FL-24: A Night at the Movies

Tonight was the Daytona premiere of the finalized version of "Truth in the Booth: The Clint Curtis Story." In it, Clint details for Brad Friedman of Bradblog the whole sordid story of Tom Feeney (R-Abramoff) and Yang Enterprises (YEI), and how Clint was hired by Feeney to write vote-flipping software for electronic voting machines. Clint became a whistleblower who testified before Congress and also passed a polygraph test on this grave matter.

Brad Friedman interviewed Mavis Georgalis for the documentary, a 15-year employee of the Florida Department of Transportation who was fired the same day as Clint for also blowing the whistle on YEI's nefarious activities.

And there is the sad tale of Raymond Lemme, an FDOT inspector who was investigating Clint's allegations on his own time. This excerpt from Bradblog explains what happened next:

In his 2004 affidavit, Curtis describes a mid-June 2003 meeting with Lemme in which he claims that Lemme told him he "had tracked the corruption 'all the way to the top' and that the story would break in the next few weeks and I would be satisfied with the results."

On July 1, 2003 -- just two weeks later -- Raymond Camillo Lemme was found dead in a bathtub, with his arm slashed twice with a razor blade near the left elbow in Room #132 of the Knights Inn motel in Valdosta, Georgia; a border-town some 80 miles from Tallahassee, Florida where Lemme lived and worked....

At the time of this incident, Lemme's only child was engaged to be married just three months later in September. Curtis has told us that Lemme frequently talked about his daughter with him. "He would always discuss his daughter and had talked about her upcoming wedding," he told us. Yet Lemme's only daughter -- his only child -- is not mentioned by name in the unsigned [suicide] note. A family member of Lemme's has told us that the family generally feels that the handwriting on the note seemed to belong to Lemme....

When we first asked Curtis what Lemme might have been doing in Valdosta in the first place, Curtis explained to the The BRAD BLOG in one of our initial interviews that "There are no autopsy laws in Georgia. Had he committed suicide in Florida, there would have been a mandatory autopsy."

A host of other vote integrity champions weigh in on the DVD as well. There is so much to Clint's story that I really can't do it justice, so I'll refer you to Bradblog, which provides an excellent summary for those short on time, as well as extensive documentation for those who wish to delve deeper into the issue.

The showing was held at Brooklyn Ice Cafe in Port Orange, Florida. It's a great little place with wireless access, occasional musicians, and really delicious food and Italian ices! :-) The owner is a staunch Democrat and big supporter of Clint. He gave everyone 10% off their order and donated it right back to the campaign.

After the showing, Clint took questions from the audience. For the majority, it was the first time hearing the story that many of us have been familiar with for at least a year now. People were shocked at the unethical behavior of Feeney and YEI and most came away more disgusted with Feeney than before, if that's even possible.

My question to Clint was, "Has Tom Feeney responded to any of your requests for a public debate?" Clint said his campaign staff thought they'd finally arranged a debate at a local university, until Feeney backed out because Clint wouldn't agree to one of his terms. And that was...?

Feeney would debate Clint as long as they didn't discuss any issues.

What an idiot. What the hell else do candidates talk about in a debate? My guess is Feeney hoped to make Clint focus only on his whistleblower claims in the hopes of making Clint look crazy. Well, I think I know Clint well enough by now to say that Clint would have been glad to publicly discuss Feeney's hiring of Yang Enterprises to write vote-rigging software intended solely for the purpose of flipping election results. AND, Clint would have debated on the issues as well.

Finally, Clint would no doubt have asked Feeney the same thing all of us want to: Why won't you take the test, Tom?

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[Disclosure: I am a volunteer for the Clint Curtis for Congress campaign.]
Crossposted to Daily Kos

copyright 10-16-2006 miz p