Ok, so I know I haven't posted in awhile, and most of my friends and readers know that I have been away from the political world (at least in public) for the past 3 weeks or so...... BUT.... I am deciding to get back in the swing of things, even if I am not part of the campaign anymore. I read this article when I got home from the gym today, and I hope some of you get a healthy chuckle out of it. I will provide the link to the article as well.


Endorsements: In race for governorship, we can't support either Petro or Blackwell In the Republican primary for Ohio governor, we don't feel comfortable endorsing either candidate, Attorney General Jim Petro or Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. Both men are far to the right of most Ohioans, and both have serious ethical problems.

2006-04-17 The Athens News (Athens, Ohio)

If we had to choose, we'd pick Petro, but it would be with our fingers pinched to our noses. One would have to be seriously jaded about Ohio politics to overlook his practice of steering state business to law firms that contributed to his campaign, and away from firms that didn't.

Moreover, his transition from a main-street, pro-choice Republican to one who toadies up to the extreme wing of his party has been a study in slick political opportunism.

Blackwell, though, beats Petro in both these areas. During his tenure as Ohio's chief election officer, he has repeatedly displayed indifference to his main duty to the state, in order to grind his own political ax.

During the presidential campaign, he co-chaired President Bush's re-election campaign in Ohio, and actively promoted the anti-gay "marriage amendment." Under Blackwell's watch during the 2004 presidential election, massive problems erupted at the polls around Ohio, with long lines and other problems preventing many citizens from casting their ballots.

In early April, Blackwell raised further questions about his ability to objectively serve Ohioans when he revealed that he had owned stock in Diebold, a voting-machine manufacturer. He owned the stock at the same time his office negotiated a deal that critics have said was an attempt to direct business to the company.

Repeatedly, we've seen Blackwell's ambition and ideology impact on his credibility as secretary of state. He has had his eyes set on the governor's office for many years, and will stop at nothing to play to his party's extreme-right base in Ohio.

This has resulted in his active courting of the religious right in the form of two politically active clergymen with large followings in Central Ohio. Under the guise of religion, these men have set out to rally support among their congregations for Blackwell's right-wing agenda, and by extension, his candidacy.

The latter is a violation of their tax-free status, and another reflection on Blackwell's indifference to his purportedly neutral role as head elections officer in Ohio.

His extremism is also amply displayed in his position on abortion and taxes.

On abortion, he supports a complete ban, even when the mother's life is at risk. It's beyond us how it can be considered "pro-life" to value the life of an unformed human, without consciousness, over that of a living and breathing human being, with all her connections to the world.

Not allowing exceptions for rape and incest, Petro's position, is similarly inhumane. Ohio doesn't need its top official following an extreme ideology held by only the most inflexible of the anti-abortion movement.

Likewise, Blackwell's anti-tax Tax and Expenditure Limitation Amendment, or TEL, which is on November's ballot, would destroy the ability of many of the state's school districts and local governments to serve and provide for their communities. It's a misguided and poorly written proposal that will send Ohio further into the Stone Age, and Blackwell is irresponsible for advocating it.

While current Republican Gov. Bob Taft has had problems with ethics and performance, one thing he's not is an ideologue. He has carried on the long tradition of Ohio's chief executive representing the state's mainstream, rather than the lunatic fringe of his party.

Petro, and certainly Blackwell, would end this tradition, and, just as disturbingly, come into office with serious ethical flaws. At least Taft was able to govern for several years before he ran afoul of ethics and the law. With Petro and Blackwell, Ohioans won't be able to say they weren't forewarned when ethical storm clouds appear.

For all these reasons, we can't support either candidate in the May primary, and don't expect to support whichever one survives his GOP primary fight in the November election.

http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=24176