Decius wrote:
] ] A wealthy businessman helping the Ohio Republican Party
] ] try to win the state in 2004 for President Bush also is
] ] the head of a company competing for a state contract to
] ] sell voting machines.
] ]
] ] Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc., told
] ] Republicans in an Aug. 14 fund-raising letter that he is
] ] ``committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes
] ] to the president next year.''
]
] Watch the bouncing ball here. The mainstream press has widely
] discredited the security analysis of the Diebold's machines
] because the person that performed it is on the board at a
] competing company. On the other hand, there is hardly a peep
] about this. There are 9 links on google news from 6 outlets, 4
] small local news stations, and two leftist journals.
]
] Want undeniable proof of press culpability, compare a google
] news search for "Walden O'Dell" with "Avi Rubin votehere" Not
] all of the Avi Rubin stories are critical, but we're talking
] about 63 to 9 here. Furthermore, consider the impact that the
] blaster worm stories have had on the American mindset. We may
] not say "this kid created the blaster worm" but we build that
] association in your head anyway.
]
] The AJC: "Furor over the report was partly defused when the
] lead researcher acknowledged this week that he failed to
] disclose that he had stock options in VoteHere, a company that
] competes with Diebold in the voting-software market, and was a
] member of VoteHere's technical advisory board."
]
] From ABC: Diebold officials said they were "shocked and
] disappointed" by Rubin's admissions.
]
] "Diebold Election Systems has consistently questioned the
] conclusions drawn by the Johns Hopkins-issued report," the
] company said in a statement. "It is now clear, by Mr. Rubin's
] own admission, that questions of bias must be considered."

slightly OT - for all you atlantans, there's a meeting on monday night down in decatur where a rep from the state dept will be on hand to address questions of electronic voting systems... i think we should all be there.

RE: Diebold appears to have conflict