Ohio needs all the help it can get when it comes to elections. Critics are still crying foul over ballot-tampering in 2004. And after the Great Voting Machine Meltdown in Cuyahoga County last spring, we can expect November’s tallies to be as accurate as Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s attendance figures.
Fortunately, Secretary of State Uncle Tom Blackwell has hired a wise man of law to defend us: Robert Destro, a big-shot attorney from Virginia. He’s highly qualified — at least, by Republican standards. Though he claims to be a civil rights expert, his specialty is gay-bashing.
Destro is director of the Marriage Law Project at Catholic University, a group that battles same-sex marriage laws throughout the country. He’s also a star within the pro-life crowd, since he represented Terri Schiavo’s parents in the fight to keep her alive.
But his most valuable credential — at least in Blackwell’s mind — is his $500 donation to Uncle Tom’s campaign.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2006.
