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Wednesday, July 19th, 7PM, Robert Fitrakis, Editor and Publisher of the Freepress and a practicing local attorney, Candidate for Governor, State of Ohio, will speak to the Community Leaders Forum on the topic,

“Will the Green Party Simply Be A Spoiler Factor in Ohio Politics?”

Many people are afraid that the Green Party in Ohio, as the Green Party nationally in the years 2000 and 2004, will this year, ruin the chances of the Democratic Party in Ohio to rebound from its many setbacks in state government elections in recent years.

Candidate Fitrakis will address this sensitive issue directly and head-on in a candid discussion of what is likely to happen in Ohio and nationally within the fall November state and national general elections. This forum is free and open to the broad Columbus community.

Well, this should be fun. But there’s really nothing like democracy, and democracy means trusting the people and being accountable, as a candidate for public office, for one’s actions. Since the Green Party and other independents have placed my name on the ballot as their candidate, I intend to explain the philosophy behind my candidacy as directly as possible. While I’ll go into much greater detail a week from today at the Unitarian Church, let me state the obvious.

Had the Democratic Party in Ohio and John Kerry campaign actually made good on their pledge to “count every vote” in 2004, I would not be running for governor in 2006. But that’s only one area where the Democratic Party has failed to provide a clear alternative. Remember, when an independent progressive candidate has done well, so have liberal Democrats like Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt.

But, more next Wednesday. Hope to see you there!

The Unitarian Church in Columbus is at

93 W. Weisheimer Rd.

Wednesday, July 19th, 7PM

Let a thousand lawsuits bloom! The coalition of civil rights groups that sued the state of Ohio and Blackwell, is to be congratulated. Voting should be a guaranteed constitutional right, like free speech. Voting should be standardized, universal and easy.

What the Republican Party is doing, all too often with spineless Democrat acquiescence, is shrinking the electorate while their corporatist Christo-fascist politics dedicated to war and massive war profiteering are alienating the majority of Americans. Blackwell’s latest anti-democratic directive, requiring each person who registers voters to individually return the form, is ludicrous – just like his directive for 80 bond un-waxed requirement for voter registration forms in 2004.

In a real democratic country, Blackwell would be serving time in jail for violating constitutional rights, not running as the gubernatorial candidate of a major party. Blackwell’s policies led to mass purging of voters in the 2004 election with nearly 25% of all the voters purged in the city of Cleveland. It led to the unnecessary and widespread use of provisional ballots. While Blackwell likes to point out there were a high rate of provisional ballots approved, that’s because in Republican-dominated counties the boards of elections never enforced his absurd rule that if you were a registered voter voting in the wrong precinct, but the right county, your vote wouldn’t be counted from the county level to the presidency.

Blackwell claims he’s not repressing “African American” votes although, despite being black, he loses the African American vote by 20% to Democratic opponents. This is true. Blackwell represses not only black voters, but the elderly, poor and college students – that is, all the traditional Democratic voting blocks and the core of liberal and progressive voters in Ohio.

There are many other areas that Blackwell should be sued over, but more than anything, there should be a criminal investigation on how he became a multi-millionaire while on the public payroll and the obvious trail on the 2004 stolen election. Instead of rewarding him for helping Bush (and now himself) steal elections, he should be punished. Blackwell symbolizing the death of democracy and the rise of a new kleptocracy – rule by thieves.

What do we make of the aptly named Rev. Floyd Flake, president of Wilberforce University, signing on as Ken Blackwell’s Co-Chair? First, the press release is one of the weirdest in gubernatorial history. Blackwell, a former Democrat, calls the former Democratic Congressman Flake an educator, a statesman and a national leader – ironically, all the things that Blackwell is not. Flake says that “Ken Blackwell’s the leader Ohio needs right now.” Well, I suppose with George Wallace and Mussolini dead, there’s a dearth of theocratic neo-fascist ultra-nationalists who repress minority votes, so why not elect Blackwell?

Flake goes on the say that Blackwell understands the challenges faced by institutions of higher education. Indeed, Blackwell’s higher education plan and his economic policies would make it even more challenging as he cuts aid to higher education. It’s not often you’ll see a reverend flat-out lying, but what else can you make out of the bizarre statement that “Ken Blackwell’s solid, proven leadership will get Ohio cities back on track”? I guess, if the track is hunger, homelessness, and catering to rich white suburbanites, Blackwell’s capable of that track. Kind of a retro-white-is-right track.

Blackwell and Flake are both members of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), a group of black self-proclaimed leaders who are funded primarily by white charities. This is an old tactic. W’s daddy, former CIA Director George Herbert Walker Bush, hated the civil rights movement and was elected as an anti-civil rights Congressman in 1966. But, after white supremacy and racism were no longer in vogue in the 70s, Bush the Elder embraced the United Negro College Fund and pushed wealthy white donors in that direction.

Already Black activists have called for a boycott of Wilberforce and the resignation of Flake. Students at Wilberforce waited for hours to vote in the 2004 election at the historically black college. Blacks waited 4-7 hours to vote in Franklin County during the 2004 due to the directives of Blackwell.

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