Print This Post Print This Post

Oct

1

Ballot issues bite: The money reason

Filed Under Civil Rights, Elections, Government, Ohio | 2 Comments

Ballot issues can be good things.  The Cuyahoga County tax increase that just went into effect today. That should have been on the ballot.  And the casino issue – while it should never have been on the ballot as a constitutional amendment, I am glad that, as a voter and resident, I could vote it down.

But mostly, ballot issues take up time, space and – most of all – money.  And, as I used to argue with the previous purveyor of Buckeye State Blog, the whole idea that backers spend billions (oh, okay not billions but sometimes millions) to get people to first sign petitions and then to advertise for or against a particular initiative – well, I would argue that the process is antithetical to democracy.

That purveyor completely disagreed with me every time – at least on a practical level if not entirely on the philosophical level.

But now comes this Toledo Blade article about just how much money plays into ballot issues.

“You can only do it these days if you have money, and, as you can see, quite a lot of money, because you need to hire really good signature gatherers,” said Peg Rosenfield, election specialist with the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “Clearly, these folks [working to repeal the strip club law] didn’t.”

[snip]

Last week, the strip club effort hit a new low when two of every three professionally gathered signatures they submitted were deemed invalid by county boards of election. The invalidation rate was three out of four in Lucas County.

“Some of them are insulting, they’re so badly forged,” Ms. Rosenfield said. “Do they think election people are that stupid, that they can’t tell when they’re doing it in alphabetical order and in the same handwriting? It looks like they’re getting it right out of the telephone book.”

Part of the problem, she noted, is that petition circulators are typically contract workers hired by independent firms and are often paid per signature when they submit the petitions, not for the signatures that survive scrutiny.

And, as though they were quoting me from my commenting back and forth on BSB last year about this very point:

“The way election law is written makes it very difficult for average Ohioans to participate in the democratic process,” said the American Cancer Society’s Tracy Sabetta, who served as the face of last year’s successful initiative to ban smoking in nearly all indoor public places.

You simply have no idea how I hate that. Much the way I hate how the law provided only 30 days to gather signatures to challenge the county’s passage of that tax increase in June.

It’s just not right.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:12 pm October 1st, 2007 in Civil Rights, Elections, Government, Ohio | 2 Comments 

Print This Post Print This Post

Oct

1

CSU electrocution case: why not more coverage

Filed Under Courts, Education, Ohio | 1 Comment

From the Cleveland State student publication, The Cauldron:

Sanchita Mal-Sarkar, [Associate Professor Dr. Tarun] Mal’s widow, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cleveland State, which starts trial this Monday in the Court of Claims in Columbus. Mal-Sarkar claims Cleveland State’s negligence caused her husband to be electrocuted [in August 2005]. She also says that the school failed to recognize the hazardous outlets and install an updated electrical system in the 35-year-old lab, and that Dr. Mal was not given proper safety training.

Last year the Ohio Bureau of Workers Comp cited Cleveland State on eight violations including failure to ensure the safety of its workers.

Cleveland State has not offered a settlement, and the filed lawsuit seeks damages equal to Dr. Mal’s salary that he would have received for decades more.

The Plain Dealer wrote about the case two weeks ago, but otherwise, why hasn’t there been more written about this case?

You can read more here about the citations.  According to the plaintiffs,

“They’re failing to admit responsibility now and make sure Dr. Mal’s wife and daughter receive some compensation for their tragic loss,” lawyer Subodh Chandra said Saturday. “The state had a legal responsibility under federal and state law to conduct regular inspections for electrical safety hazards and to train people regarding electrical safety hazards. They never did that.”

I still wonder why the school hasn’t settled.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:38 pm October 1st, 2007 in Courts, Education, Ohio | 1 Comment 

Print This Post Print This Post

Oct

1

Absentee ballot voting starts tomorrow

Filed Under Announcements, Elections | Comments Off

From the Sun News:

Voters in Cuyahoga County can vote absentee by mail or in person from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, 2925 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

The board must receive absentee ballot applications by Nov. 3. Voted absentee ballots must be returned to the board by mail or in person by 7:30 P.M. Nov. 6.

Voter registration cards and absentee ballot applications may be obtained in person at the board, at any branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library or through the board Web site, www.boe.cuyahogacounty.us.

Call (216) 443-3298.

Don’t let what happened to voters in Akron happen to you.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:19 pm October 1st, 2007 in Announcements, Elections | Comments Off 

Print This Post Print This Post

Oct

1

Size, existence of gargantuan US Embassy in Iraq is repulsive

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Government, Military, Politics | 4 Comments

Does anyone else find the information in this article about the grandiosity and then some of the U.S. Embassy being built in Iraq embarrassing and just wrong?

Located in the heavily guarded Green Zone, the embassy sprawls over 104 acres and is a totally self-sufficient city within a city. While most Iraqis suffer from chronic shortages of electricity and clean drinking water, the complex has its own power plant and fresh water and sewage treatment facilities.

There are also more than 20 buildings, with office space for 1,000 and sleeping quarters for 619. Embassy personnel need never venture onto Baghdad’s mean streets: The complex includes a shopping market, food court, movie theater, beauty salon, gym, swimming pool, tennis courts, a school and a social club.

“Fortress America,” is how one expert describes it.

Even if it you can’t say it’s wrong, it certainly isn’t right, in the face of us claiming to want to bring democracy to the place.  I just cannot reconcile it.

“Although the U.S. government regularly proclaims confidence in Iraq’s democratic future, the United States has designed an embassy that conveys no confidence in Iraqis and little hope for their future,” historian Jane Loeffler writes in the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine.

“Instead, the United States has built a fortress capable of sustaining a massive, long-term presence in the face of continued violence.”

The $592-million embassy — with a cost 12 times that of the second largest, in Beijing — is being built by First Kuwait General Trading and Contracting. The Kuwaiti company is under Justice Department investigation for alleged contract fraud on the embassy project. It also has been accused of agreeing to pay $200,000 in kickbacks in return for two unrelated Army contracts.

Hattip to Len at Blogesque.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:56 pm October 1st, 2007 in Foreign Affairs, Government, Military, Politics | 4 Comments 

Print This Post Print This Post

Oct

1

Hillary’s $5K per newborn same as failed OH casino amendment

Filed Under Education, Politics, WH2008 | 4 Comments

King’s Right Site links to this Associated Press story which details Hillary Rodham Clinton’s thought about how to help students pay for college:

“I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home,” she said.

The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.

This idea is no different than the individual accounts idea that Ohio Learn and Earn grafted from what the Ohio Board of Regents have wanted to do for at least a few years. But, alas, Hill sees the same constraints the Regents did too:

The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.

Anyone think she’d join with the gambling interests that supported Ohio Learn and Earn to the tune of more than $21 million to try and fund a national law modeled after Issue 3?  For sure, she should read the 57 Reasons before she talks anymore about the concept.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:12 pm October 1st, 2007 in Education, Politics, WH2008 | 4 Comments 

Print This Post Print This Post

Oct

1

All Women Blogging Carnival #15

Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Women | Comments Off

You can read the diverse entries and entrants at Crazy Meezer this week.

If you’d like to contribute your voice, submit your blog article to the next edition of All Women Blogging Carnival by using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts and details on how you can participate can be found at All for Women.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:23 pm October 1st, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Women | Comments Off 

Print This Post Print This Post

Oct

1

See GM contract; Parma GM plant could close

Filed Under Business, Cleveland+, Ohio | Comments Off

Although no decision yet has been made, this report from the Associated Press via Ohio News Now says that the General Motors stamping plant in Parma, Ohio would be allowed to be shutdown under the contract agreed to last week:

According to a detailed copy of the agreement, several other facilities could also close, including a small powertrain operation in Parma, Ohio.

The document says no future powertrain products will be allocated to Parma, which also has a stamping operation that will continue with new generation products.

The moves contrast with job security pledges that the UAW negotiated, including commitments for new products at 16 plants. About 74,000 hourly GM workers will vote on the pact starting this week, with a final tally due by October 10th.

The information came to light after GM worker, Gregg Shotwell, posted contract details in an Internet newsletter he writes and can also be seen in parts here. This article from Future of the Union contains more specifics.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:47 am October 1st, 2007 in Business, Cleveland+, Ohio | Comments Off 

"));