According to an article published at Center for Media and Democracy entitled A Short but Tragic History of E-voting Public Relations, electronic voting critics joined in an industry conference call discussing the ITAA draft plan. In that report, Harris Miller was quoted as saying, "We just didn't want a document floating around saying the election industry is in trouble, so they decided to put together a lobbying campaign."
The article also claims that Miller discussed the benefits that a coalition effort would provide: "Frequently . . . in a trade association, you don't want to talk about the issues as individual companies. We have that issue right now with the Buy America Act, for example, in Congress. No company wants to act like it's against Buy America - even though they're all against it - so I take all the heat for them."
From the same article
Electronic voting machine and other technology companies, in contrast, saw their predicted "tremendous market opportunity" coming to pass. The same week that George Bush signed HAVA into law, major defense contractor Northrop Grumman signed an agreement with iPaper LLC for exclusive rights to license and manufacture their electronic voting systems. In doing so, Northrop Grumman joined "several other large systems integrators that are actively pursuing the elections market," including Accenture, BearingPoint, Electronic Data Systems and Unisys, according to Washington Technology.
These companies are very involved with ITAA, Miller's trade organization. I was temporarily interested in Accenture. From wikipedia in October 2002, the Congressional General Accounting Office (GAO) identified Accenture as one of four publicly-traded federal contractors that were incorporated in a tax haven country. Accenture originated as the consulting division of Arthur Andersen.
The sleazy sidetracks are distracting me from my original topic, and I look forward to returning to it. I don't know how solid the information is from the Center for Media and Democracy, but thought it could be of interest.
He has known Miller for more than two decades. That is why he won't endorse Miller, and enthusiastically endorses Jim Webb.
Harris is quite bright. He also is prone to what I might call inflating his own accomplishments. This happened back in 1984, and it has happened more than a few times in the current campaign.
In 2006, John Flannery works for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the advocate for outsourcing and insourcing American middle class jobs.
On the other hand, it is apparent that he's neck deep in behind the scenes wheeling and dealing that is well outside of the radar of most people. It would take a multi-volume set to cover it all.
In his role as spokesperson for the ITAA, Miller has often wound up looking like the de facto public voice of America on international trade issues. What's up with that???
E.g., Miller takes it upon himself to issue warnings and threats to high level Chinese officials on trade policy.
China's Trade Policy Shift Threatens U.S. IT Interests
ITAA has generally supported trade liberalization and was an early advocate of China's accession to the WTO, a highly contentious issue in the Congress. "The restriction of government software to local Chinese companies will be viewed by many as a betrayal of the support that was provided during China's bid to become a member of the WTO," ITAA President Harris Miller said in the letter to Minister Jin.
This is part of the larger pattern as well. There are two possiblities. Either Miller was working for the Republican Bush administration, or he was a loose cannon of the first water.
Accenture originated as the consulting division of Arthur Andersen.
Actually, Accenture used to be Andersen Consulting (or similar name) and has no ties to the failed accounting firm of Arthur Andersen (Enron fame).
That said, great article Kathy.
I'll try to clarify this in an edit later when I have the time to "read for comprehension", but thanks for pointing it out!
Founding member companies of the ETC are: Advanced Voting Systems, Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems & Software, Hart InterCivic, Sequoia Voting Systems, and Unilect.
"Electronic voting is the logical next step in the evolution of voting systems," said ITAA President Harris N. Miller. "The American people expect voting machines to be fast, accurate and reliable. They do not expect the technology, itself, to raise questions or cast doubt on election results. We look forward to working with the members of the ETC to help this industry find its collective voice and to bring the benefits of electronic voting to every citizen."
Industry collusion
A summary and transcript of a conference call between voting machine companies and ITAA lobbyist Harris Miller agreed that an industry action group was to be formed in order to jointly:
1. Lobby politically for the industry,
2. Set industry standards (including ethics) and collaborate on R&D,
3. Attain self-management and industry control of the voting machine certification process,
4. Turn around current negative public perception,
5. "...reduce substantially the level and amount of criticism from computer scientists and other security experts about ... fallibility"
6. "Eliminate side attacks" from people who are "somewhat credible",
7. Co-ordinate counter attacks against issues,
8. Provide a 3rd party to "hide behind" when individual companies "don't want to talk about the issues",
9. Avoid claims of collusion by giving the false impression of independence between the lobbyists and the industry, and by keeping communication to undocumented telephone meetings without written notes.
10. Avoid press awareness of these arrangements.
WEBB FOR SENATE!