Ukiah Rabble-Rousers Jailed For Questioning Ohio Secretary Of State
By Dan Hamburg
On Monday, December 6, my wife Carrie and I, accompanied by a local ABC cameraman and a local radio talk show host,
attempted to deliver a letter to the Secretary of State of Ohio, J. Kenneth Blackwell. Mr. Blackwell is housed on two
floors of the Borden Building in downtown Columbus. We requested that Secretary Blackwell commence the recount of votes
in Ohio, that he refrain from certifying Rebublican electors until the recount was completed, that he respond to
questions posed to him by 12 House Judiciary Committee members led by Rep. John Conyers regarding the election and that
he formally recuse himself from the recount.
I was surprisesd that very few Ohioans I spoke with over my week in the Buckeye state knew that the Secretary of State -
in addition to being the constitutional officer in charge of the election - also served as co-chair of the Ohio campaign
to elect Bush/Cheney, and as the spokesman for the state ballot initiative to ban gay marriage. This is the second time
in two elections that the Secretary of State in the crucial battleground state also served as teh Bush/Cheney campaign
chair. In 2000, it was Katherine Harris, who now represents Florida's 13th district in the U.S. Congress. Word in Ohio
is that Blackwell's sights are even higher. He intends to run for governor of Ohio in two years, no doubt with
significant help from the Bush machine.
From the moment we presented identification (God forbid anyone should try to go anywhere in post-9/11 America without
picture identification!), there was trouble. Private security officers moved in to discourage us to pass through the
now-omnipresent metal detectors and on to the elevators. However, we breezed past them, found an elevator and whom
should we find on the same elevator that we were taking but J. Kenneth Blackwell himself.
"Hello, Mr. Secretary," I said. "I'm former congressman Dan Hamburg from California. We have a letter for you,
requesting you recuse yourself from the upcoming recount of Ohio's presidential vote. We have also raised several other
issues that need your attention immediately." Blackwell quickly launched into a blustering monologue about how we didn't
understand Ohio law because if we did, we'd know that he had nothing to do with counting the votes. With the floors
whizzing by, my wife Carrie asked Blackwell whether he thought there might be at least the appearance of a conflict of
interest in his serving as both final arbiter of the vote and as co-chair of Ohio Bush/Cheney. Blackwell frowned, the
elevator door opened, he made a beeline for his private office and disappeared behind glass and steel. However, we were
far from alone. There to meet us as we stepped out was a phalanx of law enforcement and security officers - Columbus
Police, Ohio Highway Patrol, Borden Building security, and several husky plainclothesmen.
I remember thinking that Columbus must be a really low crime town since they had the ability to assign so many officers
to a couple of 50-plus-year-olds who hadn't even let off a loud chant. After being rebuffed from attending the
Secretary's press conference (despite our Bullhorn press credentials) we retreated to Zuppa's, a very untrendy cafe
located on the north side of the lobby. We ordered orange juice and sat down at a table. Within minutes, security was
all over us.
"You must leave this building now," said the exasperated Borden security cop, his hands shaking quite visibly. "What's
this charge?" I asked. "Are we trespassing or do you just 'reserve the right to refuse service to anyone?'" "You must
leave this building now," he repeated. "Sorry, we're not going. We don't believe we're trespassing by sitting here
drinking our orange juice. We're not interfering with other patrons of the building. We're not blocking or obstructing
anything. But we understand that you're just doing your job. Please try to understand that we also need to do ours."
It took about 15 minutes for several Columbus police and Highway Patrol officers to appear on the scene. We were cuffed,
and taken out behind the building to a waiting patrol car. That was the beginning of our experience as arrested
midemeanants under the authority of Franklin County. Over the next 30 hours, we were printed (not just fingers but
hands) twice, photographed three times, cuffed and uncuffed more times than we could count, held in unheated and
odor-challenged holding tanks for hours on end, served endless smashed baloney-on-white sandwiches, and subjected
continuously to the sneering looks and acid tongues of our jailers.
We also had the opportunity to meet some of the people we had come to Ohio to see-- poor, mostly African-American folks,
the people for whom voting on November 2 had often been such a challenge. From inside the Franklin County Corrections
Center (known affectionately as "The Workhouse") I heard stories from people who knew people who had waited many hours
and braved lousy weather just to cast a vote to rid the country of the stench of George W. Bush.
It was not by chance that in Franklin County there were less voting machines available than in 2000, depite the fact
that election officials, from Ken Blackwell on down, knew that registration was up nearly 25%. By contrast, the strong
GOP precincts were provided with more machines.
Katherine Harris rode her performance in the duel roles of Florida Secretary of State and co-chair of the Bush/Cheney
capaign to the US congress. How far will Ken Blackwell go, having delivered Ohio in 2004? Elected officials like Harris
and Blackwell sow discord by taking on multiple, and conflicting roles, especially when the presidency is at stake.
Blackwell has caused another problem by housing himself in a private building, secluded from the public that pays his
freight. A private corporation like Borden should not be running interference for elected officials. Nor should the
police. It would have been more appropriate for Borden security, or Blackwell himself, to have made citizen's arrests
and then let the court decide whether those arrests are appropriate to the circumstances.
ENDS