Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Pay No Attention To that Coshocton County Behind The Curtain

The Ohio Election Justice Campaign

Bob Batchelor
Coshocton County Prosecutor
318 Chestnut Street
Coshocton, Ohio 43812
(740) 622-3566
bobbatchelor@coshoctoncounty.net

April 15, 2009

Re: Questions, Comments, and a FOIA for ongoing request for election fraud investigation of Coshocton County.

Dear Bob Batchelor,

I would like to know if you requested an investigation for possible election fraud in the Coshocton County 2004 General Election in regards to the over 6,800 votes for write-in candidate David Corbett that appear to be in the handwriting of one to several people. There are a small number of votes sprinkled through the 43 precincts that do appear to be in the handwriting of a variety of people, which I have assumed are actual votes. If those 6,800 ballots do indeed contain election fraud, I wonder if they are even real?

I originally wrote to you about this on October 14, 2008, and addressed the apparent conflict of interest for you to investigate as you provide legal council to the Coshocton County Board of Elections. I also recently noticed that you were a candidate on those same ballots. I do not know if that would add to the conflict of interest issue. When I originally wrote to you about this, I sent photos of the actual ballots. The Secretary of State’s (SOS) attorneys say they lost their photos I sent in October. One of the same SOS attorneys, Eleanor Speelman previously lost a request for an investigation into election fraud for the 2004 Coshocton County Recount that was filed by Coshocton resident, Tim Kettler. Kettler is a witness to another SOS employee, Pat Wolfe and her involvement in the alleged rigging of the 2004 recount. I know Peter Jones who witnessed that same SOS employee, Pat Wolfe’s involvement in the alleged rigging of the Green County recount. Please watch out for your county and provide the needed legal guidance.

It certainly seems difficult to get the people paid with taxpayer money to do oversight, people whose job it is to have such investigations done… to actually do those investigations in Ohio. I wonder why? Today is April 15, tax day, I hope for better use of our money in the near future.

It is my understanding that for the Ohio Attorney General to conduct an investigation into the issue of alleged election fraud in Coshocton County, that either the County Prosecutor or the Ohio Secretary of State must request the investigation. Brian Green who was an attorney under Jennifer Brunner did promise me such an investigation last fall. Since making that promise Brian has changed jobs and now works in the State of New York. Strangely he never contacted me to withdraw his promised investigation. I am told that Secretary Brunner has not yet requested the investigation with the Attorney General into alleged election fraud on those David Corbett ballots.

According to Paul Scarsella the Sections Chief of Special Prosecutions at the office of the Ohio Attorney General, you also have not requested the investigation. So what will it take for you to make this request? Lets just start with the subject of the sheriff race, although there are others things we could expand to later. Would you like to join me and view the actual ballots? It is easy to see the similarities. I think it is important enough that I will make the time to do that with you. I have learned that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification has on staff a handwriting expert. It seems to me that we shall need such talents to figure out what has happened in the Coshocton County 2004 General Election. Could you please quickly request not only the investigation, but to immediately bring in the handwriting expert.

I understand you told a reporter that someone from the Attorney General’s office looked at 30 Coshocton ballots and did not find a problem last fall. Please tell me who this was and when this happened. When I reviewed the security records which detail every person that has entered the storage facility, no such person existed. When I asked Paul Scarsella if he had anyone look at those ballots last fall, the answer was no. So please tell me how you learned of this inspection. Security is very tight at the storage facility, and if someone got in undetected and was posing to be an employee of the Ohio Attorney General, handled the ballots without someone providing oversight, and then lied to you about conducting an investigation, we will need a legal investigation of that also.

Please advise me on how to assist you in requesting the Coshocton County investigation through the Attorney General, and could you kindly answer the questions I have asked. As you can see, I’m confused that this has not moved faster. That requests for investigations and photos of evidence have been lost, employees have promised investigations then quickly left their jobs, imposters have viewed the ballots and slipped through security and made untrue statements to you, an SOS employee who is still employed at the SOS was involved in alleged rigging of your county recount (and I understand you were told of this but no investigation happened), and neither you nor the Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner have taken a leadership position and sought to address the situation. Wow… this is a mess. Do I understand it correctly?

As per ORC 149.43 I request copies of all correspondence in regards to my request for an election fraud investigation for Coshocton Counties 2004 general election and the write-in votes for David Corbett between yourself and any and all staff of the Coshocton County Prosecutor’s office and Sheriff Timothy Rodgers, the Ohio Attorney General and any and all staff, and the Ohio Secretary of State and any and all staff. I request copies of all notes and correspondence from the original reporting by Tim Kettler of the alleged rigging of the recount, including any papers filed. Please send this in paper or electronic format. These requests are severable to speed the processing.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,


Paddy Shaffer
Director, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign
paddy@columbus.rr.com
(614) 266-5283


CC: Richard Cordray, Ohio Attorney General
Jennifer Brunner, Ohio Secretary of State
Brandi Seskes, Elections Council, SOS
Tim Kettler, OEJC, Coshocton County Resident
Brian Gadd, Coshocton Tribune
Bev Harris, Blackbox Voting
Marian Lupo, OEJC
Marlys Barbee, OEJC
Mike Tigner, OEJC
Victoria Parks, OEJC
Dan Stanton, OEJC
James Nash, Columbus Dispatch
Mark Niquette, Columbus Dispatch
Susan Pynchon, Florida Fair Elections Coalition
David Cobb, Former Green Party Candidate for President of the United States, 2004
John Bonifaz, Esq.
Tim Carpenter, PDA
Mimi Kennedy, PDA
Nancy Tobi, Democracy for New Hampshire
Dan Ashby, Election Defense Alliance
Sally Castleman, Election Defense Alliance
Ian Urbina, New York Times
Greg Palast, BBC


http://electiondefensealliance.org/oejc