People usually ask for autographs from people they are huge fans of, or people whose signatures they can sell for some quick cash. That’s why Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Miami Twp.) asking President Barack Obama for an autograph seems kind of weird. After all, Schmidt supports the assertion that Obama was born inside some foreign terrorist camp.  

In what might be one of the most overdue actions at City Hall in many years, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm will conduct a comprehensive audit of the Police Department. City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. hired Strategic Policy Partnership to perform the audit over the next three months, at a cost of $61,000, at the urging of newly hired Police Chief James Craig.  

It’s been a rocky couple of weeks for U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Miami Township), whose ethics are once again being questioned. First, Schmidt was selected by a nonpartisan ethics watchdog group as one of the most corrupt members of Congress. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) bestowed the dubious honor on Schmidt for improperly accepting free legal services.  

If this were the Olympics, the Over-the-Rhine Foundation would’ve been awarded a bronze medal, which isn’t bad at all. Despite a concerted online lobbying effort, the nonprofit agency placed third in an online voting competition recently held by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  

First Ohio’s clueless governor rejected $385 million in federal aid to create a passenger rail line between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland — a project that would’ve created 16,000 jobs. Now Kasich has caused the stoppage (temporary, we hope) on casino construction here and in Cleveland.  

There they go again. To justify their attempts to pull federal funding from Planned Parenthood, some GOP lawmakers have resorted to spreading outright lies about what the group does. First, U.S. Rep. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said on the House floor that abortions are “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does,” when in fact it’s 3 percent.  

A visiting judge in the Clermont County Common Pleas Court ruled that an attorney who works for the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund cannot represent U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Miami Township) in a lawsuit there. The ruling is a victory for Krikorian, who ran as an independent against Schmidt in 2008 for her congressional seat.  

People who grew up in Cincinnati generally don’t spend a lot of time trying to prove that our city is an exciting place — we’re just fine mixing our occasional cultural celebrations with regularly scheduled backyard barbecues. But even here, there occasionally occurs a cultural event so exciting that it forever alters every resident’s life forever. Such an incident occurred today when George Clooney and his family went to Northside to film the front of some buildings.  

This month's midterm elections represented a political windfall for Republicans, and many right-wingers see the victories as a mandate for smaller government and a public rejection of the Obama administration. Still, former State Rep. Tom Brinkman Jr. says, "The best thing that happened for Republicans, from a political position, is that they did not win the Senate." That gives the new Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner, "a tremendous amount of power."  

If the 2010 Congressional races in Hamilton County were remarkable for anything, it was their adherence to what many saw as all-but-inevitable results. In the 1st and 2nd districts, the favorites (Steve Chabot and Jean Schmidt) locked in victory — and concessions from their competitors — before midnight Tuesday.