Stephen Heller, the Los Angeles whistleblower who turned over documents from Diebold’s attorney, Jones Day, in 2004 showing the Voting Machine Company had illegally installed uncertified hardware and software in California — and was preparing to lie about it — has pled guilty, according to a statement tonight from the LA County District Attorney’s office.
In an email moments ago from Heller, he tells us that he and his wife “are very happy it is over.”
Heller, whose story we detailed in an article [PDF] published by Hustler some months ago, was a temporary worker at the voting machine company law firm when he stumbled across the troubling documents.
At the time, we quoted Michael Kohn, general counsel for the National Whistleblower Center, as saying, “This is a very rare instance. In fact, the only one of which I’m aware, in which a whistleblower has been charged with a felony. I find it outrageous.”
Outrageous indeed — especially considering Diebold voting systems were decertified by the state when it was found the company was attempting to game the certification process, shortly after Heller shared the documents with the Oakland Tribune and election watchdog BlackBoxVoting.org.
But Heller doesn’t have the same kind of money for high-priced attorneys that Diebold does (that would be your money that Diebold uses for this sort of thing, by the way); we’re not suprised he opted for the deal.
In an email message from Heller sent to The BRAD BLOG tonight, he wrote:
The LA County DA’s statement says Heller pled to “unlawfully accessing the company computer in connection with its legal representation of Diebold Inc.” and they quote his formal “apology” as follows:
A notice added tonight to the Stephen Heller Defense Fund website says “The case has been resolved! More details will follow soon.” It goes on to thank supporters, urging them to “check back soon because Stephen is going to post the entire story here soon.”
Heller tells us he’s being contacted by the media tonight and plans to send a more detailed statement to The BRAD BLOG by morning.
UPDATE: 11/21/06 5:00pm PT: As promised, a new story, including a fresh exclusive statement from Heller — concerning his thoughts on Diebold, American Elections and that he may have his sentenced reduced in a year — is now posted here.
Steve Heller also went on to say the following in his email, while talking about recent donations:
“So if you donated in the last couple of weeks you’ll probably be getting your donation back. If you’d like to pass your returned donation on to a worthy cause, please let me recommend in the strongest possible terms that you give your returned donation to Black Box Voting. Bev Harris, the founder of Black Box Voting and the recent subject of the HBO documentary “Hacking Democracy,” is the person to whom I gave the documents I stole. It was Bev who got the documents to the Secretary of State, who then decertified Diebold in California. Bev was also extremely helpful with my legal defense, and her organization donated $10,000 to my legal defense fund. Most importantly, she has done and is doing great work in the area of election security and integrity. I’d like to see the bread she cast upon the waters come back to her, so please give generously to Black Box Voting. They’re a great organization, they’re doing important work that protects our votes and our democracy, and they deserve your help and support.”
This should put to bed some of David Allen’s (the phony activist from NC) lies, once and for all.
Steve accidentally went on to provide a link to Allen’s website by mistake, but has quickly sent out a correction to everyone who donated to him.
Everyone who thinks David Allen is a real ally in the fight against the machines should see this shining example of his lies and libel.
Thanks Brad, for highlighting this very important news.
John
The 116-poll House Generic Trend line projected a 14% Democratic margin. The 4.9% recorded vote margin was a 9.1% deviation from the projection. The 9.1% decrease in margin is a 6.7 million vote decrease (10.3 to 3.6mm).
The probability of the Democratic vote share decline from the Generic Poll (56%) to the actual vote (51.3%) is 1 in 2.5 billion, assuming a 1.5% MoE.
In Excel, the probability = NORMDIST(0.513,0.56,0.015/1.96,TRUE)= 4.024E-10
or 1 in 2,484,979,067
U.S. House Vote(in thousands)
Vote Comparison Dem Rep Other Dem% Rep% Other% %Margin VoteMargin
Generic Trend 41261 30946 1474 56.0% 42.0% 2.0% 14.0% 10315
Reported Vote 37796 34194 1690 51.3% 46.4% 2.3% 4.9% 3602
Discrepancy -3465 3248 216 -4.7% 4.4% 0.3% -9.1% -6713
Total Dem GOP Other Dem% GOP% Other% Margin% Margin
73680 37796 34194 1690 51.3% 46.4% 2.3% 4.9% 3602
AL 579 224 352 3 38.7% 60.8% 0.5% -22.1% -128
AK 202 81 115 6 40.1% 56.9% 3.0% -16.8% -34
AZ 1127 479 576 72 42.5% 51.1% 6.4% -8.6% -97
AR 747 448 299 0 60.0% 40.0% 0.0% 19.9% 149
CA 6236 3549 2479 208 56.9% 39.8% 3.3% 17.2% 1070
CO 1371 728 572 71 53.1% 41.7% 5.2% 11.4% 156
CT 1079 652 421 6 60.4% 39.0% 0.6% 21.4% 231
DE 509 197 291 21 38.7% 57.2% 4.1% -18.5% -94
FL 3727 1497 2162 68 40.2% 58.0% 1.8% -17.8% -665
GA 1916 799 1117 0 41.7% 58.3% 0.0% -16.6% -318
HI 338 220 118 0 65.1% 34.9% 0.0% 30.2% 102
ID 435 173 243 19 39.8% 55.9% 4.4% -16.1% -70
IL 3127 1732 1381 14 55.4% 44.2% 0.4% 11.2% 351
IN 1646 803 821 22 48.8% 49.9% 1.3% -1.1% -18
IA 1028 490 520 18 47.7% 50.6% 1.8% -2.9% -30
KS 827 361 450 16 43.7% 54.4% 1.9% -10.8% -89
KY 1244 596 609 39 47.9% 49.0% 3.1% -1.0% -13
LA 901 294 580 27 32.6% 64.4% 3.0% -31.7% -286
ME 529 345 161 23 65.2% 30.4% 4.3% 34.8% 184
MD 1344 828 475 41 61.6% 35.3% 3.1% 26.3% 353
MA 1068 793 198 77 74.3% 18.5% 7.2% 55.7% 595
MI 3516 1793 1626 97 51.0% 46.2% 2.8% 4.7% 167
MN 2178 1154 925 99 53.0% 42.5% 4.5% 10.5% 229
MS 581 251 295 35 43.2% 50.8% 6.0% -7.6% -44
MO 2050 965 1031 54 47.1% 50.3% 2.6% -3.2% -66
MT 805 314 476 15 39.0% 59.1% 1.9% -20.1% -162
NE 586 257 329 0 43.9% 56.1% 0.0% -12.3% -72
NV 573 287 259 27 50.1% 45.2% 4.7% 4.9% 28
NH 402 209 189 4 52.0% 47.0% 1.0% 5.0% 20
NJ 1859 949 885 25 51.0% 47.6% 1.3% 3.4% 64
NM 545 304 241 0 55.8% 44.2% 0.0% 11.6% 63
NY 3561 2285 1268 8 64.2% 35.6% 0.2% 28.6% 1017
NC 1842 935 907 0 50.8% 49.2% 0.0% 1.5% 28
ND 433 284 149 0 65.6% 34.4% 0.0% 31.2% 135
OH 3763 1970 1785 8 52.4% 47.4% 0.2% 4.9% 185
OK 905 373 518 14 41.2% 57.2% 1.5% -16.0% -145
OR 1264 713 523 28 56.4% 41.4% 2.2% 15.0% 190
PA 3815 2061 1705 49 54.0% 44.7% 1.3% 9.3% 356
RI 372 264 42 66 71.0% 11.3% 17.7% 59.7% 222
SC 1072 466 593 13 43.5% 55.3% 1.2% -11.8% -127
SD 667 461 196 10 69.1% 29.4% 1.5% 39.7% 265
TN 1712 860 797 55 50.2% 46.6% 3.2% 3.7% 63
TX 3994 1783 2069 142 44.6% 51.8% 3.6% -7.2% -286
UT 549 234 283 32 42.6% 51.5% 5.8% -8.9% -49
VT 524 279 234 11 53.2% 44.7% 2.1% 8.6% 45
VA 2148 810 1220 118 37.7% 56.8% 5.5% -19.1% -410
WA 1309 803 499 7 61.3% 38.1% 0.5% 23.2% 304
WV 446 258 188 0 57.8% 42.2% 0.0% 15.7% 70
WI 1852 1001 836 15 54.0% 45.1% 0.8% 8.9% 165
WY 377 184 186 7 48.8% 49.3% 1.9% -0.5% -2
TruthIsAll, thanks for the data — but i don’t understand any of it. would you please explain how to read this data (perhaps it is easier to discern in a spreadsheet format)? perhaps provide some analysis or context for those of us not versed in statistics, or a summary of your conclusions?
Stephen Heller’s forced statement reminds me of those “confessions” extracted out of kidnap/torture victims or intellectuals publicly humiliated at a public square by China’s Red Guards.
To think, LA DA Steve Cooley’s violation of human rights and attack against America’s democracy, meant to scare potential whistleblowers away from reporting corporate crimes and corruption, was at American taxpayers’ expense. LA DA Steve Cooley is a thug fighting against US voters’ rights in the War Against American Voters.
bless his heart — i’m sooo glad for Heller that he might be finally free of the tentacles of corporate power, but it’s very sad that freedom always seems to come at a price, especially to those least able to pay.
the further requirements seem harsh, considering he exposed actual criminal wrongdoing and conspiracy to commit fraud — but maybe that’s just me. he’ll have to be on probation for three years, and get court approval for any job that might put him in contact with computers. ridiculous. justice was not served here. retribution was.
although i suppose it was a sticky wicket for the DA’s office. who do you prosecute, how do you proceed to choose? the attorney-client relationship, which was admittedly breached by the exposure of the documents…. or the criminals in a big corporation with powerful allies, caught conspiring to defraud the State of California?
gee, it’s so hard to weigh the two… the principle of privileged communications between a rich law firm and its rich client, or the interests of the voters and state, and the little-guy whistleblower with a temp job?
Des,
You are right, the columns are not aligned, but would be if you copied and pasted into a spreadsheet. You are welcome to do that.
The table is just a breakdown of the 2006 House vote by state, with calculated percentage margins. Try to follow the column titles.
The point of the analysis is to compare the aggregate Democratic vote shares to the 116 pre-election Generic polls projected trendline. The Democrats were projected to win by 14%; their actual margin was 4.9%. They were projected to win 56% of the total vote; they won 51.3%. There was a 3.5mm vote discrepancy- very strong circumstantial evidence of fraud.
I calculated the probability that the vote/poll discrepancy was due to chance: 1 in 2.5 BILLION.
So either the poll was wrong or the vote was rigged.
We have seen much evidence of fraud here on Bradblog.
Plead Guilty.
Pay $10,000.
Apologize.
Receive Three Years Probation.
WITH HEAD HELD HIGH!
Diebold lost!
Adam Fulford #4
That is one great idea for a television series!
Fascism is alive,… well,.. and flourishing.
The big guy commits the crime,.. the little guy gets stuck with the punishment although he is not the criminal but only the whistle-blower. Justice and democracy is in decline thanks to the likes of scum like DIEBOLD.
Re #8
Thanks, Larry!
Stephen,
Galileo recanted, too. That did not change the fact that the earth revolves around the sun.
You did your patriotic duty–mission accomplished! There was no need to martyr yourself, as well, in a battle you could not survive.
My humble thanks for the hell you have been through.
Truth will out.
TIA: Thanks for the update, you are great at what you do! I hope people in the right places are using your data to get rid of e-vote machines. If no one is, there’s something funny going on in this country.
I think our democracy is a sham with fraud and irregularities on e-vote machines…always favoring only one party, the Republicans. I am not a huge Democrat backer, I think they are generally as corrupt as the Republicans, but according to TIA’s data, how can we EVER hope to get a 3rd party in there? If there is so much GOP fraud? I hate when everyone says they’re “non-partisan” and they hate to say the simple sentence, “The Republican Party is doing close to 100% of the e-vote fraud and disenfranchizement of voters.” That is a true sentence, and is not “partisan”…since when is a FACT “partisan”???
Actually, because it is skewing to one party, it’s so much easier to see. If it was 50/50, it would be a “wash” on the overall level, and harder to see/prove. You’d have to go to individual races. But since it’s close to 100% in all of the individual races, the overall numbers are easy to see/prove.
Corruption should be discussed on a congress by congress basis. In other words, the corruption of the 100th congress is not the same as the corruption of the 105th congress.
Each congress has a number and it lasts two years, and is composed of different individuals in varying degrees.
The party that has the most felony convictions for corruption is obviously the party that is the most corrupt for that congress.
That is by definition.
To say the party with the most felony convictions for corruption is the same as the party with no felony convictions is at best biased speculation.
Why is a patriot charged as a felon? We are definitely through the looking glass.
I wonder if we could submit his name for a Pardon this year. (or is that only for stays of executions?)I wonder how you can get it expunged.
How exactly does that work?
I love the idea of submitting his name for a presidential pardon. Yes, how is that done? Stephen Heller is, in my opinion, a profile in courage and class, and a patriot in the very best sense of the word.
When you see the HBO special, look for the scene in California, where Diebold claims to have fixed the flaws. When I am at the podium, and say “you see there’s something called Release Notes, which show what you did and did not change when you come out with a new version” and I state that Diebold never fixed the flaws we identified in its GEMS program, those Release Notes, which at the time had been impossible to obtain, were provided by Stephen Heller, in his extraordinary act of courage.
The scene that followed, in the film and in real life, was Kevin Shelley decertifying Diebold and referring Diebold to the Attorney General for criminal prosecution.
It is understandable to feel timid when faced with corporate bullying. I myself never get over it. I got a new legal threat from ES&S this week, and my hands shook for five minutes. But we cannot allow the theft of our elections by placing them into private, secret hands. Stephen Heller realized the importance of what he was about to do.
As Samuel Adams said:
“”The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.”
“” Samuel Adams
Stephen Heller will go down in history as one who defended the liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, with toil and danger and expense. He is a hero, and a class act all the way.
Cooley (another in a long line of GOP Hacks whose actions are tacit endorsements of election fraud) will be up for re-election in 2008….
Can County officials be recalled in the same way that the Governor of a state can be?
Doesn’t it seem logical that Mr. Heller and, in fact, all citizens should be able to bring a class action lawsuit against Diebold for all the funds/payments it has received from the taxpayers for which Diebold turned around and supplied, deliberately in the view of many, hackable, fallible, corrupt and corruptible voting machine software/hardware used to dupe and deceive and deprive the voting public of their right to choose their government representatives? Shouldn’t such a lawsuit have as a goal, and rightly so, the bankrupting of Diebold, and future targeting of all other companies participating in this gaming of the American people?
Cleo #20
I agree with you – the manufacturer should be held financially responsible for the harm it has done to our elections over the last few years.
However, remember when bush signed into law the “tort reform” bill designed to protect corporations from lawsuits?
Bush Tort Reform: Executive Clemency For Executive Killers
Believe me, the bushistas have rewritten the rules of the game so they can win by cheating “legally.” They are the WORST of the WORST.
Can we ever fix things?
I am so sorry Heller got ANY punishment.
If anything, The Diebold execs, should get MILLIONS of felonies! e.g. NEVER SEE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN.
It’s all fine and dandy to put a local hero through a bunch of court bullshit, but no, god forbid a fucking corrupt corporation which has destroyed the Constitution itself..
I’d go so far as to say it’s their fault for the IRAQ war!
If the votes were counted properly there would not have been a supreme court electing the current asshole president. If this asshole wasn’t elected, there would not have been an IRAQ war.
I hope the Democrats have “Restore the Constitution” as one of their first orders of business.
To Stephen Heller & family – best of luck to you. I wish you good fortune in the coming years. Thank you for the sacrifice you made for all of us, in the pursuit of justice.
I hope we can make a difference so you can be exonerated.
I am outraged that Stephen Heller would receive any sentence. Where are the protections for whistle blowers like this brave man who stands up to wrongdoing on behalf of all voters? Are our laws too weak to actually help? Could we create a petition to our new state Attorney General Jerry Brown and new Secretary of State Debra Bowen? These are elected officials who could be persuaded to ensure justice for this man and others who would act in the public interest.
I agree with those here who are asking why the companies involved in these crimes continue to operate and go substantially unpunished. As with Enron, where is the money/ How convenient that Ken Lay (supposedly) died and now there is no accountability for the money stolen. How convenient that Tom Noe gets sentenced for 18 years for stealing Ohio state pensions and, again, who did he aid and abet and for whom is he taking the rap? And where is the money? Why isn’t it being returned to the pensioners? We are indeed in a fascist state when the people are punished for seeking redress and the corporate culprits go free. Representative government? Democratic republic? Don’t make me laugh.
Not to mention Halliburton and KB&R. Where is the accountability? Where is the money? Privatizing our government in every area–defense, communications (see the Clear Channel purchase by Carlyle Group), and elections–what happened to Of, By and For the People?
The proper balanced decision based on truth, justice, in the best interest of a government of “we the people” would have been the following:
Whistle blower must apologize to diebold for turning over incriminating criminal documents that evidence Diebold’s corrupted exploitation of the vote and the will of the American people.
Diebold is then held accountable for damages to the American form of government. For their misrepresentation as a safe voting system they are charged no less than 1 billion dollars and jail time for criminally guilty Diebold executives. When lawmakers fight wars based on Bushit lies we need to hold unreliable electronic voting machine companies lieble for the death of our servicemen and innocent wartime civilians when elections empowering these warmongers are proven corrupted beyond a reasonable doubt. There is no such thing as Superman. The man responsible for bringing these documents to proper authorities is a real hero. A real patriotic American. Modern patriots exist as evidenced by this case.
FCK DIEBOLD
FCK THE LYING MURDEROUS ELECTION CHEATS aka the BUSHIT ADMINISTRATION.
Hang Bush (in his Vietnamese costume) and Cheney next to Saddam. Then celebrate by putting Rove on a rotisery and rotating his fat murderous corrupt ass over a flame in the name of 911 victims who died in their wargames. World Trade Building #7 and the unmanned craft that hit the Pentagon.
Count the cost before you leap into these things. It takes people like Jim March who will not cave in.
Do the time if you have to, or do not jump. Like Jim March.
Black box voting is being threatened again, and probably because they perceive weakness. Perception is everything.
Let them talk to Jim March. He will not cave!
Stephen Heller is a genuine American hero. He’s done us proud. He represents what’s best in America
We owe him (and, Bev Harris) a debt of gratitude.
The Diebold stooges will eventually get their comeuppence. The new Dem Congress had better go out of their way to protect our Whistleblowers with ironclad protection–every last heroic one of them. Without them we’d never be able to crawl out of this abyss of political and corporate corruption. They are America’s saints. God bless them. And God bless you, Stephen Heller.
I am stunned that ACLU did not help you. this is absolutely the worst thing I ever heard happening under the cloud of this repressive regime.to an American. an American hero at that. Please write a book, a screenplay, something about this experience, make millions on it, and live happily ever after, knowing that you did a noble act. and we, the people, thank you.
[Sorry about the length of this comment, but so many dots keep connecting.]
“If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched.“ ““ George H W Bush, cited in the June 1992 Sarah McClendon Newsletter.
A BLAST FROM THE PAST
Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote this letter to his brother Nov. 8, 1954:
One of the Texas Oil Millionaires, and part of the “tiny splinter group” (?) is none other than George H.W. Bush.
http://www.achievement.org/auto...page/bus0bio-1
DRESSER INDUSTRIES:
Halliburton’s Iraq Deals Greater Than Cheney Has Said
ZAPATA OIL
THE BAY OF PIGS AND THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
Dick Russel .org
Famous Texans.com – Howard Hughes
Allen Dulles, the later CIA director, who was the architect
Allen Dulles & the CIA
truthisall – please contact me. I am getting poll information to mainstream media. I need to know who you are and the source and need permission to disseminate your data. thanks. write me here: lila101earthlink.net
I want to give Stephen some money to help him out. There is no contact information anywhere for him, not here nor on the legal defense fund site.
I don’t think I’m the only person who wants to help him out. If we all gave him a couple of bucks, whatever we can afford, via paypal maybe, we can help the guy dig himself out. He deserves our support.
Can someone please give me the guy’s email address??
Great idea. I was wondering the same thing. Can Brad assign a segment of his donation mechanism to do that?
Diebold is a TRAITOR to fair elections and to the nation.
Those corporate profiteering bums should be in jail.
By the way: your flashing red light on the article page is a silly distraction to reading! get rid of it.
Also yellow text on yucky green background sucks.
get rid of that, too. Thanks.
Stephen Heller and his family are the sorts of citizen/patriots this great experiment in Democracy needs to keep going. What raw courage it took him to blow the whistle on Diebold’s complicity in treason. While many of our elected officials have yet to show the kind of courage our private citizens have shown, we can always hope more of this outstanding patriotism will come from everywhere as the Cheney/Bush plutocratic soft-fascist apparatus continues to unravel. Of course, it’s likely quite wise of us to be prepared for the worst before Cheney/Bush and their co-conspirators are forced from power….
Indeed.. if Heller is charged $10,000… I want to see Diebold execs in JAIL for what they did and what they were preparing themselves to lie about.
After all… it’s only democracy at stake!!
Brad – i seen the color complaints before. You are are a U.S. patriot investigator with the word up. You take it a step farther than just reporting by taking action. Maybe experiment with Red White and Blue? The shoe fits. White letters on a blue backround. Important article at the top in red. Just talking. See what works best that you like or don’t change because it’s the messege that matters.
As to the siren comment, I think the siren is cool as long as it’s at Bradblog and not on a squad car pulling me.
We love you Bev.
Response to comment #32
Lila,
This is my latest analysis post on the Democratic Undergound:
http://www.democraticundergroun...4×2775205
These two links are the data source for the analysis.
House congressional vote by state
http://electiondefensealliance....ote_count_2006
116 Generic pre-election polls
http://www.pollingreport.com/2006.htm
You are welcome to use the analysis as you see fit.
If you wish to cite my work, use my screen name TruthIsAll.
You can view my website:
http://truthisall.net/
Kira #31
These guys have been bad, bad boys!
Have you read Thom Hartmann’s collaborative book about the Kennedy Assassination? Does it mesh up, with the information you’ve heard? I haven’t read it, but Thom seems to be a very careful researcher and said it took many years to finish.
Love that quote from Eisenhower calling the Texas millionaires stupid! I’ve heard that somewhere before.
Larry, I haven’t read the Hartmann book but I read some reviews of it and it apparently, is rambling & doesn’t really nail it down. Here’s one link to a review of the book:
Ultimate Sacrifice: The Whole is Less than the Sum of its Parts
I think it’s time people woke up from their complacency – thinking that the media is committed to being unbiased in order to keep We The People informed. It just ain’t that way & hasn’t been for a long, long time.
We have to look down that dark corrider into the 1950s to see what this Crime Family has been involved in & how it has shaped our country into the mess it is today.
PS Happy Day of Pigs tomorrow!
PS Larry, referring to my #31 – H. L. Hunt [from Eisenhower’s letter] “There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.” here’s a link that explains the connection to the current Administration:
H. L. Hunt & Sons