Kenneth "Conflict-of-Interest" Blackwell

If you're not familiar with Kenneth Blackwell by now, you should be. This man is one of the vilest pieces of garbage in public office today, in my opinion. And that's quite a distinction considering the garbage we now have in the White House.

Kenneth Blackwell is currently the Secretary of State in the State of Ohio. Like Katherine Harris in the 2000 Florida election debacle, Mr. Blackwell (ab)used his position as the state's top election official and openly served as co-chair of the Bush presidential re-election campaign in 2004. He was the one responsible for the systematic disenfranchisement of (largely Democratic) voters. He was the one responsible for the inequities in voting machine allocations causing huge waiting lines and effectively suppressing an incalculable number of (largely Democratic) votes. He was the one who thwarted and stonewalled all attempts to obtain a fair recount. He is the one responsible for delivering Ohio to Bush in such a corrupt and crooked way, and essentially delivering Bush to the Nation for a second 4-year term of evil, fear, darkness, and despair. (Or, perhaps you choose to believe the right-wingnuts in some of the media who say the economy is strong and everything is rosey).


A New Election Cycle

Mr. Blackwell is at it again... He's running for Governor in Ohio to replace Bob Taft, who as a sitting Governor, is a convicted criminal for state ethics violations. As Blackwell stacks the election deck to ensure an all-electronic election in the state of Ohio, he awarded bids to the infamous Diebold company for voting equipment. Oh, and did I forget to mention that he invested in Diebold stock (by accident, he claims)? Couldn't possibly be a conflict-of-interest there, now could it?

Don't forget that these Diebold voting machines are paper-less and audit-less and easily hackable. We know that from the extensive research that was conducted in and around the November 2004 election. We know that there have been many hundreds of election irregularities specifically involving these machines.

And now, with an election investigation underway in Ohio, what do you think Mr. Blackwell did to ensure a thorough and impartial investigation? Do you think he recused himself and allowed a truly independent investigation to take place? Noooooooooo. Kenneth Blackwell has decided to head up the investigation himself..... the investigation on himself! Well, that's one way to ensure that you're not found guilty of any wrongdoing!


Does This Sound Familiar?

It should. This is a very typical political tactic that the Bush Administration and Republicans in the Senate & House have employed. Did they appoint an independent counsel to investigate the post-Katrina debacle when Hillary Clinton proposed it? Noooooooo. Did they appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Downing Street Memos and the Bush Administration's flagrant misuse and fabrication of pre-war intelligence? Nooooooo. Did they appoint an independent counsel to investigate the misuse of power in wiretapping Americans without warrants? Noooooooo. Did they appoint an independent counsel to investigate the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay? Noooooooo.

This is the way they operate. With a majority in both the Senate & House, they have all the power to control the investigations... of themselves. I think the only reason some of these scandals have scored (Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Scooter Libby, Tom Delay) is because their offenses are so numerous and egregious that the public won't allow them to get away with them anymore. Plus, the Republicans in Congress need to start wiping their noses clean with an election coming up in November.

But, I'll tell you... if the Democrats really do take back Congress in November, there will be a massive, rude-awakening in Washington. And we can only hope it goes all the way to the top.