Let's follow the money and see if he's right.
James A. Baker famously told us this in November 2000, in the heated days that followed the election.
"Voting machines are neither Republicans nor Democrats" – statement, November 2000
Well, you can find $ $ $ donations by the companies that make and service the voting machines, and their sponsors and forbears, that SAY DIFFERENTLY:
Aside from the executives of ES&S, Diebold, Sequoia, Maximus (which services Hart/Intercivic) . . .
there are also the $$ donations from the companies, Ciber Inc. and Wyle Labs, that -TEST- the voting machines. 1st, here's Ciber, Inc, which validates the software code for the machines:
I'm only getting started, follow the flip.
Follow the money
From Ciber's chairman, Bobby Stevenson, and spouse:
Here's more than $30,000 direct from Ciber's CEO Mac Slingerlend and his spouse, only to GOP candidates.
An accounting from all its employees, click link.
Another testing firm, Wyle Labs. Here are the recent contributions from Wyle.
From all employees of Wyle Laboratories,
including Chairman of the Board C. D. "Gus" Yiakas
Note, if you visit the updated figures at the link, you'll find the total stands now at $8,550 with $1,800 given to Democrats and $6,750 to Republicans.
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Now as to the firms that make and service the voting machines
Here are the soft-money donations for Maximus Inc. which conducts servicing and training for elections officials who use Hart Intercivic's machinery:
Note that the opensecrets.org database only brings up soft-money summaries up to the campaign cycle of 2002, not yet thru 2004.
Hart Intercivic is chaired by David E. Hart, a backer of Sen. John Cornyn, and its investors and listed contacts are not inclined towards Democrats (see Fred Lummis II of The Cap Street Group [he formerly headed the outdoor advertising company Advantage Outdoor], and John G. Farmer of the Stratford Group [ $ here and follow it to here]). The Stratford Group is in turn controlled by Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, named after Thomas O. Hicks, chairman of the Texas Rangers baseball team and co-chair of Clear Channel (his donations are Here.)
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Then there is Diebold Inc.
The link for it from the Center for Responsive Politics is here.
Are you seeing a pattern here?
Do you see it, Mr. Baker.
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You should be possibly even MORE concerned with the firms that set up electronic voter-REGISTRATION management systems -- which are typically designed to integrate with record keeping from motor-voter files and Dept. of Corrections. These firms include Covansys (formerly Complete Business Solutions or CBSI), Unisys, ES&S, Accenture, PCC Technology and others, including the Diebold/DIMS purchase. [Diebold's new database serviced Cuyahoga County, Ohio in November, 2004.]
For the voter-roll database firms, their generous political giving looks to be quite partisan, too.
Go here, and you'll see it all --> ubthejudge.com#ties
I'll add updates and incorporate more graphics and links directly here, as I get the chance.
[Update :] Here's some more:
ES&S – The connections to ES&S are tangled, as first explored by researchers Lynn Landes and Bev Harris.
The company's first founders, the brothers Urosevich, were originally staked by members of the Ahmanson family in the early 1980s, including William H. Ahmanson, who chaired the H.F. Ahmanson Co. until 1987 and who is a current trustee of the family's foundation. [Some of their earlier donations can be found, link 1 + link 2, and more recent gifts to politicians here.] The Ahmanson investment is documented here, footnote 2.
The investment group related to the Ahmanson family sold its stake in 1987 to 2 buyers, the McCarthy Group and the World-Herald Company, Inc. (which publishes the Omaha World Herald). ES&S was known then as American Information Systems. The investor McCarthy Group, in turn, funds Chuck Hagel's Sandhills PAC.
shown here, as originally tracked by Bev Harris. It's chairman since 1994 has been William F. Welsh II, formerly of Valmont Industries.
In recent giving by employees of ES&S, I haven't found any affinity for Democrats in the federal candidates' database. Here's for Tom
Eschberger, vice president of ES&S, Addison Texas, and by senior VP, John
Groh. The President/CEO Aldo Tesi
bio, also a director at Commercial Fed'l Bank, was a
donor to an
undoubtably GOP-leaning bank PAC.
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— Virginia has just contracted with Unisys Corp. to create its centralized voter-registration files.
Here are soft-money political contributions from Unisys.
A clearer listing of it to view can be found at the direct link from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Unisys is also partnering with ES&S [Election Systems & Software] to help integrate public records for voter rolls. ES&S will implement statewide systems several states – including Arkansas, Kansas, New Mexico, and Nebraska.
— West Virginia converted its voter rolls database to a HAVA compliant statewide database in time for the Nov. 2004 election, implemented by partners PCC Technology Group and its partner Covansys (formerly called Complete Business Solutions, or CBSI).
The 2 are partnering similarly for Nevada, Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Covansys won the contract for New Jersey in March.
Here are the soft-money donations of the founder of Covansys:
For employees who gave under the name "Complete Business Solutions," look here and listed by CBSI, here.
Accenture is another very big player in creating state registration databases. For more, see ubthejudge.com ( go to the Holding-down-the-vote (HDTV) section of the site.
And there's a poll, if you like . .