Democrats want Blackwell to step aside

Another corrupt election, what is new to American politics

He shouldn't oversee election, they insist
Friday, June 09, 2006
Ted Wendling
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus - Ohio Democrats called Thursday for Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to step aside from "overseeing his own election," proposing that someone not running for office serve as the state's elections chief.

Prominent among their recommendations: Republican Attorney General Jim Petro, whom Blackwell savaged on the campaign trail before handily defeating him in last month's GOP gubernatorial primary.

Democrats aren't suggesting Blackwell give up the office, but they do want him to turn over his voting oversight role until after the November election.

Lee Fisher, Rep. Ted Strickland's running mate in the governor's race, said Democrats are asking Blackwell to relinquish his election duties because he has been "deliberately misconstruing the intent of the law" by publishing onerous rules pertaining to voter-registration drives.

"The irony of all this . . . is that we are trying to depoliticize the process," Fisher said. "It has been politicized by the secretary of state."

On the contrary, responded Republicans, the Democrats' call for Blackwell to step down is a particularly malignant strain of politics.

"They're afraid of Secretary Blackwell's appeal to urban voters, and they're using scare tactics," said Blackwell's spokesman, Carlo LoParo. "Their contentions are absurd. Someone else should administer the election? How can they even stand up there with any credibility and talk about that stuff?"

Sen. Jeff Jacobson, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, agreed with LoParo that Democrats are misplacing blame by accusing Blackwell of misinterpreting the election-reform law that legislators passed last year.

"They're trying to smear Blackwell, with whom I've had lots of disagreements on election law, but we wrote this law," Jacobson said. "We were specific about the way we wrote it. We gave him no wiggle room."

Jacobson said that when legislators drafted the law, they weren't thinking about the logistical problems associated with forcing individual registrars to deliver the voter registration forms to elections officials. Violation of that portion of the law is a felony.

However, "having written it this way, I don't see any persuasive reasons to change it," he said, because organizations, unlike individuals, are difficult to hold accountable for criminal acts.

Each registrar "has a personal responsibility under Ohio law," Jacobson said. "And his personal involvement is the key to making it work."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

twendling@plaind.com, 1-800-228-8272