Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- As conspiracy theories go, this one met the legacy test: Skeptics remained convinced that ACORN, the community organizing group, tried to steal Ohio's 2008 election, even though authorities declared the election clean. So be forewarned, because what follows reawakens old suspicions -- and Republicans say there's a good reason. In a nutshell: ACORN, under attack for other misdeeds, plotted privately to help elect liberal congressional candidates in several 2008 Ohio races, a previously undisclosed ACORN political plan shows. This is the first time that ACORN, formally called the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has been linked...

Cincinnati (AP) - A Connecticut man has admitted that he did not live in Ohio when he cast an early ballot for the presidential election in Cincinnati. Kevin Duffy, of Manchester, Conn., pleaded guilty in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on Monday to attempted false voter registration. The 24-year-old's attorney says Duffy got "caught up" in the excitement of the election while visiting his sister in Cincinnati. He cast his ballot Oct. 4 during a weeklong period during which new voters could register and immediately cast a ballot. Duffy later told county elections officials not to count his vote. He...

As the evidence continued to build against Ohio Bureaucrat Helen Jones-Kelley for doing an illegal search on Joe the Plumber's background, she remained on unpaid "leave" because of a different violation. She used the states e-mail system to campaign for Obama. Today she finally resigned from her position, two of her superiors left their jobs also...........

State official resigns over 'Joe the Plumber' affair Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:54 PM Updated: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 07:38 PM By Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Helen Jones-Kelley, the state official placed on unpaid leave for improperly accessing confidential information from state databases on "Joe the Plumber," has resigned. Two senior managers involved in the incident also are leaving, The Dispatch has learned.. Jones-Kelley was scheduled to return to work as director of the Department of Job and Family Services on Monday following a one-month suspension without pay. Today's action comes just hours after the Senate approved a measure...

It may not be the next Great Depression -- yet -- but Gov. Ted Strickland said today that he and the nation's governors are facing the worst economic conditions since the 1930s. “I contend that no governor has faced the same circumstances that I’m facing since the 1930s," Strickland told reporters after an event at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank in Columbus. "These are very unusual circumstances.” Strickland said he wasn't singling out himself or Ohio, but that the convergence of problems in the housing market, the collapse on Wall Street and other issues has every state but Alaska in or near...

Kilroy is headed to Congress Democrat defeats Stivers in 15th Congressional District Sunday, December 7, 2008 6:58 PM By James Nash THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, left, won the seat by 2,311 votes, outside of the 0.5 percent margin to trigger a recount. FILE PHOTO Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, left, won the seat by 2,311 votes, outside of the 0.5 percent margin to trigger a recount. Now it's official: Mary Jo Kilroy will be going to Washington as the first Democrat to represent any part of Franklin County in Congress in a generation. Final...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court on Friday threw out about 1,000 provisional ballots that had been improperly filled out by voters in a tight congressional race. In a 4-2 decision, the court struck down Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directive that said the votes should be counted. Voters had improperly filled out the outer envelope on the disputed ballots, which had been among about 27,000 left to be counted in the undecided 15th district congressional race between Republican Steve Stivers and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy. The decision allows Franklin County voting officials to count the other remaining...

The state worker who unwittingly ran an improper child-support check on the man known as Joe the Plumber told lawmakers yesterday that a deputy director later "dictated" how she was supposed to cover it up. Vanessa Niekamp, an administrator for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' Office of Child Support and a 15-year state employee, said that when Deputy Director Doug Thompson came into her office, "He appeared very upset, his neck was bright red, and he was shaking. He closed my door." Thompson told her she must write an e-mail to the agency's information-security officer, and then...

Four senior Ohio Department of Job and Family Services mangers were disciplined this afternoon for their roles in improper computer checks that sought confidential information about "Joe the Plumber." Jan Allen, acting director of the the state agency, announced that deputy child-support director Doug Thompson and assistant agency director Fred Williams would be placed on unpaid leave Monday. Thompson will be suspended for four weeks and Williams for two weeks. Two others, Paul Fraunholtz, deputy director of family stability, and Judi Cicatiello, deputy director of unemployment compensation, received written reprimands for their conduct. Thompson will be suspended for four weeks...

COLUMBUS -- Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley improperly allowed employees to look at Joe the Plumber's confidential state records with "no legitimate agency function," a state investigation concluded. That's the bottom line from a 48-page report released by Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles today. The report calls Jones-Kelley's authorization "improper" and says that she has committed "a wrongful act" by allowing underlings to search databases for information on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, a Toledo plumber who was thrust into the spotlight of the 2008 presidential election after he asked a tax policy question of Democratic nominee...

27,000 county ballots on hold Federal judge or Brunner to decide which to count Saturday, November 15, 2008 3:26 AM By Barbara Carmen and Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH More than 27,000 provisional ballots, needed to call the closest congressional race in the country, will wait for either a court ruling today or a tiebreaker vote Tuesday from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The Franklin County Board of Elections split along party lines in a stalemate last night that will temporarily delay counting those provisional ballots. But the board still expects to reveal and certify the official election results on...

When he won, it was pure exhilaration. But now what? "Honestly, the next day there was a little bit of a deflation," Obama volunteer Zeba Khan told "Good Morning America," "like we were down a little." Khan, 28, is one of a number of Obama activists who have found themselves at a loss. Their mission accomplished, there is no longer that cause to throw their enthusiasm behind. "It became my life," said Khan, who knocked on doors in Ohio and even set up a Web site to solicit support from Muslim Americans. "It literally was." ... Some think there is...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Police Cheif): If your intention in going inside the fire station is to trap her in a room and talk to her, that's not going to happen. JESSE WATTERS, "FACTOR" PRODUCER: I don't want to trap her. I just want to convey... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much clearer can I make it that she doesn't want to talk to you? Does she — do you have to make her talk to you? Is that your right to make her talk to you? WATTERS: What I'm saying is she's — her salary is paid for by the taxpayers. She maxed...

Gov. Ted Strickland placed the director of the state Department of Job and Family Services on paid leave yesterday for possibly using a state computer and e-mail account for political fundraising. E-mails obtained by The Dispatch show that Helen Jones-Kelley's account was used to assist the presidential campaign of Democrat Barack Obama in raising money. Strickland asked Inspector General Thomas P. Charles to investigate the "unconfirmed" matter, and the governor named Jan Allen, secretary of his cabinet, as acting director of the department. The state e-mails show that Jones-Kelley provided the Obama campaign with the names of 17 potential Dayton-area...

Despite a record number of registered voters this year, intense interest in the presidential election and the historic outcome, Ohio's voter turnout was lower Tuesday than in 2004, unofficial statistics show. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is reporting 67 percent turnout, compared with 72 percent in 2004. She had been predicting 80 percent turnout this time. The percentage could increase as provisional ballots, overseas ballots and other outstanding votes are included during the official canvass in the coming weeks. But overall turnout still is expected to be lower than in 2004, leaving experts at a loss to explain it --...

Fox calls Ohio for 0bama, and now they take it back What the hell is up with Fox? Even the other networks have not been this shameful with their coverage.

I'll be posting results and analysis on this thread as the Ohio returns come in. There are a couple of wild cards in play this year. First, our new early voting period means that some early results will be skewed, as it appears that a significant proportion of Democrats, especially African Americans, voted early. This will give an advantage to Democrats in the early numbers. Secondly, a significant number of ACORN registrations were determined to be invalid (like 1/3) and so many of those registratnts, if the vote, will be give provisional ballots. These ballots will only be counted if...

In Ohio, Early Voters May Give Obama Enough Running Head Start That McCain Can't Catch Him on Election Day: Barack Obama 48%, John McCain 46%, in SurveyUSA's final tracking poll released Election Eve. Obama leads 5:3 among those who have already voted. McCain leads 5:4 among those who have not yet voted. Obama led in the past 3 SurveyUSA tracking polls, but by tapering margins. Obama led by 5 on 10/14/08, by 4 on 10/28/08 and by 2 today. It is possible that McCain could overtake Obama in the final 24 hours, but that would require young voters to stay...

With two days to go before the election, Barack Obama spoke with messianic zeal before an estimated 80,000 people in Cleveland this afternoon who were drawn by a free acoustic concert by Bruce Springsteen.AFP reports Obama riffed on Springsteen's closing song, The Rising, when he took the stage:"A rising is coming," Obama said after Springsteen exclaimed to deafening cheers: "I want my country back, I want my dream back, I want my America back!"The Rising was written about the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and was the title song of Springsteen's cathartic album released the year after the attacks....

We Matter. You Don't! This was a historic campaign in so many ways. Too bad for you we had all the fun here in Ohio. By Connie Schultz November 2, 2008 Every four years, Ohio becomes the center of the political universe. Oh sure, there was a lot of chatter about Florida in 2000, but how many times did you hear people complain that Florida wouldn't have mattered if Al Gore hadn't pulled out of, you guessed it, Ohio? All this attention on my home state is flattering, but its fickle nature is a teeny bit insulting. We're a fascinating...