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Friday, January 14, 2005
For Sale
In light of the blogospheric revalation that some bloggers were paid by the Dean campaign during the primary as a means to get their backing. I think I should reveal something.
No one has ever offered me one red cent for my posts. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Frankly, I'm sick of it.
So, just as a message to the City of Eastlake and any group backing a new Convention Center in Cleveland. While, no one would believe if I suddenly changed sides, my silence is for sale. We can negotiate that.
Thank you.
NFL Announcer Rankings
On SI.com, Paul Zimmerman gives his annual evaluations of TV play callers of the NFL. Good stuff.
Blackwell Loves Litigation
After all the lawsuits against the office of the Ohio Secretary of State and Ken Blackwell surrounding the November election, I think Blackwell started to take pleasure in seeing his name after the "vs." in lawsuits. The new edict regarding precinct count optical scans (PCOS) only for Ohio voting machines I mentioned yesterday, will be challenged by Lake County.
Lake County uses electronic voting equipment, and county leaders plan to challenge Blackwell's decision.
Blackwell said the PCOS voting system is the most cost-effective way in Ohio to provide voter verified paper audit trails, as required by Ohio Substitute House Bill 262 passed in 2004, and to ensure compliance with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
In a memorandum to the 88 county elections boards, Blackwell said existing federal funding from HAVA and supplemental funding from the Ohio General Assembly under HB 262 would not be sufficient to cover the cost of purchasing recording electronic voting machines with a voter-verified paper audit trail.
With PCOS, the actual paper ballot is available for auditing and recount purposes, said Carlo Loparo, Blackwell's spokesman, adding that no current voting machine vendors have the capability for the paper trail audits.
Ballots would be counted at the precincts, with the data then taken to the election board offices.
Since 1999, Lake County voters have used electronic voting machines, which don't provide the paper trails.
Lake County Elections Board Director Janet F. Clair said the county's vendor, Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems, is working on a prototype upgrade to provide the paper trails.
HB 262 also contains legislation that allows Lake County to be reimbursed for future expenses to retrofit electronic voter machines, Clair said.
"My point is we have existing equipment that works, and we choose not to replace it," Clair said.
"We would be able to upgrade our existing equipment with federal funds."
...
"Our system was chosen after 10 years' research," Clair said. "Certainly, the voters have a good sense of comfort with it, the lines at the polls were relatively short, and we were the first county in the state of Ohio to report election results."
...
"There are two avenues we're looking at," Clair said. "One is legislatively to become grandfathered. If not legislatively, legally we need to look at our options." Other counties are unhappy because the Blackwell edict gives them only a month to choose. This after many counties have spent a decent amount of time researching and evaluating various methods of electronic voting.
I have to say that some of the concerns about electronic voting and paper trails seem a bit overblown and paranoid. The "paper trails" with punch card or machine voting hasn't prevented fraud and ballot stuffing attempts before. The fact is, there is always some degree of danger of fraud attempts.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
No Reaction Quite Like An Overreaction
Ohio Secretary of State (and Gubernatorial hopeful) Ken Blackwell, has decided that there will be only one form of electronic balloting acceptable in Ohio. Opitcal scan. Touch screens are now completely out. Doesn't matter if they are LCD touch screens or recessed keypad style no longer.
Election officials aren't uniformly happy, and I would not be surprised if there wasn't a lawsuit from say Lake County where I reside:
Lake County Elections Director Jan Clair said Blackwell's decision will mean replacing her county's $3 million system. The county has been using touch-screen machines since 1999. She said Lake County tested different machines, including optical scan, before settling on electronic machines. Converting to optical scan would waste money and saddle taxpayers with the expenses of printing and processing paper ballots, she said. "I'm not prepared to tell my commissioners and my voters that a system that I have in place, and have had no problems with, is no longer the voting system that's allowed," Clair said.
The electronic voting in Lake County has gone without any problems or claims of fraud. Even in the November 2004 elections, there were no reported snafus or problems.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Cleveland Mayors -- and Future?
There is some surprise that attempts are being made to push a new Convention Center so soon. When it died its pathetic death at the end of the summer in 2003, most assumed that the beast would not be resurrected again until at least 2007.
A couple factors changed that. Tim Hagan won the Democratic primary over Tim McComack which insured his return as a County Commissioner in the November election. Hagan pushed Gateway through back in the '90s and essentially promised the business interests he'd do it again for the convention center.
Mayor Jane Campbell has no base, no support and no love left. She is trying to find something to get her reelected. She has turned to the tried and true "big plans" of big municipal spending. She wants a casino and convention center all of the sudden. If she can get those through, she figures the business and union interests will carry her through to a second term. That's about the only thing close to what I can figure would explain this.
She did get some good news that her opponent from the last election, Raymond Pierce, has changed his mind and will not run for Mayor. Likely Mayoral opponents right now may be City Council President Frank Jackson or Councilman Zachary Reed. Neither one is particularly loved by business interests.
Hey, so what if the Cleveland School System is facing yet more massive cuts -- around $30 million -- because the property tax levy failed. Instead, the best thing to do is give tax money for a convention center and the false promise of economic boom times again. Right.
Just amazing that people keep fleeing the City of Cleveland when it's run so well.
Cleveland Mayors -- Present...
Mayor Jane Campbell and her buddies at the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Convention Facilities Authority are trying again at the idea of a Cleveland Convention Center. The first issue, whether to build on the site of the old or build on the site that was picked when the plan collapsed a year and a half ago.
[ Most plans might figure out issues such as whether one is needed, if there is any real support beyond the business and labor union interests, and how to pay for it; before moving to picking a site. But this is Cleveland.]
Today, Forest City Enterprises made its pitch to build on the previously selected site they own. Complete with diagrams and pretty pictures. Looking at the diagrams, you are quickly reminded of just how stupid this proposal was. Even if you support a new convention center (which I don't) one of the major issues for convention centers is the truck docking to load and unload. The truck docks will be small confined areas with no room for expansion (which is another necessity for convention centers). Breathtaking in its stupidity. The kind of thing that five years after it is built people will ask, "how did such a stupid thing happen?" But don't worry, it's better now:
Forest City strove to work out kinks in its 2003 plan. Most significantly, truck access to loading docks was moved from Huron Road to a proposed entry from a rebuilt Eagle Avenue, Voegele said. So, the City would have to pay for a new access road as well.
Forest City wants this site, not just for the millions it would stand to make in development rights for the property, but because it is around a bunch of its properties that aren't making money:
Forest City's William Voegele acknowledged the big-ticket convention center would likely boost the sagging fortunes of Tower City's retail strip, called The Avenue, and other assets of the prominent real estate company. But that's just a happy coincidence. There are plenty of other interests that seem to be lining up behind this site:
At the end of Forest City's presentation, City Councilman Joe Cimperman spoke in support of Forest City's proposal. Cimperman praised the site's "connectivity" and economic ripple effect.
In a letter to the CFA, Cleveland Indians owner Lawrence J. Dolan said Forest City's plan places a new convention center in the "midst of the largest concentration of public and private investment made in this community in recent years." He also said he thinks new downtown convention business will help "drive Cleveland Indians baseball."
Dennis Roche, director of the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, said after the meeting that Forest City's "great pitch" was "in synch with what our customers seem to want." Mayor Campbell actually is in favor of renovating/rebuilding on the current site. Even if it means not having some conventions for a few years. She apparently has the final say.
The site is expected to be chosen next month. A decision was supposed to be made this month, but once more things get pushed.
Cleveland Mayors -- Past...
At the Blogger meet-up in December, someone brought up the news about "businessman" Nate Gray under deep federal investigation. Gray is one of those businessmen/consultants who seem to get most of their deals from municipalities. Many of Gray's cronies in Cleveland, Houston, New Orleans and East Cleveland have been indicted for bribery and corruption. It was brought up in the context of one of Gray's closest friends -- former Cleveland Mayor Mike White. As in, when are the feds going to nail him?
Given how White controlled things and still has a lot of powerful friends, my feeling was and is that the feds are trying to get everything properly lined up before going after White. And that means getting enough convictions and deals cut to trace a clear path back to him. Gray is that path.
Now it seems that one more piece may finally be lined up to get Gray:
Seeking a shorter prison sentence, former East Cleveland Mayor Emmanuel Onunwor agreed Tuesday to cooperate with prosecutors, a promise that he broke once before. Onunwor admitted for the first time in court that he took payoffs from businessmen in exchange for about $5 million in city contracts. A jury convicted him five months ago of corruption, tax and fraud charges involving payments from consultant Nate Gray and other businessmen. Onunwor faces up to 19 years in prison. This should be one of the more interesting ongoing stories in Cleveland for 2005.
Try Again
I have to say, trying to get back to non-Pitt and non-sports blogging has been harder than I thought. For the last week, I've stared at the news and seen nothing that really seemed worth blogging or had already been done.
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