The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Victory for Green Party
COLUMBUS — The Green Party’s candidate for Ohio governor was handily defeated in Tuesday’s election, but the party still has something to celebrate.
Unofficial election results show the Greens met new standards to qualify as a minor political party in the swing state.
The designation allows the political group to bypass a time-consuming process of gathering signatures to qualify as a minor party.
Ohio’s new third-party rules are being challenged in federal court.
But under current state law, minor parties get automatic ballot status for four years by winning 2 percent of the vote this year, or 3 percent in future elections.
Green Party gubernatorial candidate Anita Rios won 3.3 percent in Tuesday’s contest.
Rios and her running mate, Bob Fitrakis, were the only top-of-theticket third party contenders.
A federal judge kept two disqualified Libertarians from the fall ballot, including gubernatorial candidate Charlie Earl.
That means — unless the court steps in — Libertarians will have to gather roughly 30,000 signatures and meet other rules to be recognized as a minor political party in 2016.
To achieve party status for four years after that, its presidential candidate would have to get 3 percent of the vote.
In 2012, Libertarian presidential contender Gary Johnson garnered 0.9 percent, or 49,493 votes.
Despite differing political views, the Greens and Libertarians want the Ohio law to be overturned.
“While we’re on the ballot, we’re not going to rest until the Libertarian Party is returned to the ballot to its rightful place for voters to consider,” Fitrakis said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
“They have significant support in this state.”
Libertarian candidates for two statewide offices approached 5 percent in their races, according to unofficial results.
Also, Constitution Party candidate Jim Condit topped 5 percent as he sought to unseat Republican House Speaker John Boehner in his western Ohio congressional district.
The new minor-party rules came last year as Republicans who dominate the Ohio Legislature faced growing competition from tea party supporters who had said they may back a third-party challenger to Republican Gov. John Kasich.
Opponents of the law have called it the “John Kasich Reelection Protection Act.”
Backers of the measure have disputed the characterization, saying the requirements were long overdue.
Ohio’s previous law was deemed unconstitutional by a federal appeals court in 2006.
Since then, election officials have continued to recognize the third parties in existence at the time of the ruling because there was no law to enforce. By Jennifer Robb,
D.M.D.
Though the dental laser is not yet able to be used for every dental procedure, the Waterlase MD dental laser has multiple settings that allow it to be used for a variety of services. The most common is for tooth colored fillings and their related “cousin”, sealants. Water, energized by the laser, powers away tooth decay and creates a better bonding surface for the filling material. The laser also helps reduce the number of bacteria in the prepared cavity, which often means less post-op sensitivity for you.
Disinfection is also a key component of root canals, where our goal is to clean the infection from your tooth. Laser energy has been shown to penetrate some of the small tubes that go off the main canal at right angles—areas that our traditional instruments and rinses may not reach.
Another area of the mouth that benefits from the disinfecting properties of laser dentistry is deep pockets that form between your teeth and gums when you have gum disease. Bacteria become trapped in these pockets, damaging your gums and bone. Weekly treatments with the dental laser keep the bacteria count at lower levels to reduce bone loss around your teeth and promote gum healing.
Sores in and around your mouth are often painful — and there’s not really a good way to put a band-aid over them. Gels and pastes made for the mouth don’t last. Good news! The Waterlase creates a natural “band-aid” like cover over the area that doesn’t wash away. Pain decreases because food and air can’t get to the injured area, and there’s faster healing. It works for traumatic injuries, canker sores, and cold sores. As a bonus, some studies show that the lesion won’t reappear in an area that’s been treated with the dental laser!
Broken teeth, gumline decay, and erupting wisdom teeth can leave your gums overlapping the area where your dentist needs to work. With the Waterlase, your gum can be pushed away from the work area at the same appointment. (Contrast that with having to have traditional surgery at a separate appointment and waiting a week to have your other dental treatment.)
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Robb,
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