3 3C rallies in the 3Cs, see?

To the Tea Party....

Knowing I could move somewhere that political TV ads are relatively nonexistent might just be what compels me to leave Ohio.  I have for a long time really liked Richmond, VA.

Knowing I could move somewhere that political TV ads are relatively nonexistent might just be what compels me to leave Ohio.  I have for a long time really liked Richmond, VA.

 

Then you might want to consider a more politically stable state.  Virginia, NC and that whole corridor is the "new" swing area..... because people like you keep moving there.  Wait until the next presidential election and Viriginia is going to get swamped.

Tell Gov.-elect Kasich the 3C is essential to Ohio's economy and transportation future:

 

https://secure3.convio.net/elpc/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=573

Tell Gov.-elect Kasich the 3C is essential to Ohio's economy and transportation future

 

It seems like LaHood has already made a decision to re-allocate to places that politically and fiscally support rail transit.

 

 

 

 

LaHood is doing what he should be doing.... talkin' tough.  But he is nowhere close to officially re-allocating that money.

We need to keep the pressure on Kasich

Message sent. I urge all of you to do the same. I'd love to be able to take a train to visit friends in Dayton and Cinci once I move to Cleveland.

is there a rally set?

Lobbyists shower state lawmakers with cash, study shows

Campaign contributions far outweigh gifts and meals, Ohio Citizen Action finds

Tuesday, January 18, 2011  10:30 AM

By Darrel Rowland

 

The Columbus Dispatch

 

The lobbyist's traditional holy trinity road map to an Ohio legislator's heart.

 

But these days, they all take a back seat to another source of influence: campaign contributions, a study released today says.

 

Legislative lobbyists spent $202,186 on gifts and meals for lawmakers from January 2009 until August 2010, the most recent data available, Ohio Citizen Action found.

 

Read more at: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/18/ohio-lobbyists-campaign-contributions-study-citizen-action.html?sid=101

Lobbyists count on campaign donations

 

Wednesday, January 19, 2011  02:51 AM

By Darrel Rowland

 

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

It's not the $200,000-plus lobbyists shelled out in the past two years to influence Ohio legislators that's so bad, a new study contends.

 

It's the almost $740,000 in campaign contributions.

 

But wait, there's more!

 

The study "Lobbyists - Affluence & Influence," conducted by the nonpartisan watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action, found:

 

Full story at: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/19/copy/lobbyists-counton-campaign-donations.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Ohio`s Abramoff Scandal.

Not likely to happen imho, but fun to talk about....

 

 

Drafting Drew Carey in Ohio

 

A group of libertarian-minded conservatives are attempting to draft television star Drew Carey into the Ohio Senate race against Sherrod Brown.

 

With no clear-cut Republican contenders having emerged yet for the contest, conservative activist Josiah Schmidt took it upon himself a little more than a week ago to construct a website and Facebook page to kick off the draft effort.

 

While Carey, who is from Cleveland but currently lives in Los Angeles as host of "The Price is Right," has not yet commented on the movement, Schmidt told POLITICO the Reason Foundation has already agreed to reach out to the television star about the possibility.

 

Reason, a libertarian think tank, partnered with Carey on a documentary series on the plight of Cleveland last year.

 

continued at:

 

http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0311/Drafting_Drew_Carey_in_Ohio_.html

has he been affiliated with ohio in any way since his show?

Interesting idea.

 

Sherrod's gotta go.

 

More on Drew Carey in Ohio since his show: http://reason.com/blog/2010/03/20/watch-reason-saves-cleveland-w

Keep Sherrod.

 

Replace Portman with Jerry Springer!!!

Redfern urged to quit as Dem leader

Note from '94 Ohio party chief echoes what current head wrote him

BY TOM TROY

BLADE POLITICS WRITER

 

In 1995, after the Democrats suffered crushing defeats in the races for governor and other state offices, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Harry Meshel resigned as the head of the party.

 

Among those who had urged him to step down was Chris Redfern, then an Ottawa County commissioner, now chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

 

Now Mr. Meshel is returning the blow.

 

In a stinging written message that he sent off to Mr. Redfern on Jan. 30, Mr. Meshel urged him to take responsibility for the 2010 political debacle that cost Ohio Democrats every statewide seat as well as five seats in Congress.

 

Read more at: http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/03/21/Redfern-urged-to-quit-as-Dem-leader.html

Ohio Democrats feeling revived

 

Written by

Howard Wilkinson

[email protected]

 

7:09 PM, Mar. 20, 2011|

 

Last November, the Ohio Democratic Party

was left flat on its back, knocked out cold

by an electorate that had just turned

everything - from the governor's office to

the legislature to the state congressional

delegation - over to the Republicans.

 

Four months later, there are unmistakable

signs that Ohio Democrats have picked

themselves up off the mat and are back on

their feet.

 

How long it will last is anybody's guess. For

it to pay off, it would have to last for the

next 19 months, until the Nov. 2012

presidential election; and anyone who has

ever been around politics knows that 19

months is an eternity.

 

Read more at: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110320/NEWS0108/103210301/

Joe Hallett commentary: Ohio is stuck with fringe government for another decade

Sunday, April 17, 2011  03:11 AM

By Joe Hallett

The Columbus Dispatch

 

Over the past few weeks, an Ohio House committee approved an anti-abortion bill that is so restrictive even Ohio Right to Life doesn't support it, on grounds that it couldn't possibly meet constitutional muster.

 

The Ohio Senate, which prohibits guns in its chamber, passed a bill that would permit patrons to take concealed guns into bars, the last place police and bar owners want them.

 

The House passed a bill requiring voters to produce photo identification at polling places to remedy a voter-fraud problem that does not exist.Read more at: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2011/04/17/ohio-is-stuck-with-fringe-government-for-another-decade.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Some county engineers say a change in state law could help them save taxpayers’ money, but opponents believe doing so would take jobs from local construction companies.

Costs for construction materials have climbed and put a spotlight on decades-old rules called force accounts, something required when a road or bridge construction project is conducted by a public office using its own labor, material and equipment.

Force account rules require that counties, townships and municipalities estimate the cost of each project. If the estimates exceed the limits set by a 2003 state law, the project must be put up for bid to private contractors.

 

Article here:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-news/county-engineers-say-rule-costs-taxpayers-1189783.html

Cleveland’s trans fats ban would be overturned.

 

The provision, which was part of the budget bill passed by the Ohio Senate, prohibits any local legislation that restricts a food service operation because it is characterized as fast food.

 

The Ohio Restaurant Association sought the amendment to keep cities from creating a patchwork of regulations that could make it tough for chains of restaurants to operate consistently in different areas, but opponents of the change say it undercuts cities’ abilities to respond to the needs and preferences of their regions.

 

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-news/proposal-would-bar-city-food-bans-1193881.html

This is not a budget bill. This is a truckload of junk from the right-wing wish list.

I agree with what they're trying to accomplish (restaurants should not face different rules every few miles) but the method is bogus.  State bills are supposed to follow a "one subect" rule so they don't become unweildy like the ones in congress.  So if you want to ban these local regs that's great, just do it in a separate bill.

Man, I don't know what's worse....stupid local laws, or even stupider state laws that prevent them.

A semi in-depth article:

"Ohio is joining Texas, Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma and Mississippi as one of the top states using the $3 billion private prison industry to house convicts. Terms of the bids are secret, but Ohio is to announce Sept. 1 whether MTC, Corrections Corp. of America, the GEO Group or a combination of two or all three will buy and run the five prisons under contract with the state."

 

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-news/records-political-ties-of-private-prisons-raise-concerns-in-ohio-1224511.html

A devious play of Jim Crow-esque methods to discourage poor people from voting. 

 

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/18/8380517-ohio-cuts-early-voting-this-year-and-never-mind-the-citizens-repeal?fb_ref=.TqMxnGJBbxY.like&fb_source=home_oneline

 

Activists in Ohio last month thought they'd managed to put on hold a law that cuts early voting. With help from the Obama campaign, they collected 318,460 signatures -- enough to force a referendum on HB 194. The law would have reduced the time for early voting by half, and absentee voting by almost that much.

 

They thought they'd put those restrictions on the shelf until voters decide the law's fate in November 2012. But they were wrong, because another new Ohio bill, HB 224, also cuts in-person absentee voting, and that one takes effect this month.

 

"The only possible reason for legislators trying to keep people from voting the weekend before the election is to game the system," Brian Rothenberg of Progress Ohio tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "It's bad enough they want to play politics with all kinds of other issues. But to play politics with the sacred right to vote is un-American."

 

Ohio Republicans billed HB 224 as way to make it easier for overseas military to vote. Today Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, ruled that the law will stand. Which means that come election day, more Ohioans will stand in line to vote, or else give up. Not surprisingly, the Cleveland paper reports general confusion among voters over what's allowed and when.

 

 

I've managed to vote on election day every year, and that includes years I was a student and years I worked an hour from where I had to vote.  There's a lot less room for miscounts, tampering, etc. if everyone would just vote on election day.

 

The opposition to this is blowing it out of proportion. Jim Crow comparison? Give me a break.

I challenge you to cite examples of rigged elections in Ohio, or what you call "tampering". 

The claims of voter restriction is valid but the left is blowing things out of proportion here.  When it comes to showing ID at the polls or anywhere, there is a chain of command in terms of identification.  Primary ID's, like birth certificate, Social security card, and passport, and Secondary ID's, which can only be obtained with a Primary ID first, include a military card, a driver's license, etc.  Some of the documents being accepted at the polls are ridiculous.  A utility bill?  A public housing ID?  Come on.  I could get either of those documents in my dog's name, don't tell me they don't invite fraud.

 

Boreas, as you requested:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/15/gop-hints-at-vote-theft-with-acorn-scandal/?page=all

 

"Federal authorities have been called in for voter fraud investigations in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. Investigations by state law enforcement agencies are under way in Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Nevada and Wisconsin.

 

A man in Cleveland this week admitted under oath to signing more than 70 voter cards for ACORN canvassers."

 

Ok, gottaplan, you have not cited a "rigged election" in your quote in bold faced type.  Where were the intentionally fraudulent votes? 

 

And, per your contention about "utility bills", the moment behooves you to find a citation of people who voted fraudulently with such identification.

I've managed to vote on election day every year, and that includes years I was a student and years I worked an hour from where I had to vote.  There's a lot less room for miscounts, tampering, etc. if everyone would just vote on election day.

 

The opposition to this is blowing it out of proportion. Jim Crow comparison? Give me a break.

 

The Jim Crow comparison is hyperbolic.  You are correct about that.  However, I am not sure that tampering is so much easier with voting allowed at a more leisurely pace over many days or weeks than with cramming everyone into a single day, thereby guaranteeing more administrative chaos.  Also, I'm not convinced that tampering is so widespread that it justifies denying the rest of the electorate the significant convenience of mail-in/absentee voting.  You may have been able to get to the polling places while you were a student; so was I, since my schedule was a lot more flexible then.  That has changed.  I am now a working professional in a demanding profession in which 60-hour weeks are quite common, and I'm now involved with multiple nonprofit organizations as well that demand additional time over and above my regular workweek.  I don't want to get too arrogant about this, but hours of my time are valuable (whether we're talking about billable hours or not); hours spent standing in line are wasted value.

 

Granted, I'm well aware that some of my stances on election law are well outside the mainstream.  On this one, however, I think that there is a great deal of mainstream support for early/absentee voting, and I think it provides a benefit both to busy white-collar working professionals and to crowded urban neighborhoods as well.  I am unconvinced by the stated rationale for denying that benefit.

^^^Well, that's voter registration fraud, but isn't that a little different than actual voter fraud.  I mean, how many known instances were there in 2008 of people voting twice or more?  Did Mickey Mouse actually vote in the 2008 election?  Is this just a problem of people at registration drives trying to meet a quota so they get a bonus or is this an issue of people actually attempting to register multiple times so that they can vote multiple times?

 

We absolutely need to ensure that our voting system is fair, but we need to make sure that if we're going to make it harder for people to vote that we have a damn good reason.

Adding restrictions to safeguard the process are undoubtedly going to keep a few outliers from voting, whether it be from home, or in person at the polls for lack of proper ID.  These individuals are most likely poor, elderly, and or minority.  That's very unfortunate.  But knowing how easy it is to get a phony early registration card and ballot mailed to your home, it's ridiculous to think voter fraud isn't occurring.  The added convenience automatically lends itself to additional abuse. 

"...it's ridiculous to think voter fraud isn't occurring.  The added convenience automatically lends itself to additional abuse."

 

But is fraud and abuse really occurring?  Is it as big of an issue as the people pushing tougher standards make it out to be?  How widespread is it?  Is stopping 5, 50, or even 500 fraudulent votes really worth disenfranchising potentially thousands of people? 

 

I just haven't seen evidence that voter fraud is a real and widespread enough to effect the outcome of elections. 

Voter suppression is voter fraud.

^^^Well, that's voter registration fraud, but isn't that a little different than actual voter fraud¹.  I mean, how many known instances were there in 2008 of people voting twice or more? ²  Did Mickey Mouse actually vote in the 2008 election? ³ Is this just a problem of people at registration drives trying to meet a quota so they get a bonus or is this an issue of people actually attempting to register multiple times so that they can vote multiple times? ⁴

 

We absolutely need to ensure that our voting system is fair, but we need to make sure that if we're going to make it harder for people to vote that we have a damn good reason. ⁵

1. I agree, it is different

2. Quite small, but you tell me when you find data or the instances

3. Find out and get back to us

4. Who registered multiple times?  Who voted multiple times based on multiple registrations?  See answer 2

5. I agree.

The real reason is that the Obama 2008 team won North Carolina and Indiana by making use of early voting.  Ohio Republicans are discouraging people from voting.

 

These individuals are most likely poor, elderly, and or minority.  That's very unfortunate.  But knowing how easy it is to get a phony early registration card and ballot mailed to your home, it's ridiculous to think voter fraud isn't occurring.  ...

Heavy on the supposition here.

There have been audits and investigations and they have not come up with much. 

 

I think both sides are distorting reality by trying to estimate the number of people being disenfranchised or trying to quantify the number of fraudulent votes. 

 

You really think these new policies will keep thousands of legitimate voters from casting their vote?  I don't know, but that seems like a high number.

 

Based on what I've read, I definitely think there are several thousand fraudulent voter registrations out there.  Whether or not those all result in fraudulent votes being cast is probably impossible to determine.

If absentee ballots didn't require a SSN or a DL# i'd be okay with some sort of limit to early voting. As it is, i think that all ballots should be mailed out to everyone. Let's go to an Oregon style election. It is never a bad thing to increase the number of people that vote.

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/craft-beer-breweries-get-boost-from-state-fee-cuts-1313286.html

 

"The law allows small breweries to serve samples and to sell their brews from tasting rooms without buying a $3,900 special permit, and it also allows more small-batch distilleries to open in Ohio and to offer samples of their craft spirits from their own tasting rooms."

 

'bout time.....

^Where's the like button when you need it...

 

Pressured by watchdog groups, civil rights organizations and a growing national movement for accountable lawmaking, the American Legislative Exchange Council announced Tuesday that it was disbanding the task force that has been responsible for advancing controversial Voter ID and “Stand Your Ground” laws.

 

ALEC, the shadowy corporate-funded proponent of so-called “model legislation” for passage by pliant state legislatures, announced that it would disband its “Public Safety and Elections” task force. The task force has been the prime vehicle for proposing and advancing what critics describe as voter-suppression and anti-democratic initiatives—not just restrictive Voter ID laws but also plans to limit the ability of citizens to petition for referendums and constitutional changes that favor workers and communities.

...

The decision to disband the task force appears to get ALEC out of the business of promoting Voter ID and “Stand Your Ground” laws. That’s a dramatic turn of events, with significant implications for state-based struggles over voting rights an elections, as well as criminal justice policy. But it does not mean that ALEC will stop promoting one-size-fits-all “model legislation” at the state level.

 

Indeed, the disbanding of the “Public Safety and Elections” task force looks in every sense to be a desperate attempt to slow an exodus of high-profile corporations from the group’s membership roll.

 

Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/167425/alec-disbands-task-force-responsible-voter-id-stand-your-ground-laws?rel=emailNation

The only part about that that seriously baffles me is putting "model legislation" in scare quotes.  Many groups do that.  Heck, one of the most prominent and prestigious is even more overt about that function in its name: The <a href="http://www.nccusl.org/">National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws</a>.  NCCUSL is the primary drafter of the Uniform Commercial Code, which has been passed in all 50 states.  The Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, Uniform Partner Act, and a few others are law in almost all states, too, I think.  The Nation's real problem is obviously the politics of ALEC (just as ALEC would probably say the same about the Nation).

 

As for whether ALEC's action a "desperate attempt to slow an exodus of high-profile corporations from the group's membership roll" or simply a completely ordinary institutional adjustment in response to the dissatisfaction of its constituents, that's just a matter of spin.  It's no different from the fact that the Nation still can't bring itself to acknowledge that a corporation might have done something praiseworthy in the Nation's eyes; note that it goes on to highlight where ALEC's membership still supports the group's economic legislation efforts, but doesn't actually say anything positive about the fact that they apparently agreed with the Nation on voter-registration and concealed carry.

 

Frankly, I was surprised to learn that ALEC was the one pushing election restriction legislation.  Speaking as a fairly economically conservative white-collar professional, early/absentee voting has been an absolute godsend for me.  I imagine a lot of the executives in ALEC's member corporations have even less free time to burn standing in line at a polling station.

^ Hard to believe you would be surprised by that. Everyone knows turnout favors Democrats, so partisanship dictates that Republicans should support any legal avenue for voter suppression. That's cynicism on their part, not mine.

As a general matter, that may be cynically true, but even viewed through cynical lenses, I'm not sure that all "turnout" is created equal.

True, but those lazy jobless bums who vote Democratic will be more likely to vote if they can do it from their couches.

 

Seriously, though, I'm not sure what the party breakdown is for early/absentee voting, but there are reasons to think it would help Democrats (e.g. it mitigates the effects of transportation difficulties, which is a bigger issue for Democratic-leaning demographics). There are also arguments to be made the other way, however, like white-collar workers having more opportunity to vote (though that also affects the ubiquitous "liberal elites").

 

In the end, this might be best explained as a symptom of indiscriminate Republican slash-and-burn tactics, the application of which seems to have extended well beyond budgets these days.

If it's slash-and-burn, it's indiscriminate indeed.  Polling stations are expensive and inefficient.  If you mailed everyone their ballot (which I believe Oregon already does), millions of people could fill them out simultaneously.  At a polling place, only a handful can be filling them out at once.  Also, filling them out at home lets me have candidates' Web sites and Facebook pages up when I'm filling out ballots, which I often find helpful.

Also, filling them out at home lets me have candidates' Web sites and Facebook pages up when I'm filling out ballots, which I often find helpful.

For sure. Me, too. Although it's theoretically possible to do the same level of research prior to going to the polls, in practice it doesn't happen for me. So I am a much better-informed voter when armed with an absentee ballot.

Such proposals to limit voter participation seem to be advanced when the politicians and their campaign funders no longer fear the "little people". And given how complacent many Americans are, those who have the power probably have no reason to fear those who don't have the power.

Well, I don't know.  I think it may well be that these proposals are advanced precisely because many in power *do* fear "the little people."  That said, even if I were as cynical and fearful as some of them, I wouldn't see the point in such measures.  Almost no matter how easy you made voting, much of the country wouldn't.  It wouldn't matter if you implemented a text-to-vote system like a lot of major talent show TV shows have.  It's apathy, not suppression, that keeps turnout low.