Judge renews call for charges against Ohio lawmaker behind anti-gay measure

A Cincinnati judge has renewed his call for state Rep. Tom Brinkman to be charged with election falsification over an unsuccessful bid to repeal Cincinnati's ordinance protecting gays from discrimination. Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman was sentencing two women who worked for Brinkman collecting names to have a repeal measure placed on the ballot in 2006. The women working for Equal Rights Not Special Rights, headed up by the Republican lawmaker, pleaded guilty last month to election falsification. They were accused of knowingly placing names on the petition that were fraudulent. Equal Rights Not Special Rights had collected thousands of names on petitions to have a repeal measure put to voters last November. But when it emerged that many of the signatures were fake the group voluntarily withdrew the measure. (story) More than 7,600 signatures that were validated by the Hamilton County Board of Elections but the phony names were discovered during a second check before a challenge from Restore Fairness, a pro-gay rights group, was to begin before the Board of Elections. Among the phony signatures were "Fidel Castro" and Cincinnati Reds owner "Bob Castellini." The women were sentenced on Monday to probation and 200 hours each of community service. But Ruehlman, also a Republican, said the women were minor players in what he called a much larger "mean-spirited campaign." "To cheat on petitions in an election is to really rob people of freedom. It's the foundation of democracy," Ruehlman told the women. "You have to pay for that." But said Ruehlman: "I still think real culprit is Rep. Brinkman." "Somehow he falls between the cracks and is not prosecuted… the guy in power is the one who should have been indicted." When the case went before a grand jury it declined to indict Brinkman. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, also a Republican, has previously said Brinkman's conduct was in a "gray area" and would be difficult to prosecute. LGBT rights group Equality Cincinnati, which was part of the Restore Fairness coalition, and which originally blew the whistle on the fake names, accused Deters of playing politics. It wants an independent prosecutor to examine Brinkman's role in the fraud.