We might not vote for him, but we can’t accuse him of being lazy….

Columbus, Ohio - Ohio gubernatorial candidate Congressman Ted Strickland will speak at events in Meigs, Athens, Ross, Putnam, Fairfield and Montgomery Counties this weekend.
Following is his public schedule for Saturday, October 1 and Sunday October 2.

Saturday, October 1, 2005
MEIGS COUNTY
WHO: Congressman Ted Strickland, Candidate for Ohio Governor
WHAT: Speak to Meigs County Supporters
WHEN: Saturday, October 1 2:00 PM

ATHENS COUNTY
WHO:Congressman Ted Strickland, Candidate for Ohio Governor
WHAT:Speak to Ohio College Democrats Meeting
WHEN:Saturday, October 1 5:00 PM

ROSS COUNTY
WHO:Congressman Ted Strickland, Candidate for Ohio Governor
WHAT:Speak to Ross County Democratic Party Fall Dinner
WHEN:Saturday, October 1 7:30 PM

PUTNAM COUNTY
WHO:Congressman Ted Strickland, Candidate for Ohio Governor
WHAT:Speak to Putnam County Democratic Party Event
WHEN:Sunday, October 2 11:00 AM

FAIRFIELD COUNTY
WHO:Congressman Ted Strickland, Candidate for Ohio Governor
WHAT:Speak to Fairfield County Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Board
WHEN:Sunday, October 2 3:30 PM

MONTGOMERY COUNTY
WHO:Congressman Ted Strickland, Candidate for Ohio Governor
WHAT:Speak to Huber Heights Democratic Party Dinner
WHEN:Sunday, October 2 6:45 PM

Warren County residents can meet candidates running for state office during separate Republican and Democratic events. The Warren County Women’s Republican Party holds a Republicans Rock! fund-raising celebration Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Warren County Fairgrounds. All four Republican candidates for the 2006 governor’s race - Ken Blackwell, Pete Draganic, Betty Montgomery and Jim Petro - will speak starting at 1:30 p.m. The event is free and will include music, classic car and motorcycles displays and children’s games. Profits will be donated to the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund. Call (937) 885-9010.

The Warren County Democratic Party hosts a meet-and greet dinner at 7 p.m. Oct. 8 at the 20 Mile House Restaurant, Columbia and Montgomery roads, in Deerfield Township. Gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland and Attorney General candidate Subodh Chandra will be at the dinner. Paul Hackett will be the guest speaker. The meet-and-greet starts at 6 p.m. Dinner is $50 per person. Call (937) 704-9911 or www.warrencountydems.org.

Nice lineups!

Discussion of values seems to have been noticeably absent in the Cleveland mayoral primary (at least to judge by what I’ve seen of the campaign from here in Central Ohio). Perhaps if mayoral candidates in Cleveland start talking about values, they might start inspiring Cleveland residents to hope for a better future for their economically battered city. Read the rest from Red-State.com

Could be on to something here.

http://www.growohio.org/story/2005/9/29/193258/703

From Democracy Guy…

That’s why George, Bill, and I started Meet The Bloggers. We wanted to break this cycle, fill a void in Cleveland’s mainstream media, engage the candidates at length, with follow up, make the exchange available to anyone, anytime, and create a level of debate a bit higher than this silly chicken and peas circuit. I think we succeeded. I hope we are able to keep it going.

You did succeed.

From Callahan’s Cleveland Diary…

Mayor Campbell said her administration played no role in getting $32 million in Federal tax credit financing into the Steelyard Commons package. She stood by the claim that SYC will produce 1,800 jobs. She said she will support unions’ right to organize store employees at SYC, and that the Towpath Trail passing through the development will be a public right-of-way “like a street” not under the SYC owners’ control. That was all in the first ten minutes.

Don’t hold your breath, there’s a reason why stores like Wal Mart and Target have been so successful, no unions and smart management. Unions can go after these stores all they want and if they succeed then management will just close the store.

”There is no way I could’ve imagined the ferocity of the Republican Party on the marriage issue in [Ohio],” said Gregory Moore, a Cleveland native and executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s National Voter Fund.

”Ken Blackwell was leading the charge [against marriage],” Moore added during Thursday morning’s panel of leaders from across the spectrum of the African-American community. Blackwell, who is black, is running for Ohio governor in 2006. ”It was just one of the many egregious things he did in the election that we will never forgive him for.” Read the rest HERE.

Hmmmmmm, I’m glad the Republican party stuck up for marriage, what’s so wrong about that?

Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro promised a packed luncheon gathering in Akron on Wednesday that if elected governor he wouldn’t bring scandal to the Statehouse.

“I don’t golf. I don’t do sporting events, and I don’t do dinners,” Petro said at the Martin University Center.

Although the golf comment was made in the spirit of jest, Petro did what he could in remarks to the Akron Press Club to distance himself from the troubles dogging Gov. Bob Taft. Read the rest HERE.

Interesting.

CLEVELAND - For many of the candidates, the myriad issues of the current mayoral race can be summed up in one word - leadership.

According to former Municipal Court Judge Robert Triozzi, Cleveland needs a “new creative impulse and a sense of urgency (Mayor Jane Campbell) has not exhibited.”

Former Euclid Mayor David Lynch compared the incumbent’s stewardship of the city to that of a “slow, clumsy elephant.”

“They’ve driven the horse into the lake,” said former Councilman Bill Patmon, taking a shot at both Campbell and City Council President Frank Jackson, Ward 5, who also is in the running to replace Campbell. Read the rest HERE.

CLEVELAND — Battle lines are being drawn on the day of the groundbreaking for a giant Wal-Mart in Cleveland's old steel yard.

Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell will be among the city officials grabbing a shovel to help kick off the construction for the largest open-air retail center in Cuyahoga County.

City officials said the shopping complex will create 1,800 jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for Cleveland and its schools. Read the rest HERE.

But it’s so cheap to shop there, so it like a tax cut on everyone!

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A state lawmaker says he’ll introduce a bill to open up all state public lands and Lake Erie to drilling for natural gas.

Rep. John Hagan, R-Alliance, made the announcement after the House Utilities and Energy Committee he heads heard hours of testimony Wednesday on skyrocketing natural gas prices.
Hagan said he expects to work with environmental groups to ensure that state parks, forests and nature preserves aren’t damaged by the drilling.

During the hearing, the panel heard pleas from oil and gas drillers for more access to public lands.

The state manages about 590,000 acres of public lands, much of it in oil and gas territory. The state Division of Parks and Recreation, which operates 74 state parks, has no authority to issue drilling permits.

Gov. Bob Taft continues to oppose drilling under Lake Erie, an area producers say is the state’s largest source of natural gas. Congress also has banned drilling in the Great Lakes. Read the rest HERE.

On the radio this morning Taft said he was in favor of drilling on public lands but not in Lake Erie.

Like it matters what Taft thinks

Some Ohio religious leaders are seeking to have a say in who might be the state’s next political leaders, and they don’t appear to be backing U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio. Strickland is a current Democratic gubernatorial candidate and an ordained United Methodist minister.

The Ohio Restoration Project is a conservative organization that aims to recruit more than 2,000 pastors - evangelicals, Pentecostals, Baptists and Catholic clergy - to become “patriot pastors.” Their job would be to recruit 300 new Ohio voters each prior to the 2006 elections.
The group’s agenda includes opposition to abortion, protection of marriage, school choice, tax reform and tort reform, according to its Web site.
Strickland, though, believes the message of the “patriot pastors” is far too political. Read the rest HERE.

Don’t tell the liberals he’s a minister or he’ll lose even more support!

Best populist rhetoric: Former Euclid Mayor David Lynch, promising “to get rid of every parking meter in Cleveland” as soon as he takes office. Read the rest HERE.

How cool would that be? Although our poor parking garages would suffer, and that would be sooooo sad, they are such a great asset to our community. (note sarcasm)

Tuesday evening Governor Bob Taft was in Athens to thank an organization for its contributions to the community.

During a banquet the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio presented a $48,000 grant to the Passion Works Studio, a place where mentally handicapped people express their creative talents.

So impressive and important.

Rumor has it that David Lynch, candidate for Mayor of Cleveland, is preparing to run for Cuyahoga County Commissioner in 2006. Could he be the GOP’s great hope? Can he knock off Jimmy Dimora? Is Jimmy Dimora running again, or is he retiring? All interesting questions, more to come on this soon.

A Lesson we should all learn…

Now am I a shill for the Blackwell campaign? Hardly. But here's my hope. All of us will stop aligning ourselves with candidates and start aligning ourselves with ideas and values. Things would be far more civil if we stop making thingsso personal. It's not a ”�“My Candidate - Your Candidate”? battle. It's an ideological battle. Read the rest HERE.

He’s right!

click here.

We’ve had some requests to expand our coverage outside of Statewide and Cleveland races…so we will, here’s part of an e-mail we’ve received regarding a Lorain race. Since we can’t be everywhere all the time, send us an e-mail at [email protected] if you have some races w should be aware of. Thank you.

I hope you might take note of a race out here in Lorain County for Elyria Municipal Court - Clerk. The current clerk is retiring and it is an open seat. The Court District includes the cities of Elyria and North Ridgeville, Villages of Grafton and LaGrange, and the townships of Carlisle, Columbia, Eaton, Elyria, Grafton and LaGrange. The district has over 100,000 residents.

The race is nominally non-partisan, but the Rs and the Ds each have a candidate.
Anne-Marie Blevins is running for the Rs. Eric Rothgery is running for the Ds.
Eric is the current Safety Service Director in Elyria. He is the no. 2 guy in an administration that has raised or proposed raising city taxes 6 times in the past 6 years. He also advocated limited bidders on the construction of the new City Hall to union contractors. He's counting on name id from his uncle, the current clerk, Don Rothgery and his brother, Common Pleas Judge, Chris Rothgery, to bring him victory.

Anne-Marie on the other hand is an attorney with experience directly related to the Clerk's office. She's worked inside of the court system, as a Judicial Staff Attorney (at the Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court) and Magistrate, and in front of it as an attorney in private practice. For more info, please check out her website at www.VoteAnne-Marie.com. She's a conservative who will manage the office with an eye to doing more with the same or less taxpayer funding.

We haven't had an R clerk in my lifetime, but we have a real shot this time.

Ask for a mention on RAB and you usually shall receive.

Unreal.

Nice interview with Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell/Chris Ronayne. I didn’t know we’d have the pleasure of having Jane’s chief of staff take up about 20% of our hour of time with the mayor, who was very cordial and forthcoming when she wasn’t being interrupted by her chief of staff Chris Ronayne. I’m trying to remember the last time White House chief of staff Andy Card answered questions for the president of the United States on Meet The Press, but someone will have to help me with that, as I can’t recall it ever happening, or for that matter, anyone else answering questions to a candidate, other than the candidate, on any other broadcast in the history of electoral politics. Read the rest HERE.

Read the live blogging remarks of the interview at BrewedFreshDaily HERE.

Once again, great job Cleveland area bloggers!

Read this post about the math.