Posted on 12/03/2004 2:20:00 AM PST by Former Military Chick
NEW YORK A syndicated newspaper column by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, which slammed Ohio's handling of the recent presidential election, is being accused of "blatant inaccuracies" by the Ohio Secretary of State's office.
Carlo Lo Paro, press secretary for Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, claims that Jackson's column, distributed earlier this week through Tribune Media Services, contains numerous inaccuracies that hint at improper behavior by Blackwell's office.
"We expect someone writing an op-ed and a syndicate distributing that op-ed would fact-check information and have a responsibility to the facts," Lo Paro told E&P Wednesday. "We believe someone can have a different point of view, but offer truthful information."
Lo Paro said Blackwell had not yet decided if he would formally respond to the column, but he said the secretary of state had written his own op-ed, the second in less than a week, which will be made available to daily newspapers on Thursday. The first, distributed on Thanksgiving, was printed in The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Washington Times.
John Twohey, Tribune Media vice president of editorial and operations, said the syndicate had not received any negative reaction to the column, or any complaints from Blackwell's office. "If they have specific reservations about the column, I would be eager to talk to them," he said.
A spokesman at Jackson's office declined immediate comment.
The column in question was distributed by Tribune Media on Nov. 29, according to the syndicate's Web site.
Jackson took issue with Ohio's handling of the recent presidential race. The column contends that Blackwell, who has also worked for the Bush campaign, either made mistakes or overtly sought to help Bush.
"The vote in Ohio decided the presidential race, but it was marred by intolerable, often partisan, irregularities and discrepancies," wrote Jackson, who has spent several days in Ohio seeking attention for an investigation into the vote there. "U.S. citizens have as much reason as those in Kiev to be concerned that the fix was in."
Jackson's column then went on to cite several specific allegations of either improper actions or poor oversight by Blackwell's office. Those include several that Lo Paro contends are false.
Lo Paro challenged Jackson's assertion that the head of the Diebold Co. had helped sway the Ohio vote Bush's way through his company's electronic voting machines. "Ohio does not use Diebold electronic machines," he said.
Then there's Jackson's complaint that the vote count had taken too long. "It's three weeks after the election and Ohio still hasn't counted the votes and certified the election," the column says.
LoParo's response: "Legally we have until Dec. 7 to certify the vote and we are doing that. He insinuates some sort of delay marred by fraud, but it took this long in 2000 and it actually takes longer in non-presidential years, because there is no hurry to meet the electoral college."
The press secretary also counter's Jackson's charge that "Blackwell reversed the rules on provisional ballots that were in place in spring 2004" so that voters could only cast them in their home precincts. "That has been the law since 1990," Lo Paro said.
Finally, Lo Paro objected to Jackson's statement that "Blackwell presided over a voting system that resulted in quick, short lines in the dominantly Republican suburbs and four-hour and longer waiting lines in the inner cities." Said Lo Paro, "There is no proof that there were longer lines in Democratic precincts than in Republican precincts."
ping
So the Dems are reduced to having to resort to Jesse Jackson as their official spokesman on the recount efforts...they must be more desperate than we thought.
At some point, people will have to start using the court system to sue for libel against the poverty pimp. He gets more outrageous by the day and is never called on it in any meaningful way.
I'll admit, I take a perverse relish in this.
JJ is screaming for attention. He was a non-entity in this last election cycle.
Michael Moore, 527's, and the Kerry campaign reaped hundreds of millions dollars. Forget all the issues you've heard about, it's what you didn't hear about that makes sense (or lack of cents), namely Rainbow Coalition or NAACP.
Queasy, er, I mean, Kweisi didn't bow out from NAACP for no reason! Probably taking Dan Rather lessons ... git while the gittin' is good. JJ has nowhere else to go ...
Dear God!!! I just thought out loud! Any bets who the next NAACP chairman may be?
The right "reverend" jackson didn't get where he is by fact checking anything.
LOL! WHAT AN IDIOT!
When you want something completely false and irresponsible said at high volume, you call a specialist. Jesse Jackson specializes in being noisy and irresponsible. Truth never even enters the picture.
Having Jesse Jackson out front on this is a win/win for the Donks. It gets the Core VotersTM wound up, broadcasts the message widely, and allows every Donk who wants to appear responsible to roll his eyes and say "That Jesse, there he goes again!"
The template would call for Jimmy Carter to make some inconclusive, but damning sounding, statement at about 4:30 this afternoon, to hit the Friday news cycle. If Jimbo does this, you know it is a Donk op from the git-go.
Don't forget Bev Harris at Black Box Voting.
I try not to let race effect my politics, but I gotta admit I was grinning from ear to ear the first time I saw Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell on TV on November 3...
Inkeeper - No.
Inspector C. gets bitten says, I thought you said your dog doesn't bite
Inkeeper - It's not my dog.
Message received! Check out the scroll below JJ's Fox image, "horns Doctor says the 59 year old illusionist is", LOLOLOL.
This is what Massuh Jesse does. He's a vile, despicable lump of biological debris.
He's also an IRELEVANT, HAS BEEN.
He'll get goofier in the vain, desparate attention grabs and then get bitter that "no ones cares" anymore.
Wishful thinking. We've learned from the treatment of Dr. Rice, Colin Powell, Rod Paige, Justice Thomas and others with a conservative or Republican bent that the Libs see only Uncle Toms, Aunt Jemimas, puppets and tokens for "Whitey", "Cracker" and worse rather than one of their own.
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