Courage in the Public Square?

(This article is my weekly contribution to the Carnival of Ohio Politics, now in it's 11th week! Thanks to the hard work of Paul Miller at Northwest Ohio Net. The link to the carnival is here make sure to stop by and see what some of Ohio's best bloggers are writing about.)

Just when you think things in Ohio Politics could not get any nastier than the Sherrod Brown VS Paul Hackett blogodrama...enter Ken Blackwell's new radio and tv ad slamming Jim Petro. If you haven't seen or heard this there it is

Only one problem though, it appears according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer that:

"I don't award unbid contracts," Blackwell proclaimed.

There is an agency, however, that does award unbid contracts. It's called the State Controlling Board and one of its members is Rep. Tom Raga, Blackwell's running mate. As recently as Jan. 9, Raga ruled with the board majority to grant Petro's office a waiver allowing the attorney general to award $2 million in unbid special counsel work.

Such waivers have become routine in recent years, despite the protest of minority Democrats on the controlling board.

It also appears that maybe one of the reasons Bob Bennett has worked so hard to make sure as many primary races was uncontested was he has very little control/influence over candidates once the race begins.

He's not very happy:

"The race for governor should be a contest of ideas, not smear tactics and attack ads," he said. "I expect this kind of negative campaigning from the Democrats, but Ken Blackwell should have a better strategy for winning this primary than simply burning down the house.

"A man who models himself after Ronald Reagan should have a little more respect for winning on ideas and vision. He knows the accusations in these ads are politically motivated, and this kind of guttural politics doesn't win votes. If we can't win with substantive ideas for leading Ohio, we don't belong in the race."


The Democrats are not exactly in a position to sit back with some popcorn and watch the show. There is alot of heat stemming from the possible endorsements being made by the Executive Committee for this upcoming primary.

Maybe it's me but when I read this:

"Let's let all the democrats (sic) decide who will be our strongest candidate in November and who can best serve us on the court come next January," (Judge Peter) Sikora wrote, adding that a majority of county chairs expressed a "strong sentiment" to let the primary be the party's endorsement process.

Brian Rothenberg, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, said he disagrees with Sikora's interpretation of the county chairs' sentiment. He also finds Sikora's request curious.

"It's ironic that Mr. Sikora asked for the endorsement on Saturday and now he's asking for no endorsement," Rothenberg said. "I respect the judge, but that's not consistent."

It seems Brian Rothenberg is not exactly building some good communication foundations out there as far as building party support. If anything comments like that and endorsing primary candidates is going to further the divide.

The losers in this no matter which party? Us...because rather than hear the issues and make a decision based on those? More drama is sure to come that has the possible affect of turning off all but the most addicted political junkie....

Those knitting blogs? Suddenly seem slightly more appealing....