Obidiah's blog

Whoa, that is a large watch list. Reminds me of the good ole days. McCarthy 08!

There isn't anything I can say to add to this, except that Bush won Ohio by 118,000, and this is 95,000 votes in Cayohoga County alone.

Forced resignations and stiff prison sentences intensify the escalating blowback from Ohio's 2004 stolen election
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
March 20, 2007

In a bold move "to restore trust to elections in Ohio," Ohio's newly-elected Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, has requested the resignation of all four members of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. The two Democrats and two Republicans were formally asked to resign by the close of business on March 21. Cuyahoga County includes the heavily Democratic city of Cleveland. Brunner is a Democrat who was elected to be Ohio's Secretary of State in November, 2006.

Felony convictions have also resulted in 18-month prison sentences for two employees of the Cuyahoga BOE as a result of what the county prosecutor in the case calls the "rigging" of the outcome in the recount following the 2004 presidential election. Further problems surfaced in the conduct of Cuyahoga County's May, 2006 primary, in the wake of which Michel Vu, Executive Director of the county's Board of Elections recently resigned.

If you haven't seen it, the new You Tube ad attacking Hillary in favor of Obama is priceless. The Obama camp says they had nothing to do with it. If true, it marks a continuation in the dissemination of power in politics, and I love it.

The State Energy Office, which is seemingly always on the budget chopping block, is hosting the 4th Annual Sustainable Energy Conference in Raleigh today and tomorrow in Raleigh(Click here for more details). Featured speaker is Tom Daschle!

Below is the agenda. I hope some of y'all can attend!

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Energy, Environment, and Economy
North Carolina’s future depends on the decisions we make today on these important issues. Attend the fourth annual North Carolina Sustainable Energy Conference to learn how the three are connected and what you can do to ensure a sustainable future for our state.

Agenda
DAY ONE—March 7, 2007
UTILITY SAVINGS INITIATIVE HALF-DAY SESSIONS

The N&O ran a story today about how Bev Perdue's campaign sent out an email to its list alerting folks to the fact that Moore has raised money from those that do business with our pension plan. I'd personally be interested in knowing if those contributions came before or after Moore decided to include the respective businesses in the business of North Carolina before jumping to any conclusions, but even still, politicians raise more money from their friends than their enemies (sometimes in bathrooms and sometimes not).

Thoughts on this?

The NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) yesterday handed down its decision on Duke's request to build two new 800MW coal-fired power plants at their Cliffside site. The NCUC has granted Duke permission to build one of the two plants, saying they had not met the burden of proof necessary to obtain permission to build both plants, while requiring the older units at Cliffside be shut down when the new unit is operational and that Duke spend 1% of its annual revenue from electricity sales on energy efficience.

What this means for NC and our energy future:

1. The Cliffside plant may not be built. NCWARN, a local environmental watch-dog, issued a press release saying the NCUC's ruling makes it too costly for Duke to proceed.

M E M O R A N D U M

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group
DATE: February 28, 2006
RE: North Carolina Senate Polling

A recent survey conducted for the DSCC shows that Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole enters her reelection campaign with significant weaknesses with North Carolina voters that leave her extremely vulnerable in next year’s election.

Despite enjoying near universal name ID, only 35% of likely North Carolina voters say that they will vote to reelect Dole. Furthermore, fewer than half approve of her job performance as a senator—49% rate her performance as excellent or good, while 46% describe it as fair or poor.

North Carolina voters also overwhelmingly disapprove of the job President Bush is doing, and they believe that the nation is headed in the wrong direction. Bush’s net job approval in the survey is 36% to 64%, and only 22% of voters believe the country is on the right track, compared to 68% who believe it is off on the wrong track.

10 legislators have sent a letter to the NC Utilities Commission asking them to hold off on approving Duke's request to build two new coal-fired units at their Cliffside station. Sounds like they are starting to connect the dots. From the N&O:

Durham Democrat Paul Luebke, Wake County Democrat Jennifer Weiss and others said Tuesday that Duke's coal plant proposal should be put on hold while the General Assembly considers legislation that would require the state's public utilities to derive at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar or animal waste. Bills were recently introduced in the state House and Senate. If the state adopts such an energy policy, building a major power plant might be unnecessary, the lawmakers said.

I just got an email from NC Spin:

Black resignation imminent?
The rumors started swirling faster than the morning snow. It began with the news that former House Speaker Jim Black had requested not to have a legislative assistant assigned to him. We then were told by reliable sources that Black had listed his Bishops Park condo for sale on the internal General Assembly web site. The signs all pointed to his departure from the legislature, and soon.

Afer more diggging, we hear that Black has accepted a plea bargain with the federal government and that the terms might be announced as early as tomorrow. We were told there was active prison time involved. Keep in mind, all is uncofirmed rumor, but either someone is working overtime or there is some big news coming down soon.

The N&O's editorial board has seen the light, calling on the NC Utilties Commission (NCUC to deny Duke's request to build two new coal fired power plants at their Cliffside operation). They also call on the Legislature to pick up the pace and work to find better solutions to the energy supply vs. global climate change conundrum.

The good news: Senator Charlie Albertson has already filed a Renewable Portfolio Standard bill. The bad news: legislators filed a RPS bill last session which didn't go anywhere, and the utilities are one of the strongtest forces in the Legislature.

Before the fight goes to the Legislature, stopping the Cliffside project must happen. Duke is calling on the NCUC to make a decision on Cliffside by February 28.

Below the fold for more on how to help...