International Monitoring of US Election Called 'Frightening'

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International Monitoring of US Election Called 'Frightening'
By Roch Hammond
CNSNews.com Correspondent
August 09, 2004

(1st Add: Includes further reaction from Democratic House members)

(CNSNews.com) - The State Department's invitation for an Austrian-based
human rights group to monitor this year's U.S. presidential election is a
"frightening" development and "an absolute threat" to America's independence
and sovereignty, according to the head of a conservative think tank in
Washington, D.C.

Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center, said he's especially
angry that the Bush administration would reach out to the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is based in Vienna,
Austria.

"Bush continues to give conservatives the rhetoric of sovereignty,
independence and strength of the United States, and he continues to give the
[opposite] actions," DeWeese told CNSNews.com . "It's just outrageous this
administration would allow this to happen," DeWeese added.

The spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was equally critical of the
State Department's reported invitation. "It's exactly the type of
entanglement that results from our continued insistence on being a member of
the U.N. and having an interventionist foreign policy," said Jeff Deist,
press secretary for Paul, a Republican who once ran for president as a
libertarian candidate.

Paul believes that the United Nations and other international organizations
are illegitimate and threaten American sovereignty.

"We're all supposed to accept this growing notion of world government ...
that's obviously the opposite of sovereignty," Deist said, adding that "a
lot of Americans are going to take offense" with the decision.

OSCE is "the largest regional security organization in the world with 55
participating States from Europe, Central Asia and North America," according
to the group's website. "It is active in early warning, conflict prevention,
crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation" the website states.

OSCE will send personnel from its Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights. It will be the first time such a team has been present for a
U.S. presidential election, though the OSCE monitored American mid-term
elections in 2002, and the California gubernatorial election last year.

Assistant Secretary of State Paul V. Kelly clarified the State Department's
position in a July 30 letter to Rep. Johnson disclosing the decision to
invite OSCE to supervise the election. "To remain vibrant and strong,
democracies must ensure that citizens have the ability to exercise their
vote in free, fair and transparent elections," Kelly wrote.

Another official with the State Department, interviewed Monday by
CNSNews.com , said on background that the OSCE mission is "more of an
assessment" designed to verify election results. "The OSCE-participating
states all agreed, including the U.S., in 1990 to allow each other to
observe elections," the official said.

The State Department official had no additional details on the size and the
composition of the "mission," and he did not provide any information on what
countries will provide the election monitors.

The administration's invitation coincides with lingering Democratic charges
that George W. Bush and Florida Republicans manipulated the 2000
presidential race by preventing many African Americans from casting ballots.
Bush's eventual 537 vote winning margin in Florida allowed him to gain the
state's 25 electoral votes and the presidency.

Last month, Rep. Corinne Brown (D-FL) was censured by the U.S. House for
alleging that President Bush "stole" the election in 2000 and for having
labeled the results of the election a "United States coup d'etat."

That followed by about two weeks a letter sent by 13 Democratic members of
the House to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, requesting that
the agency monitor this year's presidential election between Bush and
Democrat John Kerry.

Ultimately, the Bush administration turned to the OSCE instead of the U.N.

But Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who was among those who signed the letter
to Annan, praised the State Department's action.

"I am pleased that the State Department responded by acting on this need for
international monitors. We sincerely hope that the presence of the monitors
will make certain that every person's voice is heard, every person's vote is
counted," Lee said.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), who also signed the letter to Annan,
singled out Secretary of State Colin Powell for his commitment "to a fair
and democratic process."

"The presence of monitors will assure Americans that America cares about
their votes and it cares about its standing in the world," Johnson added in
a statement.

In their letter to Annan, the Democratic House members wrote that because of
"the deeply troubling events of the 2000 election and the growing concerns
about the lack of necessary reforms and potential for abuse in the 2004
election, we believe that the engagement of international election monitors
has the potential to speed the necessary reform as well as reduce the
likelihood of questionable practices and voter disenfranchisement on
Election Day.""

Votewatch 2004, a self-described "nonpartisan, nonprofit election monitor,"
believes the presidential election 4 years ago was questionable. Four to 6
million voters "were voiceless in the 2000 elections due to faulty equipment
and confusing ballots (1.5 million to 2 million), registration mix-ups (1.5
million to 3 million), polling place operations (up to 1 million) [and]
absentee-ballot problems (unknown)," the group stated.