Ohio Valley Politics

We knew this was going to be a hugely contested House seat going into 2008. When the dust cleared after Friday’s filing deadline, Republicans Jeanette Moll, 42, of Zanesville; Beau Bromberg, 38, of Newark; Fred Dailey, 62, of Mount Vernon; and Paul Phillips, 44, of Chillicothe all filed their petitions, putting them in a 5-way race for the 18th district. The Democratic challenger is Mark Pitrone, 53, of Gnadenhutten.

From the Newark Advocate:

All four Republican candidates bring impressive credentials, Spain said. Dailey was the director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture for 16 years in the Voinovich and Taft administrations, and Phillips was a lieutenant colonel after 20 years in the Air Force. Moll is a former magistrate for the Guernsey County Court of Common Pleas, and Bromberg is a Newark business manager.

It’s gonna be flying from all sides to get this seat back to Republicans. But as Zack has said, it doesn’t belong to them. It belongs to the people.

Today Zack Space (D-18th) along with Republican Steve King of Iowa unveiled the Comprehensive Firearms Reform Act of 2007. The press release says: “We can and will make it more difficult for criminals to get their hands on guns while making sure we protect the civil rights of Americans.” Well, you be the judge:

This legislation would:

* Create a system to provide more flexibility in punishing those who violate gun sales laws.
* Establish a solid legal requirement for determining the willful violation of the law.
* Creates specific sentencing guidelines for dangerous felons convicted of a gun offense.
* Set limitations on the availability of electronic gun owner information to protect the privacy of law-abiding citizens.
* Ban the federal background check tax.
* Allow security companies and ammunition manufacturers to purchase machineguns for product testing and international security personnel training.
* Ease the restriction on the importation of replacement parts for military-style semiautomatic rifles.

So, if more parts are imported for semiautomatics, like AK-47s, won’t that make more working assault rifles available? I’m not sure how I feel about this one yet, I guess Zack will do what he’s gotta do.