Trakas drops out

From the Ohio Republican Party website.....

 

State Rep. Jim Trakas has dropped out of the race for Secretary of State and officially endorsed Greg Hartmann's candidacy for that office.  Trakas will now serve as chairman of Hartmann's campaign.

Plusquellic to help lead Sawyer's run for House

Mayor returns favor from 25 years ago, will co-chair campaign
By Carl Chancellor
Beacon Journal staff writer

Twenty-five years ago, Tom Sawyer, who was then Akron's mayor, chaired Don Plusquellic's campaign for an at-large seat on City Council.

Thursday morning, Plusquellic returned the favor, announcing during his weekly press conference that he would co-chair Sawyer's campaign for the 13th Congressional District seat.

``Tom Sawyer has done a great deal for Akron, for Summit County, and for all the constituents he has represented over the years,'' the current mayor said. ``Returning him to Congress will give us a representative determined to fight for the best interests of our working families.''

Standing at a lectern on the floor of the Vacuum Electric Switch Co. -- one of several firms housed at the Akron Industrial Incubator on South Main Street -- Plusquellic termed the press conference location ``the perfect place.''

``When he (Sawyer) was mayor, he was very supportive of this effort,'' Plusquellic said.

He said Sawyer has always been aware of the need to help startup businesses and that the Akron Industrial Incubator was made possible by more than $2 million in federal grants Sawyer secured during his 16 years in Congress.

Sawyer said Plusquellic's endorsement meant ``a great deal.''

A bumper sticker plastered to the lectern read: Sawyer, the Experienced Democrat -- Fix The Economy, End The War.

``The last major vote I cast (in Congress) was against the war,'' Sawyer said. He called the current Iraqi situation a ``total failure of adequate planning.''

When Sawyer's district was redrawn for the 2002 congressional races, he lost in the Democratic primary to Tim Ryan, who then won the seat.

This year, U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown -- who is leaving the 13th District seat to seek the U.S. Senate nomination -- set off a stampede of candidates to fill the vacancy.

Eight Republicans and nine Democrats filed their candidacy to seek their party's nomination in this year's primary.

Sawyer's eight opponents are Capri Cafaro of Sheffield Village; Norbert G. Dennerll Jr. of Westlake; Daniel Goulder of Westlake; William Grace of Elyria; Gary Kucinich of Strongsville; Michael Lyons of Richfield; Betty Sutton of Chardon; and John L. Wolfe of Akron.

Sawyer's 2002 defeat was blamed, in part, on the redistricting, but his 1993 vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which angered many labor leaders, also played a role.

Thursday, Sawyer said he had ``come to the conclusion that NAFTA was a mistake.''

``NAFTA has become a metaphor for the economic woes of many communities in northeast Ohio,'' he said.

Knowing the effects of the trade agreement, Sawyer said he ``would not vote the same way'' today, but he also said pulling out of NAFTA is not the answer.

The United States should revisit that agreement, as well as the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization, he said.

Sawyer said he has brought hundreds of millions of federal dollars to Akron to help rebuild the city's economy.

``As congressman, my voting record on these matters is clear,'' Sawyer said. ``I know how to get things done.''

Unhappy Republicans could tip 2006 election

MANY FAITHFUL ARE DISILLUSIONED, CAN'T SEE VOTING FOR GOP
By Steven Thomma And James Kuhnhenn
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

GOLDEN, Colo. - Brian Wareing has been a Republican all his life. But ask him how his party has done running the federal government and his complaints pile up: Immigration. Spending. Trade. He's had enough.

He won't vote for a Democrat in November's congressional elections. But he might vote for a third-party candidate -- or he might not vote at all. "At this point, I couldn't vote for the Republican," the house painter from this Denver suburb said.

Across the country this spring, many Republicans alternate between anger and ambivalence five years after their party seized power over the federal government and seven months before a pivotal election for control of Congress.

If enough disgruntled Republicans sit out the midterm elections -- when voter turnout typically is low and victory goes to the party whose base is most passionate -- Republican incumbents could lose in close contests such as the one in Golden.

Democrats need to gain only 15 of 435 seats to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and six of the 33 that are up this year to take the 100-member Senate. National trends suggest that's possible. Solid majorities of adults disapprove of Bush, the war in Iraq, the leadership of Congress and the direction of the country, according to a series of polls. Increasingly, the national mood seems to mirror 1994, when voters turned sour on President Clinton, rejected Democratic lawmakers and installed a Republican majority in Congress for the first time in 40 years.

The one shred of good news for the Republican Party now: Not many House and Senate contests appear all that competitive yet. Iraq and disillusionment with Bush don't yet trump voters' local concerns in many states. And the threat of a Democratic Congress still could rally the Republican base.

But it's clear from dozens of interviews in key battlegrounds that Republican voters today lack the passion they brought to the 2002 midterm elections. And that gives Democrats an opportunity.

At a recent breakfast in Golden, one Republican after another put voices behind those numbers, complaining about Washington policies from the war in Iraq and the failure to stop illegal immigration to runaway federal spending. The cumulative effect led several to question whether they or like-minded party loyalists would vote next fall.

"I've been a Republican since I started voting," said John Burdan, a retired Air Force officer from Jefferson County, outside Denver. "Things are going terrible. I won't vote for a Democrat. But I might not vote for the Republican."

"Doesn't Bush know that Republicans are watching?" asked Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Congrove. "We're setting ourselves up for big defeats."

Almost everywhere, it's easy to find Republicans who once were inspired by Bush and the Republican Congress and now seem dispirited.

In Florida, for example, a lukewarm attitude is pervasive in the Palm Beach district where Republican Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr., a 13-term veteran, faces a tough re-election.

"There are a lot of problems out there," said Republican David Boyer, a hotel employee from Hollywood, Fla. "Can a Republican do it? I doubt it. Can a Democrat do it? I doubt it."

In Connecticut, some Republicans fear that their party could be hurt by growing opposition to Bush and the Iraq war.

"If the president is doing really well, I'll do better; if he's not doing really well, I'll do worse," said Rep. Christopher Shays, a nine-term incumbent.

TEL opponets on attack

News from the TEL opponents.  Notice in the two articles below that the Chair of the CSU Board of Trustees and the lobbyist for the Mayors group are both Tim Cosgrove....

News Release #13858
March 17, 2006
Contact: Brian Johnston
216.687.2290 | pr@csuohio.edu
Board of Trustees Opposes Proposed Tax Expenditure Limitation (TEL) Amendment to Ohio’s Constitution
The Cleveland State University Board of Trustees today unanimously approved a resolution opposing the proposed Tax Expenditure Limitation (TEL) amendment to Ohio’s Constitution.

Trustee Chairman Timothy Cosgrove said, “As university policy makers, we have at times in the past stood in the background and not exercised a leadership role early-on in matters that involve the serious trust placed in us by our state leadership, our University and – most importantly, the students we serve. We must never lose sight that it is our most serious responsibility to protect them against adverse financial impact in ways over which they have no control. That is the serious charter we accept when we become Trustees.”

In its resolution, the Board affirms its belief that constitutional limits on state expenditures would severely restrict the state’s ability to invest in vital public services, such as higher education, which are critical to the state’s economic growth and well-being; and that access to affordable higher educational opportunities, which would be restricted by constitutional expenditure limitations, is increasingly necessary for Ohioans to succeed in today’s ever changing and competitive global economic environment.

***

Cleveland State is a comprehensive metropolitan university committed to providing affordable education of high quality to students with diverse backgrounds, experiences, interests and needs. Located in downtown Cleveland with extended campuses in Westlake and Solon, Cleveland State offers degrees in hundreds of undergraduate and graduate programs and law, and professional development programs. Cleveland State reaches out to academically talented and highly motivated students through its Honors Program. And Cleveland State’s faculty is tops, with more than 90 percent holding the highest degree attainable in their field. Approximately 16,000 students attend Cleveland State.

# # #

GOP, Dems agree they disagree, Both sides oppose spending-limit plan
The Plain Dealer
Thursday, March 23, 2006


GOP, Dems agree they disagree
Both sides oppose spending-limit plan

Joseph L. Wagner
Plain Dealer Reporter

Warrensville Heights -- More than 100 local officials -- Democrats and Republicans -- met Wednesday to begin efforts to defeat what they say could be a devastating proposal to limit government spending.

The state constitutional amendment being pushed by Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is a "nexus of evil," said John Mahoney, deputy director of the Ohio Municipal League. The proposal will be on the November ballot.

"The language is broad and fuzzy, it would trump everything else in the Constitution, and would grant everyone the right to sue governments," Mahoney said.

The Tax and Expenditure Limitation amendment, or TEL for short, would limit government spending to either 3.5 percent a year, or the combined rates of inflation and population growth -- whichever is higher. Higher spending would require voter approval.

The meeting of 137 county, city, school, library and other local officials was organized by the Cuyahoga County Mayors and City Managers Association. Many officials agreed to return to their local councils and boards to seek resolutions opposing the TEL proposal. When asked, no one showed support for the amendment.

Blackwell's spokesman, Carlo LoParo, said the local opposition does not surprise him.

"These are the individuals that spend the people's money and they always want more to spend," LoParo said.

LoParo said the Republican mayors opposing the issue are more likely expressing loyalties to Blackwell's gubernatorial primary opponent, Attorney General Jim Petro.

Bay Village Mayor Debbie Sutherland, president of the mayors group and a Petro supporter, said the event was not designed to help Petro.

"We are faced with a sloppy, hastily considered constitutional amendment that will turn Ohio into a regressive, backwater state," Sutherland said.

Tim Cosgrove, lobbyist for the mayors group, said there are unresolved and thorny issues.

He asked if sewer districts would need voter approval for rate increases exceeding the threshold or if cities would need a vote of the people each time they want to borrow money for a fire truck, road paving or other capital improvements.

LoParo said the revenue curbs do not apply to utility rates and government securities.

No gubernatorial candidates were invited to the meeting, Sutherland said.

"I think the session would have been more helpful if they had supporters of TEL to present their position," said North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O'Grady.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jwagner@plaind.com, 216-999-4906

13 square off in 13th District

http://www.chroniclet.com/Daily%20Pages/Front/Html/Head4.html

 

Name recognition, money called key to winning race

Stephen Szucs
The Chronicle-Telegram
ELYRIA — With the May 2 primary a little over a month away, the 13 candidates vying for Sherrod Brown’s soon-to-be-vacant 13th District Congressional seat are busy making their final impressions on voters.
And one Ohio political analyst says name recognition will do a lot to determine the winners.
Though national Republicans have anointed Lorain Mayor Craig Foltin as their favorite to win the Republican nomination, 2004 candidate Joe Ortega III of Strongsville has an edge, said Steven Brooks of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron.
“Ortega has been running for this position for quite a while,” Brooks said. “Based on name recognition, I think he has the advantage.”
Foltin has called Ortega his main rival in the primary, which features three other Republicans: Paul Burtzlaff, Charles DeLorean and David McGrew.
Robert Rousseau, chairman of the Lorain County GOP, says Foltin is the local favorite, but voter turnout could turn the tables.
Summit County has more registered voters in the district than Lorain County, and also boasts more candidates.
Paul Blevins, president of the Lorain County Young Democrats, said he’s concerned about the impact on the county if a non-resident wins the election. Brown, of Avon, has represented the district since winning the seat in 1992.
“I think the thing that we lose is somebody knowing the community,” Blevins said. “I believe that no matter who’s elected, (Lorain County) won’t be ignored.”
More well-known names are battling it out on the Democratic side. Candidates include former Akron-area U.S. Rep. Tom Sawyer, who lost his seat after redistricting in 2002, former state Rep. Betty Sutton, Elyria Mayor Bill Grace and Gary Kucinich, brother of Cleveland-area U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
One of the most formidable candidates is Capri Cafaro, heiress to a shopping mall fortune who lost the race for the 14th District seat, representing the Youngstown area, in 2004. Cafaro, who moved to Sheffield this year to run for Brown’s seat, has said she plans to spend $1.2 million on the primary alone.
Brooks said the high name recognition of the experienced politicians will help them, but doesn’t discount the effect of high levels of campaign spending on the race.
Blevins said Sutton’s and Sawyer’s experience could help them in the primary, but they could be hurt because their political bases are in the same region.
He said while the district has leaned Democratic, Foltin’s win as a Republican in traditionally Democratic Lorain can’t be ignored.
“The Democrats have to consider who will better represent us, rather than who will defeat the Republican opponent in the fall,” Blevins said. “But Foltin’s win throws a wrench in the plot of that line of thinking.”

13th Congressional District
The district stretches from Lake Erie along the shores of Avon Lake, Sheffield, Lorain and Vermilion to south of Akron.

 

Craig Foltin, 39 LIVES IN: Lorain JOB: Mayor of Lorain PREVIOUS OFFICES: Lorain auditor, mayor ISSUES: Bringing federal tax dollars back to 13th District.

Capri Cafaro, 28 LIVES IN: Sheffield JOB: Self-employed PREVIOUS OFFICES: None ISSUES: Tax cuts on U.S. durable goods, ethanol gasoline and withdrawing from foreign trade agreements.

Bill Grace, 42 LIVES IN: Elyria JOB: Mayor of Elyria PREVIOUS OFFICES: 3 terms, Elyria City Council ISSUES: Economic recovery of Greater Cleveland, Lorain County

Paul Burtzlaff, 38 LIVES IN: Avon Lake JOB: Pastor, St. Paul Lutheran Church PREVIOUS OFFICES: None. ISSUES: Improving strength in families, education

Norbert Dennerll, 76 LIVES IN: Westlake JOB: Real estate consultant PREVIOUS OFFICES: 3 terms, Cleveland City Council ISSUES: Increasing jobs

Joe Ortega III, 56 LIVES IN: Strongsville JOB: President, Absolute Group PREVIOUS OFFICES: None ISSUES: Job creation

Michael Lyons, 51 LIVES IN: Richfield JOB: Mayor of Richfield, Norton law director PREVIOUS OFFICES: Richfield City Council ISSUES: Jobs, economic development

Gary J. Kucinich, 55 LIVES IN: Strongsville JOB: Sales manager, John Lance Ford PREVIOUS OFFICES: Cleveland City Council, school board ISSUES: End U.S. involvement in Iraq

Charles DeLorean, 79 LIVES IN: Medina JOB: Retired Cadillac dealer PREVIOUS OFFICES: None. ISSUES: Limiting the amount of foreign competition in U.S. markets

John L. Wolfe, 79 LIVES IN: Akron JOB: Lawyer PREVIOUS OFFICES: Precinct committeeman ISSUES: End U.S. involvement in war in Iraq, jobs and healthcare

David McGrew, 47 LIVES IN: Akron JOB: Owner, MCS Marketing PREVIOUS OFFICES: None ISSUES: Pro-economic growth, pro-family and pro-defense

Thomas C. Sawyer, 60 LIVES IN: Akron JOB: Self-employed PREVIOUS OFFICES: Ohio House, Mayor of Akron, U.S. House ISSUES: Economic recovery of Northeast Ohio

Betty Sutton, 42 LIVES IN: Chardon JOB: Lawyer PREVIOUS OFFICES: Summit County Council, Ohio House ISSUES: Ethics and clean government, fair trade

Welcome to My World, Claude Allen

 

by Ann Coulter
Posted Mar 15, 2006

I guess the only way we'll ever find out how many blacks have worked in the Bush administration is to wait for them to get in trouble someday so we can read the breathless, triumphant stories on the front page of the New York Times about a black Republican scofflaw. It's amazing that anyone has ever heard of Condoleezza Rice -- she's never even been arrested for jaywalking.

Claude Allen, whom I first heard of this week, was a top adviser to President Bush for more than 4 1/2 years. Soon after Bush was elected in 2000, he made Allen the No. 2 official at the Department of Health and Human Services. Allen later became Bush's domestic policy adviser, meeting with the president several times a week.

In 2003, Bush nominated Allen to a federal judgeship on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- which nomination was then blocked by the party that wouldn't exist without black votes. Deploying their usual strategy against black Republicans, Democrats raised questions about Allen's "legal credentials": Democrat-ese for "He's black, so he's probably not very smart." Allen went to Duke Law School, where he was remembered fondly by law professor Walter Dellinger, later Clinton's solicitor general.

During the entire time this talented, intelligent, magnificently conservative black man held high positions in the Bush administration, he was mentioned in only 11 articles in The New York Times. (A small part of Times Executive Editor Bill Keller dies every time the paper is forced to mention any black top officials in the Bush administration. It might remind people that the most highly placed black in the Clinton administration was his secretary, Betty Currie.)

But since Allen was accused of stealing from department stores a few weeks ago, the Times has mentioned him in seven articles -- including a major front page article on Monday, coverage more appropriate to the first moon landing. This makes Allen the first black alleged thief whose photo has ever appeared in the New York Times.

Allen isn't even working for the Bush administration anymore. Yet the Times is wallowing in his agony. I've never seen people enjoy another person's private pain so much -- at least not since a prosecutor started investigating Rush Limbaugh for taking too many back pain pills.

Let me be the first to say: Congratulations, Mr. Allen! The New York Times really hates you. Welcome to my world. We're so happy to have you in our club.

I'm not shocked by the information that Claude Allen is not without original sin. But it has to be said: He was pretty close.

Allen emerged from a tough neighborhood in Washington, D.C., to go to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then Duke Law School. He joined a "mostly white and liberal" fraternity, according to the Times, where he was adored -- despite the fact that he didn't drink, a major demerit at a fraternity -- for his ability to get along with anyone. One fraternity brother told the Times that Allen was "always thoughtful and respectful of different opinions" -- a trait that would come in handy for a black teetotaler living in a UNC frat house.

He became a born-again Christian at college and -- the obvious next step -- a Republican after college. These acts are known in the liberal rulebook as "strike two" and "strike three," respectively. He explained leaving the party of his birth to become a Republican with eloquence: "I realized after the fact that I agree more with the Republican Party platform, that it talked about independence, that it talked about individual responsibility, individual rights, it talked about the ability to guarantee opportunities, not outcomes," adding, "that was very much what my family stood for."

He is married with four children, all of whom he home-schools. (Is there such a thing as strike four?) So he was already the moral equivalent to a Ku Klux Klanner in liberal eyes. Wait, no, if he were a former Klanner, he'd be the Democratic senator from West Virginia. Let me rephrase that: He was already a meat-eating, God-fearing, patriotic American in liberal eyes.

Allen also worked for the sainted Jesse Helms, former senator from North Carolina. By now, the average liberal would need yoga and a Barbra Streisand album to calm down. After Helms' 1984 Democratic opponent, James B. Hunt Jr., ran a TV commercial saying Helms was backed by "right-wing nuts," Allen reacted by saying that if the Helms campaign was run by similar guttersnipes, they could say Hunt was backed by "queers."

This week at the New York Times, it was revenge of the queers. I'm sorry it took a tough period in Allen's life for the New York Times to feature him under a banner headline on its front page, but all in all, I'm glad to finally know about Claude Allen. I'm proud to have this great fellow sinner in our party.

 

Ann Coulter is Legal Affairs Correspondent for HUMAN EVENTS and author of How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).

 

Bad signs for Jean Schmidt in Ohio

From the EVANS_NOVAK Political Report:

 

Ohio-2: Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) has injured herself further by claiming endorsements from two members of Congress who did not endorse her candidacy for re-election: Reps. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio).

      Even more embarrassing, and less noted, is the fact that Chabot, whose district is adjacent to hers, has not endorsed her, and wholeheartedly. This would be typical of fellow members in a state congressional delegation -- they almost always support their fellow incumbents. But Schmidt faces former Rep. Bob McEwen (R) in the primary. If she fails to be endorsed by local Republican members and receives only the tepid support of Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), it is a very bad sign for her.