This is more of just a question to the readers. Please feel free to comment and let us know what you think.
Mary Jo Kilroy and Unions: Part III – The story that keeps on giving
We are a little late getting to this storyin the Columbus Dispatch that ran on Monday, but it does not lessen the “hay-maker” effect of this story on Mary Jo Kilroy and her congressional campaign. Here are some of the highlights:
“What commissioners say they didn’t know is that the union company they hired was forced by a court in Pennsylvania last year to pay $48,568 in pension benefits and attorney fees to a worker the company had shorted while he was on military duty in Iraq.“
So, does Mary Jo Kilroy hate Iraq Vets or does she just like companies that try to cheat Iraq vets out of money they are due? (Yes, I am being snarky)
“Prosecutors said William Tomko Jr. dodged paying $225,000 in taxes by laundering bills for his home through his company. The 8,000-square-foot mansion sits on 8 acres and has a home theater, $1.8 million in furnishings and $81,000 in fine art.”
Best part is that this guy billed school districts for the work done on his house. Does Mary Jo Kilroy support that too?
Ok, I want everyone to look at the following excerpts from the article attributed to Mary Jo Kilroy and her colleague Paula Brooks:
Mary Jo Kilroy: “I’m sorry to hear this,” Kilroy said, expressing surprise that no one else found the case, given the amount of information being tossed at commissioners. “I would expect that on this (ballpark) job, there should be close monitoring on pension, on prevailing wages and on health care.”
Paula Brooks: Commissioner Paula Brooks, who voted against the Tomko contract, said she was aware of the tax charges against William Tomko Jr. but not the pension lawsuit.
“I Googled him and was appalled,” she said.
She said she also knew about a Tomko employee who died on the job in an accident.
“And now, to hear about this,” she said. “This poor worker was doing his duty, putting his life in harm’s way, doing his job in Iraq, and he gets ripped off by his employer.”
Brooks said she agrees “with my two other colleagues that we have to protect workers and uphold prevailing wage. But you have to use common sense. We have to protect our corporate sponsors who are putting money up to build the stadium.”
Wow! Nice work Commissioner Brooks. Bravo on not-so-subtle backhand to Mary Jo Kilroy.
Later on it mentions this: Meanwhile, the county has told another nonunion contractor that it plans to reject its low bid for work on the ballpark, again citing the contracting standards. The Painting Co., based in Plain City, didn’t pay prevailing wages.
Then the lawyer for The Painting Company replies: “If ever Franklin County taxpayers wanted to know that the county commissioners were trying to enforce a union-only agreement by underhanded agreements, then this is it, plain and simple,” Mason said. “Hopefully, they will see the error of their ways and stop.”
Man, this is the story that keeps on giving!
Jennifer Brunner vs. Boards of Elections: Battle of the 2008 Elections
We here find this issue fascinating to say the least. In one corner you have the Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. In the other corner you have the 88 County Boards of Election. In the middle, the 2008 Elections. SoS Brunner has leveled a number of directives following a nearly $2 million study on elections. Basically, Brunner wants all BOEs to go to Optical Scan paper ballots by the 2008 general election. The County BOEs think Brunner is over-reaching and the equipment they currently use is secure and accurate.
Lucky for us, the Columbus Dispatch had this storyon Friday in which they publish the results from a poll they did with county BOE officials regarding Brunner’s actions as SoS. Here is my favorite Question and Response:
Q: How confident are you in the security and accuracy of the equipment your county now uses?
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Very Confident – 75%
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Somewhat Confident – 18%
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Not very Confident – 6%
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Not confident at all – 1%
Wow, take that you dirty, hippie conspiracy theorists!
We believe this is going to be a huge story throughout 2008 and some of our own conspiracy theorists feel that Brunner is trying to tank the 2008 elections and then blame it on the county BOEs, which would allow her to try to take over authority of the elections from the county BOEs and put it in her hands. Interesting thought and we shall see what occurs.
Left Wing Blogger Even More Wrong
On the very first post on this blog, we promised to “call-out” the lefty blogs when they are either wrong, avoiding the issue or basically full of crap. Well, we have been doing this with a blog, which is based solely on Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, and its lame attacks on Steve Stivers, the GOP candidate for OH-15. The whole while it evidently has turned a blind eye to the shenanigans that its hero, Mary Jo Kilroy, is doing in regards to the contracts for the Huntington Ballpark that is costing the taxpayers HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.
We would like to reply, point by point, to the weak claims with this post from aforementioned blog. Oh, and yes we made some spelling grammatical errors. Wow, that one really hurt.
Claim: “This blog’s content has been attacked by some right wing GOP apologist who hates unions but loves the politics of Bob Taft, Tom Noe, and Bob Ney.”
Reply: First, Don’t hate unions, just the pay-to-play backdoor deals they have with Mary Jo Kilroy that cost the taxpayers HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. Second, good to see they are riding the dead-horse of Bob Taft (out of office over a year), Tom Noe (in jail for over a year and for many more years) and Bob Ney (in jail). Boy, I hope the Dem/Mary Jo Kilroy playbook has more than that. Its 2008 not 2006.
Claim: 1. Steve Stivers was a lobbyist for Bank One, and received PAC contributions from businesses; 2. The Blog’s facts have links and Columbus Dispatch is right-leaning and our claims are opinions.
Reply: 1. Steve Stivers was a lobbyist for Bank One and according to your links he has received PAC contributions from businesses in Central Ohio. Here is where we have a ideological difference. These businesses actually create jobs and support candidates who has a mindset that allow them to create jobs. Last time I checked we are a capitalist system, even if Mary Jo Kilroy would like use to be communists. Unions kill competition and they are the reasons companies take jobs overseas with there ridiculous contract demands. Again, this is just an ideological difference between us and the left wing blogger.
2. Your links are facts and our links are opinion. Well, we believe that it is just a matter of time until the next contract for the Huntington Ballpark screws over the low-bidder for a high-bid union shop. If you are too blindly loyal to your hero Mary Jo Kilroy then I am sorry for the utter despair you will incur when this story blows up. You should start looking at Paula Brooks as someone who does the right thing and uses “common sense” as your new hero. (Wrote that just to send the Mary Jo Kilroy fan into a tizzy, as the Commissioners are not on best terms right now.)
Also, the Columbus Dispatch must be doing a good job because the lefties think it is right-leaning and we think it is left-leaning. Funny.
Claim: “What word around town?” Questioning the upcoming contracts on the Huntington Ballparks and rumors of who will get these contracts.
Reply: Um, ok there are no rumors going around on this subject…none at all. In fact, we think Mary Jo Kilroy should just keep doing what she is doing. Yep, nothing to see here, please disperse.
Finally, we here at OhioRedNovember tend to favor to focus more on statewide and national politics, but we will promise to keep an eye on what transpires in this race. What is going on with the Huntington Ballpark contracts is a travesty and we want to relay what happens to those out in the blogosphere, since the lefty blogs are obviously turning a blind eye to this issue.
Mary Jo Kilroy and Unions: Part II
We here at OhioRedNovember have made a commitment to call out lefty blogs when they make lame claims about GOP officeholders/candidates that demonstrate an obvious double standard that does not hold Dem officeholders/candidates to the same standards.
Well my friends, here is another fine example here where the lefty blog tries to make a claim about State Senator Steve Stivers, canidate for Congress in OH-15, is “buddies” with the banking community, making a not so veiled attempt to say there is something “smarmy” going on.
Let’s look at this particular lefty blog’s hero Mary Jo Kilroy and her “relationship” with unions that is costing the taxpayers of Franklin County HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS! You can see the stories and Editorials in the Columbus Dispatch here, here and here.
Now, word around the town is that this story may only be beginning and that there may be more decisions made in teh near future that will give this “Pay-to-Play” scheme with Mary Jo Kilroy and the Unions even more scrutiny.
So, he who lives in glass houses…well you know the rest of it.
Kicking it in the FLA: Who gets Fred’s votes
So, there have been about 50 polls done in Florida since Thompson dropped out. The big question is who gets Fred’s votes? So here is out analysis:
Rudy is absolutely TOAST!
Huckabee: See Rudy
McCain is getting some bounce from SC. What McCain has done since being given last rites as recent as October 2007 is truly remarkable. Even with some warts he is really winning over a lot of GOP voter who normally would not be so inclined to support him. But is it enough to hold off Mitt…
Mitt seems to be getting the majority of the Fred supporters and with the economic issues going on right now he is getting more and more appealing to many GOP voters.
The polls have it so close in FLA it could end up being closer than SC. We shall see but the bump the winner gets heading into Feb 5 could be huge. If McCain wins we think he rolls to the nomination. If Mitt wins he could come back and take it. Of course we could see a brokered convention…fun times for all.
Bennett Lays Smackdown on Brunner
I’m telling you folks, the BOE people are really pissed about the powergrab by Brunner. The BOE members, for the most part, honestly think that Brunner is going to try to create confusion with the 2008 elections and then claim that the BOEs are responsible for the chaos and then she will try to take over the elections and take them away from the counties. At least the BOE folks I talked to think this way. We shall see…
Here is a release by Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett
Brunner Rules Elections System with Iron Fist
BOE officials subjected to threats, intimidation tactics
BOE officials subjected to threats, intimidation tactics
(Columbus) – Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett called on Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner today to restore bipartisan respect and cooperation to Ohio’s election system.
Bennett cited numerous reports of Brunner’s ongoing heavy-handed tactics with county election board members, including today’s report from The Plain Dealer that she threatened to remove members of the Hardin County board of elections for disagreeing with her directive.
“I’ve heard from board members across the state who are frustrated and threatened by the culture of intimidation coming out of the secretary of state’s office,” said Bennett. “Jennifer Brunner’s message to these longtime elections experts is do it my way or you’re fired. Her arrogance is appalling, and quite frankly it shows a profound disrespect for people who have decades of experience running elections in this state.”
According to The Plain Dealer, “Brunner last week sent the board an ultimatum: change your mind or else, telling board members that ignoring her order is tantamount to insubordination and could be considered a violation of your oath. The secretary of state has the authority to remove members of election boards.” (The Plain Dealer, Openers Blog, 1/23/08)
The Plain Dealer previously reported that Brunner issued threats during a conference with elections officials last week in Columbus, telling reporters, “I’ll try to negotiate with them. But if they refuse to comply, I’ll have to look at what my options are. I have the ability to remove board members.” (Mark Rollenhagen, The Plain Dealer, 1/16/08)
“She’s constantly putting out these threats,” said Bennett. “And it does absolutely nothing to inspire loyalty and respect among these board members. Quite frankly, I’m convinced she’d get rid of every one of them if she had the choice. Jennifer Brunner wants to run the elections system in this state like a dictator. I think she’ll find out pretty quickly that she needs these people a lot more than they need her.”
Bennett also criticized Brunner’s arrogant response to criticism of her proposals raised by elections officials at a recent statewide conference, where she even resorted to cutting off one board member who dared to highlight several concerns during a question and answer session.
Billary v. Obama
Ok, I missed the Dem debate last night, but all the slips I have seen are quite entertaining. It seems that Billary has decided to beat the hell out of Obama and it seems to be somewhat working. I’m telling ya, those Clintons are some hardball playing politicos. Makes for great entertainment. Sit back, get some popcorm and enjoy the show.
Fred Thompson drops out
Well, the inevitable happened. Fred Thompson dropped out of the GOP Presidential Race. I truly believed he had a chance to do great things, but never got off the ground.
In honor of Senator Thompson’s Presidential Campaign, here is sadly his finest moment.
Nevada and South Carolina: Short Recap
Well, well…looks like the Hill Train is a little stronger than many think. Seems that everyone was thinking that the Culinary Endorsement would swing the Nevada Caucus to Obama, but after some foot-stomping by former President Clinton about “voter suppression” (how funny is that) it turns out that Hillary takes Nevada pretty easily.
Also, in Nevada, Mitt rolls big time. Come to find out that 25% of the GOP vote is Mormon in Nevada.
Now, the South Carolina GOP Primary was good entertainment. McCain won with Huckabee a relatively close second, 335 to 30% respectively. One thing I did notice is that Dem consultants are a little worried about John McCain and his ability to win independents and some security Dems (if those exist). Also, with his 4th place finish it looks like Fred Thompson will be dropping out sometime this week.
Well, it comes down to FLA on the 29th. Florida is Rudy’s last stand (and only stand it seems), while McCain and Mitt will battle it out. You can’t forget Huckabee but if he could not win in SC, he is gonna have a problem winning elsewhere.
We shall see what shakes out as the week goes along.
