It's not often that State Representative candidates make headlines....

...and when they do, it's usually not good.

Cue Kelli Perk.

She's running for State Representative in Northeast Ohio.

And she may be been wasting her time.

New revelations link her to the infamously corrupt Cuyahoga County Democratic machine.

I'll let the Plain Dealer take it from here:

A lawyer in Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason's office was hired three weeks after she withdrew from a Parma judicial race in 2007, clearing the path to public office for the candidate Mason supported.

Mason gave a job to Kelli Perk weeks after she dropped out as a candidate for Parma municipal judge. Perk, who works as an assistant county prosecutor in Mason's civil division, said nobody ever asked her to drop out of the contest. A spokesman for Mason said in a written statement that Perk was hired based on her job qualifications.

This isn't the first time the Democratic machine in Ohio has abused their position for political gain.

Everyone remember what Governor Strickland did for Laketa Cole earlier this year?

Newly released e-mails from Gov. Ted Strickland's office show his chief of staff and legislative directors were among those interested in helping find a high-paying job for Cincinnati Councilwoman Laketa Cole as early as Jan. 19.

That was two days before state Rep. Tyrone Yates, D-Evanston, was appointed to a Hamilton County municipal court judgeship by Strickland, setting in motion a potential Democratic Party primary between Cole and former Vice Mayor Alicia Reece.

Democrats seem to have slithered out of any serious trouble with Laketa Cole.

That doesn't look to be the case with Kelli Perk. She's currently in a very tight race against Marlene Anielski. After this revelation, and if the GOP can properly take advantage of Perk's transgressions, Anielski may coast.