Programmer Clinton Curtis answers "Why did you file vote rigging affidavit?"
FOLLOW-UP TO PREVIOUS POST: Programmer's Affidavit—Rigged Election in Fla
12/7/2004In interview, by John Byrne RAW STORY Editor
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=479
It has been a long day for Clinton Curtis.
Curtis, who signed an affidavit which has been delivered to the House Judiciary Committee, has accused Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) of requesting the development of software which would allow vote totals to be tampered. Feeney, who now sits on Judiciary, was then the general counsel and lobbyist for Curtis’-then employer, Yang Enterprises, as well as a rising star of the Florida state congress.
His allegations have raised a deluge of questions. Why now? What is his agenda? What made him decide to come forward?
The 46-year-old fielded some of these questions Monday in an exclusive interview with RAW STORY.
Curtis says he first leveled charges to the CIA, the FBI and other agencies, none of whom seemed to take an interest, and in a book, published in September. None of these venues, he said, drew much concern. So when he heard of a $200,000 award being offered by the nonprofit group Justice through Music for proof of voting fraud, he bit.
"I contacted Justice through Music," Curtis says. But "I told him that I didn't want the reward because I didn't want to taint the equation."
A spokesman for Justice through Music confirmed the reward is still available.
Since then, he has found an outlet among those in the blogosphere, where his affidavit was first released on The Brad Blog. Two newspapers have begun the process of vetting his claims. The Floridian's appearance in Washington, and the delivery of his affidavit to Congress, may signal a deeper investigation in progress.
While he stresses that the development of a prototype of vote-rigging software does not of itself indicate fraud took place, he is certain that the intent of Rep. Feeney, who he charges commissioned the code, was to taint the election.
Curtis has been tangled in long-running disputes with Feeney that date back to his years as a state legislator. Feeney was cleared on an ethics violation charge after the Feeney-friendly ethics committee (Feeney was speaker of the Florida House) found no wrongdoing.
"He definitely had the intent to do it," Curtis says. "And he bragged about trying to adjust the vote in the previous [2002] election, not with the machines but the minority lists and things like that."
"They're willing to win," he says. "They're willing to play the game and win."
Curtis doesn't mince words in his opinion of Feeney: on his website, he calls him a "total piece of crap." When representing Yang Enterprises, Curtis' former employer, Feeney was the only dually registered lobbyist and state congressman, and he once promised to put Florida in the Bush column in 2000 even if it meant defying the courts.
For his part, Feeney has strenuously denied the wrongdoing of Curtis' previous charges. On this claim, however, he has remained decidedly mum. Two calls placed by RAW STORY Monday were not returned.
When asked why it took him so long to come forward with his story, Curtis stresses that even after hearing that there was intent to potentially use the program for ill ends, he knew it would never work, because the source code would have to be vetted before it was approved for Florida's voting machines.
That was, until it became clear that those providing the source code for voting machines would not provide access to their code. Despite the fact that federal officials called for access to the code, nothing was done.
In a way, he says he blames Democrats for not requiring a paper trail for Florida voters.
"I can't believe the Democrats were stupid enough to allow [this]," he says. "I can't imagine anyone going to a bank and not getting a receipt. But yet we have our voting machines that way. It strikes me as really odd that machines like that could even exist."
If the program were used, he says, its probably too late to ever detect.
"If you inspect the code, you will see it," he states. "Once the vote is flipped, you will not. Once it flips those, the other number is permanently gone. There's not receipt, there's no trace, there's no track."
"You could be watching the guy do it, and unless you watched his every move, you would never know," he adds.
What does he hope to get out of his claims?
"If the Democrats ever want to win again, they need to change," he says. "You've got to get rid of the machines and replace [them] with verifiable source code that only counts votes." This way, he says, you can "get a standard, clean vote."
Knowing that another Florida investigator investigating his charges in Florida was found dead, in what was ruled a suicide but which he and others still have questions about doesn't deter him he says. Safety, he claims, is less important than the story he's trying to get out.
"Sometimes you just have to give that up," he says. "Some things are more important. The more the story gets out, and the more I say, the safer I am."
And adds, "Probably."
VIEW PREVIOUS POST
12/7/2004In interview, by John Byrne RAW STORY Editor
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=479
It has been a long day for Clinton Curtis.
Curtis, who signed an affidavit which has been delivered to the House Judiciary Committee, has accused Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) of requesting the development of software which would allow vote totals to be tampered. Feeney, who now sits on Judiciary, was then the general counsel and lobbyist for Curtis’-then employer, Yang Enterprises, as well as a rising star of the Florida state congress.
His allegations have raised a deluge of questions. Why now? What is his agenda? What made him decide to come forward?
The 46-year-old fielded some of these questions Monday in an exclusive interview with RAW STORY.
Curtis says he first leveled charges to the CIA, the FBI and other agencies, none of whom seemed to take an interest, and in a book, published in September. None of these venues, he said, drew much concern. So when he heard of a $200,000 award being offered by the nonprofit group Justice through Music for proof of voting fraud, he bit.
"I contacted Justice through Music," Curtis says. But "I told him that I didn't want the reward because I didn't want to taint the equation."
A spokesman for Justice through Music confirmed the reward is still available.
Since then, he has found an outlet among those in the blogosphere, where his affidavit was first released on The Brad Blog. Two newspapers have begun the process of vetting his claims. The Floridian's appearance in Washington, and the delivery of his affidavit to Congress, may signal a deeper investigation in progress.
While he stresses that the development of a prototype of vote-rigging software does not of itself indicate fraud took place, he is certain that the intent of Rep. Feeney, who he charges commissioned the code, was to taint the election.
Curtis has been tangled in long-running disputes with Feeney that date back to his years as a state legislator. Feeney was cleared on an ethics violation charge after the Feeney-friendly ethics committee (Feeney was speaker of the Florida House) found no wrongdoing.
"He definitely had the intent to do it," Curtis says. "And he bragged about trying to adjust the vote in the previous [2002] election, not with the machines but the minority lists and things like that."
"They're willing to win," he says. "They're willing to play the game and win."
Curtis doesn't mince words in his opinion of Feeney: on his website, he calls him a "total piece of crap." When representing Yang Enterprises, Curtis' former employer, Feeney was the only dually registered lobbyist and state congressman, and he once promised to put Florida in the Bush column in 2000 even if it meant defying the courts.
For his part, Feeney has strenuously denied the wrongdoing of Curtis' previous charges. On this claim, however, he has remained decidedly mum. Two calls placed by RAW STORY Monday were not returned.
When asked why it took him so long to come forward with his story, Curtis stresses that even after hearing that there was intent to potentially use the program for ill ends, he knew it would never work, because the source code would have to be vetted before it was approved for Florida's voting machines.
That was, until it became clear that those providing the source code for voting machines would not provide access to their code. Despite the fact that federal officials called for access to the code, nothing was done.
In a way, he says he blames Democrats for not requiring a paper trail for Florida voters.
"I can't believe the Democrats were stupid enough to allow [this]," he says. "I can't imagine anyone going to a bank and not getting a receipt. But yet we have our voting machines that way. It strikes me as really odd that machines like that could even exist."
If the program were used, he says, its probably too late to ever detect.
"If you inspect the code, you will see it," he states. "Once the vote is flipped, you will not. Once it flips those, the other number is permanently gone. There's not receipt, there's no trace, there's no track."
"You could be watching the guy do it, and unless you watched his every move, you would never know," he adds.
What does he hope to get out of his claims?
"If the Democrats ever want to win again, they need to change," he says. "You've got to get rid of the machines and replace [them] with verifiable source code that only counts votes." This way, he says, you can "get a standard, clean vote."
Knowing that another Florida investigator investigating his charges in Florida was found dead, in what was ruled a suicide but which he and others still have questions about doesn't deter him he says. Safety, he claims, is less important than the story he's trying to get out.
"Sometimes you just have to give that up," he says. "Some things are more important. The more the story gets out, and the more I say, the safer I am."
And adds, "Probably."
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