Blogged by Brad Friedman on 6/9/2006 2:43PM  
Spokesman Carlo LoParo Hates America

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland held a presser yesterday demanding that his opponent, J. Kenneth Blackwell recuse himself from administering his own election contest this November.

Predicably, the rule-of-law-impaired Blackwell declined to do so. True to his nature, obnoxious Blackwell spokesperson, Carlo LoParo showed his usual disdain for Ohio's voters when he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in response: "Their contentions are absurd. Someone else should administer the election? How can they even stand up there with any credibility and talk about that stuff?"

Blackwell and LoParo. Perfect together. God save the Buckeye State.

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READER COMMENTS ON
"Blackwell Refuses to Recuse Himself From Administering His Own Election..."
(27 Responses so far...)

COMMENT #1 [Permalink]
... A Concerned Citizen said on 6/9/2006 @ 2:56 pm PT...


Ummm...ahem....that'd be me *gulp*

I think I will be moving soon. I know there's the fact that almost everyone I know did NOT vote for Bush here. I work with one of the, if not the largest single employer in the state, have for over 20 years, and I work with and know a zillion people. I'd say 80% of a zillion people did NOT.

Are we supposed to go vote this November? I see Deibold trucks driving around and I always just cringe. It's all so out in the open, I don't understand how this all can continue to happen, November is getting close!!


COMMENT #2 [Permalink]
... Charlie L said on 6/9/2006 @ 3:52 pm PT...


Pre-election polls on Nov. 6:
Strickland: 57% to 59%
Blackwell: 41% to 43%

Exit polls on November 7:
Strickland: 58%
Blackwell: 40%

Final results: (Nov. 8*)
Blackwell 51%
Strickland 49%

*Results will be delayed due to "counting problems" in Warren & Franklin counties and some issues with "humidity" and "Terrorist Threat Lock-downs" in other counties.

Print it out.
Put it in your calendar for November.

Charlie "I am psychic, not psychotic" L
Portland, OR


COMMENT #3 [Permalink]
... Dredd said on 6/9/2006 @ 3:58 pm PT...


Ohio has a long legacy, as I discussed with Black Box Voting several years ago, of not really getting the concept of "conflict of interest".

Study the case of Tumey v Ohio, for example.

I mean, most states by 1927 understood that a judge could not earn his living from fines he imposed on defendants in criminal cases. Due process of law, impartial adjudicator department, had been adequately established to give the most of us the essential clue in such cases. Yep, if I earn my living from fines, I make more if I fine more. Wow, what a concept.

But Ohio did not "get it" yet ... as of 1927. On some very similar concepts they still do not "get it". In almost 2007, some eight decades later.

For instance, Ken Blackwell running for the highest electable office governed by the election control center ... the office he now holds ... the Secretary of State ... deciding who gets a promotion in the campaign he is running in.

Hell lotto administration businesses are more sophisticated than the State of Ohio, in that, none of the employees of lotto administration companies or anyone close to them in significant ways can even participate in ... much less exercise any form of control over ... the lotto they are involved with.

So elections in Ohio are less of an important thing than lottos are?

My ... my ... one must wonder ... is every republican in Ohio an Ann Coulter clone?


COMMENT #4 [Permalink]
... SL Aronovitz said on 6/9/2006 @ 4:01 pm PT...


Someone tell Mr. Strickland that he can, at most, only receive 49% of the vote.


COMMENT #5 [Permalink]
... Grizzly Bear Dancer said on 6/9/2006 @ 4:03 pm PT...


You can invest as much trust in your higher power as you want, HOWEVER, God is not going to save OHIO from human mismanagement and criminal corruption. Either the people there sign petitions demanding paper ballots, transparent elections with legitimate hand counts without DIABOLD and BLACKWELL or they will have this jerkoff as their governor.

US elections have become a really a pathetic joke. It goes back to the FOUNDING FATHERS. WE THE PEOPLE CONTROL THE VOTE NOT A BUNCH OF INCUMBANT CRIMINALS. And don't forget it!!! If WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO ASK AN INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL group to ensure our elections ARE THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, it is still better than Diabold felons and Kenneth Blackwell SHOW. Who the hell are they to tell us how to ensure a fair election??? They better move over or be RUN OVER.


COMMENT #6 [Permalink]
... Robert Lockwood Mills said on 6/9/2006 @ 4:29 pm PT...


An Ohio politician promises in advance of an upcoming election that his preferred candidate will be elected president. This candidate wins. After taking office, the president finds that people in his adminstration have made secret deals with oil companies that enriched both the oil companies and the president's associates. The public wasn't given the details of these transactions when they occurred, and it was lied to about them after the fact.

Sound like Blackwell/Bush/Cheney/Halliburton? Yes, but it's also the story of Attorney-General Harry Daughterty, Secretary of Interior Albert Fall, President Warren G. Harding, and Sinclair Oil. The scandal is known as "Teapot Dome."


COMMENT #7 [Permalink]
... Grizzly Bear Dancer said on 6/9/2006 @ 4:50 pm PT...


Why can't we get the courts to purge these cheating criminals and put them in jail.. call it OPERATION CHROME DOME.


COMMENT #8 [Permalink]
... Charlene said on 6/9/2006 @ 5:14 pm PT...


What's the matter with these voters in Ohio? Why don't they DEMAND Blackwell recuse himself?


COMMENT #9 [Permalink]
... seattlemartin said on 6/9/2006 @ 6:00 pm PT...


Maybe there's some cross-pollination between Ohio and Kansas. This would account for both's diminished intellects.


COMMENT #10 [Permalink]
... Peg C said on 6/9/2006 @ 6:27 pm PT...


Blackwell is also refusing to allow Bob Fitrakis' name on the ballot as the Independent candidate for governor - this despite the fact that Fitrakis has many times the number of peition signatures. The man thinks he owns the entire governmental structure of the state, it seems!

Well, I guess he has some good role models...


COMMENT #11 [Permalink]
... Peg C said on 6/9/2006 @ 6:29 pm PT...


"...required petition signatures..."


COMMENT #12 [Permalink]
... JUDGE OF JUDGES said on 6/9/2006 @ 6:48 pm PT...


If this Bag of Shit (blackwell) doesn't recuse "itself" . . . . . those folks should be in the street . . .


COMMENT #13 [Permalink]
... agent99 said on 6/9/2006 @ 7:36 pm PT...


Is anyone actually surprised by this?


COMMENT #14 [Permalink]
... big dan said on 6/9/2006 @ 8:42 pm PT...


Charlie L: EXACTLY!!! Now we're catching on!!!

Here's another one: Democrat Casey has been leading Republican Santorum by double-digits throught all polls taken so far.

Prediction: Santorum 51%-Casey 49%.


COMMENT #15 [Permalink]
... big dan said on 6/9/2006 @ 8:45 pm PT...


Blackwell 51%-Strickland 49%. Vote will be close, until the machines go down in the bottom of the 9th, ala Schmidt-Hackett...and come up with thousands of Blackwell votes.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES THIS F***ING SH*T??????? I've been saying it for 2 years, this GOP 51% crap!!!!!!!!!!

Bush 51%-Kerry 49%.

Schmidt 51%-Hackett 49%.

The Sununu one was close to that, and throw in the Tobin's phone-jamming, and he really lost.

Bilbray 51%-Busby 49%.

COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


COMMENT #16 [Permalink]
... JUDGE OF JUDGES said on 6/9/2006 @ 8:58 pm PT...


"Close" is only good in horse shoes & hand grenades . . .


COMMENT #17 [Permalink]
... Soul Rebel said on 6/9/2006 @ 9:33 pm PT...


Fitrakis will run against Strickland? I would love to see him as governor, but if Strickland is a good bet to beat Blackwell (in a clean *haha* election, that is), why would he do that in this race. Hell, Fitrakis should be running for seceretary of state. That'd be the shit.

I got an hour and a half of Greg Palast on tape last night at Seattle town hall. He was awesome, and if anyone can take my DVD and put it on flash or whatever and post it on a website that would be awesome. Please e-mail me: soulrebeljc@hotmail.com and I will mail you the DVD. I can't wait to read the book Armed Madhouse, because based on his talk, he is like Joshua blowing the trumpet around Jericho...and Jericho is Big Oil. There are things he says that are a MUST SEE.


COMMENT #18 [Permalink]
... jazzolog said on 6/10/2006 @ 4:09 am PT...


Just to set the Ohio record a wee bit straight, Bob Fitrakis is the Green party's candidate for Governor here. http://www.ohiogreens.org/ Yeah, the site could use an update. That should give him more clout than just a write-in or the vague world of the "independent."

When he visited Athens a couple weeks ago, he expressed his high regard for Ted Strickland...so this isn't exactly a shooting match. Of course his candidacy could hurt Strickland, but the Democrats better get used to more 3rd party pain and do something about it. In fact, I can't think of a better strategy for Democrats than to spend the next 2 years trying to woo the Greens into their fold!

So if Fitrakis could hurt Strickland, why the heck doesn't Blackwell rush to stick the Greens on the ballot? Harvey Wasserman has the story at The Free Press site. http://www.freepress.org/index2.php

And would somebody please tell me anything about this Carlo LoParo and his background? I've Googled him for years and never found anything except he's Blackwell's "spokesman."

As for Ohio folks demanding Blackwell recuse himself, all the papers are carrying just that story at the moment. One of the best is out of Akron where you can catch John McCarthy's AP report of who Blackwell's financial supporters are. Diebold? You bet! http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14783837.htm


COMMENT #19 [Permalink]
... OHdog said on 6/10/2006 @ 4:31 am PT...


If the Green Party was not so often propped up by donations from rich republicans I'd think that they might be a legitimate presence spurring the Democrats to do a better job getting their message out to voters. But as long as the radical rich right can use the Greens to siphon off progressive voters they remain PINOTS (progressives in name only thugs)


COMMENT #20 [Permalink]
... big dan said on 6/10/2006 @ 7:22 am PT...


I'm going to say this, because no one's saying it, because it's politically incorrect. But, it's really, really sad that he's a black man suppressing his fellow blacks, who've been shit on by the Republicans for decades. It just makes it sooooooo much worse..........


COMMENT #21 [Permalink]
... Peg C said on 6/10/2006 @ 7:43 am PT...


Thanks, Jazzolog, for putting that straight. I was mulling that party affliation but had no time to go back and check. Same unconscionable behavior on the part of Blackwell, though...


COMMENT #22 [Permalink]
... Patrick Dodd said on 6/10/2006 @ 8:41 am PT...


Can these pigs be any more obvious? I used to read right wing rags. The religious right declared "war" on secular U.S. back then (three decades ago). Now they have counted coup, taken our country through fraud, oppression, and violence. First, we need to impeach. Second, hold special elections at every level. (Expensive, but not as expensive as the alternative.) Refuse to vote on machines. Demand hand counts on every election. Reform the administrative and supervisory process. Then, take back every judicial appointment made by this non-elected administration.

No Room for Caesars
Inspirational Song: We are the divine, The Bush crime family and kind are the Caesars. (The mix is rough but the song is great. I will upload a better mix today.)

Musical Sounds of Resistance
Music for the revolution. Will not be aired, but can be downloaded FREE. All we ask is that you share the inspiration.


COMMENT #23 [Permalink]
... molly said on 6/10/2006 @ 10:19 am PT...


#6 Interesting. I think big oil runs this country and anyone who gets in their way is shot by a lone gunman or has a plane crash. Doesn't seem to happen to repubs. BUY CITGO help decent people and you get better gas mileage.


COMMENT #24 [Permalink]
... JUDGE OF JUDGES said on 6/10/2006 @ 10:38 am PT...


No Doubt In my mind that republicans or big oil /business will use murder to reach there goals. Never stoped them before.


COMMENT #25 [Permalink]
... JUDGE OF JUDGES said on 6/10/2006 @ 4:08 pm PT...


Who's the black corperate dick
that's a sex machine to all the chicks?
(Shaftwell!)
You're damn right
Who is the man
that would risk his neck for his gop man?
(Shaftwell!)
Can ya dig it?
Who's the cat that won't cop out
when there's danger all about
(Shaftwell!)
Right on
You see this cat blackwell is a bad mother--
(Shut your mouth)
But I'm talkin' about Shaft
(Then we can dig it)
He's a complicated man
but no one understands him but his woman
Ken Shaftwell

Traditional lyrics Isaac Hayes
-- 1971--


COMMENT #26 [Permalink]
... bvac said on 6/10/2006 @ 8:12 pm PT...


OHdog, #19

Greens are not 'propped up' by donations from wealthy Republicans by any stretch of the imagination. I'm afraid you are the victim of a hoax. If just the idea of that bothers you, I would suggest giving a thorough look at who is propping up the Democrats and Republicans, before picking on an irrelevent third party.

That said, I really wish Fitrakis et al. would just say "I'm not asking for your vote, I'm just asking you to hear me out." Third parties are infinitely more ballsy than D/Rs and are free to tell it like it is.


COMMENT #27 [Permalink]
... Maui B said on 6/19/2006 @ 8:39 am PT...


Ken Blackwell: Election Rigging Crook.
(what my cars back window says)
Don't despair, we will be out in full force watching the polling places for any signs of tampering.
Also protests that will make Florida look like a kids birthday party are in place.
ANY shenanigans will see the light of day.


-=- Comments on this item are now closed. -=-


VotersUnite.org's Daily Voting News 'Daily Voting News'
For December 04, 2008

by John Gideon

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was signed into law in Oct. 2002. Amongst other things HAVA required the formation of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and provided some mandates, in Title III of the law, for federal elections including some standards for voting systems. Those standards include, but are not limited to, accessibility for voters with disabilities and accuracy in the vote count. Testing by experts in accessibility has shown that none of the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems presently in use meet the requirements for accessibility for disabled voters. Failures in testing and vote counting in real elections have also proven that, at times, the voting systems presently being used across the country do not meet the federally mandated requirements for accuracy.

So what guidance has been provided by the EAC to the states with regards to Title III? Well, actually none. In fact even though voting systems presently in use do not meet federal law the EAC is just now getting around to issuing guidance to state and local election officials and, according to the draft of the plan ‘featured’ below, it is going to take another two years before the EAC can complete the guidance.

Why can’t they just tell the vendors and the states that the law is clear and, if they fail to follow that law, violations will be referred to the DoJ? The fact that the vendors misrepresent their products as being accessible is a clear violation of the law. It is time they are held responsible and it doesn’t take two years of studying Title III of HAVA to make that clear....

Click for links to all of today's notable voting news headlines...

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