So now the Ohio election was rigged.
*sigh* If Democrats had spent half as much time finding a more electable candidate as they did (and still do) whining about Bush, he never would have won a second term.
Maybe he's telling the BOE to quit because they have consistently screwed up and been incompetent.
-Dan
posted by photodan at 08:05 A.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
I agree that Blackwell took blatant partisanship to a new low in the past election.
However, I think that his inept leadership overseeing the elections is more troubling. Ohio has become what Florida was in 2000: a state whose election in a hotly-contested presidential race was filled with incompetence and fraud, and that ultimately made Ohio the laughingstock of the nation.
My hope is that Blackwell, despite engineering a victory for Bush in Ohio (perhaps even giving Bush the Presidency, since a swing of about 60,000 southwest Ohio rural voters could have given Kerry both Ohio and the Oval Office), has exposed himself as a ruthless, Faustian character who would do anything for power.
It is interesting to watch people in his own party distance themselves from Blackwell. He is, at best, a mixed blessing for the Republicans. He is at equal turns intelligent tactician, soulless manipulator, and duplicitous demagogue.
Phew...my brain hurts from finding ways to describe Blackwell.
Here is a copy of the final report written by the Democratic members of the Hose Judiciary Committee. While their political affiliation means we should read the report with a critical eye, the report does give a good overview of the mismanagement of state elections in Ohio last November:
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=529
In short, Blackwell will shortly throw his hat into the ring (officially) for Governor. Perhaps the bright side of all of this is that Blackwell will get trounced either by a moderate Republican or by a Democrat in the 2006 governor's race.
Hoever, keep those wooden stakes handy - a character like Blackwell probably would not stay down for long!
posted by historymike at 08:22 A.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
I recommend cheese and crackers.
"My hope is that Blackwell, despite engineering a victory for Bush in Ohio ..."
Right. If Kerry had won Ohio, there would be no report, and the Dems would have said the voters had spoken. But because Bush won, it had to be by crook.
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=529
I love generalizations by the Dems in their so-called report like:
"There were widespread instances of intimidation and misinformation ..."
But the report cites exactly zero examples of their claim. Why would the Dems assume that without the supposed problems, the votes in question would have all gone to Kerry? The Dems only used the word "disenfranchised" and its variants eight times in the report.
For some reason, the fact that Dems were engaging in illegal voter registration was left out of their report.
From last fall:
"In Columbus, Ohio, officials discovered dozens of faked names on voter cards and have indicted one ACORN worker. ACORN says it has registered 158,000 new voters in Ohio and 26,000 in Cincinnati/Hamilton County. A Sept. 26 New York Times county-by-county analysis of heavily Democratic areas in Ohio (mainly low-income and minority neighborhoods) finds that new registrations since January are up by 250 percent compared to registrations during the same period in 2000."
So the Dems are bitching about Blackwell rejecting and disenfranchising illegal and non-existent voters. The Dems are upset that they got caught cheating. The Dems are mad that despite all their best illegal efforts, they still lost the election.
And we're suppose to believe that a report produced by a bunch of pissed off Dems is credible? I suppose someone will next say that the Blade is a believable newspaper.
posted by jr at 09:03 A.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
I agree that the Dems have very dirty hands. Let us not forget the infamous crack-for-voter registration story in which a Democratic operative traded (allegedly) crack cocaine in lieu of payment to a registration solicitor.
Sick stuff.
When I said "engineered," I was referencing the fact that Blackwell also ran the Bush re-election campaign in Ohio. I was not implying that he somehow scammed a Bush victory in his role as the supervisor of state elections.
Also, his Issue 1 ballot initiative brought ought tons of voters worried about gay marriage, and I believe that this linking of Republicans to the idea that marriage needed to be defended was the dfifference in Ohio.
posted by historymike at 09:41 A.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
Oh, so Blackwell's totally innocent and a candidate for Sainthood while the no-good dirty rotten LCBOE can't find their asses with a flashlight, map, 1:1 scale model, and remedial training?
BTW Blackwell's bid for governor is already set, he's got a website up and running.
Let's take a look at Blackwell's behavior:
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/1046
COLUMBUS -- Ohio Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell refused to appear at a deposition on Monday, December 27. The deposition was part of an election challenge lawsuit filed at the Ohio Supreme Court. Meanwhile John Kerry is reported to have filed a federal legal action aimed at preserving crucial recount evidence, which has been under GOP assault throughout the state.
Richard Conglianese, Ohio Assistant Attorney General, is seeking a court order to protect Blackwell from testifying under oath about how the election was run. Blackwell, who administered Ohio's November 2 balloting, served as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign.
---
He refused to testify and the state is protecting him from testifying how the election was run. Now he's demanding the LCBOE quit for their mistakes, YET ANY EVIDENCE THAT HE MIGHT HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG IS BEING HIDDEN!
That's called hypocrisy, folks.
I love to see you folks DENY that Blackwell ordered the boards of election to only accept voter registration forms printed on 80lb paper, and DENY that he issued edicts on how to handle and interpret provisional ballots days before the election.
Let us review history:
Franklin county: 4000 votes for Bush despite only 600 people had voted.
Sandusky county: 2600 ballots counted twice
Youngstown: machine records NEGATIVE 25 million votes.
Cuyahoga County: 8,099 provisional ballots ruled invalid because the voter wasn't registered or was registered in the wrong precinct.
Mahoning County: 20 to 30 ES&S iVotronic machines that needed to be recalibrated during the voting process because some votes for a candidate were being counted for that candidate's opponent.
Warren County: Citing concerns about potential terrorism, officials locked down the county administration building on election night and blocked any independent observers from monitoring the vote count.
Knox county: Gambier precinct -- only two voting machines for 1,300 voters.
Oh, and this is my absolute favorite story:
Blackwell Locks Down Ohio Voting Records
Ohio Election Investigation Thwarted by Surprise Blackwell Order
Dayton, Ohio Friday December 10, 2004
On Friday December 10 two certified volunteers for the Ohio Recount team assigned to Greene County were in process recording voting information from minority precincts in Greene County, and were stopped mid-count by a surprise order from Secretary of State Blackwell’s office. The Director Board of Elections stated that “all voter records for the state of Ohio were “locked-down,” and now they are not considered public records.”
The volunteers were working with voter printouts received directly from Carole Garman, Director, Greene County Board of Elections. Joan Quinn and Eve Roberson, retired attorney and election official respectively, were hand-copying voter discrepancies from precinct voting books on behalf of the presidential candidates Mr. Cobb (Green) and Mr. Badnarik Libertarian) who had requested the recount.
One of the goals of the recount was to determine how many minority voters were unable to vote or denied voting at the polls. Upon requesting copies of precinct records from predominantly minority precincts, Ms. Garman contacted Secretary of State Blackwell’s office and spoke to Pat Wolfe, Election Administrator. Ms. Wolfe told Ms. Garman to assert that all voter records for the State of Ohio were “locked down” and that they are “not considered public records.”
Quinn and Roberson asked specifically for the legal authority authorizing Mr. Blackwell to “lock down” public records. Garman stated that it was the Secretary of State’s decision. Ohio statute requires the Directors of Boards of Election to comply with public requests for inspection and copying of public election records. As the volunteer team continued recording information from the precinct records in question, Garman entered the room and stated she was withdrawing permission to inspect or copy any voting records at the Board of Elections. Garman then physically removed the precinct book from Ms. Roberson’s hands. They later requested the records again from Garman’s office, which was again denied.
Ohio Revised Code Title XXXV Elections, Sec. 3503.26 that requires all election records to be made available for public inspection and copying. ORC Sec. 3599.161 makes it a crime for any employee of the Board of Elections to knowingly prevent or prohibit any person from inspecting the public records filed in the office of the Board of Elections. Finally, ORC Sec. 3599.42 clearly states: “A violation of any provision of Title XXXV (35) of the Revised Code constitutes a prima facie case of election fraud within the purview of such Title.”
Blackwell is a criminal and ordered criminal activity to take place.
If Blackwell is going to hold the LCBOE responsible for errors to the point of demanding they quit or be fired, then why is he not demanding the same of all these other counties? Huh? Got an answer for that?
His activities are no less inept or suspicious than those he's attempting to keelhaul the LCBOE for.
posted by anonymouscoward at 09:54 A.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
I have never been able to find an actual announcement by Blackwell that he is official, so I didn't jump to that conclusion.
He has been unofficially running for governor since about 1996, though.
Here is the WHOIS information on the www.kenblackwell.com site:
Ohioans For Blackwell
211 S. Fifth Street
Columbus, OH 43215
US
Phone: 614.221.8552
Domain Name: KENBLACKWELL.COM
Administrative Contact :
Kross, Mary
Technical Contact :
Burke, Aaron
This is just a mere formality, though. He is off to the races, and looks to be a formidable candidate.
IF he is not brought down by nasty problems like election fraud.
posted by historymike at 11:32 A.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
Blackwell calls for firing of Lucas County Elections Board for mistakes made duing the 2004 election. Now that's the pot calling the kettle black for certain!
posted by Chaz at 04:59 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
If bluelemur and sfgate are your sources for information, consider yourself uninformed!
They're not just left-leaning sites, they're way out in left field.
Essentially they're on a par with "The People's Daily."
swd
posted by swd at 06:04 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
SWD:
I used the sites because they had the particular document in an easy-to-link format.
However, I get information from sources all across the political spectrum, and do not limit my reading to only those on the right or left.
If I limited myself to, say, Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, my perspective would be pretty narrow.
posted by historymike at 06:55 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 07, 2005 #
It seems pretty obvious that these simultaneous attacks on the Noe family are politically motivated. The only question in my mind is why this sudden attempt to destroy them.
I'm not a Democrat and didn't vote for either major party this past election - but there are plenty (possibly up to 50%) of Americans who believe there was no way Kerry lost Ohio - the exit polls across the country were not proven to be inaccurate. There's an excellent brief article circulating on the internet that gives details on how the author claims the computer formula reads that dumped Kerry's (and some independent) votes (authored by a mole on the RNC). This author also asserts that Democrat precincts were counted first in most cases so that they could tell how many votes had to be made up to give a precinct to Bush. Big Democratic areas like Lucas County couldn't be tampered with much - they had to go for Kerry to look like everything was on the up and up. This story is not going to fade away because there is a "preponderance of evidence" as they say in court, and the Republicans are worried. It appears locally that Republicans are trying to destroy other Republicans, with Democratic help. Much as they do in Texas every two years against Congressman Ron Paul.
Blackwell acts very much like a man who is scared and trying to deflect attention from himself. I also regret that I saw the day when an evangelical church (Cathedral of Praise) got used by a political machine. Blackwell was allowed to speak there just prior to the 2004 election. If that pastor only knew what is really going on... *sigh*
posted by edie at 03:31 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 08, 2005 #
...simultaneous attacks on the Noe family are politically motivated...why this sudden attempt to destroy them...
If there is a conspiracy here it's hard to imagine that the Blade and Ken Blackwell are working together on it. Also, if it exists, it appearently doesn't extend to Taft given his [killer] defense of Noe in today's Blade.
Not to change the subject, but I'm surprised that the Blade even printed that interview today. Taft's response about the Blade just out looking for a story is evident right there in the interview itself as the interviewer jumps from college educations, to political donations to operating losses and several other things. The story (if you can call it that) is, as Taft said, all implications. There's no focus, no specific allegation and certainly no proof of anything. Incredibly embarassing.
I am more convinced now than ever before that the Blade going away is essential to NWO's success or - conversely - that it is a larger part of NWO's failure than I thought before.
...excellent brief article circulating on the internet...
Uhhh...I'm not even going to touch the rest of this.
posted by babbleman at 04:24 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 08, 2005 #
So, babblemieser... you prefer to have your tax dollars invested in shady real estate slumlords, you don't care that $850,000 of your tax dollars disappeared into someone's pockets in Colorado and it's fine if $350,000 of your tax dollars "disappears" in the mail (if you can actually believe that story). And, it's OK if the governor appoints someone without a college education to SUPERVISE all state colleges on the Ohio Board of Regents. And, it's just fine to justify investing in such shady dealings, because "we got as good return." Well, race tracks, casinos and loan sharks can provide a "hedge" and a "good return" as well. Does that make it ethically correct?
The only thing "incredibly embarassing" about your post is the lack of humility before ethical considerations.
If it were a Democratic contributor given $50 million of taxpayer money in return for his contributions to so many campaigns, Republicans would have long ago shouted for his lynching.
This missing coins, shady slumlord story would be laughable were it not for our tax dollars being misspent. The fact that the State achieved a high return is irrelevent. The issue here is moralty, not return-on-investment.
posted by Chaz at 06:21 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 08, 2005 #
"historymike," says he reads across the political spectrum (swd remains dubious as to this claim) and that he only references sites like bluelemur and sfgate for reasons of convenience.
swd replies: Similes similibus gaudent, pares cum paribus facillime congregantur.
By the way, I also read widely, but I only quote the best!
As to the Lucas County Board, well, IIRC, even Democrat loving-Republican bashing "Blade" has knocked the competence of the Board and its members in times past.
Oh, you Democrat conspiracy kooks, aka "Blackwell rigged the recent presidental election" kooks, need to stop reading nonsense like, well, bluelemur and, ah, move on!
swd
posted by swd at 06:49 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 08, 2005 #
swd,
The comment in your closing sentence suggesting that the "Democrat conspiracy kooks, ah, move on!" was both clever and cruel ;-)
I am in awe!
As for all of the of the political "jabbing & stabbing" that preceded your post, just more of the same old, same old...
I found it predictable, yet strangely/curiously entertaining.
I guess that it's that darn masochistic streak in me flaring up again :-)
Otherwise, the signal to noise of this topic/thread appears, to me, to be quite low :-(
posted by Hooda_Thunkit at 07:35 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 08, 2005 #
Anonmouscoward is correct. Blackwell needs to be fired. It's true that our Board needs to go. But with Blackwell's history of "giving" Bush Ohio last year, he can no longer be trusted to perform his job with fairness and a devotion to the truth. It's also despicable to use this to try to deflect attention from his own problems. Of course, I can't prove that he is a criminal. But I believe it. Perhaps history will one day prove it.
HistoryMike is also right. Blackwell has emerged as a ruthless egomaniac who will do anything to be elected governor. He cannot be trusted.
Let's hope that the next Board can prevent a repeat of the 2004 horror story, with votes that weren't counted, others that were counted twice, absentee ballots not available, poorly trained poll workers and an Elections office gone wild with no adequate supervision (sometimes the supervisor was too busy shopping on the Internet). It seems like any accountability would now an inprovement.
And, swd, it is not logical to suggest that someone's agrument is false on the basis of "what they read." - Logic 101.
posted by Chaz at 04:52 P.M. EST on Sat Apr 09, 2005 #
SWD:
Is "Angry Harry.com" an example of your "best" sources?
At least I have the courage to reference my sources. While I don't consider the aformentioned sites to have high levels of discourse, even they can contribute to the debate.
As far as what I read, believe what you wish. I have subscribed in the past to such conservative/libertarian periodicals as National Review, American Spectator, and Reason. Despite your attempts to pigeonhole me as some cartoonish liberal, my politics are not that dissimilar from yours.
Of course, you seem incapable of discourse that does not involve demonizing anyone who disagree with you.
Unlike you, I don't chain myself to one ideology. I think that most perspectives have some merit in their contibutions. Perhaps you might want to read outside the narrow, FOX NEWS-like sources you seem glued to.
posted by historymike at 05:15 P.M. EST on Sat Apr 09, 2005 #
Politics and politicians in general are mostly like a roman candle, pfffffffft... pop.
If there is any substance behind the politician, they will endure.
Otherwise, they are but a momentary distraction, like a gnat.
posted by Hooda_Thunkit at 12:59 P.M. EST on Mon Apr 11, 2005 #
chaz suggests it's not "logical" to critique someone's argument on the basis of what they read.
swd responds: what argument?
There's a maxim in computer science that says "garbage in, garbage out."
GIGO pretty much explains the assertions of folks like historymike and chaz.
swd
posted by swd at 03:17 P.M. EST on Tue Apr 19, 2005 #
"historymike" continues to obsess and fantasize over "angryharry.com," a manufactured "issue" which is a figment of his (her) imagination.
historymike, I'd have no problem admitting to reading "angry harry" if I had, why shouldn't I? but I haven't!
If I represented I had done one thing but, in fact, done another, why, I'd be your typical liberal. No doubt, I'd also think UT and the Democrats have done a wonderful job!
That would be great fantasy but not the truth.
swd
posted by swd at 03:27 P.M. EST on Tue Apr 19, 2005 #
The offer still stands, swd:
Show us the site you got the bibliography from, and I'll donate $20 to your favorite cause. I'll mail the check to jr so that we can have verification.
Otherwise, take your lumps and move on.
If there is "obsession" on this board, it would be your incessant desire to attack those with whom you disagree, instead of meaningful dialogue. My guess is that this behavior is representative of the rest of your life.
As far as UT and the Democrats, I'll be among the first to point out their respective mismanagement of taxpayer funds. You continue to associate me with "liberal" and "elitist" tags. Unfortunately, you refuse to consider that we might have more in common than in difference.
Of course, that doesn't fit your "good-bad" worldview, so I guess I shouldn't expect you to be someone you may not be.
posted by historymike at 07:49 P.M. EST on Tue Apr 19, 2005 #
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