GOP's Schrimpf; Only investors qualify for governor

When anybody tells me that Republicans are cold-blooded predators and don't have a sense of humor, I look for ways to disagree.  For example, there's Chris Schrimpf, who is proving to be  good for a laugh now and then.

Never heard of this fellow?  Well, he's the communications director of the Ohio Republican Party.  His career  path included a stint as communications director for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the anti-union exec who was reported to have exchanged high priority  conversations with Gov. Kasich before  the ill-fated Senate Bill 5 was left for dead by the Buckeye voters.

Who could have a greater sense of humor  than Schrimpf , who decided to strike a fatal blow at  Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed  FitzGerald's  core values by disqualifying him as a worthy candidate.

Here's where the humor begins:  Schrimpf said  FitzGerald doesn't have "investments," no portfolio and stuff that would prepare him to handle the grave business of the state.  Kasich, we know, not only had investments; he also had the experience of being a managing director of Lehman Brothers, the bankrupt Wall Street investment firm.

In one shattering breakthrough from politics as usual, Schrimpf has decided: No portfolio, no governor."

He's kidding, right?

Alas, upon further reflection, I don't think so.

Jim Petro joins the pro- gay-marriage cause

Stop whatever's left of the presses.  Another well-known Ohio Republican has experienced an  epiphany arising from his family.  Following  Sen. Rob Portman's defense of same-sex marriage because his son is gay, former Ohio auditor and attorney general Jim Petro announced today  that he, too, supports gay marriage.  Here's  his statement to a news conference:

Last year, my daughter Corbin married Jessica Gelman in Massachusetts, where same-gender marriages are legal.  They are expecting a child soon, and deserve the same protections guaranteed to other families.  Seeing their happiness, and realizing all the rights they would be denied here in Ohio has proven to me the importance of equal marriage in our state"

Referring to FreedomOhio's  grass-roots initiative for an amendment to kill the gay marriage ban in the Ohio, Petro said;

"I'm thoroughly convinced that bringing marriage equality to Ohio is the right thing to do.  This amendment is rooted in a central conservative value, namely, freedom - the freedom to love, the freedom  of religion, and the freedom from big government.  I am proud to endorse the amendment."

Good,  Jim Petro!

Perhaps it will lead other prominant Republicans to shed their own enmity to the social values that are rapidly changing these days.  There are doubtless other social conservatives  faced with offspring (or their closeted selves) who could  step forward.  And at the local level, every county GOP chairman, the field hands of the people in power in Columbus,  needs to address the question.   So what about it, Alex Arshinkoff?  It's 2013, you know.

By the way, Phil Burress, the head of Citizens for Community Values (a conservative Cincinnati group that germinates in southwest Ohio) hissed that Petro has no right to impose his own family values on others.   Hey, Phil.  Isn't it the other way around?  Thought so.

Who ended bin Laden's stay on earth? A simple test

 A PPP Ohio poll reports 15 pct.  of Buckeye Republicans believe that Mitt Romney is  "more responsible" for killing Osama bin Laden than President Obama.   At the same time, 47 pct.  of Republicans say they aren't sure.

So here's a simple  plea to these folks:  I've been an Ohioan for 53 years.  Stop embarrassing me to my friends in the Everglades and the Middle East who ask me to explain you.

Here's a simple test that will move you up to the next level of awareness:

 How much is two and two?  Easy enough? No?  

Ohio GOP: Elephants in the china shop

'TIS NOT THE season of good cheer for the Ohio Republican Party. Hostilities continue to erupt in the internecine battle of GOP Titans. In one corner is Gov. Kasich; in the other, state party chief Kevin DeWine. When it comes to clashing egos, this could go all 15 rounds.

The latest word reported by the Columbus Dispatch is that DeWine has accused Kasich's staff of recruiting candidates for the 66-member Republican Central Committee to set the stage for ousting him. According to the Dispatch, Kasich's forces started to plan DeWine's removal the same moment that he and Kasich moved into their respective new offices in January. Folks, such an artful move by the governor recalls his promise on entering office that people who stood in his way would be run over by a bus, train or, for that matter, locusts. Whatever worked. .

DeWine insists this is the ugly way that Kasich is treating central committeemen who "have just simply poured their blood, sweat and tears into helping get this guy elected. And the thanks they get is his staff working to gin up a contest in the re-election to the committee."

You get the feeling that there will be no holiday party in GOP quarters this year, don't you? I mean, "blood, sweat and tears"? Churchill couldn't have said it better. But an historical truth is that you simply can't have two elephants in the china shop at the same time.

********

TODD MCKENNEY, the newly apointed Summit County Probate judge, isn't expanding his earlier comments to the Beacon Journal about his decision not to seek election to the office next year. He told me on the phone today that he has nothing more to say about his odd decision to remove himself from contention a few weeks after the governor appointed him. .

When he spoke to the Beacon Journal upon his appointment, McKenney, a former state representative and ordained pastor, said his work as a probate judge would be distracted by a political campaign.

However, as I reported earlier, there has been a lot of back-channel talk among lawyers that he had offended Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff by making two appointments to county boards that were not on the chairman's A-list. In turn, Arshinkoff reportedly sent harsh word to McKenney that the county GOP would not support him with any money to run a decent race. McKenney declined to talk about it. But Arshinkoff is well-known for hardball tactics, which are in play again in this instance.

Ohio GOP -2; Tea Party - zero.

A FUNNY THING happened to Ohio's bellowing Tea Parties in Tuesday' s Republican primaries. If you'll recall they had huffed and puffed and ...

And what?

And, well, nothing, really - except for some humiliating defeats. at the hands of GOP-backed candidates. It wasn't even close. Some figures: Dave Yost, the endorsed candidate for state auditor, won two-thirds of the vote against State Rep. Seth Morgan, the Tea Partiers' Chosen One. And State Sen. Jon Husted nailed nearly 70 pct. of the vote against Sandra O'Brien, another Tea Party favorite. Call it a learning experience for a disorganized group of bleaters who lack the political know-how and organizational leadership - which translate into campaign money - logistics and sales message to form, at best, a third party movement. The results looked more like the emperor's new suit.

It should be a learning experience for those county Republican chairmen, including Summit County's mercurial chief, who supported Morgan in fear of Tea Party reprisals.

I was among those who saw the renegades as a growing threat within the State GOP household, particularly in a primary when their dissent at the outer edges 0f ideologies can cause serious mischief even in a losing cause. Tuesday's results don't mean that it will be the last we will hear of the TP's. But unless they can regroup with a tolerable political voice, they will be no more than a nuisance for Republicans; that is, of course, if the regulars don't stop genuflecting to the Tea Party rants.

A born-again Tea Party movement will take more than is has shown so far on Election Day, despite the encouragement of a forever chirping Sarah Palin, or the outlandish male chorus of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and their ilk. These jabberers aren't paid to win elections. They are paid to win the ratings wars with their competitors to the satisfaction of their network bosses. In that respect, they succeed. But what other good can come of it?

That would be a fair question to ask Tea Partiers while they are picking up the pieces today.

OK, I'm asking.

Will Tea Party dump Ohio GOP overboard?

A FUNNY THING is happening to the Ohio Republican Party on its avowed fail-safe way to sweeping the Democrats in November. Despite its cordial attempts to play nice with the Tea Partiers, the Republican team is finding that wishing won't make it so. N o less a party celebrity than Ohio GOP chairman Kevin DeWine extended an olive branch to the Tea Party in a visit to Akron last week, inviting the outriders to come through the front door to join the state party.

But by Sunday, the Plain Dealer was reporting the latest collision between State Sen. Jon Husted, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, and Ralph King, the leader of an outfit called the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots. For whatever reason - and you don't need many these days to stake out an opponent - King & Co. don't like Husted. Worse than that, as King explaind to the PD reporter, "The only relation Jon Husted would have with the Tea Party is if he would have been driving the British ship into Boston Harbor." Safe qualifier. Even Google couldn't put Husted on that British ship. Besides, King accused Husted of showing "open hatred and contempt for the Tea Parties." Husted, of course, denied it.

There will be a lot of this sort of political auto de fe as the Tea Partiers flex their muscles, or whatever, this year, and Republican candidates are spending more time genuflecting to them than demanding that they stop telling lies. As matters now stand, the state GOP ticket is leaning heavily to a detente with the enemy.

John Kasich, the candidate for governor, has spoken at their rallies while trying to fend off Democrats' charges that he is tainted by being a white collar manager for Lehman Brothers up to the time that it went bankrupt. (Curiously, he has defended his years of employment with the big bank by suggesting he was little more than a walk-on each day - a claim of low-level servitude that seemed contradictory to his bonus of $432,200 in 2008 on top of his salary of $182,692!)

Rep. Seth Morgan, a very conservative GOP candidate for state auditor, has been endorsed by the State Tea Party; auto dealer Tom Ganley, challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton in the 13th congressional district, has appeared at Tea Party rallies; and U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine,who wants to be attorney general and should know better, has announced that his first task upon entering the office would be to file suit to repeal the health care reform law - and what Tea Partier would be against that?

As political campaigns go, this year's will be more irrational than ever. Don't be surprised if there are some surprises over in the Republican camp.

Kasich-Taylor. McCain-Palin?

IS OHIO facing a redux of the McCain-Palin ticket? That could be one explanation of the arrival of State Auditor Mary Taylor, a Summit Countian, as John Kasich's running mate on the Republican side of the scrum with Gov. Ted Strickland. Surely there must have been some thought given along GOP Row to the prospects for a shopworn former Wall Streeter and Ohio congressman to make it all the way to the governor's office by himself this year. So Taylor, a photogenic politician who would represent relative youth and vitality to the ticket, would take up the slack. Besides both are the strongest advocates of the party's core values, not the least of which is the cut-taxes thing.

Among those on the GOP side who must be delighted by the tandem is Summit County Republican chairman Alex Arshinkoff, who has been among those nurturing Taylor's political career and is now positioned for a hometown role in a state election. (He has also been working for Kasich.) But a reasonable question persists in all of this: If the party down in Columbus is so high on Taylor, why didn't they persuade her to run at the top of the ticket, instead of seeking reelection as auditor before now?

* * * * * * *

I've been told that a certain ranter on WNIR has been damning the Akron-Summit County Public Library for seeking a 1.4 mill levy, arguing that his taxes shouldn't pay for another's use of computers at the place and that, after all, the library is little more than a hangout for the homeless. As one who just enjoyed the benefits of the bright new facility's special collections department, I would suggest that the schlock show host go down there some time, look around, ask some questions from an always helpful staff and even read a book - or have somebody read it to him.

The Ohio GOP wants your telephone number

FOR A POLITICAL PARTY that prides itself on rugged individualism and enforced privacy from government intruders as though the fate of empires depended on it, we now must turn to Columbus, Oh., for the latest word in snoopery from the Ohio Republican Party's front office. The party is defending itself in court from the Ohio Education Assn. for the GOP's deep-well attempt to gather up educators' telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and whatever else (no DNA this time) will help it take its message to the voters. State Republican chairman Kevin DeWine says he doesn't know what the fuss is about because the party is simply trying protect itself from the OEA's "lies and attacks." DeWine says his party wants to reach many other groups, including fishermen and farmers. I don't know what that's got to do with unfriendly teachers, but why not I.D. even infants while they're at it?

It does seem a little strange that as voters are bombarded by the media from all directions, he fears he could miss one or two teachers in Coshocton who haven't heard the latest word about Gov. Strickland and President Obama. A Columbus judge is taking all of this into account before moving on.

But there is obviously no agreement within the GOP on how far you can go - beyond the telephone directory and Google - to tell you more about your neighbor than you care to know. Rep. Michele Bachmann, the latest Republican rage from Minnesota, has noisily declared her scorn for census takers by saying, law or no law, she will bar the prowling socialists from her house.

In fairness to the other side, DeWine might at least agree to a trade that would have him release the names, email and home addresses, and license plate numbers of the many donors to his party. Fair is fair! Sometimes, even in politics.

Ganley stakes out right-wing voters

IF OHIO's ultra-conservative Republicans were looking for a David to slay the party's establishment-endorsed Goliath in the 2010 GOP U.S. Senate primary, they now have their man: Akron auto dealer Tom Ganley. Since Ganley announced his candidacy last summer to challenge Rob Portman, George Bush's former budget director, Ganley has busied himself with pressing all of the WOW buttons to lure right-wing voters who disdain Portman's stakeout on Ohio conservatives. Ganley has so impressed his targeted voters that he now boasts of the endorsement of Bay Buchanan on his home page. Bay, who shares a lot of ideas with her brother, Pat, needs no introduction.

Ganley's game plan to win over the Ohio electorate is looking more and more like Ken Blackwell's failed right-wing fling in the 2006 gubernatorial race. I'm beginning to wonder whether Blackwell, from his safe house at a conservative think tank, might be among Ganley's advisors inasmuch as Blackwell has a thing about advising other candidates on how to win elections.

When I asked one of Ganley's campaign aides in Columbus what he's been doing , she replied that he's been quite busy talking to different groups and attending Tea Parties. I could stop right there, but I should add a few essentials. He's also issued statements opposing health care reforms, noting:

"I do not believe any of the plans I've seen thus far will help us reach that goal without destroying the free market and lead us down the path towards socialized medicine and rationed care."

On the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor:

"Had I been in the Senate today I would have voted against Judge Sotomayor's confirmation for the following five reasons:

Among these was her view on allowing her "views and experiences to influence judicial decisions". I could go on but you've heard them all before.

Well, Ganley has staked out his turf position in the GOP in the long track ahead. Should you want to hear it first hand, he'll be at the Akron Press Club in the Martin Center on Thursday for a luncheon talk. You'll need a reservation. ( Call:330-564-4211) As you've probably guessed, I already have my reservations. l

Morrison could fill his foxhole for years

THERE'S A strictly political scenario being played out in Atty. Jack Morrison's rejection of demands that he resign from the University of Akron Board of Trustees in the wake of his two convictions on ethics charges. Although I suggested in an earlier piece that he would likely remain on the board during a drawn-out appeal to reverse the outcome of his bench trial, that is only part of the unfolding saga involving a Republican member of the board. Another reason is that his resignation would give Democrats a windfall opportunity to name one more Democrat to fill the vacancy.

Although Republicans dominated the UA board, as well as those of all other state universities during the 16 years when a Republican governor (Voinovich, Taft) controlled the appointments, the current occupant, of course, is Democrat Ted Strickland. He has appointed three Democrats to the nine-member UA board and would name another one next year. A vacancy now, and you do the math. Right: 5-4 Democratic control. It could be the leverage to influence Morrison's decision to stay put. An active (and influential) Republican at the county and state levels, he arrived on the board in 2005, which means he could hang around until his nine-year term expires in 2014 - or in the event that Strickland loses to a Republican next year. Even for politics, that's a long time.

State Senate race: Still thinnish broth

THEY'RE BEGINNING to stir up the thinnish  broth for the race to fill the 27th District Ohio Senate seat that's opening up with the forthcoming departure of term-limited Republican Kevin Coughlin.  So far, only Democratic County Councilman Frank Comunale has declared (unofficially to me)  his candidacy.  And despite what you may have read in comments to this blog, the GOP field is wide open.  The only name mentioned as a possible candidate is Frank LaRose, Jr., a scion of the House of LaRose family, owner of the  big  wine & beer distributorship in Northern Ohio

Although Summit County Republican chairman Alex Arshinkoff  believes LaRose would have some ballot appeal as a young Marine back from Middle East conflicts, he also cautions that the book is still wide open with several other "potential candidates" still in the mix.  That would include a Hudson industrialist who might run in the Republican District.

Although Arshinkoff doesn't precisely say so, the biggest determining factor will be, who can put up the cash for his or  her own race. Some of the  big Republican business and corporate contributors  are retreating from heavy commitments to any candidate.   "It's all the  bigger challenge to our party," he says, "because we're not in power anymore.    The other guys are running things at the state and national level. Today we have people who used to have $90 million, but only have $9 million now  because of the market and they don't think they're rich."  

Arshinkoff used to have the reputation as one of the state's most successful fund-raisers   but that's ancient history in today's economy.  Apparently the state Republican hierarchy is feeling the pressure on its treasury, too, during the Obama Era and is pressing the party's county chairmen to find new  mother lodes  to help its state and legislative candidates.  

That's not likely to happen unless the GOP starts minting it own cash to bail out its candidates. Or maybe arranging a loan from Limbaugh. .