Washington, DC December 31, 2004: Yesterday Michigan
Congressman John Conyers showed more of the tactical brilliance and
moral leadership that have marked his illustrious 40-year
Congressional career. Conyers is the second most senior Member of
Congress, and throughout his tenure has shown clarity of thought and a
willingness to act that puts him head and shoulders above most of his
timid and hesitant colleagues. Conyers called for Nixon's impeachment
in May of 1972, a month before the Watergate
burglary, because he could see that Nixon's prosecution of
the war in Vietnam and its expansion into other countries was
illegal.
Yesterday Rep. Conyers released copies of his letter sent to each
member of the Senate, announcing a Constitutional challenge to
the electors from Ohio and asking the Senators to join
him. Not only has Conyers established a reward for the first Senator
to step foward, but he's started the clock on the construction of
perhaps his most important coalition and given it enough time to grow
to sizable proportions.
I have met and spoken many times in the past week with key
Congressional staff from the offices of key Senators (Durbin,
Jeffords) and Representatives (Conyers, Tubbs-Jones) and what follows
is what I expect to see in the momentous week ahead of us.
But first let me say that this
activity inside Congress must be met with a mobilization of public
support or it will not
succeed.
We need you to join us at the Herbst Theater on Tuesday 1/4 at
7:00
for an examination of this illegitimate election and a
declaration of intent to
reclaim our republic. Emily Levin, project coordinator
for Richard Hayes Phillips' precinct-level analysis of
Ohio voting anomalies, will describe findings entered as evidence in
Moss v. Bush showing that Ohio's 20 electoral votes
were won by John Kerry. In Linda Byrket's
documentary Video the Vote you will witness the
shameful voter suppression tactics deployed to deny predominantly
African American communities of Ohio their right to vote.
Researcher-analyst Warren Stewart will describe the
mysteries of New Mexico's national record for undervotes and phantom
voters that resulted in a 1% margin awarding the state's electors to
Bush.
ReDefeat Bush founder David Lytel will provide an
insightful preview of the crucial electoral contest starting just days
from now.
We will have an abundance of
factsheets and
petitions to activate you
and your Congressional
representatives. And for levity to keep us sane, we've invited
wards of the Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane to sell us
on Verifyagra, the cure
for electile dysfunction. We continue to add speakers and performers
for this not-to-be-missed event. See
RallyfortheRepublic.org.
for updates.
Please join us Tuesday January 4 in Herbst
Theater. We need you to stand up for democracy
NOW,
not after it is all over.
401
Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco Civic
Center.
Map
and directions.
Admission
is free, but our expense is major and we will be asking donations
(suggested $5-$10).
What the coming week will bring: On Monday there will be
a staff-level strategy session, and although I cannot promise our plan
will be adopted or set in motion, what I foresee is that on Wednesday
afternoon former Florida Congressman Peter Deutsch will
present to an informal yet televised hearing on Capitol
Hill his understanding of what happened in
Florida. Deutsch is the ideal for this for his intellect and
integrity and his standing with his former colleagues. He is taking
an active role in studying the facts of the case and is being backed
up by Wayne Madsen, an experienced analyst and
investigator who previously worked for the National Security Agency,
by Bev Harris and the team at
Blackboxvoting.org, and by Clint Curtis, the
Florida whistleblower who has exposed Congressman Tom
Feeney's actions to rig Florida elections by changing
the distribution of votes on electronic voting machines. I can tell
you that we have the active collaboration of all of these people.
We are hoping that former Congressman Tom Sawyer,
previously the third-ranking member of the House Democratic
leadership, will present the facts on Ohio. He will be
briefed and backed up by a host of people, including Washington
election law attorney Cynthia Butler and Ohio attorney
Steve Chaffin, both of whom have been engaged for this
purpose. It is not clear yet who may present the facts of the case
for NM, NV, or IN although I have approached
former Senate candidate and White House Chief of Staff Erskine
Bowles to talk to us about what happened in North
Carolina.
At the end of the afternoon, in a scene meant to be evocative of
the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the
Constitution, I would hope to see Members walk over to a table
and sign the actual challenge that will be handed to Vice President
Cheney who will be presiding over the joint session. This dramatic
flourish for the cameras of C-SPAN and the foreign press -- you should
expect Viacom (CBS), Disney (ABC), General Electric (NBC) and News
Corp. (Fox) to remain resolute in their refusal to cover this news --
will lend symbolic dimension to our coalition. This is crucial
because if we have about 8 Senators and about 50 Representatives by
the time the sun comes up on 1/6 we have a shot at holding the
Democratic caucuses of both the House and Senate united on the key
challenges. That would make Nancy Pelosi our leader in the House and
represent an achievement of historic proportions even before the
session begins at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday 1/6.
The rules for a challenge come from the disputed election of
1876 but have never yet been used. There will be an
alphabetical rollcall of the states, and if there are objections they
must be in writing and signed by at least one member of each chamber,
whereupon the House and Senate return to their respective houses and
engage in a two-hour debate in which each Member may speak for no
longer than 5 minutes. After both houses vote they return to joint
session. If both houses agree, then the electors for that state are
set aside. Then the joint session returns to the rollcall and to
further objections, if there are any. The legislators may recess each
night until the fifth day, when the rules say they must remain in
continuous 24-hour session. If at the end of the process of counting
electoral votes no one has a majority of the whole number of possible
votes, then the House of Representatives gets to decide, with each
state casting one vote. If that happens Bush gets reinaugurated since
there are just too many of those underpopulated rectangular states in
the middle of the country, even though half the country's population
lives in states that voted for Kerry.
However, the longer the dispute goes on the better off we are
for some truly dramatic change. If the contest enters a third
day it should surely occur to 16 or so moderate Republicans in the
House and 5 in the Senate that if they bargained with the Democrats
they could control the U.S. government. While that is unlikely it is
not implausible, since they are the most abused and underappreciated
faction in the Congress and they have no greater tolerance for the
brutal tactics of the Bush faction of the Republican Party than you do.
Please join us on Tuesday 1/4 at 7:00 at the Herbst
Theater. Bring friends and questions and laughter since we
will always need more of each of those things. Don't settle for
symbolic victories until it is certain that you cannot have a real,
substantive victory. And thanks to the leadership of John Conyers, if
I can borrow the words of Pete Townsend, "the bids have all got longer
overnight."
Help ReDefeat Bush Rally the Republic!
(After
all, who
else would bring you an event like
this?)
As you might expect, we're as hung out there on the edge financially
as we are rhetorically, tactically, strategically and in every other
way you can think of. But we believe in what we are doing and that
you will reward us for being your advocate, emissary, and messenger in
Washington. Here is a list of what we
spend your money on so you
can see where it goes. If you can contribute $5,000 or more please do
so at the new Robert Morris
Fund and if you have less than $5,000 you can contribute you
can do that at the standard
ReDefeatBush contribution page. Every dollar is worth a
dollar, no matter how many you have to give. And if you are still not
convinced we merit a financial contribution check out this
list of 30 things we have done for
you
since election day when virtually every other
national-level progressive group has disbanded or gone silent. If you
want us to keep doing more of what we're doing, please
contribute and we will put
the money into the cause.
-- David Lytel for ReDefeatBush
Learn more about
the Constitutional Challenge
Get our calendar of events in
January
Online discussion of
Constitutional interpretation, legislative strategies and
parliamentary tactics
Get your hot new Bush Cheated 04
buttons and bumper stickers
Come to the ReDefeatBush
CounterInaugural Ball in Washington on 1/20/05 for just $30 --
what a deal!
Please forward this message widely
so we can fill the Herbst on Tuesday January 4
If you want to get active with Bay Area ReDefeat Bush, please
contact:
Dan Ashby
SF Bay Area Field Organizer
ReDefeatBush.com
e-mail:
[email protected]
cell: (415)
595-1289
