SUBTOPICS
HUSTED & THE LIBERTARIANS
HUSTED & THE MAIER DECISION
(Complementary Political Decisions?)
THE ST. JOHN FACTOR
HUSTED HYPOCRISY
Little did any of us know on February 17, 2014 that former Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio mayor Don Robart would give a "heads-up" on the quality of his new bosses' mind when he spoke about the ballot disqualification of George T. Maer as being a "no brainer."
HUSTED & THE LIBERTARIANS
HUSTED & THE MAIER DECISION
(Complementary Political Decisions?)
Just days before, Robart - a leading Summit County Republican - who after 28 years as Cuyahoga Falls mayor, was dumped by Falls' voters in November, 2013, was selected to land in an obvious "political soft landing place" (at Ohio taxpayer expense) as the "eyes and ears" of Ohio Secretary of State (SOS) Jon Husted as region 3 director of the SOS.
So we know that Jon Husted is a highly partisan Republican who has no qualms about using taxpayer funds (provided by to provide for his own kind.
Moreover, he recently demonstrated (Husted Orders Libertarian Candidates Off Primary Ballot, March 7, WBNS) that he will use the power of his office to deny ballot access when he thinks it might damage a fellow Republican's (Governor Jon Husted) reelection.
The Libertarian case is compelling evidence that Jon Husted is not a man of principle that he implies he is in his self-serving statement that he is "erring on the side" in allowing George T. Maier access to the Stark County ballot as a Democratic candidate for sheriff.
Moveover, he in the Maier case establishes that he is not a "rule of law" man. Rather that in his political calculation, his decision to allow Maier on the ballot was a bizarre combination of being brainless, clueless, and hypocritical in coming to the Maier decision.
It is safe to assume that Robart did not talk "out of school" on February 20th when he told an Akron Beacon Journal reporter that the strength of the cases between the Balas-Bratton (the Democratic protester) and Maier before the Stark County Board of Elections (BOE, Board) filed on February 6th made it pretty much a "no brainer" that Maier is not qualified under Ohio Revised Code 311.01 (as interpreted by the Ohio Supreme Court [Swanson v. Maier, quo warranto, November 6, 2013].
Of course, Robart did speak "out of school" in talking to the ABJ reporter.
Otherwise the statement was "inside Baseball" talk among Husted's "deep 'political' thinkers" in the mulling over he could overcome the obvious in making a political calculation that they think benefits Jon Husted best in his current (running for reelection as secretary of state), and perhaps (in 2016) if a reelected Kasich becomes the Republican standard bearer for president of the United States.
THE ST. JOHN FACTOR
The Maier decision indicates to the SCPR that Husted does not think key Stark Republicans (the Timkens, Braden and Cline [of the BOE] and Jeff Matthews [director of the BOE] in terms of how zealously they campaign for him are critical to his reelection efforts as secretary of state.
And he just might benefit from the Maier folks sitting on their hands in terms of the effort they put forth to deliver Stark County to the firebrand Nina Turner (a state senator from Cuyahoga County) in the secretary of state face-off.
The political unsophisticate in all this may prove to be former (as of March 1, 2014) Stark BOE Democratic member Deametrious St. John. Remember, the guy who the SCPR - kiddingly, only taken seriously by Stark County lawyer and Democratic activist Steve Okey; as probably having trouble spelling his first name.
Political
That's the SCPR's take on St. John's political acumen.
That notwithstanding St. John telling Stark's Democrats at a Stark County Democratic Party Executive Committee (SCDP-EC) meeting (to pick his successor as a BOE member) on February 15 what "rubes" they are when it comes to political intrigue and roughhousing.
For he came out of the School of Political Hard Knocks conducted by Cuyahoga County/City of Cleveland political boss George Forbes. (See George Forbes-An Obsession with Power, Cleveland Magazine.com, November, 1986)
Stark County politics he told the SCDP-EC "is a joke."
If it is, then St. John should be very upset with himself, for it appears to the SCPR that he just got worked over by the Maier faction of the Stark County Democratic Party and perhaps Jon Husted.
In the end, he might retroactively find his vote for George T. Maier's qualification to be on the May Democratic ballot by the Ohio Supreme Court.
Wouldn't that be a political humiliation, if it happens?
- SCPR Note: Balas-Bratton has filed a Notice of Appeal to revive the question of whether or not St. John should have be allow to vote on the Maier matter,
- An invalidation of the St. John vote would negate the Husted tie-breaker which would result in a Maier disqualification from the May ballot unless the Ohio Supreme Court rules otherwise
Guess what one of Nina Turner's forte is?
She is the foremost activist in the Ohio Black Legislative Caucus of which the Stark County version is a spin-off of.
So do you think that maybe, just maybe Deametrious St. John - the "political operative" (he proudly says he is) - in his role as SCBC-PAC may be pushing for Nina Turner to be elected secretary of state?
Of course!
But while they will certainly pay lip service to Deametrious and his Turner-as-secretary-of-state cause; the "Maier Loyalty Club" - the SCPR thinks - will give only that: which is to say "lip service."
With political friends (if he is typical) like Deametrious being her political operative, Nina Turner has very little chance to become secretary of state and virtually no chance to win in Stark County.
Accordingly, Husted's decision may or may not show political smarts, he is clueless on election law.
The "no brainer" talk of Robart the SCPR thinks is indicative of what Husted knows to be the case.
But for whatever byzantine political reasons he has conjured up, he decided to ignore "the rule of law" and followed his political gut feeling in making a decision that he thinks may benefit him.
Jon Husted is political through and through. And what the Maier decision shows is that Stark's Republican "powers that be" were not such that he felt that going their way was in his personal political interest.
HUSTED IS HYPOCRITICAL
A SCPR reader brought to the attention of The Report that being in addition to being a Machiavellian politician that Husted is a first rate hypocrite.
No surprise here.
Hypocrisy is a typical quality of politicians.
George T. Maier himself, the SCPR thinks, is right up there with Husted on the matter of hypocrisy.
He guaranteed Stark Countians back in January, 2013 that if he applied to be appointed by the Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee (SCDP-CC), he would be qualified under Ohio Revised Code Section 311.01.
When he was told by the Ohio Supreme Court on November 6, 2013 that his "guarantee" was bogus, then he started telling Stark Countians that the high court's decision was a "mere technicality" of law that he was going to correct.
Yet no one, including Husted this past Friday has ruled that he is now qualified under 311.01.
But Stark Countians can bet their bottom dollars that neither the SCPD-CC appointed Sheriff George T. Maier nor any of his deputies will want to hear about "mere technicalities" for those they arrest in the performance of their duties.
And that is the way it should be in our life as Americans, Ohioans, and Stark Countians and our accountability to "the rule of law."
Just not for George T. Maier and ORC 311.01.
The same goes for Husted.
Back in 2003 as a legislator on the cusp in 2004 of becoming the Ohio Speaker of the House (which, of course, establishes his political clout within the Republican caucus of the House which at the time was a supermajority along with the Senate in the Ohio General Assembly), he was a sponsor of a revision of ORC 311.11.
Now we know (March 7, 2014), Jon Husted could care "a rat's *** " about the criteria of ORC 311.01 and "the rule of law."
All this hypocrite cares about is his own political hide!
If he Ohio Supreme Court reverses him, which the SCPR thinks there is a good chance that it will, Husted will then have it every which way.
He on March 7th in the Maier and Libertarian cases took care of what he perceived to be in his and the governor's political interests.
If the high court does what the legal merits of Maier compel, Husted can then say to himself: "Jon, you have done well by yourself." and to Starks's Republican leadership "I have done no harm."
As The Report says above, being the consummate politician he is "he has had it every which way!"
What follows is a synopsis of Husted's involvement with ORC 311.01 back in 2003.
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