Feb

29

Brunner’s Tantrum - Tosses Cunningham From Statewide Board

February 29, 2008 |

 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.

 


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