Saturday, January 16, 2010

Is this a picture of Ted Strickland's running mate?


I've dug a little deeper on trying to find out the latest on just who may be Ted Strickland's running mate. And the Democrats aren't going to like it.

Yesterday, I reported that a possible embarrassing situation was brewing for Ted Strickland. While his campaign said on Wednesday that an LG nominee would be announced in just "days", Lis Smith, the Governor's new spokeswoman, said a decision had not been made in a report on Friday.

So, where does the Governor stand now on his choice?

Well, according to a very well-placed source, this is where we're at...

Eric Fingerhut, the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, was offered the LG position and said no.
Todd Portune, a Hamilton County Commissioner, was offered the LG position and said no.
Yvette McGee Brown, a former Franklin County Judge, was offered the LG position and is still pondering whether to take the gig.

So, who is the latest choice?

Marsha Ryan, head of Ohio's Bureau of Workers Compensation.

No, really.

The same BWC that has been described as the following:
In short, the state's workers' compensation system will not win any awards as Ohio's best-managed government program.

Ohio employers have no choice but to use it, though. Unlike business owners in almost every other state, Ohio employers must pay premiums to the state bureau. While forty-six states either have a private workers' compensation system or allow private companies to compete against the state program, Ohio is one of only four states operating a state-run workers' compensation monopoly.

Marsha Ryan represents the very type of institution John Kasich would likely want to change when he comes into office. In other words, Republicans should really hope she accepts.

But what if she doesn't?

Well, this is where it starts getting really good.

I find this a little hard to fathom, but my source also stated that a representative of the Ohio Democratic Party has reached out to the Ohio Secretary of State's office to determine whether it truly is necessary to have a Lieutenant Governor named when the Governor files for re-election.

If that happens it will make getting turned down by three proposed LG's look like getting turned down for a dance in 8th grade. It will be a major embarrassment.

Now, I'm sure the opposition will jump all over this and claim it isn't true. Fine. Don't believe it. Fortunately, my source is extremely well-placed to know this kind of information. Am I telling you who it is? No, because I want to keep getting this kind of information. Deal with it. If Strickland picks someone on Monday or Tuesday, within the "days" as defined by the Governor's campaign, then we'll know that while he didn't get his first choice, he still was able to get things figured out.

But ultimately, the LG pick for the Republican and Democratic candidates perfectly represent the state of the race.

Kasich was able to pick the strongest possible candidate and his first choice in Mary Taylor. Someone who has been elected statewide and has been lauded as a very good choice by media across the state.

Meanwhile, Strickland is going door-to-door trying to find someone to attach themselves to the ticket. I've been considering a move back home to Ohio, Guv. But don't think that I'm interested.

Mary Taylor jumped at Kasich's offer because she felt extremely confident he was going to win and place her in good situation to where she can someday make the same jump Mike DeWine did - from LG to Senator.

But for Strickland, no one wants to be known as the person to go down with the ship. And even if Strickland somehow pulled this off, they know his answer to the future $8 billion budget deficit will be a giant tax hike, and that's something no one wants to be attached to.

What a mess.

I love it.

UPDATE: This weekend I learned from a separate source from above that Congressman Zach Space has been "approached" about serving on the ticket. If true, this goes beyond all logic. While Space's seat is vulnerable, it's not nearly as certain a takeover as Kilroy and Driehaus(Chabot is +17 in the poll released this weekend!). Furthermore, turning the race into an open seat makes it that much more likely to switch to Republican.

With that said, his votes in Congress may help reinvigorate the liberal base that so many polls have shown to be apathetic towards Strickland. Voting for the Liberal Trifecta(Cap&Trade, Health Care, and the Stimulus) is music to their ears.

Personally, I don't see it happening, but the source is legit, so I felt it worth sharing. Take it for whatcha will.

20 comments:

  1. Now, Jon, I see that you are just prepared to make stuff up. That's is fine. You have no sources, because nobody with any knowledge about his would TALK TO YOU in Virginia.

    Mary Taylor "jumped" because she, and the party, was afraid she was going to lose to David Pepper. Period.

    Nobody has declined an invite to be on Strickland's ticket. You are just flat out making stuff up now... and then declared your delusional "reporting" a success. Amazing. Simply amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL!

    Told you all they wouldn't like it.

    It's actually pretty amusing, and sad, Modern. Just last week, according to you, I was the man chosen by the Kasich campaign to leak Mary Taylor's name as the LG pick.

    And today, I have "no sources".

    Isn't logic supposed to be a necessary trait for any supposed lawyer?

    Not in your case, apparently.

    My source is solid. But feel free to keep getting worked up about it. It keeps me entertained.

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  3. Jon, of course you have sources from the Kasich campaign. Even when you first wrote about Taylor you all but said this was from the campaign. Which is why EXACTLY you wouldn't have any sources in the Strickland campaign. You aren't a reporter, Jon. Your a Kasich campaign hack.

    Unlike you, I DO have sources in the Strickland campaign. And because my sources are make-believe, they can go on the record. And they just said you are full of it:
    http://www.plunderbund.com/2010/01/16/after-disastrous-rollout-of-kasich-taylor-jon-keeling-has-resorted-to-simply-making-things-up/

    Nice try, kid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ok, so now I DO have sources? Man, it's hard to keep track of your train of thought.

    LOL that my source is from the Kasich campaign. I'm pretty sure no one from them has associations with the Ohio Dems, so it's obviously....SOMEONE ELSE....

    :cue scary music:

    And of COURSE the Strickland campaign denies it. It's embarrassing.

    What? You expect them to say, "yeah, these three folks have already said no to the Governor"? Of course not. It's bad for business.

    By the way, thanks for advertising my blog!

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  5. It'll be the last time. Because while I'm willing to engage in an intellectual debate with someone with different views. I'm not going to give traffic to a pathological liar, and this reeks of desparation for you. Kyle Sisk was right about you. You're just a dishonest hack.

    You're so pathetic, Keeling that you'd outright make up a story, then, when events that are going to occur anyways, you write ahead of time that these events somehow PROVE your nonsense. It's insane.

    You have no sources for anything in this race BUT the Kasich campaign. And they don't know what's going on with the Strickland campaign.

    Nobody believes your post because it's so transparently laughable. And you have nothing to back it up but your "made up" sources between your ears.

    Sorry that you can't convince folks that unlike the Kasich campaign, Strickland's campaign can keep their running mate choice under wraps.

    BTW, why isn't Taylor campaigning with Kasich?

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  6. Boy. I was right about the Dems getting ticked off. Haha.

    Last Wednesday Ted Strickland promised an announcement within days. Not a week. Not weeks. Days.

    That means he has until Tuesday to make the announcement.

    If he does, as I've written, it means that things worked out. By now, we all know Fingerhut was the first pick, but at least he would be able to get someone. Good for him.

    But if not, we'll know for sure that trouble is brewing in Strickland-land.

    Should be fun to watch.

    My apologies to all my readers for Modern's behavior. Clearly, the Democrats are a little upset about the state of the race.

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  7. No, Keeling, we're upset that Kasich is so desparate to change the story from Taylor you're making up stuff. For the last time, I've called around (including Fingerhut's people) and they all say you are insane.

    Everyone I've talked to has specifically and categorically denied what you wrote in EVERY aspect. You are lying which is why you can't cite a single source, unlike me.

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  8. And once again, it's in their best interest NOT to let this go public.

    This shouldn't be too hard to comprehend.

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  9. Jimmy Dimora is looking for a job.

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  10. LOL:

    "I've called around (including Fingerhut's people)" now equals a "citing a source?"

    Also, so calling people from Hamilton, Ohio is somehow better than calling people from Virginia? This is 2010, not 1910.

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  11. Wow. The Dems seem to be quite worried about upcoming elections. Who can blame them. Hopefully they don't lose "Teddy Kennedy's Senate Seat." That might cause a serious breakdown.

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  12. Jon-

    I made a public records request and request for comment from the Secretary of State's office. They said they are unaware of ANY such communication by anyone in ODP, the Governor's office, of the Governor's campaign like you describe.

    The spokeman essentially said it would unlikely anyone would ask for such an opinion as the statute is unambiguous-- a candidate for governor must file a joint petition with their lt. governor candidate who must be named on the petition before the filing deadline.

    This is in response to a public records request, so there's no way the Secretary of State's office would lie about the nonexistence of the communication you claim exists.

    Either you are full of crap, or your "source" is. Either way... nice try.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Modern,

    As a "lawyer", I figured you would know that phone conversations, informal or otherwise, aren't a part of the public record. With phones, there is no storage on a "fixed medium", which is a requirement for something to be a public record.

    Obviously in regards to something as embarrassing as this, the Governor's advocate wouldn't want it to be something that could go on the record.

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  14. Are you that obtuse? Yes, there's this massive conspiracy to make you look like a liar by having the campaign, on the record, deny your story. They, working closing with the office of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, decided to make you look crazy and insane by having the SoS office specifically deny that any such phone conversation had ever occurred, would likely never occur because the legal answer is so obvious it's on the petition and that there's no public record to support such a claim.

    Yeah, that's much easier to believe than you either lied or your source did.

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  15. Public records request on a Sunday? On a holiday weekend? Wow, dude, you are connected to get that answered on the weekend like that.

    ReplyDelete
  16. DJT,

    One of the best indicators that something is true is that ModEsq is spending half his waking hours trying to deny it.

    Tom
    BizzyBlog

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  17. Modern, that may be the worst run-on sentence of all time.

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  18. Wow! 3BP seems to have hit a huge nerve with this post. Perhaps Modern Esquire is the LG pick and he doesn't want you suggesting other people were asked too?

    ReplyDelete
  19. ModEsq,

    You've thrown well over 600 words up at this post alone. It took you a lot longer than 15 minutes to do that.

    ReplyDelete

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