What happened to Jeff Fisher?

[Carolab]

His website has vanished, into thin air. Even the waybackmachine has archived pages only from a week or two after the election, and there is nothing about Piotr Blass, BayPoint, etc. there.

Maybe no one else cares, but I think it's very strange.

[imenja]

1. everything about him is strange

and it tells you something about the Dem party's commitment to winning that district that he is all they could come up with to run against Neil Foley.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Love to see a follow-up on that story......

[GettysbergII]

3. Your right, Carolab

I'd like to find out what happened to him. I know his website got seriously hacked to the point he lost control of it.

[Alizaryn]

4. I've been wondering the same thing

[Carolab]

5. I think it's very interesting in light of the recent "rigged aggregators"

blog, and the fact that they found a connection to Alan Guiterrez...

I wonder if Jeff is okay, or if he went into hiding...

[ewagner]

8. I missed something here

who was/is Alan Guiterrez?

[Carolab]

11. He was mentioned by Dr. Blass as someone he'd worked with

apparently on Zeosync company's compression "breakthrough". Turns out that Alan G. did indeed work in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as did Dr. Blass, and worked on Red Hat Enterprise/Linux projects, as also mentioned by Dr. Blass. Alan G's website and his diaries disappeared from the net as well, shortly after Fisher's story became public and people started researching it heavily, particularly when the Michigan company CyberNET Group was shut down by the FBI (CyberNet was a company mentioned by Blass also, and Alan G. worked there).

[harmonyguy]

13. Did Blass actually mention Cybernet/Gutierrez somewhere??

Carolab,
I realize that you're paraphrasing/condensing a lot of stuff from research that may or may not not be your own, but I've been trying to follow this whole string of connections ever since last year.

Without re-opening the whole can-of-worms from last year, I'm concerned that with the passage of time, some of the inferences and assertions made and repeated here last year, might have morphed into 'accepted fact' without having ever been established or proven.

Do you know of any link where Dr. Blass actually mentions either Cybernet, or Alan Gutierrez? I've been trying to find one for a long time, and have yet to see any, so it still has me puzzled.

HG ;-)

[stirringstill]

16. Not So Sure

I was under the impression that the CyberNet association was injected into the discussion initially by a poster at BBV. The CyberNet brought down by the FBI, which was in the news at the time, was one of three (different?) CyberNet companies (assuming that none were shells of others and thus distinct entities) but it was the one in Ann Arbor linked to Gutierrez that had a lot of DOD contracts. As far as I know the only significant link between Blass and Michigan specifically was that he got his PhD there in the 70's at U of Michigan Ann Arbor. The orginal post which started the whole CyberNet/Blass link never stated how they were connected, only that they were, which led me to suspect that this poster at BBV was simply looking at CNN watching the FBI raid CyberNet and decided to include a tie to Blass in a posting on the internet.

Thus, my personal opinion is that the Fisher-Blass story was tainted by the injection of CyberNet. Then again, things are not always how they seem. I think many unsettled questions remain concerning the Fisher-Blass story and hope they will be pursued.

[Carolab]

22. This is all I could find. It was provided by Carl Brennan.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=27340&mesg_id=65839&page=

You are correct in that there was alot of confusion over this and WHICH Cybernet we were actually talking about...

It appears that there may be a link between the Barton Watson CyberNET company and Alan Gutierrez...but the rest of it may only be conjecture.

[seemslikeadream]

14. Especially because I had to hear Mel Sembler ambassador

to Italy this morning on TV

[BlueIris]

6. This has been bothering me as well.

I haven't prowled around in this section very much lately, but I'm hoping that when I do, I'll find at least some discussion on the extreme weirdness regarding the lack of recent info about the Fisher situation and voter fraud in Florida overall.

[garybeck]

7. I heard someone say a while ago

that his whole story about the children's detention center was bogus and they implied that he was a Rove diversion tactic. I'm not saying that's the case but there was something a little strange about the story from the beginning. If you watch Jeff's testimony at the Conyers hearings, he comes off like an aggitator.

[AntiFascist]

21. That's an interesting observation...

I've been handed an archived version of the website as evidence that "disinformation artists" hacked into it. There is such a preponderance of evidence being handed by certain individual that it would make for quite a diversion tactic.

[DTinAZ]

9. domain registration expired

The domain registration for "jefffisherforcongress.com" expired a month ago and is currently in the "redemption period" in which he can renew it if he contacts the registrar.

The absence of recent archived versions in at "archive.org" doesn't really mean much...their archiving bots/policies are pretty random, and I've noticed that there's a lot of sites that they've not re-archived since late last year.

Back during the period immediately after the election, I provided some web assistance to Jeff (on a volunteer basis), helping him restore his site when he was having difficulties. I was never convinced that it was actually "hacked." My opinion at that time was that the problems were more likely due to amateur maintenance and misunderstandings about web technology.

[luaptifer]

23. i've been using archive.org alot lately, it seems to be a year behind

roughly, on those sites i examine.

[stirringstill]

10. The Jeff Fisher Saga

I confess being glad to see others still curious about the Jeff Fisher story. While there may indeed be no there there, just a bunch of manufactured details with some semblance of a narrative, what I find fascinating is how the tale unfolded. It seems that Fisher first posted details about his concerns just prior to the election. The Blass story regarding his son being incarcerated and abused was well documented in the FLA papers. These programs have a dark history of child abuse despite being championed by a number of Republicans such as Nancy Regan and are run by folks entrenched in the Republican Party such as Mel Sembler. Blass is also a mathematician and computer programmer. Fisher was on odd conduit for the information and Fisher's web site was hijacked by disinformation "artists." I don't know what to make of it all but it was one of the strangest threads to emerge from the 2004 election. I think that quality of strangeness prevented some elements of the story from being pursued to a definitive dead end or perhaps even to a kernal of truth.

[ewagner]

12. The whole saga

reminds me a lot of the plot in the 1960's cult-favorite movie Blowup .

The lines between fantasy and reality were blurred so badly you didn't know what to believe...I think Jeff Fisher was in that state of being.....

I'd love to know more....

[dandrhesse]

15. the last I saw or heard of him was at the hearings held by Conyers

That was bad. He looked like a guy who was at the end of his rope. He looked paranoid, I don't think it was unfounded. I know that people can be mentally ill and be paranoid but that guy seemed to be very lucid and also scared to death and desperate to get the truth out to the public that the election was rigged.

I also wonder about the Vet who testified that witnessed election fraud first hand and was told that his charges would be investigated, does anyone know more about what happened to him?

[keepthemhonest]

17. Maybe the lawyers had him

take down his website, to help the legal battle? Good question Carolab are you going to the conference? I am leaving today after work. Keep us updated if you find out anything about Fisher.

[tommcintyre]

18. Some info I dug up... the trail goes cold after this

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6368819/

SECURE UNDISCLOSED LOCATION— Keep your aluminum foil hats at the ready.

The purported linking of failed Florida congressional candidate Jeff Fisher and Ralph Nader, trumpeted on Fisher’s website, is news to Nader’s spokesman Kevin Zeese.

That’s particularly troublesome for Mr. Fisher because it is to Zeese that the connection is attributed:

“Kevin Zeese,” the Fisher site reads, “officially announced that Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader will be consulting with Jeff Fisher and Jan Schneider regarding the investigation of voter fraud and a statewide recount for the state of Florida.”

When the nose-to-the-grindstone Countdown staff (as opposed to me, vacation boy) contacted Zeese, he said it was the first he’d heard of any ‘official announcement.’ Zeese acknowledges he’d spoken to Fisher, and surmises, correctly I think, that Fisher (he lost in the Florida 16th) and Schneider (she lost in the 13th, to Katherine Harris) were trying to increase their credibility by tying their efforts to the Nader campaign. Given the pounding Nader’s gotten for four years, Zeese laughed out loud at the irony.

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http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2004_11_28_cannonfire_archive.html

Jeff Fisher has offered this update and appeal:

Sen. Bill Nelson's, Sen. Bob Graham's, Congressman Robert Menendez's and the DCCC office (regarding Robert Matsui) showed great interest in Election Fraud and the possibility of a national revote. The only office that we had difficulty with was Sen. Max Baucus's Deputy Chief of Staff, Deva Kemmis Hicks.

Ms. Kemmis Hicks tried to pass my personal phone call off by saying that I needed to write a letter. I am asking everyone to email her at [e-mail] , call her at [phone] and fax her at [phone]. For the hearing impaired the TTY number is [phone].

Please inform Ms. Kemmis Hicks the importance of having Sen. Baucus joining with the people to fight for the Constitution. The senator swore to protect, defend and honor the Constitution. It's time to fulfill that oath.

Bob Graham interested in a national revote? Now that is a story that should make headlines -- if Graham verifies Fisher's account. (Is he really, really interested, or just sort-of interested?) For tactical reasons, the point man on this issue shouldn't be Kerry; someone like Graham -- a has-been (forgive the blunt wording) with national name recognition -- would be perfect for the job.
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Info about the Bev Haris/Olbermann "affair", Wayne Madsen and Clint Curtis on the same page. (Interestingly, he says positive things about Curtis; and Curtis has withstood the test of time - he's speaking at the National Election Reform Conference this weekend.)

[tommcintyre]

19. Hmm... I tried a different approach and came up with this.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/5/144622/843
FBI Investigates Florida Vote Hacking.
by Eternal Hope


Sun Dec 5th, 2004 at 12:46:22 PDT

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0412040222dec04,1,1925530.story?coll=chi-news-hed

The FBI is paying attention to Jeff Fisher's allegations that the Republicans stole the election through hacking the machines. This is important because it strengthens Fisher's contention that a hacking did occur.

Yesterday, I wrote that no evidence for Fisher's claims existed outside his own websites. I based this conclusion on Fisher's statement of a few weeks ago in which he said he was going to talk to the FBI. But, as reported in the Chicago Daily Tribune, hardly a friend to progressivism, the FBI has listened to Fisher and is now investigating.

From the FBI's position, they have hundreds of cases to investigate. So if you want them to pay attention, you have to show them something. We are a long ways from proving that vote-hacking did occur. However, Fisher has enough evidence to get them to pay attention.


Diaries :: Eternal Hope's diary :: :: Trackback ::

<SNIP>

"...the right will probably try to put Fisher on trial, not the election workers. They will try really hard to produce evidence suggesting that he is not a reliable person. And if these charges are proven to be false or hoaxes, the right will be screaming for Fisher to be tried for perjury."

<Included quote from the trib article>
" Also in Florida, Democratic congressional candidate Jeff Fisher, who was defeated Nov. 2, said he had seen e-mails outlining a Republican plot to steal the presidential election. The plot, he said, involved election workers who created bogus voter registrations. The workers then rigged computers to show those ghost voters had cast ballots for Bush. The FBI confirmed that Fisher had filed a complaint and that agents were investigating."

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Anyone know any FBI agents they could ask about this? How about contacting the author of the newspaper article? Or maybe Andy would like to investigate this?

[tommcintyre]

24. Carol is right, we need some "closure" on this

http://nerofiddled.blogspot.com/2004/11/kerry-acknowledges-ohio-recount.html
"My own assessment is that two things are possible. One is that Fisher feels he was robbed in his own Congressional race in Florida, and feels passionately about this, but doesn't quite have conclusive evidence of fraud, despite his claims. The other is that Fisher does have evidence, and is terrified. Remember, we know that he has already gone to the FBI, so it is very likely that he has been instructed not to reveal certain things to the press and the public. To me, the increasing reports of a whispery, nervous Jeff Fisher point as much to his vindication as his discredit. We shall see."

[tinfoilinfor2005]

20. hmmm, don't quite know how to word this without sounding...

insensitive, I guess is the best word. I met Jeff last summer at a Kerry rally and shared a ride on a bus with him and we talked to kill the time. Jeff is a lovely man with very firm beliefs and commitments. He is definitely not a Rove plant, trust me. Jeff is just a very special person. I wish I could remember the details of the story he told me that involved his childhood and certain medical traumas, but it was a bit confusing and I couldn't really keep it in order. My thought back then was that perhaps Jeff was getting into a field that was a bit too rough for his nature, but I wished him well and hoped that he wouldn't get hurt. Later on I read all the things going with him during and after the election, and felt sad that perhaps he had been used by some who should know better.