The lesson Ohio learned late Friday is NEVER trust a career politician! A clearly political action Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner again reared her ugly head. After all she is the Queen of elections; she is the ultimate decider of who is elected in Ohio and who isn’t, no matter what the committees say and no matter what the people say.
Brunner is no stranger to the spotlight. Most of us remember her in the 2008 election taking quiet orders from the Democratic Party, and the Obama campaign. In that election she turned her eye away from massive voter fraud in Ohio by groups like ACORN who had registering thousands of illegitimate voters. It’s ironic that her office now seems to take the idea of validating signatures seriously.
As November approaches and Brunner makes her bid for Ohio open US Senator’s seat on the Democrat ticket, she plaid her last ace in her Progressive hand. Seeing a primary with four other opponents, she decided now was the time to make her move. Leaking a press release under the cover of darkness late Friday night, her office announced they had disqualified not 1, not 2, but 3 of her opponents.
Charlena Renee Bradley of Lyndhurst and Traci Johnson of Hilliard – were disqualified from the Senate race. Bradley filed 1,170 signatures, but her office claimed that only 642 were valid. Fewer than half of the 1,305 signatures Johnson submitted were considered valid.
If voiding 50% of signatures submitted sounds unbelievable, would you believe over 70%? Sounds nearly impossible, even if ACORN collected the signatures? This is where the story gets even worse.
At the same time Brunner used her office to “Clear the Field” in true Saul Alinsky syle, she also disqualified 2 entries in the Ohio Attorney General race in the up coming Republican Primary.
Steve Christopher, Tea Party favorite who stood to upset Mike DeWine who has been reluctantly endorsed by the GOP, filed 2,700 signatures out of the 3,100 he collected, yet the office claims only 638 valid signatures. Owens, who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in a 2008 special election, filed only 282 valid signatures according the Brunner’s office.
So let’s see if I have this right: Brunner clears the field by using her office, buries the story on a Friday night. To cover herself even further she co-opts fellow progressives within the Republicans party to take down the “Little Candidate that Could” defeat Steve Christopher. You know the one the TEA Parties want, the same TEA Parties the Party has worked so hard to become friends with. The Republicans get what they want, and can blame her, and since they got their way won’t make a stink about any of her actions. Actions mind you, that are a conflict of interest at the least, and down right illegal at the worst. Every one wins right? Except you and I, the people trying to change Columbus, the people who have been promised our voices would be heard.
The papers got the headlines wrong again. The Columbus Dispatch read:
Only 3 races to be contest in May ballot
Five candidates booted for filing too few signatures
Can we go with this one instead:
Secretary of State Brunner Counts Better in 2010 after Learning fro 2008 Election
After not investigating thousands of illegal votes, She made up for it in disqualifying signatures in her own race
or maybe:
Progressives Reach across Party Lines to Help Each other Stay in Power
Secretary of Sate Brunner fixes both Democrat and Republican Primaries to further the cause
I could go on, but why bother. That was yesterday, now what are we going to do about it today? Steve Christopher will appeal, and according to their campaign have copies of and are having the signatures independently evaluated for every one for them. Keep the pressure on the media to report this, or outcome will not change. Every members of the Ohio Central Committee (paid for by the DeWine campaign) knows that there were two possibilities here: One he would go away, and two he would fight. They will now help Brunner by ignoring the story, and helping delay any appeal so that they can cheat DeWine over the finish line. Don’t believe me? Ask Dave Yost, the former front runner who was duped by the party to change races, and is now getting kicked while down by county party endorsements against him. And you thought Chicago politics were bad.
