[Peace-discuss] Disturbing disappearance of testimony

[Barbara kessel]

*The suspicious, disturbing death of election rigger Michael Connell*
by *Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman*
December 20, 2008

Michael Connell, the crucial techno- lynch pin in the theft of the 2004
election, and much more, is dead at the age of 45. His unnatural, suspicious
death raises serious questions about the corruption of the American
electoral process that now may never be answered.

Connell died Friday, December 19 when his Piper Saratoga plane crashed near
his northern Ohio home. He was flying himself home from the College Park,
Maryland airport. An accomplished pilot, flying in unremarkable weather, his
death cuts off a critical path to much of what may never be known about how
the 2004 election was shifted from John Kerry to George W. Bush in the wee
hours of November 2. His plane crashed between two houses in an upscale
neighborhood, one vacant, just 2.5 miles from the Akron-Canton airport.

A long-time, outspokenly loyal associate of the Bush family, Connell created
the Bush-Cheney website for their 2000 presidential campaign. Connell may
have played a role in various computer malfunctions that helped the GOP
claim the presidency in 2000. As a chief IT consultant and operative for
Karl Rove, Connell was a devout Catholic and the father of four children. In
various interviews and a deposition Connell cited his belief that abortion
is murder as a primary motivating factor in his work for the Republican
Party.

Connell recently wrote the following in his New Media Communications
newsletter, regarding Barack Obama's election: "In our 230 year history, our
democracy has suffered worse fates. It's just that none come to mind right
now." Connell wrote: "This is just a moment in time and this too shall pass.
Enduring is the fact that 2000 years ago, a babe was born in Bethlehem. When
our Lord God sent his only Son for our salvation,...In spite of the current
economic and political conditions, salvation is eternal."

Ohio Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell hired Connell in
2004 to create a real-time computer data compilation for counting Ohio's
votes. Under Connell's supervision, Ohio's presidential vote count was
transmitted to private, partisan computer servers owned by SmartTech housed
in the basement of the Old Pioneer Bank building in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Connell's company, New Media Communications worked closely with SmartTech in
building Republican and right-wing websites that were hosted on SmartTech
servers. Among Connell's clients were the Republican National Committee,
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and gwb43.com. The SmartTech servers at one
point housed Karl Rove's emails. Some of Rove's email files have since
mysteriously disappeared despite repeated court-sanctioned attempts to
review them.

In 2001, Michael Connell's GovTech Solutions, LLC was selected to reorganize
the Capitol Hill IT network, the only private-sector company to gain
permission from HIR [House Information Resources] to place its server behind
the firewall, he bragged.

At 12:20 am on the night of the 2004 election exit polls and initial vote
counts showed John Kerry the clear winner of Ohio's presidential campaign.
The Buckeye State's 20 electoral votes would have given Kerry the
presidency.

But from then until around 2am, the flow of information mysteriously ceased.
After that, the vote count shifted dramatically to George W. Bush,
ultimately giving him a second term. In the end there was a 6.7 percent
diversion---in Bush's favor---between highly professional, nationally funded
exit polls and the final official vote count as tabulated by Blackwell and
Connell.

Until his death Connell remained the IT supervisor for six Congressional
committees. But on the day before the 2008 election, Connell was deposed by
attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis about his actions during the 2004
vote count, and his continued involvement in IT operations for the GOP,
including his access to Rove's e-mail files and the circumstances behind
their disappearance.

Various threats have been repeatedly reported involving Connell and other IT
experts close to the GOP. On July 24, 2008, Arnebeck emailed Attorney
General Michael Mukasey, stating: "We have been confidentially informed by a
source we believe to be credible that Karl Rove has threatened Michael
Connell, a principal witness we have identified in our King-Lincoln case in
federal court in Columbus, Ohio,...."

Connell's death comes at a moment where election protection attorneys and
others appeared to be closing in on critical irregularities and
illegalities. In his pre-election deposition, Connell was generally evasive,
but did disclose key pieces of information that could prove damaging to Karl
Rove and the GOP. Examining attorneys in the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville civil
rights lawsuit, stemming from the 2004 election theft, were confident
Connell had far more to tell.

There is widespread concern that this may be the reason he is now dead.

Revised December 21, 2008

----------
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman have co-authored four books on election
protection, including AS GOES OHIO and HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICAS 2004
ELECTION..., available at www.freepress.org, where this article first
appeared. They are attorney and plaintiff in the King- Lincoln-Bronzeville
civil rights lawsuit which subpoenaed and was deposing Michael Connell.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20081221/e883e3c3/attachment.html