Zack Space In Cambridge This Saturday

Zack Space will be holding a "Congress on Your Corner" event in Cambridge this Saturday. Described as "an opportunity for the public to meet with the Congressman, receive information on the services the Congressional office can provide, and obtain assistance with federal constituent issues", the event is the second one of it's kind for Rep. Space.

Who: Zack Space

What: "Congress on Your Corner"

When: Saturday, August 18th – 2:00 to 4:00 pm

Where: Guernsey County Administration Bldg, 627 Wheeling Ave, Cambridge (map)

The event is (obviously) open to the public.

It Looks Like Padgett Is Running...

I was justified when I was five
Raising cane, I spit in your eye
Times are changing, now the poor get fat
But the fever's gonna catch you when the...

It would seem that my corrupt and unethical state senator, Joy Padgett, wants to represent me for another 4 years.

I have absolutely no information to support this, but might I toss up the name Jennifer Garrison as an opponent?

H/T: Weapons of Mass Discussion

O.D.P. Makes A Bad Situation Worse

EDIT: If you can't tell, I was a little angry when I wrote this. I still think there's a serious problem here but I also could have discussed it a little more objectively.

Oops, it seems the the Ohio Democratic Party F-ed up. Apparently they hired and fired a new director of women's outreach in the same day. The reason? A 7 year old controversial column this person wrote during her freshman year at OSU about minorities. Apparently the ODP's "routine background check" didn't catch the column, despite the fact that it was the topic of the first and second result in a Google search for this person's name.

Sure writing that column might not have been the brightest thing to do, but is that reason enough to damn this person for the rest of her life? I don't think so. People make mistakes, sometimes they even learn from them. Instead of trying to shove this issue under the rug why didn't you take it head on and give her a chance to publicly apologize?

Congratulations ODP, you've taken a lousy situation (that you're partly responsible for) and handled it in the worst way possible. Perhaps it's about time you started hiring youth outreach coordinators...

Hat Tips:

• Pho for breaking the story.
• Bill Sloat for finding the column.
• Jerid for posting the response.

What Kind Of Man Is Dennis Kucinich?

In a conference call this morning former candidate and Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett revealed an interesting conversation he had with Dennis Kucinich the day after he won a special election primary in the 2nd district. According to Hackett, Kucinich called him  "a democrat in name only" and said "I would rather see Jean Schmidt get elected to Ohio's 2nd congressional district than you because you are wrong on Iraq".

The conference call was part of a series held by the Rosemary Palmer for Congress campaign. Hackett was on hand to discuss Mrs. Palmer's veterans affairs strategy. The story about the phone call came out in response to a question by Buckeye State Blog's Jerid Kurtz. More coverage can be found from the Plain Dealer here.

Rep. Dennis Hastert To Retire

Mark Foley's best friend, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, will retire after the end of this term according to Republican insiders.

Hastert became a controversial figure due to allegations that he had covered up Mark Foley's inappropriate behavior with congressional pages. Heck, it got so bad that even the Washington Times wanted him out.

Expect an official announcement this Friday.

Read More: Rep. Dennis Hastert is retiring, GOP officials say - CNN.com

Planned Parenthood Goes After Four Ohio Republicans

Planned Parenthood is fuming after four Ohio Republicans voted for an unsuccessful  last minute amendment to cut funding for Planned Parenthood's family planning services. Now they're putting posters like the one shown up in Planned Parenthood clinics in these Representatives' districts.

The poster is available in four PDF flavors:

• John Boehner
• Steve Chabot
• Jim Jordan
• Jean Schmidt

Hang 'em on your wall.

The Monroe County Democratic Bar-B-Q [UPDATED]

Yesterday my counties Democratic party held their annual Democratic Bar-B-Q. Political events are rare in Monroe County but when they happen it's always a fun time. Our county's Democratic chairman, Herman Zerger, is practically a national treasure. He was a prisoner of war during World War II and has been involved with the Democratic party for a long time. He and Strickland really are friends and when you put them together it's hilarious.

It also interesting meeting new people around here. You know that cliché that everybody knows everybody in a small town? Well at the table I was sitting I was surrounded by people from all over the area that I had never met before and by the end of the event I had found a common acquaintance with every single person at the table. It was also interesting to talk to the two gentlemen directly across the table from me. They were the reverend and the post commander of the Beallsville (pronounced Bells-Ville) VFW. As some of you might know Beallsville suffered the highest per-capita loss of life from the Vietnam War than anywhere else in the nation.

It often seems like Monroe County is forgotten by most of the state, in fact this is the first time our Democratic party has gotten a sitting governor to speak at it's dinner. Strickland did a great job showing that he understood the concerns of rural areas though and even poked fun of urban areas a few times ("I was up in Cleveland, I go up there occasionally... No more than I have to", promising to protect his "city slicker" highway patrol guards down here). He also ran through what he's accomplished so far and what he hopes to get done soon.

And as for that myth that conservatives have a monopoly on religion? At one point Strickland, an ordained minister, lead everyone in a prayer for the trapped Utah coal miners and their families (it's not on the recording below but I did get it). It was a really touching moment.

I have an audio recording of Strickland's speech uploaded. It's not great because I was all the way at the back of the room and the P.A. was lousy (thus loud clapping and quiet speaking) but it worked out a lot better than I had expected it to. He also spoke a little more during other people's speeches, this is just his speech. You can download it (18.7 MB MP3) or stream it (.M3U) and if that doesn't work go here.

Update: I mentioned above that Strickland lead the crowd in prayer for the trapped Utah miners. You can listen to it in this seperate (and much shorter) recording.

powered by ODEO