Krikorian Has a Future With Amway

No matter what happens today in his primary race for the 2nd Congressional District's Democratic Primary David Krikorian has proven himself worthy of job with Amway by adopting Amway's alleged corporate philosophy.

If you want to know more about what I'm talking about, try Snopes.

When I get to reference Amway (now called Alticor) and I get to link to Snopes.com, you can pretty much consider yourself to be tainted. Krikorian may win today's primary, but his chances of ever winning any public office are slim.

Polls Are Open! Get Out and Vote!

The polls in Ohio are open until 7:30. If you don't know where to vote, then click here to find out if you live in Hamilton County. A few points to know.

• If you voted last year in November and have not moved, you are still registered to vote. 
• If you have never voted in a primary for a particular party, you can ask for a particular party's ballot, which will allow you to vote for the primary races of that party. 
• You can still vote for just the Issues, but getting an issues only ballot.

Bring ID to vote. Here is what is acceptable:

1. Current and valid Ohio driver’s license; or
2. Current and valid photo identification card issued by the State of Ohio or the United States government; or
3. A military identification (“military ID”); or
4. An original or copy of a current utility bill; or
5. An original or copy of a current bank statement; or
6. An original or copy of a current paycheck; or
7. An original or copy of a current government check; or
8. An original or copy of a current other government document.

For more overall questions, check out the Secretary of State's website FAQ.

Primary Predictions?

Who is going to win in the Primaries tomorrow?

For the Democrats:
I would guess Fisher will win for Senate.
I believe Tarbell will win for County Commission.

For the GOP:
I am going to say Monzel will squeak it out over Ghiz, but I think it will be a close race.

Did Thomas Infer Kroger's Actions Were Racist?

The Enquirer's Jane Prendergast has a blog post today updating last week's Council Committee meeting where representatives from the Kroger Company answered questions about their
closing of the Roselawn Kroger.  Here is the quote she includes from Cecil Thomas that prompted the Jeff Berding's comment claiming Thomas was inferring Kroger's actions were racist:

Thomas said, “Maybe I’ll be a little more specific…There is a perception that you’re moving out of the black neighborhoods, the predominantly African-American communities in the inner city. That’s a perception that’s out…that is a reality, I should say, that’s there.”

I would say Thomas's comments were over the top and designed to be confrontational, but don't amount to what Berding is charging.

One Other Thing To Watch Tomorrow

I suspect this blog's readers will be following a couple of races particularly closely: the HamCo Commission races and the Dem primaries for governor and OH-02. But the "under-card" is particularly rife with drama this year, and warrants some attention.

As the Enquirer reported a few weeks ago, during the primary, voters will choose the membership of both parties' central committees, on both the county and state level. The Tea Party* has fielded candidates of its own, mainly for the GOP committees.

The Cincinnati Tea Party seems to be figuring out that the GOP isn't as welcoming to Tea Partiers as the GOP's public pronouncement would lead one to believe. Kevin DeWine and Alex Triantafilou both publicly say that they're happy to see the Tea Party involved in Republican politics. But behind the scenes, both are trying to limit the influence the Tea Party will have on the GOP. The linked post details those efforts on the state level. But those efforts are occurring on the county level, too.

Take a look at tomorrow's ballot (scroll down to page 27). There are a lot of Republicans running for county central committee spots for the first time. Some are Tea Partiers. But a lot more of them are "establishment" Republicans. Many are employed in public service with elected Republicans as their supervisors.

There's clearly an internal struggle going on within the GOP. While they don't want the Tea Party running its own candidates (the best thing that could happen for the Democratic Party, on either a state, local, or national level, would be Tea Party candidates; think Ross Perot), but GOP leaders clearly fear that if the Tea Party has too much of a voice in the GOP's governing committees, current leaders (e.g., party chairs) could lose their positions to newcomers elected by the Tea Party. The establishment GOP/Tea Party rift even became publicly evident at the Mainstay debate the other night, with some harsh words by Chris Monzel for a prominent Democrat and a Tea Partier in the same sentence--though Monzel didn't point out the party affiliation of either person he mentioned. (Apparently, now that Monzel has received the Ohio Tea Party PAC's endorsement, he feels he no longer has any reason to be nice to Tea Party's members.)

The election of the county Democratic central committee is not without drama, either. As we've previously noted (via Howard Wilkinson), Darren Tolliver is challenging Tim Burke for the local party chairmanship. Tolliver is presently the treasurer of the HCDP and was a board member of CincyPAC. The central committee, elected tomorrow, will vote on the chairmanship in the next several weeks. I have no idea whether Tolliver will have the votes, but a wrestling match for the party's gavel hasn't happened around here in quite some time.

So while there are interesting races near the top of the ticket, don't forget to watch the "smaller" races, too. As Tip O'Neill famously quipped, "All politics is local," after all.

*Griff: Come on, man, time to start calling it the Tea Party and its members the Tea Partiers. (Yes, "teabaggers" was a term that its original members used first, without realizing the word's other meaning. But everyone knows the euphemism now.) Even if we disagree with them, they deserve at least to be called by the name they choose. A while back, I called out Alex Triantafilou for using "Democrat" rather than "Democratic" as an adjective. I'm more than a bit hypocritical if I don't call out Griff, too.

More Clear Evidence the Cadillac Ranch Sucks

Liz of the getinmybelly blog has provided a overwelhming documentation that the Cadillac Ranch is an absolutely horrid establishment.

I most readers know the treatment "the ranch" gave to MidPoint Artists last year, but Liz has shown how poorly they treat paying customers.

Questions About Ethics

I find the character assignation of Chris Bortz to be very unfair, but I'm going to sidestep the details of the infamous letter and instead make a few points that are not going to be asked by the the less than honest anti-streetcar foes pushing this issue, nor will it be asked by the Enquirer.

1. Since Chris Bortz owns part of Jeff Ruby's located at 7th and Walnut, if a vote were to come up in Council to fund the re-pavement of 7th Street between Central and Broadway, then should he recuse himself from that vote?
2. Why are Tom Luken, Chris Smitherman, and bandwagoner Justin Jeffre not complaining about the votes Chris Bortz made to fund 3CDC's effort to redevelop downtown, including rehabbing the Metropole, which will clearly benefit the near by Jeff Ruby Steadhouse?
3. Have any of the votes for the funding of the streetcar ever specifically defined in the ordinances the actual route of the Streetcar? I mean literally the route where Luken et al claim it will go near properties owned or operated by Towne Properties?
4. If Chris Monzel where to be elected to County Commission(heaven forbid), would he be required to recuse himself when approving anything that improves or maintains any road around GE?

I never would expect Tom Luken to ask these questions, he's not concerned with truth. Cherry picking issues is his method of choice. I would however like a longer form story from the Enquirer covering what the ethics laws actually say and what each elected official should do to comply with them.