Riskind's Trying

I've said before that Pat Tiberi has a chum at the Dispatch in Washington Correspondent Jonathan Riskind. Recently, just 3 days after Pat was widely if gently ridiculed for his lover-scorned relationship with pork, J.R. (coincidentally) went out of his way to write a "Good News" story in which he sang the praises of the decision of the Base Realignment folks to consolidate jobs on the Eastside in Columbus/Whitehall. This happens to be the same project that was touted as the pork-power justifying reelection for the three Central Ohio House Reps in the Dispatch Editorial Board's endorsement in 2006.

Admittedly, Riskind only credits generic "Ohio Lawmakers," and while the article only mentions one Congressperson by name at all, it's not Pat.

Perhaps this will make up for that oversight.

Woodland Meadows Link History

I've been getting most of my hits from searches on three topics lately. First of all, a certain indicted resident of Bexley. Second, Nicole Harrrison, a volunteer for Emily Kreider's State Senate campaign, would seem to be the same Nicole Harrison who recently passed away in a tragic car accident. For wildly different reasons I'm not incredibly excited about either of those site-traffic boosters. The other topic? Woodland Meadows.

I've probably written as much as anybody not employed by the Dispatch on on Woodland Meadows over the last two years, though not much lately. For those who got here trying to catch up, here are some things you might be interested in:

"A menace, a war zone and the worst blight (Mayor Coleman) has seen anywhere" -- An introduction to Woodland Meadows.

Jorge Newbery's short-lived "Save Woodland Meadows" Blog.

A view of the WM parcel and the North Bexley tax abatement zone.

I asked Mayor Coleman about the Woodland Meadows parcel after it was knocked down. This is what he said during that pre-election group interview.

I also asked then-mayoral-candidate and current Bexley Services Director Bill Harvey about the parcel in a pre-election interview. At the time he was in favor of Bexley aggressively pursuing a purchase.

And that's the last I've heard or written until this week, which has been covered reasonably well in the print media.

Forgive Me For Asking...

Does anyone know how many houses were searched on New Year's Eve in Bexley? Becky Jo Tatum's house was searched, leading to new charges filed today. A house where approximately 20 youths had been drinking was searched, leading to the discovery of a public figure in a closet. Is this purely coincidental?

Blog Updates

1) Candidates. I've added links to the websites of the Dem candidates in major races on the ballot here in Bexley. John O'Grady has a very snazzy site, I recommend just taking a peek. Nancy Garland hasn't updated her site at all since the primary, but I'll keep checking. I haven't even looked at Paula Brooks' page, as I didn't realize until today that she will actually have an opponent. At David Robinson's site, you can find out all sorts of nifty stuff on how to get involved with his grassroots-intensive campaign. For instance, the organizational meeting taking place:

Saturday, Apr. 12, 2:00 p.m.
@ The Real Living University Training Center
773 Brooksedge Plaza Drive in Westerville

While I was digging around for some info on candidates for the list, I came across Robinson's home address. It turns out he lives 150 feet from my old house in Italian Village. Small world. And speaking of houses, another thing you can do at Robinson's website is get info on hosting a house party for the candidate. The campaign is looking to do lots of these. If you don't want to throw a party at your house, or you just want to meet the world's cutest two year old, I'll be throwing a party for the guy at some point in the next couple of months. Email me if you'd like more info.

A final note on candidates... Our State Senate seat is not up for grabs in '08, but we might end up with a new State Senator anyway. David Goodman is running for the Franklin County Court of Appeals. If he wins this election, the GOP will get to appoint somebody to his seat, giving them the advantage of running an incumbent in 2010 instead of fighting for an open seat in a swing district. Another good reason to vote for his opponent John Connor... It would really tick off Bill O'Reilly.

2) Ads. I've added advertising from the Click2Blue network, which should result in some more appealing pitches than GoogleAds seems to come up with.

3) Random updates and rearranging. I've added Snap link previews and and a beta of blogger's BlogList... I realize most of you are reading the feed and never see anything that goes on in the right and left hand columns, but I hope you'll occasionally surf over.

You're Killing Me Here, Joyce

Openers mentions in a piece today that:

In 2007, State Rep. Beatty surprised political observers by urging members of the Democratic caucus she leads to not support a payday lending bill ...

As someone who fits the generic description of "political observer," I suppose that in some small way that sentence refers to statements of mine like this one:

Ms. Beatty, have you ever had an addict call you and say "I go to a smack dealer, and I think you should close them down?" I know you're on our side, Joyce, but you're taking the morally wrong position on an issue that also happens to be the politically unpopular one. What gives?

Well it turns out that Joyce has publicly taken the more popular position, but is continuing, according to some of her colleagues, to quietly impede progress on payday lending legislation. And now it turns out her husband is a lobbyist for CheckSmart, nee Buckeye Check Cashing, a large, locally-owned, and politically active payday lending company.

It's supposedly technically above-board. Even if it is set up as an unambiguously ethically spotless arrangement, it is ugly and smells like a dead rat. About the only thing that looks good in this arrangement is that one has a hard time believing that if Ms. Beatty actually did coordinate with her husband in any way, she would have allowed herself to appear in such a horrible political scenario.

The Off-Season

College basketball and CBJ Hockey are both wrapping up this weekend. Just in time for yardwork, I guess. I'll catch an occasional NHL playoff game and let that tide me over until the Olympics. As infrequent as they are anyway, sports references will dry up considerably on Blue Bexley for the next several months. By the time college football starts up again, the political campaigns will be in full swing, so there won't be much until after October. I'll do one last bit of moaning, though...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that if the CBJ played as well as Nashville the rest of the way, they could make the playoffs. I received email mocking that assertion, and the fact that the Jackets are not going to finish among the top 12 in the West, let alone the top 8, would seem to validate the mockery. Just for the sake of argument, however, let's examine the wonderful world of what-if... The Predators have gone 5-2-1 since I made that post, including two wins over Columbus. If Columbus were the better team down the stretch, even by a bit, Nashville should have gone at best 3-2-3 over the last eight (changing two regulation wins over the CBJ to OT losses), leaving them with 89 points on the year. The Blue Jackets have gone 1-6-1 over that same period. If they had played just better than the Preds (an identical 3-2-1 against the same competition, plus 2 OT wins against Nashville for 5-2-1), they'd be sitting at 88 points with one game remaining. Assuming Calgary hangs on against Vancouver (4-1 after two as I write), we'd be looking at a three-way tie for 9th, with Columbus making the playoffs with a victory over St. Louis and any type of a loss by Chicago vs. Detroit.

So it appears 6-2-1 over the final 9 might well have done it, as long as 2 of the 6 were against the Preds. Tough to do when you're starting a roster full of minor-leaguers, but still...