One of my sources died in a plane crash last night…
by Larisa AlexandrovnaI don’t usually reveal sources, but I think this is incredibly important. Michael Connell died in a plane crash last night. He was a key witness in the Ohio election fraud case that I have been reporting on. More importantly, however, he had information that he was ready to share.
You see, Mike Connell set-up the alternate email and communications system for the White House. He was responsible for creating the system that hosted the infamous GWB43.com accounts that Karl Rove and others used. When asked by Congress to provide these emails, the White House said that they were destroyed. But in reality, what Connell is alleged to have done is move these files to other servers after having allegedly scrubbed the files from all "known" Karl Rove accounts.
In addition, I have reason to believe that the alternate accounts were used to communicate with US Attorneys involved in political prosecutions, like that of Don Siegelman. This is what I have been working on to prove for over a year. In fact, it was through following the Siegelman-Rove trail that I found evidence leading to Connell. That is how I became aware of him. Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened.
He has flown his private plane for years without incident. I know he was going to DC last night, but I don’t know why. He apparently ran out of gas, something I find hard to believe. I am not saying that this was a hit nor am I resigned to this being simply an accident either. I am no expert on aviation and cannot provide an opinion on the matter. What I am saying, however, is that given the context, this event needs to be examined carefully. If you want to understand the context more broadly, I suggest you read this article I did a while back about the break-ins and arson cases that Siegelman and others have experienced.
Just to be very clear and state again, I am not claiming conspiracy theory or direct relation to Karl Rove or the White House in any of these events. What I am saying, however, is that these possible relationships cannot and should not be overlooked by investigators. There are far too many serious and reasonable questions that must be answered for the public…
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One of my sources died in a plane crash last night: This piece on Larisa’s personal web site has the links to a series she did on this story.
I have been to Mr. Connell’s home. Mr. Connell has confided that he was being threatened, something that his attorneys also told the judge in the Ohio election fraud case. When I met with Heather, his wife, I did so carefully because of the threats he was getting. I left a note for her in her mailbox and asked her to meet me in a local park near their home. Heather came and through our conversation I got the sense that these were not bad people or corrupt people. The Connell’s really believed that what they were involved in served God’s plan. Regardless of of what any of us think about their religious views or allegations relating to Connell’s involvement in various things, I do think these were good people who got caught up in something bigger than themselves. My heart goes out to Heather and the children.
Sometimes even the great ones miss a detail or two….::::::::
According to Wayne Madsen’s sources,
"Connell’s Piper Saratoga single-engine plane crashed during the evening of December 19 in Uniontown, Ohio as it was preparing to land at Akron-Canton airport. There were no other passengers and Connell was killed in the crash. Connell had flown to College Park, Maryland the previous day. Connell, who lived in Akron with his wife Heather and four children, ofte flew to Washington for activities related to his IT businesses."Cliff Arnebeck, an agent of the Federal Court as well as the lead attorney in the Ohio election fraud case against Kenneth Blackwell, filed a request for witness protection last week in the case because credible threats were received by both Mike Connell and his wife, Heather.The last publically known threats against Connell were made by Karl Rove prior to the November 4, 2008 Presidential election.
Paul Wellstone, famous liberal congressman from Minnesota, died under suspicious circumstances, too.
Also according to Madsen’s sources, Connell had to abandon three flights in the last two months because of suspicious tampering of his personal aircraft.
Mike Connell
From SourceWatchMichael (Mike) L. Connell was President, Chief Political Strategist and CEO of New Media Communications, Inc., a Republican website development and internet services firm based in Richfield, OH. He died December 19, 2008 when the small airplane he was piloting crashed upon approach at the Akron-Canton Airport.[1] He is survived by his wife, Heather and their four children.
New Media’s GOP clients are a "’Who’s Who’ of Republican politics", having provided campaign web services and Internet strategy for Bush-Cheney 2000/2004, as well as Dick Armey, Spencer Abraham for Senate 2000, Heather Wilson for Congress 2000/2002/2004, Rick Santorum for Senate 2000/2006, and John Thune for Senate 2002/2004 to name just a few. New Media also designed GOP.com for the Republican National Committee, RGA.org for the Republican Governors Association, and between two and three dozen state GOP sites.
In April 2001, Connell spun-off GovTech Solutions from New Media to handle its growing list of federal government clients, such as MajorityWhip.gov for Tom DeLay and Johnny Isakson. Business filings in the state of Ohio show that Govtech’s founding members were Connell’s wife Heather, and the well-known GOP operative and Chairman of the DCI Group, Thomas J. Synhorst. By 2004, Govtech’s clients would grow to include more than 20 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, GOP.gov, the web site of the House Republican Conference, and the House Intelligence, Judiciary, Financial Services, Way and Means, and Administration committees. The latter was acquired while House Administration was chaired by former-U.S. Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, who was convicted in 2006 of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Early life and careerMichael L. Connell was born on November 30, 1963 near Peoria, IL. While attending the University of Iowa in 1984, Connell "caught the political bug" watching the Iowa Caucuses and in 1987 briefly worked as Finance Director for U.S. Rep. Jim Leach’s (R-IL) re-election campaign. In 1988, Connell joined George H.W. Bush’s presidential campaign in IA, where he developed and maintained a voter contact database. Later that year he was promoted to Bush campaign headquarters in Washington, DC, tasked with designing a database software system for the Republican National Convention. Soon after Bush was inaugurated in 1989, Connell received a presidential appointment to the U.S. Department of Energy as a legislative affairs specialist.
In 1990, Connell returned to the campaign trail as Director of Voter Programs for Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN). However, on November 9, 1990, Connell was fired by Sen. Coats for providing scripts used in a push poll on behalf of another Republican candidate Mike Pence. According to the Associated Press, Connell was fired after Matrixx Marketing of Ogden, Utah called thousands of voters two days before the election. Those who indicated their support for Pence’s opponent, Phil Sharp (D-IN), were read Connell’s scripts that attacked Sharp on several issues. Pence lost anyway; and Connell lost both his job with Coats for what the senator called "clearly unethical" behavior, and a part-time position with the Indiana State Republican Committee.
While sometimes an accident is just an accident, I wonder about this one too. Who is going to run New Media Communications and GovTech Solutions now? What kind of Key Player insurance did they have if any? What was in Connell’s November 3, and will it ever be unsealed? Lots of unanswered questions about this case.
I did a posting just to collect the basics at Scribal Thrum – http://dredeyedick.wordpress.com/ (click website URL for permalink)
You’ve dug up some good material here – Thanks!
-dcm