In a disturbing precedent, a Federal judge has ordered a filmmaker to surrender over 600 hours of raw footage he filmed about a long-running suit against Chevron

Court Orders Documentary Filmmaker Surrender

In a race that drew national attention in its closing days over allegations of race-baiting and conspiracies, the winner of the Democratic Primary for U.S. Representative in Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District is political newcomer Surya Yalamanchili. Yalamanchili, or “Chili” as he is also known as, is 28 years old and left his job as the youngest brand manager in Proctor & Gamble’s history to run for office full-time on a threadbare campaign out of his condo.

Yalamanchili will now challenge U.S. Representative Jean Schmidt in November for her House seat. While the political establishment has already taken a dim view of his chances, Yalamanchili has already exceeded expectations in winning the party nomination, and has the networking ability you might expect from someone who worked at LinkedIn. Besides, he was on “The Apprentice,” and those people are hard-core.

Here is Surya’s speech Tuesday night upon hearing that his opponent David Krikorian had conceded the election.

Keith Olbermann just responded on his show tonight to my interview with David Krikorian that went up earlier on The Huffington Post.  (Many thanks for the linkage today from Think Progress, Politico, Cincinnati Enquirer, Buckeye State Blog, Plunderbund, Ohio Daily Blog, among others.)

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David Krikorian has just had one of those weeks where he has gone from local personality to whipping boy, with the stampede of critics that only the blogosphere can bring.

Krikorian’s remarks at a campaign event last week with veterans in Clermont County struck one attendee as racially insensitive in how Krikorian referred to his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Surya Yalamanchili. That attendee then wrote a letter to the current representative for Ohio’s 2nd District, Jean Schmidt, concerned that Krikorian had suggested to the audience that Yalamanchili could not get elected in the Second District of Ohio because of his name.

Jean Schmidt then took the surprising step of writing a letter to David Krikorian, deploring his conduct and intolerant attitude. Her public reprimand was quickly joined by similar letters to Krikorian from David Lane, Chair of the Clermont County Democratic Party, Tim Burke, Chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, and Chris Redfern, Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party. Such a broad condemnation for a candidate less than a week before the primary election is virtually unprecedented, according to people who have been in Ohio politics for decades. Read More »

In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision Citizens United vs. FEC allowing unlimited corporate spending on elections, I have been examining the challenges facing political newcomers running for office for my forthcoming film PAY 2 PLAY.

These profiles from the Ohio campaign trail are a chance for candidates to get their message out in a way they might not be able to otherwise, in consideration of the obstacles and considerable expense required to run for office. No endorsement is implied by the inclusion of any of the candidates in this series.

Democratic Primary for U.S. House of Representatives: Ohio’s 2nd District

This coming Tuesday, May 4th, Ohioans vote in their primary elections for national and statewide offices. Ohio has long been romanticized as a microcosm of America and a bellwether for national politics. Yet primary elections are a pivotal point in our democratic process, and it often goes ignored by the media and the public, even on the local level. Supporting a candidate early on can make a real impact, as money and momentum are much harder to come by before winning the nomination.

Ohio’s 2nd District is currently represented by Republican Jean Schmidt, first elected in 2005 in a special election running against Paul Hackett, a race that drew national attention–Hackett, a Marine having just returned from Fallujah, ran as an anti-war Democrat. His narrow loss suggested that a reliably conservative district stretched across Southern Ohio could one day be in play for Democrats. While the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has eyed Rep. Schmidt’s House seat as vulnerable over the past election cycles, Schmidt has nonetheless survived.

This Democratic Primary brings three candidates who look to challenge Rep. Schmidt for her House seat. In the interest of providing an equitable platform, here are video introductions from the candidates, along with their websites, so that they can speak for themselves, without having to pay for it. Read More »

This short video by Lawrence Lessig succinctly and engagingly explains why literally everything bad could begin to be solved by campaign finance reform.

www.ChangeCongressFirst.com

Why some studio is pulling all these funny interpretations off of YouTube makes no sense to me.  Re-writing this scene became like a viral SAT in satire.  So when I was inspired to make my pass at the meme about another viral video sensation, I was honored by the continued comments from strangers and geeks about how this video was the funniest they have ever seen, more so than other renditions or even the original hit “United Breaks Guitars.”

Now, with none of the irony they have inspired in a generation, the owners of this clip will likely soon shut us down, like, well, fascists.

Jennifer Brunner, Secretary of State of Ohio (D)

Running for U.S. Senate in the May 4th Democratic Primary

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner took the time to speak to me as she embarked on the maiden voyage of her “Courage Express” — a school bus with a shiny makeover, a modest alternative to the rock star-quality campaign tour bus that typically rents for two grand a week.

With her husband and dogs hanging out behind her, Brunner discussed why she chose to run for federal office at this time, the cost prohibitions in advancing your ideas in campaigns today, and her proposals to improve the financial problems Ohio faces through green economic initiatives.

Read More »

The Founding Fathers were totally on the whole separate-Church-and-State thing, bumper sticker.

In case you were curious who drove this, it was two elderly white couples, all of them with the largest hair I think I have ever seen on anyone, and I’m really trying to think back to Burning Man and high school theatre.