Blackwell being Chimp's campaign chair in OH is a HUGE understatement

[kuozzman]

He's a BIG player in the GOP. He served under Bush 41,served at the U.N., was being strongly considered for a high-level cabinet position under Chimp, played a big role in redrawing the congressional district/voting precinct lines in 1990 and 2000(done every 10 yrs), flew down to Palm Beach in 2000 to act as Bush's election expert and a bunch of other stuff in Ohio and nationwide. Here is an incomplete summary of what I found so far:

10/23/1990-Washington Post
Blackwell, a former Democrat who switched after President Reagan was elected, last year was named a top aide at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He's had fund-raising help from first lady Barbara Bush, Vice President Quayle and four members of Bush's Cabinet. Luken has quipped that he's running against the ''secretary of everything.''

02/20/1992-Columbus Dispatch
The dispute hushed the usually noisy U.N. Human Rights
Commission and sent diplomats darting for copies of the speeches by
Deputy Foreign Minister Raul Roa and Ambassador J. Kenneth
Blackwell. Cuba, Blackwell said, should be ranked along with Iraq, Iran,China, North Korea and Myanmar, the former Burma, as regimes "that wage an unremitting war against the rights of their own people, displaying few if any scruples."

01/09/1994-Columbus Dispatch
Former Cincinnati Mayor J. Kenneth Blackwell is expected to be Gov. George V. Voinovich's nominee for state treasurer, replacing Mary Ellen Withrow. Voinovich has scheduled a 1 p.m. news conference for Monday to announce Blackwell's appointment to the $85,517-a-year job, sources say. If appointed, Blackwell would have the challenge of running a state office with 170 employees and a two-year budget of $22.2 million while also mounting a statewide election campaign this year

He was mayor of Cincinnati in 1979 and served on that city's council from 1977 to 1989. He was deputy undersecretary in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1989.

03/11/1994-Columbus Dispatch
At HUD, Blackwell was deputy secretary for intergovernmental relations to Kemp. From 1991 to 1993, the U.N. post involved worldwide travel to places such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he monitored Serbian prison camps for human-rights violations.

10/30/1994-The Columbus Dispatch
When the two appeared before The Plain Dealer's editorial board last month, Blackwell sprawled across two cushions of a three-seat couch and said Sykes was completely unqualified to be state treasurer. Sykes sat on the third seat, appalled by his arrogant pose.

Sykes mentioned she won the nomination following a primary fight and said to Blackwell: "You had no competition."

Blackwell shot back, "I still don't. There's a difference between an opponent and competition."

Sykes responded icily, "Explain the difference - so I know. So I can understand it."

Recent polls show Sykes running slightly ahead. Maybe Blackwell can now define "competition."

11/09/1994- The Columbus Dispatch
His chief opponent - Democrat Barbara A. Sykes, a deputy auditor for Summit County - garnered slightly more than 40 percent of the vote. Independent Edward Licht of Garfield Heights, a retired U.S. Treasury agent, captured about 4 percent.

08/13/1995-Columbus Dispatch
For years, statewide office holders have put up exhibits in the Bricker Building of the Ohio State Fair - ostensibly to educate the public about the offices and, of course, to do a little politicking. Sitting at folding tables in front of background displays, staffers from each of the offices pass out brochures and gimmicky souvenirs.

This year, J. Kenneth Blackwell, newly elected treasurer and a man with an eye on the governor's mansion, has outdone his potential rivals, Secretary of State Robert Taft and Auditor James Petro.

Though Blackwell's display was limited to the same space as other officeholders, his is quite a bit more grandiose. The backdrop is designed like a bank, complete with Greek-style columns. And in the middle is a better-than-2-foot-high backlit color photo of Blackwell, suited up and on his way to the top.

12/23/96-Columbus Dispatch
Blackwell's message could be pretty well summed up like this: The party is wasting its time trying to get me to run for treasurer or secretary of state; I'll do what I darn well please, and I'll make up my mind by May 1.

Which prompted one reporter to observe afterwards: ''If ego were a grain of sand, he'd be a beach.''

Blackwell, 48, a good-looking, smart, articulate man, may be able to back up his talk. He's served at the local and federal levels, as mayor of Cincinnati and assistant director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and he has obvious political capital.

10/11/1997-Columbus Dispatch
BLACKWELL: LET'S TOSS IRS CODE; TUNE-UP WON'T DO, OHIO TREASURER SAYS
The only way to reform the IRS is to overhaul a bloated tax code, Ohio Treasurer J. Kenneth Blackwell said yesterday at a conservative forum.

01/31/1998-Columbus Dispatch
With the exception of the governor's race, statewide GOP candidates hold a vast fund-raising advantage over their Democratic counterparts heading into the 1998 election.

Campaign finance reports reflecting fund raising and spending last year showed that across the board, Republicans had at least five times as much money on hand as did Democrats, and in one case nearly 100 times more.

The surprise filing yesterday was by state Treasurer J. Kenneth Blackwell, who boasted before he quit the GOP campaign for governor this month that he would have about $1 million on hand. At the end of 1997, however, Blackwell showed $470,254 in the bank after raising $369,516 last year.

Blackwell yesterday filed an unrequired campaign report for January, showing he had collected $128,820 during the month and had $582,079 in the bank.

04/04/98-Columbus Dispatch
Steve Forbes, the former and likely future presidential candidate, said yesterday that Ohio officials should be considering tax cuts instead of a proposed increase of the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent.

04/19/98-Columbus Dispatch
The secretary of state is important to both political parties because the officeholder is one of five members of the State Apportionment Board that will determine boundaries of state legislative districts after the 2000 census.

The millionaire publisher spoke at a fund-raising luncheon at the Adam's Mark Hotel for fellow Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell's campaign for secretary of state.

07/31/98-Columbus Dispatch
Only a linguistic miracle that somehow enables Ohio voters to pronounce the name of Charleta Tavares, the Democratic nominee for secretary of state, stands in the way of Blackwell's election. Tavares really wants to be secretary of state, but in political campaigns, money makes miracles, and at last count she only had $52,717 in the bank, compared to Blackwell's more than $1 million.

09/10/98-Columbus Dispatch
During a whirlwind Ohio visit yesterday to endorse the election of fellow Republican Kenneth Blackwell as Ohio secretary of state, former Vice President Dan Quayle renewed his earlier calls for President Clinton to resign, saying "resignation may look better" to Clinton if Congress begins impeachment hearings.

09/30/98-Columbus Dispatch
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will be the attraction at a fund-raiser for State Treasurer J. Kenneth Blackwell, who is running for secretary of state.

06/30/99-Columbus Dispatch
A panel established to advise the federal government on how to conduct the 2000 Census next year has issued two competing reports, breaking along party lines just as Congress has done over the contentious issue.

The four Republican-appointed members argued in their report that the Census Bureau should rely on a traditional door-to-door head count rather than supplementing that information with a sample survey of some households to compensate for people missed in the traditional count.

The Republican-appointed members, headed by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, recommended that the Census Bureau improve its ability to reach more people by traditional means by relying on other government files, such as Medicaid and welfare documents, to find families missed in the Census. It also urged the bureau to reinstate a step used in 1990, giving local governments an opportunity to review census figures after the head count to flag potential errors.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the government must use a traditional head count to apportion congressional seats among the states. But for other purposes, such as distributing federal funds and redrawing political boundaries, the administration plans to adjust the population figures on the basis of a large sample survey of households.

The panel members appointed by President Clinton supported that plan in their report.

Tony Coelho, former member of Congress and co-chair of the panel, said if the Census is forced to only use a traditional headcount, it will miss large blocks of minorities and children.

In 1990, said Blackwell, the census "counted over 98 percent of the largest, most diverse, most mobile population in the nation's history. The results were good, but not good enough."

Coelho, by contrast, said, "everybody agrees the 1990 Census was a disaster."

04/27/00-Columbus Dispatch
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is planning to announce today that he will serve as national chairman for millionaire publisher Steve Forbes' presidential campaign, sources said.

Forbes headlined a $250-per-plate fund-raiser for Blackwell last year, and the pair agree on the need for Social Security reform, school choice and a single tax rate.

07/04/99-Columbus Dispatch
There's something about Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and the mass media - and not just because, in private life, he's a radio-station investor. Publicity-wise, newsprint is to Blackwell what Bounty is to spills.

03/08/00-Columbus Dispatch
"The more I think about it, it's something right out of the old Soviet Union," Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell said yesterday. "It's unenforceable, it's confusing and it's potentially intimidating to voters, and it should be done away with,'' the Ohio Secretary of State said.

03/24/00-Columbus Dispatch
Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell says he's dealt with Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro, so he's not afraid to go mano a mano with the Ohio Lobbying Association.

May 31, 2000-Columbus Dispatch
COLUMN NAMES BLACKWELL AS BEST RUNNING MATE FOR BUSH
Although his name is being hoisted by prominent conservatives, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is not holding his breath for a Republican veep invitation from the presidential campaign of Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

"When Cheney calls, I'll let you know,'' Blackwell said yesterday, referring to former Defense Secretary Richard Cheney, head of Bush's vice presidential candidate-selection effort.

Blackwell makes sense as a Bush running mate for these reasons, among others:

* "Ohio is a swing state, and Mr. Blackwell presumably would make the Republican ticket a strong favorite.''

* As a former Cincinnati mayor, college teacher, HUD undersecretary and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, "Mr. Blackwell is one of the most substantive elected officials in the nation.''

* With a black GOP veep candidate, "there can be little doubt that the Democratic ticket would be discombobulated by the prospect of facing a Bush- Blackwell ticket.''

Blackwell earlier had been mentioned as a Bush running mate by such well- known conservatives as former House speaker Newt Gingrich and John Sununu, former chief of staff to President George Bush.

11/01/01
Reece is hoping voter confusion is minimal this year even though the county has created 21 precincts since the primary, adjusted the boundaries on another 30, and moved several additional polling places.

11/17/00
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell popped up yesterday at Palm Beach County's Emergency Operations Center, where the hand count of more than 460,000 ballots was supposed to occur.

Blackwell said he paid his own way to the scene to show support for Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican under fire for allegedly making partisan decisions. He said he would observe the count and act as a consultant to George W. Bush's campaign team.

But Blackwell, along with about 100 people who were poised to recount ballots, spent the day waiting for legal wrangling in several courts to wrap up.

"This is a tremendous and intriguing civic lesson, even for an election professional," said Blackwell. "It's an enormous opportunity. The Bush people want some advice on a prudent course of action."

While waiting for the court decisions, Blackwell joined the Bush "spin team," making the rounds of cable, national network television and radio broadcast tents.
In the parking lot outside the emergency operations center, the national media had erected a village of satellite trucks, camera stands and mini-studios covered by tarps, all marked off by duct tape stuck to the ground.

"Can't talk now. Gotta do an interview on Fox," Blackwell said upon arrival. The day started with a fight over the tiny chad, the square of paper that is punched out as a voter pushes a stylus through a ballot to register a vote.

November 16, 2000
Outside of the Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell glided from one TV camera to the next -- CNN, Fox, MSNBC, ABC -- to wax eloquently about the drama gripping America.

Labeled by Democrats as a politician who never met a camera for which he wouldn't mug, Blackwell gladly accepted the invitation from the Bush campaign to make a whirlwind trip to Florida and lend his voice to the endless spinning over the contested election.

"I thought it would be a missed opportunity if I didn't come down and take part in this historic civics lesson,'' said Blackwell, 52, adding that his own campaign fund footed the bill.

Blackwell arrived in West Palm Beach at 10 a.m. and departed at 9 p.m., dutifully making the media rounds and back-slapping many of the TV network crews he recognized from frequent gigs on national talk shows.

Blackwell's take on the vote recount, repeated to The Dispatch, varied little in the TV interviews.

"Simply put, if you don't bring finality to this situation, you're going to undermine the confidence the people have in the system,'' he said. "We've had two legitimate vote counts, no evidence of fraud, and a hand recount of ballots that were not intended to be manipulated by hand may prove to undermine the accuracy of the count."

Beyond serving as an election expert for the Bush campaign, Blackwell said his secondary mission was to voice support for two of Florida's besieged elections officials -- Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and Democrat Carol Roberts, a member of the Palm Beach County canvassing board.

Blackwell, who knows Harris and Roberts personally, said both were being unfairly accused of making politically motivated decisions.

"We have to stop this nonsense stemming from the notion that election partisans don't have the integrity to rise above politics in moments like this,'' he said.

02/07/01
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is talking with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell about taking a high- level job in the State Department.

Blackwell, who is in Washington for a national conference, had informal talks by phone with Powell earlier this week to explore the possibility of becoming assistant secretary for human rights.

"Kenny's been approached, and he has indicated he has some interest in exploring opportunities with the State Department,'' Ohio GOP Chairman Robert T. Bennett said yesterday.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Blackwell is under consideration for the assistant secretary's job, which includes monitoring elections and reporting to Congress annually on human-rights conditions in other nations.

Bennett said that Gov. Bob Taft, President Bush's Ohio campaign manager, sent an e-mail yesterday to Karl Rove, Bush's senior adviser, and Ken Mehlman, Bush's political director, "strongly recommending Ken for that job.''

Through two prior jobs in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the adminstration of former President George Bush, Blackwell became well- acquainted with Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, LoParo noted. Blackwell had served in posts as ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and deputy undersecretary in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

[xxqqqzme]

1. I wouldn't think

he would B satisfied w/ 'just' a governorship. Seems his sights R loftier

[fob]

2. Here's how to end his rise in the repuke party;

Good, now we got them right where we want them! Blackwell the "former" Democrat is deep inside the belly of the beast. We were real close in 2000 when he was on the potential VP list, but now, with his 2004 "election" performance, he is sitting pretty. He has the money backing of the GOP, the use of it's slime machine and the trust of it's oiliest thieves. Boy are they in for a surprise when he get's the VP nod in 2008 to run with Frist. They just don't know in 2008 we will be fielding 3 candidates, 2 Democrats and one "former" Democrat as a repuke. Bwahahahahahahahaha. Suckers.


Spread that far and wide and watch JKB take time to "be with his family"

[Al-CIAda]

3. kick