Student Researcher: Christine Wilson
Faculty Evaluator: Mary Ann Walker, PhD
Top-rung Republican IT Guru Mike Connell—who was facing subpoena in connection with 2004 Presidential election fraud in Ohio (allegedly the central figure in a longstanding plot to electronically flip votes to Republicans) mysteriously died in a private plane crash. Cliff Arnebeck, lead attorney for the prosecution, named Connell as a key witness. Arnebeck presents evidence that Karl Rove threatened Connell, cautioning that if Connell didn’t “take the fall” for election fraud in Ohio, his wife Heather would face prosecution for supposed lobby law violations. After this threat, Arnebeck sent letters as well as messages seeking protection for Connell and his family from this reported attempt to intimidate the witness. “Our prior request to have Connell protected went unheeded and now he is dead.” Despite Connell’s elite status as a top-rung Republican consultant for years—he received some $800,000 from the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004 alone. Connell intended to both further depose and testify as key witness in the federal conspiracy case. Connell had been in the nation’s capital on still-unknown business before his single engine plane crashed December 22, 2008 on the way home, just three miles short of the runway in Akron, Ohio. The cause of the crash remains similarly unknown.
“EXCLUSIVE: OH Election Fraud Attorney Reacts to the Death of Mike Connell” Brad Friedman, The BRAD BLOG, 12/22/2008 http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6768
“Where’s the MSM Coverage of the Death of Connell, a Top Bush/Rove/GOP Operative?” Brad Friedman, The BRAD BLOG, 12/24/2008 http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6772
“On Eve of Election Day, Is the Nation’s Voting System Ready? Reports of Irregularities Pour in from Across US in Record Early Voting” Amy Goodman and Mark Crispin Miller, Democracy Now! November 3, 2008 http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/3/on_eve_of_election_day_is
“”Man in the Middle” Attacks to Subvert the Vote” Bev Harris, Black Box Voting November 2008 http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/man_in_the_middle