Ohio 2nd Blog

Here’s the foundation of the story that people within the Ohio Democratic Party were spreading rumors that Paul Hackett was a war criminal:

• Everyone, including Sherrod Brown, admits that the swiftboating was going on.
• Everyone, including Sherrod Brown, admits that it was happening within the senior circles of the Ohio Democratic Party. (Since he is a senior member of the Ohio Democratic Party.)
• Everyone, including Sherrod Brown, admits that Dan Lucas was spreading the rumor.
• Everyone admits that Dan Lucas works for Sherrod Brown.

That’s the foundation. Now how do we get to the bottom of this?

I want to get beyond this. I want closure. But I’m not going to simply ignore crap like this because the primary is over. I stand for something. I fight for what I believe in. If something is wrong, I say so. I don’t care what Party the person doing the injustice belongs to. This was wrong.

What did Dan Lucas know? Who did he hear it from? Who did he tell it to? What actions did the Brown campaign take when they heard about something that had the potential to do serious damage not just to Paul Hackett but to the very campaign by the Democratic Party to field Iraq war veterans? When did ODP Chair Chris Redfern hear about the stories? What actions did he take?

I believe that the Democratic Party is on the right side. If it is, it will put this story to rest.

The great and powerful ODP has spoken. I for one welcome our new Democratic Overlords:

U.S. Senate: Sherrod Brown
Governor/Lt. Governor: Ted Strickland/Lee Fisher
Attorney General: Marc Dann
Auditor: Barbara Sykes
Secretary of State: Jennifer Brunner
Treasurer: Richard Cordray
Supreme Court (O’Donnell Seat): A.J. Wagner
Supreme Court (Resnick Seat): Ben Espy

The candidates endorsed receive the full support of the Ohio Democratic Party and a complimentary set of ODP “kicking donkey” steak knives.

The one that I don’t understand is why are they so crazy about Richard Cordray over Hugh Quill? Especially since Quill gets so much respect from County treasurers from both parties. I guess Cordray must be more of a ball player.

Since none of this is open there’s no way to tell the rational behind their actions.

UPDATE: Chris @ Law Dork has the play by play. The rationale for endorsing Cordray and not Quill is highly suspect.

Sherrod Brown was in Dayton this morning meeting with people to discuss the aftermath of the Hackett affair. Len @ Blogesque and SusanD @ Howard Empowered People documented the event. No recordings were allowed.

BSB has the news as well as some sound reasons as to why the phobia of primaries is a bad idea.

Earler he published the members of last week’s secret screening committee. Why they recommended against Chandra and Quill isn’t known. We heard reports that it was very contentious.

This is why we all need to get much more involved with things at the County level. The days of the back room need to end in the Ohio Democratic Party if we’re going to be leaders in ending the “culture of corruption.” I hear a lot of talk about listening to the grass roots, but so far the only action I see is lip service, and back room power plays.

It also troubles me that the ODP is spending so much time on this pointless exercise when the wounds of the Senate primary are still festering and we still don’t have a unified campaign voter database. Surely these things are a much higher priority.

Ona a related note, former Ohio Governor Dick Celeste has endorsed Subodh Chandra for AG.

ADDED: Jill @ Writes Like She Talks has more, as does Renee in Ohio.

• Callahan’s Cleveland Diary > Ad Hominem, Ad Nauseam
• Ohio 2006 Blog > OH Sen: Bush Drags Down DeWine (R), But Hackett Hurts Brown (D)
• Bob Brigham > Why I went to Sherrod Brown dotcom
• PD Openers > Brown to “unify Democrats”
  “We’re going to unify Democrats. I think we have already done that. These people are with me. Paul last week said ‘Vote for Sherrod Brown.’”

The one thing I’m wondering about is why hasn’t Sherrod Brown and Paul Hackett stood together on a podium and talked about how they are joining together to defeat Mike DeWine? That’s one “photo op” that Ohio Democrats could really use.

Well gang, I am calming down (somewhat) and trying to figure out where I’m going to stand in all of the muck the ODP and DNC has made. Mr. Editor says he is keeping his eye on the big picture and pressing forward. In my never so humble opinion we have 3 things of value in politics: Our time, our money and our vote. Personally, I can’t help but wonder about my vote.

I know this will shock some of you but I’m a pretty direct person. I’m not one for beating around the bush or pussyfootin around. I know exactly what I want. If I can’t have what I want then I’d rather not have anything all. I want Friendly’s Butter Crunch ice cream not Chocolate Chip or Cookie Dough, if they don’t have my Butter Crunch I will turn right around and go home. I spend my time doing the job I want to do and spending my money on the things I want. Now there are always things we have to do that we don’t want to do. Apologize to your husband, pay bills and as much as I really like my job the whole getting up every morning thing really sucks. The price of living they say. But I am having a hard time equating this to my vote. My people fought and died for our right to vote. Women were beaten trying to get their right to vote. It is my responsibility to make my vote mean something; to stand for something. Doesn’t that mean I should only vote for what I believe in? As a parent, if you continually yell and tell your child ‘no’ they become indifferent to it. When I tell my son ‘No’ he knows I mean it and defying momma is NOT an option. Why? Because my ‘no’ has power. I don’t go around saying no to any and every little thing. When I say ‘no’ it is serious and I believe in it fiercely. By continuing to vote for candidates I don’t have any confidence in and wouldn’t have sit at my kitchen table am I not just like the parent constantly telling their child ‘no’? If I need a car why would I go out and buy a cheap unreliable ugly one? Wouldn’t I be smarter to save my money and buy something safer that I actually like? I don’t see why I should vote for someone just because they are a D or R. I just can’t swallow the ignore everything that is going on for the sake of the greater good. (Most of the time) You don’t sleep with a guy just because he’s nice. There are the standards. Nice, respectable, employed, dependable, sense of humor, intelligent, nice eyes, big feet; etc etc. A seedy, cock-eyed, ignorant nice guy is not good enough.

What are the democratic standards? How low is too low? When is enough truly enough? Paul Hackett could have been the worst candidate of all time. What happened is more significant than who it happened to. The swift-boating and the tolerance of those kinds of tactics is utterly reprehensible and to ignore this or stay silent about it is just like saying its OK and I don’t mind. I don’t believe the greater good will be served by disregarding this as standard practice and the price of doing business. I think my vote is worth more than that.

Of course if comes from the blogs:

DKos > Drdemocrat > Stop the BROWN VS HACKETT B.S.. Time for Dem Unity!

Beltway Blogroll has a report up on the thriving political blogging going on in Ohio.

…and lived to talk about it.

Meet the Bloggers has the podcast up with Joe Sulzer, candidate for Oh18 and Mayor of Chillicothe. The Ohio 18^th race is the hottest in Ohio, and I came away very impressed with Mayor Sulzer.

I’ve also uploaded some blurry pictures.

OK… maybe it’s a story… maybe it’s not. But hells bells, if all you’re going to do as a political journalist is report on what you saw on television, shouldn’t you just quit reporting all together? I’m mean seriously, people. Why couldn’t the Enquirer outsource this job? Reprint some political press releases… watch some Fox & Friends… play some cricket… The time zone difference should be a plus.

(via BSB)