PC Still Down, but I Have an Update

I will be fixing my PC here within this next week, but it is still down, and thus I am still forced to live with limited access.

However, I would like to update about the County Commissioner's race. I spoke alongside of Tim Mara, Tom Luken, Jenny Edwards, and Mike Wood in favor of endorsing independent candidate Chris Dole in the race against Greg Hartmann. As many of you know, the deal between the Hamilton County GOP and Hamilton County Dems gave Greg Hartman, the current Clerk of Courts, no opposition in his race for county commissioner.

Chris Dole managed to get 4700 signatures on a petition so that he could run as an independent against Greg Hartmann. His petitions were certified, and he will now be Mr. Hartmann's sole opposition this fall. Our pro-Dole coalition failed to get the endorsement of the Democratic Party, but I think we were able to convince the Democrats in the room to vote for Dole in the fall.

I will be updating this important race often in this blog, as well as working in some capacity with Chris Dole and his campaign. There is a link to his website in the links section of this blog. I encourage everyone to take the time to read his bio, and possibly contribute money to his campaign. I'm sure that he would appreciate even 1 dollar, which can buy a few stickers or buttons.

A primary and a petition in Hamilton County

Update:

I have spoken to Chris Dole's campaign about my proposals for the upcoming Democratic County Central Committee meeting, and he has advised me not to propose that the Democratic Party endorse his canidacy for County Commission. He says that it could actually hurt his chances for ballot access because the Board of Elections could claim that he did not file as in independent in good faith. I wrote the Dole campaign back to let them know that I will be available to help them in any capacity that I can. I will continue to update F and B readers about Chris Dole's historic race for County Commission.

First of all, I know I've been a bad blogger, but I assure you that I am back. Hopefully we can get Ron up and rolling here soon too. Now on to the content:

It has now become clear that Sen. Clinton is the winner of the primary in Ohio. While I voted for Obama and will continue to support his candidacy as the primary calander moves on, I congratulate Sen. Clinton on a hard fought victory. It is also aparent now that John McCain has gone from being the presumptive Republican nominee to having enough delegates to be the nominee. It seems as though the help of Gov. Strickland helped Sen. Clinton through Ohio's Apalaichan belt. I could sit here and analize who voted for Clinton and who voted for Obama, but the fact is that Hillary Clinton won more votes than Barack Obama in Ohio.

As for our countywide races, it appears as though Vic Wulsin and Jean Schmidt will get their rematch in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. Vic Wulsin performed very well against Schmidt in 2006, and is poised to maybe gain victory in what is looking to be a very Democratic year. The Democratic primary race has been smeared by mudslinging between Vic Wulsin and her opponent Steve Black. Hopefully 2nd District Democrats can all line up behind Vic now so that she can beat the embarassment that is Jean Schmidt.

The other "primary" that took place in Ohio was candidate Christopher Dole submitting his petitions to the board of elections to appear on the November ballot for the office of County Commissioner. His campaign is reporting that he collected over 4,700 signatures, well over the 2,800 needed. Hopefully his petitions will pass what will probably be the high level of scrutiny leveled against them by Chairmen Burke and Vincent, the local Democratic and GOP chairs who also have seat on the board of elections.

Another primary winner today is me! I know I recieved at least on vote in an unopposed race for Democratic County Central Committee. I plan on introducing a resolution this year to endorse Chris Dole for county comissioner, as well as one to prevent our party from challenging petitions for independent candidates based on the candidate's party registration.

Anyway, I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this blog since I have let it go inactive for so long, but if you are thank you. Fear and Blogging is back!

Hamilton County Commisioner's race

As many of you may or may not know, the local Hamilton County Democratic and Republican Parties decided to make the voters' choice for them when it comes to many county wide races this fall. The deal struck between the two parties has allowed Democratic Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune to run unopposed, while Republican Greg Hartman will run unopposed for the seat being vacated by Pat DeWine. In addition to Democrat Todd Portune being allowed to run without opposition, Democratic County Coroner Odell Owens will run unopposed. Since the Republicans have let these two off the hook, the Democrats have agreed to let Country Prosecutor Joe Deters have another four years, as well as agreeing not to run judges in 10 of 12 contests this fall.

I think all us can agree that this is a bad deal for voters, regardless of which party we support, what our particular ideology is when it comes to politics, or even if we support all of these candidates. The justice system is broken in Hamilton County, yet the Democrats are going to let the same Republicans who have been screwing it up for the past 10 years continue to do so. The reason that I think the Democrats made this concession to Republicans is because of fear of a candidate rising out of the ranks of the strong anti-tax movement who opposed the sales tax increase that Commissioners Portune and Pepper created last year. It was defeated by a ballot initiative in the fall. Tim Burke, Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman, made this deal to ensure that the Democratic Party continues to hold a majority in the County's most powerful governing body.

There are a few things we can all do, however, to change the way things are being done. First, there is a man by the name of Chris Dole who plans on running as in independent for Hamilton County Commissioner. He needs to collect 3,000 signatures of registered voters in Hamilton County by 4pm March 3rd in order to appear on the November Ballot. If he succeeds in collecting enough valid signatures, he will be running against Greg Hartmann. You can sign one of his petitions to help him get on the ballot.

Another thing that we can all do is run for precinct executive in the Republican or Democratic Primary. This opportunity, unfortunately, will not be available to any of you who are not already running until 2010. Many precincts don't have anyone serving, and all you have to do is either gather 5 signatures to appear on the ballot, or file a declaration of candidacy to run as a write-in candidate. If you are running unopposed (as nearly all precinct executives do) all you have to do is vote for yourself to win election. As a precinct executive you are responsible for selecting party leadership. I know I will be doing my part to change how the Democratic Party functions this year, I hope everyone reading this will also want to get involved to make their party of choice more respectful of the voters as well.