Husted's Creative Destruction Gambit

Former Republican House Speaker Jon Husted has announced his intent to save us by destroying an elected State Office.  The on again off again "resident" of Kettering has offered an ageless right wing tennet of governance as a campaign promise,

“I may be the first person in Ohio history to run for an office with a plan to eliminate it," Husted, 41, now a state senator, said in announcing his candidacy today at Ohio Republican Party headquarters.

Husted is going to save the Office of Secretary of State by deconstructing it and replacing it with a weak kneed version of a bi-partisan committee.  Don't they ever learn?  That "I must eliminate government in order to save it" has lost it's luster.  

This looks like an act of desperation or a political Hail Mary pass by Husted.  It's got to be one of the worst ideas since Ken Blackwell announced stringent specifications for voter registration forms.  It is on par with the hapless proposal to phase out the income tax being thrown around by prospective gubernatorial candidate John Kasich.

The fact that Husted's main campaign promise is to abolish the position of SOS is an indication of   the GOP's recognition of the sea change in Ohio politics.  Gone are the days in which the GOP could rest assured they would hold a majority of the executive offices, the governorship and both houses of the general assembly at once.  One way to slow the influence of a more progressive leaning electorate is to decapitate the position that has been instrumental in neutralizing Ohio's voting impediments.  Free and unfettered elections are the true objective of SOS oversight.  So take that away and we're back to the problems experienced in the Blackwell years.

We saw the difference in how election law and voter protection are carried out under Jennifer Brunner as compared to her insincere predecessor Lord Blackwell.   To further that point just look at the impetus for and success of the Secretary of State Project implemented nation wide.  That  initiative was based on the realization that equal protection of voter rights and providing unhindered access to the polls free of absurd rules and red tape are vital to increasing voter turn out.  Removing the Secretary of State position would hamper the ability to act swiftly and directly in matters of protecting voters and the voting process.

Now you could say the Ohio GOP has never been fond of high voter turn out. It doesn't mesh well with their priorities.  So what John Husted has proposed is a Bizzaro Secretary of State Project.  He wants to replace the one strong leadership position that can assure fair electoral results (when they want to) with a gimmicky government by committee.  

Cloaking this work of right wing fancy in a bi-partisan veneer is just a way of making it seem palatable for unsuspecting voters.  As much as Husted and the Ohio GOP may laud the idea there is no real need for this State Committee. The County Boards of Elections already have leadership by committee and that always works out well.

Story courtesy of the Daily Briefing