Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Mr. Fuentes goes to Washington (again)


Later, I’ll post a fuller report on last night’s meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees, but I did want to report one factoid that was revealed last night that doesn’t seem to be reported anywhere else.

At the start of the meeting, by way of explaining Trustee Tom Fuentes’ absence, board president Lang informed the crowd that Fuentes had just been appointed
“to the United States Elections Assistant [sic] Commission Advisory Board. Trustee Fuentes is the designee of the Speaker of the House of Representatives on this federal panel, which meets in the nation’s capitol. As you know, Trustee Fuentes also serves as a member of the Bush Administration, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Service Corporation by appointment of the President.

All of us offer our congratulations and best wishes to our colleague on this new national assignment.”
I could find no mention of the appointment in any of the local papers. Nor could I find any mention of it in local political blogs.

Finally, I went to the website of the Clerk of the House of Representatives (May 19), which provides a summary of actions for each day.

For the Legislative Day of May 19 (Friday), the Clerk reports:
3:04 P.M. –

Election Assistance Commission Board of Advisors - Pursuant to Section 214(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15344), and the order of the House of December 18, 2005, the Speaker appointed Mr. Thomas A. Fuentes, Lake Forest, California.
This might be much ado about nothing. I’ll look into it.

It is no secret that Mr. Fuentes’ relationship with the Bush administration has been stormy. Hence the poor appointment (Legal Services Corp.) Fuentes was handed after the first Bush presidential victory in 2000.

Is this appointment any better? More later.

P.S. (9:54)

I gather--based on a point made in an old OC Reg article--that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission is the agency that "certifies" electronic-voting systems.

Uh-oh.

More later.

P.S. (10:02 a.m.)

There's an organization named the "Verified Voting Foundation." Its website (VerifiedVoting.org) reports that the vice chair of the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) recently resigned:
This week Ray Martinez, 2006 vice chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, submitted his resignation to President Bush. In his letter he cited family considerations as his primary reason for stepping down and lauded his colleagues at the EAC and the agency's staff for their continued work on behalf of the nation.  Commissioner Martinez' resignation is effective June 30, 2006.  He was appointed to serve as one of two Democrat Commissioners mandated by the Help America Vote Act.
Verified Voting then suggests some people to fill the vacancy. Fuentes isn't mentioned.

In Wikipedia's entry concerning "electronic voting" (Electronic voting), I found this remark:
In December of 2005 the US Election Assistance Commission unanimously adopted the 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines, which significantly increase security requirements for voting systems and expand access, including opportunities to vote privately and independently, for individuals with disabilities. The guidelines will take effect in December 2007 replacing the 2002 Voting System Standards (VSS) developed by the Federal Election Commission.
Evidently, EAC was created by HAVA (Help America Vote Act). HAVA exists to replace paper voting with electronic voting (among other goals). Yikes!

Here's a link to a recent angry letter to the EAC from various organizations: letter

P.S.:
Matt Coker has picked up our little story. See Tom Fuentes taking 2000 Florida vote nationwide?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As usual the source of all evil in the world: the SOCCCD, the hellmouth itself.

Run, run for your lives.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...