"Weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm..."
from Bush-Cheney campaign ad "Wolves"
The Ohio election is finally behind us. Now that Bush has been sworn in, I have stopped actively following events in Ohio. Like millions of other Americans, I still believe that in 2004, our democracy was raped in broad daylight. And not just by Bush and his henchmen. It was a bipartisan gang-bang.
Although we focused on the state of Ohio, it could have been another state. The election in New Mexico, for example, was a cesspool of dirty tricks. At first, I was perplexed that Democratic Governor Bill Richardson resolutely stonewalled the recount effort in his state even after personal appeals by Kerry and McAuliffe to allow it. But people on the ground in New Mexico tell me there's plenty of evidence pointing to fraud in down-ticket races. Those are the ones that allegedly could embarrass Richardson. Well, that's all behind us now. We'll continue to work hard for electoral reform but now the battleground is Congress and our own districts, not Ohio.
Or so it seemed until January 18th.
Remember the Bush-Cheney TV ad that showed a pack of wolves moving in menacingly toward the viewer as the announcer intones about the danger of leaving America defenseless from attack?
Well, it turns out that ad was prescient. Right now, within our borders, there's a pack of wolves circling stealthily, "waiting to do America harm." They have sized up their chosen victims, who appear to be isolated and defenseless. The wolves have already signaled they are ready to move in.
On January 18, Republican Attorney General Jim Petro asked the Ohio Supreme Court to sanction and fine the four courageous attorneys who filed the Moss v. Bush lawsuit: Robert Fitrakis, Susan Truitt, Cliff Arnebeck, and Peter Peckarsky. Two days later, he did the same for the other lawsuit, Moss v. Moyer. His charge? That the four lawyers had filed "frivolous " lawsuits which lacked evidence of any voting problems in Ohio.
Petro's action was especially vicious and threatening, since it was filed against each of the lawyers personally meaning that if the defendants lose, the penalties could go beyond professional sanctions. The defendants could even lose their personal assets, such as their homes.
It is clear that these wolves are eager to eviscerate their victims. They have waited in the shadows until public attention on the Ohio elections has ebbed. They think no one is watching, and that these four lawyers, who defended our right to vote, are now isolated, forgotten, and defenseless.
They intend to teach us a lesson. To teach us to fear our government. To remain silent as our rights are taken away. To submit.
Well, fuck that shit. We're not gonna submit, assholes.
We're gonna help these guys mount a defense that will put tire tracks in Jim Petro's boxer shorts. Because by attempting to use OUR courts and OUR legal system to harass and intimidate these lawyers, they have inadvertently opened up the Pandora's box they most feared. Because now, for the first time, these lawyers can bring in ALL the evidence that they were not allowed to enter into the public record before.
The court says there's no evidence? WE'LL GIVE THEM EVIDENCE. Big time.
What's more, we finally get to ask some questions while we're at it. Because the lawyers are defending themselves, they naturally have the right to discovery i.e., asking people questions under oath.
Remember how Blackwell was so afraid of testifying that he asked for a protective order to avoid answering questions?
It will be interesting to see these wolves turn tail and try to hide. But with subpoena power, they may find themselves howling on the witness stand, after all.
The lawyers need our help.
Update [2005-1-28 10:5:15 by Sycamore]:
See also new diary by concernedamerican:
McCARTHYISM IN OHIO: SB 24, Ohio law to muzzle "liberals"
"It is a law that seems innocuous enough in its title: The "Academic Bill of Rights for Higher Education." And yet when you begin reading the provisions of the bill, you see that one of its express intentions is to muzzle freedom of inquiry on the part of "liberal" professors in the higher education institutions of Ohio. McCarthyism redux. (more...) "
By coincidence, it happens that Bob Fitrakis is a professor in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Department at Columbus State Community College.
He's also a community activist, journalist and editor of The Free Press. It's safe to assume he is not getting money under the table as a shil for the White House.
So if he is going to get help, it will be from us.
You can help by donating and by calling or writing
Attorney General Petro to denounce using the courts for political attacks.
The four attorneys have promised to bring "a wheelbarrow full of evidence" about voting irregularities to court, but they need our help to make that happen. They need $28,000 by February 4th to pay for photocopying (including 20 copies of thousands of pages of evidence), for attorneys, paralegals to help prepare the mountain of evidence, expert witnesses, phone and other communications costs, travel, research, and developing exhibits (as in, poster-sized charts and graphs that Kenneth Blackwell doesn't want you to see).
To donate, go to http://freepress.org/store.php#donate and give to the Ohio Sanctions Defense Fund)
There is also a detailed and thoughtful diary by Grain of Sand describing the case background and the legal issues.
P.S. Real wolves are not vicious or evil. This diary refers exclusively to the use of wolves to symbolize "danger" in the advertizing propaganda produced by the Bush-Cheney campaign ad, "Wolves".