A report produced by the League of Women Voters and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio came out today in a press conference proving that there is NO need for mandatory photo ID for all voters.  The report shows that in the past two election cycles that there have only been 4 cases of voting fraud in the last two cycles.  You have a greater chance of winning the Ohio lottery than coming across a case of voter fraud!  So once again Republicans are making up a problem, so they can implement their "solution."  Sounds like the same rhetoric they've been using for Social Security reform???

Right now there is an election reform bill pending in the Ohio Senate Rules Committee--Sub HB 3.  Currently, there is no photo ID requirement, but an additional sub bill is set to be introduced tomorrow.  Republicans could easily put the photo ID requirement in the substitute bill.  One of their members, Sen. Spada has already introduced a photo ID bill--SB 36.  

To see who is on the Senate Rules committee, click here.  To see who your legislator is, you can use this search tool.  Find out who your legislator is and contact him or her today about HB 3--insist that no ID requirement is put in this bill.

From the diaries--Chris

News about another risky investment by the BWC came out late today.  MDL, a firm that has offices in Pittsburgh, invested money for the fund and lost $ 215 million of workers' comp funds.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports about the additional funds that have been lost.

The loss of this money has been covered up and early reports say that the former director of the BWC didn't even know about some of the money transfers to MDL.  These actions were perpetrated by Terry Gasper who is no longer employed by the BWC.  

Last week, Senate Democrats led by Sen. Marc Dann tried to add provisions to SB 7, a Workers' Compensation bill moving through both the House and the Senate, to mandate more accountability by the BWC.  The bill--in general--reduces workers' rights, so Democrats have been offering numerous amendments to strengthen the bill for workers and add accountability for the BWC.  

It appears as if this legislation has been stopped for now.  This may be because of the scrutiny that State Representative Buehrer (Chairman of State Government Committee--which is overseeing the movement of the bill in the House) has been brought under because he accepted almost $8,000 in campaign contributions from Mr. and Mrs. Noe.  

Shortly after a letter from State Representative Boccieri was sent to Speaker Husted asking that Rep. Buehrer recuse himself from overseeing the hearings on SB 7, many Republicans announced that they would give back the campaign contributions to non-profits that work with the BWC.  Rep. Boccieri asked Buerher to recuse himself, because there could be a perceived bias, since he received money from the Noes who benefited from a contract with the BWC.    

It doesn't appear as if SB 7 will pass before summer recess at the end of June.  This will give constituents a chance to demand that provisions from
Sen. Dann's bill be placed in SB 7.  Make sure you contact your legislators and ask that they consider amendments to SB 7 to call for more accountability from the BWC and to NOT erode workers' rights in the process.  Click here to look up your State Representative and here for your Senator. Tell them that you demand more accountability from the BWC and protection for workers' rights!  

You can read more about Coingate here:  www.blue88.com/blog.    

"Being close is irrelevant in an election. If you get 49% of the vote, you still get nothing."
--Chris Gates, Former Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party

These are words that we all know, but probably need to hear more than once while being involved in the game of politics--especially in Ohio.  And this Saturday, a group of grassroots activists gathered at 10 am in morning at the Ohio Democratic Party headquarters to listen to Chris Gates, the former Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, to be reminded on how Ohio Democrats can take back our state.  

He stated that Democrats worry too much about being right all the time and that we should worry more about winning.  Republicans are always worried about winning.  We can worry about the nuances of issues, once we finally control some offices.