Expert witness Stephen Spoonamore, renowned bank and computer fraud
expert and GOP member, concluded from the architectural maps of the Ohio
2004 election reporting system that: "Smartech was a man in the middle.
In my opinion they were not designed as a mirror, they were designed
specifically to be a man in the middle."
A "man in the middle" is a deliberate computer hacking setup, which allows a third party to sit in between computer transmissions and illegally alter the data. A mirror site, by contrast, is designed as a backup site in case the main computer configuration fails.
In a sworn affidavit to the court, Spoonamore declared: "The Smartech system was set up precisely as a King Pin computer used in criminal acts against banking or credit card processes and had the needed level of access to both county tabulators and Secretary of State computers to allow whoever was running Smartech computers to decide the output of the county tabulators under its control."
"The King Pin I thought was probably sitting somewhere in the middle on the high speed line. The King Pin is a computer with a person sitting at it that doesn't just steal the information and then use it later like we saw, it's a person who has onboard their Kingpin computer the code and instructions for the Secretary of State's office and the code and the instructions for a county tabulator. Instead of this happening, this happens".So at 9:00 in the evening Kerry's leading in Ohio and the Kingpin in watching these results go through and this operator is sitting here in a company called Smartech," Spoonamore told "Free For All" documentary filmmaker John Ennis.
"And remember when I speculated this, everyone said that's
ridiculous, that's completely impossible. Well, we now found that not
only was I right, and we know where it was sent. We didn't just have it
introduced, it was designed in the Secretary of State's office that they
could switch the control from their computer talking to the counties to
having Smartech do it. When we found out who owned it and then we found
out it was also doing Karl Rove's email," Spoonamore said.
Former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Blackwell's successor, confirmed: "This office had a backup system, election night reporting system, with Smartech." On December 14, 2007, she released her evaluation and validation of election-related equipment, standards and testing, the Everest study, which found that touchscreen voting machines were vulnerable to hacking with relative ease.
Arnebeck asked Spoonamore whether or not Smartech had the capability to "input data" and thus alter the results of Ohio's 2004 election. Spoonamore responded: "Yes. They would have had data input capacities. The system might have been set up to log which source generated the data but probably did not." Spoonamore explained that "they [SmarTech] have full access and could change things when and if they want."
Arnebeck specifically asked "Could this be done using whatever bypass techniques Connell developed for the web hosting function?" Spoonamore replied "Yes."
Spoonamore also swore that "...the architecture further confirms how this election was stolen. The computer system and SmarTech had the correct placement, connectivity, and computer experts necessary to change the election in any manner desired by the controllers of the SmarTech computers."
"I do not believe George Bush won, I believe Kerry won and I'm a member of the GOP," admitted Spoonamore.
Was it really an accident?
Connell's sister contacted the Free Press to voice doubts that the crash was an accident. She later told a Wisconsin newspaper, The Daily Page: "At first, it was really hard for me to believe Mike was dead because somebody wanted him dead. But as time goes on, it's hard for me not to believe there was something deliberate about it." Connell reportedly had canceled two flights because of suspicions that something was wrong with his plane.
Various threats had been reported involving Connell and other IT experts close to the GOP. On July 24, 2008, Arnebeck emailed Attorney General Michael Mukasey, stating: "We have been confidentially informed by a source we believe to be credible that Karl Rove has threatened Michael Connell, a principal witness we have identified in our King-Lincoln case in federal court in Columbus, Ohio,..."
Spoonamore stated that in an October 2006 meeting with Connell, Connell asked questions about how to "permanently destroy hard drives." Spoonamore told Connell, "If this is what I think you're talking about, this meeting is over."
Spoonamore urged Connell to testify before Congress and come clean on the 2004 election. Contacts were made first with U.S. Congressman John Conyers' office and later directly with Representative Dennis Kucinich. Conyers' office initially agreed to allow Connell's and other skeptics of the 2004 election results to testify, but suddenly withdrew the offer. Kucinich agreed in principle to set up a hearing, but meanwhile the 2008 election was fast approaching and Connell had decided to lawyer up.
Following the 2008 election, Connell wrote in his New Media Communications newsletter: "In our 230 year history, our democracy has suffered worse fates. It's just that none come to mind right now"This is just a moment in time and this too shall pass. Enduring is the fact that 2000 years ago, a babe was born in Bethlehem. When our Lord God sent his only Son for our salvation,"In spite of the current economic and political conditions, salvation is eternal." He would be dead the next month.
A "man in the middle" is a deliberate computer hacking setup, which allows a third party to sit in between computer transmissions and illegally alter the data. A mirror site, by contrast, is designed as a backup site in case the main computer configuration fails.
In a sworn affidavit to the court, Spoonamore declared: "The Smartech system was set up precisely as a King Pin computer used in criminal acts against banking or credit card processes and had the needed level of access to both county tabulators and Secretary of State computers to allow whoever was running Smartech computers to decide the output of the county tabulators under its control."
"The King Pin I thought was probably sitting somewhere in the middle on the high speed line. The King Pin is a computer with a person sitting at it that doesn't just steal the information and then use it later like we saw, it's a person who has onboard their Kingpin computer the code and instructions for the Secretary of State's office and the code and the instructions for a county tabulator. Instead of this happening, this happens".So at 9:00 in the evening Kerry's leading in Ohio and the Kingpin in watching these results go through and this operator is sitting here in a company called Smartech," Spoonamore told "Free For All" documentary filmmaker John Ennis.
Former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Blackwell's successor, confirmed: "This office had a backup system, election night reporting system, with Smartech." On December 14, 2007, she released her evaluation and validation of election-related equipment, standards and testing, the Everest study, which found that touchscreen voting machines were vulnerable to hacking with relative ease.
Arnebeck asked Spoonamore whether or not Smartech had the capability to "input data" and thus alter the results of Ohio's 2004 election. Spoonamore responded: "Yes. They would have had data input capacities. The system might have been set up to log which source generated the data but probably did not." Spoonamore explained that "they [SmarTech] have full access and could change things when and if they want."
Arnebeck specifically asked "Could this be done using whatever bypass techniques Connell developed for the web hosting function?" Spoonamore replied "Yes."
Spoonamore also swore that "...the architecture further confirms how this election was stolen. The computer system and SmarTech had the correct placement, connectivity, and computer experts necessary to change the election in any manner desired by the controllers of the SmarTech computers."
"I do not believe George Bush won, I believe Kerry won and I'm a member of the GOP," admitted Spoonamore.
Was it really an accident?
Connell's sister contacted the Free Press to voice doubts that the crash was an accident. She later told a Wisconsin newspaper, The Daily Page: "At first, it was really hard for me to believe Mike was dead because somebody wanted him dead. But as time goes on, it's hard for me not to believe there was something deliberate about it." Connell reportedly had canceled two flights because of suspicions that something was wrong with his plane.
Various threats had been reported involving Connell and other IT experts close to the GOP. On July 24, 2008, Arnebeck emailed Attorney General Michael Mukasey, stating: "We have been confidentially informed by a source we believe to be credible that Karl Rove has threatened Michael Connell, a principal witness we have identified in our King-Lincoln case in federal court in Columbus, Ohio,..."
Spoonamore stated that in an October 2006 meeting with Connell, Connell asked questions about how to "permanently destroy hard drives." Spoonamore told Connell, "If this is what I think you're talking about, this meeting is over."
Spoonamore urged Connell to testify before Congress and come clean on the 2004 election. Contacts were made first with U.S. Congressman John Conyers' office and later directly with Representative Dennis Kucinich. Conyers' office initially agreed to allow Connell's and other skeptics of the 2004 election results to testify, but suddenly withdrew the offer. Kucinich agreed in principle to set up a hearing, but meanwhile the 2008 election was fast approaching and Connell had decided to lawyer up.
Following the 2008 election, Connell wrote in his New Media Communications newsletter: "In our 230 year history, our democracy has suffered worse fates. It's just that none come to mind right now"This is just a moment in time and this too shall pass. Enduring is the fact that 2000 years ago, a babe was born in Bethlehem. When our Lord God sent his only Son for our salvation,"In spite of the current economic and political conditions, salvation is eternal." He would be dead the next month.
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