COLUMBUS, OHIO: Like a political slot machine that keeps on spitting out rare coins each time the lever is pulled, The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation(BWC) scandal, which started in 2005 and paved the way for big Democratic election wins last year, claimed its 17th conviction Thursday, when Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Paul M. Herbert, a Republican, ordered George L. Forbes to pay the maximum penalty of $6,000 in fines, an identical amount in repayments to the BWC and perform 60 hours of community service.

The (Toledo) Blade, Ohio's most daring newspaper that broke the story and that has reported on it with meticulous, unerring accuracy ever since, outlined the contents of ethics violations submitted by Franklin County and City of Columbus prosecutors and yesterday’s convictions.  

"But didn't we meet her at the Stonewall DEMOCRATS candidates night?!!!"

Not only that, but she is running to replace notorious REPUBLICAN Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.  In the never-never land of "corruption central" (aka Ohio), where Blackwell is running for governor as a BLACK WHITE SURPREMICIST, everything is possible...but this is too much!

As unique as a Blue Moon, a troika of otherwise competitive news groups --  The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, The Dayton Daily News and The Columbus Dispatch - believe matters in the Buckeye State have sunk to such dire depths that they feel compelled, through a series of Sunday editorials, to use their powers of persuasion to convince the next governor, Ted Strickland or Ken Blackwell, that several key issues must be addressed if Ohio is to pull itself out of the steep economic nose dive it has suffered from since 2000.

That year served as a mile marker between the Golden Age of the Clinton White House and the dark years unfolding under President Bush.

The ad, in which Mr. Hartmann brags about the "hundreds of violent felonies" he handed as an assistant prosecutor, contains lies that any experienced prosecutor would know better to use. The OEC ruling constitutes the latest in a series of slap-downs of Hartmann's record and rhetoric. He is still reeling from newspaper articles showing he has allowed identify theft to take place on his watch as clerk of courts and that he has willfully refused to pay court-ordered debts dating back to his college days and early working career.

Ohio Republican candidate for secretary of state Greg Hartmann, from Texas, has wagered his entire campaign on convincing voters he is honest, law abiding and should be trusted to run clean and impartial elections.

STRIKE ONE: HONESTY

The Dayton Daily News (DDN) broke the story Friday that Hartmann, a former assistant Hamilton County prosecutor who is now the county's clerk of courts, is little more than a deadbeat on the run for failing to pay Pepsi approximately $29,000 in accumulated outstanding fines resulting from a law suit he and his company were named in and lost.

A spokesman for Pepsi told the DDN that it still wants Hartmann to pay up and if he didn't would actively consider pursuing the debt.

Follow the jump...

Airing on the same day that saw two more major newspapers - The Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Morning Journal - endorse Brunner over her "Texas long-horn" Republican opponent, Brunner's hard-hitting, truthful ad crushed the sleazy accusations contained in Hartmann's attack ad, which mimicked the scurrilous, nasty race-baiting ad used by Lee Atwater in 1988 to characterize then-Massachusetts's governor Mike Dukakis as soft on crime, a fabrication that turned the tide and installed George H.W. Bush as president.

More after flip:

It wasn't the first time that Ken Blackwell released Social Security numbers, but it was perhaps the most egregious.  Those affected by this breach of security must be notified - what is standard practice in so many other fields, both public and private, apparently hasn't even been exercised as an option by Ken Blackwell's office.  

Sign the petition and make your voice heard on this issue.  

Jesse Taylor
Online Communications Director
Strickland for Governor
http://www.tedstrickland.com/...

"CINCINNATI | Approval ratings for President George Bush and Ohio Gov. Bob Taft have reached record lows, according to the latest Ohio Poll, released Friday morning."

http://www.daytondailynews.com/...

the flop on the flip

I read the news today Oh Boy, and then I noticed that a good cross section of the top tier of American society, the movers, the shakers, the big money makers in government, business, and the religion game, the very pillars of our community, were in prison, under investigation or actually indicted, awaiting trial or out on appeal, on the prison bus or trapped underneath two large convicts named Leroy and Bubba and I sat back for a moment and smiled somewhat wistfully.

Today is the primary election for Ohio, and chief among those races is the partisan primary for Governor.  On the Democratic side, Ted Strickland will likely be the nominee. ­You can learn more about him here, or from the previous posts I've done on Daily Kos.

Ted presenting a comprehensive education plan
at the Ohio State University last week.

Ohio Republican fundraiser extraordinaire Tom Noe, a Bush pioneer and close supporter of Governor Robert Taft, has been indicted on 53 new counts of stealing over $1 million from a dubious state investment in rare coins.  These counts come on top of earlier charges of illegally funneling over $45,000 to President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign.  Noe's taint has reached the Governor's mansion, with four aides implicated and Taft himself pleading no contest to four misdemeanor ethic violations.

The Ohio Patriot Act has made it to the Taft's desk, and with the stroke of a pen, it would most likely become the toughest terrorism bill in the country. The lengthy piece of legislation would let police arrest people in public places who will not give their names, address and birth dates, even if they are not doing anything wrong.

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