Jennifer Brunner is typical of liberals--a partisan hack. She tried to get three people that the voters of Greenfield in Highland County wanted on the ballot taken off. In other words, she was intruding on their election by executive fiat, acting more like a queen than an elected official. And why? because a few Democrats on the Highland County election board didn't like the results. With a tip o'the cap to WMD regular reader Gary, here is the story from the Times Gazette:A Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge ruled against a decision by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner late Tuesday afternoon, validating three Greenfield City Council candidates for next Tuesday's general election.
The ruling is in favor of Bob Bergstrom, Amy Ernst and Eugene Kropfelder, who were among nine Greenfield residents who had their candidacies ruled invalid by Brunner.
Those three join Clifton Chamblin, Harvey Everhart and Earlene Scott, along with write-in candidates Karol Osterloh and Karen Wagoner, as candidates now eligible for election.
The candidacies of Chamblin, Everhart and Scott were certified by the Highland County Board of Elections Aug. 29. However, the board was split 2-2 on the decision of whether to certify the candidacies of Bergstrom, Clawson, Ernst, Hester, Howland, Kropfelder, Narcross, Redenbaugh, Wagoner and Emerick because their names had appeared on the primary ballot.
On Oct. 5, Brunner broke the tie by ruling that none of the candidates in question could be certified.
The issue surrounding the candidates' certification stems from an election law enacted by the Ohio Legislature last year that prohibits any person whose name appears on a ballot in a primary election from running for another office in the following general election.
Complicating the matter is the passage of a referendum by Greenfield voters at the primary election to change their form of government from mayoral and sectional council positions to a five-member, at-large city management council. When the referendum passed, it did away with the council positions the candidates in question had filed for.
In her decision, Brunner claimed the matter is not supported by precedent and that "changing the form of government under which one lives is no light endeavor. ... I presume that the voters of Greenfield contemplated all of the ramifications of changing their form of government when they chose to do so at the special election held on May 8, 2007."
OK, stop the presses. Note the dripping invective against these hicks out in Highland County. She is using the typical liberal trick of trying to question their foresight and intelligence and contemplation. Jennifer Brunner is a disgusting hack.
In his ruling Tuesday, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard A. Frye wrote: "... Secretary Brunner recognized in her decision that the 'facts of this case are rare, or unique;' given this setting, it would be a harsh rule indeed to completely eliminate three candidates from the public's consideration at next week's general election in Greenfield merely because - before the rules of the game were changed - they indicated interest in public offices that no longer exist.
"At oral argument, (Brunner) and the (Highland County Board of Elections) urged that these public-spirited citizens should be held to have lost their opportunity to be candidates this year under the new form of government. They assert that such a result should be sensible because they read the statutory language as unambiguous, and practically speaking think these candidates ought to have anticipated that the voters might abolish the old form of government in Greenfield. That is, before the primary election was even held they contend the candidates should have known that Greenfield's voters would opt to move to the new city manager form of government. The problem with that argument is that clairvoyance is not a requirement of law. ..."
Ouch, Jen, does it hurt to be smacked down that bad???? I mean, she says first that this is extraordinary and unique, then she basically says that the candidates had to be Kreskin and should have known a change was taking place. Sounds like moving the goalposts. Glad the judge saw this.
In conclusion, Frye wrote: ... "The Highland County Board of Elections shall legally certify the candidates' nominating petitions for the Nov. 7 general election ballot and cease advising prospective voters that ballots cast for them may not be effective legally. ..."
Ernst, who notified The Times-Gazette of the decision, said, "I'm just glad that the citizens of Greenfield are going to have the people they want on the ballot back on the ballot."
Yes, shouldn't it be the votes that count, not the monarchical fiat of Queen Jennifer Brunner?
