CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A chunk of the Ohiosphere is now occupied by insurgent bloggers. Or the chairman of a major Republican political organization in this state has slipped his mental moorings. Probably the former.
Why else would something like this appear attributed to AngryGeorge, who is supposed to be the 'sphere's alter ego of Hamilton County GOP Chairman George Vincent:
"Simon Leis is a dust-farting sissy. Ever since Pat DeWine decided to act like a conservative on this jail tax, Simon Leis has been flapping his dentures as though anybody in this town actually gives a flying crap what he says. No, wait a minute. I'm giving that sack of bones too much credit."
A satirical blog that probably is a cleverly honed bit of culture-jacking has bubbled up on Google's Blogger replete with a logo showing a Democratic donkey about to mount a Republican elephant. And the mount is not for a ride on the elephant's back. This blog punks DeWine, a Hamilton County commissioner who is former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine's son, and Simon Leis, a former prosecutor, judge and now the sheriff.
Expect this to be traced back to the anti-tax movement; more specifically the suspects are probably people opposed to a local tax increase that is earmarked to build a new jail.
If the straight-laced Vincent is actually the author, expect a mushroom cloud to appear over Cincinnati any second. This would be a real political meltdown, a moment that would make Toledo's Democratic stripper-gate seem like putt-putt at Cedar Point. Vincent is a corporate lawyer who owns a piece of the Cincinnati Reds. Anyhow, AngryGeorge has quite a way with words.
"As the greatest and most respected leader in the history of the Hamilton County Republican Party, I was repulsed by the ass-kicking we got last November, largely due to the fact that the candidates we put up last year sucked like a girlfriend I had back in law school."
Inquiring minds want to know: Is it proper, and legal, to steal someone's identity and use it as the creator and author of a blog? Is it a political dirty trick if it turns out the real author/creator is a Democrat, or somebody affiliated with the party? What are the rules about this kind of stuff, should there be rules, and does it erode the credibility -- if there is any credibility -- of the Ohiosphere?
Showing posts with label Sen. Mike DeWine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sen. Mike DeWine. Show all posts
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Friday, July 06, 2007
Did This Huddle At The PeeDee Cost GOP A U.S. Senate Seat?
CLEVELAND (TDB) -- Connie Schultz's recollection of a conversation with an editor at The Plain Dealer clearly demonstrates there are shoals under the surface when politics and journalism are mixed in the workplace with partisan ideology. It turns out that Connie, a Pulitzer-winning feature section columnist, was advised by her boss -- during a private workday meeting -- to urge that her husband, Sherrod Brown, enter the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Ohio. She quotes the editor saying of Brown, "this country needs him to run."
Brown is a Democrat. The Senate seat was held by two-term Republican Mike DeWine, who lost last November. Some could say the workplace conversation was a meeting that helped alter the state and nation's political course, a course that has tacked away from the GOP.
Connie recounts her talk with Stuart Warner, the editor who handled her columns, in her new book "...and His Lovely Wife," and describes how she was reluctant about having Brown run statewide. In effect, she portrayed herself as the main roadblock to her husband's candidacy.
She said she told Warner, a former Beacon Journal columnist who wrote "Warner's Corner" for years, that Sherrod was thinking about running. The editor then motioned to move the conversation to a more private setting, an empty meeting room. She quotes Warner:
"Sherrod should run. This country needs him to run, and he needs you by his side to do it. You'll be a tremendous asset. Look at what you believe in. Look who you've been fighting for your entire career. That's who he'll be running for, and they will vote for him and he can win. You can always come back to work if you want. Or you can move on to something bigger. You have nothing but options, but this is the right time, maybe the only time, for him to run."
Warner had endorsed a Brown candidacy, and Connie wrote in the book, "I was stunned, but I was also listening."
Doug Clifton, the paper's editor at the time, was worried about Connie's relationship with a statewide candidate. In December 2005 he wrote a column reassuring readers her marriage to Brown "will have no influence -- for or against -- our coverage of his campaign."
Of course, Clifton probably didn't know that the campaign had been partially fanned into life by a conversation in his own newsroom.
Brown is a Democrat. The Senate seat was held by two-term Republican Mike DeWine, who lost last November. Some could say the workplace conversation was a meeting that helped alter the state and nation's political course, a course that has tacked away from the GOP.
Connie recounts her talk with Stuart Warner, the editor who handled her columns, in her new book "...and His Lovely Wife," and describes how she was reluctant about having Brown run statewide. In effect, she portrayed herself as the main roadblock to her husband's candidacy.
She said she told Warner, a former Beacon Journal columnist who wrote "Warner's Corner" for years, that Sherrod was thinking about running. The editor then motioned to move the conversation to a more private setting, an empty meeting room. She quotes Warner:
"Sherrod should run. This country needs him to run, and he needs you by his side to do it. You'll be a tremendous asset. Look at what you believe in. Look who you've been fighting for your entire career. That's who he'll be running for, and they will vote for him and he can win. You can always come back to work if you want. Or you can move on to something bigger. You have nothing but options, but this is the right time, maybe the only time, for him to run."
Warner had endorsed a Brown candidacy, and Connie wrote in the book, "I was stunned, but I was also listening."
Doug Clifton, the paper's editor at the time, was worried about Connie's relationship with a statewide candidate. In December 2005 he wrote a column reassuring readers her marriage to Brown "will have no influence -- for or against -- our coverage of his campaign."
Of course, Clifton probably didn't know that the campaign had been partially fanned into life by a conversation in his own newsroom.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
To Sen. Sherrod's Brown's Spouse: Here's The Story's Other Side
CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer's feature section columnist Connie Schultz sounds cranked off in this item published by the alt/weekly Cleveland Scene. Three journalists on the PeeDee's staff in 2006, including the author of this blog, are scored for "breaking the basic rules of journalism."
What pap. In my case, I sent an e-mail from the Plain Dealer's bureau in Cincinnati -- where I was based before retiring last December -- to then editor Doug Clifton. The e-mail went out in January or February 2006. I cc'ed Connie and noted that newspaper stories appearing in Southern Ohio in early 2006 were pointing out she was the wife of Sherrod Brown, who was on a trip around the state announcing his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. Some of those stories identified her as a journalist employed by the Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper.
Now, I was not aware of her marriage. I live in Cincinnati and learned of it around the time the campaigning started. Downstate, Sherrod and Connie were not widely known. I also heard suspicions/complaints/snark from Dems in the Paul Hackett camp, and from some Repubs who liked then-incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine, that the PD's coverage would be biased for Brown. After all, they said, his wife worked in the newsroom. She was a columnist. She had recently won a Pulitzer. And she could influence how the campaign was covered.
Hackett was still in the primary and things were growing bitter on the Democratic side. The Republicans expected a tough fight ahead for DeWine. And, the PD was in the bag.
I composed the e-mail to Clifton, the gist of it saying that things were tough for reporters in the field. They should not have to be under a cloud. Connie probably should get out of the way. She should be at her husband's side for the race. My view expressed in the note: Her activity as a columnist/candidate's wife looked like a conflict. I did not want to have to defend myself or any stories I wrote against allegations they were crafted to carry water for Sherrod Brown.
Connie reportedly met with Clifton as a result of my e-mail. She implies that I should have known about her marriage because it was reported in the paper. "Does he not read the paper he writes for?" she says she asked Clifton.
Yes, I read the paper. Somehow I missed her marriage announcement. Perhaps I was in West Virginia covering a flood that day. Or I was in court, or out trailing a candidate around, or wandering around Appalachian Ohio. Perhaps I was drilling down into the baseball box scores. Or reading Phillip Morris. I missed the announcement.
I must add that I was never an avid reader of the features section where Connie toils, a part of the paper that grizzled old newsroom hands like myself called the "toy department." That's a journo term predating myself or Connie, and comes from the era when the City Room was the heart of a newspaper and the "toy department" produced mostly fluff.
So, the "basic rule of journalism" that I broke was to express concern in writing to the editor in chief that the Plain Dealer's coverage of the Senate campaign was being perceived as less than even-handed, to contend that there should be no possible way for Brown's opponents to assert an insider controlled coverage and tilted it toward the insider's husband. To this day, I am convinced I did the right thing to urge that she be eased aside while the campaign unfolded.
That said, I will add this: She probably ought to find a job outside Ohio journalism now that Sherrod is a Senator. I think active newspapering and a political marriage don't mix, and there is an inference that no bright line exists to stop Connie from promoting her husband's agenda. She may not be doing any promotion -- but too many people will always think she is. And it damages the journalists who are dedicated to playing things straight.
What pap. In my case, I sent an e-mail from the Plain Dealer's bureau in Cincinnati -- where I was based before retiring last December -- to then editor Doug Clifton. The e-mail went out in January or February 2006. I cc'ed Connie and noted that newspaper stories appearing in Southern Ohio in early 2006 were pointing out she was the wife of Sherrod Brown, who was on a trip around the state announcing his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. Some of those stories identified her as a journalist employed by the Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper.
Now, I was not aware of her marriage. I live in Cincinnati and learned of it around the time the campaigning started. Downstate, Sherrod and Connie were not widely known. I also heard suspicions/complaints/snark from Dems in the Paul Hackett camp, and from some Repubs who liked then-incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine, that the PD's coverage would be biased for Brown. After all, they said, his wife worked in the newsroom. She was a columnist. She had recently won a Pulitzer. And she could influence how the campaign was covered.
Hackett was still in the primary and things were growing bitter on the Democratic side. The Republicans expected a tough fight ahead for DeWine. And, the PD was in the bag.
I composed the e-mail to Clifton, the gist of it saying that things were tough for reporters in the field. They should not have to be under a cloud. Connie probably should get out of the way. She should be at her husband's side for the race. My view expressed in the note: Her activity as a columnist/candidate's wife looked like a conflict. I did not want to have to defend myself or any stories I wrote against allegations they were crafted to carry water for Sherrod Brown.
Connie reportedly met with Clifton as a result of my e-mail. She implies that I should have known about her marriage because it was reported in the paper. "Does he not read the paper he writes for?" she says she asked Clifton.
Yes, I read the paper. Somehow I missed her marriage announcement. Perhaps I was in West Virginia covering a flood that day. Or I was in court, or out trailing a candidate around, or wandering around Appalachian Ohio. Perhaps I was drilling down into the baseball box scores. Or reading Phillip Morris. I missed the announcement.
I must add that I was never an avid reader of the features section where Connie toils, a part of the paper that grizzled old newsroom hands like myself called the "toy department." That's a journo term predating myself or Connie, and comes from the era when the City Room was the heart of a newspaper and the "toy department" produced mostly fluff.
So, the "basic rule of journalism" that I broke was to express concern in writing to the editor in chief that the Plain Dealer's coverage of the Senate campaign was being perceived as less than even-handed, to contend that there should be no possible way for Brown's opponents to assert an insider controlled coverage and tilted it toward the insider's husband. To this day, I am convinced I did the right thing to urge that she be eased aside while the campaign unfolded.
That said, I will add this: She probably ought to find a job outside Ohio journalism now that Sherrod is a Senator. I think active newspapering and a political marriage don't mix, and there is an inference that no bright line exists to stop Connie from promoting her husband's agenda. She may not be doing any promotion -- but too many people will always think she is. And it damages the journalists who are dedicated to playing things straight.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Kentucky's Mitch McConnell: Stumps For Ohio's DeWine
CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is scheduled to headline a Cincinnati fundraiser next week for Pat DeWine, the Republican Hamilton County Commissioner who is launching his reelection campaign with a $350-a-plate luncheon. A table for 8 costs $2,500. It's a right neighborly gesture by a powerful pol from across the Ohio River, considering DeWine wanted out of the county job not too long after he was sworn in. Yep, he wanted to pack up and leave for Washington and spent more than $1 million in campaign funds trying to get there.
DeWine is a lawyer at Keating, Muething & Klekamp and the son of former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, who was turned out of office after two terms last November by Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown. It looks like McConnell, a Kentuckian who is one of the nation's highest ranking GOP officeholders, found time in his schedule to help one of his old chum's kids.
Pat DeWine took office in January 2005, and within months was chasing after the Oh-02 House seat that White House Budget Director Rob Portman vacated to join the Bush Administration. DeWine finished down the list in the special GOP primary, a race won by U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, who went on to narowly defeat two Democrats in back-to-back general elections.
DeWine used to be in a majority on the county commission, but his Republican pal Phil Heimlich was defeated last fall. Heimlich is a lawyer and has lately been visible doing local TV analysis of a murder trial in Clermont County, which coincidentally happens to be Schmidt's home. Heimlich reportedly is considering running against her in the '08 primary.
But back to DeWine. Apparently, he now wants to stay on the commission. McConnell is a heavyweight and will help him raise a nice chunk of cash. Once upon a time, Hamilton County was a Republican bastion, but it has slowly been turning blue. No word yet on who the Democrats might run. DeWine is battening down for a serious challenge. McConnell's Senate Web site is HERE. DeWine's county portal is HERE ,
and if you CLICK THIS , a copy of his Jan. 3, 2005 inauguration speech pops up. What's particularly notable is that DeWine said he was being sworn in to reform the county, a quest he quickly attempted to abandon. It's been said here and elsewhere DeWine may have his back against the wall -- and he might turn out to be a fierce campaigner. Obviously, he still has friends in high places.
DeWine is a lawyer at Keating, Muething & Klekamp and the son of former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, who was turned out of office after two terms last November by Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown. It looks like McConnell, a Kentuckian who is one of the nation's highest ranking GOP officeholders, found time in his schedule to help one of his old chum's kids.
Pat DeWine took office in January 2005, and within months was chasing after the Oh-02 House seat that White House Budget Director Rob Portman vacated to join the Bush Administration. DeWine finished down the list in the special GOP primary, a race won by U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, who went on to narowly defeat two Democrats in back-to-back general elections.
DeWine used to be in a majority on the county commission, but his Republican pal Phil Heimlich was defeated last fall. Heimlich is a lawyer and has lately been visible doing local TV analysis of a murder trial in Clermont County, which coincidentally happens to be Schmidt's home. Heimlich reportedly is considering running against her in the '08 primary.
But back to DeWine. Apparently, he now wants to stay on the commission. McConnell is a heavyweight and will help him raise a nice chunk of cash. Once upon a time, Hamilton County was a Republican bastion, but it has slowly been turning blue. No word yet on who the Democrats might run. DeWine is battening down for a serious challenge. McConnell's Senate Web site is HERE. DeWine's county portal is HERE ,
and if you CLICK THIS , a copy of his Jan. 3, 2005 inauguration speech pops up. What's particularly notable is that DeWine said he was being sworn in to reform the county, a quest he quickly attempted to abandon. It's been said here and elsewhere DeWine may have his back against the wall -- and he might turn out to be a fierce campaigner. Obviously, he still has friends in high places.
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