Mike Connell Gets Served, Karl Rove Could be Next...

Brad Friedman Byon 9/29/2008, 12:25pm PT

[Ed Note: Cliff Arnebeck, the Ohio attorney representing the plaintiffs in the case discussed below, will be joining me Wednesday evening to talk about the case, when I sit in to Guest Host The Mike Malloy Show, which I'll be doing Wed-Fri this week, from 9p-Midnight ET (6p-9p PT) - BF]

A recent flurry of activity in the long-standing King Lincoln v. OH Sec. of State lawsuit concerning voting rights violations in the state during the 2004 election has resulted in the judge lifting the stay to allow depositions to be taken of key GOP tech-guru Mike Connell, and potentially others, such as Karl Rove.

A subpoena has now been served to Connell, who was recently described by the attorneys working on the case, as a 'high-IQ Forrest Gump...at the scene of every GOP crime.'

Federal District Court Judge Algenon Marbley's brief order [PDF], agreeing to lift the stay, was quietly issued on September 19th. It reads:

On motion of the plaintiffs and agreement of the defendant Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the stay in this matter is lifted for the sole purpose of permitting the plaintiffs to take the deposition of Michael Connell and any other witnesses whose testimony, in the judgment of these parties, may be warranted based upon the deposition of Michael Connell.

The BRAD BLOG had learned about the latest court action, which could soon entangle Rove as well, some time ago, but we were asked by parties involved in the case to embargo the information until such time as they were able to serve Connell with his subpoena...

The lifting of the stay comes on the heels of a troubling declaration filed with the court by Republican cyber-security expert and Connell colleague, Stephen Spoonamore who testified that he's concerned a classic "Man in the Middle" cyber hack may have occurred on Election Night in 2004 as Connell's Republican firm handled results reporting for Ohio's Presidential election.

According to Spoonamore, control of Ohio's election system by Connell's firm, may have allowed for the compromise of election results as they were being reported. The structure of the system, as results were allowed to be first diverted to Connell's servers that night, would have been "cause to launch an immediate fraud investigation" in the banking industry, charges Spoonamore, who ferrets out such problems in the financial services industry.

Spoonamore further notes in his declaration, in regard to Connell, that "He has admitted to me that in his zeal to 'save the unborn' he may have helped others who have compromised elections."

Should Rove be subpoenaed in this case, it is believed that he would not be able to invoke the Executive Privilege claims he's used to fight similar calls to testify before Congress, attorneys working on the case have told The BRAD BLOG.

Connell's attorneys are currently fighting to quash his subpoena. RAW STORY has all the latest details...

Recently related at The BRAD BLOG:

More Elsewhere: VelvetRevolution's RoveCyberGate.com

[Disclosure: The BRAD BLOG is a co-founder of VR]

UPDATE: Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org has more on the Connell subpoena in Ohio, as well as concerns of similar "Man in the Middle" attacks this year in Colorado, Illinois & Kentucky.



