Who Really Won?

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Ohio Whistleblower Fired

Sherole Eaton is as defiant as ever and determined to stand up for democracy. Despite recovering from recent carotic artery surgery and scheduled for brain surgery on June 6 for a brain aneurysm, Eaton, perhaps Ohio’s most well-known whistleblower, refuses to resign as Deputy Director of the Hocking County Board of Elections.

Eaton made national news last December during Ohio’s election recount when she swore in an affidavit that a Triad voting machine technician replaced the hard drive on Hocking County’s central “computer and tabulation machine.”

“I still can’t understand what he was doing there on his own time replacing the hard drive on our computer, our brain, where all the county’s voting information was, in the middle of a recount,” Eaton offered.

Lisa Schwartze, Director of the Hocking County Board of Elections, told the Free Press that Eaton has until June 30 to resign. Initially she told the paper that Eaton was “on vacation” but, the Logan Daily News reported that Eaton was fired on Thursday, May 19 after a five hour meeting.

With more than two dozen Eaton supporters in attendance, the “bipartisan board” voted to terminate Eaton as of June 30, while she’ll still be recovering from surgery.

Franklin County Board of Elections Chair, Democrat William Anthony has recently questioned just how “Democratic” are some of these southern county Democratic election board members.

U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-MI) sent a letter to Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell protesting Eaton’s firing. “Last fall, Ms. Eaton bravely came forward to report that a representative of Triad, Inc., had behaved suspiciously, and appeared to tamper with computers and appeared to create ‘cheat sheets’ for those who were supposed to be conducting hand recount,” the letter stated. Rep. Conyers’ letter concludes that “Eaton’s firing was solely out of retaliation.”

Eaton concurs: “They’re firing me because I’m a whistleblower, because I wouldn’t keep quiet. This isn’t the type of area where people demonstrate. Everyone pretty much keeps quiet and goes along.”


Read it all in the Free Press...