State of the Union

Brunner Brags about Her Timely Settling of a Lawsuit She Sought to Deal with Over Two Years Ago

On Tuesday, June 16, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner settled a 4-year old lawsuit with the Ohio League of Women Voters.  The lawsuit stemmed from issues raised during the 2004 election.

In a display of joy and jubilation, all-around, League President Meg Flack joined Brunner in bragging about the money they saved the state, because the litigation “could have cost as much as $5 million.” 

"[Ohio League of Women Voters] President Meg Flack said the state will pay $450,000 as part of the settlement, but that was a savings considering that continued litigation could have cost as much as $5 million. Brunner also boasted about the savings to the state …”

In their elation of this “truly insulting” lawsuit settlement, and the fact that things were settled amicably (only costing taxpayer’s half-a-million dollars), Brunner somehow failed to mention that upon taking office in 2007, one of her very first initiatives was to settle this specific lawsuit:

"Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Attorney General Marc Dann want to resolve election-related lawsuits filed against former Secretary J. Kenneth Blackwell, a move Brunner said yesterday could cost the state ‘large sums’ in attorneys' fees.

"The 20 pending lawsuits include a sweeping complaint filed in 2005 by a group of advocates led by the League of Women Voters of Ohio that says Blackwell, former Gov. Bob Taft and their predecessors failed to ensure Ohioans' right to vote.” [Columbus Dispatch, 1/18/07]

Brunner and her good friend, then-Attorney General Marc Dann, stated that their reasoning for wanting to settle the lawsuit was, “in part because … they agree with some of the claims.”

"Brunner and Dann said they're seeking to resolve the cases in part because some date back to the 2004 election, but also because they agree with some of the claims." [Columbus Dispatch, 1/18/07]

So the questions remaining, why if Brunner sought to settle this case in January 2007, are we just seeing resolution now in June 2009, two-and-a-half years after their claim to resolve this case?  And, how much money could Brunner have saved Ohio taxpayers if she settled this in way back in 2007?

Brunner’s Slushie

As the Ohio legislature is considering regulations for the transition accounts used by statewide officeholders, one has to wonder how Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner feels about the issue?

These unregulated accounts led in part to the fall of former Attorney General Marc Dann.  Dann was using his transition account as a “slush fund” according to Ohio Inspector General, Tom Charles.

So why should Brunner’s opinion be a factor in all of this?  Brunner had a family affair with setting up Marc Dann’s transition “slush” account.  You may recall this from the Columbus Dispatch:

[Ohio Inspector General Thomas] Charles questioned whether any statewide official except the governor has legal authority to set up a transition fund, although almost all of them have in recent years. Two of the original trustees for Dann's were Brunner's daughter and husband, who also did legal work for Dann's campaign.

Or the Cleveland Plain Dealer who also helped drive-home the point in this editorial:

Gov. Ted Strickland, Dann and other Ohio Democrats won statewide office in November 2006 by railing against scandals during Republican Bob Taft's governorship. So Dann's fellow Democrats forced him to resign. The Democrats even expelled Dann from their party, an action more reminiscent of a Balkan politburo than Ohio politics. Their real goal was to let nothing get in the way of delivering Ohio's presidential vote to a fellow Democrat.

Earlier, however, other Democrats had enabled Dann. One of Inspector General Thomas P. Charles' discoveries was a Dann "transition" fund that amounted to a legal but off-the-books slush fund. Helping Dann create the "transition" fund was Columbus lawyer Rick Brunner, husband of Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner - who just happens to have jurisdiction over Ohio campaign-finance laws.

So does Brunner praise this legislation as another weapon to fight scandal (which she helped create) or does she keep her noise down and try to avoid more mention of her name in connection with this issue?

The Hsu (Shoe) Fit and Brunner Wore It

The Associated Press reports that scandal-tainted Democratic fundraiser, Norman Hsu (pronounced “shoe”), has been convicted in federal court for his campaign finance law violations.  Hsu was found guilty of allegations that he reimbursed his business colleagues for their political donations (same federal crime committed by Ohio’s own Tom Noe).

Hsu gained notoriety as a prominent fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid as well as many other prominent Democrats.  The Associated Press also reports that, just days ago, Hsu pled guilty to 10 counts of wire and mail fraud and cheating investors out of $20 million in a Ponzi scheme.

One thing that the Associated Press, or the rest of the national media for that matter, will fail to mention: Hsu once had his scandalous eyes cast toward helping Ohio’s Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, in her 2006 election.

According to the Columbus Dispatch’s August 31, 2007 account of the issue, Brunner actually traveled to New York to speak at Hsu’s home:

“Brunner isn't certain whether the $3,000 she got from Hsu on Nov. 9, 2006, came from a campaign fundraising letter or through a Democratic National Committee appeal, spokesman Jeff Ortega said. But Brunner did speak at Hsu's New York home on June 27 this year at the request of the Twenty-First Century Democrats, which held a fundraiser there, he said.”

This was just another example of out-of-state ideologues trying to inject someone to do their bidding into the Ohio Secretary of State’s office to tilt the playing field in 2008.  Unfortunately, they succeeded.

No Voter Fraud, Madame Secretary?

In a speech to the Washington County Democratic Party on Saturday, April 24, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must have doing her best impression of Pinocchio. The Marietta Times reported Brunner saying there was, “no voter fraud” in the 2008 general election.

“As the 2008 general election approached, Brunner said Republicans began pushing accusations of voter fraud as groups like ACORN sought to register voters. … ‘There was no voter fraud, although everyone seemed to be saying there was,’ Brunner said.”

Among the myriad of high profile cases of voter fraud in 2008, three people in Franklin County pled guilty to voter fraud on April 28 – a mere three days after Brunner’s commentary.  The Columbus Dispatch reports:

“Three staff members for Vote Today Ohio, an independent get-out-the-vote organization supporting Barack Obama, pleaded guilty in Franklin County this afternoon to voter fraud. The three came to Ohio from states where Obama was likely to win in an effort to swing Ohio's electoral college vote toward their candidate, Judge Charles A. Schneider said. The judge gave all three 60 days in jail but suspended it if they paid a $1,000 fine. He also ordered a year's probation.”

Brunner Now Using SOS Office for Senate Campaign

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has taken to a releasing a weekly digest of important upcoming events, including her speaking engagements. 

This is useful information for the media, especially when you become a candidate for the U.S. Senate. 

So what?  A number of elected officials use their office to help boost their name ID.  Only in this case Brunner actively criticized her predecessor for the same thing:

“Blackwell used his office as a stepping-stone to the Governor's Office, but [Brunner] said she plans to focus solely on the secretary of state's job.” (News Herald, Sept. 13, 2006)

“At times, it sounded like [Brunner] was running against current officeholder Ken Blackwell. She accused him of using the office for partisan purposes while preparing for his own gubernatorial bid.” (Toledo Blade, 10/20/06)

Dispatch: Brunner acting odd & bizarre. What's new?

From today's Columbus Dispatch editorial page:

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat who is running to fill the seat of retiring Ohio Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich, has launched one of the oddest political attacks in recent memory.

Brunner said that Voinovich, who voted with his fellow Republican senators in an unsuccessful attempt to block the $787 billion economic-stimulus bill passed last month, should have voted for the measure. The reason? To spare taxpayers the cost of flying Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown by military aircraft from Mansfield to Washington to cast the deciding vote.

Democrats needed one vote to prevent a GOP filibuster, but Brown was attending his mother's funeral in Ohio, and ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., also was unavailable. So Democrats asked Voinovich to vote for the measure. He declined.

Instead, Senate Democrats delayed the vote for five hours while the White House sent a military aircraft to Ohio to fetch Brown.

To criticize Voinovich for refusing to vote against his beliefs is bizarre. And pointless, because Voinovich won't be her opponent.

Statement on Fisher, Brunner Senate candidacies

(Columbus) - Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine issued the following statement today regarding the announced U.S. Senate candidacies of Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner:

"I can't think of two more unimpressive candidates than Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner.  Mr. Fisher brings to the table a dismal record of accomplishment as Ohio's lieutenant governor.  He was hired with the sole responsibility of creating jobs and helping to turn around Ohio's economy, yet in two short years he's managed to preside over the state's largest economic downturn in a generation.  

Jennifer Brunner offers nothing more than a widely criticized record of rabid partisanship and poor judgment.  She represents the kind of politics that her own party's standard bearer promised to change in Washington.  It's fitting that she wants to go to Capitol Hill just as her Democratic colleagues are preparing to shower millions of taxpayer dollars on her election fraud cronies at ACORN.  Brunner's excessive waste of taxpayer dollars to fund the radical agenda of a far-left band of election conspiracy theorists should fit right in with a Senate that knows no excess.

Ohioans want a leader who's respected on both sides of the political aisle and who offers a record of leadership on the economic issues impacting our state every day.  They want a senator with experience who understands our greatest economic challenges and knows what needs to be done to meet them head on.  Neither Lee Fisher nor Jennifer Brunner can offer those skills, but I'm confident that we will provide a candidate in November of 2010 who can."

Brunner using vote fraud to hand Kilroy election?

Press release from the National Republican Congressional Committee:

Washington - Unbeknownst to voters who cast their ballots in good faith in the race for Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is working to undermine the principle of free and fair elections by changing the rules by which votes are counted after the votes were cast. In a transparently partisan act, Brunner has advised county boards of election to allow for the counting of ballots already invalidated by state law.

Brunner has issued an opinion advising Boards of Election to count provisional ballots cast by voters who failed to properly complete their ballot as required under state law.  Despite state law to the contrary, Brunner is directing election boards to count these fatally flawed ballots, suggesting the defective and incomplete ballots somehow result from poll worker errors. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, who is prosecuting a man who fraudulently signed at least ten absentee ballots, understands that a voter’s signature is the very basis for a valid ballot, even if Brunner and Kilroy do not:

“‘This case is being prosecuted because of the signatures,’ O'Brien said. ‘Some people in this state don't think they are necessary’ an apparent reference to statements made by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

“‘Anyone who thinks that a signature is not necessary to detect or prosecute voter fraud is not living in the real world.’” (Columbus Dispatch, 11/19/08)

“A fundamental cornerstone to fair elections is that consistent and inalterable rules govern throughout the process,” said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain. “Rather than allowing the vote counting process to proceed according to law and to the rules established prior to Election Day, Democrats are sensing Kilroy’s defeat again, and are attempting to change the rules to save her skin. By counting ballots that Ohio law had previously deemed invalid, Brunner is inserting political cronyism into what should be a fair and dispassionate process.”

Another election fraud bust in Franklin County

From The Columbus Dispatch:

An East Side man was indicted this week on charges that he requested absentee ballots and filed false voter registrations for himself and others, using a residential address that doesn't exist, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said yesterday. ...

Six other cases were forwarded to prosecutors by the Board of Elections last week, including one involving a woman who voted twice in different polling places and nonresidents who attempted to vote. More indictments are expected, O'Brien said.

The prosecutor also sent a little message to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner:

"This case is being prosecuted because of the signatures," he said. "Some people in this state don't think they are necessary" -- a reference to statements made by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

"Anyone who thinks that a signature is not necessary to deter or prosecute voter fraud is not living in the real world."

Of course, Jennifer Brunner and Ted Strickland still refuse to acknowledge any evidence of election fraud in Ohio.

Brunner more partisan than Blackwell

The Columbus Dispatch editorial today calls out Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for being more partisan than her predecessor:

The battles over election rules underline the need for Ohio to have an impartial referee at the top for election disputes. The 88 county boards are evenly bipartisan, but as long as the state's chief elections official is an elected officeholder from one of the two major parties, there are going to be difficulties. This was apparent when Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell was secretary of state during the 2004 election, and it is even more apparent this year, with Brunner holding the office.