Ms. Tulett refused this request at first, and then agreed to consult with her counsel on this point. We agreed this was reasonable; according to Ms. Tulett her attorney was expected any moment. She said that since nothing was going on in the room at that time, no observation was needed and we were required to wait out in the lobby.
SNEAKING IN TO THE COMPUTER ROOM
From the lobby, we could see the front door of the central tabulator room "sideways," but we could not see into the room. The room was also accessible from the rear (through the warehouse).
We proposed this plan to Joe Ripley, one of the mid-level staffers. He agreed this was reasonable, and set off to find Ms. Tulett to discuss this with her.
However, rather than going to Ms. Tulett's office, he went straight back into the central tabulator area and entered the sealed room.
Alarmed, I asked myself what Ms. Tulett might be doing in there, and didn't like the answers I was coming up with. I quickly looked around for Frank Foley - he is that office's best computer technician and his cubicle seat is very visible. He was nowhere to be seen.
Mr. Ripley came out and said something regarding Ms. Tulett's availability – I don't know exactly what. Masking my anxiety as best I could, I politely asked Mr. Ripley permission to come back and look into the central tabulator room. He delayed for a moment, went back over there, opened the door, told us that nobody was in there right now, and I said "right, but I just want to look for a second." He shrugged and led us back there to the viewing area.
"ADD & REMOVE PROGRAMS" ON THE SCREEN
What I had noticed was that one of the secondary monitors showing observers what was going on had something on it – an open MS-Windows program of some sort. I couldn't tell more than that from 40 feet away. As George and I got closer, it was obviously the Microsoft Windows "Add/Remove Programs" function.
I asked George if he saw it too - "yep." At this point I was beyond "angry." I am sure I said something to the effect of "those bastards have kept us cooling our heels out there while they snuck in the back of the room and tampered with exactly what we had made a request to see, out of our sight." I will confess here and now to using at least some profanity...but not without cause.
I then pulled out my cell phone, turned on its two-megapixel camera function and photographed the "add/remove programs" screen – unfortunately that picture didn't come out.
CONFISCATION AND ARREST EFFORTS
Mr. Ripley and Mr. Valenzuela went simultaneously ballistic. Mr. Valenzuela demanded my phone; I flatly refused. He then ordered me out of the building – I refused this as well, in both cases firmly and politely. Mr. Valenzuela then told me police were being called and threatened me with arrest.
They also asked the other three members of our party to leave, as "nothing was going on" - they consistently claimed that observation was only allowed whenever THEY determined that there was something to observe. I reminded them that they had now been caught going in and out the back way and tampering with the system; they shrugged that off and again told everybody to leave.
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