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Friday, March 19, 2010
Mike DeWine opponent dropping court ballot challenge
Steve Christopher, the Hardin County attorney who wanted to challenge former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine for the Republican nomination for attorney general, is ending that effort.
This leaves DeWine unopposed for the GOP nomination in the May 4 primary.
Christopher on Friday, March 19, asked the Ohio Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit he had filed against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner in an effort to win a place on the ballot.
Christopher had said that he turned in more than 240 petitions with 2,352 signatures of registered voters but Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner sent only 104 petitions to county boards of elections.
The county boards found that Christopher’s petitions had just 638 signatures, short of the 1,000 required.
The Ohio Supreme Court this week denied Christopher’s request to place his name on the ballot pending the final outcome of his case. This meant Christopher’s name would not be on the primary ballot when early voting starts March 30.
“The court’s decision effectively dictated the likely outcome of the attorney general race, due to the large number of people who vote early,” a Christopher press release said.
Brunner said that the burden was on Christopher to prove the allegations in his lawsuit and he is withdrawing it.
“I would surmise that he cannot prove them,” said Brunner.
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Kasich blasts Strickland over name gaffe but Kasich forgets names at a meeting
In a meeting with the Dayton Daily News editorial board on Thursday, March 18, Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich criticized incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland for how he handled NCR Corp. before the company announced June 2 it would move its world headquarters to Georgia.
“I wonder about NCR. Why did they have to go? I don’t know why they made that decision. I know that we weren’t on it. And if they weren’t answering my calls I’d be starting to call boards of directors. I’d know the people’s names that I was meeting with. I’d show up on time for a meeting,” Kasich said.
But when asked if he knew the names of all five people sitting at the Dayton Daily News meeting — including editorial page editor Ellen Belcher — Kasich admitted that he did not. And, Kasich called one writer by the wrong name three times.
Kasich also blamed a doctor’s appointment for his late arrival to the March 18 meeting.
He criticized the Strickland administration over its handling of NCR, saying state officials were late to a meeting at NCR and the governor did not know NCR Chief Executive Bill Nuti’s name when they sat next to one another at a conference luncheon in New York.
Kasich promised that when it really matters, he would know names. “You see, if I’m going to go into a meeting where I need to know somebody’s name, OK, I’m going to know it.”
Kasich said, “Would companies move out of this state if I were governor? Yeah, maybe some would but it isn’t going to be because of screw ups. It isn’t going to be because we didn’t know a guy’s name or we couldn’t hunt him down at a conference or we didn’t go down to his company and sit in his driveway ‘til he came out to talk to us. That’s what I’m saying to you. We need to be more aggressive down here.”
Since Nuti became chief executive in 2005, state and local officials, both Democrat and Republican, reported difficulty in getting Nuti to meet with them.
Last June, Strickland said, “I think the decision that NCR made was based on factors that were, perhaps, outside of the ability of the local community or state to make a difference.”
Strickland has told the Dayton Daily News that at the conference in New York he was sitting next to royalty from Spain and was focused on pitching some Ohio companies to him. He has said that had he seen Nuti’s name tag, he would have spoken to him.
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Gov. Strickland to “frolic” with Montgomery County Dems
Gov. Ted Strickland will be the headline speaker at the Montgomery County Democratic party’s annual fundraiser - “Frolic for Funds” - on Tuesday, April 6, the party announced on Friday, March 19.
“We’re very excited,” said Mark Owens, Montgomery County Democratic chairman.
The event will be held at the Dayton Convention Center, 22 E. Fifth St., from 6-9 p.m. Tickets are $125 each, a press release said. For information on ordering tickets, you can call county Democratic headquarters at 937-222-4007.
Besides Strickland, who is seeking re-election, other candidates expected to attend, according to the release, are: Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, candidate for the U.S. Senate; Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper, candidate for state auditor; Franklin County Clerk of Courts Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, candidate for secretary of state and Franklin County Probate Judge Eric Brown, candidate for Ohio Supreme Court chief justice.
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Ohio jobless rate creeps up
Ohio’s unemployment rate hit 10.9 percent in February, up from 10.8 percent in January, as more Ohioans entered the job market but were unable to find work, according to state figures released Friday, March 19.
Ohio’s unemployment rate continues to be above the national average of 9.7 percent.
“The number of service-providing jobs increased while job losses occurred in the goods-producing industries,” said Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Douglas Lumpkin.
In February, 647,000 Ohioans were unemployed and looking for work, up from 641,000 in January and up 99,000 over 12 months ago. In February 2009, the unemployment rate in Ohio was 9.1 percent.
