HAMILTON COUNTY: Coroner Shenanigans

Ohio Democrats can always be counted on for shenanigans and over in Hamilton County in the coroner's race that means putting up a false endorsement from a Republican commissioner. In a statement released by the Hamilton County Republican Party, Chairman Alex Triantafilou declared, "Lakshmi Sammarco has committed a clear violation of Ohio's election laws and deserves to face the Ohio Elections commission for her false statement. The false statement is particularly egregious because Dr. Sammarco is attempting to obscure the voters from the fact that she is a Democrat running on the Democratic Party ticket with Barack Obama in this fall's election cycle." "Dr. Sammarco should remove this photograph and phony endorsement immediately. She should then offer a public apology to Greg Hartmann, and carefully examine all of her campaign communications to be sure she is in compliance with state law. The citizens of Hamilton County should expect their Coroner to abide by state law." Triantafilou said. Dr. Pete Kambelos is the Republican in the race and is the right choice for Hamilton County.

Fisher Disses Brunner

CityBeat has a very entertaining story about the Hamilton County Democratic Women’s Caucus and their "debate" in which Lee Fisher plays the part of arrogant tool.

Both Fisher and Brunner were invited, but Fisher insisted on changing the format so that the candidates for the right to lose to Rob Portman wouldn't appear on the stage in front of the audience together.

Officially, the Hamilton Women agreed with Fisher's demands, but now some of them are speaking out anyway. Lesson for Fisher: female Democrats won't keep your secrets.

Hamilton County Update: GOP Musical Chairs

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports a number of moves being made by the Hamilton County GOP:

- Commissioner Pat DeWine said he will not seek a second term. Instead he will run for the Common Pleas judge seat expected to be vacated by fellow Republican Judge David Davis. DeWine said he made the decision for personal and professional reasons. Davis has not yet confirmed that he is retiring.

- Clerk of Courts Greg Hartmann, who also would have been up for re-election, will instead run for DeWine’s county commission seat. Hartmann said Thursday he is ready to take his experience to a “bigger platform” in order to better serve county residents. Hartmann said his priorities as commissioner would be “making the government live efficiently” and improving public safety.

- Patricia Clancy, a Republican and former state senator, is running for Hartmann’s Clerk of Courts seat. Clancy currently is assistant chief probation officer for Common Pleas Court.

None of these moves are all that surprising to me... DeWine is incapable of staying in a position for too long; Hartmann has run for "bigger and better" things before as well; and Clancy seems to be going for the bank...

3PM UPDATE: Now the Enquirer is reporting that the HamCo GOP and Dems have struck a deal:

Republican sources say that Democrat county commissioner Todd Portune will have no Republican-endorsed opponent this fall; and that the Republicans’ choice to replace Pat DeWine as county commissioner, current clerk of courts Greg Hartmann, will be given a free pass by the Democrats.

Get the full story here. Shades of Summit County here???

Hamilton County Democratic Party to Voters: "Get Bent!"

Check out this letter from Hamilton County Democratic Party chariman and executive director extolling the virtues of a propsed tax increase that the voters spoke loudly against in the last election cycle.

Once again, the Democrats have shown themselves to be uninterested in what their constituency has stated as their preference. Once again, we see that Democrats think they can spend your money better than you can. Once again, we see the plan that the Democrats have for Hamilton County...attract people to come live in the county by raising taxes.

Has that ever worked?

Elections are supposed to have consequences...