Overpromise, Underperform

Brunner lobbied to expand her constitutional duties, while failing to fulfill her basic responsibilities as secretary of state

The Columbus Dispatch: When Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner met with Gov. Ted Strickland in late July, they talked about more than elections. Besides her ideas for mail-in voting, Brunner brought up the potential for her office to oversee the state library and even the possibility of going on foreign trade missions. … But critics say those duties and Brunner's plans to create a "social-health index" of quality-of-life data in the state would distract her from her primary job as the state's chief elections officer and keeper of business filings. (“Brunner’s talk of expanded role raises ire,” Mark Niquette, The Columbus Dispatch, 9/2/07)

Thomas Suddes, The Plain Dealer: Now, Brunner, who has been secretary of state for eight months, is open to the idea of a bigger job description. … If Brunner has already fixed all of the damage she claimed [her predecessor] did, she's not just his successor, she's a miracle worker. Or she has a gift for overstatement. (“Brunner’s already looking for something to do,” Thomas Suddes, column, The Plain Dealer, 9/9/07)

Gongwer News Service: The Ohio Republican Party said Tuesday that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's failure to provide precinct-by-precinct voting data from last year's general elections has put a crimp on "battle plans" for campaigns and get-out-the-vote efforts. Brunner spokesman Patrick Gallaway apologized for the delay in saying state elections Director David Farrell was "pretty upset" that the process of double-checking county board data and compiling the information wasn't yet complete. (“State GOP says secretary of state slow to dispense 2006 election data; ODP wants precinct files too,” Gongwer News Service, 9/18/07)

The Columbus Dispatch: Brunner is pushing for changes in the state budget bill now being considered by the legislature that would centralize more elections authority in her office. … She wants, for example, language giving her office the leeway to issue rules, directives or instructions to counties regarding the “fair distribution of voting machines.” …

That drew sharp criticism from the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, which called the idea and another to allow elections boards to transfer funds among certain line items in their approved budgets “divisive.” (“State wants graduates to commence with voting,” The Columbus Dispatch, 5/23/ 2007)