Whistleblower Charged With Three Felonies for Exposing Diebold's Crimes

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Tue, 7 Mar 2006 11:35:34 -0600

[GranniesAgainstGeorge] Whistleblower Charged With Three

Felonies for Exposing Diebold's Crimes

 

 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-soby-jr/whistleblower-charged-wit_b_16411.ht\

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Whistleblower Charged With Three Felonies for Exposing Diebold's Crimes

 

 

A whistleblower in Los Angeles is in legal trouble and needs our help.

Stephen Heller is alleged to have exposed documents in Jan. & Feb.

2004 which provided smoking gun evidence that Diebold was using

illegal, uncertified software in California voting machines. The docs

also showed that Diebold's California attorneys (the powerful

international law firm Jones Day) had told them they were in breach of

the law for using uncertified software, but Diebold continued to use

the uncertified software anyway.

 

Heller is alleged to have come across these docs while temping as a

word processor at Jones Day, and he is further alleged to have taken

the docs and exposed them to the bright light of day. Now, after

sitting on this for 2 years, the Los Angeles District Attorney, under

pressure from Jones Day, is going after this whistleblower with 3

felony charges, each of which carries the potential of time in state

prison. Here is a story in the LA Times. Heller's lawyer believes the

2 year wait to file charges was due to the then-impending 2004

election, and that Diebold and their attorneys didn't want the

information to be made public in the lead up to the election.

 

The documents also look bad for Diebold's California lawyers, Jones

Day. According to Bev Harris, author of the book Black Box Voting, the

docs " provided evidence that the Jones Day law firm was helping

Diebold to cover up the fact that they were installing uncertified

software which, as it turns out, caused thousands of voters to be

unable to vote just weeks later. "

 

Bev Harris continues, " Jim March, another investigator for Black Box

Voting, and I immediately took the documents to both the California

Attorney General's office and to Kevin Shelley, who was then the

California Secretary of State. Just days later, the secretary of state

decertified Diebold. " At the time, Shelley called the company's

conduct " reprehensible " and said " their performance, their behavior,

is despicable, " and that " if that's the kind of deceitful behavior

they're going to engage in, they can't do business in California. " In

an interview, Shelly said " We will not tolerate the deceitful conduct

of Diebold, and we must send a clear message to the rest of the

industry: Don't try to pull a fast one on the voters of California. "

Shelley then requested Cal. Attorney General Bill Lockyer to

investigate taking criminal and civil actions against the company

based on what he called " fraudulent actions by Diebold. " Lockyer

eventually dropped the criminal probe of Diebold but he sued the

company on behalf of California, and Diebold settled out of court for

$2.6 million.

 

Let's make this clear, folks. The docs Heller is accused of exposing

were important evidence. First, they show that Diebold and their

attorneys, Jones Day, conspired to mislead the California secretary of

state, and that the lie they told was material, and resulted directly

in the disenfranchisement of voters. Second, another document

demonstrates that Diebold lied to the secretary of state when it

represented that certain problems with its software were " fixed. " This

document, the release notes for the new software, showed that the

problems were not fixed. Third, the documents showed that Diebold had

been advised by Jones Day that what it had been doing with its

uncertified software was illegal. Fourth, the documents show that

Jones Day advised Diebold that it was subject to criminal prosecution.

So in a nutshell, Diebold was defrauding the state government and

taxpayers of California, and disenfranchising the voters of

California. And the documents PROVE it.

 

And for allegedly exposing Diebold's felonious behavior (which led

directly to Diebold being de-certified in California), for allegedly

helping protect the taxpayers and voters of California, for allegedly

helping to keep elections clean and fair, what happens? Diebold, the

true criminal in this case, and their powerful international law firm

Jones Day, press the L.A. District Attorney's office to hammer Heller,

a whistleblower. Three felonies! Diebold was (and probably still is)

screwing California voters, Heller is alleged to have seen the smoking

gun evidence of Diebold's crimes, and, like a true patriot and

whistleblower, allegedly exposed that smoking gun evidence, and now

HE'S the one facing jail time. Only in Bush's America!

 

And the irony is, if Heller is convicted of a felony for exposing

Diebold's crimes against the California voters, he'll lose his right

to vote. Diebold will win. We can't let that happen!

 

But we can help. Let's flood the Los Angeles DA's office with phone

calls, letters and emails asking them not to crucify this whistleblower.

 

Now of course, BE POLITE. Remember you are writing, calling and

emailing the office of the Los Angeles District Attorney, which is a

branch of law enforcement. Being harassing, rude, or threatening will

only get you in legal trouble of your own, and it won't help Steve

Heller, the whistleblower.

 

Talking points:

 

Don't prosecute Stephen Heller. He's a whistleblower, not a

criminal, and he should not be prosecuted.

 

Diebold is the criminal here. Stephen Heller is alleged to have

exposed Diebold's criminal activity, and that makes him a

whistleblower. He should not be prosecuted.

 

Diebold's election malfeasance strikes at the very heart of our

democratic republic. Without clean elections, we don't have democracy

anymore. Those who expose such crimes are whistleblowers and should

not be prosecuted.

 

America has a long history of whistleblowers exposing criminal

activity, and prosecuting them is wrong; it puts a chilling effect on

others who might see criminal activity and want to expose it.

 

Heller is getting pounded. He's the victim of bullies; a huge,

powerful, wealthy, politically connected corporation and their equally

huge and powerful international law firm are slamming him, grinding

him up in legal machinery for allegedly lifting up the pretty skirt

Diebold shows to the world, exposing the dirty, stinking criminal

secrets that lie beneath. For what he's alleged to have done, there

was nothing in it for him. No financial gain (in fact a serious

financial loss, because he got fired from his job, and he's had to pay

10s of thousands of dollars to his lawyers, and owes them 10s of

thousands more). And he's now at risk of over 3 years in state prison.

It's insane. His cause is a worthy one, and he needs our help. Please

call, write and email today.

 

Email the Los Angeles District Attorney's office at lada.

 

A good old fashioned snail mail letter is very powerful tool:

 

District Attorney's Office

County of Los Angeles

210 West Temple Street, Suite 18000

Los Angeles, CA 90012-3210

 

And of course, phone calls:

 

Telephone (213) 974-3512

Fax (213) 974-1484

TTY (800) 457-7778 (8:30am - 5:00pm M-F)

 

Let's help defend a whistleblower from Diebold and their attorneys!

 

 

 

Just wait till Jesus gets his hands on you, you little bastard.....

Abbie Hoffman

 

 

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