In Bush’s Inaugural address, he used the words “freedom” and “liberty,” 27 and 15 times respectively, but it’s not just the vast majority of Haitians and Venezuelans—whose elected presidents Bush helped topple (only briefly in the later case)—who regarded his performance somewhat skeptically. Above and beyond the American people, whose approval for Bush dipped to 43 percent two days after the speech, veteran journalist Robert Parry drew attention to Bush’s utter indifference to democracy right here at home––in Ohio, to be specific.
     On January 18, after holding his fire when it could have been interpreted as sour grapes, defeated Democratic candidate John Kerry raised the issue of vast discrepancies in the wait periods.
     “In Democratic districts, it took people four, five, 11 hours to vote, “Kerry said, “while Republicans (went) through in ten minutes.”
     Yet, Parry noted, “Instead of joining Kerry in expressing concerns about this disenfranchisement of voters, Bush has remained silent while his supporters have denounced challenges to voting irregularities as ‘conspiracy theories.’”
     The same day Kerry spoke out, Ohio Attorney General James Petro—a Republican—filed a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court, seeking sanctions against four attorneys who challenged the Ohio election. Petro called the lawsuit “frivolous,” demanding fines and other sanctions against lawyers Robert Fitrakis, Susan Truitt, Cliff Arnebeck and Peter Peckarsky.
     Bush won Ohio by 118,457 votes following a recount marked by widespread irregularities that only deepened suspicions that officials had something to hide. Most commonly, vote tabulating machines were adjusted prior to the recount, and precincts to be hand-counted were selected using non-random methods. The election contest—which raised more wide-ranging issues—was thrown out by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer—also a Republican—who was originally named as a defendant in the suit.
     Representative John Conyers, who led an investigation into Ohio voting irregularities as the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Petro on January 20, expressing concern that, “you are engaged in a selective and partisan misuse of your legal authority.”
     “One would be hard pressed to see how the legal challenges brought under the Ohio election challenge statute were ‘frivolous.’” Conyers continued, citing “the 102 page report issued by the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff” under his leadership. “[T]he problems were so great that Congress was forced to debate the first challenge to an entire state’s slate of electors since the federal Electoral Count law was enacted in 1877,” he added.
     Conyers pointed out that Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell had stymied both the normal electoral process and all attempts to investigate it, including those of Conyers’ own committee. Blackwell, “intentionally delayed certifying the vote,” Conyers noted, so the recount could not be completed before the electoral college met on December 13.
     “Ohio election officials have compounded public doubt concerning the election by refusing to provide any sort of accountability and acting in almost every respect as if they have ‘something to hide,’” Conyers concluded.
     But other irregularities have come to light and more retaliation is planned. Recount volunteers who observed in Clermont County—one of three Ohio counties with the largest vote gains for Bush since 2000—“have prepared affidavits alleging serious tampering, violations of state and federal law and possible fraud,” according to a January 26 story in the online journal Raw Story.
     The volunteers, including a math professor and a retired plumber, said, “they noticed stickers covering the Kerry/Edwards oval, whereas the Bush/Cheney oval seemed to be ‘colored in.’” No explanation has been given for what appears on its face to be systematic ballot tampering.
     This follows earlier revelations that Blackwell sent out fundraising letters on official stationery (itself a violation) in which he presented his actions as Secretary of State as contributing to Bush’s victory in Ohio (he was also a statewide campaign co-chair.) He bragged that, “As Secretary of State, I have been sued almost 30 times since this summer because I stood up for the rights of voters like you.”
     Rather than investigating and moving to correct the numerous errors and violations of law in the recount, Ohio Republicans are moving to make future recounts far more difficult. The Associated Press has reported that, “State legislative leaders are giving top priority to a bill that would require election challengers to pay the entire cost of recounts that fail to change the results of the election.” Challengers paid $113,000 dollars for the flawed re-count, Blackwell estimated the total cost at $1.5 million.
     In other action reflecting the Ohio GOP’s hostility to contrary views, Senate Bill 24, officially “To establish the academic bill of rights for higher education,” is actually intended to foster McCarthyite witch-hunts, critics charge. It would restrict teachers’ freedom of expression in the classroom and possibly even force the teaching of so-called “creation science”—despite the lack of any supporting evidence.
     The bill’s author, Senator Larry Mumper, told The Columbus Dispatch, he believes many professors undermine students’ values because, “80 percent or so of them are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists.”
     Democrats may have the last laugh in Ohio’s circus-like political atmosphere, however. Talk show host Jerry Springer, a former Democratic mayor of Cincinnati, is rumored to be considering a run for Governor in 2006, following his recent launch of a liberal talk radio show.