News From The U.S. Election Reform Movement
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Editorial: In One of the Worst Political Gaffes Imaginable, J. Kenneth Blackwell and Ohio AG Jim Petro Give Election Reform Attorneys a National Stage
By THE NEWS EDITOR

I happen to be an attorney -- but the hypothetical I'm about to put to you hardly requires a law degree to unravel.

Here goes:

Imagine you sell jellybeans.

Jellybeans are what you do.

But -- sad you -- no one's interested in jellybeans.

So you start up an nationwide advertising campaign in which you argue that people are prejudiced against jellybeans because they erroneously think jellybeans are enormously fattening -- when, in fact, they're not.

Now imagine the scorn and ridicule you might receive from those who've believed their entire lives that jellybeans are intensely fattening.

You'd be a laughing stock!

And your advertising campaign would almost certainly never make it off the ground.

Now imagine that a man in Ohio named Jim, who works in a high-profile job, decides to publicly call you out regarding your jellybean advertising campaign.

You're a liar, he says!

You should lose your right to advertise jellybeans forever, you scoundrel!

And he challenges you, in a public forum -- let's say, even, in a court of law -- to prove that jellybeans are, in fact, low in fat, and that you are, therefore, not acting irresponsibly in advertising them as such.

And you're thinking to yourself, from an advertising standpoint:

JACKPOT.

Meet Jim Petro.

Let's say, hypothetically, that Jim likes long walks on the beach, women who don't use napkins, and pork byproducts.

Let's say that among Jim's intense dislikes are election reform and jellybeans.

Let's say that Jim has just made election reform and jellybeans -- literally and figuratively, respectively -- the biggest game in town, by "forcing" their biggest proponent to prove his case before a court of law and the entire nation.

By hauling our chief jellybean salesman-cum-election reform advocate Clifford Arnebeck into the Ohio Supreme Court -- on allegations that Attorney Arnebeck frivolously filed a lawsuit attacking the results of the 2004 Ohio general election -- Jim Petro has managed to find the only conceivable way for Arnebeck to get his issue back before the Court.

[And the court of public opinion, as well. Because if there's one thing the mainstream media loves, it's a story which they anticipate -- in this case, erroneously -- will heap ridicule on the election reform movement].

Thanks, Jim!

God you're an idiot.

So, message to Arnebeck, from one attorney to another: you're unlikely to get censured for making what was clearly a colorable claim.

So start selling those jellybeans.

Because, you know -- it turns out they have zero fat.


See Related Stories:

("Question: How Many Calories and Carbohydrates Are In a Single Jelly Belly Jelly Bean? Answer: There Are 4 Calories Per Bean, Or About 100 Calories Per Single Serving; They Have Approximately 1 Gram of Carbohydrate Per Bean and Zero Fat," Jelly Belly [UK], 1/26/05)
FAQ http://www.jellybelly-uk.com/pages/q&a/ing...nutrition.shtml


("Attorney General's Call to Punish Lawyer Is Reply to Election Challenge," The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Reginald Fields, 1/19/05)
Article http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/...13076592790.xml


("Why the Ohio Recount Still Matters," The National Voting Rights Institute, 1/26/05)
Article http://www.nvri.org/defend-the-recount.html


("Letter From the Honorable Rep. John T. Conyers [D-MI] to the Honorable Jim Petro, Attorney General of Ohio," Website of the House Judiciary Committee Democrats [.pdf Format], 1/20/05)
Letter  http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/o...ionltr12005.pdf