On Dec. 3, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of Committee on the Judiciary, and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, released to the press a letter sent to Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

“In response to information obtained as part of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff's ongoing investigation of election irregularities in the 2004 election, Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee along with Representatives Jerrold Nadler, Melvin Watt, Sheila Jackson Lee, Maxine Waters, William Delahunt, Robert Wexler, Tammy Baldwin, Anthony Weiner and Linda Sanchez, wrote to Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell requesting that he respond to reports of election irregularities in the state of Ohio.”

The members sent Blackwell a series of pointed questions about the election (condensed here), each odd enough to have generated headlines under any previous administration:

·        Why did Warren County officials exclude the press from observing vote counting, claiming an FBI agent had warned of a terrorist threat, when the FBI has no knowledge of such a warning?

·        Why did some precincts in Perry County apparently record more votes than voters?

·        Why did Butler County and other counties record more votes for an underfunded Democratic candidate for State Supreme Court than for the Democratic Presidential candidate?

·        Why did historically Democratic precincts in Cleveland record up to 22 times more votes for the Constitution Party than all third-party candidates combined received in 2000?

·        Why did voters in Mahong County report that when they voted for Kerry their vote was displayed for Bush?

·        Why did there appear to be a shortage of voting machines in traditionally Democratic precincts on election day, causing up to 10-hour delays for voters, and a surplus of voting machines in traditionally Republican precincts?

These are actually only a fraction of the anomalies being reported in Ohio.  However, they seem to have been enough to have made someone touchy.  According to the Judiciary Committee office, Blackwell has yet to respond to the questions.  A Committee spokesperson says that, aside from the letter, Conyers placed several calls to Blackwell yesterday (Dec. 8) and the day before.  No response to either the letter or the calls.

Asked about the communication, a spokesperson in Blackwell’s office replies that he didn’t know of any letter being received through the mail and that the office tries to answer all correspondence.  He says unhappily that he does not believe Blackwell and Conyers have spoken.

Now comes word of further developments, if you call them that.  According to Ohio News Now,

“A former US congressman went from the halls of congress to the halls of justice and was jailed in Columbus after attempting to deliver a letter about voting irregularities to Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.

Dan Hamburg was a California congressman in the early 1990s. This week Hamburg and his wife have been part of a group watching the latest developments in the Ohio recount. 

Columbus police arrested Hamburg and his wife, Carrie, Wednesday for trespassing after refusing to leave a private downtown building that houses the secretary's office. Hamburg was an elected democrat, then a green and then a libertarian candidate in California.

The political activist and a small group with him said they wanted Blackwell to answer questions about voting problems from the November election.”

Blackwell’s office seems to be disassociating the Ohio Sec. of State as much as possible:

“Blackwell's office says it was private tenants in the building who asked security to call the officers.

Hamburg did not have an appointment with Blackwell and refused to leave a restaurant.”