Mike Connell, the suddenly-dead star witness in an Ohio 2004 election lawsuit which suggests that election was stolen from John Kerry, justified his electronic vote-stealing for his bosses as saving the lives of unborn children. This is in this audio of an interview on Air America of Steven Spoonamore, the Republican IT expert who blew the whistle on Rove, Connell, and others when he approached the plaintiffs' attorney Cliff Arnebeck with his insights on electronic shenanigans. Connell, hired by Rove as Rove's chief IT wizard after the Republicans took power, saw his work for the Republican Party as necessary to strengthen anti-abortion forces. After Obama's victory he wrote:
"In our 230 year history, our democracy has suffered worse fates. It's just that none come to mind right now....This is just a moment in time and this too shall pass. Enduring is the fact that 2000 years ago, a babe was born in Bethlehem. When our Lord God sent his only Son for our salvation,...In spite of the current economic and political conditions, salvation is eternal."
Just before his death in a small plane crash this week, Connell had stonewalled at the behest of attorneys sent to him by the GOP, in the Ohio vote-tampering lawsuit King Lincoln v. Blackwell. Cliff Arnebeck said afterward: "Connell has just ensured that he is Exhibit A of the soon-to-be-filed RICO lawsuit against Karl Rove et al."
Connell's stonewalling was expected. In a surprise move, Ohio Federal Judge Solomon Oliver ordered him to testify on the day before the 2008 election. Judge Solomon's order, made after Connell's attorneys motioned to have his subpoena quashed, was widely interpreted as a message to Rove and GOP operatives that they would be working under extreme scrutiny the next day, so if they were thinking of tampering, "Don't."
Spoonamore, who to this day supports the invasion of Iraq and calls the first Iraq election a "glorious," says unequivocally in the Hartmann interview that he believes Ohio's critical 20 electoral votes in 2004 were "stolen."
Harriet Crosby of Velvet Revolution writes:
in the late hours of election night in 2004--at 11:13 p.m.,
to be precise--when Blackwell shunted the vote tally from Ohio to GOP servers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they were changed just enough to give the election to Bush. We have evidence, from the Ohio Secretary of State's Office, of the election architecture that shows exactly when the vote tally was sent to SMARTech at GOP headquarters in Tennessee, and when it came back. This is how Bush got a second term--and Karl Rove was behind it. Rove will be the next (after Connell) to be subpoenaed in our Ohio lawsuit.
As Rove's IT guru, Connell was also responsible for building and maintaining the White House's email servers, and was the end of the line in a number of investigations into mysteriously disappearing White House emails, including those relating to the investigation of the vice president's office in the case of Valerie Plame. Spoonamore says that in an Ocotber 2006 meeting with Connell, Connell asked questions about how to "permanently destroy hard drives." Spoonamore told Connell, "If this is what I think you're talking about, this meeting is over."
Lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Ohio lawsuit, Arnebeck, wrote a letter to Attorney General Mukasey asking for some form of protection for Connell and his family when it emerged that Connell had been threatened, and warned by Rove to "take the fall." A copy of the letter was forwarded to Congressmen John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich, as well as to 60 Minutes, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and C-Span. The letter stated:
Concurrently herewith, I am informing Mr. Conyers and Mr. Kucinich in connection with their Congressional oversight responsibilities related to these matters.
Because of the serious engagement in this matter that began in 2000 of the Ohio Statehouse Press Corps, 60 Minutes, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, C-Span and Jim VandeHei, and the public's right to know of gross attempts to subvert the rule of law, I am forwarding this information to them, as well.
Why aren't Conyers, Kucinich, and Obama calling for congressional investigation? This was no ordinary court case, and a mighty convenient time to have a Wellstone. Conyers and Kucinich were informed because the first thing you do if you are afraid something like this might happen to you is you tell people who are high-profile, because you feel it might protect you. You'd feel that now they can't touch you, because it would be too obvious.
Despite toothless talk about prosecution, all these people will skeedaddle into parts unknown with pardons in their pockets. They are only within reach right now. Call for an immediate congressional investigation.
Conyers: 202-225-5126
Kucinich: (202) 225-5871
Obama: (202) 224-2854
"Evil thrives when good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
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