Saturday, July 29, 2006

San Diego: Lehto, Collins and Collins, and No Sleepovers

It has been widely discussed in the election integrity community, and reported by Michael Collins in New Zealand's Scoop, that all-star election integrity attorney (and author of the Foreword to my book) Paul Lehto has been retained to lead the legal challenge to the CA-50 election in San Diego. I've blogged about this several times but it is Brad Friedman's BradBlog.com that has led the way, not only with reporting but also organizing actual citizen response. See definition: advocacy journalism.

The word is that Lehto's legal challenge will be filed on Monday. I asked him about this earlier in the week and he suggested the "no basis for confidence" position will be articulated, applying the specifics of the San Diego situation, and no doubt accounting for the surge in organizations issuing such a rejection of the election conditions (never mind the alleged results). A new site set up on this score (with Brad's advocacy) is NoSleepovers.org. They've got some clever merchandise for sale to help the cause. They have a few different items bearing this image:



CLICK HERE TO SHOP

I also really like this line, found on their About Us page, beneath the list of founding members and their mission statement: "We are fighting this battle here so we don'’t have to fight it there - in 435 Congressional Districts in November." That is so totally right on. We put ourselves at a disadvantage by waiting for the faux "elections" to occur so we can challenge the outcomes after the fact. WE DO NOT CONSENT to the secret and illegal conditions under which these elections will be held and we reject their legitimacy in advance. Voting that is unverifiable to the public is also unverifiable to the media, who should not report what can't be proven.

I've now brought up this point twice on the Peter B. Collins syndicated radio show, heard in Humboldt on 1480AM KGOE and streaming online at PeterBCollins.com. Peter has been an absolute champion to the election integrity movement, most recently focusing on San Diego. Click here for the interview I did on his show on June 6, and click here for the final hour of yesterday's show featuring guests Mimi Kennedy of the Progressive Democrats of America, and Emily Levy of both California Election Protection Network and the CA-50 Action Committee. I also got on the air as a caller, plugging the upcoming media accountability forum, and Dan Ashby of the Election Defense Alliance got through to discuss the issue of boot loaders, described in this report (.pdf) as the means to alter election results not only on one machine and in the present but on many machines and into the future. This was a great hour of radio.

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http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2006/07/san-diego-lehto-collins-and-collins.html

Posted by Dave Berman - 10:53 AM | Permalink
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Excellent comments Dave. The key issues in the CA 50th case are central to the conduct of clean elections - free, fair, and transparent. You're right about Brad Friedman's coverage on the CA 50th election. The local and state acivists have done a great job. Brad built on that and infused this story with enough "sizzle" to catch the attention of Dean, Dobbs, and Crier (sounds like a law firm). Now it's up the the courts to realize the wisdom of Paul Lehto's well thought out theories and applications of Constitutional, federal and state law.

Best of luck to Lehto, Friedman, and Behrman (more law firms) and all of the great local and state activists.

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous @ Jul 30, 2006, 12:14:00 AM
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We Do Not Consent, Volume 1 (left) and Volume 2 (right), feature essays from Dave Berman's previous blogs, GuvWurld and We Do Not Consent, respectively. Click the covers for FREE e-book versions (.pdf). As of April 2010, paperbacks are temporarily out of print. Click here for the author's bio.

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"Give a damn about the world you live in? Give a damn about what you and I both know is one of the most shameful and destructive periods in American history? If so, do something about it. You can start by reading We Do Not Consent."

— Brad Friedman, Creator/Editor, BradBlog.com; Co-Founder, VelvetRevolution.us

"If in the future we have vital elections, the "no basis for confidence" formulation that GuvWurld is popularizing will have been a historically important development. This is true because by implicitly insisting on verification and checks and balances instead of faith or trust in elections officials or machines as a basis for legitimacy, it encourages healthy transparent elections. It’s also rare that a political formulation approaches scientific certainty, but this formulation is backed up by scientific principles that teach that if you can’t repeat something (such as an election) and verify it by independent means, it doesn’t exist within the realm of what science will accept as established or proven truth."

— Paul Lehto, Attorney at Law, Everett, WA

"Dave Berman has been candid and confrontational in challenging all of us to be "ruthlessly honest" in answering his question, "What would be better?" He encourages us to build consensus definitions of "better," and to match our words with actions every day, even if we do only "the least we can do." Cumulatively and collectively, our actions will bring truth to light."

— Nezzie Wade, Sociology Professor, Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods

"Dave Berman's work is quietly brilliant and powerfully utilitarian. His Voter Confidence Resolution provides a fine, flexible tool whereby any community can reclaim and affirm a right relation to its franchise as a community of voters."

— Elizabeth Ferrari, San Francisco, Green Party of California

"This is an important collection of essays with a strong unitary theme: if you can't prove that you were elected, we can't take you seriously as elected officials. Simple, logical, comprehensive. 'Management' (aka, the 'powers that be') needs to get the message. 'The machines' are not legitimizers, they're an artful dodge and a path to deception. We've had enough...and we most certainly DO NOT consent."

— Michael Collins covers the election fraud beat for "Scoop" Independent Media

"What's special about this book (and it fits because there's nothing more fundamental to Democracy than our vote) is the raising of consciousness. Someone recognizing they have no basis for trusting elections may well ask what else is being taken for granted."

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