Posts

On a Mac: CTRL+Click and choose the best option (like download or Save) depending on the object your clicked.

On a PC right click and select “save link as”

These are in .doc format.

Here is the Complete Archive of Columbus Alive Bob Fitrakis articles for 1996 in Word Format

1997

1998
1998 first page missing (01/07/1998)
1999

2000

2001

2002

The following article Date and Titles are considered “The V-Files”

7/03/1996
Family values (Voinovich/Mifsud)

7/10/1996
Tommy takes the town (Voinovich)

7/10/1996
Building relationships (Voinovich)

7/17/1996
Clap if you believe (Voinovich/Banks)

7/31/1996
The governor…and the mob?

8/07/1996
Out of the frying pan (Voinovich)

8/21/1996
Uh oh Umberto (Voinovich/Turnpike)

8/27/1996
Umberto’s inner-belt blues (Voinovich)
A whiff of Y-Town (Mifsud)

9/04/1996
The high price of bucking the system (Voinovich)

9/16/1996
Who’s Farah Majidzadeh? (Voinovich pay-to-play)

10/23/1996
Deja V (Voinovich)

11/20/1996
With friends like these… (Voinovich)

01/22/1997
Last of the big spenders (Voinovich)

03/12/1997
Retro viruses (Mifsud)

07/23/1997
Banks goes a-courtin’ (Voinovich)

09/10/1997
Raking muck (Voinovich)

10/08/1997
Jailhouse crock (Voinovich)

10/15/1997
Jail sentencing not a problem (Banks/Voinovich)

10/22/1997
Coverage of V Group raises important questions

11/05/1997
Dewey’s decimals (jail/Voinovich)

11/12/1997
Voinovich jail fiasco grows

11/19/1997
Stumping (Taft campaign/Voinovich jail/Betty’s boop)

11/26/1997
Judge lets Banks off

01/21/1998
V Company blackout

2/25/1998
Stern stuff for the V Group

6/12/1998
Bits and pieces (Mifsud)

9/24/1998
The real Voinovich legacy

11/12/1998
Inside the V Group’s pattern of alleged laundering and contract steering

11/19/1998
Law and order (Voinovich)

11/26/1998
Gunslinger (voinovich)

03/04/1999
The good, the bad and the ugly (Voinovich)

4/08/1999
The V report

07/01/1999
Inside the Voinovich campaign financing report

8/12/1999
Dispatch rests while the V Group says it’s not the V Group

10/21/1999
Afraid to ask (Teater/Voinovich jail construction)

12/23/1999
The V Group dragnet narrows

1/27/2000
Oh Lord, don’t let Pauly be misunderstood (Voinovich)

07/22/2000
Holy roller (Voinovich as Bush VP)

11/02/2000
Dispatch buries V report

11/30/2000
You gotta have faith (Knights of Malta)

2/04/1998
Are the Hamiltons using the Bureau of Workers Compensation?

2/18/1998
Just the Facts, Jim (BWC)

4/08/1998
BWC under fire

5/14/1998
Mum’s the word at the State Employment Relations Board

06/25/1998
Whatever happened to Dale Hamilton?

12/28/2000
Clean air villain (Voinovich in Senate)

| voteyourself |

Salon treatment
vote-salon
Will Shilling photo

Second Saturday Salon organizers Bob Fitrakis and Connie Harris

By John Ross
From the 10/22/2008 edition

John Ross
Second Saturday Salon

You might not love talking politics. But you might not mind talking politics over a few beers, soundtracked to live music, with a friendly group of people from both sides of the spectrum.

That’s the thinking behind Second Saturday Salon, a monthly discussion group that first coalesced around a group of Olde Towne East voters unhappy with the results of the 2004 presidential election.

“The question was how to keep these people together,” said Bob Fitrakis, an election-protection attorney and publisher of local independent newspaper The Free Press. “If movements are nothing more than political drudgery and torture, no one sticks around.”

Since early 2005, the group has met at Free Press headquarters on the second Saturday of every month — and it’s come to include a wide range of people and ideas.

Activist Connie Harris, who Fitrakis tapped to create the event, agreed about the need to keep things interesting.

“It’s been a really important event for people,” Harris said. “One of the beautiful things about this event is that people of all ages come out — high-school students to people in their mid-nineties.”

Keeping elections free and open remains part of the salon, but other topics have included the Iraq war, third-party candidates, techniques for grassroots activism and energy policy.

Typically, events start around 6 p.m. and run for several hours. Formats vary greatly — from formal presentations to casual discussion groups — and this year have included artists, filmmakers and national activists, as well as Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney on Aug. 9.

What: Second Saturday Salon

When: Second Saturday of every month

Where: Hanna House, Olde Towne East

Web: freepress.org

“We wanted to have a place where people felt comfortable to talk about things,” longtime attendee Mark Stansbery said. “We’ve had discussion about a wide variety of topics. We get our lunatics there, too, but there’s always good conversation.”

A new location in the historic Hanna House, 1021 E. Broad St., should give the event new life. The mansion has meeting rooms, a ballroom for screenings and a carriage house that serves as a hub for the Columbus Indymedia Center.

On Nov. 8, the salon will host a post-election analysis party. Hopefully, Fitrakis said, results will mean a celebration. If not, artists, politicians and local activists will be ready for another challenge.

“This is going to continue,” Harris added about maintaining momentum after the campaign dies down. “There’s a lot of repair that needs to be done.”