Archive for the ‘Secretaries of State’ Category
Stakes are High in Ohio Secretary of State Race
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:36 Written by rslcpol Monday, 20 September 2010 01:56
From Dispatch Politics:
The stakes are high in this year’s race for secretary of state, the winner of which will not only oversee Ohio’s election system but also hold a vital seat on the five-member state Apportionment Board that will redraw legislative districts in 2011.
Democrat Jennifer Brunner won the seat in 2006, but rather than seek re-election, she made what ended up as an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate.
Asked to size up Brunner’s job performance, Democratic contender Maryellen O’Shaughnessy of Columbus, the Franklin County clerk of courts, called it a “masterful job of taking a pretty miserable circumstance and turning it around for the better in less than four years.”
However, she sees room for improvement, noting that Brunner, a former judge, “tends to do directives from on high.” O’Shaughnessy said she will work to make sure directives are not seen as punitive by county boards.
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Secretaries of State | No Comments
State Attorney won’t conduct criminal probe of Democrat Secretary of State
Last Updated on Monday, 20 September 2010 01:25 Written by rslcpol Monday, 20 September 2010 01:25
From courant.com:
Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane said Friday that he won’t pursue a criminal investigation into a 36,000-name constituent database maintained by Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.
The matter had been referred to Kane in early August by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal after an investigation in which Blumenthal concluded that Bysiewicz kept “inappropriate” personal and political information in the taxpayer-funded office database.
Blumenthal’s office has confirmed that he referred the report to Kane, to legislative leaders and to the State Elections Enforcement Commission in hopes of closing a legal loophole that permits political activity in state offices by elected officials, and to allow Kane to review whether any criminal laws were violated.
In a letter dated Friday, Kane wrote that after reviewing the report and talking with Blumenthal’s investigators, his office “has concluded that no criminal investigation is warranted.”
Posted under Dems Behaving Badly, Secretaries of State | No Comments
NM: Secretary of State Candidates Neck and Neck in Fundraising
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:45 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:26
From The New Mexico Independent:
Embattled Secretary of State Mary Herrera and her Republican challenger Dianna Duran raised almost exactly the same amount in the last quarter, with Duran bringing in $29,070 to Herrera’s $28,681. But while Herrera’s still got $74,465.04 cash on hand, Duran only has $35,891.48 left.
Herrera benefited from donations unions; she received $5,000 each from AFSCME and the Plumbers & Steamfitters Local #412, and $2,500 from the National Education Association – New Mexico Education PAC.
Herrera also has two $100 donation listed simply as “anonymous,” one dated June 29 and another on July 9.
Tags: New Mexico | Posted under Secretaries of State | No Comments
Poll in Georgia shows Republicans Leading in top 5 races
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:45 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:21
From 13WMAZ:
A statewide poll conducted for 13WMAZ shows Republican Nathan Deal leading in the race for governor.
In the SurveyUSA poll, Deal had the support of 49 percent of likely voters, Democrat Roy Barnes had 38 percent and Libertarian candidate John Monds had 9 percent.
Four percent of voters in the poll said they were undecided.
The poll’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. The poll was taken Friday through Sunday and the results cover 599 registered voters who said they were likely to vote in the fall election for governor.
In the Governor’s race, 54 percent of independents supported Deal, while 34 percent favored Barnes. John Monds picked up support of 18 percent of independents.
Tags: Georgia | Posted under Attorney General News, Lieutenant Governor News, Secretaries of State, State Legislature News | No Comments
Did Meeting with FBI get Staffers of Democrat Secretary of State Fired?
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:52 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 8 September 2010 12:05
From NewsWest9.com:
Two employees in the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office who were put on administrative leave last month reportedly have been fired.
Former office spokesman James Flores and ex-office manager Manuel Vildasol claim they were terminated in retaliation for meeting with the FBI over allegations of criminal wrongdoing in the Secretary of State’s Office.
But Deputy Secretary of State Francisco Trujillo tells KOB-TV that Flores and Vildasol were fired for allegedly secretly recording employees and creating a “hostile work environment.”
Current and former employees of Secretary of State Mary Herrera have leveled allegations ranging from possible kickbacks on contracts to office employees campaigning for Herrera on state time.
Tags: New Mexico | Posted under Dems Behaving Badly, Secretaries of State | No Comments
Republican Secretary of State Candidate Attends Beck Rally
Last Updated on Wednesday, 1 September 2010 12:23 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 1 September 2010 12:23
From DesMoinesRegister.com:
Schultz, a Council Bluffs city council member who is trying to oust Democratic Secretary of State Michael Mauro, flew to Washington, D.C. this past weekend for the Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial.
Schultz said the event was far from what he’d predicted.
Beck, a conservative broadcaster with a show on Fox News called “The Glenn Beck Program,” called for a religious rebirth in America at the site where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech 47 years earlier.
“I have been to several tea party events over the last year,” Schultz said, ” and I thought that Glenn Beck’s Honor Rally would be similar to these events and I wanted to see it firsthand. It was not at all what I expected it to be, but I was not disappointed.
Posted under Secretaries of State | No Comments
NM: AG’s Office Investigating Democrat Secretary of State’s Office
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:24 Written by rslcpol Monday, 30 August 2010 12:46
From KRWG:
The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office confirmed it’s investigating allegations of wrongdoing in the Secretary of State’s Office.
Current and former employees of Secretary of State Mary Herrera have leveled allegations ranging from possible kickbacks on contracts to office employees campaigning for Herrera on state time.
Herrera has said the allegations were false and politically motivated.
Tags: New Mexico | Posted under Dems Behaving Badly, Secretaries of State | No Comments
Editorial: Where Did Democrat Secretary of State Herrera’s Campaign Vows Go?
Last Updated on Monday, 30 August 2010 12:33 Written by rslcpol Monday, 30 August 2010 12:33
From ABQjournal.com:
Their allegations are made all the more disappointing given that Secretary of State Mary Herrera campaigned for her office on a platform of cleaning it up and institutionalizing accountability and transparency in the wake of her predecessor, Rebecca Vigil-Giron. Vigil-Giron is charged in a 50-count indictment focusing on more than $6 million in federal voter education funds.
Vigil-Giron has routinely cited politics as the fuel behind the incendiary allegations against her.
That gives her something in common with Madame Secretary, as Herrera likes to be called. She also claims to be the victim of politics.
Rather than show New Mexicans how well her office is run and how responsive it is, Herrera has spent her tenure making excuses, making a flight to India, and making a scene, stomping off after placing the two remaining complainers on leave and dismissing “blatantly false and ridiculous claims being thrown at the press like red meat in an election year.”
It’s for investigators and perhaps the courts to decide whether there is another round of potentially illegal activity involving the office.
Posted under Dems Behaving Badly, Secretaries of State | No Comments
Michigan Republicans Pick Secretary of State and Attorney General Nominees
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:24 Written by rslcpol Monday, 30 August 2010 09:43
From the Michigan Messenger:
There was less infighting during the nominations for other positions. Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson became the nominee for Secretary of State on the second ballot, beating out state Sen. Cameron Brown. That race looked to belong to state Sen. Michelle McManus a few weeks ago, but perhaps recent accusations of wrongdoing by the Republican clerk of Grand Traverse County and by a former employee scared delegates away from her. She only received 237 votes.
And despite an earlier fight over seating delegates who would favor Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop in becoming the nominee for Attorney General, former Appeals Court Judge Bill Schuette won a narrow victory and Bishop then asked the convention to make it unanimous.
Schuette will face Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, nominated in an April Democratic convention, to replace Mike Cox. Ruth Johnson will face Wayne State University law professor Jocelyn Benson, also nominated in April, to replace Terri Lynn Land.
Tags: Michigan | Posted under Attorney General News, Secretaries of State | No Comments
NM: Democrat Secretary of State Denies doing wrong
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:25 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 26 August 2010 02:09
From news9west.com:
A lawyer for current and former employees of Secretary of State Mary Herrera says his clients have talked to the FBI about allegations of wrongdoing in the office.
Rudy Martin of Espanola is an attorney for former elections bureau director A.J. Salazar and for two employees who have been placed on administrative leave by Herrera. Those are James Flores, who has served as press spokesman for Herrera, and office administrator Manny Vildasol.
Martin said Thursday his clients told the FBI about wrongdoing involving contracts as well as office employees campaigning for Herrera on state time.
Tags: New Mexico | Posted under Secretaries of State | No Comments