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