Bob Fitrakis

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Bob Fitrakis
Born (1955-11-29) November 29, 1955
Alma mater Wayne State University
Ohio State University
Occupation Professor, author, writer, lawyer

Bob Fitrakis (born November 29, 1955) is an American political author and writer,[1][2] political candidate,[3] and Professor of Political Science in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department at Columbus State Community College. He has been the editor of the Columbus Free Press since 1993 and wrote extensively about the U.S. presidential election, 2004 and related 2004 U.S. election voting controversies.

Background

Fitrakis has a Ph.D in political science from Wayne State University and a J.D. from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He was a Ford Foundation Fellow to the Michigan State legislature in 1975 and studied at the University of Sarejevo on scholarship in 1978. Fitrakis earned a J.D. from the Ohio State University/Mortitz College of Law in 2002.

Career

Author

He is the author of six Fitrakis Files books: Spooks, Nukes & Nazis, Free Byrd & Other Cries for Justice, A Schoolhouse Divided, The Brothers Voinovich and the Ohiogate Scandal and Star Wars, Weather Mods and Full Spectrum Dominance, and Cops, Cover-ups and Corruption, compilations of his writings at the Free Press and Columbus Alive.

Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman co-wrote Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election?, Essential Documents (with Steve Rosenfeld), and How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008, George W. Bush vs. The SuperPower of Peace in 2003 and Imprison Bush in 2004-2005. Fitrakis also wrote The Idea of Democratic Socialism in America and the Decline of the Socialist Party (Garland Publishers 1993). He co-wrote What Happened in Ohio? A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election with Steven Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman, and "As Goes Ohio: Election Theft Since 2004—Best of the freepress.org".

Journalist

Bob Fitrakis is Executive Director of the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism (CICJ)/CICJ Books. He wrote monthly investigative news articles, including articles on Ku Klux Klan activities in Ohio. He both participated in, and wrote about a controversial plan by Columbus' NAACP to "out" Klan leaders in Ohio.

Fitrakis is an investigative journalist, has won eleven major investigative journalism awards including "Best Coverage of Politics in Ohio" from the Ohio chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was a columnist and investigative reporter for Columbus Alive from 1996-2002, a local alternative weekly newspaper, and was awarded First Place for Best Coverage of Government for the article "The V File" investigative report on Sen. George Voinovich from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists (OSPJ). In 1998, he won an investigative reporting award from the Central Ohio Chapter of the SPJ for his article "Striking it rich in the bail bond industry."

In 2002, Fitrakis was awarded the Golden Ruler Award from the Columbus School Board for his journalism in behalf of the Columbus schoolchildren. In 2003, the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio (NAICCO) honored him with their Selma Walker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Human Rights Activism. He currently serves as the NAICCO Board President. He served on the Africentric School Advisory Board for the Columbus Public Schools and worked with the West High School College Preparation Program.

Fitrakis and Wasserman won a 2005 Project Censored Award, for an article that was listed as number three of the Top 25 Censored Stories, “How a Republican Election Supervisor Manipulated the 2004 Central Ohio Vote: In Black and White” that appeared on freepress.org.[4]

Other

He visited Reynosa and Matamoros, Mexico as part of a human rights delegation to investigate conditions in the maquilladoras in 1993. As a result of the trip, he co-produced a video entitled "The Other Side of Free Trade". He served as an international election observer in the 1994 presidential elections in El Salvador and was the co-author and editor of the report to the United Nations.

Fitrakis was an Election Protection attorney on November 2, 2004 in Franklin County, Ohio. Fitrakis rose to national prominence during the U.S. presidential election, 2004 and related 2004 U.S. election voting controversies by calling the first public hearings on election irregularities in Ohio and by filing a challenge in the Ohio Supreme Court to Ohio's presidential election results in the cases Moss v. Bush and Moss v. Moyer with three other attorneys.

Fitrakis was a Democratic candidate for Congress in the 12th district in 1992, running against Congressman John Kasich. He was the elected Democratic Ward committeeperson in the 55th ward from 1996-2000. He currently serves as a Columbus Near East Area Commissioner. Fitrakis ran for Columbus City Council in the primary of 2003. In 2008, Fitrakis brought suit on behalf of the Green Party of Ohio to place the Party on the ballot in the state, and served as the election attorney for Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney that year.

Fitrakis ran for Governor of Ohio in 2006 on the Green Party ticket with his running mate, Anita Rios. Together they garnered 40,965 votes for 1.02 percent of the vote.[5]

In 2012, Fitrakis ran for Congress in the 3rd district, central Ohio, in the Green Party primary Match 6, 2012. He serves on the Central Committee of the Franklin County Green Party and is Co-Chair of the Ohio Green Party.

Bibliography

  • The Fitrakis Files: Cops, Coverups and Corruption"
  • "As Goes Ohio: Election Theft Since 2004—Best of the freepress.org (with Harvey Wasserman), CICJ Books, 2008
  • What Happened in Ohio? A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election (with Steven Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman)
  • How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008 (with Harvey Wasserman)
  • Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election? Essential Documents (with Harvey Wasserman and Steve Rosenfeld)
  • The Idea of Democratic Socialism in America and the Decline of the Socialist Party (as Robert J. Fitrakis)
  • The Fitrakis Files: Star Wars, Weather Mods and Full Spectrum Dominance
  • The Fitrakis Files: The Brothers Voinovich and The Ohiogate Scandal
  • The Fitrakis Files: Schoolhouse Divided
  • The Fitrakis Files: Spooks, Nukes and Nazis
  • The Fitrakis Files: Free Byrd & Other Cries for Justice
  • George W. Bush vs. The SuperPower of Peace (with Harvey Wasserman)
  • Imprison George W. Bush (with Harvey Wasserman)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mother Jones
  2. ↑ The Nation
  3. ↑ The Washington Post
  4. ↑ "3. Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage". Project Censored. 
  5. ↑ "2006 Ohio election results". 

External links

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