Plunderbund

This came across the wire yesterday:
A Franklin County Common Pleas judge dismissed a lawsuit today that was aimed at blocking the Ohio secretary of state’s order requiring counties to offer paper ballots in the March 4 primary.
Judge Eric Brown ruled that the Union County commissioners, who filed the lawsuit, lack the legal authority to challenge […]

I have to agree with modernesquire - this kind of behavior is unacceptable. From the Dispatch:
Senate Minority Leader Ray Miller of Columbus, who hasn’t filed a valid campaign finance report since mid-2005, apparently did not do so again yesterday.
And modernesquire’s commentary:
There is absolutely no excuse for someone to violate our campaign finance laws this […]

Not the US military, that’s for certain:
The U.S. military isn’t ready for a catastrophic attack on the country, and National Guard forces don’t have the equipment or training they need for the job, according to a report.
Even fewer Army National Guard units are combat-ready today than were nearly a year ago when the Commission on […]

From Lisa Renee at GCJ, this from the Bob Latta campaign:
Today, the Buehrer campaign, through his manager Jim Banks, has submitted a records request at BGSU. What is to gain by attacking my wife? All of these records are public. There has never been anything to hide. So what’s the point?
I guess in my opponent’s […]

I’m no huge ‘fern fan, but this is one of the funniest lines I’ve heard in some time. For those not in on the back story, this will help (even made BBC). Statewide Republicans are so desperate to deflect actual Republican sexual scandal that they have - and are - attempting to use […]

PBS provides evidence of the GOP fixing the election here in Ohio. Of course, this will be ignored because of “media bias”.
Was there a White House plot to illegally suppress votes in 2004? Is there a similar plan for the upcoming elections? This week NOW examines documents and evidence that points to a Republican […]

When I finally got close to the front of the line at my polling place in 2004, a pollworker told me to cover my T-shirt. It had the words “Vote Explosion” on it.

Seeing as I had nothing to cover it with and had just spent 3 hours in line, I politely pointed out that there was no partisanship expressed by the shirt. Vote Explosion was just a loose group of friends registering folks to vote at rock shows. She replied that they were trying to avoid even the slightest possible implication of impropriety.

OK, fair enough. Polling places are supposed to be inner sanctums of nonpartisanhip. Neither voters nor pollworkers may wear political shirts, stickers, or buttons within a 100 foot radius. Although the words “Vote Explosion” aren’t explicitly partisan, neither are the words “Eagle Forum” or “MoveOn.” I think it was a wise move to err on the side of overzealousness, and simply prohibit T-shirts bearing all of the above.

The guy behind me in line loaned me his sweatshirt, and I was able to step forth to express my partisanship in the privacy of the voting booth. As an ongoing tribute of thanks to sweatshirt guy, ever since that day I’ve stowed an extra large, plain T-shirt in my purse whenever I go to vote - just in case a fellow voter is asked to cover up.

Until I read Monday’s Columbus Dispatch, it had never occurred to me that I might someday want to offer my spare shirt to a pollworker.

So, we here at PB have taken some heat for attacking Matt Naugle for his falsehoods and irrelevant personal attacks. I understand that some people think we are wasting our time, and to a certain extent, I understand that view.
But I also understand that the “most prominent right-wing blog in Ohio” has a responsibility […]

(ht Dave at PO)
The Dispatch has the headline: “Armbruster abused office, ethics probe finds: Ex-senator should face criminal charges, report says”
According to documents released by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Armbruster, a North Ridgeville Republican, met in his Statehouse office with bureau officials and also had phone conversations in early 2006, pushing to […]

Programming note really. I had a coffee meeting set up with Kelley Winzlaff, candidate for the Ohio House out of District 2, but we had a mix up in timing and weren’t able to get together. We’ve rescheduled and I look forward to chatting.
Hoping to get some audio maybe or video […]

Rothenberg’s Shadows on High this week is a good one. Brian wonders aloud why our legislature makes time for such pressing things as gay adoption, the distance between patron and stripper, and Wexner Indie films while human trafficking and forced prostitution exists in the state.
Then again, if history is an indicator, we can just […]

So, the Ohio GOP (and the right-wing blogosphere) is apoplectic over SoS Brunner’s plan to encourage HS graduates to register to vote, and specifically, the counties targeted for the pilot test run of the program. The gist of the complaint is that of the 5 pilot counties (Knox, Lucas, Montgomery, Scioto, and Trumbull), only […]

John Husted does the right thing. He wants more control over statehouse opening session prayers and ordered full implementation of a system of prior prayer review. Good job John. Thanks for this. Since Reverend Keith Hamblen’s abuse of the rule and shameful promotion of his religion in the public sphere, the […]

Email from Earl Britt tonight announcing the launch of johnforcongress.com. Paperwork filing and fundraising apparatus online is being set up. The site is sparse as newly launched ones usually are. Look for more coming out of the 16th soon. I look for John to run a really good race. Good […]

I love me some Chris Baker. Dude is what got me blogging, so there’s a soft spot built in. He has a post up about Republican Auto-Erotic Cannibalism. Here is how to read it:
First: Let “Auto-Erotic Cannibalism” stew for a bit. I promise it’ll be like chilli - way better […]