Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Another chapter in Morrison epic!

THE BEACON JOURNAL's Dennis Willard reports today that Jack Morrison has now moved his case to the Ohio Supreme Court, still another chapter in his epic effort to demonstrate that an immovable object can overcome the evil effects of an irresistible force. In insisting that he was wronged by two ethics convictions in a court of law last July, the Akron lawyer and University of Akron trustee is moving on more legal fronts to protect his honor from court-decided guilt.

In the meantime, he has ignored repeated calls from the governor on down to remove himself from an embarrassed Board of Trustees (and University) as well as his seat on the Summit County Board of Elections.

But that raises other questions about a simple case of guilt or innocence. You might understand how any person would want to clear the slate of a couple of convictions. But how that bears on his persistence in hanging on to his two politically appointed jobs despite official demands that he do otherwise remains a mystery.

If his honor is at stake, that question won't be resolved by standing (or sitting!) rigidly pat but rather by a court decision that is handed down on his appeal. Are there other reasons apart from his hope that his ethics convictions will be reversed? As a powerful politician who is Summit County Republican Alex Arshinkoff's lawyer, isn't there a point where guilt or innocence intersect with the county party? As Arshinkoff, who has remained rather silent on the sidelines, once noted, if Republican Morrison leaves the board, his replacement would be a....eh....a Democrat. And is it mere coinicidence, as some legislators have noted, that State Rep. Tim Grendell, an Arshinkoff ally, has entered the fray to delay action on a Senate vote to kick Morrison off the board. Grendell, a teabagging Chesterland politician, says more time is needed for "fact checking". Good grief!

That's where we are and all of us could use a few more facts on whatever political subplots are in play.

UPDATE: A ruling judge appointed by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has upheld her demand that Morrison be removed from the Summit County Board of Elections. But she has given Morrison until Dec. 4 to respond to the ruling.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its simple. Morrison is trying to run the clock on the situation. The Republican controlled Supreme Court with Maureen O'Connor (Arshinkoff ally) provides another avenue. The Court would have to ignore standards of procedure over several Secretary of States to support Morrison. Based on previous court decisions made by this court, that reality is entirely possible.

Anonymous said...

There is no hiding the fact that O'Connor is running for Chief Justice, which she is vacating the unexpired old seat. Somehow Alex Arshinkoff has at least two state senators believing that Kasich will win and has most likely promised the seat to both of them IF Kasich will win. (Is there a hot place freezing up right now?). This is how he conducts political business all the time. Then he tells the other who did not get the seat their time will come soon just to string them along. Procedures are in play to attempt to delay this as long as possible at the board of elections so either Arshinkoff can get himself reappointed to the board or get another loyalist appointed to conduct business as usual there. His hope is to get Kasich in so Morrison can step down at the U of A and appoint another one of his slugs. The Trustees determine where the contracts at the University go and if you think the ethics charges were wonderful in the last couple years you have not seen anything yet.
The current Supreme Court has proven one main thing they are a bunch of court jesters. They have totally ignored Ohio Revised Code, ignored the Ohio Constitution and ignored court precedence. They have also proved another thing, they vote where the money comes from.
In my humble opinion.

Anonymous said...

Well Abe whatcha think? In or Out on the 4th? I'm a Republican and can you guess as to where I want that guys rear-end?
Oh by the way, I got Alex's Christmas invite today. It's already in the trash.

Anonymous said...

Well today 12/02/2009 The Ohio Senate threw Jack Morrison Jr. out of the University of Akron's Board of Trustee's. Yea!