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Another round of insightful and well-reasoned endorsements for this fall's election. I'll probably update these and add more detail in the days before the election.
Yes, it's a cumbersome piece of overly-specific legalese to put into a state constitution. In principle, this is an awful piece of legislation. No way should a constitution, at any level, go into this kind of detail on specific crimes. But (sigh) this is Ohio we're talking about. There's no chance this legislature of blowhards will seriously consider laws that actually countenance the personal freedom and individual responsibility they keep talking about. Failing that, we citizens can at least reduce the damage of the insane "war on drugs" by softening the penalties a bit in the short term. And that isn't going to happen without a constitutional amendment, sad and ugly as that may be.
Yes, I saw that unintentionally funny TV commercial against Issue 1. And let me make it clear: yes, I do support the idea that being busted once or twice for minor non-violent drug crimes shouldn't prevent someone from getting a job. Even driving a school bus.
Of course Issue 1 will fail spectacularly. And everyone will wonder, yet again, why the rest of the country thinks Ohio is stuck in the middle ages. (Hint: educated people prefer not to live in police states.)
Again, in principle this is a bad thing. We shouldn't have one set of rules for the rest of the state and a different system for Cleveland. If the world made any sense, this would be a clear "no" just on the grounds of sanity and consistency.
But the world doesn't make sense, especially in the Cleveland Municipal School District. All reports--filtered through friends, neighbors who have kids in the city schools, my in-laws, teacher acquaintances, and even some media--indicate that things are slowly getting better. Buildings are cleaner, teachers feel a little safer, there's a little more focus on learning. It's hardly revolutionary but going forward is better than what we had before. If that's the result of mayoral control, I think we should keep it for a while.
As an aside, does anyone else think it's funny that Bratenahl and the part of Garfield Heights that is in the Cleveland school district really do have taxation without representation? And that the part of Cleveland around Shaker Square including the Mayor's home has representation without taxation? It's weird and stupid, but I think we have to live with it for a while.
Speaking of blowhards, I never thought I'd see a "Hagan for X" sign in my front yard, which only goes to show you should never say never. I don't know, the guy rubs me the wrong way. I feel left out of the Kennedy mystique. (Get over yourselves already.) Bottom line, Taft's big accomplishment so far is what? Recruiting volunteers to teach reading in public schools. Fine, what did he do his second day in office? Time for turnover.
I'm also reminded of the state's (Republican) approach to the predatory lending problem. They fought Cleveland's tough new ordinance in court, preventing enforcement of the local law, pre-empting it with a much less effective state law. Recently I found out that the state law does not provide for any particular state agency or department to enforce the law--you can't find any state office to take your complaint! So the Republican leadership, trying to keep a straight face, argued for statewide uniformity in enforcing a law that they have no intention of enforcing. That's clownish behavior by Taft and his cronies. Why accept it?
I don't have anything in particular against Betty Montgomery, but this business of shuffling state officers around to avoid term limits is a little annoying. Perhaps a well-aimed protest vote for Helen Knipe Smith would be in order--not that she was the greatest City Council member Ward 14 has ever had. Tough call.
Is there really a Republican or Democrat way to sign checks? I don't know, but I do know that something has to be done about the hammerlock that the Republican party has on state offices. Mary Boyle didn't set Cuyahoga County on fire as a commissioner, but she's a decent person who will not embarrass Ohio. And it's about time to end the musical chairs among Republican executive officials.
See Burnside, below. Same story, different details.
This is an easy one, actually, although I'm largely casting a negative vote. Evelyn Stratton's supporters, calling themselves "Informed Citizens of Ohio," are not even real people. They're all corporations, and they've apparently evaded the spirit if not the letter of Ohio election law by paying for TV commercials directly supporting her. Just calling themselves "citizens" is arguably a lie, because only human beings can be "citizens" in any sane way you might look at it.
Greg Coleridge yesterday filed a complaint to that effect with the Ohio Elections Commission. They'll probably dismiss the complaint, but the point is plain. Stratton's campaign is being bankrolled, quite disproportionately, by corporate entities such as insurance companies which have no business advocating for candidates at all.
It would be unreasonable to think she's not influenced by the million dollars spent on her behalf by "Informed Citizens of Ohio." Now that's a special interest. Let's discourage corporate electioneering. Vote against Stratton, for Burnside.
(Update: the commission did deny Greg's claim, based mainly on an extremely strict reading of state law. If a TV ad doesn't say "Vote for Stratton," according to the accepted interpretation, it's not an ad for Stratton, period. Even if the ad tells you outright that bad things will happen if her opponent is elected. No wonder regular people think lawyers are full of baloney.)
How nice it is to have a dedicated and committed public servant in Congress... one who doesn't "need" the job in a way that weakens his principles. I especially welcome his clear and well-articulated position against the coming oil war. (Token Republican and independent opposition is better than none at all.)
Kucinich must feel it's a safe seat though. One of his recent mailings highlighted that he's working for, and I quote:
Now these are all good ideas, and I'm very pleased that our member of Congress is prioritizing such wide-reaching ideas. It's not the kind of literature a liberal Democrat would be expected to run in a tight race, is all I'm saying. You don't tend to win elections in blue-collar urban districts by promising action on global warming and human rights. And the part of the district that isn't urban and blue-collar is largely the part of the district that tends to vote Republican.
So clearly he's not too worried about losing that ambivalent "swing" vote, the 20-odd percent that looks for an easy decision by painting either the Republican or the Democrat as a kook or extremist. Dennis is pretty much saying this is who he is and what he stands for, and if you don't want nuclear disarmament you're free to support his opponents.
That's cool. Go Dennis.
Protest one-party rule. Do not vote for unopposed candidate Shirley Smith, who snubbed the western end of this stringy crosstown district. Republicans couldn't even bring themselves to run a candidate after Benjamin Malbasa withdrew. It stinks. While I'm at it, would it kill the Republican Party to run a candidate in the 8th district (vs. Lance Mason), or the 15th (vs. DePiero)? Yes?
Again, a one-candidate election is an insult to the voters. Don't vote for Frank Russo.
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