by Damozel | Cyber-expert and former Rove IT guru Mike Connell was killed Friday when his single-prop plane crashed into the garage of a vacant house. (Ohio.com) Connell was a key player in many of the Bush administration tech controversies. As Brad Friedman put it, he was on the scene for every such incident "from Florida 2000 to
Ohio 2004 to the RNC email system to the installation of the
currently-used Congressional computer network firewall". He also set up the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth IT network. As DWT says, Connell certainly "knew all of Karl Rove's electronic secrets."
Since he went from being a key player to a key witness in cases against the Bush administration, Connell had complained of intimidation attempts by none other than Karl Rove. Perhaps it is not surprising that---to CBS (via After Downing Street.org)---his tragic death has sparked "conspiracy theories."
A few weeks ago, Connell was compelled to testify in the Ohio vote fraud case.
Brad Friedman, who has been following the story in depth, writes:
While Connell had expressed a willingness to testify about what he knew concerning the '04 election, and the election website network he had created for Ohio's then-Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, he had become reticent after Rove had sent threats to Connell and his wife, according to tipsters...(The Brad Blog)
Back in July, the lead plaintiff's attorney in the case, Cliff Arnebeck, wrote a letter to Michael Mukasey informing him of the threat. His letter appears here (pdf.). According to Arnebeck, Rove by some means conveyed to Connell that he would pay a price if he did not "take the fall" in the voter fraud case. (HuffPost)
In a phone call this afternoon, Arnebeck could not publicly reveal specific details of the information that triggered his concern about the threats to Connell. The message to the IT man from Rove is said to have been sent via a go-between in Ohio. That information led Arnebeck to contact Mukasey after he found the reports to be credible and troubling.
In his email to Mukasey today, Arnebeck writes: "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, that if he does not agree to 'take the fall' for election fraud in Ohio, his wife Heather will be prosecuted for supposed lobby law violations."
Velvet Revolution, which also tracks "Cybergate", alleges:
A tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr. Connell’s life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove had threatened him and his wife, Heather. VR’s attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, notified the United States Attorney General , Ohio law enforcement and the federal court about these threats and insisted that Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Mr. Connell’s not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged. Mr. Connell, a very experienced pilot, has had to abandon at least two flights in the past two months because of suspicious problems with his plane. On December 18, 2008, Mr. Connell flew to a small airport outside of Washington DC to meet some people. It was on his return flight the next day that he crashed.
It's a sad story and the investigation of the crash is likely to carry on for some time. As the CBS post which acridly commented on "conspiracy theorists" says, "Meanwhile, a man the Akron Beacon-Journal recounts as a devout Catholic who organized annual missions to aid communities in El Salvador with as much passion as he devoted to the businesses he built, leaves behind his wife of 18 years and four children."
This is true and is tragic.But certainly this is a case in which one can see why the so-called "conspiracy theorists" are theorizing. In light of the facts, it's hardly a mark of insanity to take note of the circumstances.
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