Sunday, October 29, 2006

The General Election - 2006 -- PART 3 -The Judicial Races

To me this is the sad part of voting, when you look at the population of the State of Ohio which is nearly 12 Million people only about 10% of the population or the size of Cuyahoga County will elect members of the Supreme Court.

To me, Ladies and Gentlemen, these races are more important that the Governor's race because they can decide how business is conducted and how our lives are lead. These men and women of the bench can decide whether someone live or dies and yet if you have a name you can get elected no matter your abilities.

That is why I suggest you look at the Candidates who are or have been judges before you decide on which person to vote for the Supreme Court and the appellate Courts.

For the Supreme Court of the State Ohio

There are two seats up this year, one is being defended by the incumbent Terrence O'Donnell the second one is open. All the candidates have excellent qualifications and if we had to elect for four jurists then all of these gentlemen would receive my vote, however we must pick only two.

With respect to the Terrence O'Donnell versus William O'Neill race, I am voting for O'Donnell. Judge O'Donnell has served well on the Supreme Court and should be re-elected. I find it interesting that one of the key themes of his campaign in the late stages was the 91% remark. He has pointed out that O'Donnell has decided cases for his contributors 91% of the time. I find that remark interesting because in the judicial races lawyers tend to give to both candidates, so if O'Neill gets elected then he would probably have the same amount as well. So I think that number is a misleading statement.

In the other Supreme Court Race: its Ben Espy versus Robert Cupp, this is an interesting race where truly either candidate would serve well on the bench. Mr Espy is a long time practicing attorney with service within the Attorney General's office, Mr. Cupp is currently serving on the Third District Court of Appeals.

With the experience on the bench, I say vote for Robert Cupp.

Now for the Cuyahoga Judicial Races

I am only going to talk about the races with challenges, the rest are already re-elected.

The 8th district Court of Appeals (Two Races)

The first race is between Mary Boyle and Ralph Perk, I haven't seen much of a campaign from either of these two, but I am told Judge Boyle doesn't believe in yard signs and Perk has only a few in the 'Wood. I have seen Judge Boyle on the bench, she is a hard worker and she deserves the chance on the Court of Appeals, MARY J. BOYLE should get the nod.

The second race is between Melody Stewart and Brian Moriarty, essentially these two are newcomers to this level of the bench, Stewart was a volunteer Magistrate in the Juvenile Diversion Program and Moriarty was an acting Judge in the Rocky River Muni Court. However, I think the slight edge should be given to Brian Moriarty for his work with the Court of Appeals as a Staff Attorney.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS:

Ronald Suster vs Roger Kramer - Go with the experience Judge Suster. For the CSI or Law and Order fans Judge Suster was the judge who presided over the most recent Sam Sheppard Trial.

John P. O'Donnell vs. John F. Corrigan - This to me is a PICK'EM race. As far as I am concerned neither of these two candidates have really bowled me over, even though O'Donnell has experience. Vote Corrigan.

For the rest of the races, here is what I believe to be the winners:

Kathleen Ann Sutula (Incumbent)
Marilyn Barkley Cassidy
Shirley Strickland Saffold (Incumbent)
Joan Synenberg (Currently Muni Court Judge)
Dick Ambrose (Judge by Appointment)
Jeff Hastings (Judge by Appointment)
Alison Nelson Floyd (Too many McMonagle's on bench already)

Juvenile Court
Martin Keenan get the nod

The General Election - 2006 -- PART 2

This year the political boxing match has two heavy weight fights - Governor and US Senate, but there are some very interesting undercard fights as well:

First: The Auditor's Race - This office has been getting a fair amount of flack because of the Tom Noe scandal. The Democrats have tried to paint this office (under Betty Montgomery) as being asleep at the switch as to the funds being used illegally, however, if you really look at the BWC scandal the Auditors office has no oversight at all because for some (arcane) reason the BWC fund is responsible only to the BWC, but that will and should change come next legislative session.

Now to the race itself. To sum it up it has been nasty fight, Barbara Sykes has tried to paint this race on how she will change the way things are done!

Mary Taylor is the better choice for Auditor. It just seems right that a CPA should be sitting in office watching how our money is spent.

Secretary of State: This race has been somewhat run under the radar between Greg Hartmann and Jennifer Brunner. If Brunner wins it will be the first Democrat in that seat since Sherrod Brown, who she happened to work for back in the early 1980's so she has the most to gain from the Democratic wave. However, when you look at I think the better choice is Greg Hartmann as being a Clerk of Courts, he has the understanding as an administrator of a somewhat vast organization similar to the Secretary of State's office.

Treasurer - This race most people don't know a lot about, in fact I have seen one debate between Sandra O'Brien and Richard Cordray and thought that Cordray was the Republican, because some his answers seemed very much a conservative view point. This is one of those races that just screams PICK'EM I took O'Brien on my dance card, but I believe the Democrats will push Cordray into the seat.

To get down into Cuyahoga County:
An easy race to pick is Jimmy Dimora for County Commissioner, the only way this guy is going to lose this seat is if he dies in office or gets arrested and thrown in jail. As the Democratic Party leader in the County, it would be awfully embarrassing if he got tossed by the voters.

For Lakewood:
State Senate: Dale Miller will retain the seat, he was appointed to it once Dan Brady went to Mayor Jackson administration.
State Representative: Mike Skindell will get re-elected. Lakewood loves this guy, but he will need to bring some bacon back to area to continue on being reelected. Of course this will be his 3rd Term, so he has until 2009 to bring some goodies back to Lakewood. But, I don't expect it.

NEXT UP THE JUDICIAL RACES

Friday, October 27, 2006

The General Election - 2006 - Part 1

As I did for the Primary, I will handicap the races and issues that appear on the Lakewood ballot, some will be easy to pick others I am not so sure.

Let's get an easy one out of the way: ATTORNEY GENERAL

This race will be over early, Betty Montgomery in a walk. The only question I will have will be how big the margin will be.

Marc Dann did a horrible job of trying to paint himself as the best person to be the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of this state, he kept tripping over his own problems, I still think Subodh Chandra was the better choice for the Democrats.

But it really doesn't matter who the Democrats put against Betty, she was going to crush anybody.

If Ken Blackwell loses the Governor's race (more on this later), figure Montgomery as the leading Republican candidate in 2010 Governor's race.

DeWine on CNN

Wednesday night Senator Mike DeWine was on Larry King, not sure if it was live or taped - but the interesting part was his challenger was sitting in Dulles Airport (Washington D.C.) waiting for a flight back to Cleveland watching it.
As the PD reports in this morning paper the RNC is dropping its ad buy for DeWine, so what, if you can get 15 minutes on Larry King talking about your record a week or two before the election - that as the credit card commercial goes "is priceless"

Thursday, October 26, 2006

ISSUE 4 & 5

H/T Cox & Forkum
If you are a smoker, even this may be outlawed if one of these issues is passed

I have problems with both Issue 4 & 5. With both issues I am okay with the language, however on Issue 5, I get concerned over the establishment of a fund and think where is this money coming from and who gets authority to spend and who is to receive the dollars, I have yet to see a clear explanation of that part of the ballot. If someone can point it to me, please feel free to let me know in the comments.

By the way, if you really read the language, if both Issues pass, then 4 would erase 5, since Issue 4 is a constitutional language and Issue 5 is strictly Ohio Revised Code material.

I would suspect there will be a lot of confusion by voters on which issue to vote for, which could cause one or both to fail.

I have my absentee ballot, and these are the last items to be completed, right now I am leaning NO on Issue 4 and Issue 5.

Friday, October 20, 2006

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS




Click on the title to make your own Marquee!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

October is just full of surprises

First let's talk about the budget deficit, since the Democrats won't, it's the lowest in the past four years according to White House figures.

Speaking of Democrats, lets ask the Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid if he can spare a dime or two. I hear he has an extra $1.1 million that he never reported to the Senate Ethics Committee. Perhaps he can help with the street repairs here in Lakewood.

UPDATE: Powerline has more information on Harry Reid

Another surprise is that the Lakewood Sun Post, the last bastion of free thinking has given its nod to Sherrod Brown for the US Senate seat, because he represents and speaks for the people of Ohio. Well at least they endorse Betty Montgomery for Attorney General, so I guess they are as left leaning as we might think!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

What a Surprise!

The Plain Dealer endorsing Ted Strickland for Governor!

If I were Strickland's Campaign Advisors I really wouldn't be dancing in the streets too much, as I view their endorsement as the lesser of two evils.

The second paragraph speaks volumes as to what the Editorial Board thinks of Ted Strickland's ideas -- "Democrat Ted Strickland projects steadiness, but often appears stunningly free of vision. "

Here is another
"Besides, the ideas Strickland has been willing to advance so far are solid, and we are relatively confident he will continue to surround himself with smart people who can help him implement and expand upon them. "

The Plain Dealer is relatively confident about Strickland's plans -- Please we just had 8 years of Relativity, we need someone with leadership with forward thinking!

The Plain Dealer is afraid that Ken Blackwell will burn down the government to move Ohio forward, well perhaps its high time for that to happen -- anyone got a match!

I am assuming that the Plain Dealer in the 10th District Race, will either back track their Primary choice and endorse Kucinich or will not endorse either candidate.

As I have already tipped my hand on the Governor's race, I will have more to say on that and all the other races including the Judges over the next couple of weeks.