Mary Jo Kilroy Finally Wins Seat

So I'm a lil late to the game, but the 15th Ohio Congressional District has a Representative. Mary Jo Kilroy managed to win, by a margin of 2,311 votes. That's not much at all, when you consider the number of votes cast: 304,000.

It was enough to beat the automatic recount law, however. In a local, country, or district election the margin needs to be 1/2%. In any statewide race, the margin drops to 1/4%. I didn't know that! Thanks to the Moritz College of Law over at OSU for having such a clear post on the issue.

Stivers, in a truly classy move, conceded gracefully and without much comment. I'm quite pleased, because I see this as further indication of a new shift in politics. It seems like the partisan lines are blurring more and more. The electorate is coming together more, making it harder to get a clear winner. The voters in this past election are less interested in voting with their party, it seems. The concern is more about who will go to Washington and take care of their consituent.

Now THERE is a novel concept, hm?

I like liberal Republicans. I also like conservative Democrats. Because they aren't radicals...they're a lot closer to what I believe in. Hopefully this trend continues, eh?

Election

You all know how the election worked out. You're either still feeling that gooey relief or simmering anger, either about McCain/Obama or Wulsin/Schmidt or any of the dozens of other races.

I won't bore you with a recap at this late date, since we all know the Franklin County Board of Elections can give you the low-down if you really still need it.

I do want to mention something about my personal voting experience, however. The fact I was forced to vote by provisional ballot this year.

When I moved, I registered to vote well ahead of the deadline (in order to avoid this nonsense, can you believe that?). My lil card came back, and it read the correct address. I thought, "Sweet!" and didn't give this another thought.

Until I showed up to vote, and the rather hostile lady informed me that my APARTMENT number on the rolls differed from the piece of mail I brought in.

***Side note, I used my change of address confirmation from the BMV because my license shows a place I lived two addresses ago. I THOUGHT that would make it simple***

They had apartment 3D listed. I actually live at 2D. A typo when someone was compiling the voter rolls, I'd put a lot of money on it. I was rather pissed off, I'll admit it (although, that may have more to do with having been up since 8pm the previous evening). I mean, I was a guy who did everything the right way and I still felt like my vote didn't count.

Did it? Another confession...I don't know. My candidates all passed with healthy margins, so I didn't feel a duty to double check on the BOE. The poll workers gave me an explanatory sheet with information about provisional voting, reassurances that my vote would be counted (if I was actually a voter), and a hot line I could call to see if they counted my vote.

I skipped it tho. I didn't have the energy to make them figure it out...and I'm a middle class white guy. Can you imagine how easy it would be to keep a poor minority voter from getting their say heard?

That's the problem with this set up...a typo can disenfranchise a person. What the crap?

Water Rights Ammendment

Remember when I said I had no idea what Ohio Issue 3 was all about, about water rights?

Well, I found out. Apparantly, it's not clearly spelled out that Ohioans have reasonable access rights to ground water on their property, as well as lakes and running water. Issue 3 is about changing that, and creating water rights for property owners.

This apparantly stemmed out of the Great Lakes Basin Compact. Evidently there were concerns that Ohio was sorta screwing it's own property holders by making agreements with other states before our own state was settled.

Makes sense to me.

Candidates in My District: Congress

Thanks to the recent Ohio court decision on the Libertarian Party, we now have three candidates on the ballot for Congress. I can't remember seeing three candidates for anything but a judge...and I feel good about seeing it now. Choices, options, dialogue. That's what democracy is all about...the more hats in the ring, the better (up to a point, I suppose...but that point is so far down the road I'm not thinking about it yet).

I hope this new level of choice isn't a flash in the pan.

Anyhow, the three people who want to go to Washington to represent us in the 12th Ohio district are:

• David Robinson (D)
• Pat Tiberi (R)
• Steven R. Linnabary (L)

Congress is an important job, since taxes originate from it. It's also where a lot of the actual business of government happens...if you look in the Constitution and read between the lines a little bit, the Senate is more of a vetting process to put the breaks on a boistorous lower house (and BOY have we seen that in the past two years!).

Pat Tiberi is the incumbant this year, has been since 2001. We'll use these years in office to evaluate him, via the voting record listing over at Project Vote Smart. I was actually quite surprized to see there wasn't much in the voting record I disagreed with. Yes, he leans right...but he IS a Republican, and that's to be expected. Three things that jumped out at me as being good: He's been consistently against oil exploration in the US; for alternative energy incentives (as long as they don't come with a stick against big business); and voted against this most recent farm bill. A three things I didn't like so much? A series of pro-life votes; against foreign aid to fight AIDS, malaria, and TB; has voted against every measure so far to alleviate home owner angst.

David Robinson is the Democratic challenger. He's a well-educated man from the Columbus area, with a seminary MA and a PhD in theology and philosophy. His most recent claim to fame, and the reason he got interested in politics, is his work with the Climate Project with Al Gore. I find it facinating a man with a seminary degree represents the Democratic Party...it's not the typical MO for the day and age. No prior government experience, just a passion to get involved and help bring a breath of fresh air to Congress.

I'd love to tell you more about the Libertarian candidate, Steve Linnabary. However, I can't seem to find anything about him. He's a Columbus area native who went to college in Lexington, KY. The website from his Clerk of Courts run (I'm not sure when that was) is up, and is far more functioning than the site for his current Congressional run (which I had to find in a roundabout fashion). I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of someone representing me who can't get any of his links to work. I appreciate the "I'm not a part of this madness" sentiment, but this doesn't excuse one from the basics of campaigning...namely making it easy for the voters to access information about you.

As for my personal choice? I'm not sure yet. I was pleasantly surprized by Tiberi's voting record...even though he's been along for the entire Bush ride. One could argue the fact he survived the GOP slaughter of '06 means something as well. Though...if I'm serious about change...Robinson certainly represents that. I'll need to deliberate longer.

Issues This Fall (List)

Just as important as the candidates we'll be electing this year are the issues we'll be deciding by ballot. Things like the gay marriage ban--that abortion of human rights--are decided by a ballot issue during a general election.

How does an issue get on the ballet? It's technical, and I'll look into it for another post soon. But there's two main reasons you'll have an issue on the ballot: A) The state legislature decides it doesn't have the authority (or it lacks the political cojones) to decide on an issue and they send it to the voters, or B) the voters decide they want to force the legislature down a particular path, and get their issue on the ballot.

In short, it's our democracy at the base level: By the people, for the people. Forever and ever, amen. So do us all a favor and pay attention to these issues...they DO affect your life.

We have some interesting issues up for decision this year. Here's an overview for my area, and you can see the full list here.

Ohio Issues:

• Issue 1: To provide for earlier filing deadlines for statewide ballot issues. An ammendment to the state Constitution to make people file their paperwork earlier when they want to file a state wide ballot issue. Yes = the Constitution is changed, No = No change.


• Issue 2: To authorize the State to issue bonds to continue the Clean Ohio program for environmental revitalization and conservation. Another Constitutional ammendment that will let the state raise money to continue the Clean Ohio program. Yes = Allow Bonds, No = No Bonds.


• Issue 3: To amend the Constitution to protect rights in ground water, lakes, and other watercourses. I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure what this is all about, exactly...but with how dry other parts of the country are getting, I'm not surprized to see a water issue. Look for a post on this once I read up on it.

Westerville Issues:

• Issue 54: Proposed Municipal Income Tax Ordinance. General Municipal operations and services, street maintenance, capital improvements and related costs. A tax of 3/4 (.75) of 1% of earnings and income subject to the municipal income tax, effective January 1, 2009.


• Issue 55A: Particular location -- Weekday Sales (10am to Midnight). Vino Meza LLC dba MEZA, 48 N State Street Westerville, OH 43081


• Issue 55B: Particular location -- Sunday Sales (1pm to midnight). Same location.


• Issue 56B: Particular location -- Sunday Sales (1pm to midnight). Enken Inc dba Sunbury Rd Duchess 900 S Sunbury Rd Westerville, OH 43081.

There's also a buncha bonds and liquor options for Columbus. City charter changes for various suburbs, like Whitehall's charter has quite a bit of rewriting up for vote. Go check it out...it's kinda neat to see what town is doing what.

This isn't the final list, because I don't see the pay day loan issue on there yet. September 30th is the magic date, according to the BOE. After that date we should have access to full sample ballots.

Candidates This Fall

As you may know, I'm a big fan of Smart Voter.org. It's the League of Women Voters who organize volunteers in several states to contact Boards of Election and compile sample ballots and candidate info in simple, easy to read formats. Go check it out.

It's still early in the season for the full, official sample ballots. Those should be ready after 9/30/08 Issues are still being fought about in court, petitions still being signed, etc etc. But most of the national and state contests are listed, and here's the ones for the 12th Congressional/3rd State Senate/20th State Rep district in Ohio.

If you want the full Franklin County, Ohio list of national and state contests, go here.

Congress:

• Pat Tiberi (R)
• David Robinson (D)

State Representative:

• Nancy Garland (D)
• Jim McGregor (R)

Ohio Supreme Court:

6 Year Term Starting 1/1/09

• Joseph D. Russo (D)
• Maureen O'Connor (R)

6 Year Term Starting 1/2/09

• Evelyn L. Stratton (R)
• Peter M. Sikora (D)

Ohio Court of Appeals:

6 Year Term Starting 2/9/09

• David Goodman (R)
• John A. Connor (D)

6 Year Term Starting 7/1/09

• Richard D. Brown (D)
• Lisa L. Sadler (R)

Note, there are no US or State Senators being elected in this district in 2008. Gotta love those longer terms.

I couldn't find a damn thing about Richard D. Brown or Lisa L. Sadler, except Lisa L Sadler's entry in the Yellow Book. I also want to point out the majority of hits on John Connor were about his suspension and various misconducts...but you can look at the search results here.

Check it out, kids. Have fun.

Joe Biden, Sarah Palin

Last week, both the Democratic and Republican candidates picked their running mates. This is important, on both a government and election level.

We ARE talking about a member of the cabinet, after all. A part of government. I mean, look at Dick Cheney's ill-fated level of involvement with Bush's first term. That turned out to be a very important choice, one I wish we'd looked at more closely in 2000.

The VP can also be shown to "balance a ticket," as both McCain and Obama have done. Obama chose the veteran Joe Biden, with the numerous years of Washington experience that Obama lacks. McCain chose Sarah Palin, a first term Governor from Alaska, who brings youth and a sense of progressive inclusion.

I honestly think the election aspect of a Vice President is overhyped. It's important...but really, I don't think it'll sway the election. McCain and Obama are offering two distinct roads, and this is a moment in history where we find out what America really thinks. That will not be influenced by "youth" or "experience" in their choice for VP.

On a side note, the Libertarian Party is on the Ohio ballot now, whic is an interesting twist. The Green Party is now suing for the same ballot access based on the court decision last month that let the Libertarians in...let's see what happens.

Voting Strategy This Fall

My voting strategy, without specific endorsements (because A: I haven't researched and B: What's my endorsement matter, anyhew?) boils down to Change.

I'm not happy with anyone in Congress, with a handful of the usual exceptions (Ted Kennedy's kept his eye on the ball, for instance. Russ Feingold. John Conyers. Patrick Leahy.) I'd like to name some Republicans on that parenthetical list, but...I'm having trouble thinking of any. Which is sad, because I know there are some. They just don't get the attention.

I'm truly disgusted with Harry Reid. As the Senate Majority Leader, he's been directly responsible for some of the worst legislative compromises of the 110th Congress. He's allowed the Republican party to make a mockery of the process, to stonewall process...and he's done it without so much as a whimper.

GOP: "We are SOOOO gonna filibuster that bill if you try and vote it."

Reid: "Fine, fine...we'll do it the way you want."

I'm paraphrasing and exaggerating...but not by much, sadly.

The long and short? If there's an encumbant, I'm half-tempted to just vote for the opponent out of principle, regardless of party lines.

...I won't do that, however. There are too many issues I worry about--mostly the creep of conservative Christian values into government--to let some guy in to write laws because "They're New." That's not responsible citizenship.

But...it will factor. I'll be giving the candidates a harder look this year, and not necessarily stopping at party affiliation or a single issue. I want people who will govern in Washington, and keep politics to a minimum.