Tom Feeney, Calls for Florida Photo ID
Op/Eds Against 'Voter Fraud"
In order to support his latest Election Reform bill in the U.S. House of
Representative, Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) wrote an Op/Ed in this week's Orlando
Sentinel.
The one-time speaker of the Florida Senate and unsuccessful gubernatorial
running-mate to Jeb Bush in 1994, continues his anti-American, un-democractic
assault on American Voters.
His latest sham bill calls for the requirement of a national photo ID card
at all polling places. That, despite a U.S. Federal Court ruling just this
past week which found Georgia's similar requirement for a state-wide Photo ID
to be unconstitutional and amounting to no more than a "modern day poll tax."
Feeney, however, doesn't care. He is, after all, the man accused by Florida
software programmer Clint Curtis of having sought to create vote-rigging
software at the Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) firm back when Feeney was speaker
of the Florida Senate and -- at the same time -- general counsel to and
registered lobbyist for YEI.
Curtis has filed a sworn affidavit to that effect, given sworn video-taped
testimony before members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, and
successfully passed a polygraph test in relation to all of the above.
Feeney, on the other hand, has demonstrably and repeatedly lied about his
connections to both YEI and Clint Curtis. (see
_http://www.BradBlog.com/ClintCurtis.htm_
(http://www.BradBlog.com/ClintCurtis.htm) for Curtis' sworn
affidavit and video-taped congressional testimony, along with reams of
documented evidence in support of his claims.)
And now, Feeney, in an attempt to shut out the more than 10 million Elderly,
Minority and Poor (read: Democratic-leaning) voters in America who would be
disenfranchised by the new already-proven unconstitutional measure that
Feeney is calling for, is using phony numbers and scare tactics concerning the
relatively minor issue of "Voter Fraud" to smoke-screen the very real and
massive Election Fraud and Disenfranchisment occuring in America.
A recent study by the non-partisan League of Women's Voters in Ohio found no
more than 4 cases of Voter Fraud amongst more than 9 million votes cast in
the last two National Elections there. The authors of the Photo ID requirement
bill in the state of Georgia were unable to cite a single case of "Voter
Fraud" in the state that would have been avoided by their new unconstitutional
measure.
But this won't stop Tom Feeney on his Anti-American, Anti-democratic march
to ensure that millions of Democratic-leaning voters should be shut out from
the polling place all together in future American elections.
His cynical, unconstitutional and regrettable ploy is just the next step to
ensure that real Electoral Reform -- the type that calls for Paper Ballots to
be the Ballot of Record for every vote cast in America and transparent,
verifiable, auditable software and hardware in Voting Machines -- will never
see the light of day in the U.S. Congress.
Congressman Rush Holt's (D-NJ) bill (H.R. 550) which calls for real
Electoral Reform, has been languishing for years under Feeney's nose with more
than 100 bi-partisan co-sponsors. Yet Feeney has no interest in helping that bill
move forward since it might actually help create an Electoral System that
Americans can have confidence in again.
Instead, Feeney's real hopes are revealed in the final line of his Op/Ed in
which he says:
"My hope is that these common-sense measures will restore faith in the
electoral system and, more important, American perception that our elections
are a fair and true reflection of the will of the people."
For Feeney, the "perception" by Americans of "fair and true" elections far
outweighs the need for elections that actually are "fair and true." His track
record in Florida for supporting "Exclusion Lists", suppression at the polls
by police presence, disinterest in the actual intention of Florida voters
wishes, and now his latest call for unconstitutional disenfranchisment of
voters more than reveals Feeney's true intentions.
From the man who called, in 2000, for Florida's Electors to be given to
George W. Bush no matter what Sunshine State voters and the U.S. Supreme Court
decided, it's little surprise that he would attempt to once again pull the wool
over America's eyes in his seemingly never-ending attempt to ensure that
Republican Power Brokers -- as opposed to American Voters -- actually determine
the outcome of future American elections.
Shame on you, Congressman. It's time to call for real Election Reform. The
American people have been fooled and have seen their will thwarted by the
shenanigans of your party too many times already. Enough is enough. We won't be
fooled again.