Nosey Online

That's why we want to know what they're up to.

COLUMBUS - Gov. Bob Taft's office has rejected a Blade request made under the Ohio Open Records Act that asked for the appointment calendars from members of the governor's staff, including former chief of staff Brian Hicks.

"Mr. Hicks' calendar, which contains both personal and professional appointments, was kept for his personal convenience and does not serve to document the activities of the office," the governor's chief legal counsel, Elizabeth Luper Schuster, said in a July 6 letter.

Ms. Schuster justified this decision by citing International Union vs. Voinovich, a 1995 ruling by Ohio's 10th District Court of Appeals.

Written before the dominance of calendar and e-mail programs like Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes, the case states that the governor has no obligation to disclose any appointments because he is not legally required to maintain any records of them.

Attorneys for then-Gov. George Voinovich said he did keep personal calendars "but denies that he utilizes them to document his official actions."

As a result, the ruling concluded that only the official schedules released by the governor's press office qualify as available public records.

State Sen. Marc Dann (D., Youngstown) challenged Mr. Taft's invocation of International Union vs. Voinovich to protect his former chief of staff.

"Brian Hicks was paid by the state of Ohio," he said. "He wasn't the governor's employee. He was the people's employee."

That pretty much sums it up. If our tax dollars are being used to bend us over. I think the public has a right to know. Once again, though, it won't matter. These guys are fixin' to go down hardcore. Take a look at these numbers from Kos.

I've got the following info from a trusted source. It's a Republican poll out of Ohio. But I couldn't get the baseline info on the poll -- pollster and date taken. So take with appropriate grain of salt.

Pollster Unknown. 501 Republicans. 501 Independent and Swing voters. Date unknown. (No trend lines)

501 Republicans voters polled on Republican candidates

Fav / Unfav / Would vote for

Montgomery 49% 39% 44%
Petro 42% 46% 40%
Blackwell 44% 50% 43%

501 Independents and Swing voters polled on Republican candidates.

Fav / Unfav / Would vote for

Montgomery 46% 42% 26%
Petro 54% 33% 42%
Blackwell 22% 60% 23%

Head to head, polling all voters.

Strickland (D) 58
Blackwell (R) 36

Coleman (D) 49
Blackwell (R) 42

Strickland (D) 50
Kasich (R) 41

Coleman (D) 43
Kasich (R) 45

Strickland (D) 51
Petro (R) 44

Coleman (D) 44
Petro (R) 44
Strickland (D) 52
Montgomery (R) 39

Coleman (D) 48
Montgomery (R) 42

[...]

What we are looking at is the complete disintegration of the Ohio Republican Party.

We can only hope.