Conservative Culture

Nine years as Treasurer and now it’s time for a new challenge. Rhonda Eddy was appointed by the Central and Executive Committee of Allen County to the Auditor’s spot after the Auditor was tapped for the Clerk of Courts position. This sequence of events was precipitated by Former Republican Chairman of Allen County Bob Holmes retirement.

Rhonda Eddy will be on the ballot for Tuesday’s primary winning the spot for whoever will be appointed to the Treasurer’s spot. Both Rhonda and the next appointment will run on the November ballot. It appears that the Screening Committee for the Republican party will be looking forward to a new meeting to interview potential candidates. There is no particular person on the horizon of “potential candidates” but knowing the depth in the county that several candidates will appear on radar.

LIMA — Allen County Republicans appointed county treasurer Rhonda Eddy to the vacant county auditor’s post Thursday, trading extensive financial experience in the previous post holder for someone with her fair share.

The position has been vacant since Ben Diepenbrock was appointed to the Lima Municipal Court clerk’s position when former clerk Bob Holmes retired.

“As a resident of Allen County, I’m elated to see the experience we have to draw on. Both of those offices require strong financial backgrounds, and both of those individuals have that,” said Allen County Republican Chairman Keith Cheney said.

Eddy was the only applicant for the job. Cheney attributed that to the work Eddy has done as treasurer and her making it known she was interested in the position.

“It’s not a promotion in a true sense, in that both are elected positions,” Eddy said. “But there are more challenges and more opportunities with the auditor’s office. After nine years as treasurer, it was time for a change.”

 Brunner had a disagreement with Allen County Elections Director Keith Cunningham. It was sharp enough for her to remove him from the statewide board. It’s a shame for her to do it over the disagreement. Especially since the rest of the stae has more troubles with machines than does Allen County. The story is below… further down is the meat of the problem.

LIMA — Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Allen County elections director Keith Cunningham are in sharp disagreement about her powers and his positions after she removed him from a statewide board.

In a letter dated Feb. 21, Brunner notified Cunningham, director of the Allen County Board of Elections, she was terminating his appointment to the Board of Voting Machine Examiners, which reviews new elections equipment and technology.

Brunner, a Democrat, appointed Cunningham, a Republican, to the board in August, citing his extensive experience with voting systems and guidelines.

Following Brunner’s removal of Hardin County Board of Elections Chairman James Crates, Cunningham said he sees a pattern developing, with Brunner removing people with opinions different than hers.

“In the Hardin County case, she had a directive. In this case, she had an appointment,” Cunningham said. “Neither of these are violations of law. I have worked with all kinds of people in this country civilly and respectfully and have managed, despite differing positions, to come to common conclusions about things. Her inability to deal with disagreement is startling here.”

 Here is the meat of the problem. Brunner appears to enter into a contest of wills and wants to prove power. Since some key Dems have problems with her from the get go I assume that these power contests may continue in the future. Different city… different names only.

Brunner and Cunningham have different recollections of their conversations about Cunningham’s thoughts on different types of voting equipment.

“He told her he would never vote to decertify a touch screen voting machine, and that caused great concern to her because that didn’t seem objective,” Gallaway said. “It’s important they have an objective eye when reviewing equipment.”

Cunningham wasn’t blindly against a certain kind of machine, he said, adding that he didn’t say he could never vote to decertify certain kinds of voting machines.

“I indicated to her and in my letter that it would be unwise to decertify any machine, including (touch-screen voting machines). I never said never, I said before Nov. 4, 2008,” Cunningham said. “The risks posed at this point by changing equipment this rapidly are far greater than the risks she identified in her study.”

In her letter, Brunner cited a piece of Ohio law giving her the power to appoint members to the machine board and also wrote that she had a corresponding right to terminate those appointments.

“My understanding is she has the ability to do both,” Gallaway said.

Cunningham said he believed the code was silent on termination power, and Brunner was making an assumption in a law that isn’t there. Even so, Cunningham said he had no plans to challenge the removal.

Don’t you hate it when the tongue gets all tied up. Some say it’s a freudian slip. Two words from two different points got mixed up that’s all. I can understand it because I have made similar slips in speech. However, it’s too funny to pass up and expresses what many conservatives have surmised. So here it is for what it is worth. HT Stop the ACLU.