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Saturday, November 07, 2009

Husted: Time for a change in Secretary of State office
Findlay Inn & Conference Center -Downtown Findlay
By JOY BROWN

STAFF WRITER

State Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, is not running against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Not yet, anyway.

Speaking at the Hancock County Republican Party's First Friday lunch, Husted said that following an earlier speech, an older lady, claiming she did not have "much use for" Hillary Clinton, erroneously commended him for contesting her.

"I said, 'I don't have much use for her either. But I'm going to get rid of Jennifer Brunner, not Hillary Clinton," Husted quipped.

Husted, who announced his candidacy for Ohio Secretary of State in June, is hoping to replace Brunner, a Democrat who announced she will be running next year for the U.S. Senate seat now occupied by George Voinovich; Voinovich will be retiring.

The Ohio Secretary of State office is primarily responsible for overseeing elections in Ohio, a presidential battleground state.

Brunner is the first woman to hold the position in Ohio. She has won praise for her voting system reforms, which followed Republican Kenneth Blackwell's controversial oversight of the rocky 2002 and 2004 elections. But her service has not been without conflicts.

The Capital University Law School graduate has been involved in various voter fraud lawsuits filed against her during her term. She is appealing a federal judge's ruling that she broke federal law by restricting county elections boards' efforts to determine if new voter registrations are fraudulent.

Brunner has also been criticized for having ties to Acorn, a liberal group that was active in the 2008 presidential campaign and admitted to voter registration fraud.

Her activities on the three-member Ohio Apportionment Board, responsible for redrawing congressional district lines after each U.S. Census, have also been labeled by GOP members as too "partisan." That's an accusation Husted has latched onto for his campaign.

The former Ohio House speaker said if elected Secretary of State, he "cannot do the Republican ticket, or myself or the state, any honor by conducting myself in a partisan manner."

Brunner has made too many "partisan decisions" which have "embarrassed" Ohio and "undermined voter confidence," he said.

"I want people to watch Ohio elections and think that we do a good, honest job here. In a democracy, it starts with elections," Husted said.

The University of Dayton graduate and former All-American football player has won some praise for introducing legislation that would restructure the apportionment board to make it a seven-member, bipartisan commission to prohibit "gerrymandering." The Senate's State and Local Government and Veteran' Affairs Committee voted in October to recommend the bill for full Senate passage.

"One-party control of anything ... we experienced that as Republicans," said Husted. "It just creates an atmosphere of governance that's not responsible to the people."

Husted said as Ohio Secretary of State, he would rigorously investigate reported election fraud, rather than "stand idly by and watch those things happen," as he claimed Brunner has done. He would also communicate facts about such investigations to the public in a timely manner rather than let misinformation and rumors spread "in the blogosphere," he said.

Updating some voting laws would also be a goal for Husted. He said he likes a change that allows the military to request absentee ballots electronically, but not necessarily an idea that would allow people to use a nonprofit identification card as proof of identity, claiming the latter has too much potential for abuse.

The early voting process still needs work, Husted said. One way of offering it may work in Hancock County, but not in Franklin County, he said.

The Ohio House and Senate will "need to lay down partisan axes" and agree on some measures involving election reform, Husted said.

On the Net:

www.hustedforohio.com



Brown: 419-427-8496,

Send an e-mail to Joy Brown


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3 Comments

Latest comments listed first.
Noah Little wrote:
Specifics would have been nice
“ It is one thing to accuse someone of embarrassing the state of Ohio and undermining voter confidence. What specific actions has she done? And, are we to believe she is partisan because GOP leaders said so. This from the party that carved up Ohio districts and served them to their party faithful for the past 20 plus years. ”
Monday, November 09, 2009 9:53:58 AM
DARSI wrote:
SECY OF STATE CLINTON
“ TWO OF THE MANY MORONS .
JOKES . AND BAD ONES AT THAT .
NO LIVES OF ANY SORT .

MORE POWER TO THE GREAT LADY - CLINTON. ”
Monday, November 09, 2009 3:21:04 AM
James Carp wrote:
Partisan
“ It will be difficult for either a Republican or Democrat running for Secretary of State to remain independent of their party.

A person should be able to run for office by registering with a local election board without a petition and then participate in an appropriate public runoff process.

Voter registration should be made easier for all voters, potentially automatic at the legal voting age.

In some way allowing voters to declare which county, city, and neighborhood they wish to vote, and paying their state and local taxes in that local area, would allow competition among local areas for political support and a tax base. It would enable different persons and groups to move more easily between different areas of the state.

For example, why wouldn't someone whose children are open enrolled in a different school district than the one they live be allowed to pay taxes to support that different school system.

Also, a community, by offering a tax break, can increase the number of persons paying taxes, and increase the overall tax base.

It would also allow independent and third parties the potential to seek individual communities to represent and would place reapportionment in the hands of local communities and individual Ohio voters.

A system that allows voters to vote with their taxes and in different local areas in the state by changing (at fixed times as in an election) would prevent the need for a Democratic Secretary of State attempting to tell a Republican, or any political candidate, that they are not allowed to vote in the district they choose to vote from, as the current Secretary of State (acting as a party member as much as an elected official) did to the Republican currently running for Secretary of State (who will answer to his party as well if elected).


 ”
Saturday, November 07, 2009 10:46:56 AM
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TG wrote in article "Village patrols may be restored in future":
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News Briefs Work scheduled on Findlay streets
Findlay's Main Street, northbound, will be reduced at times to one lane between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. for waterline connection.

Main Street will not be accessible from East Lincoln Street. Lincoln Street will be closed to through traffic from South Main Street to South Blanchard Street from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for continued improvement work. Access to local businesses and residents only will be maintained.

Recount planned in trustee's race
OTTAWA -- After certifying election results on Wednesday, the Putnam County Board of Elections has announced a recount will be required for the Union Township trustee race, according to Deputy Director Shelly Burkhart.

The recount will be completed on Wednesday at the county elections board office, 336 E. Main Street, Ottawa.

Incumbent Daniel R. Ellerbrock has secured his position on the board, earning 685 votes. However the remaining trustee spot will require a recount as Gery P. Wurth earned 598 votes and Mark J. Kahle collected 601 votes, according to official results.

An automatic recount is necessary if the margin is within one-half of 1 percent of total votes cast, according to state law.

Road to be closed
Forest Lake Drive, between Marion Township 237 and Indian Lake Drive/Forest Lane, will be closed today for a pipe installation.

The road is expected to open by 5 p.m., weather permitting.

Motorists are advised to use Township 242.