Comments (45)

Avidor wrote on May 31, 2007 10:28 AM:

Former MN Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer had hopes of running in a special election in MN House District 16b if fellow Big Lake resident Rep. Mark Olson was removed from office following his June 7th trial.

Rep. Mark Olson was arrested five days after he was re-elected last November.

Click on the name for more at the Minneapolis Confidential blog.

bwindrip wrote on May 31, 2007 10:41 AM:

"...(a confirmation hearing for his spot as a commissioner at the FEC)..."?

Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission?

Here we go again...

Anonymous wrote on May 31, 2007 10:41 AM:

I'm not following this story as closely as before because I have little hope true justice will be served all these creeps. But I've followed it enough know that girly voiced Schlozman and neo-Nazi Von Spakovsky are two of the biggest douchebags ever.

Anonymous wrote on May 31, 2007 10:48 AM:

"Von Spakovsky before the Senate Rules Committee (a confirmation hearing for his spot as a commissioner at the FEC)"

You have got to be shitting me. This guy a commissioner at the FEC?! The hits just keep on coming.

Doug wrote on May 31, 2007 11:15 AM:

We in MN, however, are delighted that Mary Kiffmeyer lost in her bid for re-election last year. She, along with almost every other Republican running for state-wide office lost, except for Governor (can I be the VP?) Pawlenty. And Pawlenty just barely made it - you could almost see the shock in his eyes the day after the election.

Back to Kiffmeyer - she was awful. Not only was she doing this with Native Americans, but she was trying to implement as many other roadblocks to minority voting as possible. She ticked off almost every county in the state with her arcane rulings and dictatorial style.

Doug wrote on May 31, 2007 11:16 AM:

We in MN, however, are delighted that Mary Kiffmeyer lost in her bid for re-election last year. She, along with almost every other Republican running for state-wide office lost, except for Governor (can I be the VP?) Pawlenty. And Pawlenty just barely made it - you could almost see the shock in his eyes the day after the election.

Back to Kiffmeyer - she was awful. Not only was she doing this with Native Americans, but she was trying to implement as many other roadblocks to minority voting as possible. She ticked off almost every county in the state with her arcane rulings and dictatorial style.

Orwell's Intuition wrote on May 31, 2007 11:25 AM:

Steal their land, then steal their vote.

These power-obsessed GOP white males need to be put in their place ..... at the bottom of the totem pole.

IceJustIce wrote on May 31, 2007 11:27 AM:

To those who commented above: von Spakovsky is ALREADY ON the FEC. He was recess-appointed in January of 2006 basically as a reward for all of his shenanigans in the Voting Section.

A full summary here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/29/11751/0476

ttc wrote on May 31, 2007 11:34 AM:

Can the dots be connected all the way back to Ken Blackwell in Ohio in 2004? If this is a continuing voter suppression conspiracy with overt acts, that is well "over the line." Unlike the Watergate burglars, these clowns are going the "white collar" route, but this easily as bad as Watergate, worse, in my opinion. This is the real crime Monica Goodling may have committed in concert with Griffin and Sampson et al; this was what see sought immunity about, not some mickey mouse immigration judge stuff. This is serious and big time.

right wrote on May 31, 2007 11:36 AM:

Senator Feinstein is the commitee chairperson on the Committee on Rules and Administration. The members:
Byrd
Inouye
Dodd
Schumer
Durbin
Ben Nelson
Reid
Murry
Pryor

Bennett (R-UT) is ranking member
Stevens
McConnell
Cochran
Lott
K Bailey Hutchison
Chambliss
Hagel
Alexander

I suggest muck readers inform the committee members on the interesting exploits of Schlozman and Robin(aka, Sparski the Nazi) while at DOJ. I would think that "helping" voter ID would make for interesting conversation at an FEC confirmation hearing.

The sooner they are made aware, the more background on the guy they can learn.

mo2 wrote on May 31, 2007 11:51 AM:

Not just Democratic, but also the downtrodden, the defenseless, the poorest of the poor, the people the US Constitution guaranteed representation.

Duckman GR wrote on May 31, 2007 11:54 AM:

If he's already on the FEC via recess appointment, is there any reason why they can't remove him for cause, I period effing E IMPEACHMENT?

So they won't remove Bush coz it'll take too long, now that they've delayed it enough, piss ant pasty white boys (thanks for the good rep, boys) shouldn't take that long, should they?

eric wrote on May 31, 2007 12:01 PM:

Watching Sec. of State Kiffmeyer here in Minnesota since day one, it was obvious that she was steering all of her policies towards more restrictive access to voting. Traditionally, voting is very easy here - you can bring a friend to vouch for you and vote without being pre-registered. She had all of these proposals - like the Native American ID objections - that made it clear that she was bucking the trend of Minnesota's usual easy access to voting. BTW, she was the first Republican Sec. of State that anyone can remember here.

Anyway, the questions that I always had was, how did she get the ideas to do the things that she did? It almost seemed as if there was some secret republican memo that went out around the country that instructed people with the power to do so to follow a certain policy of making it harder to vote.

Apparently, Heffelfinger wasn't playing along, though. He wasn't just a hack like Kiffmeyer, I guess.

Michele wrote on May 31, 2007 12:03 PM:

Wow. Kiffmeyer's Wiki page is shining example of revisionist history. Apparently, before Saint Kiffmyer, Minnesotans didn't bother to vote (which surprised me, since MN has always had one of the highest voter turnout rates in the country).

Her championing of paper ballots is laughable, too. It is her administration that "accidentally" failed to get ballots of approved paper "weight" to some heavily Democratic precincts before the 2004 presidential election and then refused to allow alternative ballots of different weight. Fortunately, polling judges cried foul and she had to scramble to get acceptable ballots to these precincts.

At least they got the dates of her tenure right.

David wrote on May 31, 2007 12:12 PM:

When you were inviting readers to comb through the DOJ document dumps, I seem to recall several of them red-flagging a rather striking pattern: that a large proportion of USAs on the firing list were sitting on that very Subcommittee on Native Americans that Heffelfinger chaired. Maybe that deserves a closer look? I don't recall it having been done up to this point.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on May 31, 2007 12:20 PM:

Minnesota Not-So-Trivial Pursuits -

According to her resume (link below - p.11), Rachel Paulose worked for the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey & Whitney from 10/03 to 12/05.

Dorsey & Whitney represented the ACLU and National Congress of American Indians, the plaintiffs in the case against MN SOS Mary Kiffmeyer.

Paulose claims that while she was with D&W, she successfully represented the Republican Party in an election lawsuit. Does anyone know what lawsuit Paulose is referring to?

I am also curious as to what influence, if any, Roger Magnuson, D&W partner, had in getting Paulose's USA appointment.

From a 12/16/05 Minneapolis Star-Tribune story:

"...Among the candidates conservatives had pushed for the state high court was Roger Magnuson, an attorney with the Dorsey & Whitney law firm who has represented Republican causes, Strom said..."

From an 11/3/04 Minneapolis Star-Tribune story about the election:

"...Minnesota Republican Party officials accused some John Kerry supporters of violating state law by advocating for their candidate while standing within 100 feet of some metro-area polling places. A Hennepin County judge denied a request by the Republican Party of Minnesota to bar MoveOn.org from operating outside of polling places.

Attorney Roger Magnuson said that hundreds of voters had called the Republican Party to complain that activists with MoveOn.org were too close to the polls, creating an intimidating environment. David Lillehaug, an attorney representing MoveOn, called the Republican Party's legal action an "attempt to get a quick, cheap victory to show up on the 5 o'clock news and tell people there's voter fraud going on in Minnesota. Voter fraud is not going on," he said..."

Anonymous wrote on May 31, 2007 12:28 PM:

Ballsy strategy.

Abramoff, Jack Reed, Grover Norquist sucking the Native American's wealth away through phony consulting.

US Attorneys asked to deny Native Americans their votes.

Rove pulling all of the strings.

jrc wrote on May 31, 2007 12:29 PM:

the ACLU, once again, averts another disaster.

another reminder to become a member, if you haven't already.

Sara wrote on May 31, 2007 12:46 PM:

Kiffmeyer was a total disaster as Secretary of State. She was a great friend of Kathleen Harris, and I suspect many of her tricks were learned from that source.

The modern Minnesota Ballot System is the life work of Joan Growe, Secretary of State between 1974 and 1998, and as good and solid a DFL'er you'll never find. Since she retired, Joan has been working with Jimmy Carter consulting and observing elections around the world -- she worked with both Mondale and Carter setting up the new election systems for Romania and South Africa. Joan totally reformed the Minnesota elections systems in the 1980's (and yes, it is intended to all be paper ballot scanned in the precinct -- with all absentee ballots scanned with the precinct ballots.)

Our reform efforts in the 1980's actually put most aspects of ballot design into law, leaving little for any Secretary of State to do except follow the law. We pre-tested everything -- what are the best instructional words to use on a ballot for instance. We got University Survey researchers to test all formulations, and then we put into LAW the wording to be used. What happened to Kiffmeyer is that when she tried one of her tricks, in most cases she found out it was against the law. She was hauled into court on lots of these matters, and lost every time. (Yes, we even by law state the print size to be used on a ballot. When we reform something we do a decent job of it.)

Kiffmeyer also tried to remove voting rights from students, who by law can register to vote on election day and vote in the precinct where they live in a college dorm, by showing U or student ID plus a dorm contract. That's another law suit she lost. (we've had same day registeration at the polls since 1974 -- one mite of progress that came out of the protest movement during the Vietnam era.)

I suspect that there might be some mighty interesting material in DOJ files or WH files regarding communications between Kiffmeyer and people in DC about all this. A nice subpoena might be in order you know. The new Secretary of State, Mark Richie probably would be very helpful if asked -- and the former Attorney General, Mike Hatch, had to act as Kiffmeyer's State Attorney on all this stuff, even though Mike is a strong voter rights advocate.

POD wrote on May 31, 2007 12:53 PM:

At some point, a slightly creative use of the casket statute might be necessary. This whole administration and justice dept. seems to fit the idea "operating a continuing criminal enterprise." I'd certainly be worried if I were these guys.

foggylady wrote on May 31, 2007 12:57 PM:

Anybody got the e-mail/phone address for the
Senate Rules Committee people? They need to hear from a lot of us, methinks...

Rove's "voter fraud" needs to be countered with concerns about "election fraud". I am really getting weary of the Repubs controllng the talking points.

IKBENBANGDE wrote on May 31, 2007 1:31 PM:

In all of this discussion about voting fraud and Rove's obsession with it, I am confused as to why his own PERSONAL instance of voter fraud isn't cited.

In 2004, Rove and his wife voted in Texas, despite living full time in DC and owning a $1.3 million dollar home there. (They also own a $25,000 cottage in Texas, but no one has ever seen them there).

Texas' voting law is ambiguous, essentially saying that you can vote in that state, even if you don't live there, so long as if, one day, you "intend to return."

Demonstrating "intent to return" to Texas is not required or practicable.

Now you'd think that the GOP and Rove would be wigged out by Texas' extremely loose voting laws, considering they were trying to throw soldiers off of the rolls in Florida.

But alas was not the case. Texas was solidly red.

And Rove, who was "investigated" after the good folks at CREW threw up a major stink, was "cleared" of any wrongdoing.

He continues to vote in Texas. Despite owning his DC mansion. And having his Jaguar registered in DC. And owning a $1m beach house in Rosemary Beach, FL.

whidbeygrl wrote on May 31, 2007 1:39 PM:

David posted :

****a large proportion of USAs on the firing list were sitting on that very Subcommittee on Native Americans that Heffelfinger chaired. Maybe that deserves a closer look? I don't recall it having been done up to this point.****

Nelson Cohen,USA of Alaska, was appointed by the Attorney General as Federal Co-Chair of
The Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission awhile back, said Commission
created by Congress in 2004, to "improve law enforcement, judicial responses to crime, domestic violence, child abuse and illegal alcohol."
Huge impact on Native Americans of Alaska.

Even the fact of his appointment makes me suspicious, given the placement of all of the other Politboro "loyal" AUSAs., and that Gonzo's handlers don't seem to make any decisions without a machevellian reason.

1oldlay wrote on May 31, 2007 2:40 PM:

Has anyone noticed that Tim Griffin looks like the NASA chief administrator Michael Griffin? Is this his son?

Because on Think progress has an article about his views regarding global warming! check it out!

anon, too wrote on May 31, 2007 2:51 PM:

Interesting info, Sara. The first thought that came to my mind was why would an ID be good if you live in one location in the state but not good if you live in another location. Was there ever any reason - at all - given for why a tribal ID would be good as voter ID if one lived on the reservation, but not if one lived off the reservation? Is there some kind of difference in the tribal ID for those situations? And who gave her that idea? Did she come up with it all by herself, or was it passed to her from someone else? Seems that is a thread that might yield some answers or maybe just more questions.

parrot wrote on May 31, 2007 3:44 PM:

>put under oath

Unless they resign. I'm guessing that they may have broken some laws and oaths of office. 14th Amendment anyone? Anyone?

mo2 wrote on May 31, 2007 4:24 PM:

All that education and all these guys and a few gals learned was they are the center of the universe. I have to assume their parents are racist pieces of crap, too.

Sara wrote on May 31, 2007 4:49 PM:

anon, too

A Tribal Identity Card states that you are an enrolled member of a particular tribe-band. For instance, XXX is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band. It does not necessarily give an address.

So let's say XXX is working down in the cities and living with his cousin while working a job. He wants to vote, but doesn't have the time or money to travel up 300 miles to the Reservation. So, his tribal identity card ID's who he is, and his cousin who is a pre-registered voter in the precinct vouches for the fact (you have to sign an affadavid) that he is currently living in his apartment, while working in the cities.

Why doesn't he want to change his legal residence? Because as an enrolled member of the band, with residence on the reservation, he enjoys many tribal benefits. He can rice in the Red Lake Rice Reservation. He does not need a state license to fish in or out of season, but he would be, as a band member, responsible for following tribal law on fishing. Ditto for taking a deer. He might hold some sort of tribal office that requires he maintain residence on the reservation. He might have some benefits due him as an enrolled band member. The reason he is in the city working is simply because there is 60% plus unemployment on the reservation, and he needs some cash.

If he has voted before, the election judge at the precinct where he presents himself to vote can check the electronic state voter file, establish his previous voting status, and with a couple of keystrokes move his voter number to his current but temporary residence. That system will also show whether he applied for an absentee ballot -- it checks duplicates. It then moves him to the new precinct, and he can vote. If he is a new voter, it simply registers him, and he can vote.

The key to this system is that when we did our reforms back in the late 1980's, we had vast consultations with very qualified data management people -- and the process by which we manage our voter rolls is all in law. Every county must have exactly the same equiptment, use all the same data management programs, train their people all the same way. (we spend three times the national average on training for election workers, it is necessary.) By law, we also have to do independent audits of each election. Since the early 90's Minnesota (particularly Hennepin County) has always had the lowest error rate in the nation. When Mary Kiffmeyer went into court claiming that the Native American Tribal ID was not good enough, or that student dorm contracts were not adequate, the judge asked her directly, where is your evidence of Fraud? You claim you want to prevent Fraud, where is your evidence? Since no claims had ever been filed, investigated, and found to be fraud, she had to answer she didn't have any evidence. That's why she lost her cases. That's why when she appealed to the State Supreme Court, she was told she had no case. (and while she was in office, it happened every election season.)

If as it looks, former Secretary of State, Mary Kiffmeyer -- a constitutional officer of the State, went outside the bounds of her writ, went to the Department of Justice for whom she did not work, and had no authority over her work, and did politics so as to get the US Attorney on a list to be fired -- we have a very interesting issue at the state level. A very interesting issue.

I hear today that Amy Klobuchar, our new US Senator, sent Senator Leahy a letter today regarding a deeper investigation of this whole Heffelfinger issue. (Amy Klobuchar was Hennepin County Attorney prior to being elected Senator and she is very knowledgeable about the details of administering our election law, and how it was written so as to accomodate tribal law and tribal processes.) I assume Amy is paying very close attention to all this -- asking for things to be subpoeaned, asking for specific witnesses. So I expect more to emerge.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 7:35 PM:

"The question here is whether, or how, Heffelfinger's disloyalty was communicated to the leadership in the Justice Department or the White House. Voter fraud, we know, is an issue close to Karl Rove's heart. Did Schlozman or Van Spakovsky complain to Rove's shop or someone else? Fortunately, both Schlozman and Von Spakovsky will be put under oath in the near future -- Schlozman this coming Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee (as part of the U.S. attorney firings investigation) and Von Spakovsky before the Senate Rules Committee (a confirmation hearing for his spot as a commissioner at the FEC) on June 13th. Let's hope they get some questions about this."

The questions asked of Goodling by the MN Rep. on the House Judiciary Committee provided a great deal of insight into the issues on the ground involving such as Heffelfinger, and potentially the MN district USAG who was fired.

There's much to be investigated there, and I'll bet the House Judiciary Committee investigators -- at least on the Democratic side -- are all over this arm of the octopus.

And then there are the whiners who accuse Congress, and said Committee, of not knowing anything about, or not pursuing, the vote fraud issue, which so far involve, at minimum, "caging" lists, sponsoring and pushing voter ID legislation, and knowingly false allegations -- and court filings -- of vote fraud before elections aainst Democrats.

Compare and contrast the MN facts with those for WA state so far revealed by McKay.

And the possibility that sufficient evidence has been or will be developed on which to base criminal indictments against Rove even without his cooperation.

This is big, as high as the Federal gov't, and as wide as the country. Once it is reduced to simple articulable language, the vast majority will immediately grasp that which at present is a fragmented and complex set of facts.

UNDER OATH or UNDER ARREST.

SC = face. As in, Face the consequences of your criminal subversion of Constitution and laws, Karl "Kafka" Rove.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 8:57 PM:

"We in MN, however, are delighted that Mary Kiffmeyer lost in her bid for re-election last year. She, along with almost every other Republican running for state-wide office lost, except for Governor (can I be the VP?) Pawlenty. And Pawlenty just barely made it - you could almost see the shock in his eyes the day after the election.

"Back to Kiffmeyer - she was awful. Not only was she doing this with Native Americans, but she was trying to implement as many other roadblocks to minority voting as possible. She ticked off almost every county in the state with her arcane rulings and dictatorial style.

"Posted by: Doug
Date: May 31, 2007 11:15 AM"

Then there is abundant evidence and testimony available toward exposing this arm of the Karl "Kafka" Rove octopus [talk about "fishing expedition" -- or, "expediciously"!].

SC = cold. As in, It's quite possible Karl "Kafka" Rove will be caught cold with both of his chubby hands in the cookie jar, even without his testimony. I wonder how many Rove emails will be found on Republican't [be law abiding] hard drives in such as MN.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 9:00 PM:

"These power-obsessed GOP white males need to be put in their place ..... at the bottom of the totem pole.

"Posted by: Orwell's Intuition
Date: May 31, 2007 11:25 AM"

And then the totem pole imprisoned.

SC = potato. As in, Republican'ts should quayle at their prospects for re-election and avoiding imprisonment.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 9:09 PM:

"So they won't remove Bush coz it'll take too long, now that they've delayed it enough, piss ant pasty white boys (thanks for the good rep, boys) shouldn't take that long, should they?

"Posted by: Duckman GR
Date: May 31, 2007 11:54 AM"

Is it too much to ask that you not ignore and distort the facts? Or to stop bashing the Democrats as if not Republicans are in the same room with them? The foot-draggers are the Republicans, not the Democrats. At present, the Democrats don't have sufficient votes to fulfill your fact-free tantrums.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 9:14 PM:

"When you were inviting readers to comb through the DOJ document dumps, I seem to recall several of them red-flagging a rather striking pattern: that a large proportion of USAs on the firing list were sitting on that very Subcommittee on Native Americans that Heffelfinger chaired. Maybe that deserves a closer look? I don't recall it having been done up to this point."

"Posted by: David
Date: May 31, 2007 12:12 PM"

Would be nice to see those added to an update of the TPM Timeline. (It doesn't yet include the Goodling testimony, or, to my knowledge, the latest document dump -- the dates of each of which I think should be added.

SC = fear. As in Republicans have nothing to fear but jail itself.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 9:22 PM:

"Kiffmeyer was a total disaster as Secretary of State. She was a great friend of Kathleen Harris, and I suspect many of her tricks were learned from that source.

"The modern Minnesota Ballot System is the life work of Joan Growe, Secretary of State between 1974 and 1998, and as good and solid a DFL'er you'll never find. Since she retired, Joan has been working with Jimmy Carter consulting and observing elections around the world -- she worked with both Mondale and Carter setting up the new election systems for Romania and South Africa. Joan totally reformed the Minnesota elections systems in the 1980's (and yes, it is intended to all be paper ballot scanned in the precinct -- with all absentee ballots scanned with the precinct ballots.)

"Our reform efforts in the 1980's actually put most aspects of ballot design into law, leaving little for any Secretary of State to do except follow the law. We pre-tested everything -- what are the best instructional words to use on a ballot for instance. We got University Survey researchers to test all formulations, and then we put into LAW the wording to be used. What happened to Kiffmeyer is that when she tried one of her tricks, in most cases she found out it was against the law. She was hauled into court on lots of these matters, and lost every time. (Yes, we even by law state the print size to be used on a ballot. When we reform something we do a decent job of it.)

"Kiffmeyer also tried to remove voting rights from students, who by law can register to vote on election day and vote in the precinct where they live in a college dorm, by showing U or student ID plus a dorm contract. That's another law suit she lost. (we've had same day registeration at the polls since 1974 -- one mite of progress that came out of the protest movement during the Vietnam era.)

"I suspect that there might be some mighty interesting material in DOJ files or WH files regarding communications between Kiffmeyer and people in DC about all this. A nice subpoena might be in order you know. The new Secretary of State, Mark Richie probably would be very helpful if asked -- and the former Attorney General, Mike Hatch, had to act as Kiffmeyer's State Attorney on all this stuff, even though Mike is a strong voter rights advocate.

"Posted by: Sara
Date: May 31, 2007 12:46 PM"

Excellent stuff. Though I've not followed it, MA state elections officials are on top of the issue, though I'm not certain they are aware that "paper trail" can be falsified.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 9:26 PM:

"In all of this discussion about voting fraud and Rove's obsession with it, I am confused as to why his own PERSONAL instance of voter fraud isn't cited.

"In 2004, Rove and his wife voted in Texas, despite living full time in DC and owning a $1.3 million dollar home there. (They also own a $25,000 cottage in Texas, but no one has ever seen them there).

"Texas' voting law is ambiguous, essentially saying that you can vote in that state, even if you don't live there, so long as if, one day, you "intend to return."

"Demonstrating "intent to return" to Texas is not required or practicable.

"Now you'd think that the GOP and Rove would be wigged out by Texas' extremely loose voting laws, considering they were trying to throw soldiers off of the rolls in Florida.

"But alas was not the case. Texas was solidly red.

"And Rove, who was "investigated" after the good folks at CREW threw up a major stink, was "cleared" of any wrongdoing.

"He continues to vote in Texas. Despite owning his DC mansion. And having his Jaguar registered in DC. And owning a $1m beach house in Rosemary Beach, FL.

"Posted by: IKBENBANGDE
Date: May 31, 2007 01:31 PM"

Perhaps he can be persuaded to return to TX to serve his prison time there.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 9:36 PM:

"I hear today that Amy Klobuchar, our new US Senator, sent Senator Leahy a letter today regarding a deeper investigation of this whole Heffelfinger issue. (Amy Klobuchar was Hennepin County Attorney prior to being elected Senator and she is very knowledgeable about the details of administering our election law, and how it was written so as to accomodate tribal law and tribal processes.) I assume Amy is paying very close attention to all this -- asking for things to be subpoeaned, asking for specific witnesses. So I expect more to emerge.

"Posted by: Sara
Date: May 31, 2007 04:49 PM"

Sara,

Are there national associations of state elections officials which meet and exchange information and ideas? If so, that might be of value to those reading this who are in other states, and concerned with ensuring fair voting. Such information (what is the name of the state entity/agency, as example) could be useful lead to additional state vote reform groups and efforts.

In any event, as I learned during the FL battle, elections law is fascinating -- and illuminating. Even FL is relatively "liberal" -- case law shows the courts will bend over backwards by allowing a few illegal votes in so as to ensure all legal votes -- which certainly supercede in number the illegal -- are counted.

JNagarya wrote on May 31, 2007 9:46 PM:

"I hear today that Amy Klobuchar, our new US Senator, sent Senator Leahy a letter today regarding a deeper investigation of this whole Heffelfinger issue. (Amy Klobuchar was Hennepin County Attorney prior to being elected Senator and she is very knowledgeable about the details of administering our election law, and how it was written so as to accomodate tribal law and tribal processes.) I assume Amy is paying very close attention to all this -- asking for things to be subpoeaned, asking for specific witnesses. So I expect more to emerge.

"Posted by: Sara
Date: May 31, 2007 04:49 PM"

Those who bash Democrats because they falsely believe Congress isn't doing anything should be made aware of, and keep in mind, that every state touched by the AG/election fraud issue will be conducting serious inquiries and investigations into the concrete on-the-ground issues. The MN Rep.'s questions of Goodling gave a great deal of insight into the issues in MN -- which were new to me with those questions, but which questions are based upon a detailed knowledge of the facts on which the questions were based.

Much is happening, even when it appears nothing is: Congress' committees have their own investigative staffs behind the scenes who work the issues even when there aren't hearings with principles about the issues being investigated. Goodling gave a great deal of valuable, useful information, even though they public does not yet know how much, or the relevance and uses made of it to further investigations.

One obvious result of the House's questions of Goodling -- which Committee's Democrats are bashed by alleged Democrats as "doing nothing" -- is the expansion of the internal DOJ investigation. Which will be aboveboard, because it is result of rebellion by the actual career professionals. Once consequence of that ongoing investigation, in the "bowels" of DOJ, is that Gonzales is almost literally sitting in the hot seat. "Fire from below."

noshrub wrote on May 31, 2007 10:09 PM:

Kiffmeyer's actions were so out of sync with what we Minnesotans expected from our Sec'y of State. When she was doing her crazy stuff I kept wondering where she was coming up with these ideas because she didn't have the brains/political instincts (she burst out crying in a legislative finance hearing...not too savvy) to do it herself. Now it makes so much sense! Especially her tribal ID crap and her insistence on sticking with the "Help America Vote Act" identification requirements when many other states opted out for 2004. Minnesota was on the Republicans' map for 2000 and 2004...Bush & Cheney came here enough times to make the entire state qualify as a hog farm manure lagoon. Their motives are deep, and I agree with one of the commenters above that Kiffmeyer is a big piece of the puzzle.

noshrub wrote on May 31, 2007 10:11 PM:

Kiffmeyer's actions were so out of sync with what we Minnesotans expected from our Sec'y of State. When she was doing her crazy stuff I kept wondering where she was coming up with these ideas because she didn't have the brains/political instincts (she burst out crying in a legislative finance hearing...not too savvy) to do it herself. Now it makes so much sense! Especially her tribal ID crap and her insistence on sticking with the "Help America Vote Act" identification requirements when many other states opted out for 2004. Minnesota was on the Republicans' map for 2000 and 2004...Bush & Cheney came here enough times to make the entire state qualify as a hog farm manure lagoon. Their motives are deep, and I agree with one of the commenters above that Kiffmeyer is a big piece of the puzzle.

ladybroadoak wrote on May 31, 2007 10:25 PM:

GO BACK!! Re-read Greg Palast's Armed Madhouse, the one with the NEW chapter. As he says: "Remember this: In every American generation, we've hd to fight for the right to vote."

Minnesotans need to scream loud and LONG about this before 2008 and another election is STOLEN.

Not only do the repugs rationalize the unrationalizable (we are entitled to vote if citizens) but promote MYTHS to stay in power.

He says: "We won every time. When we fight, we win. Every single time." Make it so!

Catherine Hollowell wrote on June 1, 2007 7:18 AM:

Not much has been published on the reasons behind Michigan's Chiara's dismissal. I'm uncertain about her involvement in voting rights issues, but she indeed had a strong presence in Michigan tribal relations.Indianz.com has an article which I'll post here. The Saginaw Chippe"Lost in the accounts of the eight U.S. attorneys recently dismissed or asked to resign by the Department of Justice is the potential impact on Indian country. Four of the fired U.S. attorneys represented federal districts with a significant tribal presence - Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Michigan - and they had dedicated significant federal resources to prosecuting crime in Indian country. One of the fired attorneys is Hon. Margaret Chiara, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan. During her tenure, which began in 2001, Chiara offered an incredible template for creating and maintaining a positive and powerful relationship between the DOJ and Indian tribes.

Eleven Indian tribes are situated in the Western District, with five of them located almost in another country, the Upper Peninsula, accessible only by puddle-jumping turboprop planes landing in Marquette or by crossing the stunning Mackinac Bridge and driving on bumpy two-lane highways for upwards of 12 hours from Grand Rapids. Despite these incredible distances, Chiara's office demonstrated to all U.S. attorney offices with significant Indian country relationships that a genuinely productive relationship can exist between the government and the tribes. She personally visited virtually all Indian tribes in her district on a regular basis, creating a strong personal connection to Indian country. She brought along her staff and officials from other federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals.

Michigan tribes have always had a strong relationship with the office prior to the arrival of Chiara through the hard work of tribal liaison Jeff Davis, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, but Chiara's commitment to Indian country far exceeded tribal expectations. Chiara's office's work in developing protocols for domestic violence investigation and prosecution (including work with Michigan State University College of Law students) and trainings in full faith and credit, tribal police procedures and Project Safe Neighborhoods, a gun violence reduction project, helped to develop a strong cooperative aspect to Indian country law enforcement. The office's tribal liaison Web site is one of the best in the nation - www.usdoj.gov/usao/miw/native.html - offering links to an annual Indian country report produced by Chiara's office and links to information about Michigan Indian country."

Get the Story:
Matthew L.M. Fletcher: The U.S. attorney mess and Indian country (Indian Country Today 3/30) was (who recently disenrolled a considerable percentage of their membership) had dealings with Abramoff.I wonder if Chiara got too close to that fire?

Indianz.com:

anon, too wrote on June 1, 2007 11:00 AM:

Sara,

Amazing stuff. What she did just seemed to scream denial of equal protection. It looks like the rest of the states could do well to study up on your election laws. Thanks for taking the time to reply. And I hope Leahy doesn't drop the ball.

aterrificjob wrote on June 1, 2007 11:27 AM:

I just noticed something about Monica's testimony. "Goodling denied knowing anything about that [MN Indian voter id] , instead saying she remembered hearing something about how Heffelfinger spent too much time on Native American issues." That is a very nice segue - Hef's native american issues = disenfranchising voters through the ID measure. So Goodling did not lie under oath, yet told what she knows in a roundabout manner. She knew about the voter ID thing, and has just underhandedly said so. [The analysts of the testimony took off after Native American crime etc., missing the hint.]
For what it's worth.

Sara wrote on June 1, 2007 1:43 PM:

"Sara,

"Are there national associations of state elections officials which meet and exchange information and ideas? If so, that might be of value to those reading this who are in other states, and concerned with ensuring fair voting. Such information (what is the name of the state entity/agency, as example) could be useful lead to additional state vote reform groups and efforts."

Yes, there is a National Association of Secretaries of State -- but its leadership is controlled by which party has elected the majority of SOS's -- leading to the irony that both Joan Growe and Mary Kiffmeyer served as President at different times.!!!!

There are several other groups that are non-partisian, and tend to be made up of more academic type people who know something about modern data management systems and are rooted in the technique of Survey Research Methods. You will find some elected officials who listen carefully to such experts -- and others who dismiss it all. One is led by a statistics guy from the University of Iowa who has always made profound sense to me -- and I tend to give lots of weight to such sources. His name excapes me, Dick something or other.

All too much of the discussion about Election Proceedure since Florida 2001 has, in my opinion, missed critical points. If you assert as legal philosophy that every citizen has an equal right to one vote -- then you have to design your systems with that question in the forefront of every decision you make. I noted above, for example, that we had contracted with U Survey Research people to test the wording of ballot instructions. (vote for one: or let's say in a school board election with multiple seats, Vote for no more than three). At some point you have to find out, in the universe of voters, which wording of instructions are correctly understood by the greatest number of people -- remembering that your universe of potential voters is everyone between 18 and maybe 105, some are just barely literate, and others have advanced degrees. You can't base this on assumptions, you have to test and find the answer, and then consistently use it state wide. Elections are a system, and within that system are many many assumptions, and you have to test all of them.

Back in the 80's when we were studying our reforms, we had demo's from all the vendors of machines, including the mock-up of the not yet manufactured touch screen product. Our decision was really made around one question asked by a rural county elections commissioner -- What happens if on election day we have an ice storm and the power goes off? Well -- we all knew that was possible in Minnesota in November, and that pretty much was the end of the electronic fancy gagets. But our Survey Research people also told us that ticking things off on a list on paper with a pencil was the most accurate measure in a very diverse universe -- and they provided us with experimental results of tests run by Survey Research types dating back into the 1940's -- all of which reached the same conclusion. So WoLaa -- Paper Ballots and a #2 Pencil. Doesn't require any electricity. Yep -- the scanner requires electricity, but you can purchase battery packs for them, you can hook them to portable generators, and you can always let people just put their ballots in a secure ballot box, and scan when the lights come back on. It isn't the political people who can tell you this (or who even know it) -- it is the Survey Research and Data Management ones who know such detail that has to be built into a system that then is expressed as formal election law.

Anyhow, I have been very disappointed in so much of the discussion about systems since Florida 2001, and particularly the debate about HAV. Having been through a reform like this back before most people gave it a thought -- and dispassionately followed the discussion and decision process, it is just such a huge disappointment. And the saddest thing of all is that through it all, no one has called on Joan Growe to offer counsel. Someone who has led the process does have some expertise, you know.

gwpriester wrote on June 3, 2007 9:23 AM:

This administration is so evil and so corrupt it is hard to tell where to start. Which may well be its strategy. Do as much damage as you possible can knowing that not all of it can be undone.

My they all rot in their own personal hells.