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Newsletter of the Green Party of Ohio
November 11, 2005
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ELECTION SUMMARY
1. Brian Cummins Wins Council Seat
2. David Ball Makes a Strong Showing in Toledo City Council Race
3. Dennis Spisak Elected to Board of Education
4. Green Party Coordinating Committee Meets to Consider Endorsing Statewide
Candidates for 2006
5. Prospective Gubernatorial Green Party Candidate Bob Fitrakis Questions
Latest Election Results
MESSAGE 1. Brian Cummins Wins Council Seat
The following message was posted to the Green Party General Forum by Brian
Cummins. Brian has been active with Columbus and Cleveland area Greens
in the past and received an endorsement from the Cuyahoga County Green
Party in his race for Cleveland City Council.
Greetings,
As most of you on this campaign e-mail list know, I won the election this
past Tuesday, November 8th! It has been a whirl-wind campaign and the
last two days have brought some rest, although I¹ve had to attend
3 council/neighborhood meetings or events already. Gayle and the children
are doing well. We are all very happy with the results and look forward
to continuing to re-establishing our roots even deeper here in Greater
Cleveland.
We ran a terrific campaign with of course some hiccups. Had a tremendous
effort from our volunteers in the last three or so weeks and pulled off
a
difficult upset of a popular and well qualified appointed incumbent.
Thanks to those of you that have supported our campaign, through time,
money, prayers etc... I will be sure to inform you of my plans for my
tenure
as council representative. I will be sworn in as Council Representative
on
January 2nd, at which time I¹ll take office. Until then, I am gearing
up
for a transition plan to work with our current councilwoman, as well as
getting informed regarding my new position, hiring a Council Representative
Executive Assistant and making decisions about a local Ward office.
Thanks again for all of your help!
Sincerely,
Brian Cummins
Cleveland City Council Representative Elect, Ward 15
3104 Mapledale Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44109
216-661-6821 (home)
216-661-6002 (office temporary)
Election Results:
Cleveland City Council Ward 15
Brian Cummins 2,595 - 52.87%
Emily Lipovan-Holan 2,313 - 47.13%
MESSAGE 2.
David Ball Makes a Strong Showing in Toledo City Council Race 11/9/05
The following message was posted to the Green Party General Forum by Mitch
Balonek
Friends,
David Ball and the NW Ohio Greens made an impressive run against a
candidate who was well-financed and endorsed by many organizations and
The Blade. With 89% of the votes tallied (as of this morning's
writing), David is in second place with 2746 votes to Republican Joe
Birmingham's 3296. Indeed, David was outspent at least 5 to 1.
Birmingham spent $15,000 for those 500 extra votes.
David's supporters knew their candidate. Many came up to our poll
workers and enthusiastically expressed their support for David. It was
exciting to see such devotion to a political candidate in these times
of political complacency and name-recognition-voting.
As many of you know, grassroots democracy is slow but solid moral
politics. It requires months of educating the public by going door to
door and talking to people. I just spent the last six months doing just
that with a handful of dedicated, hardworking, passionate
VOLUNTEERS.
MESSAGE 3.
Dennis Spisak Elected to Board of Education 11/9/05
The following message was posted to the Green Party General Forum by Russ
Buckbee.
Congrats to Green Party Member Dennis Spisak for winning one of three
seats on the Struthers,Ohio Board of Education on Tuesday.
MESSAGE 4.
Green Party Coordinating Committee Meets to Consider Endorsing Statewide
Candidates for 2006.
The following message was posted to the Green Party General Forum by Ohio
Green Party Treasurer Paul Dumouchelle 11-11-05
The Coordinating Committee is meeting 11/19 at the Northside Public Library
in Columbus at 10 AM. Meetings of the Green Party of Ohio
Coordinating Committee are open to Ohio Green Party Members. I plan to
make
the following proposal at that meeting.
Proposal for the Green Party of Ohio Coordinating Committee
1. That the Green Party of Ohio Coordinating Committee endorses the
following candidacies for statewide office in 2006:
i. Governor: Bob Fitrakis
ii. Lt. Governor: Anita Rios
iii. Secretary of State: Tim Kettler
2. That the Green Party of Ohio will promote and support these candidacies
with all available resources, subject to subsequent discussion and approval
for monetary contributions and other resource distributions, as appropriate.
3. That in taking this action the Coordinating Committee recognizes the
superior authority (on this question of statewide candidate endorsement)
of the Green Party of Ohio State Convention planned for 2006 that will
be organized by Co-Conveners of the Green Party of Ohio.
Key Rationale
A. These three candidates have long and distinguished records as
progressive citizen activists, Green Party members, Green Party leaders
and/or candidates for local office.
B. These three people have organized a campaign (e.g. weekly committee
meetings, a "Fitrakis for Governor" PAC filed with the State)
and begun circulating petitions.
C. No other Green Party members have expressed interest in running for
State Office at this time and any declaration after November 19, 2005
is later than itshould be, given the work involved in achieving ballot
access and the time remaining to accomplish this.
D. The Green Party of Ohio has conducted three campaigns to get a candidate
on a statewide ballot (Nader 1996, Nader 2000, Cobb 2004) and succeeded
only once. In recognition of the demonstrated difficulty of this task
the Green Party of Ohio needs to organize its resources as effectively
as possible and this endorsement is an important contribution to such
efforts.
MESSAGE 5.
Prospective Gubernatorial Green Party Candidate Bob Fitrakis Questions
Latest Election Results 11-11-05.
Has American Democracy died an electronic death in Ohio 2005's referenda
defeats?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
November 11, 2005
While debate still rages over Ohio's stolen presidential election of
2004, the impossible outcomes of key 2005 referendum issues may have put
an electronic nail through American democracy.
Once again, the Buckeye state has hosted an astonishing display of
electronic manipulation that calls into question the sanctity of America's
right to vote, and to have those votes counted in this crucial swing state.
The controversy has been vastly enhanced due to the simultaneous
installation of new electronic voting machines in nearly half the state's
88 counties, machines the General Accounting Office has now confirmed
could be easily hacked by a very small number of people.
Last year, the US presidency was decided here. This year, a bond issue
and four hard-fought election reform propositions are in question.
Issue One on Ohio's 2005 ballot was a controversial $2 billion "Third
Frontier" proposition for state programs ostensibly meant to create
jobs and promote high tech industry. Because some of the money may seem
destined for stem cell research, Issue One was bitterly opposed by the
Christian Right, which distributed leaflets against it.
The Issue was pushed by a Taft Administration wallowing in corruption.
Governor Bob Taft recently pleaded guilty to misdemeanors stemming from
golf
outings he
took with Tom Noe, the infamous Toledo coin dealer who has taken $4 million
or more from the state. Taft entrusted Noe with some $50 million in
investments for
the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, from which some $12 million
is now
missing. Noe has been charged with federal money laundering violations
on
behalf of the Bush-Cheney campaign. Taft's public approval ratings in
Ohio
are currently around 15%.
Despite public fears the bond issue could become a glorified GOP slush
fund,
Issue One was supported by organized labor. A poll run on the front page
of
the
Columbus Dispatch on Sunday, November 6, showed Issue One passing with
53%
of the vote. Official tallies showed Issue One passing with 54% of the
vote.
The polling used by the Dispatch had wrapped up the Thursday before the
Tuesday election. Its precision on Issue One was consistent with the
Dispatch's historic
polling abilities, which have been uncannily accurate for decades. This
poll
was based on 1872 registered Ohio voters, with a margin of error at
plus/minus 2.5
percentage points and a 95% confidence interval. The Issue One outcome
would
appear to confirm the Dispatch polling operation as the state's gold
standard.
But Issues 2-5 are another story.
The Dispatch's Sunday headline showed "3 issues on way to passage."
The
headline referred to Issues One, Two and Three. As mentioned, the poll
was
dead-on
accurate for Issue One.
Issues Two-Five were meant to reform Ohio's electoral process, which
has
been under intense fire since 2004. The issues were very heavily contested.
They were
backed by Reform Ohio Now, a well-funded bi-partisan statewide effort
meant
to bring some semblance of reliability back to the state's vote count.
Many
of the
state's best-known moderate public figures from both sides of the aisle
were
prominent in the effort. Their effort came largely in response to the
stolen
2004
presidential vote count that gave George W. Bush a second term and led
to
U.S. history's first Congressional challenge to the seating of a state's
delegation to the
Electoral College.
Issue Two was designed to make it easier for Ohioans to vote early, by
mail
or in person. By election day, much of what it proposed was already put
into
law by the
state legislature. Like Issue One, it was opposed by the Christian Right.
But it had broad support from a wide range of Ohio citizen groups. In
a
conversation the day
before the vote, Bill Todd, a primary official spokesperson for the
opposition to Issues Two through Five, told attorney Cliff Arnebeck that
he
believed Issues Two
and Three would pass.
The November 6 Dispatch poll showed Issue Two passing by a vote of 59%
to
33%, with about 8% undecided, an even broader margin than that predicted
for
Issue
One.
But on November 8, the official vote count showed Issue Two going down
to
defeat by the astonishing margin of 63.5% against, with just 36.5% in
favor.
To say the
outcome is a virtual statistical impossibility is to understate the case.
For the official vote count to square with the pre-vote Dispatch poll,
support for the Issue had to
drop more than 22 points, with virtually all the undecideds apparently
going
into the "no" column.
The numbers on Issue Three are even less likely.
Issue Three involved campaign finance reform. In a lame duck session
at the
end of 2004, Ohio's Republican legislature raised the limits for individual
donations to
$10,000 per candidate per person for anyone over the age of six. Thus
a
family of four could donate $40,000 to a single candidate. The law also
opened the door
for direct campaign donations from corporations, something banned by
federal
law since the administration of Theodore Roosevelt.
The GOP measure sparked howls of public outrage. Though again opposed
by the
Christian Right, Issue Three drew an extremely broad range of support
from
moderate bi-partisan citizen groups and newspapers throughout the state.
The
Sunday Dispatch poll showed it winning in a landslide, with 61% in favor
and
just
25% opposed.
Tuesday's official results showed Issue Three going down to defeat in
perhaps the most astonishing reversal in Ohio history, claiming just 33%
of
the vote, with 67%
opposed. For this to have happened, Issue Three's polled support had
to drop
28 points, again with an apparent 100% opposition from the previously
undecideds.
The reversals on both Issues Two and Three were statistically staggering,
to
say the least.
The outcomes on Issue Four and Five were slightly less dramatic. Issue
Four
meant to end gerrymandering by establishing a non-partisan commission
to set
Congressional and legislative districts. The Dispatch poll showed it
with
31% support, 45% opposition, and 25% undecided. Issue Four's final margin
of
defeat was
30% in favor to 70% against, placing virtually all undecideds in the
"no"
column.
Issue Five meant to take administration of Ohio's elections away from
the
Secretary of State, giving control to a nine-member non-partisan commission.
Issue Five
was prompted by Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's administration
of
the 2004 presidential vote, particularly in light of his role as co-chair
of
Ohio's
Bush-Cheney campaign. The Dispatch poll showed a virtual toss-up, at
41%
yes, 43% no and 16% undecided. The official result gave Issue Five just
30%
of the
vote, with allegedly 70% opposed.
But the Sunday Dispatch also carried another headline: "44 counties
will
break in new voting machines." Forty-one of those counties "will
be using
new electronic
touch screens from Diebold Election System," the Dispatch added.
Diebold's controversial CEO Walden O'Dell, a major GOP donor, made national
headlines in 2003 with a fundraising letter pledging to deliver Ohio's
2004
electoral
votes to Bush.
Every vote in Ohio 2004 was cast or counted on an electronic device.
About
15%---some 800,000 votes---were cast on electronic touchscreen machines
with
no
paper trail. The number was about seven times higher than Bush's official
118,775-vote margin of victory. Nearly all the rest of the votes were
cast
on punch cards or
scantron ballots counted by opti-scan devices---some of them made by
Diebold---then tallied at central computer stations in each of Ohio's
88
counties.
According to a recent General Accounting Office report, all such
technologies are easily hacked. Vote skimming and tipping are readily
available to those who
would manipulate the vote. Vote switching could be especially easy for
those
with access to networks by which many of the computers are linked. Such
machines
and networks, said the GAO, had widespread problems with "security
and
reliability." Among them were "weak security controls, system
design flaws,
inadequate
security testing, incorrect system configuration, poor security management
and vague or incomplete voting system standards, among other issues."
With the 2005 expansion of paperless touch-screen machines into 41 more
Ohio
counties, this year's election was more vulnerable than ever to centralized
manipulation. The outcomes on Issues 2-5 would indicate just that.
The new touchscreen machines were brought in by Blackwell, who had vowed
to
take the state to an entirely e-based voting regime.
As in 2004, there were instances of chaos. In inner city, heavily Democratic
precincts in Montgomery County, the Dayton Daily News reported: "Vote
count
goes on
all night: Errors, unfamiliarity with computerized voting at heart of
problem." Among other things, 186 memory cards from the e-voting
machines
went missing,
prompting election workers in some cases to search for them with flashlights
before all were allegedly found.
In Tom Noe's Lucas County, Election Director Jill Kelly explained that
her
staff could not complete the vote count for 13.5 hours because poll workers
"were not
adequately trained to run the new machines."
But none of the on-the-ground glitches can begin to explain the impossible
numbers surrounding the alleged defeat of Issues Two through Five. The
Dispatch polling
has long been a source of public pride for the powerful, conservative
newspaper, which endorsed Bush in 2004.
The Dispatch was somehow dead accurate on Issue One, and then staggeringly
wrong on Issues Two through Five. Sadly, this impossible inconsistency
between
Ohio's most prestigious polling operation and these final official
referendum vote counts have drawn virtually no public scrutiny.
Though there were glitches, this year's voting lacked the massive
irregularities and open manipulations that poisoned Ohio 2004. The only
major difference would
appear to be the new installation of touchscreen machines in those
additional 41 counties.
And thus the possible explanations for the staggering defeats of Issues
Two
through Five boil down to two: either the Dispatch polling---dead accurate
for Issue
One---was wildly wrong beyond all possible statistical margin of error
for
Issues 2-5, or the electronic machines on which Ohio and much of the nation
conduct their
elections were hacked by someone wanting to change the vote count.
If the latter is true, it can and will be done again, and we can forget
forever about the state that has been essential to the election of every
Republican presidential candidate since Lincoln.
And we can also, for all intents and purposes, forget about the future
of
American democracy.
--
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of HOW THE GOP STOLE
AMERICA'S 2004 ELECTION AND IS RIGGING 2008, available at
http://www.freepress.org/ and http://www.harveywasserman.com/, and, with
Steve Rosenfeld, of WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO, available from The New Press
in spring, 2006.
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Editor reserves the right to publish or not publish any such letter and
edit them to fit the newsletter format. The Green Party of Ohio Newsletter
does not represent official GPOH policy unless specifically stated. The
Green Party of Ohio Newsletter operates under the guidance of the State
Coordinating Committee Media Committee, which can be contacted through
the State Party Website. Paid for by the Green Party of Ohio Political
Action Fund (OH1066) PO Box 754 New Albany, OH 43054
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