Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Bruce Johnson old

Bruce Johnson edit

Self nom. Profile of Ohio's lieutenant governor, potentially the next governor considering the investigations surrounding Bob Taft and others in Ohio government. Detailed, has photos, bibliography. PedanticallySpeaking 15:30, 14 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Object. The images Image:BobTaft.jpg, Image:Bruce Johnson's family at swearing in.jpg, Image:Bruce Johnson giving inaugural speech.jpg, Image:Bruce Johnson and Jennette Bradley.jpg are claimed as being in the public domain. However, works of individual states are not automatically in the public domain: it varies from state to state, and sometimes from department to department within the state government. --Carnildo 20:21, 14 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Object. This could qualify as a featured article if in fact the process to oust Ohio Gov. Bob Taft were an active reality. Recent polling by the Columbus Dispatch newspaper indicates that people may not like Bob Taft (very low poling numbers), but that they are neutral in his removal (hovering around 50%). Furthermore, the Democratic (opposition) party isn't pushing for Taft's resignation, but rather basking in his incompetence. In any event, Johnson is not planning on running as Governor in 2006 and doesn't have the organization in place to even start at this point. To me, this is a very well researched article that isn't relevant to Ohio residents at present. -- Stu 22:43, 14 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Is your objection based on information you have on the status of Ohio's copyright claims? PedanticallySpeaking 17:36, 16 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

- Featured status is determined by the quality of the article itself, not by other factors such as notability. Everyking 04:00, 15 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  - The featured article in my opinion should be well written and have relevance to someone. My input was based on how the author/submitter presented it as topical to politics in Ohio today. While the article is well researched, it isn't featured article material. Stu 12:36, 15 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Not topical? Johnson is the number two official in the State of Ohio. By virture of his office he is notable. It is irrelevant that impeachment is not likely or that Johnson is not presently a candidate for governor. If anything should happen to Taft, politically, medically, or something else, Johnson would become governor. These factors, as Everyking points out, are not relevant to what makes a featured article. PedanticallySpeaking 17:36, 16 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Taft's troubles aside, I disagree with you on Johnson's importance and the "urgency" that accompanies this article. Stu 02:19, 17 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Neutral, but will change to support once Carnildo's copyright concerns are addressed. I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind Stu's objections--if he's claiming that Johnson isn't notable enough to have an article, that's clearly false, and this article is clearly of feature-caliber, so I'm not sure that his objection is in any way actionable. The photo licences are a legitimate concern, however. We can't assume that Ohio releases its photos into the public domain. Honestly, the claimed photos aren't necessary to the article; they could probably be removed without harming it too much. Aside from the photo issues, this is excellent work. Meelar (talk) 01:21, 17 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- My objection to the article is that while Johnson is second in line to Taft, such an impending shift is not as likely as user:PedanticallySpeaking claims it to be in his nom. Had the nom been made when Taft's ethics charges were news, then yes, this would have been more topical, however, given the current political climate in Ohio, Johnson's chances at being named Governor are slim to none barring an act of God. I've never disputed the research quality, but I do feel that the article overly long. Now, as for the photographs, I think that the face shot is perfectly fine for the purpose of the article. I do have an issue with the swearing-in image, because the source isn't listed. I do agree with Meelar that the article could run without the images withour any problem. Stu 02:15, 17 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  - Ah, OK. I'll freely admit, I consider the actual statement made in the nom to be of very minor importance. I'm not sure what PedanticallySpeaking should do to improve the article and gain your support. Is it actionable? As far as length is concerned, it's only 39 kb. Best wishes, Meelar (talk) 02:50, 17 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'll give some support - well written and researched as Meelar said. However, like one or two other of PedanticallySpeaking's former featured article candidates, there had been problems with image copyright issues. I'll support this well-written piece of work, but we should probably clean up the images quickly. — Stevey7788 (talk) 04:07, 17 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Conditional support - as soon as the issue with the images is sorted out, will change to support. Article is well written, thorough, and PedanticallySpeaking once again provides extensive references. I strongly feel the article should be judged on its own merits, and if a subject merits an article, that article should be eligible for consideration regardless of concerns about being topical etc. Rossrs 15:39, 17 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Support the problem with the images and copyrights can be worked out. It is a great article and well written. If I understood Stu (above) correctly, I feel that it is nonsense to say an article is too informative for the attention it has in real life because the goal is to get articles as complete and sharp as possible without bias. If I misunderstood Stu, I apologize and shall revoke my comments about Stu's opinion, however, I would keep my support for this article. It truly is a great article: nicely researched (such a long list of references! :) ), great format, easy to read, factually complete, I have no reason to object or stay neutral. I did notice, however, that the External Links portion was very short with only one link. However, I cannot consider this a negative thing because I do not know about the supply of quality links regarding Bruce Johnson--one link may be all that is out there. --Lan56 17:36, 17 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Object. The article seems extremely POV to me. For example, in the lead is this sentence: "If the Coingate investigations of Governor Taft and others in state government force Taft from office, Johnson would become governor in his place." At this time, few objective political observers in Ohio or elsewhere think that the scandal will force Taft from office. In addition to these POV issues, the article's prose is not the best I've seen. While it is okay, the language and tone of the article read more as a summary of Johnson's career than as an article about his life and career. --Alabamaboy 02:06, 20 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
All photos were removed from this article today. 66.213.119.98 14:22, 20 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]