OH-6 BREAKING Petition-gate
FROM LINCOLN LOGS BLOG:
http://lincolnlogsblog.com/2006/02/16/oh-6-breaking-petition-gate/
Who was it this past weekend that was dishing grief for some petition issues among the Republicans? I do believe it was the DEMOCRATS. However, it now appears that one of theirs is in substantial trouble of his own.
State Senator & Furniture Salesman Extraordinaire Charlie Wilson is facing prospects of being left off the May primary ballot because his campaign broke at least two laws in the process of filing for office.
People close to the situation are telling Lincoln Logs (I have always wanted to say that) that Charlie Wilson’s petitions are void, and the Secretary of State agrees.
Let’s hit the way back machine to Monday February 13. Wilson’s campaign filed petitions with 96 signatures in Columbiana County. Wilson’s campaign had asked Belmont and Scioto County Boards of Elections to perform due diligence checking the petitions (something the circulator “swears” to on the petition statement). After the petitions were filed, the Columbiana County Board of Elections was contacted and told that there were problems.
It appeared at least 43 names were void leaving a narrow cushion of 3 signatures for Wilson. Wilson was contacted, and decided to withdraw his petitions and submit new ones.
If I had one of those cool Drudge siren light things, I would use it here.
Calling Mary Taylor, Calling Mary Taylor. Mary, what have we learned about re-filing petitions? Should we ask Chris McNulty. (I don’t mean to pick on Mary Taylor, she is faultless in this whole deal, it is interesting, however with such a recent incident that the Wilson campaign managed to stumble into trouble).
Today, Wilson indeed filed new petitions. However, the Secretary of State’s office got involved and ruled that the petitions cannot be re-filed. This isn’t even an ambiguous area. ORC 3501.38, Section I, Subsection 2 states:
No petition may be withdrawn after it is filed in a public office.
But wait, we aren’t done yet. When the Wilson camp learned of the Secretary of State’s opinion, Wilson attempted to withdraw his SECOND set of petitions and go with his first set. Except the law says you can’t do that. I am told that the receipts for these transactions actually record Wilson as “withdrawn” in relation to his first set of petitions and after he withdrew the second set, THAT set was crossed out along with the “withdrawn” from the Monday petitions.
Would you like another chance, Charlie? You have already hit strike two and Ohio is only a ONE strike state.
This story is nothing if not juicy, because there is a SECOND bit of ORC that Senator Wilson conveniently chose to ignore by accepting a refund on his second filing fee. ORC 3513.10 section F, subsection 1 says:
In no case shall a fee paid under this section be returned to a candidate.
What does this mean for Charlie? You mean besides the political consequences of not showing much aptitude for paperwork or pesky stuff like Ohio Revised Code and having forever etched into his biography a good old fashioned “-gate?”
[Blatant posturing alert]
Do we really want someone who makes such an elementary mistake representing us in Washington?
[End blatant posturing]
Despite my posturing, it would appear that Charlie Wilson is damaged goods and can no longer be considered a viable candidate (unless the democrats weren’t sincere over the last year with their righteous indignation at even the HINT of laws being broken, but that couldn’t be.)
The best course for Wilson now is to lick his wounds, realize his campaign has seen better days and return to his Furniture/Mortuary Science Empire.
In the end, this is the “frontrunner” start we expected from Danny Harmon, not the self-anointed heir to Ted Strickland’s seat.
And frankly, we at Lincoln Logs couldn’t be happier.
State Senator & Furniture Salesman Extraordinaire Charlie Wilson is facing prospects of being left off the May primary ballot because his campaign broke at least two laws in the process of filing for office.
People close to the situation are telling Lincoln Logs (I have always wanted to say that) that Charlie Wilson’s petitions are void, and the Secretary of State agrees.
Let’s hit the way back machine to Monday February 13. Wilson’s campaign filed petitions with 96 signatures in Columbiana County. Wilson’s campaign had asked Belmont and Scioto County Boards of Elections to perform due diligence checking the petitions (something the circulator “swears” to on the petition statement). After the petitions were filed, the Columbiana County Board of Elections was contacted and told that there were problems.
It appeared at least 43 names were void leaving a narrow cushion of 3 signatures for Wilson. Wilson was contacted, and decided to withdraw his petitions and submit new ones.
If I had one of those cool Drudge siren light things, I would use it here.
Calling Mary Taylor, Calling Mary Taylor. Mary, what have we learned about re-filing petitions? Should we ask Chris McNulty. (I don’t mean to pick on Mary Taylor, she is faultless in this whole deal, it is interesting, however with such a recent incident that the Wilson campaign managed to stumble into trouble).
Today, Wilson indeed filed new petitions. However, the Secretary of State’s office got involved and ruled that the petitions cannot be re-filed. This isn’t even an ambiguous area. ORC 3501.38, Section I, Subsection 2 states:
No petition may be withdrawn after it is filed in a public office.
But wait, we aren’t done yet. When the Wilson camp learned of the Secretary of State’s opinion, Wilson attempted to withdraw his SECOND set of petitions and go with his first set. Except the law says you can’t do that. I am told that the receipts for these transactions actually record Wilson as “withdrawn” in relation to his first set of petitions and after he withdrew the second set, THAT set was crossed out along with the “withdrawn” from the Monday petitions.
Would you like another chance, Charlie? You have already hit strike two and Ohio is only a ONE strike state.
This story is nothing if not juicy, because there is a SECOND bit of ORC that Senator Wilson conveniently chose to ignore by accepting a refund on his second filing fee. ORC 3513.10 section F, subsection 1 says:
In no case shall a fee paid under this section be returned to a candidate.
What does this mean for Charlie? You mean besides the political consequences of not showing much aptitude for paperwork or pesky stuff like Ohio Revised Code and having forever etched into his biography a good old fashioned “-gate?”
[Blatant posturing alert]
Do we really want someone who makes such an elementary mistake representing us in Washington?
[End blatant posturing]
Despite my posturing, it would appear that Charlie Wilson is damaged goods and can no longer be considered a viable candidate (unless the democrats weren’t sincere over the last year with their righteous indignation at even the HINT of laws being broken, but that couldn’t be.)
The best course for Wilson now is to lick his wounds, realize his campaign has seen better days and return to his Furniture/Mortuary Science Empire.
In the end, this is the “frontrunner” start we expected from Danny Harmon, not the self-anointed heir to Ted Strickland’s seat.
And frankly, we at Lincoln Logs couldn’t be happier.
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Big World Blog Homepage- http://www.bigworldblog.com
Conservative Heroes Hall of Fame- http://ronlisy.bizland.com/bigworldheroes/
posted by RonL at 11:38 PM
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