The race for Republican National Committee chairman, still unsettled with just six weeks to go until the party’s leadership election, got another jolt Friday when former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell threw his hat into the ring.
In a letter to RNC members, Blackwell touted his experience as an elected official, as well as his strength as a fundraiser and television communicator.
1. "...on January 16, 2006, a group of 31 pastors, led by Rev. Eric Williams, wrote a 13 page letter to the IRS alleging that Blackwell has enjoyed "special treatment" by two Ohio "mega-churches," World Harvest Church and Fairfield Christian Church. In the letter, the pastors accuse the two organizations of sponsoring at least nine events with Blackwell as the sole invited politician, "partisan voter-registration drives," and distribution of biased voting guides."
2. "Blackwell came under fire when on September 7 2004 his office directed Ohio's county election boards to strictly enforce a rule requiring voter registration forms be printed on 80-lb paper. Any form printed on lighter paper, such as newsprint or typing paper, would be considered an application for a new registration form, to be returned to sender to fill out again and resubmit. Many of Ohio's official forms were printed on lighter stock. Democrats alleged the rule had never been enforced, was outdated in the era of computerization, and would disenfranchise citizens unable to resubmit forms by the October 4th deadline. On September 28 Blackwell revoked the directive."
3. "Various individuals and advocacy groups have accused Blackwell of state-wide voter suppression in Ohio, including:- Failure to process voter registrations - Uneven voting machine allocation - Arbitrary and unreasonable exclusionary procedures in provisional ballot counting"
4. "On March 1, 2006 Blackwell's office accidentally published a list of 1.2 million Social Security numbers of Ohio citizens on a website along with their business filings...The data was a part of a centralized voter database, which is required by Federal law. At that time, Blackwell promised to only retain the last four digits of the Social Security number in the database to prevent future problems. However, on April 26, 2006, it was discovered that Blackwell's office had again, accidentally mailed out computer disks containing the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of 7.7 million registered voters in Ohio. The list was intended to be used by political activism groups to contact voters with campaign information."
5. "Ohio State Senator Jeff Jacobson, Republican, asked Blackwell in July, 2003 to disqualify Diebold Election Systems' bid to supply voting machines for the state, after security problems were discovered in its software,[1] but was refused. Blackwell had ordered Diebold touch screen voting machines, reversing an earlier decision by the state to purchase only optical scan voting machines which, unlike the touch screen devices, would leave a "paper trail" for recount purposes. The controversy was inflamed the next month when Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, sent a fund-raising letter to Ohio Republicans, stating that he was 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.'"
6. "On April 4, 2006, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Blackwell 'owned stock shares, down from 178 shares purchased in January 2005] in Diebold, a voting-machine [and ATM] manufacturer, at the same time his office negotiated a deal' with the company."
7. "Green Party candidates who submitted more than twice the legally required number of petition signatures to get on this fall's Ohio ballot are being stonewalled by the state's infamous Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, who has expressed personal contempt for the Greens' gubernatorial candidate, Bob Fitrakis."
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