From the monthly archives: January 2010
ODB is on the ground in Elyria while us others are watching on TV, but it’s pretty clear to me that with this speech in our state the President got his groove back.
In what can only be deemed a depressing week with the loss in Massachusetts, President Obama came out swinging and undeterred. Brushing off the Brown victory and quibbling in Washington over health care reform like he did his shoulders during the campaign.
The speech was consumed almost entirely of fighting words – in campaign style. The energy was palpable. The ad libs were smooth [...]
Full Story... →The first denial anyone has ever heard regarding the rampant rumors that Bill Mason is about to resign comes from one of his former prosecutors, Lakewood Mayor Ed Fitzgerald, currently running for County Executive.
I ran into Fitzgerald at a taping for Bob Conklin’s show on Time Warner local access, In The Spotlight, where I appear as a panelist with the PD’s Henry Gomez (!!!). ?Fitzgerald was Conklin’s first interview, and on his way out of the studio, I asked him if he planned to run for prosecutor when Bill Mason resigns. Fitzgerald laughed, hard, then paused, then said [...]
Full Story... →I know this is not really local, and not really national either, but I think it’s important to understand the nuances of local/regional elections, and how they effect national politics, and even what they “mean” to other local/regional elections.
So, I mentioned yesterday that Evan Bayh is a fucking idiot, and showed why the Mass Senate election wasn’t a referendum on national health care – at least not in the way Bayh thought it was. I have more evidence, and it’s in the campaign message Scott Brown delivered during the race:
While many are describing the election to [...]
Full Story... →Stunning development in campaign finance laws. We are now of, by, and for the corporations folks. Simple as that:
Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.
5-4 along expected partisan ideological lines.
I understand this also applies to labor unions and other groups, but you don’t have to be a day trader to know that corporations will clean the clocks of labor unions in tossing money at races.
Game. Set. Match. You got [...]
Full Story... →Ohio’s two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates – Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner – shared the stage at a forum here Wednesday night, but the 90-minute session had the feel of separate events.
And of course, Lee’s campaign arm….er….I mean the Hamilton County Women’s Democratic Caucus, parroted Lee’s own talking points verbatim.
“I want to remind you – this is not a debate,” Quinlivan said. “Repeat after me – this is not a debate.”
On the internets, we call that a ROFLMAO. ?Lee’s first priority was to keep Jennifer Brunner from filing, that happened [...]
Full Story... →One example stands out in stark relief. County Prosecutor Bill Mason wrote his own office into the new charter as the sole remaining elected county office. It?s a rare post-soviet dictator who is so shameless as to write his own office into perpetuity. That the PD uttered not one peep of protest at this blatantly undemocratic power grab is simply stunning.
Mason, perhaps the single most driving force behind Issue 6 other than the PD, is so compromised he is now widely rumored to be resigning in laughable flight from a government he claimed he had just ?reformed? [...]
Full Story... →James Renner over at the Independent details just how much the PD has been in the pocket of Bill Mason lately.
It also revealed the chummy relationship that exists between Mason?s first-assistant Michael O?Malley and Plain Dealer metro editor Chris Quinn?they are close friends and some believed that friendship to be the main roadblock to any real coverage of Mason by Cleveland?s daily paper.
The Independent has since obtained emails between Quinn and O?Malley?176 over the last year?that show just how the prosecutor?s office was able to influence newspaper coverage of its employees at the Plain Dealer.
Click through [...]
Full Story... →Yeah, that’s right – I just gave a sitting Democratic Senator the finger.
?There?s going to be a tendency on the part of our people to be in denial about all this,? Bayh told ABC News, but ?if you lose Massachusetts and that?s not a wake-up call, there?s no hope of waking up.?
OK, maybe. But you have to properly read the sacrificial entrails to divine the appropriate response.
?It?s why moderates and independents even in a state as Democratic as Massachusetts just aren?t buying our message,? he said. ?They just don?t believe the answers we are currently proposing [...]
Full Story... →Holy bleeping bleep.
OhioDaily has confirmed that the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party will not be taking up the issue of Fisher v. Brunner when they meet this Saturday morning to endorse candidates for state and countywide office for the May primary. According to a spokesperson for the county party, there will not be action taken on an endorsement unless the Ohio Democratic Party chooses to endorse on their own.
ODP ain’t moving on this before Saturday if Lee’s home county ain’t pushing it. ?So this means Lee will not get the endorsement of his home county party for this [...]
Full Story... →A primary against Lee Fisher is set in stone, so I think it’s a good time to step back and see where we are, and where Jennifer needs to go to win this race.
Lee Fisher will outspend Jennifer by a mile, and then some, with a torrent of brain numbing TV ads which will make us all dumber. ?Jennifer will have enough money to be visible in the race if nothing changed. ?However, I’ve argued before, and still believe, that Jennifer can close that money gap in a heartbeat online. ?For that to happen, a lot has to change [...]
Full Story... →Budget Watch
