired by ACORN who boosted their income by forging voter registration forms — exactly what Timmy Lieman’s signature gatherers do. It shows some people will do anything to make $8 an hour.
@25 Oooooohh — Richard took a cheap shot at Roger Rabbit! It’s payback time for posting unpleasant facts about Richard’s past!
@25 So now Lori Sotelo is a “concerned citizen”? You are, what, auditioning for Comedy Central, Richard?
@30 That’s why LIBERALS MUST ARM!!!
My Social Security card (which admittedly is very, very old) has a notification on it that clearly states that it’s only to be used “for Social Security and tax purposes”–not for other identification. Do newer cards say that? Of course, I’m aware that SSN’s are used for all kinds of things now and have been for decades, but I don’t know whether any of this was declared legally valid or whether such widespread violation without challenge nullifies the rule.
I remember how surprised I was to learn that a Venezuelan company had acquired Sequoia. Sounds like another instance (like the port-managament fiasco) where reason and logic went out the window in favor on a decision based solely on whose money was the greenest.
Rog–
I’m afraid it’s a little bit more than just a few scruffy hippies….
When an organization oversees such an effort, don’t they have some responsibility for “quality control”??
I think so.
And if the sponsoring organization conveniently closes their eyes and mail these Registrations in with zero review….aren’t they somehow complicit?
My guess is many of these Registrations were so obviously prepared & signed by the same person, you don’t even need the keen eyes of a RABBIT to see what was happening.
It is encouraging to see King County do the right thing with these flawed/fraudulent registrations. Prosecution is next.
Do you think Dean Logan would have processed these anyway?
Thankfully, we will never know.
Hey Richard, what do you think about the GOPers sticking martial law into the defense budget on the sneak in the dead of night? Is that the action of an honest political party with honorable intentions? Huh?
re 36: You don’t care about honest elections. You just want to redirect attention away from the real voting crooks: Republicans.
Where’s the outrage over this voter theft? You are a cynic!
http://www.washblog.com/story/2006/11/5/195659/921
We’ve seen this argument that an election can’t be trusted used here in Washington with the 2004 governor’s race. The hand recounts uncovered no proof that the paper ballots were counted dishonestly. On the contrary, everything came up clean on the paper ballots — pretty remarkable in this race involving 3 million votes. There was, however, strong evidence of cheating in Snohomish County — only in those precincts where black box voting was used. And here the advantage always went to the Republican candidate. Even though their claim that Democrats cheated has been refuted, Republicans are still gaining political advantage by asserting it over and over. With black box voting, false accusations of cheating cannot be refuted.
Blackhead @ 26-30
Let’s just assume that there IS/WAS election fraud in Snohomish County with those “Black Box” voting machines?
How can you blame this on the REPUBLICANS?
Snohomish County has a DEMOCRAT County Executive, Aaron Reardon, and a DEMOCRAT County Auditor, Carolyn Diepenbrock. Their Prosecuting Attorney, Janice Ellis is also a DEMOCRAT. And the Snohomish County Council has a DEMOCRAT majority. 85% of the state legislators from Snohomish County are DEMOCRAT.
Go figure!
And if those “Black Box” voting machines are used in Snohomish County to commit voting fraud, then they presumably stole a lot more than 129 votes in Snohomish County in favor of Christine Fraudoire in November 2004.
More Democrat child molestors.
Former ACLU Chapter President Arrested for Child Pornography
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics.....038;page=1
@36 Mr. C — the only thing this news story proves is that ACORN hired some of Eyman’s signature gatherers. They should’ve done background checks.
@40 Give him a fair trial, then lock him in a cell with Mark Foley.
All this bickering, small talk and basically crap reminds me of the Roman Senate, a bunch of backstabbing, secret agenda driven zealots! Give me the yippies and hippies, anyday!!!!