VR Calls on John McCain to Fire Michael Connell for Covering Up for Karl Rove in Federal Election Manipulation Lawsuit

Velvet Revolution today issued a press release (pdf format) calling for Republican candidate John McCain to fire computer expert Michael Connell from his campaign for covering up alleged election manipulations of Karl Rove and others. Mr. Connell, the GOP’s top computer expert, was subpoenaed based on a September 19th court order to testify under oath in an Ohio federal lawsuit looking into serious allegations that Mr. Rove has directed a strategy to illegally manipulate elections through the use of computer technology. Rather than cooperate in the investigation, Mr. Connell hired attorneys close to the Bush/Cheney Administration and refused to appear for the deposition arguing client (GOP) confidentiality. Those attorneys have said that they will do everything possible to keep Mr. Connell from testifying before the November general election. Mr. Connell’s refusal to comply with a federal subpoena looking into credible evidence that the upcoming presidential election will be manipulated is at odds with John McCain’s promise to run a clean campaign. Another GOP cyber security expert, Stephen Spoonamore, has stated that Mr. Connell has vast experience and knowledge of the GOP computer networks at issue in the federal lawsuit. Mr. Connell has admitted to Mr. Spoonamore that in his zeal to 'save the unborn' he may have helped others who have compromised elections.” Cliff Arnebeck, the Ohio election attorney who issued the subpoena, said Friday that he is aggressively moving to enforce the subpoena. “Mr. Connell has information about how the votes are tabulated in key states in the upcoming election. In order to ensure that the election is fair and accurate, Mr. Connell needs to testify under oath and pursuant to a lawful subpoena about how these votes are tabulated, whether the tabulation will be compromised and whether anyone has directed him to compromise those tabulations.” According to federal filings, Mr. Connell is working for John McCain to help him win the election. VR believes that until Mr. Connell testifies under oath about his apparent knowledge of election manipulations, he should not be working for Mr. McCain. If he does, the McCain campaign will appear to be in league with Mr. Connell to cover up criminal conduct and engaging in election tampering. This will call into question the results of the November election and again cast a shadow over our election process.