Though Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner won her appeal to the United States Supreme Court and ended the legal challenges to her handling of the current election process already underway, she’s mistaken if she thinks that she can pat herself on the back and feel that the damage she’s done to her own reputation has been repaired.
Though one line of legal questioning has been resolved, the controversy has not been erased, and confidence in Ohio’s election systems is far from being secured. The Secretary of State could have been much more proactive, in prior months, in implementing sufficient checks and balances to erase all doubts about the integrity of the vote, but instead she permitted too many opportunities for gaming the system by those who don’t have scruples.
I expect she’ll face spirited opposition in 2010, should she decide to seek re-election.
I didn’t vote for Brunner in 2006, and I believe the events that have unfolded since her election have only caused me to feel vindicated that I voted correctly in the SoS race.
Buckeye RINO 
October 18, 2008 at 8:18 am
Can we agree to dump the labels in the crapper where they belong since they no longer really apply to anyone.
The two party system should go there too very soon since it has become more akin to team sports than discourse and discision about governing our country.
October 18, 2008 at 9:05 am
While party labels don’t apply perfectly, neither do candidates. I have yet to find any single candidate that represented each of my views perfectly. I can’t expect that a party label will either (though it should give a general idea on which way that candidate leans). If more people agreed with a Libertarian candidate, we’d have a three party system. There’s nothing that stops us from moving from a two-party system if another truly viable party were to arise and meet the needs of the public.
I have to say that I expect whoever is elected sticks to their personal platform. I will totally agree that partisan politics have really taken over and doing the right thing has been cast aside (this ACORN thing is a great example). One of the things I like a lot about McCain and Palin is that they have stood up to the Republican party, sticking to their personal views instead of blindly obeying the party. That’s a very rare thing in politics these days. A three-party or four-party system would be just as bad.
A party-free system would just create situations where the best candidate wouldn’t get in. Imagine 2 similar Liberal candidates vs 1 Conservative candidate. Unless the Liberals align with 1 of their candidates the Conservative candidate will win. Hence the need for primaries and parties to align people with similar views behind the most viable candidate.
And don’t even consider weighted balloting. We’ve already seen how something as simple as a butterfly ballot can confuse Joe Public.
November 3, 2008 at 3:23 pm
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January 16, 2010 at 5:43 pm
[…] that ally of ACORN, Jennifer Brunner, is still Secretary of State through the culmination of this year’s elections, thus she still […]
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[…] of legislation that created loopholes big enough for 18-wheelers to pull through. Former Ohio SoS Jennifer Brunner was only to happy to drive through each and every one of those loopholes in 2008 […]