Luke Brockmeier Is the Only Choice for the 31st District

This Tuesday there is only one choice for the Democrats in the New 31st Ohio House district and that is Luke Brockmeier.  I fully support Luke Brockmeier and here is a short list of the countless reasons to vote for him in the Democratic Primary on March 6th.

1. Luke Brockmeier is the Future of the Democratic Party. 
2. Luke stands with the full Democratic platform..
3. Luke is from the grassroots of the Democratic Party.  He is not part of the power structure of the party.
4. Luke is not part of a local political dynasty that has strayed out of its region of influence.
5. Luke does not take big corporate money and won't be endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce.
6. Luke is the ONLY PRO-CHOICE CANDIDATE in the race.
7. Luke supports no-co-pay coverage for birth control.

The New 31st is a progressive district and needs a Progressive Force to represent it in Columbus. Please vote for Luke Brockmeier tomorrow.

For more information please check out www.lukeforohio.com.

Conservative Economic Planning Fails Again

The Mason, Ohio area has all of the earmarks to be considered a Conservative Republican mecca.  It is an Exurb.  It has lots of cul-de-sacs, strip-malls, chain restaurants, churches, white people, and lots of businesses.  The Mason area, to be fair, has a significant amount of office parks and corporate operations.

So that leads it to be a place where the free market system would flourish and the problems that arise from a growing population would be solved by private entities.  You know, like if traffic became a job killer, where people literally would leave or avoid the area because traffic happened their ability function either when trying to go to work, come home from work, or just go shopping.

So, today I read a story in the Enquirer that indicates that traffic mess that is the Field-Ertel exit off I-71 is no where near being improved or better yet cured of the problems that plague the mangled interchange.  Why are the roads not able to be improved to keep the economics of the area chugging along?  The answer is there are not enough Government funds to build all of the the road improvements needed.

Yes, you read that right, the Conservative mecca of Mason can't improve their roads because the Government doesn't have the funds.  The place filled with Republican voters who regularly attack Government spending on everything short of Defense and Religious schools, is not fixing its own roads because there is not enough funding from the Government to get the job done.

When people complain about Government spending, remember the subtext of what they are really saying: "the Government is spending too much, on other people."  If the Government is doing something to benefit Republican communities, then those programs are championed.  When the Government does something for a mostly Democratic community, the Republicans oppose it and call it wasteful.  You don't need to look past the Streetcar to see that.  That will help the City of Cincinnati.  Not enough Republicans live there, so Republican voters don't tend to care what happens in places that are not mostly Republican.  That's a sad state to live in, but the modern GOP has become a sectarian movement.  It's like living in the Balkans or Iraq.

I for one would like the State of Ohio to kick-in funds to improve the Fields-Ertel interchange.  The Republican run State government should get on that.

Dear Chief Craig: Just Take the Test

Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig has given notice he will not take the Ohio police certification test, which would be required for him to have police powers.  This sounds bad to me.  Why would he not just take the test?  It's reportedly 200 questions.  I don't know how hard of a test it is, but I would have presumed he could pass it quite easily.  By him not wanting to take it leas me to assume it may be more difficult, thus his knowledge of Ohio laws may not be up to snuff, yet.  That may be the reason for him not taking it.  I'm just surprised this has become an issue for him to address at all.  He should just take the test like every other police officer has to do.  I understand he doesn't literally need police powers, but I think the Chief of police of Cincinnati should have the power to make an arrest if needed.

A Basic Geography and Civics Lesson For Denise Driehaus

In case Ohio House District 31 candidate Denise Driehaus or the Ohio Democratic Party or anyone else following politics in Cincinnati didn't know, here's a lesson in geography and civics on the simple fact that the New 31st Ohio House District is an open seat.

The claims of others, specifically the ODP and Driehaus herself, are not only an insult to the people living in the New 31st District, it is an insult to the people currently in the Old 31st District.

Democracy starts when the political leadership is honest with the voters. That seems to be lacking here.

Are Denise Driehaus's Values Your Values?

An interesting video clip highlighting what Denise Driehuas's record indicates are her values:


Bill Sloat at The Daily Bellwhether has more on her record of an endorsement from an anti-abortion group. That's something you will not read on her campaign website, at least not anymore.

Will You Subscribe to the Enquirer's Paywall?

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting on itself today and confirms that it, along with all of Parent Company Gannett's regional newspapers, will adopt a Paywall model for its website by the end of the year. The paper indicates it will use a subscription model similar to the New York Times, which allows for a limited number of free articles per month.

Needless to say this will send some into a tizzy. Not me. I have no problem with the Enquirer doing this. We as a public have long been coddled by having free news websites. It costs money to gather and write news articles. Sure, I wish the Enquirer did a better job of doing that, but that does not make the economics of reality go away. So I really hope the complainers get it out of their systems quickly. I for one will not be forgiving when anyone complains about having to pay for news. I also will challenge them to find a more comphensive source for local news in Cincinnati. If all you want is national news, you had 1,000 better sources than the Enquir anyway.

There are several things I believe the Enquirer must do in order to make this work:
1. Create more local content. Laying off more reporters is not the way to go. Some more hires better be in their future.
2. Don't rehash national Gannett content behind the Paywall. If I am going to pay for something it needs to be unique, so make the news local or at least by local reporters.
3. Bring back some opinion. Commentary is not evil, it just needs to be smart and not anything like Peter Bronson.
4. Make the archives free for online subscribers. If I am going to pay for content, I want to be able to read it now or three years from now. It should be retroactive too. I'd personally pay a slight premium for this, but not an arm and a leg.
5. Make it cheaper than the New York Times. The NYT may be able to make up the difference in volume, but you can't consider the value of the Enquirer to be more, let alone the same, as the Times.
6. iPad App: I believe this is in the works, but it can't come soon enough.
7. Make it easy. Don't have 12 price levels, a few is enough. Also allow access from all online tools: PC, Tablet & Phone.


What ever it looks like, I will subscribe. I am a news junkie and need the fix. I hope I like the high it gives me.

A District Isn't Only a Number, It's About the People

When someone decides to run for office, the first thing I believe they should understand is that they are seeking a job to represent the people of jurisdiction that they live in.  Running for office is not about getting a job.  You don't just move to a new city to become its mayor.

Denise Driehaus does not understand this.  She did the opposite and foolishly says it to CityBeat. To her it's all about a number, not about the voters. Read what she said here:

“The only way to define statehouse district is by its number because geographies change,” she says. “Everybody’s districts changed during this redraw… the number is 31 for my current district. The number for the new district is 31. So, I consider that to be my district, and I consider myself to be the incumbent in that district.”

Driehaus is not the incumbent for the New 31st, that's just a lie and she knows it. The New 31st district is totally different than the Old 31st. The people and places she represents are totally different. She moved to the New 31st district a few weeks before the deadline.  She hasn't even changed the official campaign address for her campaign committee.  It's still in Price Hill.

Let's face the simple fact: Denies Driehaus moved to the New 31st because she wanted to keep her job, not because she wants to represent the people living there.She's an opportunist. This is about her, not about representing the people of the New 31st.  She's a carpetbagger.  Her views are in conflict with the majority of the people in the new district but she'll happily pretend otherwise.

She's a conservative Democrat and is hiding the fact that she's pro-life.  Her voting record on the subject is clear, but she's scrubbed her 2010 Right to Life endorsement from her website.  She didn't get it in the primary only because Terry Tranter managed to find a way to be more extreme on the issue, otherwise she would have gotten it.

Driehaus's answers to the 2010 Cincinnati right to life survey should make it clear to all where she stands on abortion rights.  In a year when the rights of women to control their own bodies are in danger in Ohio as well as across the county, the people of the New 31st district need to know this and not be fooled because she evades answering the issue head on.  She instead allegedly wants to focus on other women's issues, like jobs and education.  Well, those are issues that affect both men and women.  Driehaus needs to address issues that only affect women.  She needs to be honest with the voters and make her position on abortion clear and open and avoid letting people think she agrees with them on choice. She's anti-abortion and has voted to limit abortion rights.  She's not just against it personally, she actually has voted to limit the rights of women who have been raped or the victim of incest from being able to choose an abortion. There is only one candidate who supports the right of women to control their own bodies and that is Luke Brockmeier.

Make sure the voters know who is thinking about them instead of the number on a paycheck.