[NV Greens] now on to the House like Kathleen Harris

[Paul Etxeberri]

10. LEGAL FILING HIGHLIGHTS BLACKWELLÉÜS 
HYPOCRISY IN OHIO RECOUNT (Cobb LaMarche news 
release)
	A spokesman for the Green PartyÉÜs 2004 
presidential campaign, which initiated the Ohio 
recount, today blasted the suggestion by OhioÉÜs 
Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth 
Blackwell that he would need to take depositions 
from John Kerry and John Edwards as part of the 
Ohio recount litigation.
	 ÉÅMr. BlackwellÉÜs contention that he 
needs to depose Senators Kerry and Edwards is a 
laughable and blatantly political move.  Mr. 
Blackwell has refused to be deposed himself about 
the Ohio election, has refused to appear before 
Congress and has refused to answer questions from 
members of the House Judiciary Committee who have 
been investigating allegations of election fraud. 
To suggest that Kerry and Edwards should be 
deposed to address a legal technicality while Mr. 
Blackwell continues to avoid any public scrutiny 
of his own misconduct in the Ohio election is the 
height of hypocrisy,ÉÇ said Blair Bobier, Media 
Director for the 2004 Cobb-LaMarche campaign.
	The report by the House Judiciary 
CommitteeÉÜs Democratic staff on the Ohio 
election and recount states that ÉÅthere were 
massive and unprecedented voter irregularities 
and anomalies in Ohio.  In many cases these 
irregularities were caused by intentional 
misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it 
involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth 
Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney 
campaign in Ohio.ÉÇ
	BlackwellÉÜs intention to depose Kerry 
and Edwards was made known by Ohio Attorney 
General Jim Petro in the latest round of legal 
filings concerning the Ohio recount.   In 
February, Federal Judge Edmund Sargus in Columbus 
asked the parties in the Ohio recount case to 
submit filings to his court addressing whether 
the litigation should be transferred and 
consolidated with a Toledo case brought last 
November seeking to expedite the start of the 
recount.  BlackwellÉÜs filing was in response to 
that request.
	Attorneys for Green Party presidential 
candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party 
presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, who 
jointly requested the Ohio recount, have already 
filed their response to the JudgeÉÜs question. 
Kerry and Edwards, through their Ohio attorney, 
filed a one sentence statement with the Judge 
supporting the Cobb and Badnarik position. 
KerryÉÜs lawyer also filed a short, two page 
summary charting inconsistencies observed by 
Democratic Party witnesses to the recount.
	The matter is pending in the Eastern 
Division of the United States District Court for 
the Southern District of Ohio, before Judge 
Sargus.
	Conferences, lectures and teach-ins about 
the Ohio election and electoral reform have been 
taking place all over the country, most recently 
in Santa Monica, California on Sunday.
	Additional information about the recount 
and the entire 102 page report by the House 
Judiciary CommitteeÉÜs Democratic staff can be 
found at <http://www.votecobb.org/press/>.

-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand
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