Burnt Orange Report

Hey BOR, Is Linda Curtis one of yours? Leno had a campaign sign on last night for City Council place 5 in Austin. "For a little less coruption" was her slogan. Just "less" not "no", I guess some coruption is okay. Leno enjoyed the laugh. Sir Michael Moore of F911 fame was on the show. He shaved, got a haircut, and put on a suit. Looked quite presentable, and had a few nice things to say about our President. Don't worry, he's not converted.

Eric Opiela is not an incumbent, you're right. But he acted like one during his campaign, and his supporters boasted that with Rick Perry personally behind their candidate, they couldn't lose.

Perry has lost a lot of political prestige on this one. The voters rejected his "chosen one" pretty decisively -- 800-plus votes is a wide margin in this day and age -- and people on the ground here in Jim Wells County say Perry is pushing Opiela to challenge the election in the House.

So once again the arrogance of the corrupt Republican regime in Austin seems to be trying to overturn the will of local voters.

Opiela and Stick are just there to give the Republicans cover for overturning the results of the Hubert Vo's victory over Talmadge Heflin.

They are going to take three elections, give two back, and then claim that they are being fair about it.

Their whole endgame here is to keep Heflin, and not lose any seats. Craddick even said at a fundraiser in September that the Republican wouldn't lose seats ANY year that he was Speaker.

Opiela and Stick are just there to give the Republicans cover for overturning the results of the Hubert Vo's victory over Talmadge Heflin.

They are going to take three elections, give two back, and then claim that they are being fair about it.

Their whole endgame here is to keep Heflin, and not lose any seats. Craddick even said at a fundraiser in September that the Republican wouldn't lose seats ANY year that he was Speaker.

I think Ryan is right. There's too much coordination in this latest Republican power grab not to be part of a broader plot. I remember reading a Craddick quote somewhere about how Hubert Vo would never be a member of HIS House. Anyone know how the recount in Houston is going today?

Opiela was right, Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles stole the election. The first of the dead voters is finally being put in jail. Too bad this didn't happen before the election contest was over.

Friday, June 3, 2005

Attorney General Abbott Obtains Voter Fraud Indictments In Two Counties
Hardeman County commissioner, Beeville woman indicted for mail-in ballot violations

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today announced his office’s first indictments for alleged voter fraud in Texas, returned in separate cases by grand juries in Hardeman and Bee counties.

"My office takes seriously the one-person, one-vote philosophy that has been the backbone of this country throughout its history," said Attorney General Abbott. "When the activities of even one person would undermine the electoral process, we will hold that person accountable."

Hardeman County Precinct 1 Commissioner Johnny Akers, 58, was indicted late Thursday on six counts of election fraud in Quanah. The Texas Election Code violations involve alleged unlawful methods for returning completed ballots during early voting by mail. During the April 2004 primary runoff and November 2004 general elections, the indictment alleges, Akers personally handled or mailed ballots for six persons unrelated to him over several days, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a jail term of up to six months and a fine of up to $2,000 on each count.

On May 27, Beeville resident Melva Kay Ponce, 53, was indicted in Bee County on a charge of illegal voting. She allegedly posed as her deceased mother during early mail-in voting in the November 2004 election. Illegal voting is a third-degree felony punishable by two to10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Ponce mailed an application for a mail ballot to the Bee County Clerk’s office for her mother, Dominga Ponce, on Oct. 15, 2004, when her mother was still alive. Her mother died of natural causes on Oct. 20, and two days later the clerk’s office mailed a ballot addressed to Dominga Ponce. Despite her mother’s death, Melva Kay Ponce filled out the absentee ballot in her mother’s name. She then mailed the completed ballot back to the clerk.

The Bee County Voter Registrar, Andrea Gibbud, contacted the Bee County Sheriff’s Office about the suspicious ballot, knowing Ponce’s mother had died before the ballot could have been completed and returned.

The Attorney General’s Office investigated the allegations of election fraud at the request of the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

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No one stole anything, that Ponce
woman was working and supporting the Republican candidates in Bee County. She was not working for Toureilles or for the Democratic party. If you don't believe me check the Ethics Commission reports. Get your facts straight before you start making ridiculous claims, you sound like that lunatic sore looser Eric Opiela

There were no dead voters. Kudos to Andrea Gibbud Voter Registrar in Bee County who did not allow the ballot sent in by that Ponce woman to be counted. What Opiela was doing was trampling on the graves of dead Hispanic people by using names of persons who had died and saying that another person who happened to have the same name who was alive and registered and had voted was deceased. In every instance where he used names of deceased persons Toureilles attorneys proved the voters were alive by presenting evidence of different voter registration numbers, different signatures, d.p.s records, tax records etc. In case you didn't realize it Hispanics name their children after themselves. There are lots of Hector Barrera's, Juan Garcia's, Maria Gonzalez' and some are even alive!! Opiela was dishonest. Let me tell you about something he did, there were two boxes in Jim Wells County where the election judges made the same mistake, one was a Hispanic, Democrat judge in Premont (a box that Toureilles carried) and another was an Anglo, Republican judge in Orange Grove, (a box that Opiela carried) In both cases the judges forgot to sign the back of the ballots, the law says you don't throw out the innocent voters ballots b/c of the mistake of a judge, the law says you get the election judge to sign an affidavit testifying to the number of ballots and to their validity, well with the box in Orange Grove he got the judge to sign an affidavit; but with the predominantly Hispanic box in Premont he didn't try to get the judge to sign an affidavit, instead he tried to get the master to throw out the ballots and disenfranchise hundreds of innocent Hispanic voters, and he only xeroxed the ballots that voted for Toureilles and he only asked the judge to throw those out, in other words the ballots that voted for him or didn't vote in the state rep. race were o.k., this was shown by the numbers on the ballots that he turned in that were not in sequence, Opiela did numerous other dishonest things during the contest, even the master who is a conservative Republican believes Opiela's contest was frivolous and has admitted to this, Opiela withdrew because his frivolous lawsuit was about to get dismissed. If he really had a rock solid case he wouldn't have wimped out and withdrawn, most voters in District 35 believe he lost all credibility when he withdrew, I mean really don't start a fight with a pregnant woman if you can't finish it, what a wimp!! Toureilles even had to file a harassment complaint against Opiela with D.P.S. b/c he was showing up at her house and law office in Alice and at the Capitol, he became unbalanced and obsessed after he lost the election. I hear his dad finally told him he had to get a real job to pay him back all the money he owes daddy b/c it costs money when you file frivolous lawsuits. By the way Opiela didn't report who paid his attorneys fees on his ethics reports, even if they did it for free he still has to report it as an in kind donation, makes you wonder about his ethics and honesty.

Marc-

I'm the real Todd Smith and I don't appreciate you using my name to spread your lies and continue to attack Opiela. I consulted on his race and just like the people of District 35 know him to be the most upstanding, honest, and ethical person out there. That's why he won with over 60 percent of the vote in the counties you and Yvonne didn't screw with the numbers in. You really have some nerve and need to get over your obsession with this. Its well known in the district that you stalked Opiela's wife, following her around like a sick creepy stalker. You're part of the reason Yvonne lost 6 of the 7 counties. People think you're crazy and they're right. Her threats against Opiela and numerous other people will come back to haunt her. Word on the street has it that Yvonne is about to get indicted on conspiracy charges under the same statute that your fellow Democrat Steve Wolens passed to stop candidates from stealing elections by mail in ballot fraud-I hope you're caught up in it too, so you can lose your residency and get deported back to France. You two are really a team--what a joke. Talk about unbalanced. Opiela's legal team tried to serve process on her down in Alice and like a trial lawyer, she hid and ran. Don't worry, you will all go down soon. We tried to get him to run again and reclaim what you stole but he won't have anything to do with it after what you put him through. I don't blame him. We'll have another candidate though, and he knows what you're all about.