Buckeye State Blog - Dem AG Debate rant - Comments

My perspective from my time at the Law Department

Mike Cosgrove — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 06:38:14 -0700

I worked in Cleveland's Law Department for all but a few months of Chandra's tenure as law director. He did many things for the department that greatly improved the work environment, including bringing outsourced work back to the department because the department's attorney were just as qualified to do the work as the big firm lawyers that previous law directors doled out the work to. (Imagine the changes that could come to the Ohio Attorney General's office!) That doesn't sound at all elitist to me.

Chandra also fought hard to improve the pay for his department's attorneys (I was making $36,500 when I first came on, but that number rose quickly). He showed confidence in us and backed us up--whether we were Ivy League/big firm attorneys or not.

As Cleveland's law director, Chandra showed the strength of his skills in leading a large public-interest law firm. He is an excellent leader and a great lawyer. I can't imagine a more qualified candidate for Attorney General.

muffett, how did you do that?

RMC2000 — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:31:42 -0700

can you hope that i win the lottery, too?

heh

staff — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 17:12:25 -0700

i have actually gone over 12 months without a ticket now !

ebay

bryan — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 17:09:46 -0700

i thought they were selling it on ebay. oh well, i guess editor can take us all on a real ohio blog tour this year. i'll pony up for a tank of biodiesel.

(besides, you already have a sweet ride. its a wonder you still have a license w/ that thing!)

ba humbug

staff — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 16:32:19 -0700

Editor told me that Hackett gave him "the bus" heh.

i'll back editor

bryan — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 16:26:05 -0700

editor didn't receive a dime from either hackett campaign. yet he worked harder than just about anyone else. hell, he knows hackett better than most of us who actually got paid!

that's a testament to two things -- the way paul hackett cuts through all the shit and recognizes the people who really matter in politics and the way editor throws himself into a cause and makes it his own.

i hate to see the anonymice trolling about on staff's pages, but i love to see editor rip 'em to shreds.

my advice -- don't take on a fight you can't handle, castrol and rnc. i sure as hell wouldn't take on editor -- and i do this shit for a living.

My button

Ohio2nd — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:56:26 -0700

If there's one button that really sets me off it's some anonymous troll accusing me of doing this to shill for a job. This crap is about as thankless as a job you can find. No money and some national blogger waiting to take credit for everything you do on CNN.

If you're that old,

Muffet — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:53:30 -0700

maybe you should rest your tired fingers.

agree with staff

Tim Russo — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:53:12 -0700

have you noticed there is a different standard of discourse on Ohio blogs, Castro?

Actually

Ohio2nd — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:40:37 -0700

On second thought, it's a funny post.

Staff, I beg mercy on the myself and the former cigar smoking dictator.

Crossing a line

staff — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:33:39 -0700

Dude, your crossing a line here. Won't be a second warning. People can disagree without being disagreeable.

Also true:

Castro_Democrat — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:19:00 -0700

You’re an irate idiot.

We agree on (almost) everything in this thread. You said “this line is irrelevant.” I said that “this argument is absurd.” We both support Chandra. Take a step back and join Amber in reading the posts before commenting. Rookie.

Whether or not I’m a lying sack of _____ has never been put to the test. I’ll post the results in this space. Enough about me…

You're either a troll or trying to drive traffic to your blog, wishing you had BSB's success. Look at the pot you stirred…and stirred…and brought others to the mix. I think that you’re confusing my charm with your want for hate. Take the advice that Hackett never did: move on.

I am not following any links to goatse or the audio from twice-has-been Elk & Elk wannabe. Your half-second spot in the not-so-lime-light might give your parents hope that you’re significant, but you’ve earned nothing with me.

PS Here’s the text from my time in front of the World Health Assembly. I’ve outlived five US Presidents.

Fuckface.

So we agree

Ohio2nd — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:45:16 -0700

I'm sensative and prone to supporting losers (true). And you're a lying sack of ____.

Glad we could agree on something.

Poor sweet baby

Ohio2nd — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:43:59 -0700

Let's kiss and make up. SMACK.

I love you trolls. No proof. No nothing but bullshit, and then when you get called on it you play the victim.

He's mean. He hits back. Not one word to counter what's been said. I've got your elitist right here, pal.

I know that

Castro_Democrat — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:41:51 -0700

I know that you’re sensitive and prone to supporting losers.

Dem AG Debate rant

Tim Russo — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 06:29:12 -0700

Ok....I know everybody likes Subodh, I'm probably going to vote for him in the primary (I say probably because I usually wait until the last second on primary decisions), but I have to say this.

Enough with the "I'm qualified, you're not" schtick. I realize this is pretty much the centerpiece of Subodh's campaign, and it has to be pounded relentlessly, but I just proofed the debate transcript (should be posted shortly), and I gotta say, there is an arrogance that comes across that only a guy who went to Yale can pull off.

Subodh...there is only one qualification for being attorney general, and that is winning an election. The guy who gets the most votes is the guy who gets to be AG. That's it.

Yes, we need a better kind of AG than we've been getting, and yes, experience should matter more, but this is NOT some application process for a job, it is an election. It is politics. Deal with it. Marc Dann says this in the debate.

The Attorney General makes policy, makes decisions, sets the direction for the office, accesses the resources that are necessary, and moves the state forward and, frankly, you know, guys with Yale law degrees are a dime a dozen. Guys with the heart and passion to do what’s right for the people of the State of Ohio are a little tougher to come by, day in and day out, and I think that’s what this is about.

Subodh responds that this is "faux populism". I think not. I think Marc is absolutely right, Ohio needs a ratfucker in the AG's office who has seen people get screwed, either as their lawyer in a small practice, or as a legislator dealing with constituents' problems, or through their own experience. I know Subodh has this experience just as much as Marc has it, in different ways, and I wish Subodh would quit dismissing it as some politician's spin and perhaps argue a little bit of it himself.

Furthermore, having practiced law (briefly) myself, and having had to work around guys who, because they went to the better law school wrap themselves in this "I'm qualified" crap ad nauseum, such hubris has always struck me as ridiculous. George W. Bush went to Yale, too. They got the privelege of the big law school, the big connections, they rode this absurd bias in favor of the blue blood schools to higher places, that doesn't make them better qualified than someone who didn't. It just makes them lucky.

Subodh likes to say this is a hiring choice..."who would you want as counsel if your life, liberty, or property were at stake?" Well, give me a commuter school trained lawyer who got the degree going part time to night school with a chip on his shoulder over an Ivy League thinker clutching Prosser or L. Tribe any day of the week. If the Ivy Leaguer manages to have the same chip on his shoulder, all the better.