Details coming. It's up to you now Driehaus. We're waiting....

It's nights like tonight that I swear Lee and Peggy Fisher probably want to run me down with their car. After having a nice conversation with Peggy at the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats meeting this evening, I come home to find Lee's first campaign mailer in the box. A clean, easy-to-read four-pager. The mailer highlights Lee's top campaign economic themes and ties in some images from the campaign trail. While the photo of Lee holding the welding mask is interesting, the one that screamed off the page was the image smack dab in the middle of the piece. There she is, tucked in neatly between Lee and a young Ohioan... Rosie the Riveter. The same Rosie icon being used in fairly heavy amounts by Lee's primary opponent Jennifer Brunner.

D'oh!

I know the banner in the back is for the Geauga Democratic Women's Caucus, but wow. Just wow. I'm not sure anyone else would notice it or connect the dots, but I saw it right away. Anyone else?

HCAN, one of the organizers of yesterday's rally outside Kucinich's Lakewood office, is calling out the troops again to work on persuading yet another Ohio congressman who is sitting on the fence about the health care bill. This time it's not-quite-Blue-Dog John Boccieri in Oh-16.

Here's their e-mail:

"Cong. Boccieri voted no the first time around but has indicated a change of heart may be coming. A group is meeting outside his office to encourage a “Yes” vote tomorrow.

Congressman John Boccieri (OH-16)

Rally outside Boccieri's Canton office this Thursday, March 18, from 4 pm to 5 pm. The office is located at 300 W. Tuscarawas Street, 44702."

Canton is one of Ohio's poorest cities and desperately needs the help this bill will bring. Go tell him, Canton.

A credible source tells OhioDaily this afternoon that Rep. Steve Driehaus of Cincinnati will be voting "no" on the health care bill. We have not been able to confirm this with his staff at the time of this report. More to come...

Health Care is a Civil Right

Each generation has had to take up the question of how to provide for the health of the people of our nation. And each generation has grappled with difficult questions of how to meet the needs of our people. I believe health care is a civil right. Each time as a nation we have reached to expand our basic rights, we have witnessed a slow and painful unfolding of a democratic pageant of striving, of resistance, of breakthroughs, of opposition, of unrelenting efforts and of eventual triumph.

I have spent my life struggling for the rights of working class people and for health care. I grew up understanding firsthand what it meant for families who did not get access to needed care. I lived in 21 different places by the time I was 17, including in a couple of cars. I understand the connection between poverty and poor health care, the deeper meaning of what Native Americans have called "hole in the body, hole in the spirit." I struggled with Crohn's disease much of my adult life, to discover sixteen years ago a near-cure in alternative medicine and following a plant-based diet. I have learned with difficulty the benefits of taking charge personally of my own health care. On those few occasions when I have needed it, I have had access to the best allopathic practitioners. As a result I have received the blessings of vitality and high energy. Health and health care is personal for each one of us. As a former surgical technician I know that there are many people who dedicate their lives to helping others improve theirs. I also know their struggles with an insufficient health care system.

Just announced. Press release coming.

Earlier today, I called out Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for what I perceived to be a rather quick change of position on whether-or-not the House should pass the Senate health care bill. Her response in February came at a time when everyone was afraid to take a stand on anything. Getting simple responses from candidates was a challenge and I was surprised at the time that Brunner was so straightforward in her response. When I received an email from her campaign today calling on the House to act courageously, I was surprised to see her supporting a bill she opposed just a few weeks ago. Well, turns out I got some of it wrong - at least the interpretation of her remarks both then and now. Brunner has not changed her position on what she believes should be in the final bill and I was not trying to suggest she had. Instead, I felt she made a reversal in saying the bill should be voting down. She contends this is not quite the case. I understand her argument, but I'm not sure I completely understand it. (I realize this makes no sense at all)

My biggest mistake was not calling her campaign for comment before posting. It was sloppy. Really sloppy. I don't typically make mistakes like this without making at least one phone call. Today, I made none. Uh, dumb.

To this point, Secretary Brunner has been gracious enough to not submit me to the special brand of torture she reserves for the Chairman of the DSCC. I've yet to receive a nasty phone call or email and haven't been submitted to the "Velvet Inferno™" the way others experienced the wrath of Keyser Soze. I did, however, receive this thoughtful response (below) from her this evening that better explains her position on the procedure. I promise to call her before popping off next time. (Same goes for Lee.)

Here is the Secretary's response:

More to come tomorrow morning at his 10AM press conference.

UPDATE : Newsweek's Howard Fineman tells Olberman on Countdown tonight that his sources confirm Kucinich voting FOR the bill. However, we're getting conflicting information tonight on his 10AM press conference. Could he be voting AGAINST after all? We'll wait and see.

Steve Stivers, John Kasich, and the Tea Party they've founded, have hit a new low. This is probably the most disturbing video of the health care debate as tea baggers ridicule and mock a fellow human being unable to get access to quality health care.

We'd embed the video, but the Dispatch isn't giving that option. Here's the link.

So, which party values life again?

When President Obama appeared in Lorain last month, OhioDaily tried twice to pin down Lt. Governor Lee Fisher on whether or not he believed the U.S. House should pass the Senate health care bill. Fisher's answer was less than decisive. He nodded "yes" but he said he'd "leave it up to those in DC to figure out what the best process is." I felt at the time that Fisher's response exposed a vulnerability that others had been calling him out for - a lack of courage to take a stand.

In sharp contrast was the response of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner who several weeks ago, when asked should the House pass the Senate version, responded "no."

Here's the video:

Now, I'm fine with her answer. I appreciate the quick response. She delivers it without hesitation and offers a follow up to explain her rationale. I came away impressed.

Today, however, my jaw is on the ground as I see in an email blast from her campaign, Brunner calling on the House to pass the bill because "this is a time for courage."

To the best of my knowledge, nothing has changed in the past month to warrant such a sudden turnaround. The bill hasn't changed, right? It's a straight vote on the Senate version, correct? Then why the change in position?

Dennis Kucinich has had quite a week. He kicked off a storm of reaction last Monday when he announced he would be willing to be the deciding vote that kills the health-care bill — and most likely not only ends all discussion of health-care reform for generations but also damages the Democratic Party in the November elections, probably severely hampering any progressive legislation from here on in. Many lined up to praise him as the only good, honest and decent soul in Congress for refusing to settle for less than a perfect health-care bill, while others condemned him as the devil himself for putting his ego in the way of a bill that would benefit millions.

Yesterday President Obama spoke in Strongsville, and Dennis Kucinich flew out to Cleveland with him. If Kucinich’s goal in all this was to garner attention and be catered to, he certainly succeeded. His office was claiming earlier today he’s still a solid “no” vote. But is he? Who the heck knows? If he does in fact vote no, I think you’ll see a line of ambitious young Democrats (of which his district has plenty) stepping up to challenge him for his seat in 2012 — and this time, they’ll have the ammo to get the job done. But if he turns around and votes yes without significant concessions he probably doesn’t have the clout to extract, the purity progressives who have been so vocal in his defense this past week, calling him the last defense against a health-care bill they depict as just about the worst piece of legislation in history, will be in a quandry.

Today (Tuesday), supporters of health-care reform will be having a demonstration at Kucinich’s Cleveland office at 14400 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood at 4:30, to urge him to vote FOR the bill. I expect he’ll continue to play it close to the vest until the very end, basking in the attention his intransigence is bringing him.

As we’ve related here, the two last-minute “mystery” candidates who filed for the Democratic U.S. Senate primary didn’t qualify for the ballot. And one of them, Traci “TJ” Johnson, isn’t going quietly. She’s tossing around all kinds of accusations against the office of secretary of state Jennifer Brunner.

Now more such attacks are being leveled by a failed Republican candidate, Steve Christopher, who was hoping to take on Mike DeWine in the Republican primary for attorney general. He’s got a group called the Ohio Liberty Council demanding investigations on his behalf. He’s got their press release posted at his website:

http://www.stevechristopher.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=articl...

What I found interesting is that the Ohio Liberty Council, which calls itself a “nonpartisan” group, is also in the same breath defending Johnson. (Weirdly and erroneously, their release claims, “Three Candidates for U.S. Senate, Ms. Brunner’s opponents, were disqualified by the Secretary of State.”)

So how “nonpartisan" is the Ohio Liberty Council? You can probably guess just from its name. Here’s the description appended to the press release:

”The Ohio Liberty Council is a statewide coalition of non-partisan groups in Ohio including Buckeye Firearms Association, Central Ohio 9/12 Project, Cincinnati 9/12 Project, Cincinnati Tea Party, Young Americans for Liberty-OSU, Dayton Tea Party, and the Ohio Freedom Alliance.”

So — we have a “Democratic” candidate being defended by an organization that consists of tea parties and 9/12 Project (a Glenn Beck effort) groups. Something doesn’t smell right here.

I stumbled on this quote this evening, from an interview done by Cleveland's Leon Bibb on Channel 5 with Ken Blackwell back in 2006. I'm sharing it because I thought it was so entertaining:

Blackwell: "I received about 40 percent of the vote in the African-American community in the last three elections. We're going to do just fine in the African-American community. Many blacks, if not most blacks, will vote for me, not because of the color of my skin, but because of my competence and my agenda."

How'd that work out for you, Ken?

The cupcake party for Jennifer Brunner this afternoon at Lana Moresky’s house in Shaker Heights was a smashing success. You should have been there if you weren’t, but it sure seemed like a lot of you were. Lana said she didn’t think she’d ever had so many people in her house. The actual crowd count was nearly 150.

The cupcakes were great, and so was the company and the conversation. I had a chocolate cupcake with some kind of custard filling and a dried cherry on top. There were about a half dozen other gourmet varieties as well.

Even better was the energy and enthusiasm in the room, which is gratifying to see. So often these days, I go to Democratic events and people are discouraged and/or demoralized. It seems like we expect too much too soon and give up too quickly. But Jennifer has a way of lighting a fire under people because she seems to actually be listening to their concerns and not to the lure of big money and big checks.

She spoke briefly about three issues: jobs, bank regulation and finding a sensible path out of Afghanistan before the cost gets too high. She accurately pointed out that people have become angry and frustrated because the people we send to Washington are beholden more to people with money than to the majority of their constituents. She pointed out that one of her strengths — the positive side of her fundraising deficit against Lee Fisher — is that when she gets to Washington, she won’t owe anybody any favors.

She took some questions from the crowd about health care (predictably) and reforming the abuse of the filibuster in the Senate. After she spoke, people were invited to join groups that were discussing volunteering, fundraising and online outreach, or to just hang out and chat with people. They were also offered boxes to take the extra cupcakes home with them, to share with family or friends and maybe talk to them about Jennifer as they did so.

Fans of secretary of state Jennifer Brunner who think she should be our next U.S. Senator (and I meet a lot of them every week) have an opportunity tomorrow to support Jennifer, eat cupcakes and hang out with a bunch of local women activists. Actually, men too. When the cupcakes fundraiser was first organized, it was supposed to be mainly a woman thing, but some guys with a sweet tooth wanted in, so in they are. They're asking for a donation of $20.10 to $2010.00, but will gladly accept amounts in between that don't add up to "2010."

It's from 2-4 in Shaker Heights, and if you'd like more info, you can email RSVP to Derek Clinger at the campaign (derek at jenniferbrunner.com) or hostess Lana Moresky (lmoresky at ameritech.net).

It would be great to see you there! They'd better have a chocolate cupcake for me, especially since nobody gave me any chocolate for my birthday last weekend.

I just read the latest edition of “Shadows on High,” a feature written by Progress Ohio’s Brian Rothenberg on the group’s website. I think he’s wandered into the woods on this one. (Actually, I think a lot of the problem is he’s trying to cover too many ideas).

http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/brianrothenberg/CXfD

Titled “The Tea Party Litmus: Coming to Haunt a Politician Near You,” he starts by making some valid points about how the across-the-board ideological purity demanded by the so-called tea-party movement is going to put some of the saner Republican politicians in a bind — although, by the end of his piece, he seems to be critiquing their own inconsistency and hypocrisy (what else is new?)

But Rothenberg’s piece compares apples and oranges and then throws in some kumquats. While trying to bar an anti-choice teenager from being honored on the floor of the State House was clumsy, there is simply not an equivalence between the lengthy check list of extremist positions the tea partiers are demanding from candidates and the desire of Democrats that a statewide candidate support basic rights that as outlined by the party platform.

This is just not a logical thing to say:

”For instance, what makes the litmus test of Jennifer Garrison’s positions on choice and DOMA different than, say, Ted Strickland or Richard Cordray’s views on guns or the death penalty?”

The Mahoning County Democratic Party, which has long been reluctant to issue endorsements (although it did endorse Ted Strickland for governor and hometown boy Marc Dann for attorney general in 2006), held a meeting last night to endorse candidates in state and local races.

Possibly the most interesting endorsement to emerge was a dual endorsement of Jennifer Brunner and Lee Fisher for Senate, something many have advocated as the proper thing for the party to do if it has more than one viable, qualified candidate. (There were a lot of bad feelings in 2006 when the state party opted to only endorse Dann in the attorney general race, and not his primary opponent, Subodh Chandra, as well).

In addition, Youngstown Democrats approved the statewide slate — none of the other races is contested. I don’t have the background to comment on the local endorsements but if you’re interested in reading more, go to
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youngstown-OH/Mahoning-County-Democrats/80....

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the D.C. organization tasked with electing more Democrats to Congress, just announced the first 13 candidates selected for its 'Red to Blue" program, which targets candidates for seats currently held by Republicans for extra assistance. Among the 13 is Franklin County Commissioner Paula Brooks, who is going after the seat that has been held by Pat Tiberi for the past decade.

http://dccc.org/blog/archives/dccc_announces_first_round_of_red_to_blue_...

Although Tiberi has won all five of his elections by comfortable margins, the district itself — which encompasses the northeastern part of Columbus and its suburbs — is not entirely a lost cause for a Democratic candidate. It has been trending Democratic since John Kasich's nearly 20-year stint as its congressman. In 2004, John Kerry came within two points of beating George Bush there, and in 2008, Obama carried the district 53%-46%.

While the media narrative has been that this will be a bad year for Democrats, another narrative maintains people are fed up with incumbents. If so, perhaps Tiberi's unimpressive record will make him a bit more vulnerable than in the past.

Unwilling to graciously accept defeat, former US Senate candidate TJ Johnson is now trying to smear Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. In a press release issued by the former candidate this morning, Johnson claims - without offering a shred of proof - that Brunner is involved in "foul play" because more than half of the 2000 signatures she submitted turned out to be invalid. This doesn't sound like "foul play" as much as it does sloppy campaigning. 

From the now-former candidate:

Traci “TJ” Johnson community servant and candidate for United States Senate finds herself caught between two political giants, Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner. Johnson, in a history making feat, is running to become the 1st Female and 1st African American United States Senator for the State of Ohio.  If elected she will be the only African American in the United States Senate. 

The Johnson for United State Senate Campaign is alleging foul play and conflict of interest from the Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s Office.  The campaign gathered and filed close to 2,000 signatures for the office of the United States Senate with Jennifer Brunner her opponent.  Brunner’s office validated 834 signatures preventing her opponent Traci “TJ” Johnson name from appearing on the May 4, 2010 Primary Election Ballot.

Johnson campaign is in disbelief after collecting close to 2,000 signatures to have 834 validated to miss the ballot by 166 signatures.  “We will contest this decision made by my opponent and her office.  I owe it to the people of Ohio to make sure that we have a fair and equitable political process. I will fight to make sure that every signature is counted.” The Johnson campaign has vowed to scrutinize the remaining 1166 signatures and validate each signature.

Every so often, I find myself wistfully thinking back to my decades as a faithful daily newspaper subscriber. And I think, “Well, the Plain Dealer can’t stay this biased and terrible forever, can it? Some day, I’ll be able to re-subscribe.”

Then I glimpse something like today’s front-page story “Can Drew Carey Save Cleveland?” detailing what right-wing comedian/game-show host Carey thinks we ought to be doing to turn the area around.

Anyone who has followed Carey even superficially knows that his ideas for “saving” this area are going to be a litany of Republican talking points, proven failures — privatize everything! — that enrich only the wealthy. Ever since I found out five or six years ago what a greedy, selfish, myopic right-winger he is, Cleveland’s fascination with him has baffled me even more. Sometimes we seem so famished for even secondhand glory that we elevate anyone with even a scrap of fame who has any connection with this area to the status of semi-deity. Anyone remember that American Idol loser of a few years back who got front-page story after front-page story in the PD?

So Drew Carey assumes the persona of an out-of-shape, beer-drinking, sports-talk-listening blue-collar Cleveland guy, and we suck it up — or it’s pushed down our throats by our local media. But it’s false. Carey made millions, and now he wants to protect his millions. Fine. But don’t insult us by promoting his “solutions” for an area he’s long left in the dust as if he were some kind of expert — all without revealing his strong political bias. “Less government,” “more competition,” “lower taxes.” It would be laughable if it weren’t so predictable, so rotely and rigidly ideological — and such a recipe for disaster for those of us who aren’t rich like him.

This one is probably a fairly long shot. But luckily someone has stepped up to tilt at this particular orange-tinted windmill. A brave fellow named Justin Coussoule is running against John Boehner for Ohio’s 8th district congressional seat.

http://www.coussouleforcongress.com/

He looks like a pleasant young man. He’s a 35-year-old West Point graduate, who served in the military stateside for five and a half years. Then he got a law degree from the University of Maryland. He worked to eliminate urban blight in Baltimore, to enforce regulations against tobacco companies — I think my best friend just pledged a donation right there — and did worker’s comp work in Massachusetts on behalf of injured workers. He then became a stay-at-home dad for a while when his wife’s job brought them into the dark heart of Ohio’s 8th congressional district.

So far his issues page focuses on jobs and the economy, foreclosure and reducing the national debt. The last one kind of set off alarms with me, but then I looked at his proposals and “ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans” is prominent among them. I certainly don’t expect a candidate in this district to be as down-the-line liberal as up here in Ohio’s 11th, but this guy sounds like pretty good news for a district now represented by a hypocritical clown wh makes an ass of himself on a regular basis.

Ring the bell! Renegade OH-02 Congressional candidate and (Independent Conservative Moderate Liberal) Democrat David Krikorian apparently will need someone new to drive his ice cream truck following a mass exodus of his campaign team over the weekend.

OhioDaily is trying to confirm two independent sources who claim Krikorian's staff - including campaign manager, communications director and a finance staffer - all left abruptly and without notice. We're confident enough in the sources to report this, but we're still chasing down the specifics including exact staffers and motivations.

Got a tip (or a double scoop on a sugar cone) for us? Email anthony@ohiodailyblog.com

Stay tuned.

The Ohio Secretary of State's office has announced the full slate of candidates who have passed signature qualifications and will appear on the May primary ballot.

TJ Johnson isn't one of them. Neither is Charlena Bradley.

This leaves Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner as the only Democrats running for Senate and should put to rest the concerns (if any) some may have had that the two other women candidates would steal votes from Brunner.

In other news, Tea Party darlings Sandra O'Brien and Seth Morgan made their way to the GOP ballot for Secretary of State and Auditor respectively. This should give nightmares to Ohio GOP Chair Kevin DeWine who is now seeing first hand the danger of the crowd he's been courting. Nothing would be better than a crazy, rabid, angry GOP statewide ticket for the second cycle in a row.

On to the primary!

So how’s that fresh, new, uncorrupted Cuyahoga County government-of-the-future coming along? Oy vey, you don’t want to know.

Following the dustup about the closed transition-committee meetings, which forced transition team heads Jim McCafferty (current county administrator) and Marty Zanotti (freelance mystery agent) to recant after some bad press and a challenge by the ACLU, things seem to have gone from bad to worse, as outlined by Scene writer Damian Guevara in this piece:

http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/what-condition-your-transition-is-in...

There are lots of things in there to make you shake your head that anyone thought Issue 6’s radical county government restructuring was a good idea.

But one of the clearest markers of how corrupt this new government is practically destined to be is this:

”Zanotti also says that county prosecutor Bill Mason — the only current elected official who keeps his job in the new government — has put himself at the helm of a crucial issue, campaign-finance reform. Zanotti says this is because of ‘legal ramifications.’”

“Put himself”? Bill Mason? The guy who’s got all kinds of questions swirling around him about his possible misuse of his power and his office in the service of his campaigns? Who was shamed into returning campaign donations to employees he never should have taken in the first place? Who made sure that he and he alone retained not just his office but his political power base? Seriously?

Have you ever been to RootsCamp? I’ve been to all three of them, and I highly recommend it. The 4th annual event takes place this Saturday, March 6, at the Employees Civil Service Association in Westerville, outside Columbus. It’s open to anyone of a progressive mindset who wants to engage with other progressives from around the state, and it’s free.

RootsCamp is an informal, all-day conference featuring discussions, panels and presentations on a variety of topics. Some are pre-planned and structured; some are seat-of-the-pants — but all proposed and led by attendees. Anyone can arrive early and claim a room and a time slot for their topic on ”the wall” — the schedule consulted by people to decide what interests them.

The best part of the event is getting to meet people from other parts of the state and learn what things look like from there. It’s a good way of avoiding the “what I can see outside my window” mindset that afflicts us all from time to time, where we believe that “everyone” thinks a certain way because the people we talk to do.

Sign-in starts at 8:30; the first session — introductions and opening speech — is at 9:30. This year’s keynote speakers are Gov. Ted Strickland and Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper, the Democratic candidate for state auditor. The rest is up to the attendees.

For more information, go to http://ohiorootscamp.pbworks.com/