20th District Race to be Certified for McGregor (R-Gahanna)

From what I've been told, the recounting of the vote raised as many questions as it has answered, but the Franklin County BOE has decided to declare McGregor as the winner over Bev Campbell.

I'll do a recap later on when I have more info

Thanks for the Reminder, Mr. Goodman

Some people have questioned both the attacks I made on David Goodman over the course of his campaign for State Senate, and the nicer things I've said since.

Well, today's Dispatch carried a nice reminder of why I worked very hard to promote his opponent's candidacy, in a story headlined "Lawmakers approve damages cap":

Before the votes, lawmakers saw a first-ever joint news release from Republican Attorney General Jim Petro and Democratic Attorney General-elect Marc Dann. It said if the bill passed, "one of the nation’s best consumer protection laws will be gutted and consumers will have little protection against unscrupulous businesses who have little incentive to comply with the weakened law."

Petro and Dann said the bill would adversely affect Ohio’s anti-predatory lending law, set to take effect in two weeks, which puts much of the home lending industry under the Consumer Sales Practices Act.

The bill says noneconomic damages, often awarded for pain, embarrassment or other suffering with no monetary value, are capped at $5,000 under the Consumer Sales Practices Act. It still allows for economic damages, which in a number of cases can be tripled by the court.

Republicans said that still leaves potentially big court damages.

"We have not gutted it," said Sen. David Goodman, R-New Albany. "We’ve done what it was originally intended to do."

I guess if Mr. Goodman and colleagues had intended to protect consumers, they would have put the word 'protection' somewhere in the title of the Consumer Sales Practices Act. The confusion is obviously on the part of the legal experts. What Mr. Goodman and colleagues apparently intended was to score political points by supporting a bill that nominally punishes predatory lenders, burnish a 'moderate' image, but not actually create any pesky responsibilities for "unscrupulous businesses who have little incentive to comply with the weakened law."

They aren't gutting a good law. They're affirming that they never intended the law to be good. As I said, thank you David, for the reminder.

Fantasy Lame Ducks, Fantasy 110th

Before the election, Fantasy Congress got a lot of buzz. Then, for me at least, it got lost in the shuffle.

I have started a league that, as of now, has two members, only one of whom (me) has drafted a team yet. Anyone can join, and I encourage you to do so. The lame duck session is practice. What they've promised for the 110th is:

• "How will the draft season work for the upcoming Congress?"
• As you read this, we're working to add many new features to Fantasy Congress, and some of the biggest additions have to do with the drafting process. At the end of the lame duck session, before the 110th Congress starts in January, you will be able to draft the new MCs who were just elected on November 7th as they take the floor for the first time. Watch the news on the home page and this entry of the FAQ for more details in the coming weeks.
  Furthermore, league managers will also have the option of adding "exclusive draft" to their leagues when they create them. In an exclusive draft league, teams will follow a procedure to take turns choosing MCs, and each MC will only be available for draft once per league, similar to the drafting system of other fantasy sports. In other words, if one Citizen picks Nancy Pelosi on his or her turn, no other team in that league will be able to draft Pelosi.
  You'll also be able to draft more than a full team, so that instead of redrafting on weekends you can just take members off the field and replace them with members from your own bench. Furthermore, you'll be able to trade MCs with other Citizens in your league.

This is a much better set-up, but it requires a number of players, each with some non-trivial level of commitment, or it rapidly becomes no fun...

So, by all means, if you're interested, please check it out.

Spell Noel with No L and get great gift ideas

The coins may be gone, but have you been wondering what the State of Ohio is going to do with all of the other collectibles Tom Noe bought for the BWC? Well, the ones that actually exist are going to be auctioned off or sold to dealers:

That’s how the new managers have sold most of the coins that were part of the state investment, with auctioneers preparing catalogs and selling the coins at major auctions nationwide.

Brandt said there are questions about whether Noe paid fair-market value for some of the collectibles, so it’s not clear how much the state might recover until sales are held.

"We have concerns that some of these transactions were to the advantage of the seller," Brandt said. "At some point we’re going to see what the stuff is worth and get the most that we can for it."

It seems to me that one thing the state isn't counting on is the added value of having been involved in the scandal and change in Government... For instance, given the choice between two personal checks signed by Ty Cobb, I'd much rather have one that helped bring down one-party rule in Ohio. Of course, while I'd happily accept just one of the 96 Presidential Canes, I'd much rather have the 1963 Christmas Card signed by JFK, although it makes think morbid thoughts regarding the dangers of signing Christmas Cards before Thanksgiving...

Anyway, I don't know how soon these things are going up on Noe-Bay, but if you have hard-to-buy-for political junkie on your list, you can check out some of the highlights here.

Says it better than I ever could have

In my post below, I try to give a contrast between the people that Central Ohio wants to attract, what is supposed to be attractive to such folks, and the ideas/realities of Central Ohio that seem to be quite counter-productive to those goals.

One of the things that I included was a quote from the Dispatch concerning Gov. Taft's supposed last-minute appointment of Intelligent Design supporters to the Board of Education, a move that simultaneously makes Ohio look anti-science, highlights the repressive elements of Ohio society, reminds people that we have the least popular governor in the country, and that he can't seem to help but lying right up until the end, as he had explicitly stated that he would use these appointments to put pro-evolution members on the board.

It fit so well with so many people's ideas. Mine. BSB's. ProgressOhio's. Most importantly, the Dispatch's. It made perfect sigh-worthy sense.

Of course, it appears to have been blatantly wrong.

So, Mr. Taft, Ohio, I'm sorry that I helped spread the story. My purpose, however, was as much about sketching the impressions as listing facts. And this little anecdote seems to make the point about impressions better than I could have hoped to.