Reply #14: More on Hagel, Hastert & DeLay's collusion to avoid verifiable voting

[FreepFryer]

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._presidential_election_controversy%2C_voting_machines#Specific_issues_relating_to_ES.26S_machines_and_political_links

Thom Hartmann stated in CommonDreams.org (Nov 4 2004, http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1104-38.htm ):

"About two years ago , I wrote a story for these pages, "If You Want To Win An Election, Just Control The Voting Machines," ( http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0131-01.htm ) that exposed how Senator Chuck Hagel had, before stepping down and running for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska, been the head of the voting machine company (now ES&S) that had just computerized Nebraska's vote. The Washington Post (1/13/1997) said Hagel's "Senate victory against an incumbent Democratic governor was the major Republican upset in the November election." According to Bev Harris, Hagel won virtually every demographic group, including many largely black communities that had never before voted Republican. Hagel was the first Republican in 24 years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska, nearly all on unauditable machines he had just sold the state." ( http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf pdf)

(The same author also notes in respect of audit trail that "Congressman Rush Holt introduced a bill into Congress requiring a voter-verified paper ballot be produced by all electronic voting machines, and it's been co-sponsored by a majority of the members of the House of Representatives. The two-year battle fought by Dennis Hastert and Tom DeLay to keep it from coming to a vote, thus insuring that there will be no possible audit of the votes of about a third of the 2004 electorate, has fueled the flames...")

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._presidential_election_controversy%2C_voting_machines#Specific_issues_relating_to_Wyle_machines_and_political_links

"Texas billionaires Sam and Charles Wyly were the ninth-biggest contributors to George W. Bush in 2000, and Sam Wyly bankrolled the dirty tricks that wiped out John McCain’s lead during the South Carolina primary."

"You would expect that a company that certifies our voting machines would not have its owners running for office. You would also expect that no one who owns the certification company would be under criminal investigation … Shortly after Wyle Laboratories split off from Wyle Electronics in 1994, controlling interest was acquired by William E. Simon & Sons, a firm owned by a former Secretary of the Treasury, William E. Simon, and his son, Bill Simon, a candidate for governor of California in 2002. Just before the election, in August 2002, William E. Simon & Sons was convicted of fraud and ordered to pay $78 million in damages."

"In what is surely record time for our glacial judicial system, the conviction was overturned in September 2002. The reason? William E. Simon & Sons had partnered up with someone who was a criminal and no one could tell who was the guiltiest."

"Recently, Wyle Laboratory shares held by William E. Simon & Sons were bought out. Now Wyle Laboratories is a wholly owned subsidiary of LTS Holdings, Inc., an entity I can find no information about, controlled by individuals whose names are not available."