Whooooooo are you? (Who-who...who-who)

Thomas Veil · Sep 8, 2006

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Ohio Democrats sue to unmask attack-ad donors
Friday, September 08, 2006
Ted Wendling
Plain Dealer Bureau Chief

Columbus - Less than two years ago, state lawmakers passed a campaign-finance reform law that majority Republicans pledged would disclose "every dime in every account."

Well, most dimes.

On Thursday, the Ohio Democratic Party sued Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, seeking to unmask donors to a nonprofit group that spent more than $1.5 million last month on anonymously financed TV ads that hammer Rep. Ted Strickland.

The ads, paid for by Common Sense Ohio, rip the Democratic candidate for governor for, among other things, supporting same-sex unions and the use of tax money to pay for abortions.

Common Sense Ohio has concealed its donors' identities by forming Common Sense 2006, a so-called "electioneering communications" entity that is required under the new law to reveal its donors.

Much to the frustration of Democrats, it has done so. Its sole donor is Common Sense Ohio, which gave $1,537,500 to Common Sense 2006.

Blackwell, Strickland's Republican opponent in the governor's race, has repeatedly called for transparency in campaigns.

But now that the anonymous ads benefit his candidacy, he has nothing to say, Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern charged. That, Redfern said, forced the party to file suit in the Ohio Supreme Court, asking justices "to force Ken Blackwell to do his job."

"Blackwell has put his own ambitions above Ohio law and continues to do so," Redfern said.

Blackwell laughed off a question about the suit during a conference call, cracking, "That was a lazy move. They could have walked down a couple of doors to the Elections Commission if they thought they had a case."

Asked later why Blackwell was not pushing for full disclosure, his spokesman, Carlo LoParo, said: "He worked very hard in the General Assembly to craft finance reforms that provide transparency across the board . . . and this is what the legislature passed.

"The law is the law and they're within the law."

The lawsuit charges that Common Sense 2006 is a "front organization" for Common Sense Ohio, noting that they share officers and addresses in Cincinnati.

Two Common Sense Ohio directors - Harold "Zeke" Swift and Douglas "Burr" Robinson - are Blackwell donors, as is the group's president, Nathan Estruth.

Swift and Estruth also are former executives at Procter & Gamble, which secretly contributed $100,000 to Citizens for a Strong Ohio. Citizens was the "issue advocacy" group that fought for four years to conceal the identities of donors who financed its "Lady Justice" attack ads against Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick.

The legal architect behind Citizens, Common Sense Ohio and Common Sense 2006 is Columbus attorney Bill Todd.

Todd declined to comment, saying attorneys for the Democratic Party are seeking to take his deposition.
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God, what a bunch of slimeballs -- especially that little SOB Blackwell. Let's hope he loses and that ends his political aspirations, because he's becoming positively Rovian in terms of his crooked machinations. If this bastard ever reaches Washington, he's got a very powerful and profitable future ahead of him.

iSaint · Sep 8, 2006

TELL me who the hell are yououooouuuu!

Whooooooo are you? (Who-who...who-who)

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Whooooooo are you? (Who-who...who-who)

Thomas Veil macrumors 68020

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