Candidates running in the Cuyahoga County primary election

Photo credit: clarkcountynv.gov

Cuyahoga County's filing deadline was yesterday for candidates planning to run in the upcoming May 6 primary election. Below are some of the races listed in The Plain Dealer; you can read the complete list here. You can check the County’s validation of each filing here.

Congressional District 09
Cory Hoffman	Dem.
Marcy Kaptur	Dem.
Robert C. Horrocks Jr	Rep.
Richard May	Rep.
Susan Purviance	Socialist
Congressional District 11
Marcia L. Fudge	Dem.
Mark Zetzer	Rep.
Congressional District 16
Pete Crossland	Dem.
James Donenwirth	Dem.
Jim Renacci	Rep.
State Senate District 21
Willie Lewis Britt	Dem.
Gerald Henley	Dem.
Sandra Williams	Dem.
State Senate District 23
Michael J. Skindell	Dem.
Tom Haren	Rep.
Harry E. Ristmae	Rep.
State Senate District 25
Thaddeus J. Jackson	Dem.
Ed Jerse	Dem.
Kenny Yuko	Dem.
Ohio House District 06
Anthony Fossaceca	Dem.
Marlene Anielski	Rep.
Ohio House District 07
Matt Patten	Dem.
Mike Dovilla	Rep.
Ohio House District 08
Sylvia James	Dem.
Kent Smith	Dem.
Mikhail Alterman	Rep.
Ohio House District 09
David J. Biel	Dem.
Janine Boyd	Dem.
Sean P. Malone	Dem.
Isaac Powell	Dem.
Charles T. Hopson	Rep.
Ohio House District 10
Eugene R Miller	Dem.
Bill Patmon	Dem.
Ohio House District 11
Harry F. Banks	Dem.
Michael Dudley Sr	Dem.
Michael J. Houser	Dem.
Stephanie Howse	Dem.
Tony Perry	Dem.
Gigi Traore	Dem.
Roz McAllister	Rep.
Ohio House District 12
John E. Barnes Jr	Dem.
Jill Miller Zimon	Dem.
Ohio House District 13
Nickie J. Antonio	Dem.
Maria Anderson	Rep.
Ohio House District 14
Steve Holecko	Dem.
Mike Piepsny	Dem.
Martin J. Sweeney	Dem.
Anna E. Melendez	Rep.
Ohio House District 15
Nicholas J. Celebrezze	Dem.
Patty Gascoyne-Telischak	Rep.
Ohio House District 16
Todd LeVeck	Dem.
Nan A. Baker	Rep.
County Executive
Armond D. Budish	Dem.
Thomas O'Grady	Dem.
Bob Reid	Dem.
Walter Allen Rogers Jr	Dem.
Timothy J. Russo	Dem.
Shirley Smith	Dem.
Jack Schron	Rep.
County Council District 01
David Greenspan	Rep.
County Council District 03
Dan Brady	Dem.
County Council District 05
Michael J. Gallagher	Rep.
County Council District 07
Yvonne M. Conwell	Dem.
County Council District 09
Lloyd D Anderson	Dem.
Shontel M. Brown	Dem.
Leah Lewis	Dem.
Lynn Ruffner	Dem.
Donald A. Saunders	Dem.
Andre P. White	Dem.
Adam Trumbo	Rep.
County Council District 11
Sunny Simon	Dem.
John J. Currid	Rep.

At present, I don’t see the option to get the BOE website to provide individual voter details, i.e., precincts, districts, and so on. However, the BOE sends all registered voters a postcard prior to the primary, and it will show on the front all of those details, so that you can access the correct sample ballot online. (And if you are not registered, you can print off the form online here, complete it and mail it in.)

# # #

Sowell: GOP Could Blow 2014 Election With Unwise Push For Amnesty

Economist Thomas Sowell offers his usual excellent perspective on the GOP’s makes-no-sense move toward immigration "reform": 

Republicans may once again come to the rescue of the Democrats by discrediting themselves and snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory.

The latest bright idea among Republicans inside the Beltway is a new version of amnesty that is virtually certain to lose votes among the Republican base and is unlikely to gain many votes among the Hispanics that the Republican leadership is courting.

. . .

When it comes to national elections, just what principles do the Republicans stand for?

It is hard to think of any, other than their hoping to win elections by converting themselves into Democrats Lite. But voters who want what the Democrats offer can vote for the real thing, rather than Johnny-come-lately imitations.

The entire article is at Investors Business Daily here.

Immigration and Amnesty: liberal vs conservative values

Here’s more from Eagle Forum president Phyllis Schlafly on immigration, published at National Review Online:

People come to America because it is a remarkable oasis of freedom, prosperity, and opportunity. Conservatives recognize that the principal reason for our unique abundance is our constitutional restraint on the power of government.  . . .

Maintaining this system requires the public to support limited government. In a new report, Eagle Forum details how immigration is fundamentally changing the electorate to one that is much more supportive of big government.

. . .

There is nothing controversial about the report’s conclusion that both Hispanics and Asians, who account for about three-fourth of today’s immigrants, generally agree with the Democrats’ big-government agenda. It is for this reason that they vote two-to-one for Democrats.

The 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey found that 62 percent of immigrants prefer a single, government-run health-care system. . . .

The Pew Research Center has also found that 75 percent of Hispanics prefer a “bigger government providing more services,” and only 19 percent prefer a smaller government. Pew also reported that 55 percent of Asians prefer “bigger government providing more services,” and only 36 percent prefer a smaller government. So it’s no surprise that in 2012, 71 percent of Hispanics and 73 percent of Asians voted for Obama.

. . .

Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute points out that it “is not immigration policy that creates the strong bond between Hispanics and the Democratic party, but the core Democratic principles of a more generous safety net, strong government intervention in the economy, and progressive taxation.”

Immigration in general — not race — is the issue. . . .The problem for conservatives is not race or ethnicity but immigration as such.

. . .

Those supporting a big increase in legal immigration point to the successful assimilation of Great Wave immigrants (roughly 1880 to 1920). But that wave was followed by a slowdown of immigration from the 1920s to the 1960s, which allowed newcomers to assimilate, learn our language, and adapt to our unique system of government. Also, Great Wave immigrants arrived before the rise of the grievance industry and identity politics. . . .

. . .

Conservatives should appeal to immigrants without sacrificing our principles. One way to do this is to argue that defeating the Gang of Eight bill, with its amnesty and doubling of legal immigration, would benefit the nearly 60 million American citizens (many of them immigrants) who are not working. If employers really are having trouble finding workers, the private-enterprise solution should be to raise the pay! A tight labor market is the best anti-poverty program. A reduction in immigration would also take pressure off our already overloaded health-care system and schools, and it would facilitate the assimilation of immigrants already here.

Our new report makes clear that for conservatives, there is no issue more important than reducing the number of immigrants allowed into the country each year. If legal immigration is not reduced, it will be nearly impossible for conservatives to be successful on the issues we care about.

If the Republican party is to remain a party that is conservative and nationally competitive, it must defeat amnesty and any proposed increases in legal immigration. Further, we must work to significantly reduce the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country from the current level of 1.1 million a year. There is nothing inevitable about immigration. The level and selection criteria can be changed by Congress.

Looking at the political motivation of the groups pushing higher immigration and amnesty, it’s obvious that the Democrats promote large-scale immigration because it produces more Democratic votes. If the Republican party is to remain conservative and nationally competitive, it must defeat amnesty and proposed increases in legal immigration.

Read the whole thing here.

Common Core “standards” vs. educational freedom

Ohio has still not gotten rid of Common Core “standards” for our schools. Michelle Malkin offers her firsthand perspective of Common Core “standards” vs. educational freedom in her aptly titled column “School Choice and Common Core: Mortal Enemies” at Townhall:

. . . It's not just government schools that are the problem. Many supposedly "elite" schools indulge in the senseless pedagogical fads that infect monopoly public schools.

Every family in America deserves maximized, customized choices in education. It is the ultimate key to closing that "income inequality" gap the politicos are always gabbling about. Yet, the White House and Democrats beholden to public school unions and their money are the ones blocking the school choice door.

. . .  Competition in the secondary-school marketplace provided a desperately needed alternative for educational consumers who wanted more and better for their kids.

. . . Family participation is not an afterthought. It's the engine that drives everything. The dedicated parents, grandparents, foster parents and legal guardians I've met in the charter school movement and homeschooling community see themselves as their children's primary educational providers. Not the U.S. Department of Education. Not the White House. Not GOP politicians cashing in on top-down "education reform."

After several years of educational satisfaction, however, we've encountered another sobering life lesson: There is no escape, no foolproof sanctuary, from the reach of meddling Fed Ed bureaucrats and cash-hungry special interests who think they know what's best for our kids.

Big-government Republicans such as Jeb Bush and flip-flopping Mike Huckabee pay lip service to increasing school choice and supporting charter schools, private schools and homeschooling. Yet, they have been among the loudest GOP peddlers of the Common Core "standards"/textbook/testing/data collection regime thrust upon schools who want nothing to do with it.

"Alignment" with the new regime means mediocrity, mandates, privacy invasions and encroachments on local control and educational sovereignty. I've seen it in my daughter's polluted math curriculum. We are not alone. The threat is not just in one subject. It's systemic.

. . .

No fully funded school voucher system in the world can improve the educational experience if Fed Ed controls the classroom and homeschool room. Coerced conformity kills choice.

You can check in at the OhioansAgainst Common Core website for more background and updates.

# # #

County Executive race: Democrats endorse Budish.

Surprise. The Cuyahoga County Democrat Party endorsement for County Executive candidate went to Rep. Armand Budish. The Plain Dealer reports here.

The Cuyahoga County Executive Democrat Candidate Forum last weekend showed Budish getting 39 of a possible 53 votes in a straw poll. Former county Sheriff Bob Reid came in second with 8, and State Sen. Shirley Smith trailed with 4.

The likely Republican nominee is County Councilman Jack Schron.

The Party of Stupid caves on immigration “reform”

Politico reports on the GOP “immigration principles” – caving on amnesty -- as of yesterday afternoon. 

The House Republican leadership is trying to sell their colleagues on a series of broad immigration principles, including a path to legal status for those here illegally.

But Mr. Speaker, there already are numerous paths to legal status for those here illegally.

Speaker John Boehner’s leadership team introduced the principles at their annual policy retreat here. Top Republicans circulated a tightly held one-page memo titled “standards for immigration reform” toward the tail-end of a day that include strategy conversations about Obamacare, the economy and the national debt.

In the private meeting where the language was introduced, Boehner (R-Ohio) told Republicans that the standards are “as far as we are willing to go.”

And Mr. Speaker, they go way too far.

The strategy marks a shift for House Republicans. In 2013, Boehner’s chamber ignored the bipartisan immigration reform bill passed by the Senate. But toward the end of last year and early this year, Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) began hashing out this approach to rally Republicans toward reform.

. . .

Some Republicans fear of the political fallout from immigration reform, but the proposal suggests GOP leaders are taking the long view: Republicans need to woo the booming Hispanic population to stay relevant.

See Ann Coulter’s column here for a thorough rebuttal of that idea.

Read the rest of Politico's report here.

Townhall has the text of the “immigration principles” here.

Once again, Speaker Boehner phone & fax numbers. And send postcards to his Ohio office (shorter security delay):

Butler County Office  PH (513) 779-5400

Miami County Office PH (937) 339-1524

Clark County Office   PH (937) 322-1120

D.C. Office

PH  (202) 225-6205

FAX (202) 225-0704

And his mailbox:

Speaker John Boehner

7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, Suite B

West Chester, OH 45069

# # #