Blackwell's decisions are raising red flags
Editorial News-Herald 13 February 2005
Ohio voters, take care.
There is a man in Columbus who wants to be your next governor.
You'd better give very careful consideration to some of his recent actions before you think about him holding so high an office.
This is not to say, this early in the game, he is unqualified to be governor. That would be manifestly unfair to a person as bright as he is. He might, in fact, possess political and leadership skills that could be just what are needed in the governor's office.
But a couple of recent decisions he has made should, at the very least, raise warning flags that his holding the state's highest office could be going a step too far.
He is now Ohio's secretary of state, and while he is very good at making people angry, that is not necessarily a prerequisite for being governor.
His name is J. Kenneth Blackwell, and he has plenty of opposition in his bid for governor. Two fellow Republicans, state Attorney General Jim Petro and state Auditor Betty Montgomery, will challenge him in the Primary Election next year.
But top Ohio Democrats strongly believe that the state needs more than a change in leadership - it needs a whole new approach, and only a Democrat could provide that.
Several prominent and well-qualified Democrats are thinking about a run for the governor's office. Right now there are no front-runners in the competition - in either party.
Blackwell bent some noses in Washington last week when he snubbed an invitation to testify before a congressional panel that is examining problems with the 2004 elections.
He said he had other plans, an excuse that reportedly produced friction with fellow Republicans. They expected better of him.
The hearing was chaired by Rep. Bob Ney of St. Clairsville, also a Republican, and he never had the opportunity to question Blackwell about possible "voter fraud and voter suppression" in Ohio. Ney expressed "terrible frustration" at Blackwell's absence.
Also, Blackwell's bull-in-a-china-shop approach to enforcing the provisions of substitute House Bill 262 that would have made some counties, including Lake County, scrap multi-million dollar voting machines in favor of one of two systems he approved, showed a callous indifference to large groups of voters.
HB 262 requires a paper trail for all voting machines. It is an unreasonable provision that only two states observe - California and Nevada. Why in Ohio? Because the legislature said so.
Since many officials observers believe the paper trail is an unreasonable and unnecessary provision, wouldn't it be a better approach to ask the legislature to amend HB 262?
Too bad that didn't occur to Blackwell. He simply gave local elections boards a deadline to choose one of his preferred machines. Lake County managed to dodge that bullet when Petro issued an opinion stating Blackwell had no authority to issue such a directive.
Two counties - Portage and Franklin - went to Common Pleas Court and were issued orders that Blackwell should not enforce the deadline to choose a new voting system vendor.
Election boards in the two counties said the dispute between Blackwell and Petro must be resolved before their counties pick a vendor.
The situation in Lake County is far from resolved. Elections officials - and voters - are pleased with the county's new $3 million voting system and think it would be a waste of money to scrap it and be forced to buy a new - and inferior - one.
They are hoping the legislature will agree with a measure introduced by state Sen. Tim Grendell, a Chester Township Republican, that will allow Lake County to be "grandfathered" into its new system - purchased following 10 years of research. That would obviate the noxious provision of HB 262.
Meanwhile, as Blackwell pursues his goal to become Ohio's next governor, his advisers should tell him he is not moving in that direction - or even of winning a primary nomination - with decisions such as skipping the Washington hearing and demanding that Lake County choose a voting system it doesn't need.
