Zing! Brunner Blasts Fisher on Pay Equity

Oh man, if the rest of the summer is like today, this race for the U.S. Senate is headed right to C-SPAN Classic. (Note to C-SPAN...you need a "Classic" channel too. This public affairs and book review stuff is pretty stale.) Anyway...

Jennifer Brunner today took the gloves off and threw a pair of haymakers across Lee Fisher's chin. First, Brunner called her opponent out for promoting his support of women voters. (Fisher announced earlier this week that he earned the support of ten female Ohio legislators.)

Brunner followed up that shot with a call on Fisher to abide by pay equity laws in his own department starting with the woman who assumed his old role as Director of Development for the state.

From the release (and the strongest language yet)...

“Fisher should fight for equal pay for women, starting with the woman who has taken his place as director of the Ohio Department of Development,” Brunner said.



Earlier this year, Fisher left his post as director of the development department at a salary of $142,500 so he could campaign for the Senate. The Department of Development is responsible for the creation, retention and expansion of jobs in Ohio.



When Fisher resigned, Mark Barbash was made interim director at an annual salary of $128,356. After tax and home foreclosure problems plagued Barbash, he was replaced by a second interim director, Lisa Patt-McDaniel, at a salary of $88,379.

Her salary remains unchanged even though Barbash returned to the department June 29 to a position subordinate to Patt-McDaniel at a salary that exceeds hers.

Uh, it gets better...

Brunner challenged Fisher to give more than lip service to pay equity for women and to use his continuing influence with the department to honor President Obama’s first act signed into law, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. Since leaving the department, Lee Fisher continues to assume visible responsibility for the agency’s public activities, allows his picture to be featured prominently on the department’s website, and carries out the public duties of an agency director, despite having ceded the position to Patt-McDaniel.



At a recent dinner of the state’s Democratic Party faithful, Fisher borrowed one of Senator Sherrod Brown's oft-repeated speech quotes, admonishing attendees, “Don’t tell me what you believe. Tell me what you’ve done, and I’ll tell you what you believe.”



“While Lee Fisher continues to take for credit for the activities of the state department responsible for adding jobs to our economy, he silently acquiesces to the obvious pay inequity for the woman who handles the day-to-day responsibilities that he and Mark Barbash once performed,’’ said Brunner.


“Women across the country still earn just 78 cents for every dollar men earn, and for women of color, it is even less. Instead of zigzagging across the state to capture the limelight for Development Department achievements, Lee Fisher should be pushing for the woman who holds his old job to get a pay raise—she’s doing the work he used
to do, and he’s showing up to take the credit,’’ stated Brunner. “I challenge Lee Fisher to fight for the basic principle that we are all created equal,” said Brunner.

Brunner's campaign may be struggling in the money race (and we'll know that soon enough), but her campaign is certainly not hurting in its ability to seize the ball and pivot whenever Lee makes a move. While the ballot will read Brunner v. Fisher, the last couple of days feel like Dettman v. Prado. This is a fantastic back-and-forth that shows both campaigns at their strongest and practicing their moves early as they both prepare to take on Rob Portman (or Tom Ganley) in 2010. Let's see if Fisher engages with something other than endorsements. If they do, we'll be ready. Get your ponchos out.