Larisa Alexandrovna
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Larisa Alexandrovna (born December 7, 1971 in Odessa, Ukraine) is a journalist. She currently works as Managing News Editor of Raw Story, and contributes opinion and columns to blogs such as the Huffington Post, online publications such as Alternet, and has had her work references in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Newsweek among others.
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[edit] Early life
Larisa Alexandrovna was born to Aleksandr Yurovich and Klavdia Borisovna, both Ukrainian Jews, in the Ukraine while it was part of the Soviet regime. During the early 1970s, Alexandrovna and family moved around various European cities until an entry visa could be acquired into the US. She has lived in New York City since 1999.
Her influences include Dorothy Parker, Anne Sexton, Vladimir Nabokov, Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, Maureen Dowd, and Naomi Klein.
[edit] Election 2004
- Further information: Election 2004
Immediately after the 2004 Presidential election came to a close, claims of voter disenfranchisement, dirty tricks, ballot tampering, and fraud were being made across the country.
Few journalists continued to explore questions surrounding the election results. Alexandrovna, along with Bob Fitrakis, Greg Palast, Brad Friedman[1], and Mark Crispin Miller, among a handful of others, however, kept claiming that anomalies and complaints existed in Ohio and Florida.
Alexandrovna claimed to have uncovered a case of ballot tampering, intimidation, and recount fraud in Clermont County, Ohio. In an article titled Ohio recount volunteers allege electoral tampering, legal violations and possible fraud, published on January 26, 2005, volunteers provided testimony and video footage of stickers on ballots as well as other issues during the 2004 recount:
These volunteers, observing the recount on behalf of the Greens, Libertarians and Democrats, assert that during the Dec. 14, 2004 hand recount they noticed stickers covering the Kerry/Edwards oval, whereas the Bush/Cheney oval seemed to be "colored in." Some witnesses state that beneath the stickers, the Kerry/Edwards oval was selected. The opti-scan ballots were then fed into the machines after the hand recount. [2]
The article prompted Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) to request an FBI investigation. Although never fully investigated by the FBI, Alexandrovna's three month investigation was cited two years later in an article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the June 1, 2006 Rolling Stone entitled "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?", he stated his belief that the Republican party stole the 2004 American presidential election.
In another investigative piece on election issues, Alexandrovna followed up on research done by Bradblog, an obscure leftist weblog, into an election commission set up to address reforms. Alexandrovna made the claim that the Baker-Carter Commission on Federal Election Reform, named after its two co-chairs – James A. Baker III and Jimmy Carter – was comprised of phony election advocacy groups, unsavory corporate interests, and skewed discussions away from what she considered to be the most important issues.
- "Serious questions of conservative partisanship have surfaced surrounding an electoral reform commission co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and erstwhile Secretary of State James Baker … The [Carter Center] denies any involvement with the Baker-Carter Commission on Federal Election Reform. Carter stepped down from the center in March… As revealed earlier by Brad Friedman of Bradblog.com, The American Center for Voting Rights appeared on the election reform scene. It is led by GOP operative and election attorney Mark F. ("Thor") Hearne who also appeared as the only voting rights group at Representative Bob Ney's (R-OH) House Administrative Committee hearings on Ohio voting issues during the 2004 election. ACVR is not, however, the only entity to appear as either a witness or a panelist before the Baker-Carter Commission."
[edit] Trivia
- Part of the Neo-Modernist movement, Alexandrovna uses her patronymic as her pen name instead of her surname.
[edit] Articles
[edit] Domestic politics
- Ohio volunteers allege electoral tampering, January 26, 2005
- Director of Florida voting contractor chaired companies linked to apartheid, December 13, 2004
- Immigration bill sparks furor among some House Republicans, February 25. 2005
- Dems locked out of debate on sweeping and controversial REAL ID Act, May 28, 2005
- Immigration memo intended for Rove ends up on a Democrats fax, September 19, 2005
- Resolution of Inquiry: Coalition of citizen groups, May 23, 2005
- The Unofficial War: US and British Air Strikes in Iraq, June 26, 2005
- Timeline - Senaor Pat Roberts (R - Kansas), August 11, 2005
- Judge rules in favor of holding public hearings on detainee abuse, August 16, 2005
[edit] Iraq War
- "Senate Intelligence chairman quietly 'fixed' intelligence, and diverted blame from White House over Iraq"
- "Through leaks and smears, Senate chairman protects White House to blame CIA, Democrats"
- "Senate Intelligence Committee stalling pre-war intelligence report"
- "Secretive military unit sought to solve political WMD concerns prior to securing Iraq..."
- "Spurious attempt to tie Iran, Iraq to nuclear arms plot bypassed U.S. intelligence channels"
- "American (Ledeen) who advised Pentagon says he wrote for magazine that found forged Niger documents"
- "Pentagon investigation of Iraq war hawk (Feith) stalling Senate inquiry into pre-war Iraq intelligence"
[edit] Articles on Iran
- "Outed CIA officer (Plame) was working on Iran..."
- "On Cheney, Rumsfeld order, US outsourcing special ops, intelligence to Iraq terror group"
[edit] Plamegate
- Further information: Plame Affair
- "Cheney aide cooperating with CIA outing probe, sources say"
- "Second Cheney aide cooperating in leak probe, those close to case say"
- "Bolton's chief of staff gave information on outed agent to Libby, lawyers involved in leak case say"
- "National Security Adviser was Woodward's source, attorneys say"
- "Senate Intelligence Committee stalling pre-war intelligence report"
- "Rove said cooperating in CIA leak inquiry"
- Associated Press plagiarizes Larisa's work
- Social Security "fright mail" targeting seniors helped fund GOP leader's trips to UK, Asia, shared byline John Byrne,2/28/05
[edit] Notes
↑ Conyers Letter to FBI, US House Judiciary
↑ Was the 2004 Election Stolen?, Rolling Stone
↑ Questions surface regarding legitimacy of Baker-Carter election reform commission, Raw Story
[edit] External links
- The Raw Story: Larisa Alexandrova staff profile
- Larisa Alexandrovna's Blog, Huffington Post
- Alexandrovna on The Weekend Interview Show, December 10, 2005.
- Alexandrovna on Voices of Our World, April 2006.
- Alexandrovna on Ian Masters, April 2006.