Representative Jim Trakas (R-17), a proven Concealed-Carry Reform supporter who has received OFCC PAC's endorsement, has recently come under attack for his staunch support of the 2nd Amendment and self-defense rights of Ohioans.

Televised ads are running in the 17th House District, essentially making the claim that Trakas supports Wild West-type justice and that he wants to make it easier for criminals to get guns.

This same type of ad is expectedly going to be run against many of our pro-CCW Reform candidates. Ohio's anti-gunners seem to be desperate enough to buck the national trend by taking the risk of making support for the 2nd Amendment an issue in this year's campaign.

If you become aware of any other such baseless, negative attacks on pro-CCW Reform candidates, please post about them here in the Comments section, or email detailed information to us at info@buckeyefirearms.org.

In its endorsement of Evelyn Lundberg-Stratton and Lt. Gov. Maureen O'Connor for Ohio Supreme Court, the Cleveland Plain Dealer notes that "Ohio needs judges who are satisfied with their constitutionally defined role."

They point out that Stratton has already proven she understand a Justice's role, pointing out that "she [has] proved reluctant to usurp the legislature's turf. ...In most cases, her conservative approach serves as a welcome brake on the court." The Plain Dealer goes on to stress that "Stratton got the Ohio Bar Association's highest grade."

In explaining their decision to endorse O'Connor, the Plain Dealer points out that opponent Tim Black "is a political chameleon: When this one-time Republican ran for the court in 2000, he billed himself as a progressive. This year, the 49-year-old Black works the word moderate into almost every answer. He launched this race by promising to preserve "labor's seat" on the court. He now says his mouth got ahead of his brain, but judging from other signals he's sent, maybe Black was simply telling the truth."

The Plain Dealer concludes, "our doubts about Black's sincerity tip the choice to the 51-year-old O'Connor. ...She has solid grounding in judicial issues. She understands the realities of what goes on in a courtroom and the real-world impact of what judges decide. The Ohio Supreme Court can use such experience."

Read the full endorsements for Ohio Supreme Court from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Democrat Sue Morano claimed Friday that state Sen. Jeffry Armbruster attempted to profit after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by raising prices at a gas station he owns in Bay Village. Her campaign manager, Jack Kilroy, furthered her claim by saying that prices at Armbruster’s Bay Village Shell station rose 50 cents a gallon Sept. 11.

But the State Attorney General's Office (not to mention Armbruster), who prosecuted price gougers across the state after 9/11 hikes, disagrees.

Armbruster, who owns and operates several gas stations in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties, said the accusations are lies and charged that Morano’s campaign manager, Jack Kilroy, is using underhanded political tactics.

Morano is running against Armbruster in November for the 13th District Senate seat. Armbruster said he’s outraged at all of it and he is being railroaded with untrue and unfounded accusations by his political opponents.

“If I was guilty, I would have been prosecuted,” he said.

Read the entire story in Elyria's Chronicle-Telegram.

Here we go again.

Ohio got a sneak preview of a possible sequel to the ugly smear tactics that marred the 2000 Ohio Supreme Court campaign. This year, it's coming from the other side of the political spectrum.

An eight-page memo obtained by the Cleveland Plain Dealer details a "class warfare" strategy that supporters of the two Democratic-supported nominees for the court, Tim Black and Janet Burnside, are contemplating against their GOP-backed opponents, Maureen O'Connor and incumbent Eve Stratton, respectively.

Winning Directions, a Washington, D.C. firm hired by a labor union-trial attorney coalition, proposes linking Ms. O'Connor and
Justice Stratton with corporate corruption and sending out flyers with themes such as "Us Versus Them" to voters targeted by race, gender and age.

This is odiously reminiscent of then infamous $4 million "Justice for Sale" ad campaign in 2000 that implied Justice Alice Robie Resnick "sold" her votes for campaign contributions. The ads by Citizens for a Strong Ohio, a group formed by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, were widely and rightly condemned.

Most distressing, perhaps, is this key sentience from the Winning Directions memo: "The foundation of this campaign is not the positive attributes of Tim Black and Janet Burnside." What a sad commentary in
which candidates' legal acumen, commitment to equal justice and devotion
to the rule of law should be the focus.