Earth Day

Just a friendly reminder that Earth Day is this Tuesday, April 22. We urge you to take five minutes out of your day and do something nice for the planet. It doesn't mean that you have to take the day off of work and pick up trash along I-75 all day (although it sure could use it)..........just maybe pick up trash along your street, change a few light bulbs to CFL's, open some windows instead of turning on the A/C, you get the point. Nature.org has some great ideas for you here:http://www.nature.org/earthday/?kw=google&gclid=CPq-t5306ZICFQijPAodcVOpdg

Although we would like to think that both candidates in this Congressional race will be participating in some form, given Steve Chabot's rating of 15% by the League of Conservation Voters (one of the worst in Congress), you would be more likely to see him throwing trash out of the window of his '93 Buick than helping out. Link to his entire environmental record here:http://www.govote.com/OH/Steve_Chabot_Environment.htm.

Happy Earth Day.

Driehaus Kicks Off Campaign With a Bang

The Front Porch Coffeehouse in West Price Hill was packed with supporters for the Denise Driehaus Campaign kickoff on Sunday night. Plenty of snacks and hors d'oeuvres were available as the candidate mingled and answered questions throughout the night.
Her brother, Steve introduced the candidate to the crowd and quickly stepped aside to give her the spotlight. During her speech she highlighted the four main issues of her campaign as Economic Development, Education, Housing and Recreation. She noted that the bar had been set high by her brother but she intended to keep the seat "blue" and work hard for Ohio for many years to come. Also, while talking about the current housing crisis, she gave a nod to Steve noting that "some had the foresight to see the foreclosure problem on the horizon seven years ago".
Judging by the amount of people who turned out for this event, it seems likely that this seat will indeed stay in the family.............
Stay tuned for updates from the Gehring campaign when and where it kicks off......though we are guessing it will not be held at Leslie Ghiz's office, or during a Blue Chip meeting.

Photo of the Day

What is Steve Chabot mad about???

Denise Driehaus Campaign Kickoff

The Denise Driehaus for State Representative Campaign will officially kickoff this weekend with an event in West Price Hill. You can link to her campaign website here: http://www.aryehalex.com/Denise_Driehaus/Denise_Driehaus.html.

She will face Scott Gehring who ran against Steve Driehaus last cycle but was defeated handily, garnering only 33% of the vote. Gehring is no stranger to local political controversy having been fired by Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz in the middle of his campaign in '06 when she caught him campaigning at City Hall on her dime. He then went to work on the losing campaign of Melanie Bates, and was forced to resign as President of the Blue Chip Young Republicans because of it. He hasn't had much going for him since. We would provide a link to the Gehring site but it, like the Chabot site, is still under construction.

We will keep you updated on this race as well as it unfolds............

Chabot Among "Rubber Stamp Elite"

According to The Washington Post, Steve Chabot is above average when it comes to towing the party line. The statistic shows that he has voted how President Bush and top Republicans want him to 90.6% of the time while the average for all other Republicans combined is just above 85%.

On another note, President Bush's approval ratings slipped to 28% this week. If Chabot wishes to continue billing himself as an "independent thinker", he will have to try and distance himself from these numbers.

Chabot Still Plagued by Scandal

It looks like Steve Chabot will have alot of explaining to do once this campaign heats up. Shown here with longtime friend and supporter Ken Blackwell, whose name has been synonymous with corruption since 2004, Chabot's office has been under fire over the last few weeks with charges of corruption and scandal. Many questions were raised several weeks ago when Chabot used his office in Washington to forward campaign e-mails in support of a Republican hopeful from Illinois, an abuse not allowed by Congressional rules. This incident reminded us of the 2006 election, when once again Chabot was caught abusing his Congressional privileges to send campaign materials to Republican households at taxpayers expense.

Now, it seems the company he keeps is coming under fire. Just over a week ago Chabot brought in for a fundraiser Newt Gingrich, who is known infamously not only for his infidelity but also his involvement in the "House Banking Scandal" where he personally wrote 22 bad checks.

Ken Mehlman, former chair of the Republican National Committee as well as Campaign Manager for George W. Bush, is shown at right speaking at Chabot's office last cycle during a rally. During his tenure as White House political director, he allegedly orchestrated the 2002 Phone Jamming Scandal for which co-conspirator James Tobin was later convicted for. Let's not get into his close relationship with President Bush and Dick Cheney, who said last week that he did not care what the American people thought about his policies regarding the war in Iraq.

We expect to see Steve Chabot and his team scrambling hard over the next few months to try and clear his name from the scandals that seem to follow him wherever he goes. Maybe they will find some time in there to get that website up and running!

Chabot schedules more "TownHall" events

The Chabot campaign sent out fliers last week to mostly Republican households around the district advertising the next series of "TownHall" events. Once again, the fliers were paid for and sent unethically at taxpayer expense.........saving him thousands of dollars in the process.

The first charade is scheduled for April 7 from 7-8pm at Harrison High School and the next is set for April 21 from 7-8pm at the Delhi Senior Center.

As we mentioned in an earlier post, it is extremely difficult to get an opportunity to ask Mr. Chabot a question during one of these events. He generally speaks for around 40-45 minutes, leaving 15-20 minutes for questions which are mostly asked by planted campaign staffers. However, in the slight chance (and we mean SLIGHT) that someone reading this may get called upon, we have come up with a list of questions that we feel like Mr. Chabot needs to answer.

1) What exactly does a Tribe of Indians from Mississippi have to do with the First Congressional District of Ohio, and why would they be giving you campaign money if not to buy your vote?
2) Why have you refused to keep your campaign promise from 1994 to limit yourself to six terms if elected?
3) How do you explain the $1.6 million dollars worth of pork you inserted into a 2007 appropriations bill to help companies ran by many of your large donors when you campaign against such earmarks and criticize others for doing far less?
4) Why the combover?
5) You have taken thousands of dollars over your career from anti-environment activist Bob Murray (profile:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Murray), a mine owner who has been front and center during the mine tragedies of recent years. Is his constant flow of campaign cash the reason for your recent stance against mine safety regulations?
6) Why is it more important for you to give huge tax breaks and incentives to Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil than to help provide health insurance for Ohio children?
7) Why doesn't everyone in the district receive an invitation to attend your "TownHall" meetings?
........................you get the point. There are alot of questions that have gone unanswered or have simply been ignored up to this point. If there is a question YOU have for either candidate, please let us know and we will try and get an answer for you!

Driehaus and Supporters to celebrate Cincinnati Tradition

Steve Driehaus and supporters are planning to march in the annual Cincinnati Reds Opening Day Parade downtown Monday morning. Cincinnati.com will cover a live stream of the parade beginning at 11am. Link here:http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=CINCI

Rep. Driehaus had quite a large following for the St.Patrick's Day parade a few weeks ago and, judging by the large amount of early support he has garnered around the district, we don't expect them to be dampered by the forecast which calls for rain all day (also, another Cincinnati tradition).

No word from the Chabot camp on wheter or not they plan on participating this year.

Questions Linger about Chabot's Pork Projects

Many questions still linger about the $1.6 million earmark Mr. Chabot inserted into the Fiscal 2007 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. Chabot has been a longtime public critic of pork-barrel projects but seems to have done an unexplainable "about face" while arranging for this taxpayer money to be used for a number of local projects which would benefit the companies of eleven men and women who serve as part of his inner circle. The staggering amount of the monies set aside perplexed even Republican legislators such as Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) who has the following excerpt on the Government page for the Senate subcommittee on Federal Financial Management:

Eleven men and women who were identified as hosts or co-hosts on an invitation to a March Chabot fundraiser featuring House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) serve in leadership roles with the organizations in Chabot’s district that would receive federal money. It is not clear what relationship, if any, exists between the campaign donations and the federal money lined up for the pet causes of the donors. Indeed, it can be difficult for the public to understand why federal dollars are apportioned the way they are. “The suspicion has been that the way money works in politics is that those who give get, and this example appears to confirm that,” said Ellen S. Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation.

Link to the entire story here:http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?FuseAction=LatestNews.NewsStories&ContentRecord_id=1f36d469-802a-23ad-4ac6-5bdd0bdd1413&Issue_id=&IsTextOnly=False

Chabot's change of heart seems to go hand in hand with his major policy flip-flops in recent years. When running for his first term in 1994, Chabot campaigned speaking out against huge tax breaks for major corporations or what he billed "Corporate Welfare". However, the Cheney Energy Bill of 2005 contained over $23 Billion in tax breaks and incentives for Major Oil companies already raking in record profits. Mr. Chabot gave his full support to the piece of legislation. Again in 2006, he lobbied hard against an increase in the Federal Minumum Wage saying it would destroy the economy, even though it had not been raised in over 9 years. However, when a provision was inserted into the bill which would essentially give many of his wealthy donors another tax break, he changed his mind and said now that an increase would be GOOD for the economy.

Mr. Chabot still has alot of questions to answer about these donors who seem to be able to write their own blank checks on behalf of Congressman Chabot and the taxpayers.

Chabot continues Campaign against Environment

110th Congress / Bills / H R 1495
Title
To provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, to authorize the Secretary of the Army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States, and for other purposes.

The Water Resources Act of 2007 ultimately passed the House by a margin of 361-54. It then went to the Senate where it passed with numbers great enough to override the threat of veto by President Bush. Anti-environment ambassador Dennis Hastert even voted for it. So why, beyond all reason, would Steve Chabot not support this bill? The answer, to us, seems very clear................$$$$$$$$$$.

The six-term Congressman has taken thousands of dollars throughout his career from anti-environment groups such as the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the National Mining Association, an organization led by Right-Wing activist and mine owner Bob Murray (profile:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Murray).

Mr. Chabot has been a long time enemy of environmental projects. His rating of 15% by the League of Conservation Voters is among the lowest and most embarrassing scores in the entire House. Link to his entire record here:http://www.govote.com/OH/Steve_Chabot_Environment.htm

Driehaus Open House

The Driehaus Campaign open house was held last night at their headquarters on Glenmore Ave. and was reportedly a huge success. The event was very well attended by supporters from all areas of the district.
There is alot of momentum with the Driehaus camp right now mainly due to the strong amount of support and respect Mr. Driehaus has earned from community residents during his tenure in the statehouse. The candidate mingled among the crowds and welcomed supporters who were "fired up" at the prospect of taking on Chabot in November.

While the Driehaus campaign is up and running strong at this point, the Chabotians seem to be still scrambling to recover from recent scandal and corruption allegations. Mr. Chabot was recently once again caught using his office and Congressional privileges for campaign purposes. A practice that is not only unethical and against Congressional rules, but also something Mr. Chabot has been involved with in the past.
It looks like all of these problems are keeping them from getting the Chabot website up and running. Link here:http://www.stevechabot.com/ or also at the bottom of this page.
We will keep you posted on any updates and changes.

It must be an election year........Chabot to hold "Town Hall"

Here is the Press Release:

Congressman Steve Chabot will be at the Grove Banquet Hall, 9158 Winton Road, from 7-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 25.
Chabot will give a local congressional update, touch on issues such as the economy and job market, give updates on the happenings in Washington, and have a question-and-answer session following his talk.
Light refreshments will be available.
Call 522-1154 for more information.

It seems we are now entering "Town Hall" season in the campaign. Since 2003, the year of Mr. Chabot's first "Town Hall" meeting, the number of these things has increased every election year. Although they are typically nothing more than staged stump speeches with planted questions, it seems Mr. Chabot may have learned a small lesson in the way his campaign advertises the actual events. During the 2006 season, fliers were sent out advertising the them, but only to Republican households in the district. By abusing his Congressional postage privileges, Chabot was able to use taxpayer money and avoid paying for postage, saving thousands of dollars in the process.

This time around, a small article in the local Community Press in Forest Park announced the campaign event. No fliers, no radio announcement, no robo-call.

If the Congressman is serious about listening to what his constituents have to say, then why not send fliers to every household and invite everyone.......not just Republicans?

You can be sure that we will have full coverage of this spectacle. Who knows, maybe we will get to ask him a question!

Newt Gingrich, shown here working closely with Tom DeLay, will be in town on Wednesday for a Chabot fundraiser downtown. For $1000.00 a ticket, you can rub elbows with the former Speaker of the House and hear him speak on a number of issues. However, we doubt he will want to discuss any of his dealings with Mr. DeLay........or talk about his first wife, or his second wife, or his third wife........who happens to be one of his former staffers with whom he had an affair.

It seems pretty risky for Mr. Chabot to bring in someone with such a speckled past to help him raise money, given the hot water his own office has been in during recent weeks. Gingrich not only has serious moral issues, but ethical ones as well. On top of his notorious infedelity during his three marraiges , he has been involved his several high level scandals including the House bank scandal where he personally wrote 22 bad checks, not to mention his close relationship with Tom DeLay as shown in the photo above.

Tap Project

"It's our single most bountiful resource. Yet, water is a daily privilege millions take for granted. The little known truth is that lack of clean and accessible drinking water is the second largest worldwide killer of children under five."

That is the Mission Statement of TAP PROJECT, an organization which pairs with UNICEF to bring clean drinking water to children around the world who would otherwise go without.
Beginning Sunday, March 16 through Saturday, March 22, restaurants will invite their customers to donate a minimum of $1 for the tap water they would normally get for free. For every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days. There are several local restaurants on the list, go here to check them out:http://www.tapproject.org/cities/cincinnati

We think it is a worthy cause and hope you will too.

Chabot Caught Lying about Term Limits

As we have reported here earlier, Congressman Chabot was elected to Congress in 1994 under the wave of Republican momentum mainly garnered by Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America". What Mr. Chabot promised that day, along with everyone else who signed the "Contract" was that if elected he would limit himself to six terms or twelve years and then step down.
Link to our previous story here:http://ohiofirstpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/02/steve-chabots-contract-with-who.html

During an online chat with The Enquirer in October of 2006, Chabot was asked about his refusal to keep his word on that promise. Here is the actual transcript from that exchange:

SHARKY (12:19:03 PM)
Congressmen Chabot, Why have you changed your mind about term limits? You originally supported term limits and now your running for another term in congress.

Steve Chabot (12:19:43 PM)
Actually, I have not changed my mind about term limits. I never promised to self-term limit.

The exchange was left at that and never brought up again.
Link to the entire transcript here:http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061030/NEWS01/310300017

Given the recent scandal out of Steve Chabot's office paired with a pattern of corruption that leads back to campaign contributions from Mississippi Indian Tribes looking to buy Casino votes, we feel this is an issue of character that must be raised this election cycle.

Chabot breaks House rules.........again.

On Friday, Steve Chabot's office sent an email to other Congressional offices asking all members to send their interns to the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) to help make campaign calls for Jim Oberweis who was running to take over Dennis Hastert's seat in Illinois.

It is a violation of house rules to use taxpayer and House resources for campaign purposes.
From "The Hill":

“If you have interns sitting around today, please send them over to the RNC...to phone bank for Oberweis,” the e-mail states.
Matthew Lillibridge, a staff assistant in Chabot’s office, forwarded the e-mail to aides in other congressional offices, apparently violating House rules against using House resources for campaign purposes. Lillibridge used his House e-mail address, forwarding the e-mail to other addresses on the House e-mail server.
“It raises questions as to what other activities are taking place in Congressman Steve Chabot’s office on the taxpayer’s dime,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesman Doug Thornell told The Hill.

Link to the entire story here:http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/chabots-office-apologizes-for-apparently-breaking-house-rules-in-campaign-e-mail-2008-03-08.html

This is not Mr. Chabot's first episode exploiting taxpayer resources for campaign purposes. He came under fire last election cycle for the illegal practice of "franking". Members of Congress do not have to pay postage on mail sent to constituents when it is not campaign related. Mr. Chabot used this privilege to send campaign flyers to Republican households throughout his district, allowing him to use taxpayer money and save campaign cash.

Chabot slams community, votes "NO" on GIVE act

Yesterday Steve Chabot once again voted lockstep with Congressional Republicans and voted "NO" on H.R. 2857 which would reauthorize the GIVE act (Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education).

Major text and purpose of the bill follows:

`(9) expand and strengthen service-learning programs through year-round opportunities, including during the summer months, to improve the education of children and youth and to maximize the benefits of national and community service, in order to renew the ethic of civic responsibility and the spirit of community to children and youth throughout the United States;
`(10) assist in coordinating and strengthening Federal and other citizen service opportunities, including opportunities for participation in emergency and disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery;
`(11) increase service opportunities for our Nation's retiring professionals, including such opportunities for those retiring from the science, technical, engineering, and mathematics professions to improve the education of our Nation's youth and keep America competitive in the global knowledge economy, and to further utilize the experience, knowledge, and skills of older Americans;

The bill would extend school-based incentive programs introduced in 1990 including "Learn and Earn" which grants higher-learning scholarships to students in grades 6-12 who participate in at least 100 hours of community-based service education during those years.

You can read the full text of the bill here:http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/110_hr2857.pdf

Mr. Chabot has a long record of voting against such programs, including the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It will be interesting to see what effect his record will have in his race against Mr. Driehaus, who has long supported Ohio's children and communities.

More questions on Steve Chabot and Indian tribes...

During the 2006 race between Chabot and John Cranley, some interesting questions were raised that we feel never got answered. During the "great scandals" within the GOP that year, it was revealed that somewhere in the shuffling of money between Jack Abramoff and his clients that Steve Chabot had received campaign contributions from at least three Indian tribes (none of which are anywhere near the First Congressional District of Ohio). After receiving this money, Mr. Chabot, along with other various Republicans in the House, wrote letters and essentially lobbied on their behalf. Link to the story here: http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=191

More on Chabot's "Abramoff money" from the Indian Tribes here:http://www.capitaleye.org/abramoff_recips_detail.asp?type=R&Name=Steve+Chabot+(R-Ohio)

Outside of the main concern of corruption here, our biggest question is :

WHAT DO THE MISSISSIPPI BAND OF CHOCTAW INDIANS HAVE TO DO WITH THE FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF OHIO???

We feel Mr. Chabot needs to come clean on this issue during this campaign.

Does this make Bush a communist?

President Bush, seen here with Chinese leader Hu Jintao dressed in traditional Chinese garb. It makes us wonder if the same rules apply here as they have for Barack Obama over the past few weeks. Quick, someone call Matt Drudge.................

Are Catholics still mad at Chabot??

This excerpt from an October Enquirer story:

Rep. Steve Chabot is under attack from members of his own religion – Catholics.
Chabot, a Republican from Westwood, is among 10 Catholic members of Congress who are being targeted in a radio ad sponsored by Catholics United for voting against legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP.
It will air primarily on Christian and talk radio stations from Monday to Wednesday, and feature a mother urging Chabot to support SCHIP, saying that voting against health care for poor children is not a "pro-life" or "pro-family" vote.
“Building a true culture of life requires public policies that promote the welfare of the most vulnerable,” said Chris Korzen, executive director of the group, said in a release. “Pro-life Christians who serve in Congress should honor this commitment by supporting health care for poor children.”


The odd thing is that Chabot voted early in his tenure, 1997 to be exact, in favor of creating SCHIP which helps provide health care for thousands of Ohio children who would otherwise go without. The question here is why the change of heart?

If you look back through Mr. Chabot's past voting record versus votes cast is recent years, you start to see a pattern. In 1994, he first ran for congress on the platform of ending tax breaks for Big Oil and Corporations which he infamously dubbed "Corporate Welfare". However, after receiving thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Oil companies, he supported vigorously the Cheney energy bill which essentially did just that.......gave millions to Big Oil and corporations through tax breaks and incentives.

Given Mr. Chabot's tendency of flip-flopping on issues on the basis of campaign cash, we don't expect this issue to go away anytime soon and to play a major role in the campaign.

For all "O'Bama" supporters

This is the new St. Patty's day Obama shirt. Regardless of where your support will go, you have to admit it is pretty clever. For those interested you can link here:http://store.barackobama.com/Shirts_s/100.htm

They are pretty backed up though, so it may take a few weeks after you order.

with all the talk of Patriotism.......

This has nothing to do with the First Congressional District but it is damn funny. Intoxination posted this today along with a story you can check out here http://www.intoxination.net/

Children's Health Care

This cartoon from Kelly Croy says it all...........Sure to be a hot topic of debate when the election heats up is the contrasts between the candidates regarding Children's Health Care. Rep. Driehaus has fought hard to expand programs guaranteeing insurance for Ohio children while Mr. Chabot has consistently voted against such programs (once again obliging President Bush's wishes).

It's Decision Time..........

This coming November will be serious decision time for many voters in the First Congressional District.

In the November 2006 General Election, Steve Chabot received 53% of the vote to regain his seat. In the race for State Representative, Steve Driehaus received 67% of the vote to regain his seat. What that means is that out of all the voters who had both Chabot and Driehaus on their ballot, at least 14% of them cast their ballots for BOTH candidates.

Both campaigns are sure to be targeting those voters in the upcoming months.

President's Day Question...........

What should be the biggest priority for Steve Driehaus if he expects to defeat Chabot in November?

All Opinions Welcome................

New Campaign Office

The new Driehaus campaign office is in the process of moving into 3739 Glenmore Ave. in Cheviot, just down the street from Chabot's office on Harrison which, we've heard has a private parking garage built especially for the Buick.

Candidate Web Sites

We've added a new feature to the bottom of this blog.......you can search the candidates web sites through Google for any content of questions you might have. It looks like the Driehaus site is up and running strong whereas the Chabot site has not been updated since the last election. Stay tuned for updates!!

Poll Results

The rusults of the last poll are in and it looks like this..........

Barack Obama 71.4% (15 votes)
Hillary Clinton 19.0% (4 votes)
John McCain 9.0% (2 votes)

No other candidate listed received any votes. I guess we can see which direction most of our readers are leaning!

On another note, it is a safe bet to say that one of the votes cast for McCain was not Steve Chabot.........not yet anyway.

Chabot..........waiting for someone to tell him what to do

Steve Chabot, true to form, said in this morning's Enquirer that he will not be supporting anyone in the Republican presidential race until the party decides on a clear candidate. It seems as though he is once again waiting for someone to tell him how to think.

Just as Big Oil Companies who have donated to his campaigns have told him which energy policies to support.............. just as Big Bank Lenders have funneled money into his campaigns to guarantee his support of bills that slash student loans and make it more difficult to pay for college.........just as he has waited for President Bush to tell him how to vote 92% of the time over the last seven years...............we will have to wait this one out until he knows it is what the Republican Party wants him to do.

Great Response!!!! Help spread the word!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone reading this blog and helping to get the word out over the last week or so........We will continue to post news and comments every other day or so (and conduct new polls) until the campaigns really start to heat up and things really get fun. In the meantime, keep telling others about this site and linking us to friends so we can get the word out!!!

Steve Chabot's Contract with Who??

Many of you may remember way back in 1994 when Steve Chabot first ran for Congress. That was the year, halfway through Bill Clinton's first term as President, that Newt Gingrich introduced his "Contract with America". The document, loaded with acts touting "tort reform" and "budget responsibility" was designed to give the Republicans once again a majority in the house and effectively did so.

However, tucked away in one of the final paragraphs was a small section outlining the promise of term limits for elected officials. What Steve Chabot promised the day he signed his name to that "Contract" was that if elected he would limit himself to six terms (or twelve years) and then step aside. To quote the contract, this would effectively rid Washington of "career" politicians much like Mr. Chabot himself. If he would have kept his word, the six term tenure would have ended in 2006.

Steve Chabot is once again giving his constituents the middle finger and running for his EIGHTH consecutive term. Read the text of the contract below...........

Citizen Legislature Act

Summary:

This resolution provides for consideration of two joint
resolutions which propose amendments to the constitution limiting
the number of terms members of the Senate and the House of
Representatives can serve. The first joint resolution
(identical to H.J.Res. 38 as introduced in the 103rd Congress)
limits the number of Senate terms to two and the number of House
terms to six. The second joint resolution (identical to H.J.Res.
160 as introduced in the 103rd Congress) also limits Senators to
two terms, but it limits members of the House to three terms.
Under the terms of this resolution, the joint resolution with the
text of H.J.Res. 38 will be debated first and the first amendment
in order will be a substitute consisting of H.J.Res. 160.


Background:

The idea of limiting the tenure of elected officials has recurred
through our history, but it has become more popular in the last
few years. In 1992, 14 states passed initiatives limiting the
tenure of federal legislators. Two of these laws, however, have
been challenged and found unconstitutional in court. The U.S.
Supreme Court will review the ruling by the Arkansas Supreme
Court. Since there is a chance the high court will uphold the
state court's ruling, a constitutional amendment may be necessary
to limit congressional tenure.

It doesn't matter who you support.......THIS IS FUNNY!!!!!

Photo of the Day

FEC reports are IN!!

Campaign finance reports from both candidates are finally in and although Congressman Chabot has almost twice the amount of $$$ in the bank than that of Rep. Driehaus, it is especially interesting to see where some of the money is coming from.

-Chabot has listed contributions from Ken Marchant of Carrollton, TX. For those not familiar with Mr. Marchant, he is a close ally of Tom Delay and was a member of his infamous "redistricting" class of 2003. An illegal operation which, in essence handed the Texas house back to Republicans and guaranteed a Majority the next term as well. An excerpt from Morning The Dallas Morning News follows:


"Among the Republican pickups were five freshmen from Texas: Louie Gohmert, a former state appeals court judge from Tyler; Ted Poe, a state district judge from Houston; Ken Marchant, a state legislator from Coppell; Mike Conaway, a Midland accountant and former energy business partner of George W. Bush; and Mike McCaul of Austin, a former federal prosecutor and deputy Texas attorney general."-Dallas Morning News

-Another interesting note, Mr. Chabot recieved contributions from a DC lobbyist named William Hanka who works for Ferguson Group Lobbyist, LLC. A Lobbying firm whose client list includes the City of Cincinnati. We thought it interesting that in order to get Mr. Chabot's attention, Cincinnati had to hire a Washington Lobbying Firm!!

Anyway..............read the reports for yourself, the link is here:
http://www.fec.gov/

with some of their biggest supporters............

The two candidates pose here with some of their biggest supporters. Mr. Chabot with longtime pal President Bush, and State Rep. Driehaus with Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Ohio House Democratic leader Joyce Beatty.

Why?

I know it may seem a bit early for local politics.......especially in the middle of all the national chaos, but this blog will shortly be dedicated to covering the race in Ohio's First Congressional District between Steve Driehaus and Steve Chabot. The race is set to be one of the most heated and hotly contested in the nation and is sure to bring loads of entertainment for all.

So as the weeks wear on and the primaries come and go, stay tuned here for all the latest news from the campaigns.