Attention Cleveland-area Concealed Carry Reform supporters:

Jim Trakas, Republican Representative in House District 17, is under attack.

Last month, we reported that
anti-CCW forces had decided to make Trakas' support for Concealed Carry Reform a linch pin in their campaign to unseat him. Attack ads were televised 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.

Now, at the eleventh hour, the virtually bankrupt Million Mom March is staging an attack rally against Jim Trakas at Liberty Park in Independence, OH on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 10:00 a.m. They chose this park because Mr. Trakas won funding for this park while on city council, and chose its name. Reportedly, they intend to pass out toys to children and make this a really
pretty media spectacle.

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED! For information on the counter-rally, please click the "Read More..." link below.

Yesterday we reported that a document is being circulated around a union "shop" that remained unnamed. In response to our massive distribution of that information, numerous people have come forward to tell us that they too received the letter. One confirmation comes from an employee at GM Powertrain - UAW 211.

The actual document is now available on the OFCC website in PDF format. If you would like to download it, click here.

You will notice that the top of the document also says "William Flanary For State Senate". Flanary, a Democrat who is running against Republican Lynn Wachtmann (a strong CCW supporter), works at GM Powertrain in Defiance, Ohio, where the letter originates!

Click on the "Read More..." link below to see details anout what was found in our investigation to ascertain the facts.

The following is a stunning Election-eve display of just how important the election of Evelyn Stratton and Maureen O'Connor to the high court truly is:

The Ohio Supreme Court has just thrown out the death sentence of a Zanesville man who was convicted of killing a sheriff’s deputy on a technicality.

Voting 4-3 Wednesday, the court vacated the sentence of Tony Gross, who was convicted of aggravated murder in the July 1994 death of Muskingum County Lieutenant Mike Lutz.

The court ruled that alternate jurors should not have been allowed in the deliberation room during the penalty phase of the trial. The majority found their presence tainted the sentencing hearing. The court’s ruling orders a new sentencing hearing in the Muskingum County Common Pleas Court for Gross.

OFCC PAC Commentary:
Meanwhile, at the hand of the very same split 4-3 court, law-abiding Ohioans are prevented from defending themselves and their families, subject to a ban on carrying concealed weapons ruled unconstitutional by a Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge and three District Court of Appeals justices.

How many Ohioans have become victims of assault, rape, murder, burglary, car-jacking, etc., while the 4-3 liberal majority on the high court holds up consideration of the Hamilton County case to defend the life of this cop killer?

Pro-CCW Ohioans MUST ACT on Election Day to end this cycle of controversial 4-3 split votes. Encourage your friends to vote Stratton and O'Connor to restore Supreme Court justice.

Read the whole story from the Ohio News Network.

Current Lt. Gov. Maureen O'Connor and Democrat Tim Black, candidates for Ohio Supreme Court, were entertaining last night as they sparred on a live statewide television forum.

O'Connor, who has been well ahead in most public-opinion polls, appeared confident while Black's responses were often dry, almost robotic. He exhaustively repeated the fact that he has served nine years as a judge, while at the same time he criticized O'Connor as a career politician with little bench experience.

But O'Connor countered out that Black sits on a municipal court, "the very lowest level" in the court system. She went on to say that she has "been blessed (by) wonderful experiences'' as a magistrate, judge, Summit County prosecutor and lieutenant governor -- and is proud to be seeking another statewide office.

Addressing a question about the frequency of narrow, 4-3 decisions on many cases, O'Connor said: "The public should be concerned about an activist court whose decisions benefit special interest groups such as the one my opponent pledged allegiance to." O'Connor referred to a statement Black made this year when announcing his campaign, that the "seat belongs to labor."

After weeks of refusing to disassociate herself from a supporting PAC's negative ads against her opponent, Evelyn Stratton, the liberal Janet Burnside finally bent. Under mounting pressure from major media, after official condemnation from the Ohio State Bar Association, and with slipping poll numbers, Burnside denounced the ads Tuesday evening in a statewide televised debate.

"The people who support me have been sleazy and lying about Justice Stratton and they should remove" the ads, Burnside stated.

Trial attorneys, labor unions and lobbyists have funneled nearly $1.7 million into campaigns for Burnside and Hamilton County Municipal Judge Tim Black, according to Ohio Citizen Action. These special interests are hedging bets that their candidates will support their position on proposed legislation that would put a $300,000 cap on jury awards for pain and suffering. The Supreme Court nullified such laws twice in the 1990s.

Read the whole story in the Columbus Dispatch (subscription site - paid access only).

OFCC PAC Commentary:
Another reason for these groups' support for the liberal candidates pertains squarely to the anti-firearms debate in Ohio. According the Secretary of State's data, Democrat Tim Black is also receiving financial backing from Stan Chesley. Chesley, who has hosted fund raisers for both Clinton and Gore in his home, and who is leading the fight on the Cincinnati Gun manufacture's law suit, has personally given Tim Black $2,000, his law firm has given $10,000.