{news} GP RELEASE Greens urge quick action on Ohio, Pa. election crimes

Wed Jul 23 18:03:56 EDT 2008

----- Original Message -----

From: "Scott McLarty"
To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org
Subject: [usgp-dx] GP RELEASE Greens urge quick action on Ohio, Pa.
election crimes
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:52:36 +0000

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614,
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene at gp.org

Greens urge quick action on Ohio, Pennsylvania election crimes,
seek assurance of 2008 ballot access fairness and election integrity

• Pennsylvania: 12 indicted after Statehouse Democrats staffers
were given taxpayer-funded bonuses to keep 2004 presidential
candidate Ralph Nader (Ind.) and 2006 US Senate candidate Carl
Romanelli (Green) off the state ballot

• Ohio: Evidence of massive fraud by GOP operatives in the 2004
election, with possible Karl Rove involvement; Greens were the
first to probe the 2004 vote theft

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders urged swift and aggressive
court action to ensure fair elections and enforcement of legal
campaign practices in the wake of election scandals in Ohio and
Pennsylvania.

The Green Party, which nominated Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente
for President and Vice President during the 2008 Green National
Convention in Chicago on July 12, has a special interest in the
integrity of the US election system. Greens are currently working
to get the nominees on as many state ballots as possible, an effort
rendered difficult by grossly biased and unfair ballot access rules
designed by Democrats and Republicans to hinder other parties'
candidates and independents in many states.

• In the Pennsylvania scandal, twelve Democratic officials have
been indicted for paying staffers big taxpayer-funded bonuses for
their efforts to keep 2004 independent presidential candidate Ralph
Nader and 2006 Green candidate Carl Romanelli, who ran for the US
Senate, off the Pennsylvania ballot. The twelve charged with
misusing $4 million for partisan campaign work include the former
Pennsylvania House Majority Whip, the current House Majority Whip,
and the Chief of Staff of the House Majority Leader.

Mr. Romanelli's lawyers are asking for a new hearing regarding the
appeal of the $80,000 in legal costs that were assessed against him
after Democratic Party lawyers succeeded in persuading a court to
remove him from the 2006 ballot. Democrats have claimed that the
Nader and Romanelli campaigns falsified signatures on their ballot
petitions.

Mr. Romanelli was blocked from defending the validity of the
signatures in 2006. Nader attorney Oliver Hall noted that "only a
tiny number of signatures on the Nader petitions -- 687 or 1.3
percent of the total -- were counted as 'forgeries' by their
signers, and in the words of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice
Thomas Saylor, there is 'no evidence' to support Democrats' claims
that the Nader campaign was even aware of such signatures.
Furthermore, no allegation of fraud was ever raised against
Romanelli's petitions. There is, however, evidence that the Nader
petitions were the target of widespread and deliberate sabotage:
specifically, petition circulators discovered and removed about
7,000 obviously fake signatures prior to submitting the petitions."
(Philadelphia Inquirer, July 17,
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080717_Letters__One_Reader_s_View.html)

"We support Carl Romanelli's request for the court to drop the
$80,000 legal fee costs that were imposed on him. The assessment
of these costs is unprecedented and meant to intimidate
non-Democrat and non-Republican candidates from running for
office," said Holly Hart, secretary of the Green Party of the
United States. "The leveling of punitive and exorbitant costs for
disqualified signatures is as outrageous as Pennsylvania's ballot
access rule that requires 2,000 valid signatures from Democratic or
Republican candidates for President and other top offices, while
requiring over 67,000 signatures for candidates from other parties
or independents to get on the ballot."

• The Ohio case involves the possible theft of the 2004
presidential election. Widespread evidence first collected by
Greens showed that thousands of Ohio voters, especially African
Americans and students, were either blocked from voting or their
votes were uncounted or miscounted.

David Cobb, the Green Party's 2004 presidential nominee, joined
with Libertarian nominee Michael Badnarik to investigate the
complaints and demand a recount, after John Kerry quickly conceded
the race to George W. Bush and his fellow Democrats took no action
on the emerging scandal. Greens raised most of the money for legal
and other fees for the Ohio recount. A commission called by Rep.
John Conyers (D-Mich.) later collected and published evidence of
massive irregularities in the Ohio election and attempts to thwart
the recount, much of it based on evidence collected by Mr. Cobb and
Mr. Badnarik. In January, 2007, two Cuyahoga County election
officials were convicted of manipulating the recount.

Green Party leaders called for an expanded investigation of the
2004 Ohio election fraud, expressing support for attorneys in the
King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell case who have filed a motion
to "lift the stay in the case [and] proceed with targeted discovery
in order to help protect the integrity of the 2008 election."

Greens said that the investigation should especially target
evidence that GOP operatives tampered with computer voting machines
and the roles of White House advisor Karl Rove and former Ohio
Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell in the alleged vote theft.

The Green Party endorses voter-verified paper ballots to provide an
auditable record of votes cast on computer voting machines, as well
as voting machine source codes that are designed to allow public
inspection.

"Voters deserve to see the candidates they support on the ballot,
and deserve to know that the votes they cast will be counted.
Unless the full weight of the law comes down on those who try to
manipulate elections, and until we repeal ballot access rules
designed to rig the vote in favor or one or two political parties,
we're in danger of seeing more damaged and stolen elections," said
David Cobb, the Green Party's 2004 candidate for President of the
United States.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente 'Power to the People' Campaign for
the White House http://www.runcynthiarun.org

2008 Green National Convention, July 10-13 in Chicago, Illinois
http://www.greenparty2008.org

"Ohio Attorney Files to Lift Stay on '04 Election Case, Cites
Allegations, Evidence of Massive Fraud by a Number of GOP
Operatives"
Brad Blog, July 17, 2008
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6189#more-618

~ END ~

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******************************************
Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282
 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
BLOG- http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com 

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