Conyers endorses Bonifaz for Secretary of Commonwealth!!!!!!!

[paineinthearse]

by email



Dear Friends,

Congressman John Conyers, Jr. announced today his endorsement of John Bonifaz for Massachusetts Secretary of State. Below is the press release we issued today on this exciting news. And for other updates on our campaign, visit our website at www.johnbonifaz.com.


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 28, 2006

CONGRESSMAN CONYERS ENDORSES BONIFAZ FOR MASSACHUSETTS SECRETARY OF STATE

BOSTON, MA - Congressman John Conyers, Jr., the second most senior member in the United States House of Representatives, announced his endorsement today of voting rights leader John Bonifaz for Massachusetts Secretary of State.

"In the wake of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004, it is more important than ever that we have a Secretary of State like John Bonifaz who will fight for our democracy," said Conyers (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Congressman Conyers and Bonifaz have worked closely together in fighting to protect the integrity of the electoral process, and in challenging the Bush administration on its illegal war in Iraq. In December 2004, Bonifaz, the founder of the National Voting Rights Institute, joined Conyers for hearings the congressman held in Columbus, Ohio, and in Washington, D.C., on the irregularities of the 2004 election in Ohio. Bonifaz led the fight in the courts for a full recount of the 2004 presidential vote in Ohio. The recount fight contributed important evidence to the report Conyers issued, "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio," which led to the historic challenge in the US Congress in January 2005 to the counting of Ohio's Electoral College votes.

In February 2003, Bonifaz served as lead counsel for Conyers and other Members of Congress, along with US soldiers and parents of US soldiers, in a federal lawsuit in Boston challenging President George W. Bush's authority to launch a first-strike invasion of Iraq absent a congressional declaration of war or equivalent action. In June 2005, Bonifaz joined Conyers again as a key witness testifying on the Downing Street Minutes in hearings the congressman held in the basement of the US Capitol. The Downing Street Minutes, first reported by the London Sunday Times, revealed that the Bush Administration had decided, as of July 2002, to invade Iraq and that the "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

"John Bonifaz has been a remarkable asset to me and to the nationwide movement to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its abuses of power," Conyers said in his announcement today. "Massachusetts deserves a strong, proven leader like John Bonifaz. Our country needs to elect more principled progressive candidates like John Bonifaz."

"I am deeply honored to receive this endorsement today from Congressman Conyers," said Bonifaz. "Congressman Conyers is an extraordinary human being with a long history of standing up for what is right. He believes, as I do, that we must fight to return voters to power and to uphold the basic promises of our democracy. I am proud to stand with him."

To read the full text of the Conyers endorsement, go to: http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000413.htm


P.O. Box 300007, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 - www.johnbonifaz.com - [e-mail]

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000413.htm

Blogged by JC on 03.28.06 @ 08:47 AM ET

Meet John Bonifaz, Running for Massachusetts Secretary of State
My dear friend, John Bonifaz, is running for Secretary of State of Massachusetts and he needs our support. Some of you may recognize John from his work with me as...

My dear friend, John Bonifaz, is running for Secretary of State of Massachusetts and he needs our support. Some of you may recognize John from his work with me as a panelist on my Downing Street Minutes basement hearings. He also was an ally of mine in Ohio where he led the fight in the courts for a full recount of all the votes cast for President in the 2004 general election.

Meet John Bonifaz.

John Bonifaz has been a remarkable asset to me and to the nationwide movement to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its abuses of power. Massachusetts deserves a strong, proven leader like John Bonifaz. Our country needs to elect more principled progressive candidates like John Bonifaz.

Any race for statewide office requires funds – and this race is no exception. John is challenging an incumbent in this race – an entrenched incumbent. Your early donation is critical to John's campaign. Massachusetts campaign finance law allows individual contributions up to $500 per calendar year, and your support this month is critical.

I urge you to visit his campaign website today and to contribute as generously as you can.

I am proud to stand with John, and I hope you will join me in supporting him. Visit his campaign website today to learn more about his work:

1. Founding the National Voting Rights Institute;
2. Defending the Massachusetts Clean Elections Law; and
3. Drafting the Voters' Bill of Rights.

In the wake of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004, it is more important than ever that we have a Secretary of State like John Bonifaz who will fight for our democracy. I hope you will join me today in supporting this campaign for Massachusetts and for the nation.

[Bill Bored]

1. This is not surprising but will someone PLEASE tell Bonifaz

that by advocating Early Voting, he may be clearing the way for election fraud and the purchase of DREs in a state that doesn't seem to have many yet.

I know it's supposed to be part of the "voters' bill o' rights" not to have to vote on Election Day, but Early Voting has been a failure in many states so far, involving both the loss of the secret ballot, the purchase of DREs at the expense of paper ballot systems, and the loss of the chain of custody of even the electronic ballot box.

It's not my state, but for those in MA who REALLY care about election reform, you need to advise him not to go down this road unless it can be guaranteed that there will be no fraud and no abuse of the voting system and NO privatization of elections as a result of Early Voting. And if DREs are involved, all of the above is just about impossible.

Good luck!

[nicknameless]

2. K&R for a great candidate (n/t)

[MelissaB]

3. absolutely!

:kick:

[Wilms]

4. K&R n/t

[EFerrari]

5. Something just occurred to me. Just about everyone who was

involved with the Conyers hearing (including a lot of us who could only watch at the time) are active now.

The idiot Thugs have inspired a whole new wave of activists.

:toast:

K&R

[paineinthearse]

6. Like Joe Wilson, Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern.......?

http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/6-16-05hearingtext.html

1
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HEARING ON THE "DOWNING STREET" MEMO
Thursday, June 16, 2005
2:30 p.m.
HC-9 The Capitol
Washington, D.C.


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2
C O N T E N T S
TESTIMONY OF:
Ambassador Joseph Wilson 6
Cindy Sheehan 23
Ray McGovern
CIA Analyst 34
John Bonifaz, Esq. 40

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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 MR. CONYERS: --men and
3 women in harm's way based on false information.
4 The fact that our intelligence is found to be
5 flawed in no way absolves those who would
6 intentionally mislead our nation or its allies. We
7 can't do anything in this hearing to change the
8 facts and the problems on the ground in Iraq today,
9 but we can pledge today to do everything within our
10 power to find out how we got there and to make sure
11 it never happens again.
12 I'm proud now to have our witnesses who we
13 will ask them--Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Mrs. Cindy
14 Sheehan, Mr. Ray McGovern, attorney John Bonifaz,
15 to please stand and take an oath that everything
16 that you say will be truthful. Raise your right
17 hands, please.
18
19 MR. CONYERS: Let the record show the
20 witnesses indicated that they said "yes," and
21 please be seated.
22 Let me briefly describe our witnesses.

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1 Attorney John Bonifaz is the founder and general
2 counsel of the, a prominent legal center in the
3 campaign finance field. In February and March
4 2003, he served as lead counsel for a coalition of
5 United States soldiers, parents of soldiers, and
6 members of Congress in a federal lawsuit in which I
7 and Representative Kucinich of Ohio were a part of
8 challenging the authority of President Bush and
9 Secretary Rumsfeld to launch a war against Iraq
10 absent a congressional declaration of war or
11 equivalent action.
12 Mr. Ray McGovern, a 27-year career as a
13 CIA analyst, spanned administrations from John F.
14 Kennedy to George H. W. Bush. His duties included
15 at the CIA sharing national intelligence estimates,
16 preparing the president's brief. These, the most
17 authoritative genres of intelligence reporting,
18 have been the focus of press reporting on weapons
19 of mass destruction in Iraq and on what the
20 President was told before 9/11.
21 During the mid-1980s Mr. McGovern was one
22 of the senior analysts conducting early morning

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1 briefings for the President's daily brief, one of
2 the senior analysts conducting early morning
3 briefings, one on one with the Vice President, the
4 Secretaries of State and Defense, the Chairman of
5 the Joint Chiefs and the Assistant to the President
6 for National Security Affairs.
7 Mrs. Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Casey
8 Austin Sheehan, age 24, killed in action in Iraq.
9 Mrs. Sheehan founded the Gold Star Families for
10 Peace in January 2005. The Gold Star Families for
11 Peace is dedicated to bringing United States troops
12 home immediately from Iraq.
13 Our first witness, Ambassador Joseph
14 Wilson, has been involved in international politics
15 for more than 20 years. He served as the Acting
16 U.S. Ambassador in Iraq during Operation Desert
17 Shield and was the last American official to meet
18 with Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War.
19 In 2002 at the request of Vice President
20 Cheney, Mr. Wilson was assigned to the CIA to
21 investigate--was seeking to acquire whether Saddam
22 Hussein was seeking to acquire uranium from Niger

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6
1 for the purpose of advancing his nuclear program.
2 Mr. Wilson reported back to Washington that there
3 was no basis for the claims.
4 Surprised that President Bush repeated
5 that claim in his 2003 State of the Union address
6 when it had been excerpted from previous speeches,
7 Mr. Wilson wrote a New York Times op-ed piece
8 asserting that the Bush administration had
9 exaggerated the public case for invading Iraq.
10 Shortly thereafter, White House officials called
11 reporters to identify Mr. Wilson's wife Valerie
12 Plame as a clandestine CIA operative.
13 Mr. Wilson also has a book out now, and we
14 welcome him to begin the testimony.
15 Welcome to this forum, sir.
16 TESTIMONY OF AMBASSADOR JOSEPH WILSON
17 MR. WILSON: Thank you, Congressman
18 Conyers, and good afternoon.
19 It's an honor to appear before this
20 hearing to discuss the so-called Downing Street
21 Memorandum of July 2002, and the assertion
22 contained therein that the in the Bush

more......

[EFerrari]

7. Well, I was thinking back to the hearings in OH that Mr. Conyers'

held to investigate the vote.

At least three of the witnesses are running for office that I know of. And of course those of us who couldn't be there but watched from home also seem to be swelling the Election Reform ranks.