Whites Banned From Share In Ken Blackwell's Cincinnati Bengals Luxury Suite? Lawsuit Claims Wealthy Blacks Set Racial Barrier

Racial Preferences Alleged

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The allegation that whites can't buy a share in the Cincinnati Bengals luxury suite that comes with 16 season tickets appears in a Hamilton County Common Pleas Court lawsuit.  It's a dispute filed by Ken Blackwell -- the GOP candidate for Ohio governor in 2006 -- and several African American partners who claim they have been stiffed out of more than $60,000 in fees owed on the box at Paul Brown Stadium.  The couple who allegedly owe the money, James and Deborah Davis, contend the Blackwell group instructed them not to try to sell their interest in the luxury box to whites.  Here's what the Davis's lawyer, Ashley Meier Barlow, wrote in a recent court filing:

"In this case, Plaintiffs [the Blackwell group] failed to take any action to mitigate the damages from the alleged breach of contract by Defendants.  In fact, when Defendants informed Plaintiffs that they were not going to adhere to the obligations of the Suiteholder Agreement, Plaintiffs suggested that Defendants should attempt to find individuals to assume Defendants' obligations.  Worse, Plaintiffs instructed Defendants that they should try to find substitute African American individuals of influence interested in assuming Defendants alleged contractual obligations.

"Clearly, Plaintiffs should have made a reasonable effort to avoid the damages that resulted from the alleged breach of the Suiteholder Agreement.  Instead, Plaintiffs made no effort whatsoever to mitigate their damages and in fact made it more difficult for Defendants to assign their tickets as Plaintiffs placed limitations on what individuals would be acceptable."

The language in the filing uses the word plaintiffs -- plural -- and does not get specific about who actually suggested the suite share should be sold to some other African Americans.  Still, it clearly does allege some racial preference was at work.  Blackwell is a political conservative and is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council. He's also been involved with the Club for Growth and the National Taxpayers Union. He was the first African American elected to statewide office in Ohio when he won the state treasurer's job in 1994. He ran for chairman of the Republican National Committee last year but lost to Michael Steele.  Blackwell does not have a reputation as a black racist or black nationalist, and the allegations in the lawsuit seems at odds with the way he has publicly conducted his life.

The lawsuit is Case No. A 0910309, d.e. Foxx & Associates Inc et al v. James Davis et al.  It is assigned to Judge Bob Winkler, who has sent the dispute to mediation.  A mediation session is set for Dec. 8.  Besides Ken Blackwell and d.e. Foxx Inc., the five other plaintiffs include Blue Chip Enterprises, Dr. Joseph Hackworth, Dr. Charles Johnson and Progressive Marketing & Management, which is based in Columbus.  That group contends the Davis's purchased two shares in the suite package in September 2007.  It says they have failed and refused to pay their pro-rata share due in March 2009.  The group has not filed an answer to the motion to dismiss that raised the allegation that the luxury suite and season tickets should preferably be in the hands of African American shareholders.  Judge Winkler has stayed the date for the answer pending mediation.

Jerome Corsi & Ken Blackwell: Their Book 'Rebuilding America' Was Greeted Like A Sackful Of Feces

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Jerome Corsi's latest campaign-season book, Obama Nation, is another effort to deliver a haymaker from the right. But Corsi of late has a reputation for keeping company with losers. In 2006, Corsi teamed up with Ohio Republican Ken Blackwell -- then the GOP candidate for governor -- on a 255-page dud they called Rebuiding America. There were not great numbers interested in what they had to say. The work is now buried at No. 971,273 on Amazon's computer list of popular books -- that's deep.

Blackwell was Ohio's secretary of state and top elections official in 2004, and he was also a top official in President George Bush's reelection campaign. He did everything he could to suppress the Democratic vote that year in Ohio, which was a must-win state for Bush. Corsi co-authored the book that Swiftboated John Kerry. Blackwell soon partnered with the rightwing zealot, who spent the end of the 2006 Ohio's governor's race spreading sexual smears about Ted Strickland. Voters weren't buying and Strickland crushed Blackwell at the polls -- it was the biggest GOP loss in decades.

The Corsi-Blackwell book was so unnoteworthy that the public library in Cincinnati --Blackwell's hometown -- didn't even bother to purchase a copy for its stacks. If you haven't heard about the Corsi-Blackwell book, Amazon has a few reviews and background. It might make good bathroom reading. Or it might make good toilet paper.

Ohio GOPers Getting Calls From Ken Blackwell: McCain Is A Reagan Republican

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ken Blackwell is now working the phones for John McCain. The robo calling -- in the wake of the dust up with Bill Cunningham -- pits a genuine Cincinnati social conservative, Blackwell, against the publicity addicted radio talk show host. Blackwell is urging Republicans to "please join me in voting for John McCain" on primary day, March 4. Cunningham says that he won't vote for the Arizona senator, who apologized publicly Tuesday for Cunningham's bombast at a Cincinnati campaign rally.

[UPDATE: 2/28/08 7:20 a.m -- A Republican I know well and see often just sent an e-mail: "Bill, what the heck does the "J." in J. Kenneth Blackwell stand for. Is he hiding something?" Of course, the note was was meant tongue-in-cheek to play off the Barack "Hussein" Obama flap. But what the heck does Blackwell's first initial stand for -- Jeb, John, Jehosophat, Jesus, Joshua, Janice, Jill? In nearly 30 years of covering the guy, I have to confess I have no idea.]

Blackwell says McCain represents the values of Ronald Reagan. Here's the script:

"Hello, this is Ken Blackwell calling for my friend John McCain with a special message for all Ohio Republicans. On Tuesday March 4, please join me in voting for John McCain. Like me, you want a president who is a solid Ronald Reagan conservative who will cut taxes and eliminate wasteful spending, who supports our values and has the military and national security experience to best lead our country in the war against radical Islam. John McCain is that man. He will never waiver in his commitment to conservative principles. His character, honor, and integrity are unmatched. Join me and thousands of other Republicans in voting for John McCain."

The campaign paid for the Blackwell calls. No mention of Cunningham, but the timing should help McCain neutralize any damage that the righty talker could inflict. Blackwell, who served two terms as Ohio's Secretary of State, was the GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2006. He is out of office but serves in conservative and religious right think tanks.

Ken Blackwell Joins Club For Growth Board: Hailed As Economic Conservative

Here's a link about the Club for Growth, and below is the full text of the presser. Inquiring minds are wondering: Does this move mean the Club's very well-financed PAC won't be pouring any money into OH-02's GOP primary against U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt? In 2005, the Club tried to stop her nomination by supporting State Rep. Tom Brinkman, who is on the ballot again this year.

Washington – The Club for Growth is honored to welcome former Ohio Secretary of State and 2006 Republican candidate for governor Ken Blackwell as the newest member of its board.

Ken Blackwell issued a statement, saying, “I am honored to join the Club for Growth’s board. The Club for Growth has played a crucial role in advocating for free-market, limited-government policies and the prosperity that results from those policies. I look forward to joining their courageous fight on behalf of American taxpayers in what promises to be a rewarding and fruitful partnership.”

“Ken Blackwell is a long-time principled defender of tax payers and a strong proponent of pro-growth, limited-government policies,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “He has an impressive history of fighting for lower taxes and against bloated government spending in Ohio. It is a privilege to have someone of his stature and principle join the Club for Growth board, and we look forward to working with him in the coming weeks and months to promote economic growth in our country.”

Ohio Voter Rights Lawsuit: U.S. Justice Dept. Now Says Blackwell Ignored Law

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Bush Administration has now intervened on the side of thousands of low-income Ohioans in a 14-month-old federal voting rights lawsuit. It contends former GOP officials -- including ex-Secretary of State Ken Blackwell -- ignored a 1993 law intended to boost voter turnout. The law requires state public welfare offices to act as voter registration centers.

A friend-of-the-court-brief submitted to a federal appeals court in Ohio by the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division asserts Blackwell had a clear duty to ensure voter registration opportunities were available. "Because the secretary of state is 'responsible for coordination of state responsibilities' under the NVRA (National Voter Registration Act), 42 U.S.C. 1973gg-8, the secretary is therefore liable for, at a minimum, coordinating the efforts . . . to come into compliance with the NVRA. The district court thus erred in dismissing the secretary of state as a party."

The brief is not available online, but is open for public inspection at the federal courthouse in Cincinnati.

A federal judge in Cleveland ruled in August that Blackwell and other state officials had no role in the case and tossed it out of court. Blackwell was the 2006 Republican nominee for govenor, a race he lost to Ted Strickland. Blackwell also was on the 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential campaign steering committee, a post that critics saw as conflicting with his duties as secretary of state and Ohio top elections official.

The NVRA is a 1993 federal law enacted to encourage voter registration and turnout in elections. It is commonly known at the Motor-Voter law because its says Americans can register when they get licenses or tags. They also can register as voters in state public assistance offices. The lawsuit claims Blackwell and former State Jobs and Family Services Director Barbara Reily failed miserably at enforcing those requirements.

The Justice Department's 19-page brief was filed earlier this month in the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. A federal judge in Cleveland dismissed the lawsuit on Aug. 9, 2007, saying that Blackwell and Reily had no liability because county officials control public assistances offices in Ohio. The alleged violations took place between 2002 and 2006.

Federal lawyers contend state officials cannot avoid "responsibilities under the NVRA (National Voter Rights Act) by delegating certain tasks to its local offices. This conclusion is underscored by the fact that, in enacting the NVRA, Congress is presumed to have known that states have ultimate responsibility for adminsitering many public assistance programs.

They said to state officials cannot claim local control "as a shield to avoid compliance with duties imposed by the NVRA. A contrary ruling, if advanced to its logical conclusion, wuld allow designated statewide agencies to avoid their NVRA obligations through delegation and decentralization -- a result Congress could not have intended."

The caption on the appeals court case is Carrie Harkless, et al v. Jennifer Brunner, et al. Nos. 07-3829, 074165. Brunner, a Democrat, became Ohio's secretary of state in January after Blackwell left office. The alleged violations took place during the years Blackwell was in office.

Ken Blackwell Getting Divorced? Something Is Up If You Believe 'The Whistleblower'

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Of course, you may have to step into an alternate version of reality to understand this snippet of pure gossip. But tomorrow's edition of The Whistleblower is going to have a craftily worded item about a power couple who are headed for Splitsville. It doesn't mention Ken and Rosa Blackwell by their given names, but calls the couple by a sobriquet, the "Buckwheats." For years, The Whistleblower has made fun of former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell by calling him by that name. Blackwell was the Republican candidate for govenor in 2006. Here's the item:

"Whistleblower Gossip Columnist ???? says after many years of wedded bliss, the Buckwheats may finally be getting a divorce. Mr. Buckwheat lost his job in Columbus and had to move back home to Cincinnati with Mrs. Buckwheat. Mrs. Buckwheat soon realized that her man was useless and couldn't help get her jobs any more through his political connections, so she be dumpin' him show nuff."

The item also mentions that the Mrs. still hasn't filled out her retirement papers, and that she's waiting for November board elections to take place before deciding whether to step down from her post. Rosa Blackwell is Cincinnati's school superintendent, and has announced she plans to step down next year. The school board elections in Cincinnati are November 6.

What's The Bellwether's opinion of the gossip item? It's a bit mean-spirited and The Whistleblower may be way off the mark. However, if the Blackwells, er Buckwheats, do wind up in Domestic Relations court it will be one helluva scoop. Ken Blackwell is a family values Republican who is politically aligned with several Christian values groups. Hard to see him dumping a marriage a la Giuliani.

Ohio's Ken Blackwell: Missing From The A-List Of U.S Conservatives

[Update: 6:30 pm EDT -- Here's the free poster that was up on the Young America's Foundation Web site that is now unavailable, probaby because the site was hacked by people who suggested it could be used as an excellent dartboard in dorm rooms. Notice that Blackwell is missing from the poohbahs and poohbabes of the right. He just wasn't worthy.]

[Update: 6:34 pm EDT -- The conservative blog Brain Shavings is following the story. It sure looks like someone who is not a Coulter fan did some rewriting of the promo material.]

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Since losing the race for governor last November, Republican Ken Blackwell has been toiling away with fellowships and grinding out columns pushing his conservative dogma. But he doesn't seem to be ranked among the movement's biggest stars and poster boys. Where's Kenny? Missing like Waldo.

The Young America's Foundation, which bills itself "as the principal outreach organization of the Conservative Movement," also has overlooked Ohio's former Secretary of State for a spot on its list of recommended speakers. The stable includes Jack Kemp -- Blackwell's political mentor -- who will show up on a college campus for a fee that starts at $20,000.

H/T to Adirondack Musing, a New York blog that found the "awesome" free poster on the 'net and wondered: Why does no one seem to be standing near Ann Coulter?

Cincinnati Enquirer Caught Covering Up News? Blackwell Case Blacked Out By Paper

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- If you read the Cincinnati Enquirer for news, you wouldn't know that Ken Blackwell's son is in a bit of a jam. The metro daily sells some 200,000 copies a day but couldn't find space for negative legal news out of the Ohio Supreme Court about the son of the 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate, who is also the son of the Cincinnati public school system's superintendent. No reporter produced a story; no editor seems to have demanded an article. There was a press release from the court. Ignored.

The Enquirer was scooped, and scooped big. Perhaps it was dozing. Or perhaps something more sinister occurred. Has it covered up a story that some editors recognized was important, but also would embarrass some politically connected Enquirer favorites?

There was a snippet in the paper's online political blog that linked to another publication's article. But the snippet's headline didn't even hint that somebody in the Blackwell clan's conduct was under a cloud and had been questioned as unethical. The Enquirer, of course, supported Blackwell over Democrat Ted Strickland in last fall's Ohio campaign for governor. Is it so enamored of the Blackwell name that it covers up news? Especially news about tests and exams -- which might be seen as reflecting somewhat negatively on Rosa Blackwell, a school administrator responsible for tests and exams. After all, her son was ensnared in a conflict about whether he had followed the rules on his state bar exam in Ohio.

While the story was blacked out from the Cincinnati morning daily's news pages, others were reporting what was up. The Dayton Daily News -- which is some 40 miles up I-75 from downtown Cincinnati -- even came up with audio of the Ohio Supreme Court's hearing regarding Blackwell's son. That indicates the Enquirer could have produced some kind of story even if it missed the court session. It could have transcribed the tape for the details -- or printed the transcript.

The political blogs in Ohio have been all over the Blackwell story, which has now become old news. But it's not old news in the pages of the Cincinnati Enquirer, where it never became news at all.

For years, there have been suspicions that the Enquirer, a unit the Gannett Co. Inc. publishing empire, is selective about what gets published. If it likes you or supports you, then the bad stuff gets censored, buried or blacked out. That was the way Pravda did it, too. This latest incident seems to add fuel to the suspicions -- this time there was a whiff of scandal around a politically connected family, the odor got into the wind, it made the news in Ohio. But it didn't make the Enquirer's pages. Bottomline: If you want to really know what's up with Cincinnati, you may have to start reading the newspaper in Dayton.

Ken Blackwell's Great Ohio Pork Hunt: Turns Out It Looks Like A Political Snipe Hunt

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- Ken Blackwell and the conservative Buckeye Institute were so convinced they could find flab in Ohio's budget that they created a project called Eye on the Statehouse that would declare a Porker of the Week each Friday. So, where's all this wasteful spending? The last Porker was July 1.

Technically, it seems the Buckeye Institute was going to be on its pork-hunt during the state budgeting process, which is now over. But it also said state government troughs were quite overflowing with tax-supported money for hogs to dine on. So why give up? Inquiring minds suspect the pork-hunt stopped because it could not deliver any bacon, which means Blackwell's big pork hunt itself was a waste. Has it managed to find a single project that everyone looked at and said -- outta here, oink-oink.

Read on about what the Buckeye Institute said about the state's $52.37 billion budget brimming with wasteful spending:

"Each Friday, Eye on the Statehouse announces the "Porker of the Week." It's our way of calling attention to particularly big or wasteful spending. Over the next biennium, the State of Ohio will spend $52.37 billion, including millions of dollars in pork. Ohioans, though the state budget, will continue to provide corporate welfare to Fortune 500 companies, publicity for the NFL, and rent for historicial societies statewide. Taxpayers will continue to subsidize obsolete international trade offices around the world, and wealthy nursing home owners in Ohio. Throughout the current budget, grant-grabbers, rent-seekers and earmark porkers have passed their bills onto the Ohio taxpayers."

A lot to work with or a lot of big-talk from the Buckeye Institute. Remember, it hasn't come up with a Porker of the Week for nearly two months.

Demo Richardson's New Mexico: Whiffs Of Voting Rights Scandal Are In The Air And May Stick To Guv

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Some of the groups that tangled with Ohio's former Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell over voter suppression issues have similar concerns about Bill Richardson's New Mexico. They have openly questioned whether state enforcement of a ballot access law has been shortchanged for low-income citizens, The Daily Bellwether has learned. This poses a potentially difficult political situation for the state's governor, Democratic presidential candidate Richardson, because civil-right lawsuits have been threatened over reputed violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

So far, Richardson is not directly implicated. But New Mexico's top election official, Democratic Secretary of State Mary Herrera, has been warned public assistance agencies in the state failed to actively offer voter registration services as required by federal law.

Herrera is a Richardson supporter and is listed as one of his key presidential backers. As governor, he would also have some symbolic responsibility for making sure all citizens have access to ballots, and perhaps a legal duty, too.

Project Vote and Demos sent letters to Herrera and New Mexico's Human Services Director Pamela S. Hyde, a member of Richardson's cabinet, that described the purported legal violations and said litigation would ensue without corrective action by later this summer. The letters went out last month:

"Substantial evidence demonstrates New Mexico's failure to provide mandatory voter registration services at public assistance offices as required by the NVRA. For example, the state's most recent statistical data for voter registration at public assistance agencies indicates that, from a voting eligible population of over 1.2 million and from 559,162 applications and recertifications for Food Stamps (just one of many programs for which voter registration services are required) New Mexico's public assistance agencies registered only 3,719 voters in 2001-2002. Not only is this number low, it represents a 78 percent decrease in registrations at public assistance agencies since implementation of the NVRA in 1995."

In January, Project Vote said it surveyed welfare offices in New Mexico and found "it clear that New Mexico is disregarding its obligations under the National Voter Registration Act. Project Vote found none of the offices it visited appeared to be distributing mail voter registration applications, assisting applicants with completion of the form, or informing applicants in writing about their options. Virtually none of the applications who were interviewed after applying for or recertifying their eligibility for benefits said they had been offered an opportunity to register to vote."

The full text of the letter, dated June 12, is here. So far, this has not made a ripple in the presidential campaign or national politics. It should because Democrats have been aggressive in Ohio and Florida in registering low-income voters and making sure they have access to the polls. It was a major complaint against GOP conservative Ken Blackwell, whose years as Ohio's chief elections officer were repeatedly hit with Democratic criticism that he wanted to keep poor people from voting. Those poor people were seen by the Democrats as a source of political support because they were not viewed as likely Republicans voters.

Richardson's state, like Ohio, swings in national politics, and its electoral votes could play a key role in deciding the outcome of the 2008 presidential race, assuming the race is close. The possibility that poor people have been disenfrancised because of lax application of the National Voter Registration Act carries a whiff of scandal. Will it turn into a brush fire? There's a chance it could because Richardson has portrayed himself as a competent administrator who is in tune with core Democratic Party values.

But if his state has not been aggressive in helping its low-income residents to vote, that image takes a knock.

Here's some background by another voting rights group, VotersUnite.org about balloting in Richardson's state.

Rightwing Cincinnati Enquirer: Now Bashing Gov. Strickland Over Banishing Abstinence-Only But . . .

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Cincinnati Enquirer openly pandered to social conservatives today with a lead editorial that denounced Ohio's Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland. His sin: eliminating state funding for so-called abstinence-only programs. Without citing specific evidence, the editorial contends the programs have played a role in curtailing teen pregnancies. The newspaper says the governor was wrong to make the $500,000-a-year cut and demands he change course. It was long on Dem-bashing huffery and puffery, but short on proving Strickland was incorrect.

This is how the editorial starts: "Gov. Ted Strickland needs to reconsider killing funding for abstinence-only education -- ending eight years of support for the program in Ohio public schools."

Next sentence "Whether abstinence education is effective depends on whom you believe. But Ohio rates of teen pregnancy have dropped dramatically in recent years. And totally eliminating funds for the abstinence education without offering up an alternative seems reckless at best."

And this is where it really gets mean: "Yet Strickland claims he doesn't know whether the program works. Perhaps he ignores all the studies that show positive residual results from abstinence education, including a higher self-esteem in youth, lower rates of illegal drug use and the emotional stability that comes from abstinence."

But here's the big hole in its argument. The number of children having children has been falling dramatically throughout the United States -- not just Ohio -- for 27 years. And the decline predates eight years of state funded abstinence-only spending in Ohio schools. The latest National Vital Statistics report (Vol. 55, No. 1. September 29, 2006) published by the Centers for Disease Control reports births by American teens is nearly as low as 1950, when the entire U.S. population was around 185 million. Today there are more than 300 million Americans -- and far more teens in the population as a whole.

"Overall since 1991, the rate for teenagers 15-17 years fell 43%, whereas the rate for older teenagers declined 26%. Births to 15-17 year olds fell to 133,980, the fewest in more than half a century (126,941) . . .

And there is less sex.

"According to the 2002 NSFG (National Survey for Family Growth) the proportions of young teenage males and females (ages 15-17 years) who had ever had sexual intercourse declined significantly in comparison with the 1995 NSFG and the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males. There were also declines for males 18-19 years." (Note, the national decline was well under way in 2002, long before abstinence-only programs in Ohio's schools).

And there is more on the CDC portal, including research from an organization, Advocates for Youth, that did a study about science-based practices to curb teen pregnancy and prevent HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.

"An exhaustive literature review identified over 160 evaluations of programs. Nineteen were selected for inclusion in this report. None of the effective programs was abstinence-only."

The Enquirer wanted to slam the governor because he is a Democrat, not because he is wrong. It did not want him in office in the first place. It supported Republican Ken Blackwell, a Cincinnatian who is an abstinence-only booster, and it won't let go.

Wall Street Journal and Buckeye Institute: Paid Propaganda Or Truth?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Both the Wall Street Journal and the non-partisan Buckeye Institute for Public Policy printed articles in the not so distant past that advocated in favor of Ken Blackwell's plan to cap taxes and spending in Ohio -- a plan that was called TEL. But there are records in Ohio showing that an economic consulting firm in Washington got a $41,500 payment from the TEL committee, and a partner in the firm was Blackwell's co-author on the Journal piece that the Buckeye Institute is still distributing on its Web site.

The payment shows up in Ohio campaign finance records filed last year in Columbus. The article was written in 2005 and remains online and effusive about TEL: "The proposed TEL would be terrific for Ohio's prosperity."

The article is HERE, and Blackwell and economist Dr. Arthur Laffer contended TEL was a needed reform. The independent, non-partisan and conservative leaning Buckeye Institute also published this piece by its president, David Hansen, that found benefits in TEL.

However, the Ohio Secretary of State's campaign finance Web site shows that a $41,500 payment went from the group sponsoring TEL to Laffer's firm last June. The payment from Citizens for Tax Reform to Arduin, Laffer & Moore was listed as reimbursement for consulting work.

Details about the economics consulting firm are HERE , and show that Laffer, who grew up in the Cleveland area, is a partner.

Blackwell is now a senior fellow at the Buckeye Institute. But how independent is the conservative think-tank? Blackwell helped fund Citizens for Tax Reform with his own money, Citizens for Tax Reform pushed TEL, Blackwell and Laffer together wrote an article praising TEL, the Buckeye Institute still is distributing the article online, and Laffer's firm got $41,500 from Citizens for Tax Reform, which, again, was partly funded by Blackwell.

Why is there still no public disclosure by the Buckeye Institute that Citizens for Tax Reform had a financial arrangement with Laffer's firm?

Cincy Enquirer Gives Ken Blackwell's Railroad Rant A Ride

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Republican Ken Blackwell, now a fellow at a conservative think tank in Ohio, received a big chunk of space in today's Cincinnati Enquirer for a column that sounded like he was blowing the whistle on a scam to suck jobs out of Ohio. But the attack on a huge federal loan for a small South Dakota railroad was really about tooting his own horn. The headline over the Blackwell piece: "Midwest doesn't need to be railroaded."

But there was no fresh news about the project. It was killed earlier this week by the Federal Railroad Administration, an action that neither Blackwell nor the newspaper seemed care about during years of wrangling in Washington that led up to the decision. If any stories were published, they don't stand out. Meanwhile, Blackwell is fresh off a losing campaign for governor of Ohio and the railroad loan he is now so steamed about as wasting tax money and threatening Ohio jobs did not emerge as a significant issue in that race. In today's Enquirer column, Blackwell wrote, "Continued government funding of this small railroad company would have embodied one of the most disturbing examples of government waste in recent memory."

Who knew?

The Enquirer ALLOWED Blackwell and his co-author, Capitol University Law Professor Brad Smith, to rail that the project was a serious threat to Ohio and would throw Ohioans out of work. "To those in Ohio and other parts of the economically struggling and coal producing Midwest, it would have represented something equally upsetting: government interference with free market forces in order to fund the competition. Ohio is coal rich and is developing new methods to burn the resource cleanly and efficiently. Giving the DM&E tax dollars to flood the Midwest with subsidized Wyoming and Montana coal would have set back Ohio's clean-burning coal initiatives. By underwriting the transportation costs of those competing with Ohio coal producers, the loan would have cost the Midwest jobs."

Again, who knew?

If this major threat was lurking on the horizon, why are Blackwell and the newspaper joining forces to inform people today? And why is the messenger Ken Blackwell?

The Enquirer endorsed former Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell last year when he ran against Democrat Ted Strickland, a former U.S. House member whose congressional district covered most of the state's coalfield counties. The newspaper's decision to hand over column space to Blackwell could be viewed as an effort to promote his political comeback and take a jab at Strickland for not protecting the coal country. Blackwell was allowed to portray himself as a watchdog of the public coffers:

"Unless wasteful requests are continuously flagged by taxpayer advocates and soundly rebuked, deals where only one party benefits will sneak by, while the nation's taxpayers and the economies of Ohio and Midwest will foot the bill."

Again, if the deal was really that awful, why no significant news coverage in the Cincinnati Enquirer? Were the editors asleep as this major job-busting threat to the state's economy was rolling down the tracks?

If the Op Ed today is true, it is a sad commentary about journalism as practiced in Cincinnati, where SW Ohio woke up to learn about "deals where only one party benefits" from a politician's newspaper column after the deal was killed.

Internet Tycoon Sent $100,000 To Blackwell's Tax-Cut Group

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Internet tycoon Patrick Byrne, the chairman and CEO of Overstock.com and a passionate proponent of school-choice vouchers, gave $100,000 to Ken Blackwell's Citizens for Tax Reform last year, recently filed state campaign finance records show. Citizens for Tax Reform was a group pushing the so-called TEL amendment to the Ohio Constitution that was withdrawn. TEL was a pet project of Blackwell's, and it would have have placed hard caps on government spending and taxes.

Byrne made his donation in August, after the proposed amendment was pulled from the ballot at the urging of state GOP leaders who feared a massacre at the polls. The massacre happened anyway. Some of Byrne's donation was used by Citizens for Tax Reform to repay Blackwell, who received $15,000 back on a personal loan he made to the group, the campaign finance records indicate. The committee still owes Blackwell money.

While most people think TEL is dead, the group that collected petitions to place the issue on the ballot appears very much alive. Citizen for Tax Reforms filed an end-of-year campaign finance report, and it is engaged in litigation against Ohio in the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where a recently adopted state law that governs how signatures are gathered on initiative petitions is under review. Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann's office has to file a brief next month.

Byrne thinks 65 percent of public school budgets should be funnelled into classrooms, and Blackwell picked up on the idea in 2005. The concept has been attacked by some public school administrators and teacher union officials, but others think it might actually improve student performance. Byrne told Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Chris Seper last July that he and Blackwell "shared a passion for vouchers," the program that allows public funds to pay student tuition at private and parochial schools.

The campaign finance report showing Byrne's donation is HERE and HERE.

You can look at Byrne's Overstock.com Web site HERE. Byrne is highly educated and appears to have serious ideas about school reform. He went to Dartmouth, Cambridge and Stanford University, where he received a Ph.D.

Perhaps somebody in state government ought to invite him to Columbus to hear what he has to say. If British PM Tony Blair's ex-education advisor can get time to appear before the Ohio Board of Education, why not Byrne?

GOP Endorsements: 'Poll Watchers' In Cincinnati

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- In the waning days of the 2004 presidential race, Ohio Republicans moved to place about 3,600 poll watchers in largely Democratic and African American precincts. Now, three people who supported the poll watchers and intervened in a court fight so they could remain on duty have received the Republican Party's endorsement to run for office in Cincinnati.

The use of poll watchers, or partisan "challengers," was a controversial tactic in the 2004 contest. The GOP recruits -- many of them lawyers -- were intended to monitor the eligibility of voters on Election Day. They were to selectively challenge people in the targeted areas, mostly urban neighborhoods containing most of the state's black population. It was a maneuver to ensure Ohio remained a Red State in President Bush's column. But opponents saw it as gussied up racial profiling. Even former Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell -- an elected official many Democrats berated for his handling of elections -- publicly recoiled from his party's plan to put challengers in the polls. Blackwell would not defend it.

The Republican plan triggered an uproar, and a federal voting rights lawsuit by Marian Spencer, a former NAACP leader and Cincinnati City Council member who said the poll watchers revived the Jim Crow era of southern segregation. Spencer's lawsuit contended the poll watchers were being assigned to suppress the black vote.

On the other side were Sam Malone, Charles Winburn and Pat Fischer, now the president of the Cincinnati Bar Association. Lawyer Fischer represented Malone and Winburn, who obtained an emergency stay of an injunction that prohibited the use of poll watchers. Last week, the Hamilton County GOP endorsed Fischer, Malone and Winburn as candidates for Cincinnati City Council. Some might ask: Is that an open slap at the city's black community?
Try to stop them from voting, then ask for their votes?

A court filing from the poll watchers lawsuit is HERE , and it specifies the roles that Malone, Winburn and Fischer played in the case. Fischer's law firm has a short synopsis of its activities in support of poll watchers
HERE. A canny Democratic candidate or activist might even capture the page from the law firm's portal -- it points out that they got permission to keep the poll watchers on duty "just before the polls were scheduled to open."

A dissent written by Circuit Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. summarizes the 2004 litigation and the stakes of the dispute. He called it a "matter of historic proportions" and saw a threat of voter intimidation:

"In this appeal, partisan challengers for the first time since the civil rights era seek to target precincts that have a majority African-American population, and without any legal standards or restrictions, challenge the voter qualifications of people as they stand waiting to exercise their fundamental right to vote."

Cole's dissent is HERE. The betting here is that the GOP's candidates will be attacked for their past efforts in such a volatile area. Blackwell's replacement, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, is a Democrat who might lead the charge. She has promised to open up the electoral process, playing off suspicions it was rigged. Inquiring minds want to know: Did the GOP just make her case in Cincinnati?

Ohio GOP: Reimbursed $$$ For Petro Aid

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- Conservatives who suspect the Ohio Republican Party tilted in favor of former Attorney General Jim Petro during his unsuccessful primary against Ken Blackwell last year now have some evidence. A $9,000 check went from Petro's campaign to GOP headquarters to reimburse the state party for unspecified personnel services during the contest to win the 2006 gubernatorial nomination.

The payment shows up amid year-end campaign expense reports that Citizens for Jim Petro filed in Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's office this week. The money is not listed as a political donation. Instead, it is reported as "Misc-Balance Due Primary Personnel Svs." The line item suggests somebody at state headquarters did some work for the Clevelander, and that the Petro camp was billed $9,000.

The report is a public document that can be viewed by clicking here and reading through the pages. The payment was dated Aug. 1, 2006.

On the other side of the transaction, the Ohio GOP's post-primary finance report for its state candidate's fundraising arm discloses a $9,000 "contribution" from Citizens for Petro on that date. The more detailed personnel services explanation shows up in Petro's paperwork, which was filed after Blackwell was out of office and out of the picture as a force majeur.

During the primary, there were reports that state GOP headquarters -- which was supposed to be neutral -- actually preferred Petro over Blackwell. The Toledo Blade said in March that $1.49 million in contributions had gone to his campaign from a party account. Until the Petro-Blackwell contest, Ohio GOP Chairman had managed to avoid primaries by convincing candidates not to run against each other. In 1998, for example, he got Blackwell to run for Secretary of State and drop his plans to run against former Gov. Bob Taft.

Blackwell was ambitious and easily defeated Petro in the primary last May, but he lost big in November to Ted Strickland, who reclaimed the governors office for the Democrats after 16 years of Republican control. Petro is out office and working as a private lawyer in Columbus, but his expenditure report shows he donated thousands of dollars to candidates last year, including $10,000 to Betty Montgomery, who hoped to succeed him but lost to Democrat Marc Dann. Petro also gave money to Phil Heimlich, who for a time was his running mate but dropped off the ticket to run for re-election as a Hamilton County Commissioner. Heimlich lost. Petro also made contributions to State Sen. Joy Padgett, who replaced Heimlich as his running mate. Padgett later tried to win a congressional seat, but was defeated by Democrat Zack Space.

There did not seem to be any money that flowed from Citizens for Jim Petro to Blackwell. (Maybe the donations are there and I missed them.)