Garrison will vote *FOR* H.B. 176

...I've got a bridge to sell you. (Cue David Potts taunting us all about how right he was momentarily, neglecting that she needs to apologize, and being shocked, SHOCKED when this bill doesn't come up in September.)

is not whether she sees a difference in protecting peoples' job and housing and her personal religious belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. It's that she was willing to use that personal religious belief to vigorously support a constitutional amendment that not only banned gay marriage but put restrictions on civil unions of all kinds — and that she used that opposition actively as a cudgel and campaign issue to defeat a more enlightened opponent. She needs to apologize for THAT — for using her personal homophobia as weapon in her campaign. I eagerly await her mea culpa and apology for doing that. If she indicates clearly that she knows she was wrong for trying to stir up hatred (which is what happens when you campaign like that, whether you feel hatred or not) in order to win, then I will reassess her. Unfortunately, I also find the possibility that potentially our only statewide woman candidate is a hardline anti-choicer at a time when even most Republican women are pro-choice troubling. And I find it troubling that her office has chosen to lie about a statement she probably made instead of clarifying it — I too believed initially that Subodh would have a hard time getting elected statewide because of his ethnicity until I met him and heard him speak. For someone from southeastern Ohio to suggest this is not only logical, it's almost certain to be true. Why deny there is racism in part of the state?

ytownboy3 will leave it to others to ascertain how she will vote assuming the legislation comes to the floor. At this juncture the only thing that matters is whether JenG was recruited by Team Redfern/Strickland or Strickland/Redfern or is simply pursuing her own ambition. Theories abound that Redfern in fact recruited Garrison to the race, but that does not make sense. Nor has anyone I heard from seen evidence of his fingerprints anywhere. Why risk a seat that may be critical to maintaining a House Dem majority for Mr. Speaker? With Commissioner Brown having given up a sure thing in order to fill the void left by Jen Brunner in an apportionment board seat, why encourage a divisive primary?? In that simple if unsophisticated light, Redfern involvement makes so little sense at a time when Dems need to start singing "kumbaya." I don't need to defend Brown's candidacy. She obviously gave up a great deal to make this run. I simply do not see how an unknown candidate like JenG with no base makes a credible run against the R candidate, Mr. Stuffed Shirt himself/and "Upper Arlington neighbor of the year" John Husted. If anyone knows the answer to this query: "where is Redfern re SOS?" please share it. Thanks. Separately, a new nickname has been coined for former Sen Dem lead, now DOC QB Kim Zurz. It is "Mr. Potter," for her zeal in wanting to seize control of any/everything she can get her arms around, even items not within her statutory authority. Republican lover/protector that she has been, her first priority is not the re-election of the Gov, but to consolidate as much control in her hands as possible. Stalin and Hitler would envy her drive and singular purposefulness. She is doing more to drive support away from Strickland than articles like today reporting how the Admin. raided the "Save our sight funds" to balance the budget. Really, wouldn't a small boost in the sales tax have been better than this gambit?? If she were in league with Kasich who would doubt it? Surely the Repub minions she has protected could get her a meeting with John Boy. Any rate, football season is a few weeks away.............GO BUCKS!