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Nov

13

Jim Trakas on the aspirations of Jim Trakas

Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, Ohio, Politics | 4 Comments

Jim Trakas was my state rep before Josh Mandel.  I’ve met Trakas a few times and I’ve always found him to be a very good conversationalist, listener and just a nice guy.  I didn’t pay attention to politics per se when he was my rep, so I can’t really say that I wasn’t as hard on him as I am on Mandel – except that that’s true – but only because I really didn’t pay much attention.  Jim can be sure, and I know he would understand, that I would be much harder on him now if he were running to represent me.

Since this article I wrote was published online today and I communicated with Jim about it when I’d worked on it, I forwarded him a link tonight and then asked him, what’s up with these rumors?

Well, he wouldn’t say much.  But here’s what he said that I can say:

I have been approached, I am thinking about it, and will make a decision soon. There is clearly a leadership void and effectiveness gap that needs to be filled.

Vague? Uh…yeah.  But I’m not sure that, until and unless he’s made up his mind, we’re going to hear anything more specific.  He’s a smart guy who knows the landscape.  I just hope, as I would for anyone, that he goes with what he wants, and not what anyone else tells him he should want.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:21 pm November 13th, 2007 in Campaigning, Elections, Ohio, Politics | 4 Comments 

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Nov

13

JoshMandel.com has a little activity

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

I saw something in my Sitemeter stats and followed it backwards.

JoshMandel.com

Platform and its cache (check out the pictures)

I imagine someone will come along and tell me that it’s left over from the last campaign.  I’m sure that’s true – but it looks like someone is taking some time to update it.

Oh, that Sitemeter.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:38 pm November 13th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off 

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Nov

13

Will Polensek write a letter? Is media outlet being unethical (shocker though that would be)?

Filed Under Cleveland+, Crime, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 5 Comments

From NewsNet5:

[Cleveland City Councilman Mike Pokensek is] appalled that a camera crew from A&E is shadowing Cleveland police investigating homicides, including [17 year old Brandon] Griffin’s.

It’s a decision that the councilman criticized Monday night on the floor of City Council.

Police said they are giving A&E unprecedented access to their homicide investigations in exchange for high-tech equipment and expertise that could help solve murder cases.

Polensek said that if police need the investigative tools A&E has to offer, they should ask City Council for them.

My emphasis, on the ethically questionable part.

I am 100% certain that the Plain Dealer would never allow their reporters to get information or coverage that way. Why is A & E okay doing it? Why is the Cleveland Police Dept. allowing it?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:32 pm November 13th, 2007 in Cleveland+, Crime, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 5 Comments 

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Nov

13

Campaigns & Elections article on party-switching w/JMZ byline

Filed Under Announcements, Ohio, Politics, Writing | 3 Comments

I worked on this story over the summer and thoroughly enjoyed working with the editors.  Often, I’ve not had to re-write my work and that always worries me – that no one is really reading it, since I’m sure I’ve got errors.  But the C & E editors read, asked questions, had me supply back-up and so on.  It was a good experience from a writer’s perspective.

Party-Switching in a Red State Trending Blue

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:41 pm November 13th, 2007 in Announcements, Ohio, Politics, Writing | 3 Comments 

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Nov

13

Wide Open Fix O’ the Day

Filed Under Blogging, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 1 Comment

First up, Gloria Ferris and her post, “Was it strictly about the dollars?”.

Speaking of whether it was about the dollars, read this comment on the PressThink post.

Two-fer from the Beltway Blogroll:

Your Ethic, My Ethic, Our Ethic – K. Danny Glover kumbaya??  I left a message there saying that I didn’t have that image of him, but that’s just a guess. Blogs being one-dimensional and all.

and

Speaking of Blog Ethics – Glover highlights what appears to be a new blog called, The Ethical Blogger.

Free associating just a bit, one of the entities involved with The Ethical Blogger is the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford (England).  And this Washington Post reporter, John Kelly, is at the institute for a year and blogging about it here. He is studying…citizen journalism.  Now, what if the Plain Dealer did that with one or more of their staff?  Oh – sorry – just fantasizing again.

Anyway – the fact that the WaPo person is there studying cit j’lism shows that when Donald Graham said he realized the direction things were going, you believed that he really had realized that and wasn’t just paying lip service. (Kind of sad news from Editor & Publisher: Graham and his wife are separating after 40 years.)

This post, Are Reporters Doomed, Cont’d – which I found at Amy Gahran’s Contentious links, tipped me off to Kelly being at Reuters.

Now, apply this post to yourself as a blogger, particularly this part:

I think the most incredible effect of blogging is the voice it gives the performers themselves…I cherish the glimpses behind the talents that shape our arts. It will enrich this period of our culture more than I think any of us suspect.

I don’t know if I want to be considered a performer – in fact, I’m sure I don’t.  But I like the phrasing – that one effect of blogging is that it gives people a voice – whether you are a political blogger, a mom, a milblogger, a corporate blogger, a techie – whatever.  You get glimpses behind our talents (or in some cases, you see we have none).

Do you think blogs have the ability to enrich this period of our culture more than we suspect?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:25 pm November 13th, 2007 in Blogging, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 1 Comment 

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Nov

13

New addiction for wonks: The Score

Filed Under Blogging, Congress, Government, Media, Politics, Resources, Tools | Comments Off

I don’t even think I know how to use this thing called The Score, but it’s from LegiStorm and I’m sure others will figure it out before me. In the meantime, if it has an RSS, then I’ve got another subscriber for it.

Here’s the e-mail intro:

LegiStorm invites you to keep score on Congress. Our new feature, The Score, brings even more transparency to the legislative branch. On The Score, you can track the latest happenings on the House and Senate floor, as well as upcoming floor debates and committee hearings.

The Score lets you track an array of the latest reports of relevance to Congress and legislation, including the Congressional Budget Office cost estimates, Statements of Administration Policy, presidential Executive Orders and Government Accountability Office reports. To make the page even more fresh, LegiStorm has joined forces with Political Wire to bring you the most updated headlines about politics. To top it all off, we even have the latest political quotes and cartoons for your amusement. [my emphasis]

Nifty, all. I wish we had it for the Ohio statehouse.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:49 pm November 13th, 2007 in Blogging, Congress, Government, Media, Politics, Resources, Tools | Comments Off 

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Nov

13

Catfight, blogger ethics battle – what? between posts on Kucinich and Palmer

Filed Under Blogging, Campaigning, Elections, Ohio, Politics, WH2008 | 6 Comments

I don’t know what’s going on between this post and this one and this one.

But I know that “Susan” at Blue Ohioan is a real person who posts there more often than Anthony Fossaceca, who is Rosemary Palmer‘s campaign manager (Palmer is running against Dennis Kucinich for the Dem nomination in Ohio’s 10th congressional district) as well as a blogger at Blue Ohioan. Cindy is a founder and front pager at As Ohio Goes.

Does Fossaceca need to put some obvious disclosure on Blue Ohioan to say he’s with Palmer? Should Susan say anything about her connection or lack of to Palmer?  Does it matter since we know that the blog is a left-leaning blog (as in, the “blue” in “Blue Ohioan”) and able to do as its blog authors choose?

Cindy is within bounds to write about her upsetment at Susan’s post – but we don’t know just from looking at As Ohio Goes or Blue Ohioan as to whether Susan has a connection to Palmer’s campaign as Cindy implies (I don’t know anyway).

Other options include leaving a comment on Blue Ohioan asking about whether Susan speaks for the Palmer campaign and how she is connected if at all, or not writing publicly at all but only privately – that would be acceptable too in the blogosphere – to identify Anthony’s side of the story.

And Anthony can of course respond, or not.

But what is best for the candidates, and for blogs? Are there any other connections or questions we need to ask and have answered in order to figure out who has which dogs in the race?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:28 pm November 13th, 2007 in Blogging, Campaigning, Elections, Ohio, Politics, WH2008 | 6 Comments 

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Nov

13

Update from WaPo’s Tim Page, disciplined for dissing Marion Barry: “stupidest thing”

Filed Under Media, Scandal | 2 Comments

Of course, what’s most interesting to me here is that the Washington Post didn’t publish anything about the incident until this piece by Howard Kurtz. Uh-huh.

Read the entire article, but here’s a chunk:

“It’s the stupidest thing I’ve done in 30 years in journalism,” music critic Tim Page said yesterday. “I hope people won’t judge me on this one explosion.”

Page wrote Barry’s aide, Andre Johnson, last week after receiving an unsolicited press release about the former mayor’s views on Greater Southeast Community Hospital:

“Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new — and typically half-witted — political grandstanding? I’d be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose.”

Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. called Page’s e-mail “a terrible mistake” and said he has taken “appropriate internal action,” but neither he nor Page would disclose it. Page plans to take a previously scheduled four-month leave starting Jan. 1.

Downie said Page “has nothing to do with our local political coverage, as a music critic. On the other hand, it was sent on Washington Post e-mail, and he represents The Washington Post in everything he does.”

Perception is reality, as I’ve been told by at least one journalist.

Meanwhile, Marion Barry, the charactered councilman and former D.C. mayor, reacted this way:

Barry said in an interview that he was “outraged” and “incredulous” at the “despicable” e-mail, “particularly coming from a reporter at a reputable newspaper like The Washington Post, not a rag.” He said the note amounted to “character assassination” at a time when “around the nation, it’s almost open season on black people.”

Downie said Barry called him and that “we had a good conversation. . . . He accepted my apology.” But Barry said yesterday that Page “ought to be fired, and The Washington Post ought to run an editorial apology. That would be a signal to the whole world that The Washington Post won’t tolerate this kind of lowlife activity.”

Kind of ironic that a person who has spent his journalism career in an almost high-brow niche, as a music critic, is considered by Barry to have engaged in “lowlife activity.”

Sigh.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:48 pm November 13th, 2007 in Media, Scandal | 2 Comments 

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Nov

13

Karen Tabor, Steve Stivers to wed 11/24

Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, Politics, Statehouse | Comments Off

From the Dayton Daily News:

photo from The Other Paper

House spokeswoman, senator to wed

It’s likely Karen Tabor and Steve Stivers will celebrate the early days of their marriage on the campaign trail.

Tabor, 31, spokeswoman for House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, and Stivers, 42, a state senator from Columbus, are getting married Nov. 24.

Last week Stivers, after much prodding by bigshot Republicans, announced that he is running for the Columbus-area U.S. House seat now held by Rep. Deborah Pryce, a Republican who is retiring.

Stivers is expected to face Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, who lost to Pryce in a squeaker in 2006, in the general election.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:47 pm November 13th, 2007 in Campaigning, Elections, Politics, Statehouse | Comments Off 

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Nov

13

We’re glad it’s not “Single Women’s Voices, Single Women’s Votes,” right?

Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, Government, Marketing, Media, Politics, Social Issues, Women | Comments Off

I need to hear how others feel about this effort to motivate unmarried women to vote.  Of course getting more people to vote is a good thing, and there are a lot of single women, who are single for a variety of reasons, who should vote like everyone else. Here are some polls and surveys on unmarried women.

But a lot of the resources on the Women’s Voices, Women Vote site are useful for all women and probably all voters, really.  So what are the pros and cons of such an appeal and effort? Is it a distinction without a difference? Are there any ways in which it can spin that could negatively effect all women or create divides where there shouldn’t be?

Single women readers: are you saying, “Yes! Finally!” or…something else?  This is a weak area for me.

Here’s their FAQ and here’s there mission statement:

Women’s Voices. Women Vote started with one goal in mind: Improving unmarried women’s participation in the electorate and policy process. We have an experienced team working to achieve this goal, and have made successful strides.

Looking forward to some comments on this approach.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:11 am November 13th, 2007 in Campaigning, Elections, Government, Marketing, Media, Politics, Social Issues, Women | Comments Off 

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