Advertisement

FREEP HEROES

Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and California Senator Barbara Boxer


U.S. representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones courageously stepped forward and challenged the Ohio electors certified for Bush. Unlike the 2000 presidential challenge, this time a heroic U.S. Senator, Barbara Boxer, also signed off on the challenge and forced a long overdue debate on the massive voting irregularities that have plagued both of George W. Bush’s presidential “elections.” Tubbs-Jones and Boxer’s actions will be recorded in history as the two towering figures brave enough to speak out and create a new voting rights movement in the United States.

THE FREE PRESS SALUTES

Reverend Jesse Jackson
and Representative John Conyers


The only national figure who came to Ohio to aid the grassroots movement when it was being ignored by mainstream media was the Rev. Jesse Jackson. It is fitting that the heir of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s civil rights and voting rights legacy led the charge, in this, the 40th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Alabama march. Jackson heard the calls of a burgeoning new voting rights movement and rushed to their assistance. Rep. Conyers, unlike other spineless Democrats, took the allegations seriously instead of ignoring the pleas of tens of thousands of disenfranchised voters in Ohio. Conyers and his staff investigated and released a comprehensive report that turned the tide on Capitol Hill and set the stage for the first ever debate over a state delegation’s electoral certification at the joint meeting of Congress.

Amy Fay Kaplan
and Jonathan Meier


Amy and Jonathan of the League of Pissed Off Voters were instrumental and invaluable in organizing the initial public hearings in Columbus, Ohio that lit the spark of the new voting rights movement. Much of the evidence gathered at the hearings they organized became the basis of the Conyers report. If not for their hard work, there may not have been national attention from Jackson or a challenge of Ohio’s electoral votes in Congress.

ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE

William Anthony, Chair of the Franklin County Board of Elections
and the Franklin County Democratic Party


With President Bush and the Ohio Republican Party heavily under attack from voting rights activists, they could always count on one man to kiss their ass and come to their defense – William Anthony – the man who does not hesitate to apologize for Republican voter suppression. His checkered and morally compromised past makes him the perfect candidate for both the Chair of the Board of Elections and Dems of Franklin County. Anthony’s name was invoked over and over again by leading racist and right-wing Republican as well as the ultra-conservative National Review to justify the suppression of Franklin County voters. Anthony embodies the essence of the Ohio Democratic Party – an unethical, gutless, Republican sycophant who does the bidding of the rich and powerful.

Appears in Issue: