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From Bill Kristol:
Last night, for the first time this election cycle, I watched a Democratic presidential debate. It was appalling. But it was also, in a way, encouraging. Before last night, I thought it was 50-50 that the Republican nominee would win in November 2008.
Now I think it's 2 to 1. And if the Democrat is anyone but Hillary, it's 4 to 1.
This is what happens when Ted Strickland and Marc Dann try to rule by executive order rather than working with the legislature.
The two elected leaders overstepped their authority by issuing emergency rules that ban skill games even though Ohio law permits “amusement devices” that rely primarily on player skill, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook ruled. (Dispatch)
Holbrook said Strickland and Dann "have no power" to intervene "until the legislature chooses to act on the issue." And if they had waited rather than trying to eliminate the legislative branch...
Lawmakers will probably consider a strong measure to ban all or nearly all skill games when they convene next month, House Speaker Jon A. Husted has said. (Dispatch)
Of course, it's not the first time a court has ruled Strickland overstepped his authority.
The Ohio Supreme Court this morning rejected a veto issued by Gov. Ted Strickland the day he took office. By a 5-2 ruling, justices said Strickland did not have the authority to veto a bill Jan. 8 limiting lawsuits against lead paint manufacturers that was passed in December. (Dispatch)
From the Plain Dealer blog:
The U.S. Senate voted this morning to express its support for Gen. David Petreaus, commander of United States forces in Iraq, and to condemn MoveOn.org for its New York Times ad last week calling him "General Betray Us." Critics have said the ad bordered on traitorous.
But 25 Democrats, including Ohio's Sherrod Brown, voted against the Senate amendment. MoveOn helped Brown raise $287,623 for his election last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
George Soros, of course, is the crazy billionaire sugar daddy of MoveOn and its extreme agenda. He's also the guy who's spent millions of dollars trying to buy Ohio's elections.
Looks like Sherrod Brown's new sugar daddy finally found someone to carry his water in Ohio.
Here's what the Ohio Democratic Party said today in response to Jennifer Brunner's failure to deliver basic voter data from the 2006 election:
Ohio Democratic Spokesman Randy Borntrager said, "To my knowledge, we don't have it either."
"For once we agree with the Republicans and we too want the file," he said.
Read the rest of the story from Gongwer News Service below...
Continue reading "Even Democrats agree Brunner isn't doing her job" »
(Columbus) – Ohio Republican Party Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine accused Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner today of failing to comply with multiple requests for statewide voter data specific to the 2006 general election. DeWine sent a public letter to Brunner’s office demanding immediate compliance with the request.
“This request has been delayed by her office for the better part of eight months, and it is now having a significant impact on our ability to prepare and perform as a political party for the next election,” DeWine said. “We have exchanged emails, voice mails, and personal conversations with Jennifer Brunner and her staff regarding this request, and the Secretary of State’s office continues to offer little more than excuses and delays.”
The voter data is used by political parties, candidates, campaigns and interest groups to determine voter contact, targeting and turnout strategies. Similar requests for the same information have been made by the state legislative campaign committees, members of Ohio’s congressional delegation, and various campaigns, but those requests have also gone unfulfilled.
“In the last three election cycles, statewide voter data was provided by the Secretary of State’s office as early as March and as late as July,” DeWine added. “It’s now almost October, and we are faced with a special congressional election and thousands of municipal races in less than 60 days without this critical information. This is a bipartisan problem that impacts everyone involved in the political process.”
DeWine criticized Brunner for failing to perform a basic function of her office while reportedly lobbying the governor to increase her involvement in foreign trade missions, oversight of the state library system and other duties unrelated to her statutory responsibilities.
DeWine said the party would not rule out legal action to obtain the information if necessary.
Click here to read the public records request: Download 091807_brunner_data.pdf
Click here to read the email chain of excuses and delays from the SOS office: Download 091807_sos_emails.pdf
Thirty-nine men signed their names to the greatest government document in the history of the world:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
If you haven't read it lately, take another look.
More than 200 Republican Party leaders and activists attended a two-day training and strategy program in Columbus this weekend, learning everything from how to use the party's voter database to how to prepare locally for the 2007 & 2008 elections.
Participants also heard from former Ohio Congressman and White House Budget Director Rob Portman, Fox News host John Kasich, RNC Co-Chair Jo Ann Davidson, Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, Ohio Senate President Bill Harris, U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, Ohio Republican Party Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine and Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett.
"This is the kind of event that sets us apart from the opposition," Bennett told the audience on Saturday. "We spend significant resources every year planning and training for the next election. The Democrats like to talk a big game, and they get lucky about once every decade. What makes us successful is we do the hard work off the playing field that not only gets us ready for the next game but also makes us a competitive team every season."
From the Associated Press:
WEST HARTFORD — A computer tape stolen in Ohio in June contained banking data on Connecticut state agencies, making the security breach more serious than previously thought, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Sunday.
Rell said in a news release that the data included information on nearly every bank account held by state agencies, including account numbers and bank names.
"In essence, the state's banking information has been laid bare," Rell said.
The Strickland Administration's $3 million screw-up is now becoming a nationwide joke.
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner recently had to unload $3,000 in campaign contributions from Norman Hsu, a major Democrat fundaiser now under federal investigation. She actually spoke at a fundraiser at Hsu's New York home last year.
Brunner's ties to questionable characters don't stop there. Campaign finance reports show Brunner also received money from Chicago lawyer Myron Cherry, who is linked to a public corruption scandal in Illinois and who frequently steers contributions to Democrat candidates from questionable sources.
Myron Cherry, a longtime Democratic fund-raiser, appeared in a federal indictment against Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who faces fraud charges related to an Illinois public pension fund.
The indictment against Rezko alleges that in late 2003, he agreed to help get $25 million in state pension business for a firm that would pay a finder's fee to a business associate. But because of that associate's tie to Rezko, they agreed to claim the fee's recipient was another, unnamed businessman, who allegedly did no work. That was Cherry, says a person familiar with the probe. (New York Post)
In addition to his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal, Cherry is also the attorney for a firm facing one of the largest sexual harassment lawsuits in U.S. history. The company has been the subject of 470 complaints to the Better Business Bureau across the nation in the past three years.
Somehow the firm's associates found time to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats (including $150,000 to Hillary Clinton), and Cherry, who is frequently referred to as a "bundler" for his ability to round up campaign cash, is believed to be the conduit for many of those contributions.
Barack Obama and other Illinois Democrats have returned their contributions from Cherry. Jennifer Brunner apparently did not feel compelled to do likewise.
