Given the lackluster Democratic Senate campaign, I was really hoping that Tea Party-endorsed Constitutional Party candidate Eric Deaton would help out by taking a few points away from Republican Rob Portman.

I don't know if this will help Deaton though:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/senate-candidate-indicted-for-...

"DAYTON — Eric W. Deaton, a Constitution Party candidate for U.S. Senate, was indicted Tuesday, Aug. 31, for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, according to Greg Flannagan, spokesman for Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr."

Well, he IS a "Liberty" candidate, which seems to be one of his favorite words, and he is accused of taking "liberties" with a minor, so maybe it makes sense. Or maybe his followers will dismiss this as some nefarious lib'rul plot. After all, the aforementioned prosecutor IS a Democrat!

And sure enough:
"'I think this is politically motivated,' said Deaton, blaming the indictment on his decision to run for political office. 'The powers that be don’t like that,' said Deaton, who said he intends to stay in the race."

Whew! I sure am glad to hear that!

Every time I go back home to Chicago, I come back here to Cuyahoga County shaking my head. I have been fighting for decades against regarding this area as provincial but … sometimes, it is so provincial.

Take the whole uproar about “corruption,” for instance. Yes, a bunch of underlings have been charged with or convicted of some small-time offenses. Yes, that FBI raid was dramatic, although frankly, when you bring that much drama, you should have a pretty airtight case and, well, where is it, two years later? And yes, auditor Frank Russo is pretty brazen in his defiance of what people might think of his crony-hiring moves. But seriously — in what business, office or institution, public or private or nonprofit or educational, is “knowing someone” NOT an edge?

The way some local media and opinion makers have been carrying on, you’d think this county was the corruption capital of the world because some elected officials gave some friends and relatives jobs and/or contracts. And they managed to convince under-informed voters that the only solution was to take a wrecking ball to our government.

I recommend reading Mike Royko’s brilliant 1971 book, Boss, a portrait of Chicago’s Mayor Richard J. Daley, who ruled the city with an iron fist from 1955 to 1976, when he died, literally, in office. Then you will laugh at what is considered “corruption” here.

Daley controlled tens of thousands of city jobs, and you HAD to be a crony or an obedient political operative to get one. That was what they were for in Daley’s eyes. Most of Chicago’s Democratic precinct captains had a city job — this ensured their loyalty at election time. Daley picked everybody based on that loyalty — he slated the judges, the state representatives, the candidates for clerk and sheriff and state’s attorney (county prosecutor) — everybody. Police promotions, firefighter assignments — every single thing was based on politics.

Finally, Rob Portman has agreed to get in the ring. In a release issued by both campaigns this morning, the two U.S. Senate hopefuls are now set for three one-hour debates in conjunction with the Ohio Newspaper Association.

The debates will take place in Cleveland, Columbus, and Toldeo. The Cleveland debate will be at the historic City Club on October 8th. Ticket information available soon.

Maybe it's just me, but one-hour doesn't seem like a long enough time for Portman to explain his trade agenda, but then again, George W. Bush never questioned it. How complex can it be? (See jobs, ship jobs.)

While Ed FitzGerald and Terri Hamilton Brown spend the Labor Day Weekend courting Democratic votes ahead of next Tuesday's County Executive Primary, self-proclaimed "independent" candidate Ken Lanci will be making history.

According to his campaign website, Lanci will be marching in the 11th Congressional District Parade on Monday. The annual political "must attend" parade has been a staple of the east side of Cleveland for decades. Once led by Louis Stokes, later Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and now Representative Marcia Fudge, it draws tens of thousands of people to the streets and even attracted then-Presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.

While Lanci won't be the only candidate for office in the parade - not by a longshot - he will probably be the only person or candidate in the procession who contributed $10,000 to try and defeat Barack Obama in November of 2008.

Residents of Cuyahoga County can see Lanci's millions of dollars everywhere. He's done his best to buy this election by plastering RTA buses, gobbling up billboards, vehicle wrapping delivery trucks, and more. While this visual showing may improve support in suburban areas, it'll be interesting to watch the reaction from a community that went so heavily for Obama, to a wealthy and powerful individual who was so passionate about stopping him from becoming President. The Lanci millions might mean something to voters in the Republican controlled precincts, but in the heart of Ohio's Democratic base...brace yourself, Ken.

I seriously wish some of my fellow Democrats would get their long, sad jaws up off the floor and, instead of totally buying into every piece of "bad news for Democrats" narrative the media is pushing for this fall's elections, show a little fight.

OK, I tend to be on the optimistic side. I've been saying all along we're not going to lose a raft of congressional seats in Ohio. It's hard for me to believe that voters would replace Mary Jo Kilroy with banking lobbyist Steve Stivers at a time when people are purported to be up in arms about the activities of banks. And it's equally hard for me to buy into the idea that Betty Sutton is toast running against hypocritical self-funding car dealer Tom Ganley, who padded him bankroll from the Sutton-penned Cash for Clunkers bill while railing against government bailouts.

For a long time, I've been thinking that we'll probably lose one seat, and it'd probably be Steve Dreihaus, who is running against the former congressman he beat, Steve Chabot, in Oh-01 in the Cincinnati area.

Well, maybe not.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2010/08/26/poll-driehaus-chabot-eve...

A poll just released by an outfit called the American Action Forum, which appears to be as right-wing as its cheesy name suggest, finds Chabot leading Dreihaus by only two point — in a poll with a 4.9% margin of error. That is seriously good news for us and seriously not good news for Chabot and the GOP. It's to be hoped that the Democratic powers that be in Washington D.C. take note and send some help Dreihaus' way. He came through for us on the health-care bill, and we should come through for him.

Some good news arrived today relating to the campaign of Maryellen O'Shaughnessy for Secretary of State. She won a poll sponsored by the Progressive Democrats of America to pick an "Ohio All-Star" candidate.

http://www.pdamerica.org/

Their e-mail said in part:

“DFA endorsements have always been driven by our members on the ground across the country -- that's what makes Democracy for America the country's only people-powered PAC. But the Ohio All-Star endorsement is different because it's chosen entirely by DFA members in Ohio.

All the votes have been cast and I'm honored to announce DFA's Ohio All-Star -- Maryellen O'Shaughnessy.

It's not difficult to see why Maryellen won this hard-fought endorsement. Just look at how she describes the grassroots campaign she's running:

I entered the race for Ohio Secretary of State just a few short weeks before the filing deadline. In that time, I accumulated over 2,800 signatures from 60 of Ohio's 88 counties. Quite a feat! This only happened because of the hard work of grassroots activists who wanted to see my name appear on the ballot in November.”

Go here and check her out:

http://www.maryellenforohio.com/

She’s one of the most energetic, personable, and well-informed candidates I’ve encountered, someone it’s easy to get enthusiastic about because she’s bristling with ideas to build on what Jennifer Brunner has done as Secretary of State, and she’s working so hard to get out and meet people. (People who know me know what I think about candidates who aren’t campaigning hard).

Well, halleluia! While I was gone, a bunch of good news came out of the Justin Coussoule for Congress campaign — the one some Democrats are ignoring while trying to raise money off John Boehner's inane utterances. The DNC and the DCCC have both sent out e-mails based on Boehner's appearance yesterday at the City Club of Cleveland, which I not so regrettably missed because I was on Rte 20 about halfway between the Indiana border and Toledo at the time. They're pointing out that Boehner has no real plan for the economy other than helping his rich friends and please send us money to defeat him now.

That's nice — but they're actually referring to electing enough Democrats to Congress to keep him from becoming Speaker. Only one person can actually defeat John Boehner — or even make him sweat — and that is Justin Coussoule.

So go here to make a direct contribution to a great progressive Democrat:

http://www.coussouleforcongress.com/

Not convinced someone running in this district is progressive? How about THIS:

http://www.coussouleforcongress.com/index.php?page=pressrelease&content=...

Yes, some elected Democrats have decided not a follow the "it's hopeless" marching orders and endorsed Justin: the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Its 83 members have put their stamp of approval on his campaign.

And just as good, there's THIS:

http://www.coussouleforcongress.com/index.php?page=pressrelease&content=...

"Hillary Clinton Legacy Organization Dedicates Resources in Fight Against Boehner."

I just got back from vacation. and other than jumping on a couple of times to scan my e-mail and delete spam, I've been offline. So I have no idea what is going on in Ohio. If there's been more "corruption" revealed in Cuyahoga County, I know it was trivial compared to where I just got back from. I'll write more about that later.

Also, I want to apologize to the participants in Mike Foley's mixtape competition for not getting my post up about that yet. It had slipped my mind, and I had hoped to do it the night before I left, but had too many other things to do. So that is coming! I promise! I do want people to know about some of the great music our gifted Democratic legislators, their aides, and their friends put together.

Now I'm going to go back to sorting through my remaining 350-plus emails and see if there's anything interesting in there besides countless pleas for money from every progressive and Democratic group and candidate under the sun. Honestly, I don't have the money to go to everyone's $25 fundraiser, let alone the plethora of $100 minimum ones.

The Washington Post today ran a lengthy story about the factors in the gubernatorial and Senate races in Ohio.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/17/AR201008...

It's surprisingly accurate and even-handed, something I've come to no longer expect from major daily papers.

It focuses on whether the Democrats will be able to make Portman's trade stance and Kasich's Wall Street connections — hot-button issues with voters — stick, or whether Portman and Kasich will be able to blame Democrats for everything.

Both try to deflect blame.

""I suppose it's relevant to some people," Portman said when asked whether what happened when Republicans were in power should be a leading issue in this campaign. But he said the Obama administration's policies in combating the recession are more pertinent for voters. "The question is, was the stimulus a good idea? Has it worked?" he said. "Is the health-care bill a good idea? Has it worked?""

(To answer the first, yes, it is. To answer the second, it really hasn't taken effect yet, but there are some good elements we're better off for).

And from Kasich:

"Asked whether the government should have bailed out Lehman Brothers, he said: "That's yesterday's news and all that. But look, the whole thing was a mess and they went down and it's over, and it hurt a lot of people, including me, and that's the end of the story.""

Kasich really is unbelievable, and Ohio will be in deep, deep trouble if he is elected. HE was hurt by Lehman's collapse? I'll bet a lot of people who lost money in that collapse (tell THEM "it's over" and the "end of the story," clown) would LOVE to have the half-million dollar bonus he got as the company was going down. Boy, I'll bet that hurt a LOT.

Finally, the WaPo wraps up with this assessment:

This morning I was cleaning out my spam and I found a press release from the John Kasich campaign in my spam filter. That was the appropriate place for it.

Kasich has announced what he calls an economic plan, but it leaves me scratching my head. It sounds more like just moving the pieces around (I know, deck chairs on the Titanic — I was trying to avoid using THAT metaphor) but not moving in any direction. Basically, he's saying he wants to outsource the state's development department, claiming that experts from the private sector would be better at creating jobs. Considering that they haven't created any recently and that they enhance profitability by destroying jobs, this seems like a huge leap.

"As governor, John Kasich will replace Ohio’s government-run economic development functions with JobsOhio, a new not-for-profit corporation which will report to the governor and oversee the state’s efforts to revive the state’s economy and create jobs. A private-sector approach to economic development will be more responsive to the needs of business."

That's debatable, given the track record of the so-called "private sector."

And Kasich is making some utter ludicrous contentions.

For instance, he's claiming

"A board of directors comprised of CEOs will be an important asset for selling the state at the highest levels."

Or would they be out for themselves and the needs and profitability of their own business and their own stockholders. Seems to me that unless these CEOs severed their business interests there is vast room for conflict of interest.

He says that "An expert staff focused solely on economic development will give businesses confidence that their needs will be met and help rebuild Ohio’s reputation as a good place for business."

The following is submitted by Phil Robinson, Cuyahoga County Council Candidate, District 11. OhioDaily invites candidates across the state to submit op-ed articles for consideration via the Forums section of this site.

When Cuyahoga County Democrats head to the polls on Tuesday, September 7 – assuming they’re not one of the many expected to cast an early vote-by-mail ballot – they’ll have a couple of big choices to make. The first will be which county executive candidate they want representing the Democrats in the primary election this November. The second will be which county council candidate best embodies their vision for moving Cuyahoga County forward.

Cuyahoga County is only the second county in Ohio to adopt a county executive/council system of governance (Summit is the first). Whoever holds the executive office will undoubtedly be the most powerful person in the region. The 11 men and women elected to the council seats have a powerful role as well. The council has five primary functions:

• Serve as a check and balance to the County Executive by deciding the formation of county departments and confirming appointments to numerous boards and commissions
• Oversee the county’s $1.5 billion budget, including the administering of the sales tax and approval of government contracts
• Make our government open, honest and accountable, with the formation of a strong ethics code, conducting open meetings and making all records available to the public
• Ensure the county provides excellent health and human services while holding down costs
• Assist in developing a regional growth plan, including five-year economic development and infrastructure plans

Is being a woman a negative to serving on Cuyahoga's new county council as far as the Plain Dealer is concerned?

Someone pointed out to me earlier today that of the 16 endorsements the Plain Dealer made in county council races (11 Democrats, five Republicans), all but one went to men. And the one that didn't was District 9, a race that includes six women candidates and two men, neither of the two especially strong. So the odds were better there.

Now obviously some will mention the paucity of women candidates overall. And I get that, especially in my district (10) where, as the PD admits, the entire field was strong, and there are five men and two women. And there was only one woman in all five Republican races.

But I went in and read the editorials and noticed something odd: In three districts where there was an exceptionally strong woman candidate, they praised her highly and then passed her over to endorse a man whose qualifications were no better (and in one case, I believe, conspicuously weaker).

In District 1, for instance, they write,

"In a crowded field that includes four current or former suburban city council members and a pair of popular ballot names, two candidates stand out. [Nicole] Jones, once an aide to former Cleveland Schools CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett, has a solid grasp of county issues and has managed to negotiate North Olmsted's tempestuous politics with aplomb.
But [James] French, a first-time candidate, would be an even better addition to the first council."

In District 5, they dismiss Ann Marie Donegan thusly:

In one of the few head-to-head primaries for the new council, Democrats here have two fine candidates to consider. ... Trained as a nurse, Donegan is personable, hardworking and brings a valuable understanding of health and human services issues. While she surely would be a good advocate for her district, (Mike) Piepsny articulates a stronger countywide perspective, and that's what this job will require.

Most of you probably don't know who Herman Leonard is, and this post has nothing to do with politics. One of the greatest contemporary music photographers, Harman Leonard, died yesterday in California at the age of 87. The long-time New Orleans resident had moved there after Hurricane Katrina which destroyed many of his exquisite handmade prints; luckily his negatives were stored in a vault on the upper floor of a building and survived intact.

Leonard specialized in jazz photography, and many of the black-and-white images he shot over more than half a century were iconic. He captured the atmosphere of cabarets, theaters and recording studios, of artists wreathed in cigarette smoke you couldn't take in this era of no-smoking laws — it's bad for your health but makes a gorgeous, evocative photo. I discovered his work on trips to New Orleans, where it was often on display at the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival, or at A Gallery for Fine Photography on Royal Street. Ella Fitzgerald Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, and Louis Armstrong were among his long list of subjects.

My sister had her eye on a plaintive photo of Billie Holiday he took that she eyed on every trip she made to New Orleans and passed on because she thought it was too much of a splurge. When we were back in NOLA together in the early ’00s, she looked a it again and took the plunge, with my encouragement. I reminded her his prices would go up after he died, which luckily he didn't for almost another decade. That photo hangs on her living room wall in Chicago now.

Herman Leonard set the standard for music photography.

Check out his work at http://www.hermanleonard.com/default_home.htm

We'll get back to bashing John Boehnhead tomorrow.

Supposedly journalism is all migrating online. One of our favorite bloggers, Richard Andrews of the Real Deal blog,

http://rtandrews.blogspot.com/

has taken the leap into print with his new free monthly paper, The County Reporter, which is covering mostly local politics, just like his blog It debuted with the July issue which hit the streets about two weeks ago; he says the August issue should be out any day. The delayed street dates are typical growing pains for free newspapers. Let's hope he can keep this enterprise going because it's nice to have alternative voices to our beloved Plain Dealer.

Look for it around town. A colleague of mine picked it up at a coffee shop. Richard, if you have a list of drop points, feel free to post them here.

Here's some video of Justin delivering his stump speech to a Democratic club picnic in Huber Heights. Hamburgers sizzle on the grill behind him while he talks — you can almost smell them. I love the response he gets when he talks about the three myths about the district and says "The second myth is that John Boehner is overwhelmingly beloved." He just plays right off it.

Watch:

http://daytonos.com/?p=9394

I just sent him a check larger than I've ever sent any candidate other than Jennifer Brunner. Some people are going around naysaying, thinking it's a waste because he has no shot. It's not a waste, eve if he doesn't win. Boehner has never had this level of competition, and at some point hopefully, he's going to start to sweat, and maybe even miss a few golf swings. And candidates like Justin are the future of our party: young, sharp, focused, hard-working, and very very clear on the progressive values they espouse. We need to nurture them.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1499975&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=3...

That bearlike Republican congressman from Northeast Ohio, Steve LaTourette, has never shown himself averse to taking a little special-interest money. Big Oil, Big Coal, whatever, he loves them all.

To draw attention to this — as well as to garner a little publicity, of course — LaTourette's opponent Bill O'Neill is holding a rally outside LaTourette's office in downtown Painesville from 4-6 p.m. Thursday. Not that LaTourette will be there — Painesville would be slumming for him. And he's got a million-plus dollar home or two in the D.C. area he needs to look after.

O'Neill's campaign plans to have oil barrels representing the amount LaTourette has taken from corporate energy interests. Should be amusing.

Go to http://www.oneill4congress.com/
for more info.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ibkvUXhJ5N4Gt8aysY7y8S...

John Boehner plays golf:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BlueAmericaPac#p/u/0/HaYVf4J1zus

her presentation from this past weekend's White House Project conference about why women should run for office is worth checking out.

http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2010/08/08/call-to-action-we-are-the-c...

We still need to work on getting the state Democratic party to treat women with a little more respect. (I can't speak for the Republicans). That would help a lot. The entire situation with the secretary of state race in which several women were treated like pawns, and women voicing their concerns about a candidate were brushed off was problematic. The lack of women in party leadership in Cuyahoga County is not encouraging either. We need to work on changing those things so women will feel their bids for office will be supported as much as men's.

The Plain Dealer is in the midst of making its "pronouncement from the mountaintop" endorsements in the Cuyahoga county council races. Jill Zimon has already commented on the lag time between endorsing Republicans and Democrats in districts where it seems like the Republican has a shot, seeming to give Republicans a lengthy head start. (It would make more sense, given the brevity of their endorsements to do both parties in each district on the same day).

I'd like to comment on the vapidity and uselessness of their endorsements.

They just endorsed in the Democratic primary in my district, district 10 (Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, Cleveland Wards 10 and 11, Bratenahl). I'm not complaining about WHO they endorsed. It's one of several candidates I like and the one I'm leaning toward voting for. My district is fortunate to have seven candidates, not one of whom is terrible — although a couple are probably too inexperienced and I have a few qualms about a couple of others, though not serious ones.

The PD acknowledges the strength of the field, picks one — and then gives no compelling reason whatsoever for doing so. In fact, they hardly say anything at all about him. Given the strong field, I have no idea why they chose him and even acknowledged the best of the rest of the field. Instead, it feels like voting for a prom queen from the school's five prettiest girls: utterly arbitrary.

I don't deny that Julian Rogers may be the strongest candidate (although I also love Sharon Cole and Danny Williams and wish we could elect all three). But the PD sure doesn't make its case. It seems like they barely even tried.

John Boehner really is a piece of work. As I've been following Justin Coussoule's campaign http://www.coussouleforcongress.com/
to wrest Boehner's 8th district congressional seat from him, I've been amazed by what I see and hear from this out-of-touch doofus.

He was in fine form the other day when he said, in response to a bill intended to keep teachers and first responders on the job in states across the country, including Ohio, “The American people don’t want more Washington ‘stimulus’ spending – especially in the form of a pay-off to union bosses and liberal special interests. This stunning display of tone-deafness comes at the expense of American workers, who will be hit by another job-killing tax hike because Washington Democrats can’t kick their addiction to more government ‘stimulus’ spending. Democrats should be listening to their constituents – who are asking ‘where are the jobs?’ – instead of scampering back to Washington to push through more special interest bailouts and job-killing tax hikes."

Talk about stunning displays of tone-deafness. Boehnhead must have been listening to himself. First of all, there re no "job-killing tax hikes." LIke the "death panels" and government-funded abortions, those are a figment of either his acid-fueled hallucinations or his evil lying tongue. Second, since when is a bill designed to keep the workers who are the solid backbone of the middle class on the job "at the expense of American workers"?

What's most insulting is that he calls this essential army of of people on whose work the future and safety of our country depends "liberal special interests." (Oh, and of course, he's got to get in some union-bashing too.) This is a man whose cues and whose golf fees are coming from the wealthiest of corporate fat cats, who he apparently does NOT consider "special interests," even though they are very, very special — so much so that most of us will never cross paths with them.

As a followup to my post on Eric Brown, here's a link to a story in today's Sandusky Register about Brown and how he says he brings diversity to the state Supreme Court.

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/sandusky/2010/aug/05/chief-justice-bring...

Last night, I dressed up for the ODP dinner in Columbus. Today, I dressed down for the Geauga County Democratic Party picnic in Newbury. Thanks for the bocaburger, guys!

Chief Justice Eric Brown, who is running for election after being appointed by the governor to fill the vacant left by the death of Thomas Moyer, was the special guest. He pointed out the difference it's made since he's been on the Supreme Court. Prior to his appointment, all seven justices were Republicans, and he said it was a very clubby environment, seven people who basically agreed on everything. They weren't being challenged to view things from different angles or to defend their viewpoints to each other, so they didn't.

He said with his appointment, the atmosphere changed. And he said that as Chief Justice, he was able to make a big impact in bringing more diverse viewpoints. "I control the docket, I control the calendar," he said. "I get to speak first so I get to set the agenda and frame the issues."

Brown said that he wants people to be able to trust the court and to believe that they will get a fair hearing, whether they are a powerful corporation or a regular working person. Unfortunately, he's up against the perception that some judges are influenced by campaign donors; in 2006, the New York Times did a front-page article about Ohio Supreme Court Justice Terrence O'Donnell, finding that he decided with campaign donors 91 percent of the time. In many of those cases, there may have been good reasons, but it doesn't inspire confidence.

Keeping Brown in his position is essential to avoid having the court go back to its old clubby ways, where justices quibbled about details but saw things from basically the same angle. Just as important, we have to elect the other Democrat running for a seat on the Supreme Court, Mary Jane Trapp so that there is another Democrat on the court to help him bounce things around.

http://www.brownforohio.com

I had the pleasure of attending the annual Ohio Democratic Party dinner last night at the Columbus Convention Center, along with about 2,250 other people. They presented some awards, including Democrat of the Year to attorney general Richard Cordray and introduced the statewide office holders and candidates. The Governor, Senate candidate, and Senator Sherrod Brown spoke before keynote speaker Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic Nation Committee, spoke.

Basically they all said: we need to create jobs and improve the economy that the Republicans ruined so we need to get out and elect (or re-elected) our candidates this fall. They used considerably more words to say it. While there were, typically, some eyeball-glazing portions, the governor was very effective, getting a great response from the audience. He's a very strong campaigner, good at delivering a message, which makes me feel hopeful for our results this cycle.

Some of us were gratified to see the tumultuous response Jennifer Brunner got when she was introduced, easily the longest and loudest if anyone. Hmmm ....

He said this the other day at a forum in Columbus when discussing the 3-C Corridor intercity passenger rail for which Ohio has been awarded $400 million in stimulus money it can't use for anything else:

“It's not going to happen when I become governor, OK. If you want that train, I hope you can get over that and vote for me anyway, but you’re not going to get that train. It’s a white elephant, we can't afford it, we can’t pay for it. And who’s riding it?”

Yeah, get over the fact that Ohio could actually move forward and vote for Kasich anyway, even though he's going to bankrupt the state. OK?