Buckeye RINO

Lorain City Treasurer Tom Urbanek will have opposition after all, though Karen Shawver’s name will not appear on the ballot.

Wednesday, Sept. 2, was the deadline for filing as a write-in candidate for November’s general election.

If you go to the polls intending to vote for a write-in, and you suffer a momentary loss of memory, not remembering the name, or perhaps unsure of the proper spelling of the name, of the write-in you intended to vote for, you can ask polling place workers for a list of write-in candidates prior to voting.  Upon request, poll workers can also instruct you how to cast a write-in vote if you are unfamiliar with the procedure.

Also filing as a write-in candidate was R.J. Budway for the Lorain City Law Director race.  Budway’s write-in candidacy is the local Democrat Party’s insurance policy.

Interim Law Director Patrick Riley’s name was placed on the November ballot by a vote of the county’s elections board when there were no paper documents establishing Riley’s candidacy.

Budway won’t be campaigning so long as Riley isn’t knocked off the ballot by legal challenges.  Republican candidate Mike Scherach, so far, has asked the elections board for a hearing which seems unlikely to be granted, and hasn’t committed yet to taking the matter to court.

Elyria’s Chronicle-Telegram has the coverage of the write-in candidacies.   Republican elections board member Bob Rousseau had something to say about the latest move by the Democrats:

“If they’re hedging their bets, doesn’t that tell you they’re not confident in their case?”

Indeed, documentation of Riley’s candidacy is entirely missing, and an unusual elections board vote is the only verifiable strand of evidence placing Riley’s name on the ballot.

As for Urbanek, the Lorain City Treasurer, he created a stir this summer when he did not join in the salary belt-tightening that other city employees endured in consequence of Lorain’s faltering finances.  Furthermore, it was revealed that Urbanek, from his work office during office hours, was posting self-serving comments on conversation forums at LorainCounty.com under a pseudonym.