Check out what's happening in the NewQuestCity Forums for Ohio .

Talk about a way to stick it to the right. Look at this:

http://www.facebook.com/events/261817177245498/

"NOW of Greater Cleveland chapter meeting (at the Birth Control Museum!!)
Wednesday, May 2 at 5:00pm at Allen Memorial Medical Library"

I'll bet you didn't know there was a Birth Control Museum at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Yup, there is:

http://www.case.edu/affil/skuyhistcontraception/index.html

Sssh ... dont tell any Republicans. Their heads might explode to learn that women have always looked for methods to prevent or end unwanted pregnancies, and that's not going to stop just because the GOP wants to turn the clock back multiple centuries.

We got word yesterday afternoon that attorney general Mike DeWine approved the summary ballot language for a marriage equality amendment that would repeal the "Defense of [Straight] Marriage" Amendment passed in 2004 and give any two consenting adults the right to marry. It also guarantees religious groups the right not to perform or recognize any marriage that goes against their beliefs, stripping opponents of one of their biggest arguments, theoretically anyway (Unfortunately, these days, conservatives will baldly lie to gain advantage). Although DeWine had two weeks to approve or disapprove the language on this second go-around— he disapproved the first time and the amendment's promoters, FreedomOhio, rewrote it — it took him barely over a week.

Now the amendment goes to the ballot board, which has another two weeks to decide if the provisions are a single initiative or should be split up, according to FreedomOhio spokesman Dennis Willard. After that the 1,400 volunteers who have already signed up to participate will receive petitions to begin collecting the 385,274 signatures needed to get on the ballot.

"Since we're aiming for 2013, we're not too concerned," says Willard. "We're going to set up places where people can go to sign so they don't have to search around for a petition."

Former Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy, who was recently narrowly defeated in a primary bid to return to congress from Columbus' new 3rd district, will be leading the effort as CEO of FreedomOhio.

You can follow the news, sign up to volunteer, or make a donation here:

https://freedomohio.com/

Here's the text of the amendment:

The Freedom to Marry and Religious Freedom Amendment

Summary

This amendment would repeal and replace Section 11, Article XV of the Constitution to:
1. Allow two consenting adults freedom to enter into a marriage regardless of gender;
2. Give religious institutions freedom to determine whom to marry;

read more

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I threw this idea out to my Democratic Club back in February, back before Susan G. Komen for the Cure decided to destroy itself by taking marching orders from a right-wing VP and some Catholic bishops, back before Darrell Issa had his all-male panel on contraception, back before Rush Limbaugh went crazy on a young law student for daring to speak out on the subject. The War on Women was heating up, and I thought we should bring in some people on the front lines to talk to us about what's going on and what we can do about it.

So all of you are invited this Thursday April 12, at 7 p.m. to the Cleveland Heights Community Center at Mayfield and Superior for "The War on Women: How Did It Start? It's sponsored by the Cleveland Heights Democratic Club and the Cuyahoga County Democratic Women's Caucus.

It's free and open to all. You don't have to be from Cleveland Heights, you don't have to be a registered Democrat, you don't have to be a woman. You just have to be pissed off that so many right wingers have decided that women don't deserve the "freedom" and "liberty" they are always flapping their jaws about and want to do something about it.

We've got a great lineup of speakers, including:

State representative Nickie Antonio, who serves on the health committee, which hears the abortion bills before they move to the full House. (Hopefully she won't be stuck in Columbus trying to hold back another assault on the good people of this state by the minions of the governor).

Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.

Gary Dougherty, state legislative director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio.

These activists for women’s rights will share stories from the front lines on what has been going on at both the state and federal level, who’s behind the attempts to limit women’s choices, and what’s being done to push back. They will answer questions about how you can get involved.

read more

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/josh-mandel-top-aide-beginners-...

As stories coming out this week made clear, Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel stocked responsible positions in his office with young, green cronies who worked in his campaign for state treasurer (after running a campaign criticizing former treasurer Kevin Boyce for doing this, including the memorable ad about doing his hiring "at the mosque," a shameful low for a state campaign.)

Among Mandel's hires was 26-year-old Joe Aquilino, the political director of Mandel's 2010 campaign, tapped to be the debt management director of the office, charged with issuing bonds and working with underwriters.

According to Huffington Post, last year, Mandel dispatched Aquilino to a seminar for beginners, people inexperienced in municipal bond law — you know, the guy working about six rungs UNDER the director.

Municipal bond expert Wilson White told HuffPo,

Just let me say to be a director of finance of a major state at 26 in highly unusual. I know of no parallel example that I’ve come across in all my 60 years of municipal bond experience. I just find it hard to believe."

Mr. White, meet Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel. We Ohioans are finding it hard to believe just how incompetent a treasurer he is. White suggested that anyone holding the position Aquilino is should have a minimum of several years' experience in municipal bond markets.

"I say this as general rule rather than an accusation because I don’t know this guy; he may be the Einstein of bonds, but I find that extremely hard if not impossible to believe," White said. "I was brought up in bonds. I was jammed with bond knowledge by the age of 26, but I can’t imagine myself accepting such a position."

read more

Tuesday attorney general Mike DeWine approved the summary ballot language for the marriage equality amendment petition drive to repeal the "Defense of Marriage" Amendment and guarantee any two adults the tight to marry. The language then went to the state Ballot Board for approval and they had two weeks to give their thumb up or down, according to Freedom to Marry spokesman Dennis Willard.

The Ballot Board wasted no time. The language has been approved, and it's full-steam ahead:

The Freedom To Marry movement will gear up to hit the streets, clipboards and petitions in hand, to start collecting signatures after the Ohio Ballot Board approved language today to end marriage discrimination in Ohio.

"Now that the ballot language has been approved, we are moving forward to gather the signatures to place the issue on the ballot so that all loving couples in Ohio who want to take wedding vows and share their lives and love will be have their marriage recognized under our laws, while respecting the freedom of churches to perform or recognize the marriages,’ said Mary Jo Kilroy, FreedomOhio CEO.

FreedomOhio will prepare the petition for circulation across Ohio by involving more than 1,500 volunteers. To be on the ballot, the movement will need 385,245 valid signatures.

http://www.examiner.com/government-in-columbus/ohio-gop-party-leader-dew...

Bully Kasich "wins," if you want to call it that. It doesn't strike me that this is much of a win for anyone but the Democrats, just as many are declaring the winner of the Republican presidential primaries to be President Obama.

This is particular doesn't seem like good news for the Ohio GOP:

DeWine's successor, which rumor has it could be Robert Bennett, now 73 years old, who served as party chairman since 1988 and who paved the way for DeWine to succeed him in 2009, appears ready, at least on an interim basis, to again take the reigns of the party in a year when Ohio again plays a pivotal role in determining whether President Obama wins a second term or whether he's unseated by the eventual GOP standard bearer.

Or maybe Kasich will appoint one of his lobbyist cronies. We'll see. It doesn't seem likely that DeWine's resignation is going to mend the split in the Ohio Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Chris Redfern comments:

Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, tonight called DeWine “a worthy political adversary” and a friend, adding: “Kevin just got run over by a bus, and I know who was driving — John Kasich.”

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/04/Ohio-GOP-chief-...

The great thing about Ohio Daily Blog is that we can disagree here, as long as no one endorses a Republican. I respect Derek's opinion, and from time to time, I have felt frustration with Ohio Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern too.

Certainly the election results in 2010 were disappointing and destructive — and unnecessarily so. But it's hard to place the blame entirely, or even mostly, on Redfern. The most critical mistakes were made by former Governor Ted Strickland. He helped create a needlessly divisive U.S. Senate primary by allowing his operatives to work against one candidate and create an unlevel playing field (Redfern in fact helped head off Lee Fisher's request for a state party endorsement of a candidate, which would have been even more divisive). And he supported his friend Jennifer Garrison for a spot on the statewide ticket over the protests of both women and the LGBT community who didn't think an anti-mrriage-equality, anti-choice candidate fairly represented the Democratic Party.

I don't agree that Redfern hasn't been visible and aggressive in hitting back at Republicans. One of the things I like about him is his refusal to be apologetic when the Republicans are pretending to have a fainting spell over something the Democrats did. I find it a stretch to blame him for the Bob Mecklenborg coverup, or to find anything to fault in his trivial tweets (Twitter is by its nature trivial).

The reality is that Redfern has built a strong and active Ohio Democratic Party. Yes, there have been a few high-up hiring misfires. And they haven't ALWAYS been as rapid in their response as we might like — but then we Democrats are always wringing our hands and wailing about that.

Anthony Giardini, formerly chairman of the Lorain City Party, and elected to head the Lorain County Party just last week, has announced he will challenge Redfern for the position of state chair.

read more

Clark and Montgomery counties rank among the unhealthiest in Ohio outside Appalachia, while counties such as Butler and Miami moved up several spots, according to a County Health Rankings report released today.

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE - Members of the Wright-Patterson Aero Club, battling the base’s proposal to shut down the flying group, made a pitch to base officials Monday in an effort to save the 58-year-old organization.

ENGLEWOOD - A Mega Millions ticket sold at an area Kroger was among 10 tickets sold in Ohio that were one number shy of splitting the record $640 million jackpot, according to lottery officials.

More than 100 people gathered at Courthouse Square Sunday to call for justice in the slaying of Trayvon Martin in Florida and the killings of other young black men in the Dayton area.

The February shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin has resonated across the country while putting the topic of race relations in the spotlight.

DAYTON - A bartender was shot in the back early Sunday morning at a downtown Dayton nightclub that police say has become a nuisance.

DAYTON - The family of Kylen English, who died after he reportedly escaped from a police cruiser while handcuffed, then jumped off the Salem Avenue bridge, filed a lawsuit Monday against the city of Dayton and Grandview Medical Center.

The Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday regarding Sugarcreek Twp.’s opposition to the City of Centerville’s plan to apply tax incremental financing on a recently annexed property.

Special education spending for public school districts has increased dramatically in the past decade, with local suburban districts spending double, triple and even quadruple the amount they spent just nine years ago, despite only a marginal increase in the number of students.

DAYTON - Data released Tuesday reveal that 130 people died of accidental drug overdoses last year in Montgomery County, the most since 2008.

Smartphones are becoming attractive targets for hackers and producers of malicious software because many of the devices contain a wealth of sensitive personal and financial information, experts said.

BEAVERCREEK - U.S. Sen. Rob Portman on Tuesday offered an alternative vision for overhauling the nation’s health care system, contrasting it with the two-year-old health care law whose constitutionality is now being weighed by the U.S.

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Supreme Court struck down a portion of a law that requires people convicted of sex crimes as juveniles to register on sex offender lists for the rest of their lives.

WAYNESVILLE - A Waynesville High School student filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday claiming the school principal violated his First Amendment rights by forcing him to remove a T-shirt that drew attention to bullying and harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

HUBER HEIGHTS - A Montgomery Developmental Center employee who is being investigated by three state agencies about missing money from the facility has been fired.

Ohio State University paid out $25.6 million in bonuses last year, including seven of more than $1 million each, a Dayton Daily News investigation found.

By Justin McClelland Staff Writer DEERFIELD TWP. - A 23-year-old man was arrested this morning after allegedly threatening two high school students with a gun.

DAYTON - Data released Tuesday show 130 people died of unintentional drug overdoses in Montgomery County in 2011, the most in three years.