Developing feud could split Ohio GOP's harmony

[Algorem]

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060305/NEWS09/603050376/-1/NEWS

Article published Sunday, March 5, 2006

COLUMBUS - After nearly 16 years of near-perfect harmony in the Ohio GOP, a civil war is breaking out and Republicans are taking sides.

At the center of the battle is power broker Alex Arshinkoff, who for nearly three decades has served as chairman of the Summit County Republican Party, one of the state's premier county parties.

Allies see Mr. Arshinkoff as a political mastermind and a key supporter of President Bush who has chaired statewide campaigns for U.S. Sens. George Voinovich and Mike DeWine, and doled our more than $1.65 million to key Republican candidates. His enemies view him as a corrupt political boss and an architect of pay-to-play, who wants to play kingmaker in the first contested GOP primary for governor in a generation.

Last spring, Mr. Arshinkoff endorsed State Auditor Betty Montgomery for governor. The county party that he controls has contributed nearly $400,000 to her campaigns since 1990. When Ms. Montgomery bowed out of the governor's race in late January, Mr. Arshinkoff quickly endorsed Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and shunned the campaign of Attorney General Jim Petro...


http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060304/NEWS09/603040363/-1/NEWS

Article published Saturday, March 4, 2006

Blackwell, Petro trade ad barbs in race to be governor nominee

COLUMBUS - Shortly after Republican Kenneth Blackwell yesterday released a second TV ad that tries to bury his primary opponent in the governor's race by tying him to Gov. Bob Taft, Jim Petro responded with his own ad that slams Mr. Blackwell's "false and vicious attacks" and concludes with "shame on you."

Mr. Petro's ad does not have any narration, just sound and music effects, black-and-white photos of Mr. Blackwell, who is the state's chief elections officer; and four quotes from newspaper editorials and Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, that are critical of the Blackwell TV ad.

That ad began with an image of Tom Noe and the headline "Coin dealer Noe indicted," showed a picture of Mr. Taft, and referred to his conviction on ethics violations last year. It then focused on allegations that Mr. Petro, the state's attorney general, traded the state's legal work for campaign contributions. "Petro's ethics worse than Taft's," the ad concluded.

The 30-second Blackwell ad, which first aired on Feb. 22, says Mr. Taft and Mr. Petro have identical political positions: in favor of a 2003 state sales-tax increase, against a 2004 ballot issue to add Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage to the state Constitution, and opposed to Mr. Blackwell's issue on the Nov. 7 ballot to restrict government spending...

[Earth_First]

1. Trouble in Paradise?

So long that the dissent in Congressional Republican leadership is genuine in regards to the UAE port security deal and Bob Casey's polling numbers against Santorum in Pennsylvania, and the Democrats are poised to make some great gains in November.

[JudyM]

2. I hope Petro exposes Blackwell's corrupting of the election process

[Piscis Austrinus]

3. Me too, but that won't happen

Exposing Blackwell would be the the equivalent of scuttling the Ohio GOP's ship. No one would vote for them - well, not anywhere near a significant portion, anyway - if the extent of the electioneering in Ohio were made fully known. I think the national GOP movers and shakers would step in to prevent this, because of the impact that the Ohio vote in 2004 had upon national elections.

Moreover, it would have the effect of tipping the fence to the Democratic side to the point that virtually all of the fence-sitters would fall away from voting for the GOP. Also, anyone publicly supporting the GOP would be a pariah.

Put it this way: if clear, incontrovertible proof were released widely in the media showing a deliberate fix in either the 2000 or 2004 presidential elections (or both), how many people would still go around with those damnable "W" stickers on their cars? (I know, most of us know or at least suspect that this is the case, but a large portion of our countrymen have no clue.) You might as well have a bumper sticker announcing something like, "I SUPPORT VOTER FRAUD." Try putting that one next to your "Jesus" fish.

Peace
PsA

[yellowcanine]

4. Sounds like projection on part of Mr. Blackwell. Petro may indeed be

corrupt (After all he is an Ohio pubbie) but so is Blackwell. So a pox on both their houses.

[pro_blue_guy]

5. I am going to keep my "W" sticker on my car, FOREVER!

The only difference is that my "W" sticker has a red circle around it with a diagonal line through it!


:) LOL :)

[f-bush]

6. Let the repukes eat each other alive

then hopefully Ohio and its' lush crop of electoral votes will be easier pickin's for the Dems.

[Ken M]

7. Alex Arshinkoff

There has never been a bigger horse's ass in politics than Arshkinoff, and the funniest part is there are certain rumors about skeletons in his...errr....closet. In a really nasty political fight these will start flying, and the splatter will be something to behold. :)

Don't count on the voting machines thing having any traction, though. No one around NE Ohio who's not already a hard core Democrat believes it. I'm not so sure there's anything to it myself. I was pretty sure that Ohio would end up exactly the way it was reported. The right-wing Christians got their people out because of a gay-marriage referendum, young voters didn't turn up (and a lot of the young males voted for Bush anyway), and the Ohio Dems turned over the grass roots to amateurs without a clue. It was infuriating, but predictable.