Ohio elections attract wider mainstream attention

Six years ago, Cliff and Sibley Arnebeck approached the Alliance for Democracy about helping Common Cause/Ohio fight illegal corporate donations in the 2000 election of Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Resnick. After five years, they were able to get full disclosure of secret corporate contributors to the ads attacking Resnick’s record and integrity. More recently, this case, and the allegations surrounding vote switching, discrimination, and mishandled recounts in the 2004 election, were cited by John McCarthy, AP Ohio Statehouse Bureau Chief, as breeding a “cynicism that hasn’t died.”

Fortunately, this “cynicism” is now attracting some attention from the mainstream media and major political candidates. McCarthy’s June 12 look at the post-election Ohio lawsuits and the Resnick case was picked up by Forbes, CBS news, ABC news, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Guardian, and a dozen more print and broadcast media outlets (many still have it on line—for instance, http://www.abc7dc.com/news/stories/0606/335435.html).
John Kerry, Bill Clinton, and most recently Hillary Clinton, have defended Ohio election activists and encouraged their work. Hillary, speaking to ACORN’s national convention, tacitly criticized Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and told activists "…I hope everybody from Ohio is watching this election like a hawk. Don't let them pull anything over your eyes again.'' (see the July 11 Cincinnati Enquirer, http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060711/NEWS01/607110352/-1/back01)
Many national public interest groups have established or strengthened their presence in Columbus, including Ohio/Common Cause, People for the American Way, ACORN, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and the League of Women Voters, but AfD was the first on the ground, thanks to our constitution and bylaws that empower national campaigns to take prompt and assertive action. Both the national groups and the many local groups that came into being after the 2004 election are now coordinating their efforts on legislation, litigation, and public education. And, in ongoing litigation, progressive Democrat lawyers, as well as a few Republicans, are coordinating their efforts in the public interest.