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Our Endorsements
Dann For Attorney
General
If you are voting in the Democratic Party primary May
2, we urge you to vote for State Sen. Marc Dann for attorney general.
If you are disgusted with the way the Republicans have
been running the state of Ohio and the scandals and allegations involving Gov.
Bob Taft and BG native and indicted GOP influence peddler Tom Noe, then you
have even better reasons for voting for Senator Dann.
If not for Marc
Dann, we might be stuck with the Republicans running the state for another 8
years (as if 16 were not enough).
For several years Senator Dann has been the investigating
the so-called “pay-to-play” system of governance in Columbus. In essence, this
is how Republican statewide officials such as Taft, Secretary of State Kenneth
Blackwell, Auditor Betty Montgomery, Attorney General James Petro and Ohio
Legislature leaders steer state contracts to people who in turn funnel money
into Bob, Ken, Betty and Jim’s and other GOP campaigns.
In Ohio, GOP candidates regularly vastly
outspend their Democratic opponents and win elections in the process. Hence, 16
years of Republican control of Ohio.
Two years ago when I attended the Democratic National
Convention in Boston as an Edwards delegate,
Marc Dann was there in full force. He held a briefing for reporters showing how
the GOP funny money system worked. This was before the Noe Coingate scandal was
broken by the Toledo Blade and back
when the typical Ohioan was not paying attention.
In April 2005 when The
Blade broke the story, Senator Dann was Johnny on the spot to call for
investigations and cause further revelations of the stories’ ramifications that
first led to the top of Ohio government and last month led to the top of the
federal government.
If Senator Dann
had not lent his considerable expertise and willingness to stick his neck out for
the investigation, we might still not know what really happened.
Of course, the GOP attack machine revved up to attack
Marc Dann and dug up a minor lapse in his work as a private practice lawyer.
The GOP tired to blow this up to discredit Senator Dann but his work in
exposing them was so overwhelming that their cheap shots did not stick.
Buoyed by the goodwill generated among Democrats across
the state, Senator Dann decided to risk his seat in a safe Democratic district
to run for Ohio Attorney General.
He should have had a clear path to the nomination but those
wacky Cleveland Democrats led by former Governor Dick Celeste -- who left the
party in a mess when his two terms as governor ended 16 years ago and planted
the seeds for the party’s 16-year demise and now is president of Colorado
College -- put forth a hand-picked candidate to challenge Marc Dann in the May
2 primary.
Now Senator Dann has a fight on his hands just to win the
nomination.
I doubt if he is worried.
He took on the Republicans single-handedly for several
years and knocked them from the perch of power in the public’s eyes. On Nov. 7,
Ohio’s Democrats are likely to take over the governorship and other statewide
offices like attorney general.
All Ohioans, not just Democrats, need a
watchdog over our fractured state government. Marc Dann has proven himself the
man for the job. Vote for Dann May 2.
Dann’s the Man!
--
John K. Hartman, editor and publisher. (OVER.)
Page
2 4 Corners News & Views April/May, 2006
Grendell
For Attorney General (GOP)
Republicans have a chance to send Betty Montgomery into
early retirement and should take advantage of the opportunity by supporting
State Sen. Tim Grendell for attorney general.
Voters should ignore the back-slapping coverage that the Sentinel-Tribune gives about Betty’s
failures. The old six paragraphs of her side, one paragraph of the other side
routine.
Although Senator
Grendell is a card-carrying conservative, we believe he is a man of integrity
that would clean up the mess that Montgomery and her successor Jim Petro have
created over the last 12 years.
First and foremost, Betty and Jimmy were asleep at the
switch while the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation was investing $50 million
with Tom Noe’s risky rare coin funds. $13 million of this apparently has been
lost and Noe is accused of spending as much as $3 million inappropriately.
Also, the bureau invested in risky hedge funds and lost another $200 million.
Hence, Ohio
businesses must pay more into the fund than they are used to and benefits are
being cut. That alone should disqualify Betty and Jimmy from public office.
Grendell is bucking the party establishment to challenge
Betty, who took a deal to drop out of the governor’s primary after raising $1
million or so for the gubernatorial race.
Tim is not tiny
and Betty is a big flop. Vote for Grendell May 2.
(Meanwhile, inept Petro is running against Secretary of
State Kenneth Blackwell, or is it “Bag-well,” for the GOP gubernatorial
nomination. Blackwell owned stock in a voting machine company at the same time
as it was winning state contracts. A political pox on both of them.)
Jeff Bretz For 6th
District State Representative
Jeff Bretz, a dedicated public servant from North
Baltimore, deserves your vote for the Democratic Party nomination for state
representative to challenge Bobby Latta.
Latta has been trading off his Daddy Del’s name for too
many years and needs to return to Bowling Green and earn a living. Maybe open a
public interest law firm.
2008: Gardner for State
Rep., Latta for State Senate
We all remember the switcheroo that Latta and Randy
Gardner pulled in 2000 – exchanging legislative seats so they could circumvent
Ohio’s term limit law. We all remember that Wood County’s Democratic Party
leaders did not say “boo” to the switcheroo so Bobby and Randy got away with
it. We might as well jump on board early for 2008. Boo hoo!
And thanks Randy for taking over for Tom Noe as GOP
economic liaison to Toledo.
Weirauch,
Strickland-Fisher, Brown, Cordray, Sykes, Brunner, Giese, Murray, Bowen,
O’Neill, Osowik, Espy - Excellent Choices
Although Wood County once again is short-handed when it
comes to Democratic candidates (got to keep our GOP masters happy; we might get
a handout occasionally), the district and statewide slate this time around is
plenty impressive.
Dynamic Robin Weirauch can take it to Tom DeLay’s crony
U.S. Rep Paul Gillmor. The U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland-Lee Fisher combo for
governor-lieut. gov. is the best of my lifetime. U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown will
replace a Bush go-fer in the U.S Senate. Judge Tom Osowik is a stellar choice
for appeals court. Former longtime State Sen. Ben Espy terrific for state
supreme court. David Giese of Sandusky deserves special mention for state
central committeeman.
Coming in June 2006: Our First
Anniversary Issue. Have We Made BG Better? Or Worse?
BG 4 Corners News & Views
You Read It Here First Tip Of Month: Blade Endorses Marc Dann.
BG 4 Corners News & Views of Bowling Green was founded
June 1, 2005 by John K. Hartman, its publisher. Its purpose is to provide
additional news and points-of-view to citizens of Bowling Green in the belief
that thorough awareness of and discussion of issues makes for a better
community. It will be available free at various drop-off points in Bowling
Green and by email by sending your email address and request to
John.Hartman@dacor.net. Patrons may support BG
4 Corners News & Views for $10
per issue. Ads may be purchased for $20 per issue. Comments and submissions are welcome. Contact information: John.Hartman@dacor.net ;
419-352-8180; 1400 Wren Road, BG, OH 43402. Back issues at www.dacor.net/john.hartman and www.liberalbg.org Copyright 2006, John
K. Hartman, All Rights Reserved.