Driving around Summit County the last few days, I have been left to wonder if any Republican is running county wide besides Bill Spicer. The signs that say "Re-elect Judge Spicer" are everywhere. Signs for others are non-existent. Why?

Are a great number of Summit County residents really that fired up about the race for probate court? Or is this the race the Summit County GOP has decided to focus on almost exclusively?

The race for probate court judge is a big one for both parties. It carries with it 50+ patronage positions. I would even say that this race is probably more important to Alex Arshinkoff than John McCain winning the White House. The current crew at probate are his core group of supporters. He needs them to keep their jobs.

I think I just answered my own question. I wonder how many local people got phone calls that probably went like this:

Caller: "Hi, this is so and so from the Summit County Republican Party! We would like to place signs of local candidates in your yard to help us to victory this November! If you'll let us, we will stop by and put up the signs for you."

Person at home: "Uhhh, sure I guess."

Then a couple of days later the signs are there, only the signs are just one sign for Bill Spicer, and the people look out in their yard and wonder who is this Judge Spicer. After the certain local bloodbath for Republicans this fall, all will be well at GOP HQ if the probate court remains in Republican hands I suppose. I wonder if other local Republicans will get money promised to them by Arshinkoff?

NSR has an update on some of the latest party news.

Note: I have never met Bill Spicer and wouldn't know him if he knocked on my door. He could be the world's greatest judge and/or one of the best guys around. I have no idea. This post is a comment on why his race is getting so much attention from the party while other candidates are being hung out to dry.

The comments from the previous post illustrate the dislike between the Romney and Huckabee camps. It is all about the potential 2012 GOP (sorry, the "white party") nomination fight. Off to an early start, considering we are about 80 days away from this year's vote. To me at least, Romney seems focused on helping the party this year. Huckabee seems focused on helping himself. Anyhow…..

John Kerry for VP? I don't think it is that unrealistic. Kerry would love – love – to be out there and go on the attack. I am sure he would relish going after McCain after he rejected his overtures in 2004 to be his VP. He is obviously still bitter he lost last time around and would do it in a heartbeat.

This was a good week for McCain in the polls. State wise we had him +1 in CO, closed to within 4 in MN, +1 and even in VA, +3 in NV. Talked to a candidate running for local office this week who told me that while he has been going door to door he has noticed a real upswing in Republican enthusiasm for McCain in the last couple of weeks. In April he told me there was none.

Who is the biggest jackass in Greater Cleveland politics? Political Science 216 kicks off a contest to find out. From the post: To be eligible, the political jackass must live in Greater Cleveland, which is defined as Cuyahoga County and every county that touches it (Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Geauga and Lake). A politician must be an elected official, a party chair (the Alex Arshinkoff rule), a recent elected official or a current candidate. My vote is pretty clear.

PD: Ohio's ad warning of flu pandemic overdone? Yes. They have run about 9,081 commercials about it during the Olympics, at least the parts I have been able to see. Michael Phelps last night – amazing. How did he win that race?

McCain has his best fund raising month yet, though of course he was out raised by Obama. Too much being made of how he will have "only $84 million" for public financing when it kicks in after his convention. He will have what he needs with that money coupled with RNC help, which will be sizable. Contributions will just go straight to party headquarters and they can then put up ads that don't have to be approved by McCain at the end of the spot. It might end up being a blessing.

Ohio, continuing to TurnAround: 7.2% unemployment. Highest in 16 years. That mandatory sick leave law that is being tossed around will only make things worse. That is worthy of it's own post next week.

Wonder if anything will come out of that church forum tonight in California.

Ohio.com has the story:

Summit County Republicans unanimously picked Gloria Rodgers — a nurse and party stalwart who lives in Stow — to run for County Council this November.

Rodgers replaces John Widowfield, who dropped out of the District 3 race in May after resigning from the state legislature amid allegations that he used campaign money to buy OSU football tickets and resold the tickets for a profit on eBay.

The two other applicants were Louise Heydorn, who holds the council seat, and Gene Haas, a retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and Akron schoolteacher and administrator.

Rodgers will be a "top-flight candidate," he (Arshinkoff) said.

That last line is a kiss of death.

Louise Heydorn is the incumbent – the only Republican on Summit County Council. She was defeated by John Widowfield in the March primary. Widowfield ran against Heydorn per the wishes of Party Chairman Alex Arshinkoff. The grand plan kind of hit a snag when Widowfield resigned from his Ohio House seat in May due to an Ohio State ticket problem and subsequently withdrew from the race for council.

Fourteen members of Arshinkoff's Executive Committee managed to show up for the meeting last night and they proceeded to elect Gloria Rogers on the recommendation of Arshinkoff. Big shock. Heydorn had a majority of the Summit County Republican Central Committee members that reside within her district sign a petition supporting her. Didn't matter. Towards the end of Monday's meeting, Heydorn tried to address the Executive Committee. Arshinkoff refused to allow her to speak and immediately adjourned the meeting. Leadership on display.

Actually the best part of the story might be this: Summit County GOP central and executive committee officers met Saturday to review applicants. Monday night, they recommended Rodgers to a committee made up of executive committee members who live in District 3.

Yeah, I am sure there was a lot of "reviewing" of the applicants.

I just want to reiterate one thing: LOUISE HEYDORN IS THE INCUMBENT!!!!!!!!! I almost never use caps lock – I hate when people do it – but this warranted usage. Seriously. They passed on the only elected Republican on Council (11 members). Common sense you tells you Heydorn would have the best chance of keeping the seat, but that isn't how decisions are made . Heydorn didn't back Arshinkoff that fateful night at Tangier (and really why would she have) so she had no chance Monday evening. Arshinkoff and team picked someone loyal to him rather than the best candidate. Standard procedure.

Let me be clear – I wouldn't know Gloria Rodgers if she walked up to me tomorrow and slapped me. So this is nothing against her. The article said she is a nurse, so Gloria, if I am ever in an accident and you are attending to me, this is not personal against you. Louise Heydorn is just the better candidate.

There you go. The Summit County Republican Party. Hey, at least we are running someone, right? But I do want to genuinely thank Mr. Arshinkoff – all day I have been working on an Electoral College update and just can't get the wording right. One of those "writer's block" things. Then this story came along and you solved my problem at least for one night. Thanks Chairman.

To be fair, I reported in June that the pick was likely to be Den Robart. That was the name being tossed around, confirmed by a few people, and it turned out not to be correct. I apologize. Though I did know it there was no chance in hell it would be Heydorn. That was the easy one to get right, however.

From Ohio.com and Stephanie Warsmith, yesterday:

The Ohio Ethics Commission and the Summit County prosecutor will decide if the chairman of the Summit County Board of Elections had a conflict of interest when he voted on issues involving his party's finances.

Brian Juliao, a Republican board employee, filed the complaint against Morrison with the board. He said Morrison's law firm, Amer Cunningham Co., has done work for the Summit County Republican Party and Morrison is a party officer. He said Morrison twice voted on issues involving the party's finances, rather than recusing himself.

Juliao claims this violated Ohio's ethics policy, which forbids board members from voting on issues involving family members, business colleagues or other close associates.

Both the Summit County Prosecutors office and the Ohio Ethics Commission will now determine if Morrison had a conflict of interest. The two Democratic board members, Wayne Jones and Tim Gorbach voted to refer the case. Morrison and Daley abstained. My favorite part of the write up: Morrison remained silent during this exchange and the subsequent vote, even temporarily relinquishing his position as chairman to Daley. I just think that is funny. Of course he did, the complaint was about him.

Juliao told the board members that Morrison "has a history of not recusing himself.'" Daley did however take full advantages of his temporary chairmanship to take the time to ask Juliao pointless questions about his employment that he could have just looked up in a file. At one point Juliao reminded Daley that he was part of a lawsuit to have him removed from his job (as a Varian appointee, background on that story here) and Daley said "uh, I didn't know I was part of a lawsuit." Ha, I didn't know I was part of a lawsuit!! Who wouldn't know that? Well, I guess a Republican board member of the Summit County Board of Elections. It is almost like Daley didn't know about the whole situation and didn't even care and just wanted to put on some show trial. For his part, Morrison declined comment for the original Ohio.com article.

On a side note, in the past Daley has gotten a check ($2500) from the GOP Central Committee. The difference is that he abstained from voting on that financial matter. Morrison does not. He voted on checks that were made out to Amer Cunningham. This is all stuff anyone off the street can look up; it is public record, you just need to know where to look. It doesn't strike me as smart (to say the least) by Morrison as this happened when the party finances were being watched, already under suspicion by some.

I am going to be honest. I saw this headline yesterday on Ohio.com and kind of rolled my eyes and clicked on it, read it, shook my head, and went back to whatever I was doing, which I think was racing my Facebook car. Not because I didn't think it was important, but because these stories just seem to run together anymore. My surprise level was at a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being totally shocked, like if I found that the Browns traded for Brett Favre or if I came to a revelation that I liked the Mets better than the Phillies. This is indicative of how Alex Arshinkoff and his associates have been doing business for 30 some years. However, after thinking about it some more, here we are.

Brian Juliao showed a lot of courage to file this complaint against his supervisors. Probably not an easy thing to do, but I am guessing he felt it was the right thing to do. I don't know how this will be decided, but it seems clear to me voting on party money going to your employer might be a conflict. I've never met Jack Morrison. He might be the nicest guy in the entire world. But he shouldn't be voting on financial matters like the ones raised in the complaint.

Someone should write a book about the Summit County Board of Elections.

Bill Sloat over at The Daily Bellwether makes a great catch: The Ohio Education Association endorses Richard Cordray for AG before the Republicans even have a candidate. I'll be the first to admit that the Republicans aren't exactly hitting it out of the park in finding a candidate, but wouldn't the OEA at least wait to make it appear they were actually going to judge the candidates and then choose? Guess not.

By now I am sure you heard about the San Francisco ballot issue this fall to name a sewage plant after George Bush. Mark Krikorian at NRO raises a good point: If the Bush administration were smart, they'd have leapt at this opportunity, saying that while the president deplored the disdain for working people inherent in such an effort, he would be proud to have his name associated with such a vital service and stood in solidarity with the engineers and chemists and electricians and others that help make modern life possible against the scorn of the lunatic left. Tom Daschle thinks it is funny at least.

This story makes me sick. Self-defense, huh? No printable words for someone who shoots a policeman in the head. King's Right Site links to two very different PD columns about a separate police shooting in Cleveland. A sensible one from Phillip Morris and one that makes you upset to read from Regina Brett. Brett then defends her original column. No surprise on the latter.

I got my McCain bumper stickers in the mail today. I'll save you the trouble of looking through website archives – I did say on my site last year that I would never put a bumper sticker on my car. Things change immensely when your choices are John McCain or Barack Obama. Possible tears when I take the Romney sticker that currently resides on my back windshield off tomorrow afternoon. Speaking of Lord Obama, I don't understand Obama's overseas pre-victory tour. It has major potential to backfire. It might appeal to some nice citizens of Germany and France, but their preference isn't going to play a role in November.

Remember the "rats ad" in 2000? Well now ABC says McCain is running subliminal messages against Obama. They aren't, but who cares if they are. This is a presidential campaign.

Boring Made Dull weighs in on the never ending saga that is the Summit County Republican Party. What I wouldn't give to just work one day there to see things first hand.

Discussed in an earlier post: Jesse "The Mind" Ventura will not run for MN Senate. Two polls this week show different results in that race without Ventura: Rasmussen Franken +2; Survey USA Coleman +13. Nothing like July polling. Absurd.

Finally, thank you for all of the feedback on the Ted Strickland interview. We have some more sit-downs with some of the politicians listed in the newest poll question in the right sidebar in the pipeline.

(post bumped to the top)
UPDATE, AGAIN (8:45 Saturday PM): Angela McMillan, Executive Director of the Summit County Republican Party, has resigned to take a job in Washington DC with the American Association of Political Consultants. McMillan was basically Alex Arshinkoff's assistant. Out under pressure or her own will? Developing, obviously……(end update)

According to sources, Brian Daley will be sworn in tomorrow as one of the two Republican members of the Summit County Board of Elections. He will be sworn in by Judge John Holcomb. On Daley's front lawn. Ok…….that sounds about right. As noted, due to the recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling, Daley will replace current member Don Varian as one of two Republicans on the board. Daley was the original choice of Alex Arshinkoff to replace him when he was tossed off.

Varian is the current chair (rotates between Republican and Democrats) and my guess is that Jack Morrison Jr. (the other Republican) will become the new chairman. There has been some uncertainty post OSC ruling as to whether Varian was still on the board until Daley was actually sworn in, but those questions will be put to rest tomorrow.

Look for a lot more 2-2 votes at Summit County BOE with the whole process being slowed back down. Again.

UPDATE: In other Summit County news, which never stops, a not so shocking report. Arshinkoff has decided to put Dennis "Den" Robart on the ballot for the Summit County Council race, District 3. This, you may recall, was the primary where John Widowfield ran against the only incumbent Republican on the board, Louise Heydorn. Heydorn should have gotten the call if Arshinkoff was really wanting to bring all sides together. Oh, and because she is a proven winner. Instead he has decided to put up an inferior candidate because Heydorn is not a Arshinkoff ally. Despite party backing, Den Robart lost to Rich Nero in March for the party nod for the 42nd House seat. This is our Republican Party.

The reason I always write Dennis "Den" Robart is because the higher ups tried to get it written Den on the ballot to try and confuse people into thinking it was actually Don Robart, the mayor of Cuyahoga Falls. Den Robart is the nephew of Don. No word on whether they will try that again. Den will face off against Paul Colavecchio, who lost the race to Widowfield for his job in 2006.

Page 7: Conclusion: In summary, the court grants a writ of mandamus to compel Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to appoint Brian K. Daley to the Summit County Board of Elections. The court denies the Committee's requests for another writ or alternative writs and holds that the Committee's other claims are moot. Judgment according.

Page 10-11, O'Donnell, concurring: Here, the Secretary of State acted outside the authority of the statute by appointing Donald Varian; the limited statutory authorization for making such an appointment arises only when the executive committee fails to make a recommendation. It did not fail to make a recommendation in this case, and the action of the Secretary therefore is outside the scope of the express language of the statute.

PD Story: The Ohio Supreme Court in 4-3 vote Monday ordered Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to change her appointment of a Republican member of the Summit County elections board. The ruling resolves a harsh partisan dispute that began early this year when Brunner, a Democrat, refused to reappoint long-time Summit County Republican boss Alex Arshinkoff. County Republicans then offered up Brian Daley, an Arshinkoff ally, but Brunner rejected Daley as well. Instead, she appointed Donald Varian, a Republican suggested to Brunner by Democratic elections board member Wayne Jones.

Simply put, Varian will be off the board, and Arshinkoff's hand picked selection, Daley, will replace him. The BOE by all accounts had been running much smoother since Varian took over and a lot of poison in the atmosphere was gone. Many people at the Summit County BOE are getting ready to send out new resumes tonight. It is a shame that so many average people have been caught up in this. A major step back today.

Voting in the majority: Stratton, O'Connor (obviously), O'Donnell, Cupp; Voting in the minority: CJ Moyer, Pfeifer, Lanzinger.

Original post from March 15: I hate to say it, but this all sets up perfect for Alex to play the victim and try to gain sympathy. There is no question that he should not have been back on the elections board. Not now or ever. His conduct there can't be defended. Brunner, in my estimation, probably overstepped her boundaries, and unfortunately I think that will overshadow the fact that Alex was rightfully kicked off the board.

(Now Updated, 12:15 PM, Friday, see end of post)

The Beacon broke it:

State Rep. John Widowfield, R-Cuyahoga Falls, is expected to resign from his legislative seat following accusations that he purchased Ohio State University football tickets with campaign funds and sold them for a profit.

Widowfield did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment Tuesday and today. He signed for gas mileage reimbursement for the week and attended a committee hearing in the morning, but was not at the House session in the afternoon.

Sources told the Beacon Journal that Widowfield sold the football tickets over the Internet for more than their face value, and pocketed the profits.

Score another one for Alex Arshinkoff. Arshinkoff got Widowfield to run against the only Republican on Summit County Council, Louise Heydorn, in the March primary. Widowfield won. That decision looks real good right about now, huh? It never really did. Way to mount a serious challenge against the only elected Republican on Council and let the Democrats go without serious competetion. Let the winning ways continue! For Democrats and Ohio State Buckeyes that is. To tie this in to Ohio State, Arshinkoff is like Lloyd Carr, the former Michigan football coach; both of their glory days were long ago and now they just get stomped on by their rivals. Except Carr is supposedly a nice guy. And Carr knew when his time was up.

Pho and TBMD are on the story as well. You may also remember the disgusting late tactics used by Widowfield and Don Robart the day before the Coughlin/Klinger – Arshinkoff battle for the Chairmanship. If you missed that, then you should look at it now. No word yet on whether Widowfield will still be allowed to wear his "Big Al is My Pal" sticker that were being handed out that fateful night at Tangier when Summit County Republicans decided in overwhelming numbers to keep the pitiful status quo.

Is this the end of the world? No. I have scalped tickets before and sold them on the internet, though I didn't use campaign funds to buy them. Ohio politicans have done worse for sure (see Dann, Marc), but this is just a bad choice Widowfield made. And thanks to it and the wisdom of the county GOP chair, Republicans are probably going to have zero seats on Summit County Council. Outstanding.

Update: Widowfield bows out of Council race.

Excerpt: Summit County Republican Party Chairman Alex Arshinkoff said Widowfield told him a few weeks ago that he planned to drop out because of his new private-sector job.

"I don't know if this is going to hurry it up or not," Arshinkoff said, referring to Widowfield's resignation and allegations that he profited from the sale of Ohio State State University football tickets purchased with campaign funds. "These are all decisions Mr. Widowfield has to make. He will let us know."

I mean, really? I agree with Pho (again). You have Widowfield knock off Heydorn, using a lot of party resources, then he decides he isn't going to run again, but no one says anything? If Alex is really all about party unity and bringing everyone back together, Heydorn will be back on the ballot to try and defend her seat.

Dispatch says state lawmakers were warned about selling tickets.

Of course, it was not just a vote, it was an Alex vote. From the Beacon Journal's Stephanie Warsmith and Rick Armon: Tonight's meeting to decide who should lead the Summit County Republican Party began with a surprise: Current Chairman Alex Arshinkoff chose to run for a different office, giving him a new opponent. Rather than Cuyahoga Falls Councilwoman Carol Klinger, he is facing off against Akron attorney Don Varian. The shakeup happened because Arshinkoff decided to run for chairman of the central committee rather than the party's executive committee that he now heads. He can run the party from either post.

I thought the vote would be closer, it was AA's 260 votes to the 115 for Varian. The bottom line is twofold: First, the NSR group just didn't win enough seats on March 4 for the overthrow. Second, far too many precinct captains were afraid to change the status quo of the party. They didn't want to lose their positions and/or connections, and I guess you can't really blame them for that. After that vote, the big question was answered and there was a bunch of haggling over rules. Free and open discussion on the proposed party rules was squashed, as expected. Arshinkoff never had to face off against Klinger, but as the numbers indicate, he would have won anyways. As for me, I don't have any use for the current party as constructed and I know I am not alone. The tactics Arshinkoff has used the last few years have been disgraceful. I can't support such things and won't stop pointing out their poor track record and shameful behavior as illustrated yesterday. They aren't going to hire me anyways. I can't support the exact same people who have put the party in shambles with their "leadership." The same people will still surround Alex and they will still lose elections. Unfourtanetly, Alex now has a built in excuse for this upcoming cycle – that he had to spend party money to keep his post. Not really a question that will be the spin when Republicans take a beating countywide in November. But we have all seen what Alex does with the incoming money that is supposed to be used for candidates and their races. I will now pour my money and effort to national races.

We will see now if Alex is weakened from all this or if he gets stronger. My feeling is the former. Over 30% of those at the meeting voted against Alex, and those are people he probably won't get back. There were a lot of disgruntled Republicans at the meeting.

Ed Esposito liveblogged the event and has a lot more information with audio.

Psychobilly Democrat weighs in with the Dem perspective.

On Tuesday, Central Committee members all received a direct mailer. The piece in question stated that Arshinkoff ally and Ohio House member John Widowfield had introduced a bill part of which included that a section of Route 8 would be renamed for two soldiers who died in Iraq. The mailer falsely states, among many untruths, that the bill is being held up in the Ohio Senate by Kevin Coughlin. The bill was not brought up by Widowfield and Coughlin is not blocking it. He had no knowledge of the bill in Ohio's lower chamber until the initial letter was brought to his attention. One of the letter signers feels duped and used by Team Arshinkoff, as he was lied to regarding the facts of what was going on when they agreed to author the flier. Mr. Larry Large has a new letter which he wants out for people to view. It can be seen here via PDF. Widowfield and Don Robart were at Large's house, a man who lost his son overseas, until 11:30 PM Tuesday pleading with him to not write the second letter which corrects the record. Disgusting. The letter from Large reminds people what this was all supposed to be about – honoring two fallen heroes – not politics. And most certainly not the Summit County GOP race.

This is a last ditch attempt by Arshinkoff to try and smear Coughlin and by association Carol Klinger and the New Summit Republicans. You can decide for yourself, but lying about this topic is disgraceful and should be even beneath the chairman trying to cling to power. There really isn't another side to this tale. I feel terrible and even dirty having to write this post, but someone has to do it and get the facts out there. On a personal note, I want to say thank you to Mr. Large. It will be an absolute privilege to drive on the section of Route 8 named after Bryan and the southbound section of the road named after Justin T. Walsh. Nothing I will ever do in my life will add up to anything Bryan and Justin did for our country………..

Some of how tomorrow's vote will go down was also revealed tonight. The secret ballots will be counted by Bryan Williams, Arshinkoff ally. Yes, the same Bryan Williams who is a strong Arshinkoff backer who even sent a letter in support of Arshinkoff to all Central Committee members recently. Is this right – only one biased person will count and see the votes? Even in Cuyahoga County three people look at ballots! The parliamentarian, who will rule on motions on the meeting, is none other than Arshinkoff lawyer Tim Grendell. You might want to know this as well – one of the proposed rules would permit Arshinkoff to remove elected Central Committee members without cause and replace them with people of his own choosing. Seems fair!

As far as tonight's vote goes, I hope to have the results here before anyone else. Check back tonight to find out what went down at Tangier.

We are always subjected these days to Alex and his bunch saying that only "a small group" of people are causing all this trouble trying to get him ousted. Well, he sure has spent a hell of a lot of money and effort against this "small group" of people.

I read one of the letters to the Beacon yesterday, written by Pamela Wayland of Akron. She said in her letter: I pray that the other members of the Summit County Republican Party Central Committee will see through all the lies, understand the truth and join me in voting for Arshinkoff at the meeting on Wednesday at Tangier. An interesting take on things, though I think most people would be reserving their prayers for other things no matter what side of the race they were on. Ms. Wayland seems fine that her money (if she donates, I don't know) is going towards keeping Alex in his job and not other things like helping Republican candidates. Actually despite the contents of her letter, the truth is that the Summit County Republican Party is in the midst of a dismal losing streak and that Alex is a liability now.

This won't be the last development before the vote; you can be sure of that. It just never ends with Arshinkoff – kind of like with Marc Dann. There will be something to write about always.

Matt Hurley and Pho commented on the Tangier story as well.

No need to rehash the article point by point. Not mentioned was the party paid Escalade or the meals or other wastes of party money. But there is some of the usual conspiracy garbage that Alex spouts about Wayne Jones and what not. Arshinkoff's latest BS rant is that Klinger won't be a "full-time chairman." Well, neither is Alex. He is also a lobbyist.

I thought the most interesting quote of the piece was from Tom Murdough – "A fresh new chairman would dramatically improve the level of contributions and I think the caliber of candidates would be upgraded." That is true. A lot of people won't give even a dollar to the Summit GOP right now because they know it will be wasted on something like helping the chairman keep his job.

It's time to unseat Arshinkoff for better and more competent leadership. Klinger and other new officers should be able to take the party in the right direction with integrity – and that is something our party currently lacks. The party also lacks wins, which is kind of an important thing when it comes to a politics. It is pretty simple. No hidden reasons. The party is bigger than one person, though some current leaders don't seem to think that.

As we noted last Friday, the vote is on Wednesday April 30. It will be closed to the public, but I will be there outside. Maybe I will see Alex milling around. After all, he declined to run again for central committee and is no longer a member so I don't see any reason he would be inside at Tangier. There are a few questions I would like to ask him, but I doubt I will get the four hour courtesy Alex showed the Beacon for this interview.

UPDATE, 3:55 AM, Tuesday: Lefty Akron Blogger Pho chimes in with his perspective.

Unrelated: Last week I said I would tell you Monday how much Hillary would win the the PA Primary by. I'll say by 8%. It isn't a question of if she wins – just by how much. Obama's seems to have a poll ceiling of around 43 or 44. It looks awfully similar to Ohio – big early lead for Hillary, Obama closes the gap, Hillary extends her lead again. With the bad news cycle Obama has had, tough to see a scenario where he gets a large majority of the undecideds to go his way in order to make the race a close one.

CHARLIE GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped (of the capital gains tax), revenues from the tax increased; the government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down.

So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?

BARACK OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.

We saw an article today which showed that the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year — $29 billion for 50 individuals. And part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That's not fair.

There in a simple statement you have it. Gibson's numbers are not in dispute. But George McGovern Obama apparently does not care. He wants the money for his government programs that he knows are for the best. What isn't fair? I own stock, though not a lot. I am not rich. Hardly so. But a raise in capital gains tax even would affect me if I sold stock I bought with my money. But it would be "fair" to the people who don't own stock according to Obama.

Sure, taxes are not an exact science….but Obama is basically saying that he wants to punish the "rich" and take that money because he can do better with it. That is what I take out of his comment. It is actually downright scary. This was overlooked for some reason, by myself included, but this won't be the last you hear about it. What is next for him in terms of proposals? Raising the gas tax 15 cents a gallon on cars that cost over $20,000? Hiking up the money households with an income over $70,000 pay for cleaning supplies for their mansions? After all, it would be fair. Right? For the record, McCain's CEO rants also bother me.

Three other random things:

1) It has been eerily quiet on the AA / Klinger front for the last two weeks. I have no idea what this means. All sources still indicate the race is very close. I just find it very weird that both sides have been so quiet. I mean, the big vote is Wednesday, April 30th. Does anyone have anything new to report on this front?

2) Sorry, I lied. Back to the debate. The absurd, though predictable, outrage from Wednesday night's ABC debate is getting out of control. Any left wing blog will tell you how unfair it was. To them, unfair is anytime any moderator asks a question that doesn't result in the positioning of the candidates for the proper answer of trashing George W. Bush. If Obama wants to associate with certain people, then what is the big deal asking about it? The same would go for McCain. Obama's past associations will be an issue in the general election, to be sure, so I feel ABC did him a favor by asking him these "tough" questions now. This way he will have a better answer than he did last night – playing down his relationships, throwing Tom Coburn under the bus, stammering, etc. He was truly dreadful on Wednesday.

3) I am sure by now you know of the sad local news – the Akron/Canton newscast on TimeWarner Cable was canceled, effective May 30. The news is anchored by Eric Mansfield. Mansfield is a friend of The Point and has been very helpful to us have we have been getting this website off the ground. The local news was able to offer Akron an identity as it's own city, not just some mass of people which happens to be south of Cleveland. If Youngstown can have it's own news show, Akron certainly should. It is a shame, and I feel for Eric. As someone who has been told numerous times that I am not good enough for the job or someone else was better, I know it is a kick in the stomach and it hurts. It is not quite the same thing here, but the feeling is the same.

Ohio.com: Ohio GOP Chairman Robert Bennett won't preside over the Summit County Republican Party's organizational meeting later this month. Bennett said Friday that the state party has only intervened in county parties' central committee meetings under extreme circumstances — and always when the help was requested. Summit County party chair Alex Arshinkoff doesn't want the state party involved. He said he plans to follow the meeting protocol provided in state law.

That is very comforting. Arshinkoff says he plans to follow protocol, so let us take that as the gospel. The meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 21, and as of now, will be open to only Central Committee members. Arshinkoff himself is not a Central Committee member himself anymore (neither is Klinger) – so whether or not they will even be allowed there is a major question right now.

No kidding Arshinkoff doesn't want the state party involved with any sort of oversight. You may recall that "certain" petitions were checked with a little more scrutiny at the Summit County Board of elections under the direction of Alex's supporters (when he was still on the BOE; some of those workers are now gone). There isn't really any indication that this type of shady behavior would not take place at the meeting – after all, we are talking about a guy who is spending over $300,000 of party money to keep his job, bullies opponents, tries to get bloggers fired, gives himself posh benefits for a part-time job, etc. If I made over $70,000 a year with the benefits Alex gets, I would probably do whatever it took to hold on to my job too. There aren't really specific by-laws in place and things are kind of up in the air still as to how the April 21 meeting will be run. As I reported the other day, NSR supporter and Summit County BOE member Don Varian has contacted his fellow board member Jack Morrision (Arshinkoff supporter) to try and set some ground rules. Naturally, Morrision has not yet responded.

I am not surprised that Bennett doesn't want to get near this – though I think he should. This would qualify to me as an "extreme case." Bennett has never wanted to take on tough issues, so of course he won't do anything here. He always has preferred the "taking a blind eye" approach. Well, I shouldn't say always. When he took over as Chairman in 1988, he really helped turn the ORP around, but just like Alex, he became a little too comfortable in his position. However, unlike Alex, Bennett decided he was going to leave on his own terms – this will be his last.

P.S. Don't forget to vote in our poll – asking your preference between Alex Arshinkoff or Carol Klinger – which is in the right hand sidebar.

Here were some of the highlights:

*Kevin said he was delighted Carol was running and would make a great chair in any of Ohio's 88 counties. Mentioned her business experience, most recently at Goodyear.

*Coughlin said he was not at the press conference last week due to a long planned family vacation. He reiterated the fact that he never wanted the job; that he just wants to be run by good people. He said that his goal is a stronger party with more registered Republicans and more accountability, and said that this process alone has started to make Arshinkoff more accountable. He added that for too long, too many Republicans (himself included) sat around in silence and did nothing while their party was going down the tubes.

*The NSR expects the meeting to be held in the middle of April. It had been reported that the meeting just had to be 60 days after the March election was certified – Kevin said this is incorrect – that it has to be 6-15 days from the certification date. He expects the vote to be certified on April 4, or possibly April 10 if their are recounts. The dates that have been floating around are April 12, April 18, or April 19. Kevin says the meeting should be open to the media only and not others who are not on Central Cmte. This would include both Alex Arshinkoff and Carol Klinger. (It has been reported that the meeting had to take place within 60 days of certification but Kevin said this was not correct).

*There is some major concern about the lack of bylaws headed into the meeting. Kevin said that Don Varian has reached out to Arshinkoff backer Jack Morrison (both Varian and Morrison are on the Summit County BOE) in an effort to set up some guidelines for the meeting, but that Morrison has yet to respond to Varian's repeated requests. Coughlin then added that there have been discussions (not with Team Arshinkoff however) that the Ohio Republican Party chair or vice chair would preside over the meeting. He said there is precedence for this.

*Kevin said the vote count was "very tight" right now but would not give specific numbers. He said there are three groups – people siding with the NSR, people siding with Alex, and undecideds. Kevin said that undecideds are the biggest group right now and that people for sure backing Alex is the smallest number. He said Klinger is talking to candidates on an individual basis and that the situation is very fluid. The race is so close that the 5 or 6 vacancies on the Central Committee (precincts where no one ran) could come into play.

*Also discussed was the fact that some people (guess who) are saying Carol Klinger can not hold both the Summit County GOP Chair position and work at Goodyear. Coughlin reminded listeners that Arshinkoff is also a part-time chairman; he is president of Arshinkoff & Associates. Of course, Alex is paid like he does it full time with great perks.

*Finally, Coughlin said that despite the wild conspiracy theories of Arshinkoff, that he had not talked to any Democrat to help him in the effort. He said that just because he and Wayne Jones agreed that Arshinkoff should be off the Summit County BOE that does not mean they are working together.

I might think of more later…but that is all I remember for right now.

UPDATE: As mentioned in the comments, Ed Esposito recorded today's call. Here is his write up and some key clips. Also thanks Ed for saying he recorded today's call with "reporters." At the beginning of the call I said I was there and everyone started laughing and saying "oh the real journalist is here now." Not a mean way, in a funny way. I think. Anyways, check out Ed's stuff. He led the way with some great questions today.

Eric Mansfield participated as well.

Cuyahoga Falls at large Councilwoman Carol Klinger is the choice of the New Summit Republicans to take on Alex. She's a CPA, an MBA, and a business executive (currently the Retail Finance Manager at Goodyear Tire). From all I have been able to gather, she is sharp and is a great choice. Other than making stuff up, I am not sure what line of attack Team Arshinkoff will possibily use against her. Strategically, this is a very wise move. Too many party regulars right now think serving the party means serving them personally. That kind of thinking is not going to lead to a turnaround. Klinger will change the mindset of the party.

Everyone was expecting the pick to be Don Varian, and everyone was wrong. After his appointment to the BOE, it made no sense. Some fools even speculated it would be Kevin Coughlin himself. There was never a chance of that happening.

So there you go. The battle lines are drawn. It is the losing ways of the current regime against a group with a goal of, you know, winning some damn elections. Time to pick sides, Summit County GOPers.

UPDATE: We should have some video up of the press conference later today. Don Varian led the event and gave the main speech, leading everyone to assume it would be him. Jaws dropped when he announced it was Carol Klinger.

Here is some interesting information for you about the Arshinkoff / New Summit Republican battle and the role former Fairlawn Mayor Pete Kostoff is playing for the New Summit Republicans. Kostoff is but only one of plentiful Summit County Republicans who would like to see Arshinkoff go. The following is information from two sources and a little "inside baseball," but it provides an insight to the situation at hand.

Pete Kostoff and Alex Arshinkoff used to be very close – some say like brothers. Obviously as you can see now, along the way there was a falling out. Back in the mid 1990s, Kostoff wanted to support Wayne Jones (a Democrat, current Arshinkoff nemesis, and currently on the Summit County BOE) for Mayor of Cuyahoga Falls against Republican Don Robart. Up until this point, there was no love lost between Robart and Arshinkoff. Insiders tell me that Alex gave Pete his blessing to support Jones against Robart but told him he'd have to step down from Executive Committee for a while, due to party rules. Fair enough. Soon after, and for unknown reasons, things changed – but insiders say it was not over Kostoff's backing of Jones.

Alex promised Pete he would not get involved in the Jones/Robart race for Falls Mayor. Soon after, the entire Republican machine in the county set out to help Robart beat Jones and the Kostoff versus Arshinkoff war was on (Robart won the election in question). While Alex had originally pretty much given Pete his approval, Alex started publicly calling Kostoff out for supporting a Democrat and calling him "Benedict Pete" and bad mouthing the law firm of Roetzel and Andress where Kostoff worked (and still does). According to my sources, Alex had Gene Esser, the former Summit County Engineer, fire Pete's brother Nick from the Engineers office, fire Pete's uncle from the Board of Elections, and Pete's sister in law, Maria Kostoff, fired as the Chief Magistrate at the Juvenile Court. Nice.

Fast forwarding a little bit, with state term-limits as they are, Betty Montgomery couldn't run again for AG in 2002. Alex got behind Joe Deters and Pete and R&A got behind Jim Petro. Deters eventually dropped out and Petro won that fall. Petro and Alex absolutely hated each other and Petro took all the special counsel work from Akron area Alex-friendly firms and gave the bulk to Roetzel. You hear a lot of anti-Roetzel talk these days from Alex, and that is another big reason why.

So there you go. I thought some of you might like to hear some background that doesn't make the newspapers. Arshinkoff's claims that Wayne Jones and Pete Kostoff are the puppet masters behind the scenes in this episode and Sen. Kevin Coughlin is nothing more than their marionette is totally absurd. Would both like to live in an Arshinkoff-free political world? Sure. But did Arshinkoff push the pair of Jones and Kostoff to the brink of piling on? Probably. It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy. Take this with a grain of salt of course, after all, I am not a "good Republican."

Just to be clear. I don't make this stuff up. One of the great things about this gig is that I now have people feeding me this information – stuff that happened at the Keeler Report, but not a whole lot and not this in-depth. It isn't just random people – it is people who know. I have been working on this for a while, checking and double checking the facts and names before I published it. There was more than one source. There is more in the pipeline.

Tomorrow we will find out who the New Summit Republicans will be running for head of the county party. There is a press conference at 2PM at the John S. Knight Center. The event is free and open to the public.

This line from the Beacon piece was my favorite: "If every Republican would win with my leave, I'd resign tomorrow," Arshinkoff said. Sure. Somehow I doubt that someone who spends over $300,000 of party money to keep their job would leave so willingly. But anyways.

I want to know how Alex Arshinkoff plans on turning around the fortunes of the GOP. Blaming Jennifer Brunner, Pete Kostoff, Wayne Jones, Kevin Coughlin, me, Roetzel and Andress, voter registration numbers, etc. is not going to help Republicans start winning again here. It just isn't. We get it, Alex: everyone is against you. Kevin Coughlin and his New Summit Republicans do have a plan. It is on their website. As an emailer commented to me yesterday, Alex sounds more like Obama right now than anyone else.

The Summit County GOP is crumbling. Starting with the loss of the Prosecutor’s office in 2000, the Juvenile Court in 2002, nothing in 2004, losing everything in 2006, every year lately has been terrible for the local Republican team. Not only have we* failed to pick up any political office of significance, but we can't hold what we once had. Summit County Republicans are losing, and losing very frequently. It is alarming. At one time, the party under Arshinkoff was thriving. Not now. It is way past time for new blood. When more time, energy, and money is spent trying to keep your job as opposed to actually getting party members elected, there really shouldn't be a debate on the issue.

It is not out of line to ask how someone who has presided over a major losing streak plans to turn things around. I sure haven't seen anything. Have you?

*In the days following the controversy here at The Point over my initial article on Alex, someone very close to me called the Summit County GOP HQ to complain. The lady on the phone said, and this is a direct quote, "Ben Keeler is a bad Republican." Really. I have spent countless hours over the years writing, volunteering, and donating my money to the Republican Party. But the official word from the powers that be is that I am not a good Republican. Needless to say, I was not happy when I heard that. And I am sure after this post I am definitely not a good Republican anymore.

I hate to say it, but this all sets up perfect for Alex to play the victim and try to gain sympathy. There is no question that he should not have been back on the elections board. Not now or ever. His conduct there can't be defended. Brunner, in my estimation, probably overstepped her boundaries, and unfortunately I think that will overshadow the fact that Alex was rightfully kicked off the board. Now that will be overshadowed and Alex can go on the attack (Sidebar: Can you imagine the uproar if this situation was reversed and Ken Blackwell had thrown Wayne Jones or another Democrat off the Summit County BOE?)

This whole battle just continues to get stranger by the day, but one thing hasn't changed: Alex has still spent over $300,000 of party money to save his job – money that could clearly spent, you know, helping Republicans win races. When someone needs to spend that kind of money to save their job, doesn't that tell you something? Arshinkoff continues to claim Kevin Coughlin is working with Wayne Jones, which is an absurd statement. On that subject, Jones said "'I have never had a conversation with Coughlin. I don't have a dog in that fight. I could care less. I hope both of them pull guns out and shoot each other." Nice. Jones obviously wants Arshinkoff out of his life, but he isn't working with Coughlin.

Who knows what is next.

Ed Esposito at Akron News Now has some audio of the situation and more information on a package containing an anonymous complaint and material against Arshinkoff that arrived at the SOS office in Columbus. Brunner used the information to help make her decision.

Doing the math, 11 voters out of 37,300 comes out to be 0.000297%. At a cost of about 50 cents each, just about $3,500 of ballots went unused. It really isn't a huge deal when you think of all the examples of wasted tax money out there (Bridge to Nowhere comes to mind at the federal level), but it illustrates the extra expense Brunner is going to in order to complete her goal of making the tin foil crowd feel their vote counts – even though there are just as many, if not more, potential problems with the paper ballots/ optical scanners. If someone is going to cheat, paper ballots aren't going to stop them. Nothing was wrong with the touch screens that Ohio has used in previous elections.

More: Local elections officials were surprised by the low number of paper ballots requested, Hankins said. They had anticipated requests from voters who resist using the relatively new touch screen system and from others who don't totally trust computers. I guess most people in Richland County don't believe the conspiracy theories about the Ohio voting system and they don't have politicians running around telling them to doubt their system. One thing I don't get is the "paper receipt" demand for touch screens. If the computer is going to just determine who it wants to win, wouldn't it just print out a fake receipt?

The way Ohio's county elections boards are set up – two Republicans and two Democrats in each county – is also a deterrent to vote fraud, as in theory the parties want opposite candidates to win (does not pertain to Cuyahoga County Republicans). If you run an election right, as the people in charge down in Richland County seem to have done, touch screens work fine. The problems only seem to be when the candidate you are backing loses. Like John Kerry.

Also in the news: Columbus Dispatch picks up on Arshinkoff-Coughlin.