Guest Blogged by John Gideon
As much as we may disagree with People for the American Way (PFAW) of late concerning their position fully supportive of the deeply flawed and potentially quite dangerous Holt Election Reform Bill (HR811), we think they’re dead right on this issue, from a press release sent to The BRAD BLOG today (full release at end of this article)…
WASHINGTON, D.C.””The Senate confirmed last night by unanimous consent the nominations of Caroline Hunter and Rosemary Rodriguez to the Election Assistance Commission, approving the nominations without debate and without recorded roll call votes. The nomination of Hunter, a partisan operative with no experience in election administration, had been widely criticized by civil rights and voting rights advocacy groups.
The confirmations took place even though the Rules Committee had not yet considered the nominations, and no hearings were held.
And PFAW Director Ralph Neas had this to say:
The full press release from PFAW is below, followed by details on just why the RNC’s former White House liason, Ohio 2004 operative and White House employee, Caroline Hunter, should be a great concern to democracy lovers as well as Democrats in the Senate, who have failed here to perform their mandated oversight duties…
February 16, 2007
CONTACT: Nick Berning or Stacey Gates at 202-467-4999 / media@pfaw.org
Questionable EAC nominee confirmed yesterday with no hearing and no oversight, underscoring need for reform
WASHINGTON, D.C.””The Senate confirmed last night by unanimous consent the nominations of Caroline Hunter and Rosemary Rodriguez to the Election Assistance Commission, approving the nominations without debate and without recorded roll call votes. The nomination of Hunter, a partisan operative with no experience in election administration, had been widely criticized by civil rights and voting rights advocacy groups.
The confirmations took place even though the Rules Committee had not yet considered the nominations, and no hearings were held. People For the American Way, which has made election reform the key priority in its 2007 legislative agenda, strongly criticized the lack of transparency in the confirmation process and called for additional oversight and reporting requirements for the EAC.
“We are deeply disappointed that the Senate did not take to heart its responsibility to provide open, transparent oversight of the EAC through this confirmation process,” said PFAW President Ralph G. Neas. “Confirming these nominees under the cover of night sends exactly the wrong message to millions of Americans who are counting on Congress to improve our nation’s election system. It’s too late to get these confirmations right, but it is not too late to improve oversight of the EAC. We will strongly support congressional efforts to enact additional EAC oversight and reporting requirements.”
Neas added that the lack of transparency was particularly significant in this case because the nomination of Hunter had been widely criticized, and because the EAC has suffered a series of stumbles in recent months. In particular, the EAC has been criticized by nonpartisan academics and commentators for failing to disclose its decreditation of Ciber Labs, which certifies election equipment used by two-thirds of the country, and for an extremely problematic change of course on a recent voter ID study it commissioned.
“Hearings are always important, but they are especially important when a nomination faces questions like the ones that were swirling around the nomination of Caroline Hunter,” Neas said. “We’re talking about putting a partisan political operative with no election administration experience in a position that could affect the outcome of the 2008 elections. It’s not like the EAC doesn’t have enough problems already. Hopefully this will serve as a teachable moment and will motivate members of Congress to enact comprehensive election reform.”
The EAC, which was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, is responsible for producing guidelines for the use of election technology, establishing recommended minimum election administration standards for states, and distributing funding to states to help them meet HAVA requirements.
###
And why is there a concern about Caroline Hunter? As pointed out by Warren Stewart at VoteTrustUSA:
The Help America Vote Act of 2002 is the defining law concerning the mandated qualification of EAC commissioners. It mandates that commissioners “shall have experience with or expertise in election administration or the study of elections.” Hunter has voted in the past, we can only assume, and that seems to be her only experience with election administration or study of elections beyond her partisan work for the RNC.
- Categories: EAC
Reader Comments on
Unqualified, Inexperienced GOP Operative, White House Liaison/Employee, Approved By Senate for EAC Post Without Public Hearing, Recorded Vote
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25 Responses
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Who is on that committee? What were they thinking?
– Tom
I’ll tell you who, the SECOND BIGGEST BUNCH OF CRIMINALS IN THE COUNTRY Tom! Second only to our CRIMINAL WHITEHOUSE!!!!! We don’t live in a democracy anymore.
Good grief, when will this nightmare ever end? Nice of our Dem Senators to look out for the most sacred of our rights, our ability to vote and have our vote counted as cast.
Maybe Ms. Hunter has some Arabian Horse Training experience. That would explain the lack of a hearing. Good thing the Dems are now in the majority. It’s working out pretty good so far ;o))
Who nominated her? They are working too hard. Slow down and watch voting issues.
House passes resolution rebuking the Bush escalation of the Iraq war.
Senate votes on cloture tomorrow.
Democrats.
I know it is difficult to trust criticism of electronic voting issues, and voting issues in general because you won, and won bigger than most expected in the November election.
And I know a lot of the eVoting noise seems like crying wolf with the recent historical victory.
But the catastrophe is here now … and that catastrophe is the fact that we have to accept on faith that Bush won in ’00 and ’04, and that you won in ’06.
It is a catastrophe that faith is even involved. This evoting thing is a scientific issue, and to force us to have faith is wrong.
All we are saying is GIVE PAPER BALLOTS a chance, and show us you are listening.
Republicans.
See … you can’t trust those machines 🙂 and you should stop filibustering when a debate is all that is called for, and you should start filibuster appointees like the one complained of … OR not consent to appointment without debate, hearings from voting issue activists, and other experts … and an open vote!!!!
Did all the Senators Vote? We should all call our state senators and ask how they voted, and why they voted as they did
http://www.lavozcolorado.com/news.php?nid=1355
and
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/3388303_1
Sounds alot like another “appointment for votes” deal. Ms Rodriguez doesn’t appear to be the type to keep quiet if she finds something amiss and Ms Hunter is just to the right of Sean Hannity but she is a pro and knows the law. I mean she was “…Executive Officer of the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman at the Department of Homeland Security…” per the White House. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/...060914-10.html
With this much fun just on the EAC, Brad’s going to need a bigger server if or when HR811 brings us the State Election Audit Boards with Reform, American Independent and Republican members.
If this did occur late at night, there might have been as few as 2 actual Senators in the room at the time.
Problem is, that the Democrats, by-and-large, don’t believe the system is broken, AS LONG AS THEY CAN HAVE POWER. They don’t realize how transitory this “control” could be. The memes are already being put out there that “the Democrats squandered their leadership and acted treasonously and the American People rebuked them in 2008. They never delivered for their base while alienating everybody else.”
If our Democratic Senators are THIS STUPID, then I’m definitely going to have to re-consider voting outside the box.
CharlieL
Portland, OR
Caroline Critchfield Hunter, aka lackey
2006 White House Office Staff List – Salary
ANOTHER CRIMINAL RED FLAG. Late night appointment of officials with little known experience. The 1% multi-corporate interests who own these robots are the establishment in power. As far as i can tell, the records of Congress since Bush took office shows it mirrors all the efforts of the Bushit/Cheney takeover that planted their fascist roots on 9/11/2001.
When Congress starts an INDEPENDENT CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF WORLD TRADE TOWER BUILDING #7 THAT FELL CONTROLLED DEMOLITION IN 6 SECONDS 10 HOURS AFTER THE TWIN TOWERS FELL THE SAME WAY WITHOUT THE HELP OF ANY ARABS IN THE AREA EVEN TO YELL PULL (HEARSAY SAYS IT WAS THE JEWISH OWNER) THEN AND ONLY THEN CAN “WE THE PEOPLE” START DESTROYING THIS DEEPLY INFILTRATED CANCER ON OUR DEMOCRACY.
GBD
You can’t wake someone who is pretending to sleep.
Enough with the all caps, it makes me feel the same way as that pic of “Jeff Gannon”. Your obviously very passionate about the issues, focus that into something other than ranting about…well all of it. Ranting is as distracting as all the lies. Getting mad won’t stop the madness.
CharlieL
Democrat=Republican at this point. Mainstream=Shit Creek, No Paddle
Howdy
Thanks for the link…that pic of Rosemary Rodriguez looks like those creepy billboards of Mexican politicians you see around Cancun. Photos of people who look like they put makeup on with a concrete trowel and paint sprayer. Faux fur…E-Gad…I’m on NWO Surviver.
NO CONFIDENCE BECAUSE OF NO OVERSIGHT
That’s right NO OVERSIGHT of the appointment of those that will decide whether now or later is the time to scrap mechanical vote counters of any kind. Obviously they will be scrapped eventually due to the inherent ability to systematically steal an election. (See Alaska, Ohio, Florida, etc.)
Jackasses.
p.s. the all caps are for Off The Grid.
Its all English, dude. Grizzly doesn’t do it excessively. I have to admit that the limited space between the rows of voluminous capitalized text makes it harder (read: obnoxious) to read, though.
What is the status and your stance regarding the OVC solution of having truly open source and auditable electronic voting?
As I understand it, they print a paper ballot with a bar code on it which voters verify and election workers scan, and the ballot is then deposited in a locked box subject to audit.
I think I am done . I am in PAIN 24/7 . I have no medical.
I am sick of this shit, all of it.
Go ahead use your fucked up electronics, networks, and digitized data.
I don’t want to live in this United States anymore. I don’t wanna live outside the USA. Just end my life. I’m a true patriot, I swore an oath to protect the constitution and the president. The Constitution is shreaded and the president is corrupt.
I have nothing left.
DO me!
The article about the EAC appointee says “Ms. Hunter assisted the RNC and State Parties in some way with HAVA implementation”.
The view that the president has the right to nominate appointees does come from the constitution (Art. 2, Section 2). The senate does not interfere with that except in more egregious situations.
Recently some judges and John Bolton have removed themselves from the nomination by the president when the senate has indicated they will not be approved.
It is unfortunate at this point in our history that we do not have the energy to focus on these less than major appointments.
These are not judges or ambassadors and there is so much that has been screwed up that the senate is inundated with things to fix.
There is Iraq, Iran, torture, habeas corpus, NSA spying on us, FBI spying on us, rendition, endless jailings of accused enemy combatants, loosing billions upon billions of pentagon money, deficits, US Attorneys being fired and replaced with political hacks so the regime will not be prosecuted, global warming and Kyoto, addiction to oil, peak oil, making everything secret, and on and on ad nauseum.
The appointment of the political hack to the EAC is a sign that we are so inundated with corruption that we can’t deal with all of it right now.
God bless Phil #15 please. DO NOT give up Phil!
Perhaps Phil is seeing thru the eyes of one who said:
(Change My Way of Thinking).
There is so much corruption the senate is being inundated and “can’t keep track of it no more”.
You asked me not to give up.
I won’t.
because of you.
I will stick in there a little bit longer.
Maybe you should be clear where I stand DREDD.
I swore an oath back in 1981. Maybe some out there don’t care about that. I STILL DO.
BECAUSE I understand physics, electronics, electrical, and programming, allowing electronics in the elections is breaking my oath. ( i have two exceptions )
1.) If your disability you can breath thru a tube, or type, to help PRINT A BALLOT
2.) Your 50 years of storing dead trees is up, lets scan this CRAP to a disk.
OTHERWISE:
I want hand counted paper ballots with numbers passed FACE TO FACE ON HORSEBACK! Pony friggin express, where you know the person PERSONALLY who your dealing with.
Screw all these people that don’t get it.
Especially ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS.
Now where do we go FROM HERE?!
Perhaps it is time for me to exit.
Whig asked about the potential of:
Human beings can neither verify, nor count a bar code. If it can’t be counted by human beings, it can’t be used in an election.
No Phil! Please. Things will get better. Look how things are turning around everywhere. Democrats have both houses. They are investigating Ken Blackwell. Diebold is toast. Sequoia will be next. The EAC and test labs are having a long-deserved meltdown. It feels like we are finally turning a corner, where real investigations and convictions can start to occur. CSPAN sure has been a lot more interesting lately. Give it a chance to bloom into something approaching bearable. But don’t give up… You, I, everyone is starting to win now.
Brad, I think we might misunderstand one another, or perhaps I do not accurately understand the protocol. The idea would be that each ballot would have human-readable text as well as a barcode for a scanner to read. An audit could show if any of a randomly selected group of ballots give different barcode readings than their plain text. Furthermore, humans could hand count in the event of a challenge without using the barcodes at all.
But I don’t know that it’s relevant for 2008, which needs paper ballots as an option for all voters, I agree, and these should always be available for those who prefer it.
Phil, things are chaotic right now but we are going to be fine. The people are waking up and have already made clear that the Republicans are not going to be allowed to continue indefinitely, and the Democrats will not be given a free ride either.
Either the world would end, or we would prevail, so wait and see, ok?
Maybe a little humor will cheer Phil up.
A congressman debating the Iraq war made a pretty good joke at the end of his very good rant against the Republicans. He said:
“You go to war with the president you have, not the president you wish you had.”
Larry #23
Good one.
Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, made a good point too:
(link). We will fire him Phil. But there will be a bit more hell to go thru on the way there.
Then when Bush and Cheney are gone, we should all get together and have a Brad blog convention and dance with the Ewoks.
Dredd #24
That’s the Mayor of Salt Lake, unable to hold in his excitement over Conyers speech on the right side with the red tie.
I’m so proud of him, I made a DVD of his speech with pictures I took at the big rally we had here to protest Bush’s visit. It also has his interview with Keith Olbermann and Olbermann’s special comment #1 and an interview with John Dean about Rumsfeld’s speech here. It ends with Jonathan Turley saying how “otherworldly” it was that nobody seemed concerned when Bush signed the Military Commissions Act.
I hand it out at intersections to people who love my “Support The Troops – Impeach Bush” sign. So far, I’ve given out 134 of them.
The other day a 34 year old veteran in full camouflage stood with me. We had a real blast and got fantastic support from the traffic!