A black Democratic member of the Ohio State House of Representatives decided to wait until after the midterm elections to file a lawsuit against his own party.  State Rep. John E. Barnes, a Cleveland Democrat, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Ohio Democrat Party and its chairman alleging discrimination. In his lawsuit, Rep. Barnes claims that white lawmakers in the party get better treatment than blacks and that he was punished for raising the issue of racism within the state Democrat Party.  Barnes claims that he faced retaliation and discrimination from the state Democrat Party because he refused to join the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus in the Ohio House.  He mentioned in the lawsuit that his reason for not joining the OLBC was that he feared that the membership would harm his reputation, because many of the members had been convicted of felony and misdemeanor offenses in the last three years. Can anyone honestly blame him for making that...(Read Full Post)