Posted by
Rich on Thursday, February 07, 2008 9:59:21 AM
The results are in and and Government Accounting Office (GAO) states, "the results of these [GAO] tests did not identify any problems that would indicate that the iVotronic DREs were responsible for the undervote in the Florida - 13 race in the 2006 General election."
This final report from the GAO stops the effort by Christine Jennings to steal the election and gives Sarasota voters a victory.
So, who are the losers?
Christine Jennings for her un-democratic attempt to steal an election for personal gain. She loses on several levels: character, personal and public responsibility, but most of all she has lost our trust to be a public official. Who could possibly vote for a liar, tax dodger and poor loser?
The Democratic National Campaign Committee and the Democratic controlled Congress, which tried by political fiat to steal the election from the voters of Florida. Their effort to have the Congress overturn the results went down in flames with the GAO report. Particularly egregious is the statement by Kyra Jennings that, "it was never about who won or lost". Of course it was. It was not about changing voting machines in Sarasota because the issue of going to a paper based voting system was on the same ballot as the District 13 race. It was all political.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, its editorial board and Jeremy Wallace lost their bid to get the election overturned and with it their credibility. For the past year they have consistently raised the issue of the "undervotes" and assumed that it was machine error and not the people speaking. They were wrong from the beginning, they made matters worse by continually raising the issue and they misled the public even after tests of the voting machines by Kathy Dent, the state of Florida and outside experts showed no machine errors. They started the conspiracy theory, were complicit in furthering the myth and deserve all of our scorn for not trusting the results of the election. I call on the entire editorial board and Jeremy Wallace to print a letter of apology to Sarasota and Congressman Buchanan on the front page of the Herald-Tribune.
The taxpayers are perhaps the biggest losers. We lost millions of dollars in money spent by our Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent, the Florida Department of Elections and Congress. Jennings started this wild goose chase, she should be made to repay the taxpayers. We can't recoup the money but we can reject her at the ballot box. Every vote cast against Jennings is a dollar recovered in my mind.
Who are the winners!
The voters of Sarasota who were vindicated. The results of the District 13 election were correct in November 2006. The people spoke and will again in November 2008.
Kathy Dent is a big winner. She withstood the pressures of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the national media, the Congress and Jenning's lawyers. She showed all of them that the voting machines performed flawlessly. She deserves all of our thanks for being strong, resolute and courageous in the face of overwhelming political powers. She deserves our respect and our votes in November 2008.
Finally, Congressman Vern Buchanan and his family are big winners. Congressman Buchanan and his family were the targets of personal attacks by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the Democratic Party, Jennings and her lawyers. Through all of this withering criticism, Congressman Buchanan remained focused on the needs of his constituents. His strength, courage and will carried him and his family through this ordeal. Throughout he was a gentleman, a dedicated servant of the people and our duly elected Congressman. Vern above all deserves our thanks for his work in Congress for our children, our elders, and our veterans.
We of course endorse Congressman Vern Buchanan for re-election in 2008. He has earned our confidence and our vote.