Republican musings on RON or Deep Thoughts from the Shallow End
Thursday, October 13, 2005
In traditional Republican fashion, the Ohio GOP in a desperate attempt to thwart heinous attempts to clean up our electoral system, (whose many faults were made glaring by the events surrounding the 2004 elections), has resorted to the tactics of misinformation made popular by the soon to be indicted, (Dear God I hope so), Karl Rove. Their blog, "State of the Union: thoughts on life and politics in a red state," posted 10/13/05, has a juicy little nugget of fantasy entitled, "Editorial: NO on 2, 3, 4 & 5," (catchy ain't it), in which a number of distortions and some misinformation tries to convince the mindless conservative zombie horde of the DANGER of these amendments.
I know it's tedious and time consuming, but we have to go through each of these so that you can understand their arguments, because after all knowledge is power and learnin' is like kryptonite to a conservative.
Issue 2:
Truth: This amendment to our constitution will allow every citizen of the State of Ohio to vote up to 35 days early either in person at their county board of elections office or by absentee. Those voters who choose to vote early will not be required to give cause as to why they are voting early.Truth: The GOP claims that House Bill 3, which includes this change and a few safeguards, "without which there could be an increase in election fraud," will be taken up after the election. The highlighted portion is so the horde can remember the talking point. According to Ohio
Issue 3:
Truth: As I mentioned in a previous blog, ("Republican Corruption and the need for RON amendments" 10/05/05), Issue 3 reduces the contribution amount to 1/5 the previous amount and requires disclosure. which prevents wealthy donors from donating thousands of dollars in the names of their toddlers. Such a change makes the current practice of buying politicians nearly impossible.
GOP BS: First, the GOP agrees that Issue 3 cuts back on the amounts individuals can spend, it has loopholes that allow " special interests such as labor unions to give virtually unlimited amounts through 'small-donor PACs' without full disclosure."
"Hello, Pot, Kettle calling!" All of a sudden the only "special interest" groups are labor unions. The Republican Party is a the fund raising equivalent of a 500-pound gorilla, not because of individual contributions but massive donations from corporations their well-heeled supporters, who expect a return on their investment and have gotten it as we can see from recent events in the statehouse. Small donor PAC's, created in these amendments, do allow donations larger than the $2000 mentioned but only from groups made up of individuals contributing no more than $50. These are like minded individuals, of both parties mind you, that will have come together to support their beliefs. What could be more American than that. By the way, under these rules groups like the NRA and other right wing groups could make larger contributions as well.
And as for the "without full disclosure" comment:
Campaign committees, PACs, multi-candidate political committees, small donor action committees, political parties, and organizations that make independent expenditures and individuals who make independent expenditures totaling more than $500 in a calendar year are required to file election finance reports at such times as designated by law.
Campaign committees, PACs, multi-candidate political committees, small donor action committees, political parties, and organizations that make independent expenditures and individuals who make independent expenditures totaling more than $500 in a calendar year are required to file election finance reports at such times as designated by law.
Issue 4:
Truth: Issue 4 will put an end to GERRYMANDERING. Currently, political districts are drawn up by the legislature, which means that the party in power gets to decide which voters make up which districts, stacking the odds in their own favor, as it were. Issue 4 sets up a bi-partisan commission which will draw up districts using census data (except for the 2008 election) and a mathematical formula that will ensure competitive races that candidates will have to win by actually representing the people and not their big money donors.
GOP BS: Let's take these one at a time:
First, the GOP complains that "The board would not be accountable to the voters." That's the point. The process of redistricting is already held hostage to politics, the only difference being that it not accountable to the voters because the ruling party rigs the process in their favor. Take Pat Tiberi's district for example. (I know he's a Representative and not a state legislator, it's just an example!) Tiberi's district consists of Worthington, Westerville and a large chunk of Delaware county. I'm not being biased when I tell you that this area consist of quite a few affluent, suburban white voters, who as we all know are not likely to vote Democrat. The chances of a Dem making even a good showing in that district are so slim that Tiberi has run unopposed for a number of years, and may again in 2006.
Second, the board would be required to "implement a complex and impractical mathematical formula -- also in the amendment -- designed to maximize the political competitiveness of Ohio legislative districts. The formula doesn't care whether districts are compact or strung out all over the state. Neither does it provide for a racial minority voice. Competitiveness between Democrats and Republicans is all that matters."
There are so many things wrong with that statement coming out of the mouth of a GOP representative that I could do weeks worth of postings explaining it to you. I'll try to remain brief.
(1). REQUIRED REPUBLICAN INSULT: The GOP and their supporters are not known for their, shall we say, intellectual curiosity, so I can understand why the phrase "complicated mathematical formula" would make them just a tad wary. Hey, at least I didn't call them stupid.
(2). The formula doesn't care whether districts are compact or strung out all over the state. Since when has the size or shape of the district had any bearing on the process of drawing it to suit a party's (any party's) needs. Has anyone seen the 19th district lately. The 19th is Assistant Majority Leader Larry Flowers district and it covers the entire eastern side of Franklin County and consists mostly of the areas of the county outside of I-270. The suburban communities it encompasses are a Republican's electoral wet dream come true; Westerville, Gahanna, Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, Canal Winchester, Groveport, etc.
(3). I've saved the best for last. The GOP is suddenly quite concerned with the plight of the minorities. According to the posting, Issue 4 does not "provide for a racial minority voice." The last time I looked, the GOP could care less about what minorities want. At this point, even the congressional black caucus is enraged at what Republican programs and ideals have done to "help", or not help as the case may be, African-Americans escape poverty. Current events have laid bare the extent to which poverty is prevalent in America, especially among African-Americans, and the Bush administration's answer is to cut spending on exactly those programs which would help ease the suffering of those left homeless by the hurricane's devastation. In Ohio, Taft's disastrous new tax cuts in the face of overwhelming budget strains will adversely affect those programs such as Medicaid and public education, decisions which will disproportionately affect the black community. They could care less whether minority voices are adequately represented.
And Finally. . .
Issue 5:
The Truth: Issue 5 removes partisan political oversight of the electoral process. What does that mean exactly. The secretary of state, a political partisan and an elected official who every so often finds it necessary to toady to his party's whims for support in upcoming elections, will no longer be in charge of making sure the elections are run fairly and that the results are accurate and trustworthy. Instead all election matters would be under control of an State Board of elections to be made up of, essentially, four appointees from each party and a ninth member appointed by a unanimous vote of the Ohio Supreme Court.
GOP BS: "This is overkill. . . What we really need is a law -- not an amendment -- that prohibits the secretary of state from running any political campaign (other than his or her own) during an election."
Fine. I can agree that maybe going to all the trouble of creating an independent, politically balanced board to oversee the most important act of citizenship we as Ohioans participate in might be over the top and a simple piece of legislation could solve the obvious conflict of interest caused by a partisan elected official overseeing the electoral process, whose outcome decides whether or not he's employed going into the Christmas shopping season, leaving his kids without new Ipods and X-Boxes under the tree. My question is simply this. Where the hell is it? The Republicans have had a stranglehold on the legislative process for quite some time. Ohioans were screaming about sorry state of our electoral process while they stood in line in the rain for seven plus hours in 2004. So where is this law?
There is no law because the Republicans don't want one. Especially Ken Blackwell who by the way will be in charge of the 2006 elections if this amendment doesn't pass. You know Ken Blackwell, the guy who wants to be our governor in 2006. I haven't finished listening to my book-on-CD version of Aristotle's Ethics, but I can pretty much guarantee that he would say that the above situation would be, at the very least, a wee smidgen unethical.
To say that Ken Blackwell is ethically challenged is like saying a goldfish laying on the sidewalk is a little out of breath. In the Columbus Dispatch, ("Blackwell voices opposition to all state issues on Nov. 8 ballot" 10/15/05) Blackwell says "It's just politics and there's nothing wrong with that." Folks, let me tell you government is not a game. It's NOT just politics. The people we elect to represent us and the decisions that those people make affect our everyday lives in ways that defy the imagination. From the availability of jobs, good healthcare and educational opportunities to fixing potholes and getting the trash picked up, politics is part of the fabric of our everyday lives, like it or not. We deserve to have confidence in the political process, confidence that our vote was counted and our voice was heard. For that reason alone, these four amendments should be passed.
Our government is just that, ours. It is supposed to represent us all, from the guy who picks up the trash to the guy in the silk suit making big deals in the downtown office towers. For a long time in Ohio, that has not been the case. The RON amendments will not remove corruption completely, as long as there is money and influence, corruption will exist. They will however go along way toward leveling the playing field, and, more importantly, they will make the avenues of corruption that much harder to travel.
