ProgressOhio

Ken Blackwell was in court yesterday watching his son, Rahshann, "fight for a chance to become a licensed lawyer in Ohio after he twice failed to obey time limits for the state bar exam,'' says today's Dayton Daily News.

More from DDN:

Rahshann Blackwell, 33, of Denver, Colo., argued his case before the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday with his father, last year's Republican nominee for governor, watching from the courtroom.

The younger Blackwell says he wants to return to Ohio and is seeking to have his 2005 exam scored and counted. Rahshann Blackwell was twice caught writing in bar exam test booklets past the allowed time.

After investigating the first incident, in July 2003, the Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness decided the behavior was an aberration and ruled that he be allowed to retake the exam.

But after it happened again in July 2005, the board decided to ban him from re-taking the bar until 2009, and said he can do so then only if he has undergone psychological treatment.

The board based its recommendation on a psychologist's report and findings that Blackwell failed to disclose a civil lawsuit and two arrests on his bar application — which he had someone mail while he was in jail. Blackwell is contesting more than two dozen findings by the board.

What an intriguing tale. I wonder why he was in jail, and what's on the list of "more than two dozen findings by the board.''

In more evidence of President Bush's weird and misguided priorities, he balked at a proposed solution to find more money for bridge repair.

His balking came one week after a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis and killed people.

After suggestions that bridge repairs be paid for with a gas tax increase, Bush dismissed the idea "at least until Congress changes the way it spends highway money,'' today's Dispatch tells us.

OK, Mr. Decider: What's your plan? Do you have a plan? Or do you just dump on everyone else's plan?

Here's more from the Dispatch:

The Democratic chairman of the House Transportation Committee proposed a 5-cent increase in the 18.3 cents-a-gallon federal gasoline tax to establish a new trust fund for repairing or replacing structurally deficient highway bridges.

More than 70,000 of the nation's bridges are rated structurally deficient, including the bridge that collapsed over the Mississippi River last Wednesday. The American Society of Civil Engineers says repairing them all would require spending at least $9.4 billion a year for 20 years.

Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., says his tax-increase proposal would raise about $25 billion over three years.

If you're wondering why our nation lacks money for health care or bridge repair or job training, please visit the National Priorities Project and want the running tally of the cost of the way in Iraq. In Ohio alone, it's over $15 billion.

Figure this one out, please.

Democrats are supposed to care about the little guy, and both parties now concede that the little and medium guy are under attack from payday lenders.

But today's Plain Dealer tells us that Democrats are reluctant to try and help this time because a prominent Republican wants to help, too.

Huh? The true power in politics wrests with the power to persuade, and if some donkey has successfully convinced some elephant to help the little and medium guys who are under attack from the big guys, shouldn't we all celebrate?

Here's where things stand, according to Mark Naymik:

Ohio House Democrats need a loan. Not cash. Just a short- term infusion of bipartisan spirit.

They apparently spent whatever they had passing the state's two-year budget, which sailed unanimously through the Republican-controlled legislature this spring, producing an excess of talk about cooperation. he Democrats are now broke.

They have nothing left to give their colleagues on the other side of the aisle, even if it would mean helping their constituents - namely, those who have to rely on payday lending stores for quick-fix loans with interest rates that would make a loan shark blush.

Pushed by advocates for the poor, including religious conservatives, legislators from both parties are kicking around ways to rein in the growing payday lending industry by, among other things, further capping interest rates.

(Fees for a two-week loan run as high as $15 for every $100 borrowed, which amounts to an annual interest rate of 391 percent. And the average borrower takes out nine loans per year, with some trapped in a cycle of borrowing to pay off their first loans.)

Republican Rep. Bill Batchelder of Medina has taken the lead. And several Dem ocrats, like state Rep. Matt Lundy of Elyria, want to work with him. But even with such a perfect is sue for Democrats at hand, the party of bipartisanship is backing off.

Why? Their leader, Joyce Beatty, has told them to because she fears that Batchelder, who wants to be House speaker in 2008, could gain political strength from passage of a reform bill.

"I'm not comfortable because I believe this is also political," Beatty says. "Don't pull the Democrats into something that I view as a way to give him a better position."

If Beatty's explanation sounds a little fishy, maybe that's because it might be a little fishy.

The PD also tells us that Beatty's political guru is leaving the Ohio Democratic Party to go work for the payday industry's lobbyist.

And let's say her explanation is not fishy. If that's the case, she is looking out for herself and ignoring those voters who need her the most.

Abukar Arman of Hilliard isn't a terrorist after all.

He's a father, a volunteer at Habitat for Humanity and a victim.

In our nation's effort to insure security, we've become insecure, paranoid and hateful. Mr. Arman is exhibit A.

In today's Columbus Dispatch, which had written previous articles about him being under suspicion, we learn this:

"We did a background check and found no criminal or terrorist connections," said county Administrator Don L. Brown. "Mr. Arman is not a person of interest."

That's a nice admission, but it seems as if a series of apologies is in order.

RAB's Matt Naugle should be the first to issue a mea culpa.

In a July 17th post, Naugle did everything but convict him:

Here is the latest update from Patrick Poole of Central Ohioans Against Terrorism in Front Page Magazine. I have two first hand accounts that Patrick really has the Franklin County Commissioners in a major tizzy, and rightfully so…:

Central Ohio government officials were running for cover following my article last week, "Hometown Jihad: The Somali Terror Apologist Next Door ", which revealed that Abukar Arman, a vocal supporter of the Somali terrorist group and al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Courts Union (ICU), as well as several other terrorist individuals and organizations, was currently serving on the blue-ribbon board that oversees Central Ohio Homeland Security.

Originally appointed to the Franklin County Criminal Justice Planning Board, which oversees and directs the Office of Homeland Security and Justice Programs in March 2005, he has since been reappointed. Additionally, Arman also serves on the Ohio State Board of Education's Foreign Language Advisory Board, a position he was appointed to by the Board of Education this past March.

The day after that report appeared, Franklin County Commissioner Paula Brooks sent the following memo to Don Brown, County Administrator, and Karen Crandall, County Homeland Security director, demanding an immediate investigation into the claims made in my FrontPage article regarding Abukar Arman's support for terrorist organizations:

When the Dispatch and Naugle are done, Paula "I'll politicize anything and get bonus points if I can stab Kilroy in the process'' Brooks must step up to the plate.

More from the Dispatch:

Two commissioners, Marilyn Brown and Mary Jo Kilroy, didn't respond to Poole. The third, Paula Brooks, sent an e-mail to Brown on July 12.

"Don, I expect this to be investigated expeditiously," Brooks wrote. "If true, these allegations are definitely grounds for removal."

Brooks said her wording was stronger than her intention. "In hindsight, I wish that I had used the term fact-finding," she said.

The drumbeat is non stop:

The number of payday lending shops in Ohio catapulted from 107 locations in 1996 to 1562 locations in 2006, a more than fourteen-fold increase in a decade, according to Policy Matters Ohio.

The number of complaints about payday lenders received by the Ohio Attorney General is making a steady climb.

This is an industry created to gouge the poor. We know this because its business model can't work without the gouging.

So why is House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty -- a Columbus Democrat -- suddenly backing away from efforts to crack down on an industry that charges abusive interest rates to those who can least afford to pay?

To quote the Akron Beacon Journal, Beatty has "often been a powerful voice for the powerless.'' Not often enough it seems.

She's been quoted lately backing down from proposals to crack down on the  payday lenders and the ABJ is wondering what it's all about. Read More. 

The New York Times paused to feature Marc Dann recently and liken him to  Elliott Spizer, while the Plain Dealer has chosen to run a front-pager today on Dann's missteps.

The Times details complex matters tackled by the new AG, while the PD nitpicks over Dann's decision to drive a $40,000 sport utility.  

Even funnier is the PD's decision to use Mark Weaver, aka The Dream Weaver, as the designated hitter who says this about Mr Dann: "He's not ready for prime time.'' Original, huh?

Can't a dream weaver like Mr. Weaver come up with a better insult? A lexis search of "not ready for prime time'' comes up with so many hits that one is asked to narrow one's search.

Maybe Mr. Weaver isn't as quick witted as he once was since he's been looking desperately for a GOP candidate that will hire him to spin anew. In the meantime, Weaver -- a self-described fiscal conservative -- is busy lapping up public money.

He's an assistant prosecutor in Adams County. 

He's advising the top dogs at Ohio University. 

He's on the faculty at the University of Akron 

There's more but I'm too tired to look. Actually, I'm outraged. I get like that. Daily.

If you have any Weaver sightings, please update this post.

History could be repeating itself -- and it looks as if the Ohio Inspector General's report on the data theft (due tomorrow) might tell us if Accenture cost the state needless millions again.

Flash back to the Taft administration and you'll see that Ohio paid Accenture $63 million for an internet job matching system designed to link job seekers with actual jobs. Good idea, but the system, known as OhioWorks, didn't work.

Rather than make Accenture pay the money back, the Tafties settled the case for a mere $5.5 million, then pulled the plug on OhioWorks.

Problems with OhioWorks led to a 2001 IG investigation and the convictions of former state human services Director Arnold Tompkins and Accenture consultant Donna Givens on ethics charges -- along with the $5.5 million settlement.

Flash ahead to the Strickland administration, and we learn that Accenture might be tied to the recent data theft problems that have been giving the new gov fits.

In today's Dispatch, Gov. Strickland suggested that Accenture might be partially to blame:

...Strickland confirmed yesterday that his office has discussed trying to hold financially accountable outside contractors who worked on the new system if it is proven they were significantly responsible for not securing the data.

"If we determine that is the case, it is highly likely that we will be interested in talking with them about some cost-sharing," Strickland said.

That's good news for the taxpayers.

Speaking of taxpayers, Accenture remains the subject of an on-going taxpayers' lawsuit over the OhioWorks project.

Taxpayers Lance Gildner and his wife, Joanne, are seeking a court order that Accenture repay more than $60 million for the failed system. They're also seeking compensatory damages. The fact that a judge is allowing the case to proceed is testimony to the strong facts behind it.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced that the Upper Chamber won't vote on several other proposals intended to force Bush to revisit his war plans.

Some anti-war supporters had backed the rival measures but Reid views them as too weak and wants to continue pressing Bush to embrace more aggressive Democratic measures that call for troop withdrawl. For more details, go to the Washington Post.

Voinovich's continued opposition to Democratic efforts to pull troops out of Iraq can't be motivated by logic, or U.S. Intelligence reports or even morality.

So why would a relatively smart man follow a relatively stupid president so blindly? Money.

Papa Bush is helping out his son by helping a fence-sitting Senator stay put.

According to the Plain Dealer:

George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, is coming to Cleveland Aug. 8th to raise money for U.S. Sen. George Voinovich's 2010 re-election campaign.

The event is Voinovich's highest-profile fund-raiser in more than year. Voinovich, who turned 71 on Sunday, cooled his heels last summer when then-U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine was trying to grab all the Republican money, foregoing his traditional birthday fund-raiser.

The details of this year's event are not final but it will not likely double as a birthday party, perhaps to avoid reminding contributors of his youth.

We already knew that money can't buy you love,  but now we learn that it can buy you a U.S. Senator.

Fellow Ohioans, Are You As Outraged As I Am?

I hope so. 

If you were among the victims of Ameriquest's pattern of predatory lending, you could get a piece of the $7 million settlement set aside for Ohio.

Ohio joined a national lawsuit against the company that resulted in a $325 national settlement. Letters and claims forms are being mailed to eligible Ohio consumers.

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has taken the lead on this important consumer matter, but why is the press release his office put out dated "August 2007?''

Does time really fly?

In one of the most stinging rebukes of Bush Administration policies to date, a new intelligence report states that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization may use tactics honed in Iraq to launch an attack in the U.S.

According to Bloomberg:

The group ``is and will remain the most serious terrorist threat to the homeland as its central leadership continues to plan high-impact plots while pushing'' other extremist Islamic terrorists to ``mimic its efforts,'' the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies said in a report released today in Washington.

``As a result, we judge that the United States currently is in a heightened threat environment,'' the agencies reported.

The report comes almost six years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan with the express purpose of wiping out al-Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.

The findings show that the Bush administration was wrong to move forces from Afghanistan to invade Iraq, said Representative Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

``We should have concentrated our efforts on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan from the beginning,'' Skelton, a Democrat from Missouri, said in an e-mailed statement. ``We must responsibly redeploy our troops out of Iraq'' and ``concentrate our efforts on Afghanistan and the al-Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11.''

The Wall Street Journal adds this:

The analysts also found that al Qaeda's association with its Iraqi affiliate helps the group to energize the broader Sunni Muslim extremist community, raise resources and recruit and indoctrinate operatives -- "including for homeland attacks."

National Intelligence Estimates are the most authoritative written judgments of the 16 spy agencies across the breadth of the U.S. government. These agencies reflect the consensus long-term thinking of top intelligence analysts. Portions of the documents are occasionally declassified for public release.

The new report echoed statements made by senior intelligence officials over the last year, including the assessment of spy agencies that the country is in a "heightened threat environment." It also provided new details on their thinking and concerns.

For instance, the report says that world-wide counterterrorism efforts since 2001 have constrained al Qaeda's ability to attack the U.S. again and convinced terror groups that U.S. soil is a tougher target.

But, the report quickly adds, analysts are concerned "that this level of international cooperation may wane as 9/11 becomes a more distant memory and perceptions of the threat diverge."

Better late than never. 

Back-to-back suicide car bombings exploded in the northern city of Kirkuk today, killing at least 71 people and wounding about 150. The attacks targeted a Kurdish political office and ripped through an outdoor market, the AP is reporting today.

The attacks began around noon when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed vehicle near the concrete blast walls of the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Soon after, the second bomber attacked the Haseer market, 700 yards away, destroying stalls and cars, said Kirkuk police Brig. Sarhat Qadir. The outdoor Haseer market — with stalls of vegetable and fruit sellers — is frequented by Kurds in Kirkuk, a city where tensions are high between the Kurdish and Arab populations.

At least 71 people were killed and around 150 wounded, said police Brig. Burhan Tayeb Taha.

In Baghdad, a string of attacks Monday morning killed at least nine people. In the deadliest, a roadside bomb exploded as an Iraqi army patrol passed in the Boub al-Sham area on the city's northeast outskirts, killing five soldiers and wounding nine others, an army officer said.

 If these numbers are mind-boggling, click here to see the total cost of the war -- and find out how that money could be better  spent in your state or home community.

U.S.  Sen. George Voinovich’s well-sculpted image as a Boy Scout has been eroding for years (especially after we learned that the foundation for Coingate was laid on his watch).

Now, his image as a level-headed intellect is dissipating by the hours.

Poor George melted down during an interview with talk-show host Sean Hannity, who happens to be one of the right’s top-ranked talk hosts in the nation. The right has always been suspicious of Voinovich and now he’s given them more cause for concern.

It started when Voinovich showed that he misunderstood the ramifications of an amendment to the immigration bill. It ended when he hung up on Hannity.

For Ohio’s George Watchers, this was nothing new.

When George doesn’t get his way, he gets mad and he tosses out the rules that normally govern polite society – not to mention the rule of law.

Way back in 1996, when Voinovich was governor, he ordered his state pilot to take off, despite a no-fly order in place until Air Force One took off from a nearby airport. (President Clinton was in town, which could explain why George was in a foul mood.)

A transcript of the conversation released by the FAA shows that Ohio’s gov was so determined that get to his destination that he was prepared to weather any consequences – even death.

 “If they can shoot us down, they can,’’ Voinovich bellowed. “I’m going to tell them to go screw themselves, OK? I’ll take the responsibility. They can put me in jail or whatever they want to do, but this is bullshit.’’

Take responsibility?

There’s a story there, too.

The FAA fined George – a notorious tightwad -- for his misconduct and he initially decided to fight it (but only because he was represented by a taxpayer-provided lawyer. Hey, if they people are paying while the meter is running, who cares?)

When the legal bill exceeded the cost of the fine, newspapers started to care. The public became outraged. Talk radio took up the cause.

Eventually, George paid the fine and the legal bill.

But will he apologize to Hannity?

Ohio's own Prissy Patriot managed to get a lengthy interview with Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the D.C. Madam. Palfrey hints that VP Dick Cheney might have been a customer, but she notes that a court-ordered injunction is keeping her from naming names.

Once the injunction is lifted, Palfrey promises to name names. In the meantime, she tells Prissy Patriot: "Yes, the name Dick Cheney has been touted on more than one occasion in those records. Can you imagine? It will be Watergate times how many people.''

The May 23 Roll Call also mentioned Cheney in connection with the scandal:

Vice President Cheney isn't not on the phone records of the alleged D.C. Madam, who is accused of running a high-price call-girl ring in Washington, the accused madam's lawyer said on Tuesday.

But then again, the veep isn't on the list, he said - not necessarily.

What's that? Montgomery Blair Sibley, lawyer to alleged madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey, tossed out the age-old "can neither confirm nor deny" teaser line while appearing with his client at Nathan's in Georgetown for one of the restaurant's "Q&A Caf" chatting sessions. But clearly, the headline-hyping Sibley was eager to fan the flames of the bizarre Cheney escort-service rumor, which has popped up in some far corners of the blogosphere.

"We are investigating some numbers in the McLean area ... and if that turns something up, he might be called as a witness," Sibley said, referring to the Virginia neighborhood that the vice president once called home.

Palfrey maintains that she did not keep records of the clients of her escort service, only phone numbers. The services provided by her squadron of ladies, she says, were of the legal, "fantasy" variety.

And in an effort to find witnesses for her defense, Palfrey turned over portions of her phone records to ABC News, who she hoped would use the phone numbers to identify high-ranking former clients who could help her case. ABC, though, only named two administration officials as showing up on her phone list.

The Scene insisted the book was written by Citizens for Community Values,  the wingnuts from Cincinnati who championed Ohio's same-sex marriage ban and who now want to take cops off the streets and put them in strip clubs to make sure that customers don't touch strippers -- even if the "touching'' is a pat on the back. (That could get the toucher and the touchee locked up for 30 days where they could be subjected to involuntary touching of the most offensive kind).

The Scene says the book will soon be mandatory for kids ages 6-12.

Here's how the book begins:

Once upon a time, there was a couple who longed for a child. But they lived in sin and used birth control, which is tantamount to murder. It's safe to assume God hated them.

Their apartment overlooked a splendid garden, filled with beautiful flowers and herbs. Yet it was also surrounded by a high wall, which is a good way to protect private property. If other people wanted to enjoy a garden, they should get a job and buy one for themselves.

No one dared climb the wall, for it was owned by a wicked enchantress named Nancy Pelosi. She had come from California, a land of sodomites who were against Jesus and Christmas.

To read the five-page book, visit The Scene.

Some Republicans have asked members of their own party to show a little kindness to Frankie Coleman, who has entered an in patient treatment center for her alcoholism.

Frankie is he wife of Michael Coleman, who is running for re-election. His challenger is Republican William Todd, who yesterday called on bloggers to lay off Frankie.

Terry Casey, former executive director of the Franklin County GOP, must have missed -- or ignored -- the memo.

This came via email: 

To: Political Junkies
From: Terry Casey

Timing is everything in politics!   Attached is the flyer for this coming Friday night's Mike Coleman summer fund-raiser with TED STRICKLAND as the special guest.  Why won't Lee Fisher be there???  Doesn't sound as if the Mayor's wife will be able to attend.  Will they serve alcohol at this event?

Tickets range from $250 all of the way up to $2000.  For the top price of $2000 you get a picture with the Governor and the Mayor.  Should be fun at the Hyatt on Capitol Square, especially right now.  Normally, the media doesn't attend boring fund-raisers.  This doesn't seem boring.  

According to the Columbus Dispatch's Daily Briefing, Bill Todd doesn't think it's right to attack the candidate's wife -- when she is in recovery.

From the Daily Briefing:

William M. Todd has “absolutely no interest in going there” when it comes to using Frankie Coleman’s treatment for alcoholism as a campaign issue against her husband and his rival, Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman.

That doesn’t mean the Republican’s supporters are on the same page.

One conservative blog is not only the You Tube source for several Todd campaign videos but also the 9-minute, 41-second Bexley Police tape of Mrs. Coleman’s 2005 drunken-driving arrest.

One poster at the site referred to coworkers’ suspicions about the contents of Mrs. Coleman’s Thermos as “the most amusing part” of an Ohio Inspector General report concluding she was paid for hours she didn’t work at the state Department of Development.

Todd isn’t laughing along with his supporters in cyberspace.

“I’m beginning to think all these guys in the blogosphere need a good spanking,” the Republican said. 

Mr. Todd, the blogosphere doesn't need a spanking. One blogger, Matt Naugle, needs one. And while you indirectly call for his spanking, you've admitted in the past that he's been an adviser to you.

Perhaps it is you who needs a spanking, and Terry Casey (who has a misdemeanor record) could use one, too.