kylesisk.typepad.com

Our Ohio "Beggar-in-Chief" has been working the phones

The Governor is at it again.

First he took his "Spare change...spare change...got any spare change?" (a la the South Park episode) act to Washington DC to snag $8.2 billion in one-time money for Ohio (from the looks of the front page of the paper this morning it seems he may have pandered for $1 billion less than he should have begged for).

He used the lion's share of his week this week to...aw shucks!  It is Saturday morning, I'm feelin' a lil feisty so I'm gonna make you guess (Sorry.  I know this is annoying.  My girlfriend HATES it when I do this, but a) it is my blog so I can do what I want to do ;-) and b) as many of you know, I'm just a big kid at heart).

Please guess.

Ponder for a moment what our Governor spent his week doing.

Strategy sessions on getting Ohioans back to work since the unemployment rate is up to 8.8%?  Great guess, but NO...wrong answer.

Talking with his top economic & education advisers to figure out 1) how in the heck they botched the teacher pay figure by nearly $1 billion and 2) how they are going to fill that hole now that the "No teachers are not paid that much...la la la la la la la la la la la...I am not listening to you!!!...la la la la la la la" strategy did not work?  Again, great guess, but NO...wrong answer.

Both of those would have been great uses of the Governor's time this week, but he did not spend the lion's share of his week doing either of those things.

In fact he really did not do much for the citizens of Ohio this week except for one individual...Lee Fisher.  He has refocused his professional begging skills to help Lee out.

I really don't understand that completely since a) Lee has a job already unlike thousands of Ohioans (albeit a worse job than he had a short time ago, but a decent job nonetheless) b) Lee isn't doing anything to help the Gov solve his new "$1 billion hole problem"

Strickland was absolutely burning up the phones this week trying to get some big time support (both financially and with getting some heavy-hitter endorsements on-board the Fisher team).  Look for some big-time endorsements for Lee courtesy of Ted very soon.

The Governor & Redfern's strategy is to come out of the gates in a HUGE way, hard & fast, flexing their muscles and dropping napalm on JLB's campaign.  They hope this "surge" (like how I used that GOP military term?) for a 3-6 month period will make JLB tuck tail and run back to her SOS seat.

Under no circumstances do they want to be in a position where JLB is still alive and kicking six months from now.

Hold firm JLB.  Stay strong.  If you can persevere past that six month mark and things are not looking that great for Peggy Zone's hubby then he will probably be the one who blinks first.

Ohio Republicans Have Not Seen Rock Bottom Yet

It really hit me over the last week like a ton of bricks.

Parochialism within the Ohio GOP ranks is alive and well.

The cowardice of attacks via anonymity is flourishing.

The venom we have for others within our own party is palpable.

Conclusion:  We are not even close to being tired of losing elections in the General Election vs dems.

In fact, judging by some recent actions we would like to make losing a habit for many years to come (get used to hearing the term “generational minority”…if we are not careful it is going to be part of the Ohio GOP vernacular).

The Voinovich seat is open and potentially in peril and other than that the GOP firmly controls the Ohio Senate, the Ohio Supreme Court and the Auditor’s seat…that is pretty much it.

We have lost EVERYTHING else.

You would think we would be tired of losing by now and ready to work towards the one, unifying, common goal of defeating dems at the ballot box, but we are nowhere near being in that mindset.

Obviously, we need to lose more elections, become more firmly entrenched in the minority and shoot ourselves in the foot as a party more than we have already done before we will be ready to work together.

I will go one-by-one so there is no mistaking what I am talking about:

The House Minority Caucus:

The Batchelder crew (i.e. members, staff, vendors & consultants) still hates the Dolan crew (Exhibit A is the all-male, all-pro-Batch minority leadership team) and the Dolan crew still hates the Batch crew (Exhibit B is the photo below which I believe is of Bill Coley).  My best advice to each individual on the Dolan crew is this:  No one likes a sore loser.  Give up the ghost.  You lost (maybe not entirely in a fair manner, but you lost nonetheless).  Move on.  A number of you will have opportunities in the future if you get rid of your Keystone Light “bitter beer face”:

Continue to be bitter and wonder “what could have been” then some (or all) of these opportunities might fade away.

Many of you feel as if Batch and his crew had more to do with the House Republican Caucus being in the minority than anything Budish, SEIU and the dems did combined by doing nothing to help Dolan (and oftentimes working against him actively either in the light of day or behind the scenes). 

There is a perception (true or false) that the Dolan crew was focused on (a) keeping the majority and then once that majority was secured to then be in a position to (b) have Dolan lead the razor thin majority as Speaker while the Batchelder crew was focused on (a) making sure Batchelder was in charge no matter what the head count ended up being when the dust settled be it 52 seats, 50 seats, 48 seats or lower and (b) hope that what he had a majority of votes within was a caucus in the majority and not a caucus in the minority.   These were two very different efforts with two very different goals and neither guy ended up getting what he wanted.

Even now, many within the caucus and lobbying community believe that a united GOP caucus would have been able to keep the majority, but a completely bifurcated GOP caucus created an opening for the dems and a climate for something like losing five seats by a combined total of 1,200 votes to occur.

For the Batch crew:  You won leadership of the minority caucus, but that is relatively equivalent to winning an air conditioner in the Arctic…yep it was nice to win something, but it really isn’t worth all that much to you.  The only way your victory (with a small “v”) ends up meaning anything is if you win the majority in 2010 and Batchelder becomes Speaker.

I have the following questions for the House Minority Caucus:

1.  Are you united in this budget process or do you have some independent souls who are going to do their own thing?

2.  Are you raising money as a united minority in large sums (strong commitments now to be collected later in 2009) or not?

3.  Are you aggressively recruiting good candidates for all 99 House seats right now (you should be actively into candidate recruitment for the better part of 60 days already in 09)?

4.  If you close your eyes and are asked to picture your enemy does a picture of Strickland, Redfern, Budish or a fellow member of your own caucus pop into your head?

5.  Are you doing your part to insure Republicans are in the best position possible to control the Apportionment Board after the 2010 elections?

Unfortunately, the answers to too many of these questions are not the right ones for regaining a majority.

The internal fighting and backstabbing that is proliferating is a sure way to 40 seats not a viable strategy to get to 50.

Dolan and his crew hate the current situation of things and Batch and his crew do not like it that much either, but the reality of the current situation is that wishing things were different is not going to get you anywhere.  The time for wishing things were different is over.  The time for doing is here.

The Race to take on Ted Strickland

The anonymous attack on Kasich last week was enough to send me to the fucking moon.  Having given a pound of my own flesh back in 2004 to an anonymous attack you can imagine how much I loathe people who hide behind anonymity, slander and innuendo. 

I do not know with absolute 100% certainty who was behind last week’s anonymous attack on Kasich, but after comparing notes with two other people I am 90% sure I know who did it.  So I will tell him (the perpetrator was a guy) now that he is on notice.  If he does something like that again then I will “out” him on this blog and I will provide my “case” to the readers of this blog and they can decide for themselves after reviewing my evidence if I am right or wrong.  Don’t think I’m serious?  Try me.

If I don’t serve any purpose with this blog other than outing Republicans who are pussies who anonymously attack other Republicans then I am fine with that.  I think we can do more than that with this blog, but if we do nothing else other than reduce the number of anonymous “Republican on Republican” guerrilla attacks then we have provided a worthwhile public service in my opinion.

Governor Strickland is trying to position this state for the largest tax increase (by far) in Ohio’s history.  He must be stopped from passing his proposed budget (in the short run) and he must be removed from office for our kids & grandkids sake on November 4, 2010 (for the long run).

The only way that is going to happen is if (1) Kasich announces, forms a committee at the SOS office and starts raising money in droves ASAP and (2) everyone coalesces behind Kasich and quits these bullshit ankle biting, knock fellow GOPers off at the knees tactics.  Focus attacks on Strickland not on Kasich.

The other two Apportionment Board seats and the two non-Apportionment Board seats

Mary Taylor needs to cease & desist all talk of potentially running against Portman and focus all of her time and energy into raising funds & talking to voters about running for Auditor again.  Jill Miller Zimon whom I like, respect and envy her writing ability (don’t read that the wrong way…I am not saying I agree with her…she and I do not agree on much, but her command of the English language is far superior to mine) asked me about Mary Taylor and Jennifer Lee. 

Jill thinks both of them should run for Senate.  I respectfully disagree.  The comparison is an "apples & oranges comparison."  They are both female, down-ticket statewide officeholders, but the similarities end there.  Jennifer Lee has worked tirelessly while in office to build a legitimate statewide organization.  Mary has not.  SOS has been a 24/7 gig for Jennifer Lee and from all accounts I have been given…well, I will be kind and say that Mary has not put in those kinds of hours as Auditor (Mary is in 1000% better shape than Jennifer Lee.  That does not happen by accident.  Get my drift?  That is just one example of “different uses of time during the workday” when comparing these two).  Jennifer Lee can rely on the aid of EMILY’S LIST and Mary has no GOP counterpart to that organization to turn to.   There is a decent sized coalition of people who are pro-JLB or anti-Lee Fisher and Mary does not have that kind of dynamic working in her favor on the GOP side.  95% of people within the party feel like she is pissing in Portman’s pool and it is time for her to get out.  There are other things I could point out here as “differentiators”, but doing so would just put a big target on my back.  Suffice it to say that Mary would not have the resources to compete with Portman.  He would buy the primary.   It is just that simple.

The other Apportionment Board seat is the seat I probably hear the most about and it is the seat which will probably have the largest impact on the next ten years of politics in Ohio.  And, from what I am seeing from the bleacher seats, it looks to me like Republicans are going to shoot themselves in the foot here and do the dems dirty work for them.

Mark my word:  If things do not change and change quickly then the Republicans will lose this seat instead of the dems actually winning this seat.  Make no mistake about it.  There is a very clear distinction between those two things happening. 

Right now Republicans are doing everything they can to lose this race.

From what I am hearing Jon Husted, Sandy O’Brien, Rob Montgomery and Kevin Coughlin are all interested in running for this seat.

Any primary whatsoever in this seat will mean bad news for the candidate who survives the primary and limps into the general election.

Jon Husted was not a great Speaker of the House.  I think he did a decent/good job, but I don’t think he did a great job.  The thing you have to keep in mind though is that it is a nearly impossible job to be great at.  Don’t believe me?  Ask Jo Ann Davidson or Larry Householder.  It really is an awful, thankless job which by design makes you piss people off on a pretty regular basis, there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs to get done while you are Speaker and by the time your term is done you and your Chief of Staff end up having a lot of people mad at you, not very many people happy with you and you end up severely disliking most of the members you carried on your back and coddled for nearly your entire term as Speaker while trying to retain the majority.

I wish Jon Husted had done a number of things different, but it is what it is and the facts of our current situation is that there is NO OTHER CANDIDATE who has the relationships statewide within the party and within the donor community who can raise the $5-6 million which will be needed to win the Secretary of State election next year.

There is no one else who can do it THAT IS INTERESTED other than Husted. 

I just do not see a scenario where we can talk Betty Montgomery, Jim Petro or Mike DeWine into running for Secretary of State.  And, frankly, most of the people who have a problem with Jon Husted not being conservative enough for this seat would have as much, if not more, of a problem with Montgomery, Petro or DeWine as they would with Husted anyway.

Husted is the best candidate available.  Period.  This is what some people within the GOP ranks just do not get.  The synapses do not connect.  There is no magical pot of money for the likes of Sandy O’Brien, Rob Montgomery or Kevin Coughlin.  There just isn’t.  Husted can raise the necessary funds to beat Jen Brunner, Bill Mason, Paula Brooks or any of the other folks I have heard mentioned for this seat.

We tried the “Sandy O’Brien experiment” in 2006 and it failed miserably.  Yes, she is a woman.  Yes, she is a conservative.  Yes, she has a great last name.  Yes, she is a proven vote-getter in a county of 120,000 people (woo woo).  Yes, her son is pretty smart and one of the other statewide campaigns would be lucky to have him at the helm.  But all of that stuff was true in 2006 also.   The brass tax of the situation is that she is a decent candidate in a primary, but she is not that great of a candidate in a general election.  She has not been able to raise money in the past and that trend would continue in 2009 & 2010 if she were to run for this race. 

Rob Montgomery is in a phenomenal position to take David Goodman’s place as State Senator and I think that is exactly what he should do.  He could be a significant player within the caucus in his first two years and if he plays his cards right he could be in a position in the future that could be very good for himself and for Central Ohio.  And, quite frankly, I think he would actually like being a State Senator.  He is still a young guy who has a lot of good years ahead of him.  He would be much wiser to go the State Senate route in 2010 (work his ass off in 09-10 to take Goodman’s seat then continue working his ass off in 11 & 12 then take a look at the political landscape in 13 to evaluate a potential bid for a down-ticket statewide office in 2014 OR stick it out in the Senate and try to advance within the ranks there).  That is the route Rob should take.  If Rob or Ron reads this blog I hope they will take this advice.  Just because it is free advice in a blog does not mean it is bad advice J 

So far Kevin Coughlin’s efforts at running statewide have been equivalent to a monkey trying to f@#k a football.  Now all of you KC lovers don’t start writing me hate mail.  I like Kevin.  I respect Kevin.  I think Kevin has a lot going for him, but I am just scratching my head as to his actions up to this point in time.  First he had the announcement that wasn’t the announcement in the ABJ.  Then he had the “official announcement” that he did over the internet.  Frankly, I liked the medium he chose and I actually personally liked his message in his announcement & that he looked at the camera squarely & confidently (unfortunately I am in the minority on that front and a lot of people I have talked to thought his announcement in a dimly lit office reminded them of a grainy Al Qaeda video).  What I have issue with is the fact that he actually did the announcement at all.  Now he is the announced candidate for Gov.  Many within the GOP ranks perceive this act as an act of aggression towards John Kasich because many within the GOP ranks believe Kasich is going to be our candidate thus Coughlin’s announcement is not perceived as an announcement against Ted Strickland.  It is perceived as an announcement and act of aggression against John Kasich.  Not good, Kevin.  Not good. 

I think Coughlin would have been better served by campaigning around the state telling people that he definitely would  be running for Governor if John Kasich would not be stepping up to the plate to take on Ted Strickland (unfortunately still a very realistic scenario), but would defer to Kasich if he got into the race and at that point would either run for a down-ticket statewide office if that opportunity presented itself or, worst case scenario, this effort was just a head-start on a statewide run in 2014.  I think that message would have been very well received and Kevin would be in a much better position than what he currently finds himself in.  Now he is the announced candidate and until Kasich gets into the race he has no excuse whatsoever to get out of the race.  Kasich is scared of filing with a small figure for the mid-year campaign finance reporting period (cut-off June 30^th & the figures go public July 31^st) so do not look for a Kasich announcement for Governor any sooner than July 1^st if it even happens at all.  So Kevin needs to keep posturing as if he is running for Gov for all of March, April, May and, at a minimum, June.  My guess is Kasich won’t want his announcement to get lost amid 4^th of July festivities so he is probably really looking at a mid-July announcement.  Coughlin looks weak if he gets out of the race immediately so he at least has to “do some soul searching, talk to his family, talk to his supporters, etc” prior to announcing that he is getting out of the race and backing Kasich so realistically Coughlin has to stay in this Gov race at least until August.  My guess is he probably thinks he can “fall back into” a down-ticket statewide race (or negotiate for one of them) at that point in time, but I think that is just wishful thinking.  Both grassroots and financial commitments will be too far down the paths of other candidates by then and there is no one to negotiate with for a seat.  Bennett is gone and DeWine doesn’t have the stick yet within the GOP ranks to work out a deal.  He is no 20 year Chairman.  He does not have that kind of power.  He is a 45 day Chairman.  We are living in the wild, wild west right now and there isn’t anyone alive who can broker that kind of deal.  That said, if he tries to get into a primary at that point in time all he ends up looking like and being is an asshole. 

But, alas, all is not negative in Coughlin world.  If Kasich and Mike DeWine both take a pass at Gov then Kevin ends up looking like the smartest guy on the planet because he will be running for the exact seat the party needs him to be running for:  Governor.  He will have just figured it out months ahead of us.  If that ends up being the situation we find ourselves in then I will offer my apologies for doubting his Nostradamus-like abilities.

I believe the more likely scenario is that Kasich announces in July and then Coughlin will EITHER have to stay in the race, run a primary against Kasich, do better than anyone expected, but still lose & bloody Kasich up enough in the process that Strickland wins re-election easily, Coughlin shoulders much of the blame for such an outcome and his political career is over…

OR…

Kasich announces in July and then after doing some soul-searching, talking with his family & supporters he comes to the conclusion sometime in August or September that he is dropping out of the Gov’s race, deferring to Kasich and campaigning statewide full-time to help Kasich get elected Governor.  If Kasich wins then hopefully he is an honorable guy (like Ted was with Fingerhut) and he gives Kevin something meaningful in his Administration while letting him basically spend four years running around the state campaigning for a down-ticket statewide run in 14.  If Kasich loses then Coughlin will be in the position that he campaigned for all of 09 & 10, was a huge team player for Kasich & the party and I believe that people will be grateful for that and remember that as he puts his efforts together for a statewide run in 2014.  I hope for the party’s sake and for Kevin’s sake personally that he does this last paragraph’s scenario if the situation presents itself.

I lay all of that out with Jon, Sandy, Rob & Kevin because I truly believe with every fiber of my being that the only way the GOP wins the Secretary of State race is if both of these things happen:

1)       Jon Husted is our candidate

2)      Jon Husted does not have a credible Republican primary

If anyone other than Husted is our candidate then the dollars will NOT be raised and our candidate will not win.  Sandy cannot do it (she has proven that).  Rob cannot do it.  Kevin cannot do it.  If any of these three people (or any combo of the three) run against Husted in the primary they will not win.  You may think they will win or have some legitimate chance of winning, but you are just smoking crack.  You are just plain wrong.  Sorry.  Sorry to speak so plainly & directly, but the time for plain talk has arrived.  Please do not be a part of weakening Husted for the general election.  That is ALL you would be doing if you ran against him in the primary.

If Husted needs to spend $1,000,000 to beat any of these people in a primary he will spend it.  If he needs to spend $2,000,000 to beat any of these people in a primary then he will spend that.  Are you starting to get the picture?  He will raise and spend whatever he needs to so he is victorious in the primary.  

Here is where I REALLY need my conservative friends who might think about supporting one of these candidates against Husted to pay attention.  Please focus.  Are you ready?  Ok.  Here I go.  I have three points I need to get across to you:

1)      Money follows power therefore GOP $ is very limited.  We used to have power as a party so fundraising was a lot easier.  We were used to operating in a world from 1994-2006 where it seemed like the money came from a never-empty, always-flowing money faucet.  That world no longer exists.  Money follows power and other than the oasis known as the Ohio Senate we do not have it.  The real power structures within this state are now controlled by the dems so the amount of money both BY RACE & IN TOTAL is now very limited for GOP candidates compared to the 94-06 era.

2)      A wounded-from-an-ugly-primary Jon Husted is a probable loser in the General Election in this Apportionment Board Seat.  Husted will spend whatever he has to spend be it a million, two million, more…whatever…so why in the world would you want him to have to take a portion of those, as explained, limited amount of dollars and spend them in a primary?  If he spends $1.2 million (my guess-timate/ballpark figure for a primary win) in a primary then that will definitely impact his ability to get to $5-6 million in the general election.  Further, he will be a weaker general election candidate because he will have had to gone out to the right in the primary to be successful.  Coming back closer to the middle in the general just means that this SOS race will end up being more expensive if he is to be victorious.

3)      My most important point of all for you:  These statewide races do not happen in a vacuum.  They just do not.  What goes on in this SOS race will have a big impact on someone all of you conservatives love.  An expensive primary for Husted will greatly affect Husted’s chances of being successful in the general and it will most definitely impact Mandel’s fundraising and his ability to put himself in the best position to defeat Boyce.  Re-read points 1) & 2) above, really think about this point #3 and you will realize I am correct. 

Conservatives in this state are great with grassroots and getting out the vote, but are not nearly as good on the money side of things.  The major funding sources for Republican politics in this state will most assuredly put their dollars in the three Apportionment Board seats FIRST and then if they have anything leftover THEN they will think about funding the Treasurer race and the AG race.  If the SOS race gets really expensive because Husted has to fight off a credible primary opponent then I am 100% positive that Mandel’s fundraising will get hurt. 

 

So taking a shot at Husted and coming up short will hurt both Husted and Mandel.

 

I implore you to not hurt either of them.  A Husted primary weakens Mandel. I will say that again in case you missed it the first time:

A Husted primary weakens Mandel.

The AG Race is not a throwaway race.  This race also will have an impact on the GOP ticket. 

Right now Mike DeWine is trying to figure out whether he is running for anything at all, AG or Chief Justice.  I hope he opts against not running or running for Chief.  I hope he runs for AG.  If he runs for AG he will either win and be positioned very well for a rematch against Sherrod in 12 or for something else in 14.  If he loses he will have “taken one for the team/been a real team player” by taking on the dem’s golden boy/gubernatorial candidate in waiting.  Even if he loses he will have created a groundswell of support within the GOP and, more importantly, will have put Cordray in a position where he had to spend every last penny to win the race. 

I like Dave Yost a lot and I do not know Mike Crites, but I hear a lot of great things about him, too.  The fact of the matter is that if DeWine runs then Cordray will not have any money left to help out whoever runs against Taylor, Husted or Mandel and if Yost or Crites is the opponent then Cordray will have SEVEN FIGURES to pump into whichever races need extra funding to prevail.

The mathematics of the AG race are just very simple.  DeWine is good for the rest of the ticket in this Apportionment Board year and Yost & Crites are not.  Now if DeWine will not run for AG then we could do way worse than either Dave Yost or Mike Crites.  Personally, I am biased towards Yost.

Now some conservatives have said they would rather have Cordray than DeWine.  To that I will just point out three things (none of which will be the doling out of special counsel & collections work which are the things you probably only know about):

1)      Where in the heck do you think most of the judges in this state come from?  This may come as a shock to you, but judges do not grow on trees.  Sorry.  The tooth fairy isn’t real either.  Do a little research and you will find that the judicial equivalent to a farm team/minor league is the AG’s office.  It has been that way at least since the days of the late Bill Brown.  So if you want the dems to retain the #1 farm team for future judges then go right ahead supporting Cordray.

2)      The AG sits on the Board of Deposits.  Ask the banks if that is kind of a big deal.

3)      The AG appoints the members of the Board of the Consumers’ Council.  Ask the public utility companies if that is kind of a big deal.

There are about six other things I could write down here, but I believe I have made my point as to why DeWine might be better for the GOP than Cordray.

In summary, I apologize for the length of this post.  That was not my intent when I began.  I guess I had a lot on my mind.  We are truly at a crossroads as a party.  The beautiful thing is that we have very real, very obvious choices that we can choose to make that will be helpful or hurtful to our collective chances on November 4, 2010.  I hope a number of people in this state (especially conservatives who care for Kasich, Taylor & Mandel) will think long and hard before kicking the shit out of the likes of Husted and DeWine. 

You have the power.  Please choose to build with it and not use it to tear down & destroy.

 

 

 

 

Moment(s) to prove the Profile in Courage!

“Moment(s) to prove the Profile in Courage!” is penned by our newest Guest Columnist “Eye Spy.”  Eye Spy is a welcome addition to our crew and hopefully someone who is here to stay.   Welcome to the team!!! 

Secretary Brunner is in the crosshairs of a couple of real defining moments right now.   Moments which can and will be used against her…. or which she could use for herself.   Many people may not even notice them, but those of us who watch this stuff can see them coming a mile away.  The first is her chance to really take a high road, ok, well, just at least the same road that her predecessor Ken Blackwell took when he was running for Governor in 2006.  Recall the loud teeth gnashing, especially by Democrats, regarding his presiding as SOS over an election in which he would run for Governor?  Do you also recall that he actually handed the reins of the office to his Deputy SOS?  That didn’t stop the gnashing, but it was a step in the right direction.  Does anyone else remember the NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL bashing Blackwell for being SOS and a candidate for Governor at the same time? (http://tinyurl.com/d6kaoj)   I don’t get the NYT and I’m sure it’s already come out asking for Brunner to step aside from her SOS duties while she runs for US Senator, so can someone forward it to me?  Oh, it hasn’t come out yet?  How interesting.

Fast forward to now, and notice that The Honorable Ms. Brunner has thus far decided that she is not burdened with such a spoiled ethical compass as Mr. Blackwell and therefore has no need to step aside and allow her Deputy SOS to make the big decisions during her campaign for US Senate.  (http://tinyurl.com/c9csdz) Yes, that is a campaign to become the next US Senator for the State of Ohio….the same state for which she is currently Ohio Secretary of State.  As I noted in a previous post, only the sound of crickets is heard on this topic from the Democratic side of the aisle.  Interesting how such rhetoric died upon the induction of a Democratic SOS.  To be clear, there is no legal obligation for her to step aside, however, apparently even poor, ethically burdened Blackwell could see that was the path to take. 

Moment number two showed up Wednesday from Montgomery County in the form of a tie vote of the Montgomery County Board of Elections over the residency of State Senator Jon Husted.   Ms. Brunner should be smart enough to see that this complaint against Senator Husted is nothing more than the ill-fated legal attempt against Governor Strickland’s residency in 2006 as was wisely pointed out yesterday by the Buckeye State Blog http://tinyurl.com/d33j6g.  Heck, the BSB even put the Ohio Rev. Code Section in to be sure every reader knew that we are dickering over the same words (feel like deja vu?).    It may be illuminating to reveal that neither Blackwell nor the SOS office ever ruled on the tie vote from Columbiana County Board of Elections on the matter (Democrat members voting that Strickland’s residency was valid and Republicans voting it wasn’t – the exact opposite of the make-up of the Montgomery County Board of Elections vote on the Husted matter.)  Blackwell’s Deputy SOS (see above topic regarding conflicts) sent it back to the Columbiana County Board of Elections for further investigation and the complainant eventually withdrew her complaint. (http://tinyurl.com/akutap).

Brunner could use this moment to do several things, none of which are breaking the tie in favor of Progress Ohio’s politically motivated complaint against Senator Husted.  One, she could break it for Husted and stop all the nonsense.  Two, she could send it back to the Montgomery County BOE for further investigation, and/or she could educate ProgressOhio of the silliness of this complaint and demand they withdraw it so we can all move on to more important business (like the budget, jobs and “turning around Ohio”…..).  To illustrate the political motivation, one only need to trot over to the ProgressOhio Blog and read the verbal bludgeoning it is giving Ms. Brunner over this topic.  (http://tinyurl.com/d7pgfg.)   If I didn’t know better…….. wait……. I do know better, it does look like the ultra-Liberals (and sometimes the ultra-conservatives) think the Rule of Law only plays for them, and when and how they want it to.   Boy, this song gets old.   

Finally, no matter how she acts, she must do it soon since during this time she is effectively precluding Senator Husted from exercising his right to vote because of the continuing uncertainty over WHERE he may vote.  By now we’ve all heard her say how she is working to ensure that the right to vote belongs to every citizen and surely she does not want to be the one solely responsible for disenfranchising Senator Husted.  Ms. Brunner, The Honorable, could REALLY show how zero-partisan she claims to be if she looks at the law, looks at the facts, and does the right thing.  Now THAT would be a Profile in Courage.   

 

In case you missed it...Bill Mason will be announcing for Secretary of State

I kind of hid this piece of info in my last post so I figured it deserved its own blog post.

Probably in March (April the latest) look for an official announcement from Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason that he will be trying for the dem spot on the ticket as their candidate for Secretary of State.

Dems posturing to replace Lee Fisher as Lt. Governor on Ted's ticket

The race to replace Lee Fisher on Ted's 2010 ticket is in earnest.

There are three people in the hunt right now...probably more to come.

Dean DePiero is currently the youngest Mayor ever to serve the city of Parma and I am afraid he will probably continue in that role for at least a little while longer.  Sorry Dean.  You are definitely qualified, but factors beyond your control are going to sink your chances.  The eventual March/April announcement which is forthcoming by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason to try to replace Jen Brunner as the next SOS of Ohio will derail your bid.  Can't have too many white guys from Cleveland on the ticket in 2010.  Sorry.  Just giving it to you straight.

David Pepper is a Hamilton County Commissioner who has been mentioned predominantly as the eventual candidate for the dems for Auditor to take on Mary Taylor.  I still believe that is actually where he will end up (I have blogged as such in the past about him doing just that), but his name is being bandied about within the Gov's office as a potential running mate.  With my GOP partisan hack hat on I prefer that the dem ticket for Gov/LG is a Strickland/Pepper ticket.  Although I think he would add a lil "x + y" to the ticket I don't think that he would help the dems nearly as much as their LG candidate as he would their Auditor candidate.  That said, I am 100% for the "S & P Ticket."  "Strickland & Pepper"...almost rolls off the tongue as nicely as "Procter & Gamble."

Unfortunately for the GOP I believe you are looking at the frontrunner to replace Lee Fisher on the ticket (assuming Lee does not tuck tail and return to his LG spot again).  For those of you who do not know her yet her name is Paula Brooks and she is the President of the Franklin County Commissioners.  Franklin County is a dem county.  If anyone tells you that it is a "swing county" please ask them what planet they are from and then hit them with a heavy object that will either cause bruising or draw blood.  If she leaves the Commission the dems will easily replace her with another dem so no loss on that front, she helps Strickland a little in Franklin County, her gender helps a bit on a couple of fronts {especially since it is shaping up to be an all-male (nearly all white male if it were not for KB) dem ticket} and she will be a very good #2.  She is a safe pick and sometimes (as in this case) safe is a good thing.

Give me a break, Strickland! Seriously. How dumb do you think we are?

I am so sick and tired of hearing Strickland say these phrases it makes my head hurt:

From the Dispatch:  When asked last week whether it is a foregone conclusion that the use of one-time money would require a tax increase in the future, the governor flatly replied, "No, it is not.

"There are those who thought I would have to raise taxes this time," Strickland said. "I'm a creative, innovative decision-maker."

Hmm.  Let's dissect that last line (my favorite quote thus far in his reign as Gov by the way) shall we?

"I'm a creative, innovative decision-maker."

Really?  Is that what you are going with?  Are you sure?  Come on.  Really?

How can he even say that line with a straight face???  It makes me giggle.

"I'm a creative, innovative decision-maker."  Tee hee hee.  Sorry.  I just can't help myself.

Reality check: 

The budget is $54.7 billion

He resorted to being Ohio's "Beggar-in-Chief" to the point of even angering fellow dems, but he is a very good beggar (did he mean to say he was a creative, innovative beggar instead of creative, innovative decision-maker?  sorry.  i digress) and he secured $8.2 billion for Ohio from the federal stimulus package (partly on false pretenses I might add...that part actually was creative & innovative) and $5.8 billion of that $8.2 billion (100% of it is one time money) is going into the $54.7 billion figure listed above.

He is creatively and innovatively draining the entire $948 million from Ohio's rainy day fund as well.

So, in summary for those of you riding the short bus, he is using $7 billion in one time money for locking us into long-term financial commitments for this state.

$7 billion of the $54.7 billion is money that cannot be relied on one iota in the future.

If that is creative and innovative decision-making then hell I would have to say that Kathleen Chandler could even be Governor in this current situation and look like she is a creative and innovative decision-maker.  Is she?  I didn't think she was, but maybe I am wrong on that, too.

Give me a break.

It isn't creative and innovative decision-making.

It is shameful, irresponsible and completely disingenuous.

He knows with 100% certainty that this is a re-election ploy and as soon as he gets re-elected you can rest assured that Ohio will be facing its largest tax increase in its history.

I hope he at least has the common courtesy to include K-Y jelly in the next budget.  If the Governor has his way we are all going to need it.

I feel like I need to go to a meeting to find some self-restraint or something

When my daughter was two years old she was staring at a light bulb on a lamp with the lamp shade off of it.  She was admiring how pretty it was.  I was in the process of getting ready for my workday so I was not paying 100% attention to her, but I had a sinking suspicion that curiosity was going to get the best of her and she was going to touch the light bulb.  I told her, "honey, don't touch the light bulb.  I know it is pretty, but it will burn your finger.  Please don't touch it."  I'd then leave the room for 30 seconds to do something else, return to her, repeat the phrase, "Don't touch that light bulb!  If you touch it you will burn yourself and it will hurt very badly" then continue my morning routine. 

Needless to say, the inevitable happened.  At one point as I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and a blood-curdling scream came from down the hall.  I ran the short distance and upon entering the room saw her screaming and bawling while just staring at her already blistering index finger. 

I treated her finger and she was fine, but the encounter had quite an impression on her.  There have been times over the years where she has been about to do something stupid and all I've had to say was, "Remember the light bulb" and that is enough to get her to step away from what she was about to do.

If I could only be so smart myself sometimes.

I KNEW if I watched Obama last night all it would do was get me all fired up, but I went ahead and did it anyway.  Stupid, stupid me.  I just couldn't help myself.  I was drawn to my TV much the same way my daughter had been drawn to that light bulb eleven years ago.

Hopefully you showed a little more personal restraint than I was able to muster last evening and you skipped the speech.

The quick summary of the speech is much easier to do if I just let you know what he did not promise in his speech last night.

He did not promise the following:

*A free weekly full body massage and facial from a licensed masseuse compliments of the Gov't

*"Free drink Fridays" where your first five drinks at any bar or club in the US are free compliments of Uncle Sam every Friday

*A free kitten for every household

*Peace on earth

He pretty much promised everything else you can possibly think of promising in an hour speech, but he did not promise those four things.

So... to recap the last two years:

*Hope and change for nearly two years gets you:  elected

*Fear-mongering for two months gets you:  a stimulus bill that will hit our kids like a tornado and our grandkids like a tsunami

*Being hugely optimistic and promising to solve nearly every major problem that has plagued this country over the last 20 years in your first term as President gets you:  ??? (too soon to tell what it gets you...we'll just have to wait and see)

Why do we pay for an LG Staff? Counting (and creating) our blessings

This story was penned jointly by "Eye Spy" and Kyle Sisk (NOTE:  jointly is a huge overstatement since Eye Spy wrote 95% of the content of this post and I was a mere 5%).  We are SO happy to have Eye Spy as part of the blogging team!

Why do we pay for an LG Staff?  Counting (and creating) our blessings

Research into the history of the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (“LG”) provides little in the way of background as to what the purpose of the LG was other than to serve as Governor in the event the Governor himself is unable to serve due to disability, or “death, conviction on impeachment, resignation, or removal” pursuant to Article III, Sec. 15 of the Ohio Constitution.  In contrast to the purpose served by the US Vice President – to serve as President of the US Senate – the citizens of Ohio have very little use for an Ohio LG.

The uselessness of the LG became so apparent in 2005 that the General Assembly, with Executive Branch encouragement, changed the law to allow the LG to serve as a director of one of the executive agencies which report to the Governor AND to choose to take the salary of that Director instead of the statutorily set salary of the LG – which is about half that of the Governor.  So far this has always been a huge increase in salary for the LG.   I guess we should be happy the law doesn’t allow the LG to take both salaries.  (Blessing #1). 

In any event, although it was seemingly a positive development that the LG could legally become an Agency Director, it remains, and has been perpetuated by both the Democrat and Republican LG office holders since 2005 that the LG’s office continues to have a budget and a staff wholly unrelated to the Agency for which the LG became the Director.  The purpose of such staff appears to be a mystery.  Ask around and see how many blank stares you get.   At the very least, the best solution when the law was changed to allow the LG to be an Agency Director that upon the taking of that Director job, was that the budget for an LG staff zeroes out.    Certainly any administrative assistance the LG needs would come from that Agency and duplicate functions in a separate LG office are completely unnecessary.   Such foresight was apparently lost on the Executive Branch and General Assembly, and sensible solutions did not materialize. 

There is no better time to remedy this situation than right now.  The LG staff and all monies associated with its funding should be zeroed out within this budget.  Someone within the House or Senate needs to jump on this immediately.

The movement of LG/DOD Director Fisher from DOD Director back to simply the “LG” again revealed the need to address this excessiveness.  The citizens should be thrilled that LG Fisher will simply be using his LG staff to run for a US Senate seat instead of developing economic viability of Ohio…(as Borat would say) NOT!!!  I guess we should be happy he’s not doing both.  (Blessing #2). 

There is no reason Fisher’s LG staff should exist at all, but definitely not in the worst of economic times.  If the LG staff remains intact during LG Fisher’s US Senate run, any half-wit can figure out that the only thing the LG Staff would be doing is subsidizing Fisher’s Federal campaign with State of Ohio tax dollars.    

How in the heck does that make any sense???

In this time of perceived and real state budget drama, the General Assembly as well as those desiring to run for the offices of Governor and LG in the next general election, have a golden opportunity to advocate for the abolishment of any staff, administrative or other budget for the LG’s office and articulate how they would use the scant resources and evaporating revenues to, in the words of a famous ex-Governor, “do more with less.” 

If state government leadership could figure that out, it would be the biggest blessing of all.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please join us at the newly created Facebook Group, "share" its existence with your Facebook Friends and please "invite" your fellow Facebook Friends to join this Facebook Group.  Let's show the legislature that there is a real passion for the elimination of government waste:

Eliminate the Ohio Lieutenant Governor Staff Budget now!!!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=67776988297&ref=mf

What the heck is going on in Toledo???

Who records conversations like it is his job and needs to step down as Chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party???

THIS GUY:

Read this blog post by Maggie Thurber about the Chairman's latest attempts at becoming a Junior G-Man:

http://thurbersthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/02/lcrp-has-bigger-problem-than-lack-of.html

Jon Stainbrook either needs to fucking grow up and quit recording conversations he has with other people or step down as chairman and join the other 800 paparazzi who use these types of tactics "to get the story" out in LA.  Toledo really does need these types of tactics.  They have enough problems already.  They really don't need this one, too.

Lucas County deserves better.  Act like an adult or get out.

Quick update on US Senate Race

Five time Cincinnati City Councilman and third term Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune will be entering the fray to become the dem candidate for US Senate to take on Rob Portman next November.

I believe that takes the dem field to five  (Brunner, Fisher, Jones, Yates & Portune).

Someone like a Zack Space or a Marcy Kaptur could really shake this crowded field up.

Please let me know of any other candidates you hear about out there considering jumping into this race.

I know of one more female who is strongly considering it, but she has yet to make the move.

A little bit of perspective and very funny...worth 4 minutes of your day!

http://barefootmeg.multiply.com/video/item/56/Louis_CK_Everythings_amazing_nobodys_happy

Sorry I couldn't embed the video, but the link works :-)

Many thanks to the long lost Brianna Azul with the assist from the Gosling for bringing this video to our attention!!!

e-Politics: Technology's Impact on the Political Process

e-Politics: Technology's Impact on the Political Process

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube... you don't have to be a genius to see that technology impacts politics. Everyday voters now have the ability to participate in politics in a way that little over ten years ago we were only dreaming of. After all, most of you reading this now likely checked one of your social networking sites shortly after you got up this morning.

Can, and will, the next generation of politicians effectively use these mediums available to them?

Will these mediums influence public opinion?

Does one party benefit from the use of new technology more than the other?

Recently dubbed e-politics, new technology has opened the door to a whole new arena of fund-raising, grass-roots, communication and marketing participation. You only have to do a quick search in your facebook groups to see how many politicians are using some of these outlets. In Ohio John Kasich, Kevin Coughlin,  Rob Portman, Mary Taylor, Josh Mandel, Jon Husted and several others all participate in one or more of these technologies, using them to reach out to potential voters and volunteers. Used effectively some of these sites can message and keep informed larger amounts of the general public than traditional media (ie. television and radio).

In November of 2003 social networking was introduced. MySpace was followed shortly after by Facebook and Flickr in February of 2004, and YouTube in 2005. These sites made it possible to communicate with the world without picking up a phone, turning on the TV, or listening to the radio. Unlike previous methods of mass communication new technology is cheap, and has better outreach. After all, we now have the opportunity to reach several demographics that may have been harder to reach previously... the housewife, the student, business professionals, the ever elusive 20-somethings, the poor, the rich, the educated and uneducated. It's interactive, and as up close and personal as you can get without sitting down face-to-face.

By spring of 2008, 40 percent of adult Americans had used the Internet to get political news and information, this is up from 31 percent at the same stage in 2004 and 34 percent for that entire election season. Furthermore, among adults, 47 percent of non-Hispanic whites use the Internet, e-mail or text messaging to get political news or exchange their views, compared with 43 percent of non-Hispanic blacks and 50 percent of English-speaking Hispanics, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

These numbers alone speak volumes of the potential new technology has to influence politics. There are several studies that show e-politics is rapidly changing the traditional power structures by making candidates more transparent, communicative and participatory.

There are two schools of thought on the impact of the internet on politics. The first being the cyber-optimists, who argue that new technology helps to increase the role of the community in public affairs and therefore promotes participatory democracy. The second are the cyber-pessimists who argue that new technology has not and may never have a progressive and liberalizing effect on politics at all.

Regardless of your opinion, there is no doubt, the Internet has increased the quantity and sometimes quality of available information. The statistics from channels like iTunes, YouTube, and other podcasting sites, indicate that technology could have played a very critical role in the 2008 elections. While many argue it was far from the deciding factor, it is hard to ignore.

The Internet and technology are now positioned to play a huge role in future elections. And with it being accessible to everyone regardless of party affiliation, it is fair game. Using OhioGOP-TV, blogs, E-mail updates and interactive calendars all while harnessing the power of the social networking sites, the Ohio GOP, with John McClelland at the helm has stepped up it's game, and is rapidly changing the face of Ohio politics as we know it.

Does technology have the power to change the face of politics? Absolutely, and it's only a matter of time before technology plays a critical role in our elections.

Nicole Rapier
Vice-President, Butler County Young Republicans
Technology Chair, Butler County Republican Women's Club

A CRITICAL MOMENT...

A CRITICAL MOMENT...

The heading for this post is stolen from my good friend and former writing teacher, Brad Schreiber.  With his permission, I'd like to post a recent e-mail Brad sent around regarding the loss of a good man.  Although I like to think of myself as a decent writer, Brad is a published author and film critic out here in L.A. and his story below makes me yearn for a talent I just don't seem to have.  The tale is a sad one, but worth reading by everyone lucky enough to still have a pulse.  If anything, it will hopefully make you realize how fortunate you have it.  For me, it made me hug my boys just a little bit longer before I left for work this morning.

Patch, I never met you, but your spirit lives on.

Goose

----

A Critical Moment by Brad Schreiber

Patch Rose and the Meaning of a “Writer’s Community”

My friend Patch Rose is gone. But as sad as I feel right now, his departure simultaneously serves a great purpose. It reminds me of the importance of a writer having a “community.”

He beat the odds, Patrick Francis Rose did, living two years in remission with a virulent brain tumor called a glioblastoma. But it came back, with a fury that could not be withstood. Or understood. He was buried on Valentine’s Day, which had a doubly cruel irony, as it was also the birthday of his widow, Cookie.

And yet, when I think about Patch, I think about one of the most alive and vibrant people I have ever met.

The way I met Patch has much to do with honoring those who have left us. And it has much to do with what we writers do and how important it is to pursue a somewhat nebulous term known as “coummunity.”

My mother was a writer, an actor and a teacher and she influenced me to follow in those career paths. When she succumbed to lung cancer, I wanted to honor the work she had done and the lives she had touched. So I founded the Mona Schreiber Prize for Humorous Fiction and Nonfiction in 2000. I put in some money, my father Andrew put in some money and every year, I give away three prizes to the best humor writing in any form from anywhere in the world, in my mother’s name.

In 2005, without a doubt, the funniest piece submitted was entitled “X Marks the Spot,” a wonderfully absurd rumination on the religious practice of
Ash Wednesday and one person’s efforts to get his ashes in gear, so to speak, during a lunch hour. The writer was some guy named Patch Rose of Truth
or Consequences, New Mexico.

Every December 24, Christmas Eve, I call the winners of the Mona Schreiber Prize to tell them the good news. And when I reached Patch and praised him and told him I’d be sending 500 bucks his way and posting his work on my website, I could hear his voice constrict with emotion. He told me about the GBM tumor that he had overcome. I told him that his story, that the conversation we were having, was precisely the reason I had founded the Mona Schreiber Prize in the first place.                                                                                                       

I only wish that check could have had more zeroes to the left of the decimal point.

But one thing I have always known about writers is that they often toil alone and are not always the best spokespeople for their work. Writers need to connect with writers, with readers, with organizations. In a word, they need community beyond the walls of their offices and homes.

I am convinced that after the winners of the MSP have spent their modest checks—no doubt frivolously frittering it away on food, clothing or shelter—that what might remain is the idea that their work has been acknowledged, that they belong to a new circle, a newly expanded community. That even if they have to go back to some job that depletes their soul, they can remember the feeling of officially being awarded, an encouragement to continue the often less than staggeringly wealthy lifestyle of the writer.                                                                         

Patch told me, after his first place award, that he was going to come out to California to visit me, bringing his wife Cookie, who had been by his side through the trauma and was about ready for a damn vacation, thank you very much.

I encouraged him to do so but knowing that many well-meaning people (especially me) make promises about visiting friends in far away places and rarely do so. 

But one sunny Southern California afternoon, I greeted Patch and Cookie on my doorstep. And let me tell you, Patch Rose, to me at first glance, was utterly elfin, with an irrepressible smile and eyes that fairly glowed, that emanated a cognition of what it is to be fully alive, to have beaten, for the moment, death.

I took him and Cookie out to my favorite local restaurant, Café 50s, where posters and paraphernalia from that era adorned the walls, where the jukebox played hot stacks of wicked wax and the burgers and shakes were undeniably good.

There was only a brief moment of sadness in that, our only day together. It came from within me, not from Patch or Cookie. Patch no longer had hair, due to his cancer treatments. But he refused to wear a wig or a baseball cap or knit cap. He was completely free from the self-consciousness of those who worry about their weight or the shape of their ears or that pimple or any other cosmetic issue. And when I first saw the scar on the side of his skull, a cold chill went through me and I felt my insides spasm.

Yet, here he was, a guy who was told, after the surgery, that glioblastoma patients, at best, had a year to live. He was about to pass that marker, and in his eyes and words I felt the energy of a man who had been given a reprieve. It did not matter how long, to him. It was a commutation of sentence. He had defied the doctors, the odds, the Fates.

And he had come out with his wife to visit me. I spoke with them about the profession of writing. Patch was no neophyte, being a reporter at the Truth or Consequences Herald. We spoke of agents and publishing and syndication and I encouraged him to finish the book of essays he had already begun, based on his columns, both funny and frightening, on dealing with cancer.

He was calling it A Year to Live? I loved the title, the question mark at the end. And I loved its other suggested meanings. How do we live when we uncharacteristically live in a compact period of time? And how is it different from how we were living before?

At the end of lunch, they told me, excitedly, they were going to drive west to the beach, to Santa Monica, to the Pacific Ocean, and feel the water and sand seep through their toes.

They said they had never seen the Pacific, that they had always wanted to do that. They looked like exuberant young children in grownup bodies.

They didn’t know it, but in that moment, I came very close to crying in front of them. I didn’t. They would have been tears of joy. But I figured Cookie and Patch had already shed more than their fair share of tears. They didn’t need to see mine.

I have met many people who think that writers are too concerned with achieving immortality via their writing. I have to rely on the old line of Woody Allen’s: I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

I say, we all have egos. Some of us invest in our artistry. Some of us invest in our children and our lineage. Some of us get facelifts. We writers cannot know what impact we will have when we are gone. Most of us will never live the dreams we had for our work. But there is a tangible satisfaction in sharing our work with loved ones, with some kind of audience while we live. It is about community. That community might be Truth or Consequences. Or thanks to the Internet, it might be international. But part of what we writers must do is try to touch people, including the ones we will never know. Because despite their anonymity, they are part of our community too.

Patch Rose lived to 43. Now, he is somewhere else. But he is still part of my community. I have a slim but delightful volume on my bookshelf called One Year to Live? And I have in my mind the memory of a man with impossibly alive eyes who changed my world, and some others, a man who managed to make a scar on the side of his head look as natural as his smile.

==

[Despite having health care coverage for Patch, Cookie is in debt tens of thousands of dollars. If you are able, please visit www.patchrose.com and 
donate what you can.]                                                                                                                  

pic17953.jpg

John Kasich: Ted Strickland is shameless. Please stop him!

Strickland is planning on using nearly $7 billion in one-time funds to make the budget balance.

After election day on November 4, 2010 the next Governor of Ohio (be it Strickland, Kasich or other?) will have to fill a $6 to $7 billion hole for the 2012-2013 budget because NONE of the one-time money will be there at that time...no stimulus, no rainy day fund...nothing!

Bob Taft was a real piece of cow dung and he got everything that he deserved and then some for running the race that he ran to get re-elected then raising taxes afterwards...something he knew would have to do.

Strickland is doing the same thing, but worse since the problem he is creating is much worse than what Taft did.

He is trying to plunge us into a hole that we can't get out of by locking the state into long-term funding commitments on one-time dollars.

He is only raising fees pre-11/4/10, but he knows with 100% certainty that he will have to significantly raise taxes to fill what will be a $6-7 billion hole in our budget.

Will the mainstream media PLEASE write about this on a more frequent basis!  Please!

John Kasich:  Please stop him from damaging our state further!!!

He would be an idiot not to run!

I cannot believe I am writing this post after what I wrote just over a month ago (see below):

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2009/01/the-race-to-replace-george-victor-voinovich-part-2-of-3-the-dem-side.html

At the time, I believed every word I was writing because I truly believed Tim Ryan was too smart to get in the race and give up a great current & future position in Nancy Pelosi's House.

I figured that would make this a seat where either Jen Brunner or Lee Fisher would be the nominee AFTER one of them blinked and got out.

I plead naivete that I did not realize other people who had no chance at all to win the race would get in this thing.

If Peter Lawson Jones, Tyrone Yates and the other man and woman (I can't announce them yet because their candidacies are still "on the fence" as of the writing of this blog post) who are from major metropolitan cities get in this race (and stay in this race...if they get out then the dynamics change dramatically) then Zack Space HAS TO GET IN THIS RACE.

I debated this over drinks with a good friend of mine last night and he is right:

"It sounds crazy initially, but, there are at a minimum 4 dems in this thing today (Brunner, Fisher, Jones & Yates) and within the next week or so it looks pretty safe to say that figure will be up to 6-8 dems (plus a man & a woman both from major metros & then possibly Zack Space...that I know about) in this race.

So to recap for those scoring at home, we will probably have two women & four men of different racial & religious make-ups (see how PC I'm getting for all of you sensitive readers) who are ALL from big cities and then you will have good, ole, golly-gee-shucks Zack Space running for the US Senate in the slightly diverse (but, let's not kid ourselves...not too diverse) state of Ohio.

Space would have to think he can appeal to the other 83 counties in the state while the limousine liberal, inner city folks beat each other up ... and he, a conservative, pro-life, pro-gun rural legislator with an 18 county base can steal the thing by getting 24% of the vote ... he won't need as much money in a massively splintered primary...

The other reason he's more than likely to do it is redistricting.  Ohio is losing one or two seats, he has zero relationships in Columbus, he thinks his seat will be merged with Charlie Wilson's (Strickland's old seat) ... so, he's a man without an island and the life boat has arrived."

A Crowded Field

Within a week of Jennifer Brunner (great announcement Jennifer Lee...you, Rick, Gerry & Paul looked very happy at dinner afterwards) & Lee Fisher (trainwreck of an announcement getting the "me too" campaign off to a not-so-impressive start) announcing for US Senate look to Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones and Cincinnati State Representative Tyrone Yates to make this a more crowded field.

It may not end there, but for now the field looks to be a confirmed field of four within a week:  the caucasian female SOS from Columbus, the Jewish male LG from Cleveland, the African American male, Commissioner from Cleveland and the African American male, Representative from Cincinnati.

I cannot confirm at this time that at least one more female and one more male will get in this race, but hopefully I can announce at least one (if not both) of them within the next 7 days.

This is shaping up to be a very fun race!

The GOP's problem with female candidates

"The GOP's problem with female candidates" is penned by new Guest Columnist Nicole Rapier.  The back-story behind this blog post is pretty interesting.  Nicole wrote a very good guest column for "the blog that acts like www.kylesisk.typepad.com does not exist" which was her reaction to Tom Suddes' article and I chided her a bit about it because even though it was very well-written and factually correct it did not address the "Real Issues" head-on.  I told her that now that she has written the "PC-version" on WMD I would like her to write the version which I felt needed to be written on the subject on this blog.

I gave her the ultimate "out" of writing under a pseudonym and in a move which I believe speaks volumes about her character and strength of her convictions she chose instead to write this blog post using her real name.

So you get the full impact of the writing I humbly beseech you to read these in the prescribed order (Suddes article then WMD article then this blog post last):

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1234603811230130.xml&coll=2

http://massdiscussion.blogspot.com/2009/02/guest-column-gop-women.html

This blog post by Nicole Rapier

The GOP's problem with female candidates

Although women no longer have to fight for political recognition in terms of a vote, equal representation in the political arena is far from achieved. Today, the issue regarding women in politics has not to do with being seen and heard, but rather, how female political candidates are seen and heard.

This is a complex issue, embedded in the social make up of American culture. Simply stated, a woman's role in society is still misunderstood. The inherited culture of our society doesn't accept women in politics. Most of the time we state a lack of experience, or education... but the simple truth is that we as a whole do not trust women to be effective in political roles. Several sources can be accredited for this.

Woman candidates have to navigate public prejudices, and these make running for office far more challenging for a woman than for a man. Society tends to view women in politics as too independent, confused, strong willed or highly opinionated, all considered negative traits for a conservative woman. All sorts of questions arise out of this thinking... Is she neglecting her family? Why doesn't she have a family? Why isn't she married?

For the GOP the fact that women adhere to traditional "conservative family values" poses the problem of finding women who are willing to run for office. This is not to say that conservative women are less interested in their country, issues or politics in general. It simply means that women tend to deal with the issues from their home environment, and typically do not have a strong desire to run for office.

In my previous article I mentioned the saying "If a woman runs for office the media will cover her hairlines, hems and husbands". We do often judge women in politics more harshly than men. Sarah Palin is a prime example... Ask most people to tell you a little about her and they will bring up the fact that she supposedly spent a small fortune on her clothes, or that she was an avid hunter or that her daughter was pregnant and unwed. What people can't tell you is where she got her education, and what her views are on certain issues.

In a study commissioned by The White House Project, a non-partisan organization that aims to get more women elected to higher office, they found several differences in media representations of female political candidates when compared to men. This study found that although female and male candidates were equally represented in terms of coverage amount, the content of the coverage differed significantly. Journalists were more likely to focus on the personal qualities of female candidates than male candidates. Age, marital status, family, and especially children (traditionally feminine topics) were highlighted in female candidates more often than in males, and males received much more campaign-related coverage. They were quoted on issue positions, and backing up their claims with evidence much more than female candidates.

We also come across the power struggle between men and women candidates. Women are seen as somewhat weak and unable to hold their own in difficult situations or make tough decisions. The concept of leadership is often gendered, and both men and women see leaders as predominantly male.

As a male friend of mine pointed out:

"The concept that women vote (and therefore would legislate, ie: think) with their hearts and not with their heads is a huge problem. There should be no place in politics for people who think with their heart and not their head. Hence the reason Americans think of women in politics as too squishy or soft to take the blows of politics. Admirable, but ineffective and until you get women like (one of my personal favorites and I hope to God someday we find a woman like her to be President) Margaret Thatcher who thought with her head, was a tough bird and wasn't afraid to show it, America will continue to think of women candidates as hairlines, hemlines and husbands. It is a problem that the party and especially women within that party must address but won't sadly. Partly because what I've said must be dealt with but will be called "Sexist" even though that is not at all how I mean it." 

Another underlying issue that we tend to ignore is that women are women's worst enemy, and biggest critic. I have observed over and over how hard women are on each other, and how it is the women most of the time, not the men, who will hold other women back.

When women attend a meeting or a political event and the members criticize their leaders, candidates and other members, that type of behavior chases away the volunteers and the women who would otherwise be willing to take on key roles in our party. Most assume, if these women aren't supporting each other, they definitely will not support me. I know several strong, conservative women who have said that after seeing what other women went through, they would never run for office. I have seen this behavior in every aspect of my life. It exists everywhere, in meetings, in the workplace, at church. I have seen it as a volunteer for the GOP. I have had it done to me. I have seen it done to others.

When first asked to write this response I was hesitant, afraid that I would come across as a feminist, or worse. But after writing the article, I realized I was doing exactly what it was I was writing about... being afraid to voice my opinion due to the fact that I may be wrongly judged by some of my peers as too opinionated. We have a long way to go when it comes to accepting women in any power position, but why is it that political positions are even harder for us to accept?

All of this being said, there is no quick fix. This is not just a GOP problem, this is a complex issue that is going to take time for society as a whole to accept. We do however need to stop focusing so much on what ratio of women we have in office, and start focusing on recruiting the best candidates no matter what gender, race or religion they are.

Nicole Rapier
Vice-President - Butler County Young Republicans
Technology Chair - Butler County Republican Women's Club

Movie Review (aka Politics are for dorks)

"Movie Review (aka Politics are for dorks)" is by my very good friend, Goose.  Goose is an irreverent man-child who always gives me a dose of perspective just when I need it most.  My intention with this blog was always to have it be 50-60% politics and 40-50% everything else, but, much to my chagrin, it has been like 90-95% political lately.  I will try to find the time to bring a little more balance to the blog.  Hopefully Goose posting more often (hint-hint) will help me do that :-)

Movie Review (aka Politics are for dorks)

As a pseudo-liberal living way too close to the Hollywood elite (my godmother's words, not mine), I have to say this blog is boring the shit out of me.  Who gives a fuck who the governor of Ohio is or will be?  Honestly, does it really matter?  Will the history of mankind be reshaped by this individual?  Or will a lucky few people get their knobs slobbed in exchange for selling their souls once the new dude/dude-ette takes office and quickly embraces the corruption of power?

Start worrying about something that matters - the leadership of the great state of California.  Once the 5th largest "country" in the world based on GDP (whatever the fuck that is), we're being led by an ex-actor who injected enough steroids to make Alex Rodriguez look like the Incredible Hulk and he has no idea what to do with the insurmountable budget deficit this state now faces.  Like every other state/county in the land who seemingly tied their budget fortunes to the revenue generated from selling cars (who made that decision?), this state is fucked.  So, everyone reading this should travel west to California and drive a car or two, then drive it back to shitsville (that's Ohio) and let it rust to death in a year or two.  Problem solved.

While on this topic, I highly recommend the new movie Coraline.  It's a stop-animation film directed by the same genius who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.  His films look like nothing else out there, plus this one was even filmed in 3-D.  Even if you can't find it playing in that format, it's worth a viewing on the big screen.  Definitely not for little kids, the movie has a haunting soundtrack and numerous screens that make you think you're dreaming (or really, really high).  Seriously, do not drop acid and watch this film.

Since all of you gun-toting fascists in Ohio hate the New York Times, I thought I'd send you there to read more about the film.  Enjoy:

   

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/06cora.html

Speaking of guns, don't forget that the Oscars are this Sunday.  That's February 22nd.  For four hours you can sit back and watch first-time host Hugh Jackman prance around the stage and make us all question his masculinity.  On that topic, if I had to share a cell with another man.  Well, he's on the list.  Enjoy the Oscars.

My work is done here.

G.

I must be the one with the problem

"I must be the one with the problem" is penned by a new Guest Columnist who will only be known as "Eye Spy."  Eye Spy is a very frustrated, male, GOPer in his late 40s who is surrounded by a sea of liberals in a dem Administration.  I hope this is the first of many columns by Eye Spy.

I must be the one with the problem.   Not too many seem to think that Senator Ray Miller’s (D-Columbus) half dozen years of failure to file campaign finance reports, the lame excuses he’s given for those failures, along with the related admitted and alleged improper activities, including being reimbursed multiple times for the same expense by his own campaign, amount to any type of failure on his part.    It must only be me who believes that such antics reflect upon the character, leadership and ability of an elected member of the Ohio legislature.  If we were to remove his name from the allegations filed against him by the Ohio Secretary of State last week, and replace it with, oh, say a similarly situated Republican, or even another Democrat, somehow I feel the media outcry for justice would be louder.  Regardless of the media, it is incumbent upon the leadership of the political parties to insist upon, nay, demand that its elected representatives do their best to attempt comply with the laws which exist to provide integrity in elections, but, alas, only the crickets are to be heard coming from the left side of the aisle in the Ohio Senate on this one.  Oh yeah, Senator Miller is the Ohio Senate Minority Whip…… so maybe that has something to do with it?   It must require Dann-level frolics to get their attention, though I must give a shout-out to the Buckeye State Blog for its comments on the matter since it seems to be the only left-leaning voice with any sense on this.  See Senate Minority Whip Ray Miller about to be "whipped" by the Ohio Elections Commission, Buckeye State Blog, Feb. 13, 2009, http://tinyurl.com/cha4gh

 

It is but a glimmer of light (leaving “hope” out for now) that the Ohio Secretary of State Brunner (now candidate for US Senate Brunner (http://tinyurl.com/dn4mpl) ….  notice anything on the timing here?) has filed a campaign finance violation complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission regarding violations arising from Sen. Miller’s attempts to verify campaign expenses and reimbursements.   See Sen. Miller accused of financial violations, Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 14, 2009, http://tinyurl.acom/asw8wu.    However, the reality with the Ohio Elections Commission is that it normally gives the “hall pass” to most all Democrats who come before it so it’s hard to get too excited that the OEC would really throw the book at him this time.  Recall that the OEC walloped the All Children Matter PAC with a $5.2 Million fine (http://tinyurl.com/djzf65) for its failure to file a campaign finance report in ONE year, in contrast to the $1,500 fine handed down to Senator Miller for his failure to file proper (http://tinyurl.com/bg9hj4) campaign finance reports for SIX YEARS.   (Important Footnote to counsel for Ohio DEMOCRAT campaign finance committees:  It appears that, “I had a bad treasurer” and “I moved my office” along with the stand-by “The dog ate my homework” work perfectly as defenses to mollify the Ohio Elections Commissions in cases where your client committees don’t bother to file even a shred of paper with the Ohio SOS for more than six years.)    

 

Perhaps the allegations would not be so troubling if they weren’t being leveled against a legislator who has held himself out as a watchdog and continually put himself in the limelight for his questioning of others expenses and campaign finance practices.   See Ohio Teachers' Pension Fund Board's Travel Expenses under Scrutiny, Columbus Dispatch, Jul. 31, 2003; and State OKs Payments  for Lawyers to Handle O’Brien, Tobacco Cases, Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 25, 2005.  Although he had no problem drawing scrutiny to others, his own indiscretions were mildly discussed among the Ohio news media, causing some doubt to surround his bid to become the new Minority Leader in the Ohio Senate but ultimately his failure to follow the law was no obstacle to that title.  (See AP Confirms Blog Story on Senator Ray Miller, Glass City Jungle Blog, Jan 15, 2008, http://tinyurl.com/alcw9o.)   Later, he did eventually step down to become the Minority Whip but really, what’s the difference?

 

Unfortunately, if history is our guide, there is no real reason to hope (I had to say it), that true justice will prevail here.

Kudos to Strickland and Fisher!

Fisher stepping down from being the head of the Dept of Development was the only honorable thing to do.

I wish it would have happened before Day 24 on the "Fisher Job Watch", but beggars can't be choosers :-)

The ONLY thing you f%^cked up on is the way you stepped out of being the head of DOD, but remained as Lt. Governor.

Silly rabbit...Trix are for kids!

There was an easy way to get out of it and you mucked it all up.

Now you have got me thinking...to remain Lt. Governor OR not to remain Lt. Governor:

Methinks that is the question...