I agree. A large count at best proves non-independence (or contamination). It really doesn't address if the contamination is a guilty party, a smear campaign

I agree. A large count at best proves non-independence (or contamination). It really doesn't address if the contamination is a guilty party, a smear campaign or self-correlating accusations. The original article gave too much credence to the possibility of calculation solving this by even trying to work things as far as it did.