Jesse Jackson Column Draws Heat from Ohio Sec. of State's Office

By Joe Strupp   Editor and Publisher

Published: December 01, 2004 6:00 PM ET

NEW YORK A syndicated newspaper column by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, which slammed Ohio's handling of the recent presidential election, is being accused of "blatant inaccuracies" by the Ohio Secretary of State's office.

Carlo Lo Paro, press secretary for Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, claims that Jackson's column, distributed earlier this week through Tribune Media Services, contains numerous inaccuracies that hint at improper behavior by Blackwell's office.

"We expect someone writing an op-ed and a syndicate distributing that op-ed would fact-check information and have a responsibility to the facts," Lo Paro told E&P Wednesday. "We believe someone can have a different point of view, but offer truthful information."

Lo Paro said Blackwell had not yet decided if he would formally respond to the column, but he said the secretary of state had written his own op-ed, the second in less than a week, which will be made available to daily newspapers on Thursday. The first, distributed on Thanksgiving, was printed in The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Washington Times.

John Twohey, Tribune Media vice president of editorial and operations, said the syndicate had not received any negative reaction to the column, or any complaints from Blackwell's office. "If they have specific reservations about the column, I would be eager to talk to them," he said.

A spokesman at Jackson's office declined immediate comment.

The column in question was distributed by Tribune Media on Nov. 29, according to the syndicate's Web site.

Jackson took issue with Ohio's handling of the recent presidential race. The column contends that Blackwell, who has also worked for the Bush campaign, either made mistakes or overtly sought to help Bush.

"The vote in Ohio decided the presidential race, but it was marred by intolerable, often partisan, irregularities and discrepancies," wrote Jackson, who has spent several days in Ohio seeking attention for an investigation into the vote there. "U.S. citizens have as much reason as those in Kiev to be concerned that the fix was in."

Jackson's column then went on to cite several specific allegations of either improper actions or poor oversight by Blackwell's office. Those include several that Lo Paro contends are false.

Lo Paro challenged Jackson's assertion that the head of the Diebold Co. had helped sway the Ohio vote Bush's way through his company's electronic voting machines. "Ohio does not use Diebold electronic machines," he said.

Then there's Jackson's complaint that the vote count had taken too long. "It's three weeks after the election and Ohio still hasn't counted the votes and certified the election," the column says.

LoParo's response: "Legally we have until Dec. 7 to certify the vote and we are doing that. He insinuates some sort of delay marred by fraud, but it took this long in 2000 and it actually takes longer in non-presidential years, because there is no hurry to meet the electoral college."

The press secretary also counter's Jackson's charge that "Blackwell reversed the rules on provisional ballots that were in place in spring 2004" so that voters could only cast them in their home precincts. "That has been the law since 1990," Lo Paro said.

Finally, Lo Paro objected to Jackson's statement that "Blackwell presided over a voting system that resulted in quick, short lines in the dominantly Republican suburbs and four-hour and longer waiting lines in the inner cities." Said Lo Paro, "There is no proof that there were longer lines in Democratic precincts than in Republican precincts."