Michigan's GOP House Speaker Expresses Support For Election Rigging | ThinkProgress
thinkprogress.orgLate last week, democracy scored two important victories over a Republican plan to rig future presidential elections by changing the way electoral votes are counted in several key blue states. Two Virginia Republican state senators spoke out against the plan, effectively killing it. And Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford (R) attacked the election-rigging scheme as trying to “change the rules of the game.”
In Michigan, however, which is the bluest of the six blue states where the election-rigging plan has been discussed, state House Speaker Jase Bolger (R) appears quite open to rigging his state’s electoral college votes to benefit Republicans.
In other words, Republican voters in Michigan are upset that Democrats win elections simply because there are more of them. And Bolger wants to fix that by giving the few Republicans more votes than the majority.
Despite Internal GOP Opposition, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett Stands By His Election Rigging Scheme | ThinkProgress
thinkprogress.org[For] those of you keeping track at home, here are the three factions within the Pennsylvania GOP.
- Just Rig The Election Already: Gov. Corbett and Sen. Pileggi fully support the plan. In Pileggi’s words, they have heard “nothing” indicating that this election rigging scheme “does not have the right objective.”
- Protect Me First: GOP Reps. Jim Gerlach, Pat Meehan and Mike Fitzpatrick care more about keeping their own jobs than they do about electing a president who will eliminate Medicare, so they oppose a plan which might endanger their ability to get reelected in what have traditionally been Democratic-leaning districts.
- Be More Coldly Calculating: Perhaps the most despicable faction is captured by Matthew Brann’s statement that Corbett should only rig the election if he is not sure the GOP can carry the state. This faction apparently believes that the biggest problem with Corbett’s election rigging scheme is that it could backfire and benefit the Democrats
Sadly, there does not appear to be any faction within the Republican Party that opposes rigging elections because rigging elections is wrong.
Monday Musings: Hollis to the Rescue?
How interesting would it be if Hollis is ultimately the one who reveals to Fitz that Olivia was the lone holdout in the election rigging scheme? That Olivia was the only one who thought it was wrong and didn’t agree to it until the very last minute AFTER the death of Big Jerry.
Hollis is the only remaining person outside of Fitz’ core circle completely privy to how the scheme unfolded and who said/did what in agreeing to the plan. Ironically at this point, Hollis might be the only person Fitz might actually believe because he doesn’t have a dog in the hunt on that angle.
Egypt: Opposition Says Violations Indicate Intention to Rig Vote: allAfrica.com
allafrica.com“The National Salvation Front - Egypt’s main opposition coalition - said on Saturday that the number and intensity of violations in the constitutional referendum suggest that there is an intention to rig the vote. Reports produced by the Front’s operation room suggested that the violations were occurring all over the country, it said. The opposition group accused the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to “pass the Brotherhood constitution,” calling on all authorities to bear full responsibility to guarantee the transparency of the vote. It called on the people to vote “no” in the referendum on the controversial charter and prevent rigging attempts…”
Election 2012: The Koch Brothers, Super PACs, and Bundlers
This week, weâre exposing the world of campaign finance post-Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court case that opened the door to super PACs. The stories fall into three categories: donor profiles, pieces on super PACs, and scandals (though as Michael Kinsley said, âThe scandal in Washington isnât whatâs illegal; itâs whatâs legalâ).
This roundup focuses on national stories, but you can find more under our Campaign Finance tag on MuckReads. Did we miss any? Email muckreads@propublica.org
The Donors
CovertOperations,The New Yorker, August 2010
This 2011 National Magazine Award finalist profiles the billionaire Koch brothers, who are using their money to try to promote libertarian ideals. The resulting âideological networkâ of foundations, think tanks, and political movements has become so sprawling that in political circles itâs known as the âKochtopus.â
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Is Gingrichâs Hard Line on Palestine Paid for by Sheldon Adelson?, Daily Beast,January 2012
Sheldon Adelson is the seventh-richestman in the United States, and the largest donor to the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future. As this 2008 New Yorker profile shows, he also opposes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and wields enormous political influence in Israel. Some wonder if his views affected Gingrichâs âhard-lineâ stance on Palestine.
TheOperator, New Republic, April 2012
Harold Simmons is the 2012 campaign’s biggest donor. So what does he want from all his political giving?
Contributed by @Jake_Bernstein
TheAttackDog, The New Yorker, February 2012
Larry McCarthy, the media consultant who helps run the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future, is Washingtonâs go-to guy for negative ads. He rose to prominence for the racially charged Willie Horton ad that helped George H.W. Bush get elected in 1988.
Super PACs
FirmGives $1 Millionto Pro-RomneyGroup, ThenDissolves, MSNBC, August 2011  Need a good example of the secret money fueling the 2012 election? This mystery company donated $1 million to the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Futureâand then promptly dissolved. At the time, it was one of the biggest contributions of the election cycle.
Contributed by @SteveEngelberg
The Super PAC Steamroller: Coming to a Town Near You!, Mother Jones, April 2012
Super PACs are popping up on a state level, where elections are cheaper and disclosure requirements arenât as tight as those for federal super PACs.
Mother Jones contributed by @alexandraduszak
MostIndependentAdsfor 2012 ElectionAreFromGroupsThatDonâtDiscloseDonors, Washington Post, April 2012
You can thank anonymous donors for 90 percent of the total spent on advertising so far in the 2012 presidential election. The funds are funneled through social welfare nonprofits, also known as 501(c)4s, that do not have disclose their donors.
The 2012 MoneyRace: CompareTheCandidates,New York Times
If you want to track super PAC money, weâre going to point you to PACTrack. But when it comes to candidatesâ fundraising, the New York Timesâ news app is pretty sweet.
AdministrationOfficialsDoubleasObamaCampaignSpeakers, Los Angeles Times, November 2011
Barack Obama’s Cabinet members and key aides can raise cash for his re-election, but only if they tap-dance around federal laws in their speeches.
Contributed by @C_A_JONEStechno
BundlersOntheInside, iWatch/ABC News, September 2011
Several of Obamaâs top political supporters went to work within the Energy Department as it pumped stimulus money into alternative energy firms. Some supporters were also investors in companies that applied for government loans. (Part of a series on the stimulus-backed, and now bankrupt, Solyndra.)
Contributed by @paulkiel
DoubtsRaisedonDonationstoComptroller, New York Times, October 2011
New York City comptroller John C. Liu was considered a contender to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg, thanks in part to his robust fundraising machine. But when the New York Times canvassed nearly 100 homes and workplaces of donors listed in Mr. Liuâs campaign finance reports, they found several irregularities, including some that raised questions about whether some donors actually existed. Liuâs campaign is now under federal investigation.
Contributed by @srubenfeld
HouseFreshmenPushBillsthatBenefitBigDonors, USA Today, August 2011
Despite promises to change Washington, several House freshmen began their terms by pushing legislation that benefited some of their biggest donors.
Contributed by @rlocker12
SOURCE: http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/propublica/2012/04/election_2012_the_best_investigative_reporting_on_campaign_finance_.html
Calling Out the Left-Wing Election Rigging Denialists
opednews.comvia opednews
By Victoria Collier (about the author)
[NOTE* from Leftish: Apologies for the length of this post. You might not have the time to read it. That’s okay. We each do what we can.
Distressing news! Many left-leaning blogs and media groups are saying that we need not worry about Vote Rigging, because it is a conspiracy theory! WTF?]
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
“TO LEFT-WING JOURNALISTS: YES, IT CANHAPPEN HERE
This article responds to the damaging attempts by left-wing journalists to deny the possibility of right-wing electronic vote tampering - or any e-vote tampering - particularly in the 2012 election.
In the past week, Chuck Todd at MSNBC News has Tweeted that concerns about electronic voting machines are “conspiracy theory that belong in the same category as the Trump birther garbage.”
ThinkProgress, the left-wing advocacy and news site, posted an article with the same blanket “conspiracy theory” dismissal.
And finally, Steven Rosenfeld wrote a similar opinion piece - posted by Alternet (as “news” no less) and then picked up by Salon and Snopes - to further “debunk” concerns about stolen elections.
What are these journalists railing against? A flood of recent stories warning of the potential for massive computerized election fraud in the 2012 elections.
In particular, the breaking news of the Romney family’s financial ties to voting machine company Hart Intercivic, exposed by the FreePress.org, is so alarming that it’s been picked up by many online news sources, and even Forbes Magazine.
My 7000 word cover story in this month’s Harper’s Magazine, ”How to Rig an Election” exposes the fundamental security flaws in our current voting system, including the right-wing partisan ownership of major voting machine companies. I also discuss many suspicious “surprise upset” elections that have helped tipped the balance of power in America toward the far-right. The piece has been positively reviewed in The Atlantic, Esquire, the Daily Kos and elsewhere.
Radio interview requests are coming to me now from Canada to New Zealand. Why? Because the results of American elections, particularly in 2012, have life-or-death global implications, from war in the Middle East, to climate change negotiations. The whole world is watching with great concern, even as international election observers are being blocked from entering polls in Ohio and other states.”
Meanwhile, Brad Friedman at the Brad Blog.org continues his 24/7 exposure of not just the insidious threat of computerized election fraud, but the GOP’s ongoing attempts to disenfranchise millions of “likely Democratic voters” through voter suppression, polling place Photo ID restrictions, voter roll purges, and other dirty tricks.
Combined with electronic control of the vote count, this kind of coordinated assault worked brilliantly on behalf of the George W. Bush campaign in Ohio in 2004 (as I described in Harper’s), and could work this time for Mitt Romney, or any other Republican favored candidate and ballot issue. Hart Intercivic tabulates votes in key counties in Ohio, as well as some 12 other states.
This is why exposure of these activities and conflicts of interests is vital right now to dissuade criminal activity on November 6th by shining a long overdue spotlight into the darkness of our now-privatized voting system. We might very well prevent massive fraud in this election, while drafting more American voters into the non-partisan election integrity movement where they can take action.
That our privately-controlled electronic voting machines are prone to constant malfunction, and vulnerable to insider rigging and outsider hacking, is a national crisis, and no longer open to debate. The evidence is overwhelming and comes from a mountain of independent voter reports, academic and technical studies, government studies, whistleblower affidavits, ongoing lawsuits, and arrests and convictions of election officials - some who were sentenced last year to 156 years in federal prison for gaming elections, in part by secretly manipulating computerized voting machines!
Yet, despite this deluge of evidence, the most aggressive critics of election integrity investigators are not found in the right-wing corporate press, as you might expect. Instead, for many years, our enemies have lunged from the shadows of left-wing flagships.
Clearly nothing is different in this election cycle, when the stakes for American progressives could not be higher…”
[NOTE* from Leftish: This is a very important issue, the full article is six pages long, but WORTH THE READ. We need to do everything we can to keep the GOP from stealing the election again! THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING WITH BAITED BREATH!]
