A recent flurry of activity in the long-standing King Lincoln v. OH Sec. of State lawsuit concerning voting rights violations in the state during the 2004 election has resulted in the judge lifting the stay to allow depositions to be taken of key GOP tech-guru Mike Connell, and potentially others, such as Karl Rove.
A subpoena has now been served to Connell, who was recently described by the attorneys working on the case, as a ‘high-IQ Forrest Gump…at the scene of every GOP crime.’
Federal District Court Judge Algenon Marbley’s brief order [PDF], agreeing to lift the stay, was quietly issued on September 19th. It reads:
The BRAD BLOG had learned about the latest court action, which could soon entangle Rove as well, some time ago, but we were asked by parties involved in the case to embargo the information until such time as they were able to serve Connell with his subpoena…
The lifting of the stay comes on the heels of a troubling declaration filed with the court by Republican cyber-security expert and Connell colleague, Stephen Spoonamore who testified that he’s concerned a classic “Man in the Middle” cyber hack may have occurred on Election Night in 2004 as Connell’s Republican firm handled results reporting for Ohio’s Presidential election.
According to Spoonamore, control of Ohio’s election system by Connell’s firm, may have allowed for the compromise of election results as they were being reported. The structure of the system, as results were allowed to be first diverted to Connell’s servers that night, would have been “cause to launch an immediate fraud investigation” in the banking industry, charges Spoonamore, who ferrets out such problems in the financial services industry.
Spoonamore further notes in his declaration, in regard to Connell, that “He has admitted to me that in his zeal to ‘save the unborn’ he may have helped others who have compromised elections.”
Should Rove be subpoenaed in this case, it is believed that he would not be able to invoke the Executive Privilege claims he’s used to fight similar calls to testify before Congress, attorneys working on the case have told The BRAD BLOG.
Connell’s attorneys are currently fighting to quash his subpoena. RAW STORY has all the latest details…
Recently related at The BRAD BLOG:
- VIDEO: Who is Mike Connell?
- Rove Threatens GOP IT Guru to Keep Him from Talking
- OH Attnys: ‘High IQ Forrest Gump…At Scene of Every Crime’
- Attnys File to Lift Stay, GOP Cyber-security Expert Cites Fraud
More Elsewhere: VelvetRevolution’s RoveCyberGate.com
[Disclosure: The BRAD BLOG is a co-founder of VR]
UPDATE: Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org has more on the Connell subpoena in Ohio, as well as concerns of similar “Man in the Middle” attacks this year in Colorado, Illinois & Kentucky.
YES!!!!!!
It is time to release the Hounds!
Condi has fingered the Corporatist Torturers and
the details of how this nightmare started are on Connell’s Systems. Mirrored files are everywhere…and will corroborate the sordid trail. Once again, our government has been infiltrated by those who seek to destroy it by claiming to “save it from Terrorism/Jihadists.”
The Real danger has been the Corporatists and the Ownership of Media Outlets. The Media monopolies must be broken. Five companies does not serve the Public or the truth. Hence, they have lost over seventy percent market share to Internet sources. Please KEEP THIS STORY ON TOP AND UPDATED. Thanks Brad, Buckley Lofton
This is going to be a great story when we finally get to hear it all, good work Brad. We can hope that at some point there will be justice for these traitors. There is a recent story about Spoonamore and links to excerpts (on YouTube) from an interview with him here:
http://markcrispinmiller.blogsp...teal-next.html
This may not be new news but I hadn’t seen the interview before.
Yup they’re snatching the count between either the county and state servers, or the state and national tally report.
Either way, as long as they’re able to do it undetected.
Who is allowed to back check it anyway?…The Republicans?
I hate Republicans
An oldie but goodie
To be clear, the middleman in the results process means that a person is in position, but not that an attacked has been consummated.
Also, there are several different scenarios for man in the middle attacks. I’m now getting flak for pointing out that Spoonamore’s information is not evidence that his particular attack occurred, but that it is one theoretical scenario, if certain assumptions are met.
Many technologists see things exclusively through the lens of technology. And yet — when you read about the most successful hackers of all time — they use a hybrid approach, relying on social engineering as a shortcut. For example, a truly brilliant hacker often just finds a way to get people to tell him the logic they use when creating a password, or he gets the local IT guy to proudly describe his network.
Based on what happened in Warren County, Ohio and other places, I think at least two other scenarios for Ohio are equally likely to the Spoonamore scenario.
– First Look strategy: In every election, some results come in late. If a man in the middle can simply get FIRST LOOK at the data, precise instructions can be relayed to those with custody of the still outstanding ballots/data, telling them exactly how much needs to be adjusted. The Warren County lockdown supports this theory.
– The Report Tampering theory: Really all that’s needed is to alter the numbers on the report, if you have locals on the ground with access or custody of the ballots/data. You fix it, they take care of the details to match what they have to your bogus report.
The point is that sticking a private middleman into the results reporting process is certainly not prudent, and that we need to — every one of us! — plan on spending 90 minutes in the field on Election Night to capture video of the results tapes which are affixed to the polling place buildings for 24 hours. Don’t write notes – take video, it’s evidence, and the idea that thousands of Americans will be out capturing evidence of the results before they reach the middleman is the best deterrent for middleman attacks.
We do NOT want to be put in the position of trying to squeeze toothpaste back into the tube after Election Day.
Now, to Brad: I was shocked to see a Mark Crispin Miller editorial chiding me for pointing out that Spoon’s material is a theory of an attack, not evidence that an attack occurred. (You got this right in your own report, Brad). I was told to “stand in solidarity” rather than offering my own take on things.
“Stand in solidarity” means “watch what you say”, “toe the company line”, “take a loyalty test.”
Now, more than ever, we should be encouraging everyone to think for themselves, to exercise their own critical thinking skills. When we follow the leader on one theory, it puts blinders on us to other theories and we might MISS critically important evidence when it counts.
Now is a good time to review why the founders believed that Freedom of Speech was necessary to a functioning democracy.
We need to apply critical thinking and reasoned debate to our own work. It will only improve it, expand upon it, and ultimately, get us to the truth.
Brad, terrific investigative work. Keep it up. I have a suggestion for the 2008 election – cut out any possibility of MIM fraud in swing states by having copies of the election results routed to other servers not controlled by Connell, Davis and their companies. Then let the Republicans know in advance. I doubt they could be brazen enough to commit election fraud knowing the discrepancies will show up, and they would be on the hook for criminal charges. I hope you’ve quietly contacted key Democrats to ensure this happens. If you haven’t get it done. There’s still five weeks.
Ok Brad, so here’s my question. What if this election all these machines we’re tripped the other way. Say, giving Obama the election… to such outrageous proportions that the Republicans claim what we have been claiming for years.
I know it sounds silly. But look at what they’ve done. They are taking Obama’s message. They are saying such blatanly fasle things ‘McCain’s for regulation” ?!
Maybe I’m paranoid. But the market can’t lose 700 points and come back 500 in a day. I’m sorry. It just shouldn’t happen. Which makes me wonder what big oil companies are doing with those billion dollar porfits. I mean, how much money would it take to “fix” the market, I wonder. To keep it on the upward trend… because I think the one thing Republicans learned from Clinton is that nothing else matters… unless the market tanks.
Anyhow, I’m not sure I believe in the bigger picture I’m creating here… but if we’re going to think that the Republicans are at “war” with our Democracy.. then we have to wonder what other means they have at their disposal then just stealing votes…
Because really, that crime would be henious enough… but why stop there?
Thanks for listenin,
Christian Q
Tucson, Az
The point is that sticking a private middleman into the results reporting process is certainly not prudent, and that we need to — every one of us! — plan on spending 90 minutes in the field on Election Night to capture video of the results tapes which are affixed to the polling place buildings for 24 hours. Don’t write notes – take video, it’s evidence, and the idea that thousands of Americans will be out capturing evidence of the results before they reach the middleman is the best deterrent for middleman attacks