Opening remarks

Nathan Noy just revealed he has no witnesses in his elections complaint against U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt. The congresswoman's lawyer, Joseph Braun, "cornered the witnesses," Noy alleged this afternoon

"Why are we here?" Ohio Elections Commission member Benjamin Marsh asked.

"I told you the potential consequences, did I not?" Commission Chairman Martin O. Parks said to Noy, a write-in congressional candidate from Chillicothe. "It's close to being an abuse of process of this body."

Braun, a Cincinnati attorney and Schmidt's former campaign manager, said he had no problem tracking down witnesses at great legal cost.

Braun said his search for witnesses "reached from Montana to Michigan to (a runner's) home in Florida to Columbus where we tracked down the photographer."

After brief discussion, the six-member commission (one member is absent) allowed Noy to crossexamine Thomas Madine, a professional photographer and president of Madine Enterprises. Madine photographed the 1993 Columbus Marathon that Noy contends Schmidt didn't run.

The shadow of the runner behind Schmidt is broken by her legs, Madine testified.

Madine, who said he has taken 700,000 to 1 million photos in his lifetime, said the shadows in Schmidt's campaign web site photo of the race are not an unusual shadow pattern.

"Miss Schmidt appears to be looking directly at the camera,'' Noy said.

"She is,'' Madine said, adding that more experienced runners know to "look up at the camera and smile."

Noy asked Madine if many other runners wore leggings as Schmidt is in the race photos presented as evidence. Madine said that while the weather appears to be brisk and sunny on that day in late October 1993, he can't recall if many others wore tights.

The audience, mostly made up of witnesses called by Braun, broke out in laughter.