The Interview That’s Breaking Up the Band: Modern Esquire Quits BSB

Friends, if you haven’t figured it out, political and news blogging is a deadly serious business.  I’m not talking about the age old question – “Are bloggers journalists?” (They’re not, journalists are journalists and some of them blog.)

I’m talking about the gnashing of teeth going on over at the Buckeye State Blog between the forces of our fair maiden Secretary of State Brunner and the Deadly Machine Politics of Lt. Gov. Fisher.

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Fisher for Ohio Now Online …

Click the Family Go to The Website

Ohio Sunday Papers – It’s the Economy and Education with a smattering of Fisher, Brunner

• Editorial: Lawmakers must stop Strickland from killing charter schools – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Governor needs to tweek how he pays for education reform – Akron Beacon Journal
• Editorial: No Stimulus for Teardown – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, William Hershey: Ohio Dems Face Likely ‘Family Fued’ – Dayton Daily News
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Will Ohio House Dems Hold Together on Budget? – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Governor Sinned a Bit in Securing Manna from Washington – Columbus Dispatch
• Welfare rolls soaring in Ohio – Columbus Dispatch
• Toledo aid agencies fear what’s over horizon – Toledo Blade
• Late bill payments cost state – Columbus Dispatch
• Big repairs needed for U.S. automakers – Toledo Blade
• How would you spend $500 million taxpayer dollars? – The Plain Dealer
• Dems’ fight a cost of success – Cincinnati Enquirer
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Race crucial for Fisher, Brunner – Akron Beacon Journal
• Brunner: Senate bid not a conflict – Columubus Dispatch
• Ohio tries to clean up payday lending one more time – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Obama’s economic plans leave some edgy, angry – Columbus Dispatch
• Development board’s City Center planning only quasi-public – Columbus Dispatch
• Farmland disappearing – Columbus Dispatch
• Preservationists hope to see some stimulus – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio businesses must file sales taxes electronically for first time this year – The Plain Dealer
• Ohio officials OK new workers compensation program – Dayton Daily News\
• KELLY PAVLIK COVERAGE – The Youngstown Vindicator

First Coverage: Brunner, Fisher Race – Tonight’s Clips

• Brunner, Fisher announce candidacies – Columbus Dispatch
• 2 top Ohio Dems running for U.S. Senate – Associated Press
• Secy of State Jennifer Brunner, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher to run for U.S. Senate – The Plain Dealer
• Democrats line up for U.S. Senate seat – Dayton Daily News
• Ohio U.S. Senate Race Taking Shape – Politics Nation

Fisher’s Rush to Announce – Oops, No Website

As posted earlier, I don’t begrudge Lee Fisher for coming out of the blocks just because Jennifer Brunner announced today.  Brunner now has to share the media cycle.

What is fairly pathetic is that Brunner has a good looking start of a website with a tasty little campaign video featuring old people, young people, people of color and they’re all for Jennifer!

The fact is, Fisher is notoriously thoughtful and, let’s just say, deliberative.  Today, he talked about the fire in his belly.  Well, I think what Fisher agonized over for the past 4 to 6 weeks was not so much whether to run but how.  He should have had a website up, even if it was just a blog ready to go live on a moment’s notice.

Who’s running his communications?

Brunner wins this initial battle.

Didn’t Look Like an Ohio Democratic Party Divided at Fisher’s Presser

Governor Strickland Didn’t Feed the Notion Either

“My support for Lee does not mean I do not respect Secretary Brunner,” said Gov. Ted Strickland.

That was how Strickland answered a reporter’s question tonight regarding his early support for one statewide elected official – Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher – over another – Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner – in an early start to a U.S. Senate primary campaign.

Strickland was also asked whether or not Brunner’s entry into the race leaves a hole in Democratic ranks for retaining the Secretary of State’s office and its seat on Ohio’s Apportionment Board.

Strickland said, “life rolls on” and that the job of political leaders is to be prepared for any eventuality and make wise decisions at the right time.

Strickland said it should be no surprise that he would support Fisher, who has been his partner since 2006.  He said that when it became apparent that there would be a real race for Senate in 2010 he encouraged Fisher and made a commitment to support him out of the gates.

In a room filled with many members of the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses, Strickland said, “There is no (party) split.”

New Ohio Development Director (Interim) Mark Barbash

Governor Ted Strickland acknowledged during Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher’s Senatorial campaign presser that Ohio Department of Development Assistant Director Mark Barbash will step in as director on an interim basis.

Barbash’s other title at Development is Chief Economic Development Officer.  That work, alongside Fisher for the last two years puts the department in good shape from a continuity standpoint.

Barbash, a former investment banker, also served in private and public sector economic development roles in the city of Columbus.  Before being hired by Fisher in 2007, Barbash last served as director of the Columbus Ohio Department of Development.

Fisher has relinquished the directorship of Development due to his bid for U.S. Senate.

Lee Fisher’s — Masterstroke

Look, I know everyone is thinking Lee looks a little weak hopping on to the whole announcement thing on Jennifer Brunner’s terms, but guess what?  Sometimes the only move is the best move.

Brunner’s media cycle is now the Brunner-Fisher media cycle.  We’ll see how long it takes for the statehouse press corps to develop these storylines:

1. Brunner’s been on the statewide scene for three years — Fisher — for like 20.
2. Fisher’s got Ted.
3. Fisher has the inside track on the money and that’s where this primary race will be won.
4. Peter Lawson Jones is not running for Senate and will support Lee – no problems with the microbase – Sorry, Blogger Interrupted.
5. Lee’s got a boatload of Mayors, County Commissioners, etc.
6. I’ve even heard the supposed Golden Boy Tim Ryan is in the tank for Fisher.

Jennifer Brunner for U.S. Senate?

Tonight on Columbus on the Record, Joe Hallet’s “Off the Record” comment was that there’s a good chance Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner will run against U.S. Sen. George Voinovich in 2010.

She’s a capable public servant who has had a big target painted on her back because her position as chief elections official leaves every decision she makes open to cries of partisanship.  During the 2008 election cycle there were so many spurrious legal actions taken against her office (none of them stuck) they created a smoke screen of doubt around her oversight of the elections process.  It’s been pointed out in many quarters – both Democratic and in the non-partisan media — that this cloud of smoke laid over the 2008 elections was little more than Republicans trying to create doubt and prep the Secretary of State race battlefield for 2010.  Everyone knows that what’s at stake is not the office so much as the Secretary of State’s seat on the next Apportionment Board.

Well, think about it.  Jennifer Brunner would be a great candidate for Senate.  If there is still smoke on the field of the battle in the Secretary of State race, it clears with fresh Democratic candidate for that office.  Brunner as U.S. Senator and hanging on to the Secretary of State’s office with another Democratic up and comer is a win-win … for everyone but Lee Fisher : )

Voting Fine in Bexley, Montrose Elementary

I know, I know. Not exactly a hotbed of unrest here in Bexley. However, I was greeted by Lt. Governor Lee Fisher out doing a last-minute stump for Obama and Nancy Garland. Nancy was there too, with volunteers. They kept the appropriate distance …

Had to wait about a half hour to vote at 10 a.m.

Voted for Obama, Robinson, Garland, against 6, for 5, O’Grady, etc.

Sunday Papers – Illegal Immigration, Sick Days, Ohio RNC delegates, Dispatch begins series on Illegal Immigration, Ohio AG race, Kilroy – Stivers, Tubbs Jones’ Successor

Ohio News

• Backlash: Illegal Immigrants in the Heartland – Columbus Dispatch
• Foreign Fallout – Columbus Dispatch
• Latinos flee Oklahoma – Columbus Dispatch
• Cracking Down: Proposed Legislation – Columbus Dispatch
• Kilroy, Stivers trade potshots – Columbus Dispatch
• Strickland the big winner in Sick Days issue – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Ohio delegates zealous over Palin – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Obama, Palin Dynamic Makes for Special Election – Columbus Dispatch

• 3 Ohio resignations add to spate of GOP seats at risk – Columbus Dispatch
• Well done Strickland, Fisher – Columbus Dispatch
• CAT fight – Columbus Dispatch
• Choosing Tubbs Jones successor reveals dissension in ranks – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Good sense in Ohio is back from sick leave – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Ohio AG race preview – Dayton Daily News

In Labor’s War for Paid Sick Days, Ohio is the Wrong Battleground

In places like Ohio where many battles great and small have been fought by organized labor on behalf of underpaid, overworked, and exploited workers we understand the great advancements this movement has brought to the ordinary American’s standard of living. What labor – and its front-group – Ohioans for Healthy Families doesn’t seem to grasp is that those battles were waged in an American economy that was transcendent.

Competition these days, especially in states like Ohio and Michigan, are eating the U.S. and former industrial states like Ohio alive. Just a month ago my wife and I traveled over to the Zanesville area to check out the once-thriving pottery industry in Ohio. Walking up the pathway to the entrance of the Ohio Ceramic Center you traverse a graveyard of signs which list the names of dozens of former ceramic businesses that have gone under. Looking at the dates of operation on the signs most of them went under in the last 35 years.

Center staff then informed me that Friendship Pottery – which had been afloat by producing Longaberger items – is also gone. Longaberger now has their all-American goods made in China.

Many of these workshops and small factories were the sorts of businesses that employed 25 people or less. Twenty-five is the number of employees that would trigger seven mandatory paid sick days in Ohio’s small businesses if the proposal by the Ohioans for Healthy Families stays on the ballot and passes.

I may be willing to say that Labor had picked a good issue to champion if it weren’t for where and how they are waging their campaign. Read more

Sunday Morning Papers – Marc Dann et. al. called ‘pond scum,’ by hometown paper; Strickland, Education tour, DHL, Housing, Noe, Ohio EPA

Ohio News

• City wild about Obama, Strickland – Lancaster Eagle Gazette

The above link is the headline taken from the Gazette. It cracked me up because Lancaster is one of those areas that reflexively votes Republican. It’s Central Ohio’s little slice of Orange County. Getting 100 Dems out down there is a good thing. Not sure if that city is ‘wild’ about Obama, but if the donkeys keep working hard and staying on message we may win some extra hearts and minds this year.

• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Governor’s 12-city tour seems sincere – Akron Beacon Journal

Seems?! Apparently the ABJ didn’t read my post on these education forums. You can here. Governor Strickland is doing something we’re apparently not used to as Americans in the Bush/Cheney era, he’s reaching out to his constituents.

• Op-Ed, Bertram DeSouza: Slow down rush to settle AG harassment cases – Youngstown Vindicator

Holy Crikey. DeSouza unloads on the Troubled Trio (Dann, Jennings, Gutierrez) by calling them “pond scum” and “pus-filled boils on this regions backside.” He basically brands Jenn Urban a gold digger. The essential point is that the next attorney general should determine how many of our tax dollars go down the drain in settlements to the alleged victims of sexual harassment under the Dann regime. He may have something there.

• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Ohio’s term limits lead to unlimited trickery – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Ohio allowed more flexibility under ‘No Child Left Behind’ – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• State crisis team reacts to possible DHL layoffs – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Mark Moran: 400,000 reasons to care about health care reform in Cuyahoga County –Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Media needs to get balanced for election – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Editorial: PUCO needs to hold hearings publicly where people have access – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Pinching pennies at the Ohio State Fair – Columbus Dispatch
• Housing Rescue: Too Little, Too Late? – Columbus Dispatch (Washington Post)
• State works on Medicaid claims delays – Columbus Dispatch
• Plan to lessen smog hits brakes – Columbus Dispatch
• State to require extra ID for registering vehicles – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Americans awash in debt – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Recouping money in coin scandal doesn’t minimize Noe’s crime – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Strickland Ed Forum Taught Me a Lesson: He’s Right On – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Bill Hershey: Strickland ‘conversation’ set for Dayton – Dayton Daily News
• Ohio EPA concerned about smog rules – Associated Press (Dayton Daily News)

Ohio GOP: Worst Day May Have Been Today

If the terminal patient - Ohio’s Republican Party - could take a turn for the worse it happened today.

First, amidst very little fanfare, Gongwer Ohio and the Columbus Dispatch reported around lunchtime that the elephants finally got themselves a candidate for Ohio Attorney General, D. Michael Crites. Crites, a former U.S. Attorney for Presidents Reagan and Bush 41 has not been heard from since about the early 1990s. His claim to fame is taking down Charlie Hustle on tax evasion charges.

That was his claim to fame until Plunderbund unearthed Crites’ own cronyism tinged with adultery scandal earlier this evening. You can read all about it here.

State Republican leaders would not confirm Crites’ appointment nor did he return calls from the Associated Press today. I’m wondering if this doesn’t go swirling down the drain with every other potential GOP candidacy. Tonight, given the revelations unearthed by Plunderbund, the GOP may be wishing they would’ve vetted this guy.

Crites wasn’t the only bad news for the GOP today. Governor Ted Strickland single-handedly won two Ohio House races today. If this wasn’t enough to fire up the Democratic faithful, then I don’t know what else Uncle Ted can do. He certainly proved that there is still some adult supervision of our beloved party. The last thing we heard from Boy Wonder was that we had a House Speaker before we had the House. I don’t believe Vernal G. Riffe (may peace be upon him) ever pulled one of those.

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