Following up on a report posted here last night concerning the activist Judge in Delaware County, OH who has issued a “temporary restraining order” against the Green/Libertarian Party’s lawfully sought recount in Ohio, the BRAD BLOG has learned a few more EXCLUSIVE troubling details about the Republican operatives seeking to subvert the democratic process in the Buckeye State.
The restraining order was issued quietly on Nov. 23rd “without contacting or seeking any input from the candidates or their attorneys.” according to a statement issued yesterday on Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb’s website.
A continuing BRAD BLOG investigation has learned — thanks to this posting at the extremist rightwing website FreeRepublic.com — that the activist judge who issued this questionable order is Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge, W. Duncan Whitney (pictured at right). Judge Whitney is an elected Republican whose term will not expire until 2009.
As previously reported, the lawful request by a presidential candidate (two in this case) for a recount in Ohio has been agreed to by Ohio Secretary of State and Co-Chair of Ohio’s Bush/Cheney Re-Elect Committee, J. Kenneth Blackwell. Furthermore, as confirmed today by The Washington Post, the Kerry/Edwards campaign has joined “The Glibs” in filing court papers asking for “a full, fair and accurate recount” and for the restraining order to be immediately lifted.
Judge Whitney, by his order, seems to be overriding the intentions of election laws as duly created by the Ohio State Legislature, prompting this blog to wonder what constitutional legal grounds Judge Whitney has used to declare his apparent “legislation from the bench”.
As this information has come in after the Delaware County Courthouse has closed for the evening, the BRAD BLOG has, as yet, been unable to discover that information.
However, according to the FreeRepublic.com posting (copied from a now-expired Columbus Dispatch article) appointed Republican county prosecutor David A. Yost, a legal advisor for the Delware County board of elections (pictured at left), is quoted as indicating that re-counting the votes of American citizens in his Ohio county in order to ensure accuracy is simply too expensive…
Yost couldn’t immediately estimate the cost of a recount in the county, but said it would be “substantial.”
However, despite Yost’s apparently-unspecified “substantial” costs that lead Judge Whitney to issue a temporary restraining order without consulting the opposing attorneys, Sec. of State Blackwell seems to disagree with the ruling.
He pointed out Monday on MSNBC, that “The Glibs” have raised and paid the appropriate money for the recount as set by Ohio state law at $10 per precinct. Mr. Yost’s statements then, would seem to be inappropriately directed at penalizing the heroic efforts of “The Glibs” and the citizens of Ohio who seek nothing more than an accurate accounting of the voters intentions.
Despite this call for a legal and appropriate use of tax-payer funds, BRAD BLOG has discovered some interesting uses of tax-payer money over at Judge Whitney’s own webpages on the Delaware County Courthouse website.
On his own “Court Overview” page, Judge Whitney quotes biblical scripture from “an overview prepared by Judge Henry E. Shaw, Jr.” as part of a history he provides for the Delaware County, Ohio Common Pleas court.
The “overview” begins with what is termed “a brief constitutional sojourn” as follows [emphasis as used on his website]:
Judge Whitney’s “overview” on his tax-payer funded website goes on to tell how the court came about in Ohio, though it’s direct relation to “the earth being without form, and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep” remains unclear.
In a not-wholly-unrelated issue, despite the arcane ruling issued and then retracted by Blackwell last September 28th concerning the “necessary paper weight” for voter registration forms in the state, the Delware County Elections Board — a heavily Republican county — still has the following text on the front of their website as of today (two months since the ruling was lifted by Blackwell):
And so it goes…You didn’t really think Republicans would allow themselves to be ruled by democracy did you?! Not without putting up a good God-loving fight first, anyway!
CONTACTS…
W. Duncan Whitney
Judge, Delaware County Ohio Court of Common Pleas
Website: wdwhitney@co.delaware.oh.us
Phone: (740) 833-2530 Fax: (740) 833-2529
David A. Yost
County Prosecutor, Delaware County Office of Victim Services
Website: www.co.delaware.oh.us/dcovs/index.html
Phone: (740) 833-2710 Fax: (740) 833-2709
Delware County Board of Elections
Email: delaware@sos.state.oh.us
Website: www.co.delaware.oh.us/boe/index.htm
Phone: (740) 833-2080
wow. what an update! one wonders….what in the world is going on, and why aren’t more people outraged about this flagrant misuse of power?!
tracy
"why aren’t more people outraged about this flagrant misuse of power?!"
Because no one knows. I’ve tried to talk to my friends about these kinds of issues… no one wants to hear it. Granted, I’m 18 and it’s kind of granted than my age group is somewhat apathetic, but it’s still disheartening.
WOW……. abuse of power is not the word for it Disrespect ! NOT just to the people of Ohio……….
TOTAL Disrespect for the Law
Guardian’s of the Law ? Give me a break
something is wrong here in this America
At the rate we are going…………. the 200 year experiment may-be close to its end
I think Yost is right in protecting the people of his county from a recount being forced by candidates that faired worse than Alan Keyes did in IL! Let the recount go forward, but only if these candidates that garnered just about 0% support pay ALL of the costs of the recount. The filing fee on the books is great to talk about, but after that is paid, the tax payers of OH will need to pay a minimum of 10X that to do the actual recount!
With a difference far exceeding 100K votes, it is not fair to force these tax payers to pick up the tab for these two candidates. Yes, we want to make sure elections are fair, but lets face the facts. 100K votes were not stolen. Once again. If people want ot force a recount that will not change the election, let them pay, not the poor people of OH wo are still stuck in an economic funk that most of the rest of the country has rocketed out of!
I’m not surprised that the judge is a religious right fanatic…so far…it seems like nearly every Republican election official across the country has connections to the small but LOUD minority…and boy are they making noise now about their "mandate."
Peace…keep up the excellent work, Brad.
say what, wbill13?
"Yes, we want to make sure elections are fair, but lets face the facts. 100K votes were not stolen."
If your opinion were a fact, then your argument about the cost of the recount might cut some ice. But as it stands, NOBODY HAS ANY IDEA how many votes were stolen. That’s one of the things that people are trying to find out.
Nice to see you made your way over wbill13.
But the misleading that you and your Freeper friends are doing, contending that "The Glibs" are "not paying" is disingenous at best, and a cynical lie at worst.
The cost for the recount is set by Ohio Law *before* the election. It was told to The Glibs by Blackwell. They raised the money and paid up.
(Remember when you and your friends in 2000 complained that the law in Florida was set *before* the election and complained — wrongly — that Gore wanted it changed? Shoe is on the foot now, wbill13.)
The Glibs are following THE RULE OF LAW.
Why do you Republicans hate The Rule of Law?
Why do you Republicans insist on misleading America about it?
"If a story is never reported in the media… Did it ever really happen?"
Dems need to get off their but and start funding a huge PR, Advertising and media machine. It’s the only way to fight the republicans, at their own game. The parrelels that i can see mirror closely another great use of orginazation and PR, and that was from the NSDAP… who later became the Nazi party in Germany.
My fear is the democrats are taking up the position Germanies SDP took up years ago, which lead to their downfall, and being outmatched and over run.
It’s not the same, but it’s very similar. Dems need to fight back with their own Propaganda machine (or PR for the politically correct).
Billions (over half a trillion) arn’t spent on PR and advertising every year because it "might work".
Everybody thinks it dosn’t effect them, so it dosn’t effect anyone. THEY ARE WRONG
wake up, media and communication aare what they need to focus on, not just a "new direction". None will listen if you don’t have the means to get your message out clearly, just look at what has been found since nov 2nd…
"I Declare The 2004 Election Invalid: Someone I do not know was prevented from voting"
This election is not over and it is invalid.
Proposal for what we can and should do is posted here:
http://www.democraticundergroun...uss/duboard.ph…
Peace.
I’m one of the "Activist" Judge’s five adult sons. Some FACTS:
1. Five sons all voted for Kerry, mom (wife of activist judge Whitney) voted for Kerry, and while I’m not going to disclose the Judge’s specific politics this election, I will say that he voted for NEITHER Kerry NOR Bush.
2. This Judge may be the only one in Ohio, Republican or Democrat, that has seen the Robert Greenwald films, is familiar with Mr. Chomsky, has read dozens of books from BOTH sides on the state of Democracy in America, the candidates, the policies, and the great fiction that was the 43rd presidency to-date.
3. The "politics" of Judge Whitney: anti capital punishment, pro civil union for gay couples, supports roe v. wade, and so on…
4. I’m not going to discuss the legal case, but keep in mind that this decision only affects Delaware County, in which there were NO INDICATIONS WHATSOEVER of voter fraud, error, or any other kind of impropriety that would be the "evidence" that would warrant a recount. While there were very likely shenanigans of all kinds in more urban locations, Delaware is small town USA — the poll workers are 70 years old and everyone knows each other. I walked into the local Republican headquarters here a week before the election with a Kerry lawn sign, and asked them why in the world I’d vote for Bush. One of the guys I was arguing with owns the Christmas tree farm where we got our trees when I was growing up. While the Republicans here are numerous, they sure as heck aren’t the midwest wing of the Neo-SS.
YOU COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG about the integrity of this Judge (my father), and his personal political perspective, and, indirectly, the nature of the community you’re slandering. Don’t let your frustration over the political state of America (which I share) lead you to adopt the same short-on-truth smear tactics used by the other side.
DH, Jr. –
As your last paragraph seems to hint, you may have picked up on the (somewhat) satirical use here of the "tactics used by the other side".
I would be happy to chat with either you or your father about this business, and, in fact attempted to contact him at his office today to no avail.
Please feel free to email here and I’ll be happy to give you my phone number, or I will call you or your father concerning this matter.
As you know, your father’s ruling was not explained in a written ruling, and the oppossing counsel was not contacted prior to the ruling.
Therefore, I would be happy to get information from him on the legal precedent for the ruling and hear his reasons for doing so without hearing first from the opposing counsel.
Again, please feel free to click here to email me, and we can discuss the situation further.
Thanks for your input and I look forward to chatting with you soon.