Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune: 'Matters Very Much Amiss With Forfeited Bonds'

CINCINNATI (TDB) --  An e-mail from Todd Portune says the clerk's office appears to have stalled collections and and mishandled procedures for collecting millions of dollars in forfeited bail bonds.  Portune wants Sheriff Simon Leis's office to take an active role in efforts to find out what has gone wrong.  Portune said the bail bond scandal involves "potential violations of regulation, policy or law . . ." and had been the subject of a review by county officials in 2009.  The Daily Bellwether has a copy of the e-mail, which was sent to Republican Clerk of Courts Patricia M. Clancy, whose office is responsible for collecting and issuing bail bonds:

"Dear Patty:

Last September 2009 Kathy Binns and I met with you and John Williams to discuss several irregularities in connection with bail bondsmen and uncollected forfeited bonds in Hamilton County .  You recall we shared with you the results of an investigation we had conducted with the help of others.  In light of severe county budget concerns and also potential violations of regulation, policy or law, we wanted to make certain the matter was addressed.

You and John Williams assured us that the matter was being addressed and that your office was on top of the matter along with the Prosecutor’s office.  It has come to my attention that matters may still be very much amiss with forfeited bonds not collected along with certain other practices that are either wrong or unlawful being conducted.

I am writing to you for the purpose of asking that we meet to discuss these matters and the efforts to put an end to the practices; to pursue those who may be engaged in wrongful practices; and to collect all moneys due Hamilton County. In particular I would like to know what the prospects are of collecting on amounts due in time to utilize sums in connection with Hamilton County ’s 2011 budget or to disburse to such other parties or political jurisdictions that are entitled to receive a percentage share of the same.

Unlike our previous meeting I believe it will be important to also have the assistance of proper representatives from the Sheriff and Prosecutor’s office to discuss the status as well as the county’s options in this matter.

Thank you for your assistance in connection with this important issue.

Sincerely yours, "

Todd Portune

President of the Board

Hamilton County Commissioners

Ride The Time Machine To 2014: 27% Unemployed, Trains Running From Cincinnati To Cleveland Hauling Cheap Chinese Crap



 From Ohio Daily, where Anthony Fossacecca writes what might be the best Ohio political satire ever. But what if Anthony really did get a trip to the future with mini-John Candy in the shiny blue suit?    

BREAKING : Voters Remove Kasich From Office as Unemployment Climbs to 27%

Submitted by Anthony Fossaceca on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 8:37am.

     I have to admit, I was a little nervous about traveling four years into the future after drinking all that alcohol Tuesday night.
    There was Fisher, then Cordray, then the Governor, giving concession speeches on ONN. As I reached for a tissue to dry my eye, I slipped off the couch and hit my head on the coffee table. After what seemed like 10 minutes, I woke to find a small man dressed in a shiny blue suit standing beside a telephone booth–right in my living room. The whole thing was kind of like a scene from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, only the little man looked more like John Candy than George Carlin and the phone booth appeared to have wifi. But, whatever.
     Anyway, the small man asked if I'd seen enough of the results. "Yes," I replied, "more than enough."
     "Care to see what they've done tonight?," he asked in a tone that seemed to imply that I should.
     "What the hell," I said. "Let's take a look. Do I need a jacket?"
     "No, your boiling blood will keep you warm enough."
     We squeezed into the phone booth, this little man and I, and as he pressed "2-0-1-4," a flash of light appeared and we found ourselves standing in the exact same spot. Unfortunately the TV was still on, and I must admit, the thought of that electric bill sent a shiver up my spine.
     "What's going on here? Nothing seems to have changed that much," I said.
     "Wait...just...wait...," he replied.
     Just then the TV volume grew. "...And we're back on FOX:ONN Election Night Coverage with breaking news. Let's go down to Kasich Headquarters where Jim Heath is standing by."
     "Thanks, Arica. Senator Taylor just made her way to the podium to prepare the remaining staffers and supporters for the Governor's arrival."
     "Senator Taylor?!?!" I asked.
     "Yes, Mary Taylor replaced Vice President Portman when he..."
     "Phhhhwwwwwaaaaaattttt?," I shouted while taking a sip of the four year old Dortmunder still sitting on the table. "Did you say VICE PRESIDENT Portman?"
     "Why yes," little man said with a snicker. "He was elected along with our new President..."
     "NO! I don't want to know," I begged.
     "Fair enough. It's not important anyway."
    The TV blared louder again as Heath's voice boomed. "Governor Kasich and Lt. Governor Seth Morgan are about to take the stage. They are joined tonight by their families and some close friends, but sadly few others remain. As you know, the last four years have been trying times for our state, and frankly, even the faithful are ready to move on."
     "This looks like quite a party," I said, grinning smugly from ear-to-ear. "Let's hop on the 3C Rail and get there before the whole thing is over."
     "Passenger rail? You must be joking. John Kasich promised he'd kill passenger rail, and he did. What's worse, he took our existing rail system and loaded it up with freight cars filled with cheap imported crap from China. Ohio now leads the nation in two things : useless household junk from overseas, and traffic congestion."
     "But what about the jobs the rail system was going to create?" I wondered.
     "Those jobs obviously never happened. Dayton suffered. Cincinnati suffered. But worst of all, Cleveland suffered."
"Why? What happened in Cleveland?"
     "That's a tragedy top to bottom," said mini-John Candy shaking his head. "Not only did the rail project get derailed, Attorney General Mike DeWine was so busy trying to interfere with health care reform that when United Airlines pulled out of Cleveland, he simply didn't have time to hold their feet to the fire."
     "So Cleveland not only lost a major carrier, they lost their ability to serve as a rail center because Kasich never pursued high speed rail?"
     "That's right. but it gets worse," he said. "Remember Kasich's plan to have his hand-picked board of "business leaders" make decisions with Ohio's Third Frontier pool? Well, the Governor placed many of his Wall Street buddies on his JobsOhio board. And just like the Wall Street money, this money vanished as well. No investment in new technologies, just a bunch of random funding for random projects, making Kasich's friends richer while Ohioans foot the bill."
     "Schools?" I asked.
    "Gutted!" he said. "Kasich tried to force school district to merge or suffer funding cuts. He and the GOP legislature slashed education in the budget and left the poorest districts to die on the vine. Now test scores have dropped, buildings are crumbling, and even once strong districts are going broke as homeowners head into foreclosure and tax revenues disappear. And don't even get me started on higher education. With skyrocketing tuition and a dwindling enrollment, Ohio universities are stretched way too thin. Even Ohio State is struggling to field a competitive football team. Michigan has won the last three meetings. It got so bad, Tressel went to Penn State and replaced Joe Paterno. Then, when it couldn't get worse, Governor Kasich found pricey speaking gigs for his buddies. They show up to give a lecture on whatever they want, and the schools send them home with a fat check. No questions asked."
     "What else got slashed by Kasich and the GOP legislature?" I regretted saying out loud.
     "Libraries. Farm aid. Roads. Social services. Public safety. Prison guards. The state fair. And so much more."
     "That's a lot of stuff. Why so many deep cuts?" I asked. But I already knew the answer.
     "To pay for tax cuts, duh," he replied mockingly. "They chopped out the state income tax and now property taxes are through the roof. Except no one lives here anymore because they can't find work. And many of those still here haven't made a mortgage payment in months or years."
     "So what you're saying is Ohio is a complete and total mess now?"
     "Exactly. And with unemployment at 27%, and no hope for jobs anytime soon, the voters finally realized they didn't like the taste of John Kasich's tea. Now the Democrats have to clean up the mess again."
     "Take me back," I begged. "I've seen enough."
     The little man and I climbed back into the booth, he punched in 2-0-1-0, and before I knew it, I was back in my living room. I took three steps across the floor and fell back deep into the cushions of the couch.
     "Well, I'm glad it ends well." I told the little man as he began preparing to leave.
     "Well? You call that well? That, my friend, is a joke. And you let it happen."
     "I let it happen? I think you forgot who voted these fools in," I said in my standard, arrogant tone.
     "Dude, you let it happen every day since today. Every time you let them gut funding to a project. Every time they rammed a terrible bill through the legislature. Every time Kasich let another one of his buddies bleed this state for their own personal gain. It was all you.
     "So what do we do about it?" I asked.
     "You fight. You educate. You inform. You make it a point to block these thieves and liars at every turn. Organize. Grab the momentum. Force the change you've been fighting for these many years. To everything you can. Everything you can, except sit on that couch."
     With that, I reached for the remote and clicked off the TV. And as I did, the little man in the shiny suit with the time machine phone booth disappeared. I knew he was right. We have to stand up and keep fighting. But first, I'd need to sweep up the mess in this living room

Boehner Family May Give Heartburn To More Than Dems: His Little Brother Dishing Cincinnati-Style Chili In Rural Georgia



Greg Boehner In Macon Telegraph Photo

 CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The GOP House leader's younger sibling, Greg, runs a couple of mom-and-pop eateries -- one is a cinder block joint -- outside Macon, Georgia.  They are not fancy places.  He's trying to introduce Cincinnati-style chili into a region where grits, pulled pork barbecue and banana cream pie are favorites and skyline means big buildings towering over Atlanta.  Three way?  That is something entirely different in the South than a Cincinnati chili restaurant.   If you ask a waitress for a three way in Georgia, you might get slapped and tossed in the street.  Or you might get a wink and have the time of your life.  Greg Boehner, 53, has been in Georgia longer than John has been in the House of Representatives.  His cafes are called the Front Porch.  He is one of 12 Boehners, and the only one who didn't stay in the Cincinnati area.  Jim Gaines, a writer at the Macon Telegraph, stopped by the Front Porch and found Greg Boehner working on drumming up interest in Cincinnati chili:

"The original Front Porch sports a few picnic tables and rough wooden steps on a street corner by the railroad tracks next door to Farmer Browns Odds & Ends & Stuff.  'Hi Joe,' Boehner called out Thursday afternoon from his perch at a Front Porch table.  Joe, a white-haired man walking a dog, stopped to make a salty comment about current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."

You can read the story here. Greg Boehner has an Ohio State sign on the kitchen door, and it is pasted over a John Boehner political sticker.   Some Georgians have never forgiven Ohio's Gen. Sherman for marching through their state during the Civil War.  If Greg Boehner isn't just whistling Dixie, Cincinnati chili should go down easier.

P&G Exec Says Cold Water Clothes Washing Would Cut US Energy Use: Less Hot Water Means Less Hot Air

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- P&G's director of global sustainability, Peter White, tells Britain's Guardian that switching to cold water washing detergents would save a bundle:  "P&G calculates that if it could convince everyone in the US to wash in cold water it would reduce domestic energy consumption by 3% and allow the country to meet 6% of its Kyoto committment."  Just a 3% reduction would be a huge savings in dollars -- about $36.9 billion.  There is data about US energy consumption available in this Energy Department report. In 2007, the most recent year available, the U.S. spent about $1.233 trillion on coal, natural gas and petroleum fuels. You can read Peter White's interview with the Guardian by clicking here.

Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Patricia Clancy Confirms The Number: Bail Bondsmen Owe Cincinnati $1 Million In Forfeitures

Cincinnati Is Owed A Wad

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The clerk's office reports the city's share of uncollected bail bond forfeitures is at least $960,000 -- and is likely to be substantially more.  That as-yet unknown sum reflects debts involving property bonds where no action has been taken to seize real estate.  All of the bonds were posted by accused criminals who did not want to sit in jail while awaiting court dates and trials.  Money from forfeited bonds is earmarked to combat drug crimes on Cincinnati's streets.  But the cops haven't been getting all the cash owed, apparently because of bottlenecks at clerk's office in the courthouse.  The bonds were forfeited because the suspects didn't keep their written guarantee to show up in front of a judge.  County officials are supposed to grab money and property posted as bonds, but have been slow to act -- some of the forfeitures date back to the mid-1990s.   Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Patricia M. Clancy -- whose office is responsible for bail bonds -- disclosed the sum owed to the City of Cincinnati.  Clancy was responding to Cincinnati Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who last month said the money was needed to pay for police to fight street crime.  The city faces a $50 million budget deficit and may have to law off cops.  Clancy wrote Qualls yesterday:

"In response to your questions, the City would be entitled to receive a portion of the bond forfeitures collected based upon certified judgments from bail bondsmen and their insurance carriers of $960,000.  This amount represents the gross amount of the bonds, and does not reflect the possible reductions permitted under the statute.  The City's portion of the bond forfeitures against individuals (parents and family members who posted property) will be provided to you shortly.  The Clerk of Courts has placed liens on the individuals and the property posted,but has not taken any action to foreclose on real estate of the parents and family members to date."

Clancy said she's got lawyers on the job:  "Also, the Clerk of Courts has been working with the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office to collect on the certified judgments against bail bondmen and their insurance carriers.  The Prosecutor's Office met with the Common Pleas and Municipal Judges on this issue and is working with the bondsmen and their insurance carriers to collect on the certified judgments.  We look forward to a successful resolution in the near future."

Any money collected on a bond forfeiture goes to the city if the city prosecuted the case through its law department.  If the County Prosecutor handles the criminal case -- a drug case, for example -- the money is split with 80% of the forfeited bond going to the Cincinnati police, and 20% to the prosecutor's office.  The Daily Bellwether has been reporting on the uncollected bail bonds since last month and you can read all the earlier posts by by clicking here. There are a lot of comments -- mostly anonymous -- that indicate there is a backstory that has yet to unfold publicly.

Official Marine Corps' Facebook Page Debate: Should U.S. Troops Shoot Tea Party Members And Christians When Obama Gives The Order?



Martial Law On USMC Facebook Page

 CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The U.S. Marine Corps has an official Facebook page -- the Pentagon having embraced social networking -- where an interesting discussion thread has been unfolding for several weeks.  Part of it is about President Barack Obama's citizenship -- is he really an American born in the USA.  And part of it is somewhat morbid -- should Marines shoot Tea Party members if Obama declares martial law?  You can read the thread on the Marine Corps' Facebook page by clicking here.

It is more than a little disconcerting to see such a discussion find traction on a military-sponsored website.  After all, who wants to think about U.S. troops opening fire on U.S. citizens, who can imagine such an event.  It did happen at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, when four students were killed by Ohio National Guardsmen ordered onto the campus during the Vietnam War.  President Richard Nixon's policies put the troops on the campus, but Nixon didn't give any orders to the National Guard -- they were sent by Ohio Gov. James Rhodes to quell student unrest.  Only the most rabid conspiracy theorists and Obama-haters must think that the President is considering imposing a military dictatorship with himself as the dictator.  Only the most rabid imagine that Tea Party activists are going to be rounded up and massacred by U.S. Marines.

Here's the post that started the discussion thread on the Marine Corps Facebook page:  "Being a veteran Marine, I ask this in all sincerity expecting a civil responses from those who are always faithful.  An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or sovereign.  With the current state of affairs in the USA and this President being your Commander in Chief, what can we expect from the Marines who fight to defend this country when/if the time comes for his administration to declare martial law and turn the troops against the citizens of this country; whether it is a Tea Party group, Christians, Gun owners or those patriots who are willing to give their own lives for this country?''

To me, this sounds like something from a provacateur, a message meant to cause disorder in disciplined ranks.  It speaks of the "when/if" moment when Obama gives the order to start using the armed forces against Americans.  It says the President is going to target "patriots."  Free speech is a great gift.  Suggesting to U.S. troops on a military website that the commander-in-chief is going to seize power is inflammatory.  Maybe the website should be shut down, or closely monitored to scrub such talk of violence and despotism.  Republicans and Tea Party candidates fared well in the mid-term elections this week.  Tanks did not roll.  The Republic is safe.

As He Packs It In, Strickland Offers Words Of Woody Guthrie: Folksinger Wrote About America's Bounty, Hardships of Downtrodden

Woody Guthrie

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Outgoing Democratic Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is telling disappointed supporters to find solace in the the words of Woody Guthrie.  Strickland quotes the folksinger who said he refused to write song lyrics "that makes you think that you are not any good."  Guthrie died in 1967, but he remains a giant who chronicled the Depression, the Dust Bowl and patriotism in the face of despair.  The quote Strickland chose to put in his concession speech Tuesday night -- and which may tie him forever to Guthrie -- is about pride, work and simple virtue overcoming ill fortune.  Strickland is from Appalachia and grew up in hardscrabble poverty; Guthrie was from Oklahoma and knew a hardscrabble existence.  Nobody is really sure where Guthrie delivered the words that Strickland is citing -- probably off-the-cuff during one of his zillions of performances.  It seems to originally appear in print in a 1965 paperback called Born To Win, a 251-page book that contains drawings, scribblings, poems and musings from Guthrie, who is listed as the author.  The book is out of print.

Here's the quote as used by Strickland:  "I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that make you think you are just born to lose.  No good to nobody.  No good for nothing.  Because you are too old or too young or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that.  Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.  I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood.  I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and it it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built.  I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work."

Strickland did not use the rest of Guthrie's words, which go on to say:  "And the songs I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you.  I could hire out to the other side, the big money side, and get several dollars every week just to quit singing my own kind of songs and to sing the kinds that knock you down still farther and the ones that poke fun at you even more and the ones that make you think that you've not got any sense at all.  But I decided a long time ago that I'd starve to death before I'd sing any such songs as that.  The radio waves and your movies and your jukeboxes and your songbooks are already loaded down and running over with such no good songs as that anyhow."

Mark Allan Jackson, whose 2002 Louisiana State University PhD dissertation is considered authoritative about Guthrie's life and philosophy saw Guthrie as a beacon for essential human rights. He saw Guthrie as a man who watched people suffer hard times in dignity.

"Considering its sympathy for suffering Dust Bowlers, disenfranchised tenant farmers and abused migrant workers, Guthrie's work . . . could be denounced as being biased. Where, critics might say, are the bums and drunkards, lay-abouts and louses in his description of these people? How is it that all those whose suffering Guthrie captures stand amongst these noble poor who had had their fortunes and rights unjustly denied? . . . In effect, Guthrie wanted to express the other side of the situation in his song lyrics by describing the dehumanizing, demoralizing conditions that the Dust Bowlers, the tenant farmers and the Okie migrant laborers suffered under in America during the Great Depression. By providing these stories in a sympathetic voice, he not only exposes the unfulfilled promise of the 'Land of Opportunity' and other national myths but urges the audience to feel for the people who inhabit the songs." 

That was Ted Strickland. He felt sympathy for the people who inhabit the songs, he wanted to serve them, he wanted no one repressed and marginalized and, like Woody, dreamed of an Ohio with pastures of plenty.

Cincinnati Bank Charging $8 Fee To Cash Democratic Party Pollworker Paychecks: Fifth Third Accused Of Gouging

Bank Fees Anger Dems

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The executive director of the Hamilton County Democratic Party says poll workers are being forced to pony up 8%.  The  checks are written on an account Democrats have at Fifth Third Bank.  Caleb Faux compared the check cashing fee to legalized larceny:  "It's basically the bank stealing money.''  So far, the local Democratic Party in Cincinnati has written 200 checks on its account, each for $100.  Faux said poll workers who go to Fifth Third branches and don't have accounts at Fifth Third are being given $92 on a $100 check.  He said the party has its money in that bank.

"What entitles Fifth Third to take 8% out of their money off the top?  This is outrageous.  The poll workers worked about twelve and a half hours Tuesday standing out in the cold.  They earned the money.  They participated in the process.  They are good citizens.  Some of them are poor people.  They need every penny.  The check should be a piece of paper that entitles them to walk into Fifth Third and walk out with a hundred bucks.  That's what they got paid.  I think we'll have to move our accounts.  We're not a big account, but there are a lot of Democrats.  The bank's fee is just not fair.  It's arrogant to impose a fee on a check drawn at the bank."

Fifth Third took $3.4 billion in federal government bailout funds from TARP, which was passed in the waning months of President George W. Bush's administration.  The Cincinnati-based banking company says it hopes to have a plan in place later this year to repay the bailout money. 

Xavier University Prof Put Boehner On Path To Speaker: 'John, You Ought To Think About Getting Yourself Back To School'

XU Prof Bill "Smitty" Smith

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A conversation in a suburban Cincinnati tavern 39 years ago after a high school basketball game set John Boehner on the course that has taken him to national prominence. Xavier prof Bill Smith -- who taught accounting for 50 years -- was at the Kenwood Tavern, the kind of neighborhood bar that dots Ohio cities.  He told Boehner it was time to get a degree.  Boehner had dropped out of the University of Cincinnati with bad grades, and was scraping by driving bulldozers, working construction and refereeing high school sports.  He had $400 in his bank account.  Boehner told the story about Smith's impact on his life in the 2006 commencement speech (pdf) he delivered on Xavier's campus in Cincinnati. Here's his recollection about the professor, who was widely known as 'Smitty' and died in 2009:

"After I had been out of school for several years, Bill and I were officiating together, out in Timbuktu somewhere, and in January 1971 we were having dinner after the game at the Kenwood Tavern.  Bill Smith leaned over to me and said, 'John you ought to think about getting yourself back to school.'  He said, 'You need to come to Xavier.'"

Boehner said he couldn't afford it.  Smith paved the way with the admission office.  Boehner took three classes and finished the semester with A and Bs.  He commuted, dropped out, then spent five years in night school.  He graduated in 1977 -- six years after Smitty told him to get a college education.  Now he's about to become Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, one of the highest offices in the land.  And it all started with a barroom conversation.  Bill Smith didn't make the Republican speaker, but he surely helped set him on course for the job.

'Jobs Czar' Lee Fisher Joins 591,000 Ohioans Seeking Work: Resume Must Disclose He Was Deadweight Dud On Dem Ticket

Lee Fisher Deserves Some Blame

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- There are those who are saying today that, "Lee Fisher, quite simply, cost Ted Strickland re-election."  The line originated with Tim Russo at Plunderbund.  And the fact is, Fisher's run for the U.S. Senate was punchless, disastrous, callous, inept, a massive display of ego, the mission of a fool.  Ohio's lieutenant governor did nothing to help the statewide ticket -- he could not raise money, he could not inspire voters, he was a human punching bag for Republican Sen.-elect Rob Portman, who pummeled Fisher.  Every campaign spot by Portman had the add-on impact of delivering a body blow to Strickland.  Fisher was in charge of creating jobs in Ohio -- he couldn't even make one for himself.  Now he's headed for the unemployment lines, where he will join 10% of the state's workforce. Fisher deserves to stand in that line; the other Ohioans deserve paychecks and careers.  To call Fisher an albatross around the neck of Gov. Ted Strickland's unsuccessful re-election campaign would be an insult to albatrosses.  Fisher is a loser -- he lost the 1994 race for attorney general, he lost the 1998 race for governor against Bob Taft.  He was pulverized by Portman on Nov. 2, 2010.    

Plunderbund's Russo has a great analysis of Fisher's anthrax-like harm to the statewide ticket. And he wonders why so many of the state's Democratic leaders were blind to his toxic presence:

"Establishment Democrats at the very top of our party were hell bent on preserving Lee Fisher for Rob Portman to destroy.  DSCC chair Bob Menendez was quite explicit in his threats to Jennifer Brunner. The crowning glory was the total abdication by EMILY’s List of their entire reason for being, abandoning a progressive woman statewide office holder in favor of a male establishment pillar built on sand who they must have known was about to collapse.  It’s hard to imagine a more effective way of destroying your organization’s credibility, and EMILY’s List did that for Lee Fisher.
Then, they all went away.  Every one of the people who made threats of lost state business, who acquiesced to those threats, thus stifling Jennifer Brunner’s fundraising, was nowhere to be found as Lee Fisher literally vanished during the summer, then in a last ditch effort to apparently entertain himself, spiraled into self-parody.

"What was Lee’s effect on the rest of the ticket?  Fatal.  My, how we can count the ways….but one stands out.  Blindingly so.  When Lee Fisher demanded and received the double-dip title of  'jobs czar,' neither he nor Ted Strickland probably expected the entire world economy to collapse in 2008.  Well, it did.  At that point, it should have been clear to every Democrat in Ohio, or Washington DC, that Lee’s presence at the top of the ODP ticket in 2010 would make every Rob Portman 'jobs' attack a double dip, too – those ads would hit Ted Strickland just as hard as they hit Lee Fisher."

Ohio Election Results: Ballot Totals Reported From Governor's Race, U.S. House, Legislative Contests

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Click here to see the latest election results in Ohio. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's office is streaming the vote totals for races across the state.  These are the best and most up-to-date results available on Nov. 2, 2010.  Provisional  ballots -- which could decide the outcome in close contests -- won't be counted for another 10 days.

Tight Ohio Race Will Trigger Federal Lawsuit: Democrats Said Prepared For Court Fight Over Provisional Ballots

Al Franken had to lawyer up 

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- If the battle for governor or any other statewide races end up to close to call on election night, the Ohio Democratic Party plans to litigate to make sure all votes are tallied properly.  ODP will fight a legal battle in U.S. District Court -- most likely Cincinnati or Columbus -- to ensure that all 88 counties tabulate provisional ballots uniformly and use the same methods.  Democratic sources confirmed by e-mail within the last hour that the federal voting rights case would be filed in the Southern District of Ohio, which has U.S. judges located in Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton.  Provisional ballots are set aside and counted 10 days after the general election.  Independent statewide polls show Kasich and Strickland in a virtual dead heat.   If the election comes out that close, get ready for the lawyers.  The Columbus Dispatch reported today that the Dems were already seeking a federal court order:

"Yesterday, the Ohio Democratic Party filed a request for a federal court order to require county elections boards to provide voter addresses and other identifying information from provisional-ballot envelopes upon request."

The line appeared in Dispatch reporter Mark Niquette's long story that suggested a close race between Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Republican John Kasich could become a legal fight. However, if there was such a lawsuit already pending, it was not publicly available in the court clerk's offices Tuesday.  Other elections officials told The Daily Bellwether that the Ohio Democratic Party had written to local boards of elections trying to gain access to addresses and other info from provisional ballot envelopes.  Hamilton County had gotten one of the letters, and apparently turned down the ODP request.  Litigation in close elections is nothing new -- it took months for Minnesota officials to decide if Al Franken won that state's U.S. Senate seat in 2008.  Franken had a 312-vote margin that was recognized by the Minnesota Supreme Court nearly seven months after the election.  And everybody recalls Bush v. Gore and the U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 ruling that said George Bush won the presidency even though he lost the popular vote.

NPR's Robert Krulwich May Have Started Urban Myth With 1848 Cincinnati Photo: There's An Older Picture In Columbus

The Parkers, 1840-1845

CINCINNATI (TDB) --  The September 1848 photo of two people standing on the Cincinnati riverfront has been making worldwide headlines. The claim to fame: NPR's Robert Krulwich suggested it could be the "First Photo of a Human Being Ever." But it's not, and a little research would have quickly shown Krulwich he was off base. The Ohio Historical Society has several photos in its collection of the same vintage.  And one is at least 3 years older than the 162-year-old Cincinnati daguerreotype -- it could be 8 years older.  It took The Daily Bellwether less than 30 minutes to find the photos by searching the historical society's online portal called OhioPix. It's a pretty fascinating spot to peruse.  The oldest photo of people in the collection is a daguerreotype of John and Persis Parker with three children -- it was taken between 1840 and 1845.  Unfortunately, there is no information about the Parkers; what they did, where they lived, what became of them.  The children could be two sons and a daughter -- but the details are absent.  All we know is that they gathered, put on what looks to be their Sunday best, and had their picture taken.

There are two really famous John Parkers in American history -- neither is involved with the oldest photos of humans in Ohio.  Capt. John Parker led the American militiamen on Lexington Green in April 1775 against the British.  His famous words before the shooting started:  "Stand your ground, don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."   Parker died of tuberculosis before the Revolutionary War concluded.  The other famous Parker is John P. Parker, an abolitionist who lived in Ripley, Ohio near Cincinnati.  His father was a free white man; his mother was a slave.  By the 1840s he owned a foundry and became active in the Underground Railroad.  He would cross the Ohio River into Kentucky and lead runaways slaves to freedom in Ohio -- some would escape to Canada and start new lives.  As for Persis Parker -- the woman in the photo -- all we know is that it was not an unusual name for a female in the early 19th Century. Persis as a name for a woman seems to be taken from Persia, the ancient name for Iran.

There are at least a half-dozen daguerreotypes in the state collection that are dated between 1845 and 1850.  Louis Daguerre, a Frenchman, invented the process that involved exposing chemically treated metal plates to capture an image.  It was wildly popular.  NPR's Krulwich now says the earlier photo could be from 1838 in Paris, where a man seems to be getting his shoes shined on a street corner.

Democratic Early Voters Surging On Cincinnati's West Side: Oh-01 Lifeline For Steve Driehaus vs. GOP's Chabot



Data Shows Dem Oh-01 Voting Surge

 CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The so-called "enthusiasm gap" that had Republicans fired up and voting in droves while Democrats sat on their keisters has vanished in the heaviest populated portion of Ohio's 1st Congressional District.  Early voting data shows 15,604 Democrats have voted in Oh-01, a number that has blown past  Republican turnout.  The surge took place late last week and over the weekend.  The GOP now trails with 14,424 early voters.  Republicans had been ahead in the Oh-01 matchup for more than a month.  Nearly 60% of the early votes cast in Hamilton County -- which includes Cincinnati -- are in Oh-01, which indicates massive public interest in the mid-term House contest.  Steve Driehaus, a freshman Democrat, faces Republican Steve Chabot, who held the seat for 14 years.  Both are from Cincinnati's West Side, and their rematch is clearly SW Ohio's most closely watched.  If Dems show up for Driehaus, their votes in statewide races will help the statewide ticket from Gov. Ted Strickland on down.  Nearly 12,000 independent votes have been cast in Oh-01 ahead of Election Day -- if they break nearly even Driehaus has a chance.  Driehaus has been written off by many political experts and commentators.  But the numbers suggest that Democratic voters are hanging with him.  Of the 26,000 Democratic early ballots issued in Hamilton County through Oct. 30, 18,566 were in Oh-01 and 84% have been returned.

Democrats have also been showing up in greater numbers at the Hamilton County Board of Elections to cast ballots ahead of the polls opening on Nov. 2.  Through Oct. 30, there were 3,674 Dem votes vs. 1,024 Republican.  [UPDATE: 1:24pm -- At noon today, the board of elections reported the latest count at that downtown polling site, 3,828 D, 1,059 R.  These are walk-in voters.  The tide is still surging Dem on election eve.]  Some suggest this is an indication that the Democrats' ground game has traction, and that the party's get-out-the-vote efforts are delivering results.

Still, polls (the few that have been disclosed) have shown Chabot leading, but the Republican has cautioned his supporters not to grow overconfident.  Last week on his campaign blog, Chabot said "there is nothing certain in life" but sounded like he was pretty sure he was going to flush Driehaus.  At the time, nobody was sure if the voting surge by Democrats would arrive.  Everyone was talking about the enthusiasm gap.  Here's Chabot:

"We're less than a week away from what could be one of the most momentous midterm elections in history.  All indications are that the American people are chomping at the bit to change the direction the Obama Administration and the Pelosi/Reid Congress have been taking this nation.  I believe we will win our race, and we'll once again be represented by someone who truly believes in less government, lower taxes and fiscal responsibility.  However, there's nothing certain in life, and ultimately the voters of the First Congressional District have the final say, and they will deliver their verdict . . ."

Hamilton County Democratic Sample Ballot Election 2010: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland Leads The Ticket

Click It and Print It

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Here's the Democratic Party line-up that is on the ballot Tuesday Nov. 2, 2010 in Hamilton County, Ohio.  Gov. Ted Strickland heads the list, Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper is there on the card, and U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus. D-01, is the in the middle.  Scan down a bit and you will spot the names of Dusty Rhodes, who is running for reelection as County Auditor, and Jim Tarbell, who is seeking a seat on the Hamilton County Commission.  State Rep. Connie Pillich is after another two-year term in the Ohio House of Representatives.  Her opponent, Mike Wilson, is a founder of the Cincinnati Tea Party.

And don't forget to vote in the the judicial races, including Bill Mallory, Nadine Allen, Jody Luebbers and Steve Black.  You can print out this official Hamilton County sample ballot and take it to the polls operated by the Hamilton County Board of Elections.  The sample ballot is nice and blue.