Jennifer, welcome to Firedoglake. We’re eager to understand the differences between you and Lee Fisher and you and Rob Portman. I don’t know how either of them stands on Employee Free Choice but we have a video up at the top of this post showing you at a union rally in Cleveland unambiguously endorsing the Employee Free Choice Act. With the exception of just a very small handful of reactionaries and a few who have been corrupted by big ”donations” from the Chamber of Commerce types and the Walton Family, all congressional Democrats have endorsed it. Some seem willing to fight really hard for it and some don’t really seem to care in their hearts and souls. Can you tell us– beyond the very supportive speech you made at the rally– why you would be the best fighter for Ohio working families concerned about issues like Employee Free Choice?

Ms. Brunner:

I was confused by your report to the Ohio State Legistlature on Election Reform in Ohio.

Do you favor making it easier or harder for minor party candidates like the Green Party to gain ballot access for the November elections in the future? Should minor candidates not need 7 to 25 times the number of signatures that Democrats and Republicans need to get on the ballot?

My state rep Barbara Boyd said this morning that on the latest of the surveys she mails out, the top two issues by miles were jobs and health care, and nothing else was close. Do you concur that those are the top two issues for Ohioans and how will you spotlight those in your campaign? Also, what do you feel are the personal qualities you have that would make you effect in the role as a very junior senator?

Welcome to FDL this afternoon Jennifer.

Since 2004, many people have become aware of the importance of the Secretary of State position in the various states. Do you have a potential replacement identified to continue the clean-up after Blackwell as you look to higher office?

Thanks, Howie. One of the big pushes against the Employee Free Choice Act is the orchestrated work that will be targeted in states like Ohio to convince voters that the act is somehow un-American in denying a secret ballot election. As many know, nothing could be further from the truth. Employees can have a secret ballot election for union representation, but it is THEIR choice, and not the employer’s. As Secretary of State, my job is to run secret ballot elections. The type of secret ballot elections that can be mandated by employers now, even when there is a majority of workers who sign cards to negotiate with their employer, is not guaranteed the safeguards that we have in our state and federal laws for free, fair, open and honest elections. I have and will continue to strongly, vocally and openly support the Employee Free Choice Act and work to see its passage. I know now there are some discussions about alternate ways to conduct the secret ballot elections, and I can assist in that discussion to protect workers’ rights and see the kind of work necessary to get the act passed.

Hpw do you plan to “define” Rob Portman and how can we help up here in Northeast Ohio where no one knows him from a hole in the ground yet?

anastasiap, you may have missed the intro but the last paragraph makes it clear that you and Jennifer are on the same page about what the important issues are: Jennifer identifies jobs and health care as the two overriding issues of the campaign. “So many people’s health insurance is tied to their jobs and for every one percent increase in unemployment, nationally, a million more people go without health insurance.” I’ll leave the part about the personal qualities for her to answer– it would take me too long!

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has found that Ohio’s laws for access for minor and third party candidates is unconstitutional. My office has proposed several times to the Ohio legislature that these laws be changed to be constitutional. We even provided what we thought the laws should state. We have been ignored. I believe that our system should be open and transparent. that means that we should ease the ability of third parties and their candidates to have access to the ballot with labels according to their parties.

You are right, I did miss that. I’m interested in HOW she will frame those issues in her campaign, especially since Fisher is making the biggest deal over his role as director of development and what he has done to create jobs (and I concur with him when he says that the erosion in the last year has more to do with what’s going on nationally than his failure to do his job). I really haven’t heard Fisher say much about health care.

Hi, jobs and health care are foremost issues for Ohioans and Americans, especially those in the middle class and who lack them. I have raised 3 children and cared for 3 foster children. I have personally experienced what it was like before the foster children had health care benefits to go to Kroger and get them their required immunizations or to pay cash for urgent care services, and to juggle the dozens of invoices from various provider and try to match them up to multiple insurance statements, all while trying to care for children, work and maintain a household. I have lived the live of an everyday Ohioan, and I can relate to so many people I meet. When I was a judge, people in the most impoverished circumstances stood before me. I worked to create solutions for better response of the community so that people could reach their goals or simply get through a day better. That is why I want to be in the Senate, because public service is about bettering the lives of others, using leadership to cause things to happen that empower people to be able to write their own future stories.

When I ran for statewide office in 2006, my opponent, like Rob Portman, was from Cincinnati. He was connected to Bush/Cheney in that his father had been Cheney’s legal counsel in proving that Cheney was from Wyoming and not Texas (so he could be vice-president, since he had to be from another state than the President). My opponent was not well known, so I left him alone and concentrated on the reforms I would seek. To this day, many in the NE Ohio area can’t remember who ran against me in 2006. I would rather concentrate on the positives I can offer the voters, as I hope Mr. (uh what’s his name?) would as well.

What specific aspects of the health-care system need to be addressed and changed? Where are you on single-payer? Do you think a public option is essential? What do you think is the bottom line of what must be provided for citizens as far as access to health care? We’re seeing plans floating around that don’t seem to address affordability for middle-class people and that don’t seem to offer protection against going bankrupt and losing your home and retirement savings if you get sick, and that worries me.

Ken Blackwell owned stock in Diebold while he was Secretary of State and while he was buying Diebold voting machines which are said by experts to not be even close to tamper-proof. This on top of a Diebold CEO promising to “deliver” Ohio for Bush. Was there a decision made by Ohio Democrats after you all swept to power to not pursue a criminal investigation against Blackwell and Diebold?

Thanks for this question. A couple of approaches to your answer: First, Marilyn Brown, a Franklin County Commissioner, has announced her candidacy for Ohio Secretary of State. I have firsthand experience working with her in the election process in 2008 in Franklin County and have found her to be knowledgeable, cooperative and eager to promote the ends of good government. Second, with my office’s post election summit and conference in December and March respectively, we have taken an open and inclusive approach to bring various interests together to reach a consensus on what worked and what could be improved on in the 2008 election cycle. We are currently working with the Ohio legislature to institutionalize some of those items. Whomever follows me will have this advantage of a bipartisan effort to make the system, itself, better.

I just posted an interview with Marilyn Brown on ohiodailybog.com for those interested in learning more about her. Like Jennifer, she’s very committed to expanding, not limiting, the ability of legitimate voters to the vote. I was pretty impressed when I talked to her, and she also seems like she’d be an effective and appealing candidate.

When looking to retool health care in the United States, three things must be the goal: access, quality and cost. I believe the federal government can successfully provide health care benefits to Americans, since it does so now, and a more affordable cost than third parties, in the form of Medicare, as one example. Those Americans who have employer-provided health insurance and want to keep it should be able to do so. It’s interesting that a 2009 report from Harvard University indicates that 23% of recent foreclosures involved people who couldn’t pay their medical bills and had to make a choice. Health care is an economic issue as well as a quality of life issue. Because so much of our current health care system is already entrenched, changes will need to be built on what we have now with plans for augmenting what is here now, but allowing for changes that, over time, may be much different than what is our current system.

Do you think it is proper for a private corporation to run Ohio’s elections?
Why?

It seems like every state in the union is beating us to the punch when it comes to retooling factories to produce solar power and wine turbine components and products.

Do you believe Ohio can rebuild her manufacturing base with renewable energy sources?

Regarding Diebold (now spun off to Premier Election Systems), the Secretary of State’s office is currently in civil litigation with both the parent company, Diebold and its election system company, Diebold. The leadership of Premier has changed since the incidents you cited, and we have found the leadership to be responsive, but we have still experienced problems with the operation of the systems sold to the counties in the State of Ohio. When the Secretary of State was sued by Diebold and Premier in a declaratory judgment action in Franklin County (Columbus) against Cuyahoga County, we counter-sued for problems experienced in the operation of the voting systems in several counties of the state. We want more accountability for the problems and remuneration for some of the costs of the voting systems.

Regarding Ken Blackwell’s role, his Diebold stock ownership interest came to light in an Ohio Ethics Commission filing in 2006. It was the purview of the Ohio Ethics Commission to pursue anything related to this situation. To date we know of no investigation or prosecution.

Jennifer, are Ohio voters ready for candidates who approve of marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples? I know you have taken the principled stand– a courageous one in Ohio– in favor of same-sex marriage. I can’t imagine that your Democratic opponent would attack you for that, but I bet Portman would rather debate that one than debate the trade policies he supported (as Bush’s Trade Rep) which directly led to so many manufacturing jobs in Ohio just diappearing forever. I’m certain the GOP will do their best to make same-sex marriage a defining issue. How will you push back?

I do not think it is appropriate or proper for a private corporation to run Ohio’s or any other state’s elections, whether the elections are local, state or federal elections. What is so unique about our democratic election system is that it is by nature, citizen run. Since taking office, I have supplied IT liaisons to boards of elections to help them with the operation of the technology of the voting systems required by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). While these folks in my office cannot be at all places at all times for the 88 county boards, we encourage the boards to be self-sufficient, to learn the technological operation of their systems, and we often assist them in interfacing with voting system manufacturers on questions of operation and updating of the systems.

Welcome Jennifer!

So happy to have you. In a battle between you vs. Diebold, I’d say they don’t have a chance.

Secretary Brunner:

I am a long-time Ohio resident who once supported Mary Boyle as the Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. Senate, who supported Hillary (that was a tough call for me since I LOVE Obama) in the primary and who now supports you. Why do you think it is so difficult for highly competent women to get nominated for the big jobs?

Do you think George Bush — or even better, Dick Cheney! — can be induced to come campaign for their former OMB guy and trade rep? I can’t imagine better qualifications for a GOP Senate aspirant than having the phrase “Bush budget and trade” in his resume.

I understand you want to look forward to focus on jobs and healthcare, but really — this guy needs to be laughed off the stage. In a healthy democracy, he couldn’t run for dogcatcher let alone US Senate.

Despite what RNC Chair Michael Steele says about gay marriage, now trying to cloak it in small business economic terms, LGBT equality is about basic civil rights. These rights are priceless and worth fighting for. We would not have to spend the valuable time and effort on issues such as registries and domestic partner benefits if marriage equality was accepted and guaranteed. I believe that promoting human dignity, equality, respect and fairness are things anyone can believe in and should support. I would rather be defined as promoting those values than as equivocating on or suppressing them. This is a basic human issue of love and respect, and all deserve it.

Are you willing to initiate and/or participate in legally legislating the removal/amendments needed to eliminate The Help America Vote Act, The American Patriot Act and the various Military Commissions Act(s) for the purposes of returning all of our voter rights and privacy rights that we lost as per last the 8 years of the G.W.Bush administration?

Thanks, Jane. I just want our voting systems to work as they should and for taxpayers to get the most value for their money. If we can get some form of compensation for the systems’ shortcomings, it will be good for Ohioans.

I’m sure Jennifer will answer that. I just want to make sure that non-Ohioans know that Jennifer is the first woman to have become Ohio’s Secretary of State and when she enters the U.S. Senate, she’ll be the first woman to ever win that job in the Buckeye State. Polls show her beating Rob Portman handily, by the way.

Secretary Brunner, You have demonstrated that you are one tough cookie. You have had a lot of political heavyweights try to back you down. I thank you for your efforts to make Ohio elections clean, and wish you success in your Senate run.

Ohio has traditionally had such a strong manufacturing base of our economy, especially in Northeast Ohio. We have an infrastructure to fire up our manufacturing segment again, and I have seen labor and management work extremely well together toward these common goals in recent years. What we need is strong political leadership that empowers this to happen. Wind turbines are manufactured in Germany, but there are at least 40 parts to them. There is no reason why we could not work to get manufacturing rights for some or all of the parts of this equipment. This takes federal and state cooperation. I know Sherrod Brown is working hard on these issues, with Jack Dover traveling throughout Ohio and working specifically on economic development for hiim. I am committed to bringing back new and better jobs to Ohio.

When I was a judge, I was passionate about the need for a new program to address drug-addicted and mentally ill nonviolent offenders’ needs as a means to reduce recidivism, make the community safer and save tax dollars. Working with 60 people from the community on our lunch hours for 2 years, we built a drug court docket and mental health court docket between 2 courts that still operate today. It took strong leadership to do it, but strong and effective leadership empower many to do what they did not think possible when they contemplate doing it alone. I am very optimistic and want to work with Senator Brown and Governor Strickland on these and other pressing issues for Ohio.

Thank you, Susan. The crucible of last year’s election in Ohio has prepared me for what will be a very tough election to be Ohio’s next U.S. Senator.

Jennifer, since he’s retiring it’s a moot point, but how would Voinovich fare in ‘10 if he were running again?

(I know I’m asking for speculation but what fun could we have if there weren’t speculation?) :})

It has been very sad to see the erosion of the protections to individual rights that have set our country apart for many as “the shining city on the hill.” That reputation has been tarnished by compromises that did not need to be made but that were tolerated or overlooked because fear was the overriding force. The Help America Vote Act actually has some very good parts to it; some of it does, however, need to be retooled, and I am anxious to work on that, having first hand experience in administering its various parts.

Regarding military tribunals, we must be very careful how we treat those who are not citizens or who are held by us as a result of war. Many of us have friends or family who are engaged overseas in the war efforts now, and we must treat those in our custody they way we would want our loved ones to be treated were they held by enemy forces. Our American justice system, (and I have been a judge in that system), is exceptional in preserving and protecting individual rights. That must be restored in our laws from personal privacy to military tribunals.

Actually, there was a Quinnipiac poll last fall that paired a number of Democrats against Voinovich. I ran best against him: 42 to 38, better than Lee Fisher, Tim Ryan, Michael Coleman, Betty Sutton and others whom I can’t remember at this time.

I think it’s interesting that Cheney is actually doing on-air interviews about torture. You’d think he’d want to move on. It’s almost like he’s trying to defend what happened, and since it is him doing the interviews, I wonder what decision making role he actually played.

Can you explain how a Democratic state Supreme Court nominee, Ellen Connelly could get proportionally more votes than Kerry? And also tell us a little about why the Warren County Board of Elections closed down their ballot counting with a (false) story about Homeland Security forcing them to. This stuff just looks to me like Blackwell and the GOP were trying to undermine Democracy in the 2004 elections.

What do you think is the motivation behind the attacks on Nancy Pelosi who — even if you accept the wild supposation that she was told what was going on by a secretive administration that didn’t even share information with its own party members and is known to have encouraged the CIA to mislead the American people — is clearly not even close to the the level of responsibility for torture as that administration? Some think Republicans are discomfited by a strong woman in charge of the House and are looking for ways to sabotage her and bring her down. Do you think there’s anything to that?

Mary Boyle has been very encouraging to me in this race. It was not easy for her to run in 1998, and some in her own party (she had a primary election in which she came very close) tried to discourage people from supporting her or donating money to her, saying “she couldn’t win.” Some of those people were running for other offices on the ballot at the time.

I am in this race for the long haul. Politics is so often affected by the timing of other events. I know that it takes a little luck, some guidance from above, a great team, a clear head and a lot of hard work to win. I have assembled a great and dedicated team for the campaign, and I’m willing to do my part on the hard work and keeping a clear head. The rest requires some faith. This is a race I can win. By winning I can “soften the ground” for others who follow, not just women, but minorities and LGBT candidates and other progressive candidates who will represent all of us in our democratic form of government.

Hey Howie — You CAN’T be suggesting there was (gasp!) hanky-panky in those southwestern counties we so not very fondly call the “Blackwell counties”? Those are the ones that showed the so-called “Connally anomaly” where this underfunded liberal judge from Northeast Ohio actually got MORE votes (not proportionally — just MORE) than John Kerry in some southwestern areas. Their explanation was that a lot of Republican women were closet feminists who voted for the woman candidate, but there is such a drop-off in the number of voters who vote for president and those who vote for judges that that doesn’t fully explain it. I guess we’ll never really know.

Well, let’s hope all those closeted Republican feminists abandon Rob Portman in 2010 and vote for Jennifer.

How do you feel about campaign finance reform? I was shocked to learn that one state senate race in Ohio last year cost nearly $3 million between the two candidates. And of course, there was that NY Times article in 2006 that revealed that our Supreme Court chief justice, who also raised a staggering amount of money, decided with campaign donors more than 90% of the time. Do you have any ideas about how to fix this so that candidates can focus more on talking to voters about issues and less on fundraising, to say nothing of the egregious waste of mnoey on wall-to-wall ads that everyone wishes would just go away?

Howie, that is an anomaly that no one has been able to adequately explain. The type of voting at the time was punch-card voting (which was used in more than 2/3 of Ohio’s counties in 2004). In addition, the Warren County board of elections closed its doors based on a stated Homeland Security emergency that wasn’t really supportable. Federal litigation in 2006 required the 2004 presidential election ballots to be preserved by Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections.

In 2007, my office asked the federal court to allow us to move all those ballots to Columbus and to be held and preserved in a central location. It is a good thing we did, as we found that some boards had not abided by the court’s order for various reasons (while some had legitimately discarded or destroyed ballots, since the court order came a few days after the last legal date for retention.) What we found confounding was former Sec’y Blackwell’s failure to adequately notify the boards of elections of the court’s order. The court’s order had been transmitted in a simple memo from an SOS office paralegal to the boards with no explanation other than the office’s chief counsel wanted the boards to see the order.

The lack of transparency in the process bred much suspicion. Numerous election activists have reviewed the centrally stored ballots in great detail, some with conclusions that allege wrongdoing. Our difficulty in 2007 and 2008 was how to move Ohio forward in a short time for a successful 2008 presidential election. When allegations were brought to us, we referred them to the state’s attorney general, but as of yet, no criminal prosecution has come from this.

I think there is much wrongdoing that occurred in the handling of terrorist suspect interrogation, and I think the GOP is looking to “share the blame.” Nancy Pelosi is in a tough job as Speaker of the House, and she has clearly shown her toughness. The fact that Dick Cheney is now returning to public life and personally commenting on these issues raises a big red flag to me. It’s a diversionary tactic to try to point the finger at someone like Nancy Pelosi.

This week a few dozen Democrats abandoned Obama and voted against the supplemental budget to continue fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was odd when you saw Boehner and Mean Jean Schmidt voting for Obama’s bill and Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich voting against it. Where would you come down?

Public financing of campaigns is probably the most effective way to deal with these problems. However, candidates can ascribe to pledges for clean campaigns, and instant runoff election systems encourage cleaner campaigns by everyone, since they often require the building of coalitions between candidates. I’m not sure the Ohio public would favor public financing, especially in the economic times we now find ourselves in. Fund raising takes a lot of time, but I find that it gets the candidate in front of many voters who are engaged, and learning voters’ views can be done at every opportunity. If you look over history at candidates who paid for their own campaigns, many of them didn’t win, because they failed to reach out to voters in a personal way.

In 2004 or 2005, Governor Taft called a special session of the Ohio legislature to promote campaign finance reform. This “reform” changed contribution limits from $2500 to $10,000. I think that’s anything but reform, since larger donations create greater expectations on the part of many donors and more pressure on candidates who are ultimately elected to at least give more access to those donors. President Obama proved that campaigns can be run in a new way that brings more people into the process and operates more democratically. That’s the kind of campaign I am working to run. And, more, this has proved to be a winning campaign.

Thank you for your good work, Jennifer. I’m a resident of Ohio, attended a debate you participated in with several candidates in Muskingum County in 2006. You knew your stuff and you’ve made me proud that I voted for you. I will be happy to support you in your run for the Senate.

Anyone who would like to contribute to Jennifer’s campaign can do it through ActBlue.

I very much value the work that our armed services men and women are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. I also support our President’s efforts to bring that effort to a close. There is much work that needs to be done on going after cost overruns of outside contractors working in the war efforts. As I understand it, when wrongdoing is found, prior Bush/Cheney policy has been to cause the money to be repaid with little or no interest or penalty for the misuse of funds. This is unreasonable and should be remedied immediately. Since the measure in question is a budget measure, the issue of how the money is spent and accounted for is important. Without more study of the particular supplemental budget and its contents, I do not yet know where I would come down on the vote that took place.

Thank you, Margot. I remember that debate. It was good to hear from all of the candidates there, and I remember the questions from the audience were on point and helpful. Thanks for your support. I will keep working hard.

In its present state – could The Help America Vote Act be what it is if The American Patriot Act and The Military Commissions Act hadn’t been brought into existence?

I’m not sure what you mean by that; could you explain further?

I noticed you had some substantial union endorsements. I imagine both you and Lee Fisher have good records for unions and good relationships. Will most unions remain neutral for the primary?

I do not believe most unions will remain neutral for the primary. The AFL-CIO state federation and local AFL labor bodies probably will, but I have enjoyed very enthusiastic union support. In the 1990’s I represented the Ohio AFL-CIO and many unions in the federation in federal litigation about campaign finance legislation that would have obliterated union members’ rights to donate collectively through treasury funds and also in educating locals and their leaders about the nuances of campaign finance laws for labor organizations. I came to see how those who are active in the labor movement perform their own form of public service to better the lives of their members and their families, and I came to value what labor does for making our middle class strong. Many labor organizations have said to me that they believe I will be the best candidate to represent the interests of working men and women and their families and retirees in Ohio. I hope to be that Senator for them.

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to log in today. I hope we can do this again. Have a great weekend.

Jennifer Brunner
Ohio Secretary of State
Democratic Candidate for the U.S. Senate-Ohio

Thanks, Jennifer, we’ll be looking forward to another chat closer to the general election so we can have some fun comparing your record of public service and your vision for the country with Rob Portman’s accomplishments as Bush’s Trade Rep and director of OMB.

Re: My further explanation: I have a strong perception that the data sharing permitted by The American Patriot Act & The Military Commissions Act are the tools that are misused by some personnel who are responsible for administering The Help America Vote Act.

Thank you for taking time to chat today and best wishes for your continued electoral success in Ohio.

I can’t believe I missed this one!!!!
haven’t read the thread yet, but want to say—

Jennifer Brunner is exceptional. I watched the televised debate when she was first running for state office. Told everyone about her.

Then later she moved on to Secretary of State.

Level-headed. Quick on her toes, slow to remark. Brainiac. Handled things here during the election jumping over piles of — constantly put in front of her by the gop election fraud gang..they really tried to ‘mess up her hair’….she somehow repeatedly kept making people believe that she really did want everything to be ethical..a few more scandals happened here, and it made her job even more difficult. she did a great job…’i’m sure you’ve heard of them’ blackwell’s (former ohio sec of state) pack and the national gop incendiary pr experts, well, they didn’t make her job easier and it was hard enough. she came through, leading, with her hair still in place.

She’s got my vote!

(ummm, personal opinion here—-people think portman’s too ‘pretty’ and is known for taking care of his own interests first..corporate and his own district…. boehner-like…and boehner isn’t very popular here right now even in his own district-has his own primary challenger, sheriff smith from butler county. portman has money backing in his district, but jennifer will have more workers out to help her get the senatorial seat, and has better name recognition for donors. the number of obama workers as compared to mccain in ohio was pathetic. most people in ohio haven’t heard of portman unless they watch the weekly ohio politics show, state of ohio. also a politics news archive site.
http://www.statenews.org/index.cfm
everyone knows who jennifer brunner is, she’s the one the republicans tried to taint and failed. was forthcoming about the process and even mistakes when they happened. took responsibility for making sure everything was clear and as honest as she could make it. came out of it with the paulistas even defending her during the onslaught, she’s the one that tried to keep ‘their’ election clean is what they know…they/inds and rank and file gop, don’t like porter too much. too many favors of legislation for the looneybird blackwell crowd. don’t get me wrong, he has a following, but it’s an exclusive one. what is funny about all of this is she has better name recognition and people know of her integrity BECAUSE of the smear tactics by the gop during the election. she was confronted DAILY, her integrity questioned DAILY and she handled things beautifully, and it was in every paper every time she did. shot themselves in the foot again. kinda delicious really. she will make a fine senator. i said ‘will’ not ‘would’.)

Forgot to add this–

State Auditor, Republican Mary Taylor, started using her office to give a leg up to Portman recently. he’s always screaming about fiscal responsibility, but a look at his own numbers in his district and his voting record shows that it’s a charade. She pulled her name off of the list of possible gop candidates to fill voinavich’s seat recently. there aren’t that many viable candidates that i know of.

Using her office–
This-
http://blog.cleveland.com/open…..ickla.html
the this-
http://www.toledofreepress.com…..attention/

as soon as Gov. Strickland started working with the Republicans in the state legislature, portman and his crew started stacking up chips and markers. Some of the same things the gop is knocking and using against strickland and democratic elected officials are the same things the republicans said they wanted implemented.

then they leave the room and blame the democrats.

now, they are using the auditor’s office. that appearance of ’slacking’, sorry to say, will be hitting a nerve with ohioans unless the democratic party starts succinctly getting out what is really going on…meanwhile, the gop pr/election team that was here during elections hasn’t left. they’re still stirring it up in the local election boards and planted in counties, and still have open cases filed in the court, especially in the north. there are a few bush pioneer fundraisers there and in columbus. their shady pasts have already been forgotten.

the democratic party needs to put a lid on the manipulations of mary taylor using the state auditor’s office to lay the groundwork for portman.
you would think strickland would know better than to let all of this go by without getting out in front of it with a press conference or two. he has dropped the ball in a few areas when it comes to communicating what he is doing. so, the repubs twist it and use it when if he would just hold a press conference and say what the plans and the goals are, they wouldn’t be able to do that.

for one, that the auditor’s office knew the reports would be late when they proposed the switch-over. time to lay it out. after portman starts to use it it’s too late.