Saturday, December 18, 2004

The Original BRAD BLOG is Back in Business!


THE BRAD BLOG IS BACK!!!

We are now on a new server that (we hope!) can handle all the traffic we've been getting since breaking the original "WHISTLEBLOWER AFFIDAVIT" story on Clint Curtis, Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) and the "Vote-Rigging Software" scandal!

All BRAD BLOG TOO articles have been ported and reposted over on the original BRAD BLOG where all NEW items will now be posted!

Please join us at www.BradBlog.com for all the continuing, nail-biting excitement of the Clint Curtis story and much much more! (as long as the new server holds up!)

Thanks for your patience, support, and willingness to keep finding us!

The BRAD BLOG

Clint Curtis: End of Week 2 Media Notes... [UPDATED]

Including -- for the first time -- the FULL Video of Clint Curtis' Sworn Testimony!

Where's the media? They're right here...and they're paying attention to reporting by The BRAD BLOG. I urge you to count no chickens in regards to coverage by major media on this story, friends. It's a rather explosive story, and the big boy media folks need to cross all their t's and dot all their i's before letting loose with these charges!

Of course, feel free to let them know about it! And ask them to cover it!

Until those media big big boys jump in however (and there's at least one very big big boy that I hear has been sniffing around this story!) take note of a few of the other recent Clint Curtis media appearances in one form or another...

FULL VIDEO TESTIMONY...

ON RADIO...
  • Live on Sunday! Curtis was on the Mark Levine radio show for an hour today. Levine is on an "inside the beltway" D.C. station (WAGE AM-1200), but he also streams live via the web. UPDATE: The archive of today's broadcast is now available here! Listen up!


  • Curtis was on the Ed Schultz radio show broadcast nationwide on Thursday, but unfortunately I failed to capture the interview while I was finishing up my response to YEI's "full statement" on the Curtis charges. I've contacted the producers of the show and am hoping to get the audio to post or link to here soon.


  • Audio from Curtis' radio appearances on Air America Radio and the Thom Hartman program during Week 1 of this scandal, are linked this previous item.

IN PRINT...
  • Feeney's hometown paper, The Seminole Chronicle covered the story very smartly yesterday. We spoke about it in detail, and linked to it right here...


  • Bob Fitrakis, the excellent investigative journalist and Senior Editor of Columbus' Free Press who has been doing so much good work on the entire Ohio mess, covered Curtis' testimony to the Judiciary Committee members in Ohio last Monday, in an article on the hearings right here. Fitrakis describes Curtis' testimony as "riveting". (The Free Press website seems to be "down" as of this posting, let's hope it gets back up in good order soon, and has not come under the same type of DDos hack-attacks that The BRAD BLOG suffered when we first began reporting on Election Irregularaties after Nov. 2nd! Given the tremendous coverage that FP has been offering, however, it wouldn't surprise me a bit.)


  • Adam Smith covered the Curtis story in The St. Petersburg Times last Sunday. But while including a response from YEI's "outside general counsel", Michael A. O'Quinn, on the matter, Smith failed to note that O'Quinn was Feeney's old lawpartner for years in Florida and that there was no evidence for O'Quinn's "disgruntled employee" charge which was later dropped in YEI's full statement. Smith is a decent columnist, but dropped the ball on that matter! Smith can be politely informed about this important oversight at adam@sptimes.com

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA...
  • Curtis is scheduled to interview with the great German investigative journal Der Speigel shortly. Marc Pitzke is covering the story for the magazine. We'll let you know when that article appears, and if an English translation being made available.


  • TV Asahi (a CNN affiliate from Japan) is working up a piece on Curtis for their "Hodo Station" program. Interesting that Japan may beat the US to a TV story on Curtis! Though perhaps their story may make CNN take notice of it!

As I hinted earlier, however, there is at least one major TV network news operation looking into this story. I don't want to say too much about who that is, as I don't wish to spook things for the moment, and as well, I've not yet been personally able to confirm it with the producers. But I've now heard about it from several different reliable sources.

As always, more info on all of the above as it becomes appropriate to publish here, soon!

Friday, December 17, 2004

The 2004 Koufax (Best Blog) Awards!

Well, heck. If big boy bloggers Kos and MyDD are brazen enough to rally their minions to receive nominations for The 2004 Koufax (Best Blog) Awards, why can't we? (On the presumption that we may actually have minions to rally, of course.)

As The BRAD BLOG only fired up our muckraking keyboard in January of '04, we weren't even aware such awards existed until a day or so ago, but we are delighted to see that a few of you have already nominated us in a few different categories!

So...if you are inclined and -- with no humility whatsover -- might we submit to you The BRAD BLOG for your consideration...

(Categories include)
Best Blog, Best Writing, Best Post, Best Series, Best Single Issue Blog, Most Humorous Blog, Most Humorous Post, Most Deserving of Wider Recognition, Best Expert Blog, Best New Blog, Best Commenter


...It looks like a few folks have already nominated BRAD BLOG for "Best Single Issue Blog" for our coverage of "Grand Theft America" (though we never really meant to be a "Single Issue Blog" until the forces of nature seem to have propelled us in that direction beginning, oh, sometime around 4am on Nov. 3rd or so!), and for "Best Series" in regards to our Clint Curtis reportage and even for our exposure of the "White House Website Scrubbing" scandal!

And The BRAD BLOG even received a few for "Best New Blog" and "Most Deserving of Wider Recognition"!

It is, as they say, an honor "just to be nominated". :-)

Feeney's Hometown Paper Covers Whistleblower 'Vote-Rigging' Allegations!!!

Alex Babcock, editor and reporter at Florida's Seminole Chronicle has just filed a tremendously good story on the explosive Clint Curtis allegations which we originally broke here last week!

Finally! A smart and thorough print media account of this extraordinary story! And in Tom Feeney's hometown paper no less!

And as if that isn't good news enough, unlike previous coverage in both Wired Magazine and The St. Petersburg Times, Babcock does not allow the "outside general counsel" to Yang Enterprises, Inc (YEI) to skate on their scurrilous charges made against Curtis several days ago!

As we mentioned in several previous stories on this, YEI's attorney Michael A. O'Quinn of "Fowler and O'Quinn P.A." had made a general statement over the weekend smearing Curtis as "a disgruntled former employee" and claiming that his "allegations are categorically false."

What both Wired and St. Petersburg Times failed to point out in covering O'Quinn's statement was that O'Quinn -- as well as being a campaign contributor to Feeney along with Dr. and Mrs. Yang -- is also Feeney's former law partner from as late as 2002 when the firm was known as "Fowler, Barice, Feeney and O'Quinn P.A."!

Babcock does not make the same mistake, and responsibly offers some context for Feeney's long-term association with O'Quinn as his former law partner.

While Babcock was unable to pin down O'Quinn in regards to any supporting evidence for the "disgruntled former employee" charge -- one that so far seems to have zero basis in reality, and which was notably dropped from YEI's "formal statement" on the matter issued last Tuesday -- Babcock does somewhat speak to O'Quinn's all-new suggestion that Curtis is "motivated by money".

He points out that Curtis has stated, as also confirmed in an interview with RAW STORY, that he has no interest in the $200,000 reward being offered by Justice Through Music for evidence of vote fraud in 2004.

In regard to Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Nee) who Curtis has charged with adding "wiretapping routines" to software that YEI built for NASA and other projects -- and who was indicted and plead guilty to espionage charges earlier this year -- Babcock notes that YEI "said that the man named by Curtis as the recipient of NASA-related information has never worked for the company."

Babcock did not note, and the information may have come too late to meet his deadline, our report yesterday which revealed "Weekly Time Reports" and several emails indicating that Nee did, in fact, work for the company.

We hope Babcock will follow up soon in that regard, as well as continue to report on this topic. To that end, I'd hope that you folks would send a quick email to the paper thanking them for their coverage, and encouraging Babcock -- and Michelle Yoffee-Beard who also contributed to the story -- to continue to report on this very troubling story! (The same, by the way, is true for any of the reporters who prove courageous enough to get the truth out there on this issue!)

You can email Alex Babcock via this link.

Looking Out for Bill O'Reilly

While Bill O'Reilly was busy lying to his radio listeners this morning about "Liberals" and "Progressives" (e.g. "Liberals believe Government can solve all of our problems, and they believe the bigger the Government, the better!"), Media Matter's David Brock was standing by, waiting to hear back from the "cowardly" Master of the Loofah, O'Reilly.

From Brock's no spin letter to O'Reilly:

Mr. O'Reilly, you have repeatedly and personally attacked me, Media Matters for America, and my fine staff, calling us "vile," "despicable," and "weasels," and comparing us to the Ku Klux Klan, Castro, Mao, and the Nazis. And you have refused my repeated requests to appear on your broadcast.

You once offered your viewers your definition of the word "coward." On the January 5, 2004, O'Reilly Factor, you declared: "If you attack someone publicly, as these men did to me, you have an obligation to face the person you are smearing. If you don't, you are a coward."

Well, Mr. O'Reilly, you have attacked me publicly on numerous occasions, and you refuse to face me. You, sir, are a coward -- by your own definition of the term. You are "hiding under your desk" (to paraphrase your August 26, 2003, claim about a "coward" who declined to appear on your show) rather than allowing me on your program to discuss your insults. You are "gutless," to borrow the phrase you used on January 10, 2003, and February 8, 2001, to describe people who would not appear on your program. I attach additional examples of your pejorative descriptions of those who decline invitations to appear on your broadcast.


By the way Mr. O'Reilly, David Brock is gay, so I'm certain a manly-man like yourself should be able to take him on without a problem...Right?

We're just looking out for you, Bill.

Out, Out Damn Blogspot!

The swell end o' evening post I made last night just before "shutting down" got eaten by Blogspot and never posted.

The gist was that posting was light yesterday while working on a number of things, with a number of people related to a number of items we've been reporting here of late. And that I'd rather get it right, than get it fast. So for that we beg your patience.

Also, that I believe we've finally (after moving to three different servers in the last week) have found a server that can properly accomodate traffic and other needs of the original BRAD BLOG (in theory). And to that end, I've begun porting over posts from BRAD BLOG TOO as reposts over on BRAD BLOG so that we may soon have everything eventually again in one easy to find, easy to search location (in theory).

I've also got quite a few Clint Curtis related media notes to share with you, some rather notable, and I will be doing so today along with a few other things.

So please standby, and we thank again for your patience and support...

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Careful What You Wish For, Mr. Feeney...

From the front page of yesterday's The Hill...

Some Republicans are itching for conflict.

“We have people in our conference who want to go after Nancy Pelosi, who has violated federal election law and has been fined,” said Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), who was a critic of the ethics committee and a strong defender of DeLay during the ethics controversy that embroiled him before the election.

“To the extent that she’s violated federal law, she’s brought into question the integrity of the House,” Feeney said. “We have members who would love to see us retaliate by going after Nancy Pelosi.” Feeney declined to name members who want to target Pelosi.

Thursday Afternoon Ohio Updates...

I don't like to report anything here until I've had chances to independently verify and add to it. However, as there are several things in the background that I'm currently working on, and there are several important items rolling out of Ohio, I'm gonna post some links for you guys to check out.

NOTE: I haven't done any independent vetting on these items, so please use your own judgement about the sources they come from. But some seem quite notable, so I want to get them out there!

  • AP is reporting: Ohio Justice Throws Out Election Challenge - "The Ohio Supreme Court's chief justice on Thursday threw out a challenge to the state's presidential election results.

    The 40 voters who brought the case will likely be able to refile the challenge.

    Chief Justice Thomas Moyer ruled that the request improperly challenged two separate election results. Ohio law only allows one race to be challenged in a single complaint, he said." (DRUDGE is linking to this one, of course!)


  • RAW STORY is reporting: Kerry campaign issues letter to Ohio Secretary of State demanding recount tampering investigation - "Senator Kerry's and Senator Edwards' state counsel for Ohio has issued a letter to Ohio Republican Secretary of State and Bush-Cheney '04 chair Kenneth Blackwell demanding an official investigation into voting machine tampering in Hocking County. They have the letter online."
    RAW STORY also has much more on late Ohio developments!


  • "mtnester" on DemocraticUnderground.com Discussion (unconfirmed info, will try to get more on this!): Ohio, Fairfield County, suspends recount - "At 4 pm [Wednesday], after failing to get a match of hand counted ballots with punch card tabulator (ESS), two hand counts and two times through machine, after stating they were awaiting a call back from that company to have a new machine delivered, less than 30 seconds later convened a board meeting, voted to suspend recount, to await a new machine from ESS, and recount will be re-done Saturday, same exact precincts, the building is now closed, you are to exit the facility. BOE [Board of Elections] blaming issues on "machine failure" in order to avoid the now required entire county hand count. Precints were not random, they were selected by BOE, one from the Dem and one from the Repup."

More Later...On these and Clint Curtis items as well...

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Deja Vu of the Moment

Quick Wednesday Notes from the Dissident Front...

The Greens, Libertarians and -- yes -- Kerry-Edwards 2004 have just added "election tampering" to a civil suit filed against the state of Ohio. The fine folks at RAW STORY have the scoop and the court docs online.

One of several American Heroes of the moment, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), just finished up on MSNBC's Countdown. We only caught the last few minutes in which Conyers said in regards to their hearings on Ohio Election Irregularities that not a single Republican member of the Judiciary Committee had time to join; "The fact that Republicans didn't join us isn't our problem...it's their fault."

Hear, hear, Mr. Conyers.

We hope to post a link to the full video interview which discussed a number of the latest Ohio concerns when our friends at CrooksAndLiars.com make it available (hint, hint)! UPDATE Here's the video link! Apparently Conyers is calling for an FBI investigation into the Triad incident!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Looks like C&L has now posted the Cliff Arnebeck interview from yesterday Hannity & Colmes on Fox "News"(!) -- I guess I wasn't dreaming last night.

And, for a refreshing change of pace, there's this delightfully-not-life-and-death nor democracy-collapsing story of the couple in Madison County Ohio who, apparently, voted twice on Election Day after learning their absentee ballots were not to be found on Election Day.

They were found soon after. And now, the $2.2 million London School Districts levy initiative, which lost by a single vote, may hang in the balance as Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur and Betty France -- who voted against -- decide if they will withdraw two of their votes.

We thank our Email tipster from a Clear Channel station (yes, Clear Channel) in Columbus, Ohio for sharing the story.

Apparently, each single vote still makes the difference to at least some parts of this crazy world. An idea that a few of us democracy-lovin' dissidents have been suggesting for quite a while.

Yang (YEI) Responds in 'Full' to Clint Curtis Charges!

...And The BRAD BLOG Responds In-Kind!
But With Hard Evidence Contradicting YEI's Claims!


It has been well over a week since The BRAD BLOG first released our original exclusive article on the "WHISTLEBLOWER AFFIDAVIT" of Clint Curtis.

In his affidavit, Curtis accused U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) of asking him to create a "vote-rigging software prototype" program while Curtis worked for Yang Enterprises Inc. (YEI) in a meeting at YEI in October of 2000.

Curtis also accused YEI of employing Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Nee), who Curtis described as "an illegal-alien" who had placed "wiretapping modules" into software created by YEI for NASA, the Florida Dept. of Transportion (FDOT) and others with whom YEI had contracts.

Yesterday we released court documents showing that Nee plead guilty, in October of 2004, to one of the charges related to attempted shipments of Hellfire Anti-Tank missile parts to China for which he was indicted last March after a four-year sting operation by the U.S. Immigration & Customs Encorcement (ICE) agency. Nee was allowed to go free with 3 years probation and a $100 fine.

Back in 2000, the time of Curtis' "vote-rigging software prototype" claims, Feeney was a corporate attorney and a registered lobbyist for YEI, an engineering firm in Feeney's hometown of Oveido, FL.

While serving as counsel and lobbyist for YEI, Feeney was also a Florida state Legislator who would shortly thereafter become Speaker of the Florida House. In 1994, Feeney was Jeb Bush's running-mate in his original failed bid for Florida Governor.

Feeney's lawfirm at the time, where he was a partner, was "Fowler, Barice, Feeney, & O'Quinn P. A." which is now known as "Fowler & O'Quinn, P. A." since Feeney has left to serve in the U.S. House where he sits on the House Judiciary Committee.

As "outside general counsel" for YEI, Michael A. O'Quinn, Esquire (a campaign donor to Feeney, along with company owners Dr. and Mrs. Yang) issued a short statement on Saturday on behalf of YEI suggesting that Curtis was "a disgruntled employee".

We discussed and answered in detail to O'Quinn's charge in this BRAD BLOG article, reporting that we have yet to find any evidence to suggest that Curtis was "a disgruntled employee". We pointed out that Curtis resigned from YEI in December of 2000 and stayed, at Mrs. Yang's request, for another six weeks until they were able to find a suitable replacement for him. We posted other evidentiary details to that effect in the article, and discussed the "farewall party" that YEI reportedly threw for Curtis at the time.

YEI posted a brief statement on their website at the end of last week, announcing that "An official statement will be forthcoming", that "all" of Curtis' allegations were "100% FALSE!!" and instructing "God" to "Bless America." The BRAD BLOG discussed that statement originally here, and then again in more detail here.

And yesterday, YEI's "official statement" was finally posted on their website.

We will respond to that below, with evidence that seems to demonstrate that, at least part of their statement, is patently untrue. But by way of reminder, since our original story was posted at the beginning of last week, Curtis, who claims to have been "a long-time Republican" has since that time...

  • Met with and been interviewed by Democratic staffers on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in D.C. (where Feeney is also a member)

  • Met with and been interviewed by members of the office of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) who is a member of the Senate's Science, Technology and Space sub-committee which oversees NASA on Capitol Hill

  • Has been extensively interviewed by -- and is now being aided by -- Citizens for Ethics & Responsibility in Washington (CREW), the watchdog organization who helped prepare the recent ethics charges against Republican majority leader Sen. Tom Delay

  • Has told his story via interviews on a number of radio outlets including Air America Radio and The Thom Harmann program and will today be on the Ed Schultz radio program at 5:05pm ET

  • And on Monday of this week, gave startling sworn "jaw-dropping", public testimony to U.S. Judiciary Committee members in in a public hearing held on Voting Irregularities in Columbus, Ohio.

At this time, The BRAD BLOG is unaware of any claim that Curtis has made either publicly, in any of his official interviews, media interviews, in his sworn affidavit, or in the extensive interviews that we have done with him that has yet been proven to be untrue in any way.

In fact, quite a few articles by various media outlets over the past week have confirmed a fair number of the charges that Curtis has made, and there is an extensive paper trail of newspaper articles and public records documenting and corroborating many of his claims going back at least as far as a three full years.

While it's still The BRAD BLOG's official position that Clint Curtis may either have his facts wrong or may not be telling the truth about some portions of his story, we have as yet been unable to unearth any evidence to suggest either of those possibilities is the case. Indeed, all our checking so far into public records and extensive interviews with individuals who have known Curtis for some time and/or are familiar with his case for a number of years all seem to corroborate the veracity of Curtis. As at least three different people who know him, but who were not present for and therefore cannot confirm the specific "vote-rigging software prototype" story, have told The BRAD BLOG, "Clint doesn't lie."

We have found nothing to contradict that sentiment so far.

That said, let's take a look at the unsigned and unattributed statement released by YEI yesterday on their website, and at some of the documentary hard evidence which would seem to dispute or disprove at least a portion of their official statement.

Conspiciously absent from the official YEI statement, by the way, are the charges of "disgruntled employee" that YEI "outside general counsel" and Feeney's old law partner/contributor Michael A. O'Quinn, Esquire floated without evidence over the weekend.

The YEI website "full statement" was text only and did not include any additional evidence beyond the complete text that we will post -- and answer to point-by-point -- below.

The statement, is being posted here in full, interrupted after each point with a BRAD BLOG response explaining what we know about each of the YEI claims and presenting any evidence we are aware of that may either contradict or support them.

Their response begins this way...

To: Friends of YEI and Other Interested Parties

Re: Clinton Curtis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for the many e-mail messages and telephone calls showing support for YEI during the past weeks. Your interest in and support of YEI is greatly appreciated!

The following statements reflect the position of YEI regarding Mr. Curtis and the allegations made by him against the corporation. Although it is YEI's position that the malicious allegations made by Mr. Curtis against private citizens have no basis in fact, those allegations are not addressed in this response.

1. The allegations made in Mr. Curtis's "affidavit" and elsewhere regarding YEI are categorically untrue and fail the most basic "smell" and logic tests.

As no evidence is presented with YEI's response, we must presume the "catagorically untrue" portions of Curtis' affidavit which "fail the most basic 'smell' and logic tests" are presented in the rest of their reply. We welcome any documentary evidence that YEI may wish to present to back up this particular as-of-yet unsubstantiated claim.

2. Mr. Curtis's background includes sworn allegations by a former
employer, other than YEI, implicating Mr. Curtis in a corrupt and dishonest scheme.

The only "employer" in Curtis' background prior to his work at YEI with whom we understand there to be any sort of "sworn allegations" would be a copyright infringement suit filed in 1997 or 1998, according to Curtis, by Richard Jaffarian of "Electrical Resources" in Orlando.

Curtis had explained the "corrupt and dishonest scheme", as YEI describes it, to The BRAD BLOG in interviews prior to our original story. He has told us that Jaffarian had filed suit against Curtis, Curtis filed a counter-suit, and both parties eventually agreed to settle out of court and pay their own attorneys fees in the matter.

We have not been able to read the case files on the matter at this time and are currently attempting to receive a copy of them for review. It is our understanding that the cases are available via public records, and we welcome anybody who is able to retreive them and send them to us before such time as we are able to retrieve them on our own to forward them to us. We will report here should we find anything different than what's been described so far.

3. Mr. Curtis has unsuccessfully sued YEI in the past, making spurious and wild accusations, and none of his claims against YEI have been determined to have merit.

We must assume that YEI refers here to the pending Qui Tam suit, or "QUITAM" as mentioned in Curtis' affidavit.

The BRAD BLOG has not yet reviewed the case still pending against YEI -- which may be filed by a non-state employee when they discover some form of fraud committed against the state -- though several sources familiar with the case have described that case as Curtis did, as still-pending litigation. The description of the suit as "unsuccessful" would seem to have no basis at this time.

The case was reportedly submitted to the state Attorney General's office, who apparently has the right to join the suit or not, and -- after a year delay -- apparently has passed on joining as a co-plaintiff.

After passing on the suit, it became officially "unsealed". The suit continues in the meantime and we are unaware that it has been judged as either "unsuccessful" "spurious" or containing "wild accusations" by any legal entity.

We welcome any further information or evidence that YEI may wish to offer to the contrary. They offered only the above-quoted wildly spurious accusation, but were unsuccessful in presenting supporting evidence.

4. Mr. Nee has never been an employee of YEI.


Whoops! YEI may have made a not-insignificant blunder with this particular statement! As it's been said by some who are skeptical of Curtis' claim, "if one element of his story is proven wrong, it debunks all the rest."

We agree to an extent, and if it applies to Curtis, then we would assume the same principle should be applied to YEI as it applies to their "full statement" on these charges.

Since The BRAD BLOG can offer a great deal of evidence, including copies of email and weekly time reports signed by Nee and submitted by YEI to FDOT which seem to wholly contradict YEI's claims here and show that Mr. Nee did -- in fact -- work for YEI, we will discuss this point at the end of this article after answering the final three points in the YEI statement. We will include documentary evidence in that reply, so be sure to read through, you may enjoy it!

5. Touch screen voting was first used in Florida in 2001 in a local municipal election. Mr. Curtis's allegations simply don't add up. A document regarding State of Florida elections can be found at http://election.dos.state.fl.us/hava/index.shtml

As has been noted in several articles on this point, including this one from Wired Magazine, the principal at work in the "software prototype" that Curtis claims to have created could have been used in counting machines (tabulators) for both punch-card and optical-scan ballots. Both types of voting technology were in use in Florida during the 2000 elections as described in this chapter from the U.S. Civil Rights Commission report on "Voting Irregularities in Florida during the 2000 Election".

As well, RAW STORY noted in one their articles based on interviews with Curtis, that "the program was not written for any specific touchscreen hardware, but instead designed to work with a Windows database." The optical-scan counting machines in use in Florida in 2000 were apparently built using a Windows Access database.

Furthermore, according to About.com's article on the "The History of Voting Machines": "In 1996, 7.7% of the registered voters in the United States used some type of direct recording electronic voting system" which would include the "touch screen voting" that YEI refers to. That technology was well on it's way into Florida and other parts of the country by the time of the alleged October 2000 meeting.

Nevertheless, as Curtis has pointed out many times, he has no evidence to demonstrate that software based on his prototype was used in the 2000 election and has not claimed in his affidavit or elsewhere that it was.

6. YEI is not under investigation by the FBI, and no YEI owners, officers or employees have been arrested. In fact, the officers, including owners, of YEI possess Top Secret Clearances that require thorough investigation of an individual and his/her background.


As mentioned in Curtis' affidavit, (and in previous BRAD BLOG articles) after contacting several law enforcement authorities with his information, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcment (FDLE), Curtis received the following Email on Nov. 22nd 2004, from a "Tom Yowell", who identifies himself as "a Special Agent assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Orlando, Florida".

Yowell's email refers to an earlier email from Curtis about the YEI information he provided, though Yowell is unspecific about which "matter referred to" he claims to be "under investigation". We have both notes in the matter...

Here is the email from Yowell [Email addresses obscured for privacy, though we will make them available to any media organizations or law-enforcement authorities who wish to contact us on this matter.]:

Subject: Information
From: "Yowell, Tom"
Date: Mon, November 22, 2004 11:22 am
To: clintXXX@XXXXXXXXXXXX.XXX

Mr. Curtis,

I am a Special Agent assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Orlando, Florida.

The matter referred to in your email dated 11/17/2004 is under investigation by another Division of the FBI. If you could provide me with your telephone number and address, I will pass it to the office responsible for the investigation, so they may contact you directly.

Thank You,
SA Thomas Yowell

...And here is the email dated 11/17/2004 to which Yowell would seem to be referring to:

Subject: Domestic Security Issue
From: clintXXX@XXXXXXXXXXXX.XXX
Date: Wed, November 17, 2004 10:04 pm
To: info@fdle.state.fl.us

I am a past employee of Yang Enterprises in Oveido Florida. I believe that this company is spying for China. There were several odd occurances and in fact one of their illegal employees was recently arrested for attempting to send missile guidance chips to China. I have reported this before but the company still maintains a high security clearance as well as access to NASA and other governmental installations. They are also still on the limited list of the approved vendors for state government.

And finally, the last section from the YEI "statement" (before we hit the Hai Lin Nee claim from item #4 in detail)...

7. All of YEI's government contracts were awarded through open competition.

We are confident that Mr. Curtis will ultimately be exposed as a fraud. Until then and always, thank you for your support.


Though Curtis explained to The BRAD BLOG in regard to this comment that "Open competition is a question of how you describe open. When you have Feeney telling you how to write the contracts and on what basis they will be chosen, often before the public bidding for the contract is even announced, it certainly gives you a leg up in winning those contracts. He told them [YEI] how to write those contracts. That's what he often discussed in meetings at Yang. It's why they kept Feeney on as their corporate attorney and why they stayed so close to him."

Indeed we have demonstrated that the Dr. and Mrs. Yang's have been contributors of Feeney's for some time in addition to employing his counsel and lobbyist. As well, we have uncovered additional evidence of the "closeness" between the Yang's and Feeney that we will be reporting on in the future.

Beyond that, we have no reason to believe that YEI's contracts were not awarded through "open competition" as they describe in their response.

We discussed earlier in this piece the possibility of Curtis "ultimately" being "exposed as a fraud" as YEI suggests here, and that we've as yet found no evidence for his claims being "fraud[ulent]" so far. To that end, however, we welcome any information, evidence, or documentation that YEI may wish to offer to back up their suggestion and help to "expose" him as such. The same is true, of course, in regards to information that Congressman Tom Feeney may wish to offer, or his old law partners and current YEI "outside general counsel" Fowler & O'Quinn, P.A. Our phonelines and email addresses are always open to you.

And now lastly, as promised, to the claim by YEI in item #4 that "Mr. Nee has never been an employee of YEI."

The BRAD BLOG has reviewed a number of items and documents which seem to render YEI's claim completely untrue. We will leave it to you, the reader, to determine if one disproven claim discounts the rest of their claims. And as well, we remind you again that the previous statement of their "outside general counsel" over the weekend claiming that Curtis was "a disgruntled employee" was nowhere to be found in the "full statement" from YEI since we apparently debunked that unsupported suggestion over the weekend. Make of that what you will.

We have now reviewed at least 9 different "Weekly Time Reports" submitted by YEI to the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) for a contract that YEI had with FDOT. They all list "Henry Nee" as "Consultant" to YEI for the "EDMS Custom Code development" project.

The copies of the time reports we've reviewed, all with the YEI logo, were received via Public Records Requests from FDOT. The "Electronic Document Management System (EDMS)" project referred to is: FDOT Purchase Order S5501029232, RFP # JA0698D1 (EDMS)

Two selected "Weekly Time Reports" (small shots of them below, click to enlarge) have been given to RAW STORY to host for your perusal via this link:



Each of the "Weekly Time Reports" are signed by "Henry Nee". In the graphic below we match the signature of Nee on those Time Reports to the signatures and initials on his Plea Agreement from July 2004 that he filed in his indictment concerning attempts to ship Hellfire Anti-Tank "missile components to China" as we discussed in this previous BRAD BLOG article. (Nee plead guilty to one count, and was sentenced, according to the sentencing papers received from the courthouse -- as released exclusively by The BRAD BLOG in yesterday's article -- from the U.S. Circuit Court in Orlando, to 3 years probation and a $100 fine.)



Finally, we have also reviewed several email correspondence sent to Clint Curtis shortly after he finally left YEI from various employees of the company, including Nee, that would seem to verify Nee's work at YEI. It should also be noted that Curtis has told us he had reason to believe that Nee was being paid "under the table" for his work at the company. [Once again, email addresses are obscured for privacy, but we will make them available to media or law-enforcement agencies who wish to contact us on this matter. Only relevant passages of the emails are posted below. Emphasis added.]

From Bill Dean to Clint Curtis:

From: "Bill Dean"
To:
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 20:01:40 -0400
Subject: Re:
...
We did a "quick" change for Fernando today.. added a couple of date boxes to one screen... took 2 hours! I don't know how long I can put up with this snail's pace; really frustrating. Because Fernando needed, I stood over Henry's shoulder and talked him through the changes. I wanted to grab the mouse and do it myself. Damn, he's slow!

From YEI executive secretary, Mike Cohen to Clint Curtis [the misspelling are Cohen's]:

From: "M C"
To: XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXX.XXX
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 15:47:46 -0400
Message-ID:
...
Henri is ever still tryhing to become a non-illegal alien; you know, he dodn't probably have to pay tazes, and I do. I don't like that.

And lastly from Hai Lin "Henry" Nee himself to Clint Curtis:

From: XXXXX@aol.com
To: XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXX.XXX
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 22:50:33 EDT
Subject: (no subject)

Clint:

Long time no talk, how are you doing? How is the weather treating you?
Any progress on your job search?

Fernado keeps adding boxes to the alrerady very crowded PE screen, it is really killing us, may be you should come back and save us, ha ha ha.

Best regards,

Henry


The ball seems to be back in your court, Mrs. Yang and Mr. Feeney.

We'll happily report on anything you wish to share on these matters with The BRAD BLOG.

UPDATE 12/20/04: Yang Vice-President Lowell Weaver goes on record concerning some of these charges! And Special Agent Tom Yowell of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Orlando confirms his email, but adds a fresh twist! Click here for the full update!

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Washington Post Joins the Dissident Set!

And Drudge!
And Fox News!

Pinch me! Am I dreamin'?!

As I hit the "publish button" on the previous piece about The New York Times filing a serious report about election recount problems in Ohio, I was notified that tomorrow's Washington Post features a full report on scads of reported problems in Ohio! (Just six weeks late, and a day after the Electoral College cast it votes, but better late than never I guess!) Here's the MSNBC reprint for those not registered with WaPo.

To make matters even more incredible, the story is linked on Drudge! What the...?

But wait, that's not all! I heard that Cliff Arnebeck, the attorney who filed a brief with the Ohio Supreme Court to set aside the states election results due to irregularities and fraud, was on -- get this -- Hannity & Colmes tonight! (Hi, Alan! Long time no email!) UPDATE: Interview now online here.

What the hell is this world coming to?!...Its senses?!

Welcome 'NY Times' to Election 2004!

And other notes from Ohio...

(As we take a quick pause from preparing our friendly response to The Yangs.)

After a few choice words for The NY Times (and even some helpful ones) by The BRAD BLOG over the past several weeks, we're glad to see our new best friend, Tom Zeller Jr. pick up where only us conspiracy-theorists and dissidents have feared to tread over the last 5 and a half weeks!

In a refreshingly tinfoil-reference-free article in tomorrow's Times Mr. Zeller smartly covers the troubling reports (reported here yesterday) out of Judiciary Committee hearings in Ohio about the Triad Governmental Systems employee who, for reasons still unclear, is said to have taken apart one of the tabulating machines in Ohio just last Friday.

Triad, (get me!) -- according to The NY Times -- is "the Ohio firm that created and maintains the vote-counting software in dozens of Ohio counties" and which seems to have some splainin' to do about why the heck one of their employees was taking apart counting machines -- with volatile memory chips! -- prior to the planned recount in the Buckeye state!

Our story yesterday cited a congressional source as describing an unnamed eyewitness election official as "100% real and credible" after interviews. In tomorrow's story, Zeller reveals her to be Sherole Eaton, deputy director of elections for Hocking County and that she's filed a sworn affidavit recounting what she saw along with "at least two county employees".

As mentioned in a letter from John Kerry's attorney to Ohio Elections Officials last Friday which questioned their methods for selecting the 3 percent sample of precincts chosen for the initial counting tests, The Times reports...

Ms. Eaton contends that the Triad employee asked which precinct Hocking County planned to count as its representative 3 percent, and, upon being told, made further adjustments to the machine.
...
But Brett Rapp, the president of Triad, said that although it would be unusual for an employee to ask about a specific precinct, preparing the machines for a recount was standard procedure and was done in all 41 counties where Triad handles vote counts. He added that he welcomed any investigation.

"I've been doing this since 1985, and in all my experience this is the first time that we have had any complaints whatsoever," Mr. Rapp said.


Neither the story, nor Mr. Rapp seems to provide an explanation as to what it was that Triad was "further adjust[ing]" or trying to fix.

Nor is any explanation give as to why neither Greens, Libertarians, Democrats or -- presumably -- Republicans were notified about the "adjustment" prior to the Triad employee getting caught doing it! Apparently even the deputy director of elections for the county had no prior notice! Strange, given Ohio of Sec of State (and Ohio Co-Chair of the Bush/Cheney Re-Elect Committee) J. Kenneth Blackwell's adamant response that public polling books(!) could not be reviewed by Green/Lib recount volunteers because neither a Democrat nor Republican was present after such books were yanked from volunteers hands over the weekend.

In other related news that I've been frustratingly unable to cover as much as I'd like, Blackwell sent a response [PDF] -- if one can call it that -- to John Conyers very specific 36 questions [PDF] (2 of them in this updated letter [PDF] based on information provided to the Judiciary Committee by The BRAD BLOG!) asking for explanations about a number of incidents that the JC was troubled about before they even began their hearings.

Blackwell's letter answered "not a single question", as Conyers put it, in his [PDF] reply back to Blackwell concerning his "refusal to cooperate with Judiciary Committee members". BuzzFlash offers a concise selection for the dissident-on-the-go from each letter.

I hope to have more to say in the near future about the heroic efforts of Conyers, his staff and the rest of the Dem JC members and staffers in the future. But for now, let it suffice to say, the country is blessed to have at least a few elected officials in such high places who are willing to fight -- really fight! -- for the American people.

As long time BRAD BLOG readers may recognize, such words from this blog -- about Democrats of all people! -- is no faint praise. Since there are quite a few of you in those hallowed halls now reading this page, let me say publicly: Thank you for what you've done so far! Keep it up! It's what we're paying you for! And if you don't, you'll have a lot of angry BRAD BLOG readers to contend with. And that's not always fun. Just ask Mr. Zeller.

My time is maddeningly spare while working on new reports re: Clint Curtis, but as things continue to heat up in Ohio and other such areas where we find democracy in various forms of critical condition, I'll attempt to continue touching base -- even cursorily -- when I can. Even if it's not with the detail I've been able to offer on some of these matters overall since Nov. 3rd.

I rest a bit easier, however, knowing that some five+ weeks ago there were just a few of us willing to report on these issues out loud. But now the numbers grow every day and the places to get good information on this have grown exponentially.

The "dissidents", as the AP now calls us, have arrived.

To which I'll add a comment I heard yesterday attributed to a Pacifica Radio Producer when they'd heard about our new appellation. "Great! So now we're dissidents?! What's next -- "insurgents"?!"

We'll hope it doesn't come to that...But we make no promises.

Note from Brad...[UPDATED AGAIN!]

Our DSL service is back! Catching up with much at this time!

As mentioned previously, YEI has now released a full statement on the Curtis charges. This statement follows up two short previous ones which we've already spoken to in some detail here.

We are currently working on a response to their newest charges, including hard documentary evidence contradicting several of their claims and we hope to have that reponse posted here this evening.

As always, however, we are doing our best to cross whichever i's and whatever t's possible in the research we are able to do concerning the matter. So that response may be released here tomorrow instead. We'll see.

For now, however, please see the article posted this morning on Mr. Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Lee) for a few details which already contradict a portion of YEI's statement. As mentioned, we will be posting hard evidence to back up some of those claims as soon as I am able to complete the promised response.

Thanks as always for your patience and support...and God Bless America.

Feeney Whistleblower's 'Illegal-Alien' Shipped Missile Components to China!

· Man Referred to in Curtis Affidavit, Testimony Admits Guilt in Plea Deal on Single Count!
· Sent Such Parts out of Country 'ten to twenty times' in Past Year!
· COURT DOCS: Hai Lin "Henry" Nee Free To Go After Sentencing of 3-Year Probation, $100 Fine!


Court Documents obtained exclusively last Friday by The BRAD BLOG from the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlanda Division, show that the Tiawanese born national referred to in the Clint Curtis' affidavit released exclusively here last Monday, and again in Curtis' sworn testimony before House Judiciary Committee members yesterday, was charged by a grand jury with three counts related to the illegal exportation of computer chips made by a Lockheed-Martin subsidiary and intended for delivery to the People's Republic of China.

As mentioned in Curtis' affidavit, and reported by the Orlando Sentinel in March of this year (link now archived, requires $ to view), Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Nee), an employee with whom Curtis claims to have worked at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI), was taken into custody last March by the U.S. International and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency for attempting to ship "Missile Components to China". The "low-frequency amplifier" chips are said in the article -- and confirmed by a statement on the the official ICE website -- to be used for "radar-frequency guidance systems for fourth-generation Hellfire anti-tank missiles".

According the official indictment which The BRAD BLOG has reviewed after receiving it from the Circuit Court in Orlando, Nee was charged in the case of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. TING-IH HSU, HAI LIN NEE a/k/a Henry Nee on March 10, 2004 on three counts. The official case number is: 6:04-cr-38-Orl-31DAB.

Nee plead guilty, according to a plea agreement signed on July 15, 2004 and obtained by The BRAD BLOG and was then sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presenell on October 7, 2004 on Count Three of the indictment concerning False Statements made to Customs Officials and on official documents.

The Nee sentencing documents [3 pages total] are available online here, as generously hosted by RAW STORY. (The indictment and plea agreement docs total about 23 pages, so we are not yet posting those until we are able to secure sufficient bandwidth. Those documents, however, are public records available from the U.S. Circuit Court in Orlando).

The first two charges related to "export[ing] protected electronic components to the Peoples Republic of China without...Authorization" were subsequently dropped as part of the Nee plea agreement.

According to that agreement:

Count Three carries a maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, a term of supervised release of not more than 3 years, and a special assessment of $100 per felony count thereafter.


The official sentencing documents, however, reveal that Judge Presnell sentenced Nee to be released under a 3-year supervised probation and a $100 fine to be paid immediately. Case closed.

The plea agreement also quotes Nee as admitting "that business has been slow in the last year and that he had only sent parts out of the country ten to twenty times..." [emphasis added]

The Sentinel's Henry Pierson Curtis reported on March 17, 2004 that "A 4-year-old sting operation over a shipment of Hellfire missle parts to China finally will face its day in court."

That report goes on to explain that:

The chips are part of a radar-frequency guidance system for fourth-generation Hellfire anti-tank missiles aboard U.S. Army Apache attack and Comanche armed reconnaissance helicopters, according to the missiles' published specifications.

The radar guidance system works in bad weather conditions better than an earlier laser-guided version, according to an evaluation by the FAS Military Analysis Network.


The story of the arrest was also reported by The Associated Press at the time.

A page at the official ICE website confirms the reports from the Sentinel and AP.

Here's the current ICE description of this case as copied today (12/14/04) from their official website:



The chips in question, according to court documents, are "Lockheed-Martin-Sanders Model SGLN-07004-CC Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit chips".

Curtis has accused YEI of knowingly employing Nee as an illegal-alien and that Nee and YEI CEO Mrs. Li Woan Yang, his employer at YEI, had conspired in other questionable activities, including the insertion of "wiretapping modules" into sofware code and written by YEI for contractors such as NASA and the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) where Curtis later worked.

The BRAD BLOG has reviewed correspondence (both Email and snail mail) between Curtis and at least three different NASA agents and inspectors dating as far back as February of 2002. The correspondence discusses the specifics of these matters concerning YEI and Nee in great detail.

As well, Curtis met last week in D.C. with Senator Bill Nelson's office to discuss the NASA information. Nelson oversees NASA operations on Capitol Hill.

According to Curtis' affidavit:

13. Hai Lin Nee, the Quality Control manager at YEI, also worked with a company called Azure Systems of Orlando. While at YEI, Mrs. Yang provided Mr. Nee with many gigabytes of downloaded information from NASA projects that YEI was working on, including the Maximo facilities repair maintenance database, which he then took from the premises of YEI. This happened on several occasions. Also, I saw Mrs. Yang send a great deal of internal information to her brother in Communist China, who, she had informed me, had been deported for spying. Wayne Leaders, an investigator for NASA, later confirmed this deportation of Mrs. Yang’s brother. Mr. Leaders was responding to one of my multiple attempts to contact NASA on the YEI matter. I had also made a report to Mr. Leaders regarding a program that I had written for FDOT that allowed for outside contractors to submit documents to FDOT. Between the time I wrote the program and the phase of Mr. Nee’s quality assurance, I discovered that Mr. Nee had inserted a wiretapping module into the software which copied all the information bound to FDOT and sent it via the Internet to YEI. I have reason to believe that he also did this with a similar program I had written for NASA.

14. In late 2003 or early 2004, I provided information to Detective Rob Pace at the Leon County Terrorist Task Force concerning Hai Lin Nee...


While we are aware that there have been some who have charged that Nee never actually worked for YEI during the period specified by Curtis, The BRAD BLOG has obtained numerous copies of weekly time reports submitted by YEI to the FDOT noting the work done by Nee for "EDMS Custom Code Development".

The weekly time reports with YEI logo are signed by "Henry Nee" and the signatures would seem to match the one for "Hai Lin Nee" on the plea agreement obtained from the U.S. District Court in Orlando.

As well, Curtis has supplied The BRAD BLOG with a number of email notes apparently from several different YEI employees which seem to confirm that Nee was in fact working for YEI and at least one of the employees expressed the he believed Nee to be an illegal alien. Curtis has told The BRAD BLOG that he believes Nee was likely being "paid under the table" for his work at YEI.

...AND STILL DEVELOPING...

Monday, December 13, 2004

VIDEO ONLINE OF CLINT CURTIS TESTIMONY!

UPDATED TO INCLUDE FULL VIDEO TESTIMONY!

UPDATE 12/18/04: The full video of Clint Curtis' sworn testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Members in Ohio is now available via streaming RealPlayer right here!

Previously, we only had links to a portion of his testimony, which did not include his naming of Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) as having asked him to write the "vote-rigging software prototype! This clip now includes all of Curtis' testimony!

FULL CLINT CURTIS TESTIMONY ON VIDEO:

The testimony was reported as "jaw-dropping" and "stunning" last week in this earlier BRAD BLOG exclusive!

The transcript of the earlier partial video, transcribed by the good "ignatz" from DKos is here. (Though you'll miss the audible gasps as heard on the video versions and the naming of Tom Feeney!) We're working on getting a transcript of the full testimony and will update here when we do!

Be the media.

Cobb's Judiciary Committee Testimony Offers Still More Fireworks!

And Possible Criminal Intent!
PLUS: Several More Troubling Revelations From Today's Hearings!


A source inside the Judiciary Committee -- just back in D.C. after returning from Ohio -- has informed The BRAD BLOG that testimony at today's hearings from Green party presidential candidate David Cobb at today's hearings in Columbus shook up their investigations "at least as much" as the stunning surprise of Clint Curtis' sworn testimony reported exclusively by BRAD BLOG earlier today!

The Cobb testimony concerned an eyewitness account from an Elections Official about election machine tampering by a worker from Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. as late as last Friday!

A transcription of part of David Cobb's testimony is now available online via RAW STORY.

Cobb claimed to have spoken over the weekend to an unidentified eyewitness to the tampering in an unspecified Ohio county.

Said Cobb at today's hearings, "A representative came in on Friday to see if there were any questions, the Triad representative had told him that [the machine] 'had a bad battery' and had 'lost all the data'. The machine was then taken completely apart" and it's memory apparently permanently lost.

All of this before the full Ohio state recount demanded by the Green and Libertarian parties has been able to get fully underway.

Th eyewitness, who was unnamed in the public hearings, was later identified and interviewed privately by staffers from the office of Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Judiciary committee.

Reliable sources have informed The BRAD BLOG that the investigation into this matter by Conyers is currently "ongoing" and the conclusion of staffers so far is that the eyewitness and information presented is "100% real and credible".

Cobb noted today in emotional testimony that "this is going on all over the state of Ohio."

Break For News reported earlier to today that Cobb accused Triad of "attempting to orchestrate a fraudulent recount of the 3 percent of precincts likely to be included in the first phase of the recount process." (Audio of Cobb's testimony also available at the site.)

They further report...

Cobb cited one case detailed by an --as yet anonymous-- informant, that a Triad GSI employee had told staff at the Columbus County Board of Elections office to inconspicuously note a prepared recount result, then report this data irrespective of the actual recount. The Triad GSI representative had also tampered with Triad voting equipment in the offices.


A letter sent to all 88 Ohio Elections Boards last Friday by Donald J. McTigue, the Kerry-Edwards State Counsel in Ohio speaks to concerns by the Kerry campaign about how the 3 percent sample, discussed by Cobb, will be chosen. That letter also expresses a number of other notable concerns to the Ohio Elections officials.

Further notable news out of the hearings, in a day already filled with enough BRAD BLOG sirens to made Drudge's head spin, include troubling reports from Columbus Free Press' Bob Fitrakis who testified to the Committee last Wednesday in D.C. and again today in Columbus.

Fitrakis, who's excellent reporting on the ground in Ohio has set the standard for investigative journalism over the past month, had several troubling reports in his testimony, several of which are described in this Free Press article.

Amongst his reports are first hand accounts of a "a team of 25 people who called themselves the 'Texas Strike Force' using payphones to make intimidating calls to likely voters, targeting people recently in the prison system." The calls were made from a Holiday Inn and were observed by a worker there. Apparently people were warned that they if they had child-support payments due, or outstanding traffic-tickets, they could be arrested at the polls on Election Day.

Fitrakis presented evidence to the committee which demonstrates that the hotel used was paid for by the Ohio Republican Party whose headquarters is across the street!

He also reports on, and testified to, new information -- including arial photographs -- from the Warren County Elections Board on the night of their now infamous Election Night "lockdown" which officials had attributed to warnings received from the FBI about terror warnings.

The FBI has since denied giving any such warnings to anybody in Ohio. We hope to have more details on those photographs in a report soon.

We're sorry to have had to break out the siren so many times today, though it was suggested to The BRAD BLOG by our source that the Cobb revelations warranted three! We'll stick with one for now.

But we will also take this opportunity to note for the skeptics out there who have wondered where the corporate media is on so much of this, and how one can be sure they can trust "Internet bloggers" like The BRAD BLOG and "Internet-only news sites" like RAW STORY -- who has also produced quite a bit of good breaking information on these events -- that we, so far, have gotten the story right on all of these matters from the get-go.

The BRAD BLOG was the first to break the news of the Democratic Judiciary Hearings, and the first to bring you the exclusive report on the Clint Curtis "WHISTLEBLOWER AFFIDAVIT" that lead to today's "jaw dropping" sworn testimony by Curtis in front of the Committee.

Furthermore, we'll note that, as of this hour, according to AP, those objecting and writing about questionable Election Results in Ohio and elsewhere are now officially described as "dissidents".

"Dissidents" is a step up, we suppose, from "conspiracy theorists" and "leftwing bloggers", and frankly...sounds a bit Ukranian.

So we'll take it.

BREAKING UPDATE!: CLINT CURTIS 'STUNS' JUDICIARY COMM HEARINGS IN OHIO WITH 'JAW DROPPING' SWORN TESTIMONY!


PUBLICLY NAMES FEENEY IN FRONT OF COMMITTEE AS ASKING HIM TO DEVELOP 'VOTE-RIGGING' SOFTWARE!

Testimony Described as 'Show Stopper'!
'Stunner', 'Jaws Dropped'!
Audible 'Gasps' heard in chamber room!

*** BRAD BLOG EXCLUSIVE! PLEASE CREDIT! ***


The BRAD BLOG has just received an exclusive first-hand account of Clint Curtis' sworn testimony (as reported earlier) to the Judiciary Committee Democrats holding hearings this morning in Columbus, Ohio on Election 2004 Voting Irregularities.

The software programmer, whose sworn affidavit was first reported by The BRAD BLOG, named Republican U.S. Congressman Tom Feeney (a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee!) as having asked him to create "vote-rigging" software in a meeting at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) prior to the 2000 elections!

Feeney was, at the time of the alleged meeting, a Florida legislator and later became Speaker of the Florida House. He was also the running mate to Jeb Bush in his failed 1994 bid for Florida Governor.

Curtis was the only witness to be sworn in at today's hearings.

Here is the exclusive account as we've just received it by a very reliable BRAD BLOG source inside the committee hearings!

The following account may sound melodramatic but it is highly accurate.

None of these are quotes and represent my best recollection.

At apprx 1p, after a witness had finished, cliff arnebeck -- who had given a presentation some time before -- interjected and asked to call one more witness. He was given permission to do so. He said he was calling clint curtis.

Some of the audience literally gasped while others applauded. They clearly knew who he was.

Curtis stood at the front of room with arnebeck seated behind him. Curtis was about five to ten feet from the members of congress. At the front of the room, he placed his hand on a bible and was sworn. To my knowledge, he was the only witness sworn.

Arnebeck began a direct examination of curtis with basic questions, name, residence....

Then got to his qualifications.

Then, he asked curtis something like whether voting machines could be hacked. He said yes. Arnebeck asked him on what he based that opinion. He said because I wrote a program that could do it. Arnebeck asked when that happened. Curtis said feeney had asked him to design such a program at yang enterprises.

Jaws dropped. Tubbs jones and waters looked shocked.

Tubbs jones, waters and nadler asked questions. Waters asked him to repeat who asked him to do it. Congressman feeney, he said. Nadler asked him some questions, as did tubbs jones and a state senator.

Curtis was asked what he would conclude if there was such a substantial deviation btwn exit polls and actual results. He said he would conclude the election had been hacked. Gasps. Could have heard a pin drop.

In the end, curtis was very very convincing to everyone in attendance. He was a show stopper, a stunner. It was a really amazing moment.

MORE....

As we've previously reported since breaking our original exclusive story on the Curtis affidavit [PDF] last week (Key articles are linked in a box in our right sidebar) Curtis last week met privately with staffers on the Judiciary Committee as well as Senate staffers.

Wired Magazine revealed today in their article on Curtis that it was staffers in Sen. Bill Nelson's office with whom Curtis met last week in D.C.

Nelson oversees NASA in the Senate. Curtis had charged in his affidavit that an employee, Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Nee) with whom Curtis worked at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) had inserted "wiretapping routines" into programs that YEI had been contracted to create for NASA, among other companies (including the Florida Dept. of Transportation).

Nee was charged with shipping chips used in Hellfire anti-tank missiles to the Peoples Republic of China in March of this year, and has since plead guilty to one of those counts (more on Nee soon!)

At the time of the alleged October 2000 meeting at YEI when Curtis claims that Feeney asked him to create a "vote-rigging software prototype", Feeney was a member of the Florida Legislature, a corporate attorney for YEI, as well as being a registered lobbyist for the company.

Feeney was said to have been, at the time, the only registered lobbyist known to have been serving concurrently as a legislator in the 160 member Florida statehouse.

Shortly thereafter, Feeney became Speaker of the Florida Legislature.

In 2002 Feeney won a U.S. Congress seat in the newly created 24th Florida congressional district.

Feeney was the running mate to Jeb Bush during his first failed bid for Governor in 1994.

As we noted earlier, Wired Magazine article quotes YEI Attorneys as saying that Curtis was a "disgruntled employee", but does not note that the Attorney who made the statement is both a campaign contributor to Feeney, and, as well, is Feeney's former law partner in Florida.

As well, there seems to be little to indicate that Curtis was "disgruntled" with YEI or vice versa. He submitted his resignation in December of 2000 and stayed on, at YEI's request for an additional six weeks afterwards until a replacment could be found.

It has been reported YEI threw a "farewell party" for Curtis, and email correspondce that The BRAD BLOG has seen would indicate that employees -- including Nee -- missed Curtis a great deal in the months after he finally left the company.

...CONTINUING TO DEVELOP!...

UPDATE: Video of portions of Curtis' testimony now available online!

BREAKING: Curtis Testifying UNDER OATH To Judiciary Committee Dems in Ohio!

ALSO: More News Out of the Hearings...
MORE: Conyers Letter asks Ohio Gov, Speaker & Senate Leader to Delay Electoral College vote!


Judiciary Committee sources have just informed The BRAD BLOG via Email from their hearings now taking place in Columbus, Ohio, that Clint Curtis is now testifying under oath before the committee!

MORE...Apparently Curtis was the only witness to testify under oath.

BreakForNews.com has more detailed info on the hearings so far this morning in Ohio. We'll report specifics in a new item shortly. UPDATE: Audio highlights now available at that link!

UPDATE: Bob Fitrakis of Columbus Free Press offers additional details.

Audio report on Triad Computer engineer alleged by Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb today to have disassembled tabulation machine in Ohio last week via this report from What We Know!

Also...See the letter from Conyers to the Governor of Ohio, and the Leaders of the Ohio Senate and House asking them to delay or set aside the Electoral College results in OH until recount can be accomplished.

The BRAD BLOG's original exclusive story on Clint Curtis is here. Further key points to the story are now linked in the sidebar at right.

MORE DETAILS COMING...

UPDATE: CURTIS' SWORN TESTIMONY 'STUNS' HEARINGS! NAMES FEENEY! EXCLUSIVE detailed first hand account here!

WIRED MAG Picks Up Clint Curtis Story

Good Coverage Overall, But Mag Drops Ball on Atleast One Very Key Point
Fails to Note Responding Yeng Attorney is Feeney Contributor, Former Law Partner!

In a fairly even-handed article today, Kim Zetter of Wired.com covers the story of Florida computer programmer Clint Curtis who has charged that he was asked by Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL), then a Florida legislator, to create a "vote-rigging software prototype" while working at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) back in October of 2000.

The story picks up on our coverage of Curtis' affidavit [PDF], first reported by The BRAD BLOG in our "WHISTLEBLOWER AFFIDAVIT" shocker story published one week ago today.

The Wired.com piece drops the ball notably in only one area where Zetter quotes a statement from Yang attorney, Michael O'Quinn.

She quotes the attorney as calling the allegations "absurd and categorically untrue" and refers to Curtis as "an opportunist and a disgruntled former employee furthering an agenda by telling lies".

Unfortunately, Zetter, who we had spoken to last week, fails to note that Michael O'Quinn of the lawfirm "Fowler and O'Quinn" has been a longtime campaign contributor to Tom Feeney in both 2002 and 2004. Perhaps more notably, O'Quinn is also a former law partner of Feeney!

As The BRAD BLOG reported over the weekend when the comments from Yang's attorney's were first announced, O'Quinn's lawfirm was previously known as "Fowler, Barice, Feeney, & O'Quinn".

That very notable conflict of interest in the matter should have been acknowledged by Zetter in her article.

The BRAD BLOG has also spoken on several occasions (here and here) about the "disgruntled employee" charge, to point out that there seems to be no known basis for that claim.

Curtis resigned from YEI effective December 2000, but stayed on at the firm for another six weeks, at the request of the company, until a replacement for him could be found. The company was said as well to have thrown a "farewell party" for him when he finally left, and email correspondence reviewed by The BRAD BLOG would seem to indicate that he was missed greatly by employees of the company.

Still, overall, it was a fair enough article, and we're glad to see the story begin to break into some of the "corporate media". And there will be more to come...

Zetter has written a number of articles for Wired debunking, or otherwise disputing electoral malfeasance or irregularities in the 2004 election, so her generally positive coverage of Curtis' story is also notable despite missed notice of the Yeng Attorney's direct connection to Feeney.

CONTACT: Kim Zetter, Wired Magazine

Sunday, December 12, 2004

OHIO GROUNDWAR CONTINUES TO HEAT UP!

· Kerry Sends Letter to Elections Boards with Specific Requests!

Following our previous report on momentum building in Ohio and U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearings that will be held there tomorrow...

Two reports right now out of Ohio media outlets confirm what has been buzzing on the net over the last several hours.

According to the reports, an attorney representing John Kerry has sent a letter to all 88 Elections Boards in Ohio requesting that his team be allowed to inspect the 92,000 ballots which recorded no vote for President!

The letter also reportedly contains 11 other requests for election officials regarding the recount in the Buckeye State set to take place this week. UPDATE: Full text of Kerry Letter here.

The Ohio News Network (ONN) report is here.
WBNS-10TV report is here.
UPDATE: NY Times picks up AP feed on this story.

The reports come on the heels of speculation growing around a lawsuit said to be filed Monday morning by attorney Cliff Arnebeck on behalf of a voters alliance in Ohio asking the Ohio Supreme Court to set aside the results in that state due to massive fraud and/or error.

Arnebeck has been quoted on media outlets, such as Air America Radio, in recent days suggesting that he will be including evidence in his suit to show that John Kerry may have actually won the Ohio election as well as the national popular vote.

...DEVELOPING...

5+ Weeks Later 'LA Times' Reports Election Problems!

The BRAD BLOG proudly welcomes The Los Angeles Times into the reality-based community!

Today, some five weeks after one of the most questionable national elections in U.S. history and the day before the Electoral College is to meet, the paper is finally bothering to report that there may have been some problems.

OHIO GROUNDWAR HEATS UP!

· Conyers Issues Blackwell Alert!
· Accusations of "Stonewalling", Wonders if they are "trying to hide" something!
· PLUS: Arnebeck Summons Curtis to Buckeye State!
· Events Now Moving Very Quickly on the Ground!


The office of Congressman John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, has just rushed an alert out to the media in regards to recount efforts on the ground in Ohio. The release quotes Conyers as asking publicly if Ohio election officials are now attempting to hide information and accuses them of "stonewall[ing]" Judiciary Committee member's "search for truth"!

"We have now repeatedly seen election officials obstruct and stonewall this search for the truth," Conyers says in the release, adding "I am beginning to wonder what it is they are trying to hide." [emphasis added]

The Press Release, just issued, headlined "Conyers Alarmed at Efforts to Obstruct Ohio Recount Effort, Calls Witness to Monday Hearing to Detail Such Efforts", outlines the troubling reports, discussed here yesterday, of Ohio Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell (also Co-Chair of the Ohio Bush/Cheney Re-Elect Committee!) reportedly attempting to obstruct efforts by Green/Libertarian Recount Volunteers in Ohio over the last several days.

Conyers, on behalf of Judiciary Committee Dems had previously announced on Friday that hearings would be held on Monday at the Ohio State Capitol Building on these matters. The location for those hearings was abruptly moved to the Columbus City Council after, Judiciary sources told The BRAD BLOG, "republican leaders in Ohio got word of the meeting and denied the request for a room" in the state capitol building.

From today's Press Release...

Yesterday, it came to the attention of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff that efforts to audit poll records in Greene County, Ohio are being obstructed by County Election officials and/or Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. According to Joan Quinn and Eve Robertson, two election observers researching voting records, Greene County officials initially gave Quinn and Robertson access to poll records, and then abruptly withdrew such access. Greene County Director of Elections Carole Garman claimed that she had withdrawn access to the voting records at the direction of Secretary Blackwell. Regardless of who ordered the denial of this access, such an action appears to violate Ohio law. Later, at the same office, election observers found the office unlocked, and what appeared to be locked ballot boxes, unattended. Prior to the withdrawal of access to the books, observers had found discrepancies in election records, and possible evidence of minority vote suppression.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats wrote a letter to Blackwell on December 2 requesting answers to 34 questions about election irregularities and fraud in Ohio. This letter included questions about major discrepancies in Perry County poll books. Since that letter, additional documentation has been provided to the Democratic staff demonstrating similar problems in other counties.

Because of the urgency of the Greene County matter, Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, has requested that Ms. Quinn testify at a hearing scheduled Monday in Columbus, Ohio. Ms. Quinn has agreed to do so and will also present sworn statements from corroborating witnesses. Conyers issued the following statement:

"The Recount effort is simply a search for the truth of what happened during the 2004 Presidential election in Ohio. We have now repeatedly seen election officials obstruct and stonewall this search for the truth. I am beginning to wonder what it is they are trying to hide."


As tomorrow's scheduled date for the Electoral College to cast their votes for U.S. President approaches, the Judiciary Committee hearings and other gatherings by various election-recount groups in Ohio are gaining much momentum.

Cliff Arnebeck, the attorney who is said to be filing a suit with the Ohio Supreme court this week to have the Ohio election results completely set aside, has spoken recently with Clint Curtis and has asked him to come to Ohio immediately to testify in regards to possible vote fraud in Election 2004.

Curtis is the Florida computer programmer who gained national attention this week after The BRAD BLOG revealed his stunning affidavit claiming that he was asked by Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) to create a "vote-rigging software prototype" while an employee at Yang Enterprises, Inc. in Oviedo, FL (Feeney's home district) back in October of 2000.

His story was revealed in a BRAD BLOG "Exclusive" originally published here at the beginning of last week.

YEI, and their "outside general counsel" (the former lawfirm of Congressman Feeney) have since issued two terse statements dismissing Curtis' charges.

...ALL STILL DEVELOPING...HARD...

UPDATE: Kerry letter sent to Ohio Elections Boards! Details...

Saturday, December 11, 2004

E-TV: Yang Attorneys Claim No Wrong Doing in Feeney/Curtis 'Vote-Rigging' Charges!

Statement Made by Fowler & O'Quinn - Feeney's Old Law Firm!
...BRAD BLOG connects the dots and follows the money...

Yesterday we reported that Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) had issued a terse -- yet patriotic -- statement on their website in regard to Clint Curtis' allegations (first reported here) that YEI had colluded with U.S. Congressman Tom Feeney (then a Florida Legislator, Speaker of the House, as well as YEI Corporate Counsel and registered lobbyist) to create a "vote-rigging software prototype" at Feeney's request in 2000.

This was the text posted yesterday on the YEI website...

Recently there have been several accusations against this corporation by Clinton Eugene Curtis. All of the allegations are 100% FALSE!! An official statement will be forthcoming. Thank you for your concern and God Bless America.

Curtis has also alleged malfeasance by YEI and their CEO, Mrs. Li-Woan Yang concerning the shipping of secrets to China from Yang, over-billing to the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT), and the employement of an illegal-alien, Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Nee) who, Curtis charges, added added "wiretapping routines" to software that YEI created for NASA and FDOT among others.

This morning, Elites TV announced that they had received the following statement from Michael A. O'Quinn, Esquire of Fowler & O'Quinn, P. A. representing himself as "outside general counsel" for YEI.

Here's O'Quinn's statement, in total, as reported by Elite TV:

Dear Sir or Madam,

As outside general counsel to Yang Enterprises, Inc., please be advised that Yang Enterprises, Inc.'s response to the allegations of Mr. Curtis is as follows:

(1) Mr. Curtis's allegations are categorically false; and

(2) Mr. Curtis is a disgruntled former employee trying to harm a former employer by lying and making false allegations.

Thank you,

Michael A. O'Quinn, Esquire
Fowler & O'Quinn, P. A.
28 W. Central Boulevard
Orlando, Florida 32801

As The BRAD BLOG has previously noted, there seems to be no basis currently known for O'Quinn/YEI's "disgruntled former employee" charge.

Curtis has told us, and we have confirmed with several additional sources, that he was not fired by YEI, but rather submitted his resignation effective December 2000.

Afterwards, YEI then asked Curtis to stay on until a permanent replacement could be found. One was soon found, but he reportedly quit the same day and Curtis ended up staying at YEI for another six weeks past his original resignation date.

As well, a "Farewell Party" was reportedly thrown by YEI for Curtis upon his leaving! We hope to report more details and related evidence for that soon.

The BRAD BLOG has also reviewed email, supplied by Curtis, purportedly sent to him by several YEI employees -- including Mike Cohen, Mrs. Yang's executive secretary who was, with Mrs. Yang, said to have been present during the now infamous October 2000 meeting where Feeney allegedly described the "vote-rigging software" that he was seeking. Several of those notes indicate that Curtis was missed by company employees after he left YEI.

One note, purportedly from Hai Lin "Henry" Nee -- who Curtis has charged in his affidavit as being an illegal-alien employed by YEI and having included "wiretapping routines" into software for NASA and FDOT -- shows that he was missed at the compnay.

That note from Nee, apparently sent on April 15, 2001, just a few weeks after Curtis had finally left YEI, includes the following:

Fernando keeps adding boxes to the alerady [sic] very crowded PE screen, it is really killing us, may be you should come back and save us, ha ha ha.

Best regards,

Henry

The BRAD BLOG will have more to report on Mr. Nee in the coming days.

As to the lawfirm of Fowler & O'Quinn P. A. -- YEI's "outside general counsel" who issued the statement reported by Elites TV this morning, it seems that they are the lawfirm previously known as "Fowler, Barice, Feeney, & O'Quinn P. A."! That's right, Tom Feeney's old lawfirm where he served as a partner at the time he represented YEI as corporate attorney and registered lobbyist!

Furthermore, a quick spin through Tom Feeney's page at CampaignMoney.com reveals that Quinn is a campaign contributor to Feeney!

Michael A. O'Quinn, attorney of Fowler & O'Quinn P.A. is listed by CampaignMoney.com as having given $1,500 on 11/19/03 to Mr. Feeney's campaign.

Not uninterestingly, that contribution is listed just above another one on the same page as being from Tyng Lin Yang, Yang Enterprises Inc./president who gave Feeney $1,250 on 6/23/03.

His wife, Mrs. Li-Woan Yang, CEO of Yang Enterprises Inc., present at "the meeting" is also listed as having given $2,000 to Feeney's campaign on 9/5/03 and another $2,000 on 3/23/04.

Tom Feeney ran unopposed for Florida's 24th Congressional district in the November 2nd, 2004 election.

YES...IT'S STILL DEVELOPING...