Four Years Later, Are We Ready?

[Guest guest]

The Progress Report

 

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

..SEPTEMBER 16, 2004

ELECTIONS Four Years Later, Are We Ready?

HOMELAND SECURITY Not Walking the Walk

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

 

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ELECTIONS

Four Years Later, Are We Ready?

 

After the debacle that was the 2000 election process, Congress passed

the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to " help prevent a replay of the

Florida punch card-counting embarrassment that left many Americans

wondering about the reliability of our voting system. " Underfunding

and ongoing political machinations, however, have left election reform

gridlocked. Ongoing problems: although HAVA authorized the government

to spend up to $3.9 billion over three years on new voting equipment,

states have thus far received less than half of that. The law requires

every state to create a computerized database of all registered

voters; today forty states have been able to bypass this requirement,

having been granted waivers of their obligation until 2006. And

although, as the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project reports, " punch

cards have the highest rate of unmarked, uncounted and spoiled ballots

over the last four presidential elections, " 32 million voters still

live in jurisdictions that will use those very same punch card ballots.

 

ASHCROFT'S COUP: Watching over voter integrity is the job of Attorney

General John Ashcroft and lawyers in the Justice Department. A new

article in the New Yorker asks, " Is the Justice Department poised to

stop voter fraud—or to keep voters from voting? " One looming issue:

under Ashcroft, the method of hiring lawyers has changed. In the past,

Justice Department lawyers were supposed to be apolitical, hired to

spend their careers in government. The hiring program, known as the

Attorney General's Honors Program, was run by other mid-level career

officials known for their political independence. No more. In 2002,

Ashcroft changed the system, putting political appointees in charge.

Now, " lawyers inside and outside the department say that the change in

the Honors Program has already had an effect, especially in

politically sensitive places like the Voting Section. "

 

VALID VOTERS STRUCK FROM ROLLS: Florida is one of only seven states in

the union which denies former felons the right to vote, even after

they've completed their sentences. In 2000, the state hired an outside

contractor to implement a " felon list. " Riddled with errors, this list

struck thousands of innocent voters from the rolls. Lessons have not

been learned. This past May, the Florida Division of Elections quietly

distributed a brand-new purge list for the upcoming election. The

outgoing head of the division, Ed Kast, sent a memo to election

supervisors on May 12, 2004, detailing how to keep the list out of the

hands of advocacy groups that wanted to double check the names,

" citing statutes about the privacy of voter registration information

and the will of the legislature – even though nothing in the law

prevents the same information from going to political candidates to

further their campaigns. " Later that month, after CNN filed suit to

gain access to the rolls, they found the new list wrongly included

thousands of eligible voters and " heavily targeted African-Americans –

who traditionally vote Democrat – while " virtually ignoring Hispanic

voters " – who, in Florida, are often more likely to check the box next

to GOP names.

 

ACCENTURE-ATE THE NEGATIVE: After the felon list fiasco in 2000, the

Florida legislature mandated that no outside vendor perform that kind

of work for the state again. The new Florida purge list, however, was

put together with help from Accenture. Accenture, formerly the

consulting division of Arthur Andersen, " has contributed $25,000 to

Republicans in Florida. The company is currently the subject of a

Department of Justice investigation for possible violation of the

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans bribing foreign officials. "

(In 2001, the company, which was paid $1.6 million for its work on

Florida elections, skipped town and relocated to Bermuda to avoid

paying U.S. taxes.)

 

THE RIGHT TO VOTE IS TOO PRICEY: Republican state Senator Anna Cowin,

head of the Florida Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, keeps

shooting down proposals from black lawmakers to come up with

legislation to restore voting rights to former felons. In the October

2004 issue of Vanity Fair, she explains why: " It makes elections very

expensive...because you have all these thousands and thousands of

people – I mean tens of thousands of people – to send literature

to…The people don't come to vote, anyway. "

 

PLAYING POLITICS WITH THE POLLS: The election system is still rife

with political maneuverings. In Florida this week, the Division of

Elections Director Dawn Roberts steamrolled over an injunction

preventing Ralph Nader from appearing on the Florida ballot, directing

67 county voting supervisors to put his name on overseas absentee

ballots. (Her excuse? Hurricane Ivan.) A Florida judge ordered

election officials to abide by the injunction until the case is heard

by the Florida Supreme Court this Friday.

 

UNDER INVESTIGATION: According to The New York Times, the Pentagon has

contracted the handling of overseas ballots to a firm, Omega

Technologies Inc., which has had been in trouble in the past for shady

business dealings. " In 2002, a resort in Nashville, Gaylord Opryland,

accused Omega of failing to pay a bill for $136,187 that the company

had incurred in running an Army symposium at the resort. In its

lawsuit, Gaylord said the Omega president, Patricia A. Williams,

falsely said the payment had been sent and on one occasion provided a

fictitious Federal Express package tracking number. Gaylord also said

Ms. Williams sent a $50,000 check that bounced. "

 

HOMELAND SECURITY

Not Walking the Walk

 

On homeland security issues, conservatives in Congress talk a good

game. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said yesterday that

" our highest responsibility is to the safety and security of the

American people. " But this week in the Senate, in a series of votes on

the 2005 spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security,

conservatives showed their true colors. While conservatives, including

Frist, have eagerly spent more than $135 billion for the security of

Iraq, they refused to support modest increases in funding for vital

homeland security needs in the United States, including: $300 million

dollars for port security, $146 million for firefighters, $70 million

to track shipments of hazardous materials, $50 million for more

federal Air Marshals, $70 million to secure chemical plants and $350

million to improve security at points of entry into the United States.

American Progress has more details on critical homeland security

funding that was thwarted this week by conservatives in Congress.

 

POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS STILL CAN'T COMMUNICATE: The Christian Science

Monitor reports that three years after 9/11, " the goal of compatible

and adequate communications among the nation's first responders is

nearly as remote as ever. " Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal

Communication Commission, " is opting for a hands-off approach by

encouraging the private sector to take the initiative in ensuring

preparedness in an emergency. " Efforts to devote a small portion of

the broadcast spectrum to first responders are being opposed by

lobbyists from the National Association of Broadcasters. This week,

the Senate leadership killed an amendment to spend $70 million on

systems that allow real-time communication between state and local

first responders.

 

SECURITY OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS UNCERTAIN: A report issued Wednesday

by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission (NRC) " is not yet in a position to provide an

independent determination that each plant has taken reasonable and

appropriate steps " to protect against security threats. Safety plans

that have been provided to the NRC by nuclear power plant operators do

not yet contain basic information " such as where responding guards are

stationed. " Nevertheless, the NRC " does not plan to make some

improvements in its inspection program that GAO previously recommended

and still believes are needed. " This includes recommendations such as

" following up to verify that all violations of security requirements

have been corrected. " Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and the

Department of Homeland Security continue to warn " that al Qaeda

remains interested in targeting nuclear plants. "

 

CHEMICAL PLANT SECURITY GETS AN F: Sen. Charles Schumer issued a

report card on the nation's homeland security policy, awarding

America's chemical plant security policy an " F. " Schumer notes that

" there are 112 hazardous material facilities where the release of

chemicals could threaten more than 1 million people. " Nevertheless,

" security at these plants remains lax and no federal security

standards govern these facilities. " Other areas of high concern: train

and subway security (D), truck security (D), and port security (D+).

Also check out American Progress' report card on America's security

three years after 9/11.

 

Under the Radar

 

INTELLIGENCE – COSMETIC GAMESMANSHIP: The New York Times editorial

page this morning criticized the " cosmetic gamesmanship " currently

underway in the Senate with the confirmation of Porter Goss as the

lame-duck director of central intelligence. One: Congress is smack in

the middle of changing the job drastically. " Once President Bush

finally endorsed the creation of a national intelligence director,

with authority over the Central Intelligence Agency and a dozen other

intelligence organs, " the Times writes, " he should have dropped the

Goss appointment. " Two: Goss is too political, a " Florida Republican

who has already played election-year politics by mischaracterizing the

intelligence record of Senator John Kerry. " And three: Goss himself,

as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is a " key player in

the dysfunctional Congressional oversight that the panel found to be a

critical factor in the nation's intelligence failures. " The editorial

ends with this bit of advice: " If Mr. Bush is serious about

intelligence reform, he should shelve Mr. Goss's appointment and let

Congress do its job. "

 

HEALTH – SCHOOLS SMARTEN UP: Some of the nation's schools are headed

for an A+ when it comes to school lunches. AP reports, " a small but

growing number of schools are turning to organic food as a way to

improve children's health and fight obesity. " At Lincoln Elementary in

Olympia, WA, " the school's organic salad bar has proven so popular -

and surprisingly economical - that all Olympia grade schools now have

one. " Other schools are jumping on the healthy bandwagon: " California

school districts in Berkeley, Santa Monica, and Palo Alto have organic

food programs. And through a program sponsored by the organic yogurt

company Stonyfield Farm, schools in Rhode Island, California,

Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and Connecticut have or are

getting new vending machines stocked with all-organic treats. "

 

IRAQ – NIE ISSUES BLEAK ASSESSMENT: Senators from both parties,

including the two top Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations

Committee, " accused the Bush administration Wednesday of incompetence

in its efforts to rebuild Iraq and said the United States could lose

the war unless it improves security and gets more money into the Iraqi

economy. " The criticism comes as The New York Times reports, " A

classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) prepared for President

Bush in late July spells out a dark assessment of prospects for Iraq. "

The estimate " outlines three possibilities for Iraq through the end of

2005, with the worst case being developments that could lead to civil

war, " according to government officials. " The most favorable outcome

described is an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in

political, economic and security terms. " The report's pessimistic

conclusions were reached " even before the recent worsening of the

security situation in Iraq, which has included a sharp increase in

attacks on American troops and in deaths of Iraqi civilians as well as

resistance fighters. "

 

SECRECY – GOP KEEPS SECRET TASK FORCE SECRET: Led by House Energy and

Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), " Republicans on a House

committee squelched a Democratic attempt on Wednesday to seek

information on Vice President Cheney's energy task force, in a rowdy

session punctuated by cries of 'Shame!' from Democrats. " On a party

line vote, " the panel voted down the Democratic motion for the

committee to ask the White House for the names of members and other

information about the 2001 task force that formulated energy policy. "

There has been no official investigation into industry influence on

the administration's proposed energy policy, even though Cheney

acknowledges meeting with Enron executives and the Government

Accountability Office has suggested the legislation was shaped by

corporate executives from the petroleum, electricity, nuclear, coal,

chemical and natural gas companies, among others.

 

MEDIA – FAIR AND BALANCED ANONYMOUS ATTACKS: According to Media Tenor,

a non-partisan media monitoring organization, " While reporting on the

controversy surrounding John Kerry's military service in August,

Special Report with Brit Hume on Fox News relied on a greater number

of anonymous sources than ABC, CBS and NBC in their evening news

broadcasts. At the same time, the overall tone of the coverage of this

issue was more negative on Fox than on the networks. " Statistically,

Fox featured 40.5 percent negative stories on Kerry's military

service, compared to 33.7 percent on network news. Overall, a Media

Tenor graph shows that in August, major news networks carried more

than three times as many stories about Kerry's military service than

they did about any other political subject.

 

 

DAILY TALKING POINTS: The Right to Vote Under Assault in 2004

 

MILITARY: Sign up now: American Progress co-sponsors an event on

transforming the Army Reserve for the 21st century.

 

NUCLEAR: America's nuclear power plants are still vulnerable to attack.

 

IRAQ: Time Magazine says things are getting worse.

 

ABU GHRAIB: The New York Review of Books reports on the latest

investigations of Abu Ghraib.

DAILY GRILL

 

" Our highest responsibility is to the safety and security of the

American people. "

 

- Sen. Bill Frist, 9/15/04

 

VERSUS

 

Conservatives in Congress this week killed a series of proposed

amendments to the Homeland Security spending bill, including funding

increases to secure ports, airports, borders, chemical plants and

rails, as well as to train and equip firefighters and other emergency

responders.

 

- American Progress, 9/16/04

DAILY OUTRAGE

 

House Republican leaders are moving forward with plans to pass

legislation that would strip courts of their jurisdiction to review

cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance. The action fulfills House

Majority Leader Tom DeLay's (R-TX) pledge that Republicans would use

the tactic of " jurisdiction stripping " to achieve social policy goals.

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