We meant to blog about this earlier, but were waylaid by the power outage today and other matters… In any case, a DU’er announced last night that a meeting of the Hocking Democratic Central Committee was to take place tonight to discuss the recent firing by the Board of Elections of Ohio Recount Whistleblower, Sherole Eaton.
(Eaton was a guest on last weekend’s BRAD SHOW to discuss the matter. In case you missed it the interview is archived here [MP3]).
Eaton filed an affidavit during the December recount concerning some chicanery she witnessed by a Voting Machine Company employee from Triad. The employee, Mark Barbarian, she testified, removed a hard drive from the central tabulating machine in Hocking County prior to the recount and instructed her county and others in Ohio, on how to create a “cheat sheet” to ensure that the recount would match the original Election results.
As her thanks for whistleblowing, she was fired this month by the Hocking County Board of Elections.
The legend goes — as spread frequently and thickly by Ohio Secretary of State and Co-Chair for the Committee to Re-Elect Bush/Cheney, J. Kenneth Blackwell — that nothing could possibly have been amiss in Ohio’s Election, since all of the BoE’s are bi-partisan and comprised of two Democrats and two Republicans.
Trouble is, many of those Democrats, we’ve since come to learn, may indeed be “Democrats” in name only. They serve at the approval and pleasure of Blackwell and the behavior of the Hocking County Democrats on the BoE give every indication that they are anything but Democrats.
As Eaton explained to us on the show last Saturday night, these Boards of Elections are “cooked”.
This evening, the Democratic Central Committee met to call those two Hocking County “Democrats”, Susie Hughes and Gerald Robinette, on the carpet in a public hearing concerning the Eaton firing.
Once again, DU’er “NoBushSpokenHere” filled us in on the details including a surprise appearance by Eaton herself who was, as of this past Monday, under the knife having brain surgery for an aneurysm.
The good news is she made it through the surgery successfully. The bad news is that the surgery was unsuccessful.
Indefatigable as she is, incredibly, she made it to the meeting tonight to stand her ground and face her accusers. We’ll let “NoBushSpokenHere” take it from here:
Since she was fired effective June 30, 2005, she is hoping to have the surgery yet this month while she still has insurance. She can keep her insurance through the COBRA plan, but it will cost approximately $600 a month. A pledge list was passed around the room and donations were made to help pay her insurance premiums. It was decided to place the funds into the fund established by her son, Sherole Eaton 11/02/2004. Sherole received a standing ovation from the crowd of Democrats in attendance.
Hocking County President Regina Prater opened the floor for discussion of Sherole’s firing. The two Hocking “democrat” Board of Election members, Susie Hughes and Gerald Robinette were present at the meeting. It was these two individuals that had voted for Diebold and voted along with the Republicans to fire Sherole. Bruce Johnson stated to Gerald Robinette, “We will have a recommendation of who we want to become the next Deputy Director” and asked “Will you follow our recommendation?” Gerald Robinette replied, “No, I cannot say that we will” and added, “We normally just go along with whomever the Republicans want” A few people spoke to the group to explain these two individuals do not have the Democrat parties’ interest at heart. The crowd applauded and shouted in support of cleaning up the party.
Regina Prater asked for the resignations of both Susie Hughes and Gerald Robinette from the BOE. They refused despite the resounding applause in support of her request.
(Special thanks to BRAD SHOW engineer, Eddie Ajamian for keeping us apprised on this matter and the coverage over at DU.)
God…
Go get ’em Sharole! What an inspiring story. Up on her feet fighting fresh from brain surgery!
I don’t understand why the Democrats in Ohio put up with and allow those two Repulican leaning Democrats (Susie Hughes and Gerald Robinette) to stay on the Board of Elections there. How are these people appointed, and don’t the Democrats have a say in who represents them on the BOE?
Jeff J.
What an inspiration!
Sherole is a true hero in every sense of the word.
Shouldn’t the Toledo Blade be reporting on this – they seem to be the only paper with the guts to stand up against the corruption. Perhaps they should be e-mailed about it from the 6 or 7.
Thank you Brad for update, and Sherole for your
efforts.
Hope your health improves, Sherole.
Good luck Sherole–and thank God for genuine heros like Sherole, Clint Curtis, and Sibel Edmonds.
Wow! What an amazing story. This has to be made into a movie for the world to see.
That the two BOE Dems appear more Repub than Dem reminds me of Madame Butterfly of Florida. Ms. Lapore (sp) was the Dem who approved the butterfly ballot for the 2000 presidential election, the one which screwed everybody up. Not long after that election she changed her party affiliation to Republican.
Surprise surprise.
In each state we apparently have to ensure these are real Democrats observing and managing the elections. No DINOsaurs allowed.
I just took a look at the Toledo Blade.
My God, what the heck is going on in Ohio?!? Very scary stuff.
Where there are $215 million in "high-risk investment" losses, there are sure to be people on the other end who pocketed at least $215 million by selling their inflated stocks at the right time (to the "suckers?" who bought the stock for the government).
Does anybody know if that side of things is being investigated? It damn well had better be.
Sherole is amazing! Her steadfastness, in spite of her serious health concerns, highlights the importance and urgency attached to identifying and prosecuting everyone involved in the 2004 fradulent election activities, particularly involving computerized vote counting, with a view to OVERTURNING THE FRAUDULENT ELECTION RESULTS WHICH PUT THE LOSER, GWB, BACK IN THE W.H.
All the best Sherole
Ohio will be the keystone,
"Kaptur alerts colleagues of unfolding scandal
Brown says illegalities put presidential election in question"
"By STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON – As the word spread Tuesday night that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation had lost $215 million in a high-risk investment, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur alerted her colleagues to the mounting concerns in her home state.
Miss Kaptur, during a statement on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday night, said "there is a major political scandal that is unfolding in the state of Ohio."
link for previous comment
Gore Vidal on Ohio Election fraud here:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0609-21.htm
"What’s $215 million between friends?" Answer… it’s $215 million the taxpayers of Ohio will have to kick in to keep the Workmen’s Compensation Fund solvent.
When people have to write a check because one of their elected officials stole public money, those folks forget they’re evangelical Christians in one hell of a hurry. Suddenly they become screwed taxpayers, and there’s no Bible passage to make them feel better about what happened.
Let Reverend Billy Bob Straighlace explain this one away Sunday morning to the Ohio masses that Bush and Blackwell have been conning all along.
It’s totally corrupt in state govt. in Ohio. I was pretty high up and naively believed that I was just serving the public interest. Then they started pressuring me to vote for Bush, there were threats and weird behavior… toward colleagues, too… I tried to keep my head down and was basically in disbelief that they were really trying to condition my job on voting for W. It’s supposed to be a confidential vote. And what they were doing is per se illegal. To make a long story short, I faced a harsh atmosphere and resigned under a cloud. It was ugly and after what I saw from the inside of the OH GOP from the late 90s through the rise of Bush, I have no doubts that the OH GOP players worked their "magic" on Election 2004. They are ruthless and fundmentally dishonest. I tried to warn the Kerry-Edwards campaign, but they were sheep to the slaughter….
It is vindicating that finally the tip of the iceberg in Ohio (Coingate) is hitting the mainstream press.
GO BLADE! The TRUTH wills out. Even in Ohio!
Hey Former Ohio State Govt. Employee (#15),
Have you talked to the media and told them all you know? You indicate that laws have been broken. If so, does THE BLADE know your story?
Thanks so much for having the courage to identify yourself here.
It’s folks like you that need to have the strength to be Ohio and American patriots at this point and shout out what you know. You have the authority. You were there. Can the "6 or 7" here help you in any way?
comment11…air america had a lot of discussion about the ohio retirement theft yesterday. It is being investigated. Very far reaching. Sen. Noe from Ohio has been giving money away like crazy. May be part of the scam/ Bush won’t give all of his back. A reporter from The Toledo Blade, I think is going out to see Arnold of Calif. I think that money has been dispersed all over to repubs.
Re: #15, #17,
Yes, this is exactly the kind of thing that needs to come out in the open.
Is there anything that would make this possible? Perhaps a Brad Show interview protecting your anonymity? What would make it safe for you to say more?
I will again state that I know personally that the Republican Party in Palm beach County–as early as 1970— had their party faithful re-register as Democrats and then to volunteer for Democratic candidates campaigns to try and destroy those campaigns from within and in addition get campaign strategys. I believe Teresa LePore who I have known for years is such a case.
Not many people realize that the 3 person Election Board in Palm Beach County in 2000 was composed of Ms. LePore, Mary McCarthy (R) and a Judge that was supposed to be a registered Democrat. It has never been posted that the so-called Democratic Judge was a Jeb Bush appointee to his Judgeship.
Now recall that the Palm Beach Cty Election Board was never able to finish their re-count by 5:00pm—the Sunday deadline given by Katherine Harris–the Chief Elections Official in the State of Florida and the Co-Chairman of the Bush Campaign in Florida.. Moreover, it was the Judge who slowed down the re-count and threw out many legitimate ballots as having hanging chads and therefore weren’t counted. IT WAS A SHAM.
This is truly traitorous actions against Democracy and the American People.
I personally do not believe that every Election Board in the State of Ohio was composed of 50% Republicans and 50% Democrats—as mandated by Ohio law. I beieve the Boards in Ohio were nothing more than Republicans, re-registered as Democrats to be appointed By Blackwell, who appointed all the Boards in Ohio. The 2004 Ohio Vote was stolen–simple as that.
Attention "Former Ohio State Govt. Employee" if you happen to read this! As you didn’t leave an Email address, I wasn’t able to contact you privately.
If you catch this note, please contact me privately by Email as I’d love to talk to you more about your comment.
Both your information and identity will be kept confidential unless you otherwise wish.
Harry – I will try to contact you via Email as well. Though feel free to touch base with me first if you happen to catch this comment.
FOGE, I hope that at some point you will be able to come forward. In any case, thanks for sharing your experience here. Ever since the election, I have been wondering about those boe’s in Ohio. It sounds like we are beginning to get the picture. And it sounds like the unravelling and desperate covering up continues. thankyou Sherole Easton. I hope your example will inspire others who have vital information about what happened in Ohio.
Noble Johns:
We, the writers, editors, webmasters and publishers of blacknewsweekly.com hereby make known and affirm the Excommunication of Kenneth Blackwell, that Nigger in Ohio who sold-out the Black vote that ultimately gave Bush the election. Blackwell’s treachery is legendary, even when he was the mayor of Cincinnati. We do not need to second guess him because we are certain of his evil conspiracy with Bush in their effort to steal the Black vote from the good people of Ohio. Unfortunately, we all have tried in a number of ways and by various promises and pleas to turn him from his wicked ways. But, we have not even been able to reason with him because he refuses to listen to reason and is so unreasonable. On the contrary, in the last presidential election, he more than anyone in the country is responsible for Bush stealing another election.
I’m a dem in Ohio and am Sherole Eaton’s neice. Sherole is still fighting like a pit bull to get her job back. Finally the Board of Elelctions has set a date for their next meeting. July 5, at 12:30 at the Hocking County Court House in Logan, OH It’s a small town, easy to find. I’m hitting every site I can asking anyone who’s close come to Logan on the 5th. I’d love to have hundreds of people here demanding that Sherole be given her job back and the two board members resign.
Keep on fighting, Sherole! You’re a true patriot!
Keep on fighting, Sherole! You’re a true patriot!
The Board of Elections is meeting July 5 at 12:30. We are trying to get as many protesters here as possible to support Sherole. Her appointment with the second surgeon was scheduled on the same day, quite a coincidence. She rescheduled her Dr.’s appt. She’s very frustrated, the state democrat party won’t get involved. This a woman brave enough to tell the truth about voter fraud in Ohio. She’s a fighter and won’t give up, she keeps saying, "I just want my job back." Her husband died in the early 80s, she had 5 children and has had to take care of herself. She left a good job to take the one at the board, and now, has no job. The job market is tight, and more so for a 65 year old. Please keep telling her story to anyone who will listen.