Mean Jean Schmidt Kisses Warren County-- And Possibly Her Political Career-- Goodbye

Who doesn't remember Mean?

Warren County's in southwest Ohio, a safely Republican enclave in the suburbs of Cincinnati. I'll tell you why we're talking about it today after I introduce it a little more. I've never been there but I remember it well from past campaigns against right-wing Congresswoman Mean Jean Schmidt. According to wikipedia, the county is 94.66% White and the median income for a family is $64,692, over $20,000 more than the average for the state. This is how Republican the county is-- since the first presidential election after its founding, 1856, Warren County has supported the Republican candidate for president every single time except when the Republicans ran Barry Goldwater in 1964. They never voted for FDR but I have no doubt that Goldwater would win in a landslide today. With the massive expansion in population in the 1990s-- much of it suburban white flight-- the county has turned redder and redder, so much so that Democrats rarely even bother to field any candidates. In the 1996, 2000, and 2004 elections, in which eight county offices were on the ballot, there were no Democratic candidates on the ballot and late in 1999 the last Democrat to hold office in the county, a member of the school board, was defeated for reelection by a Republican.

For someone like Mean Jean, Warren County has been a lifesaver-- a lifesaver from the most populous county in the district, Hamilton County (which includes parts of Cincinnati). President Obama won Hamilton County with 53% of the vote, a percentage point better than his statewide showing. And it was counties like Warren that dragged the statewide totals down. He only got 31% against McCain there.

Warren County has always been a bulwark for Mean Jean. In 2006, when she lost Hamilton County to Vic Wulsin, 53-47%, Warren County was there for her-- with 59%, making a nice contribution to her razor thin districtwide total. Warren County outperformed for Mean Jean by a full 8%. (It out performed for Mike DeWine by much more. On the same ballot as Schmidt, he took 64%, exactly 20% better than he did statewide, when he lost his seat to Sherrod Brown.)

In 2008, when McCain was pulling 68% in Warren and 46% in Hamilton-- Obama lost the district 40-60%-- Schmidt took 53% in Warren while, once again, losing Hamilton. She won the district with 45%. Last year Mean Jean had become a staple in the district-- especially with the teabaggers, despite the fact that she was one of the Republicans who helped defeat the T.A.R.P. Wall Street bailout and then switched her vote at the behest of Boehner 4 days later and helped the bailout pass-- and she won with a 58% total districtwide. Warren was her best-performing county, giving her 65% of the vote. It's what makes the 3rd congressional district relatively safe for the lamest and least effective-- and least liked-- Member of Congress from the Buckeye State. Or it used to.

Despite switching her vote for him on the T.A.R.P. bailout, Boehner threw Mean Jean under the bus this year, directing the Republican-controled legislature in Columbus to shore up extremely vulnerable Steve Chabot, a much closer ally, by taking Warren County away from the 3rd and grafting it onto the 2nd. Chabot will be much harder to beat now. But Mean Jean... well, some Democrats in Ohio think she's a sitting duck. So does DWT.

You may have noticed that we endorsed outstanding state Rep. Connie Pillich in her race against Chabot. Well, Connie's legislative district is now split between Chabot's and Mean Jean's congressional districts. She can run in either. And we're urging her to run against Mean. We think she'd have a better chance to win and we think Mean has earned a top flight opponent like Connie. And, let's be frank... who the hell wants to have to run in Warren County? Perhaps if you'd consider contributing even $5 or $10 to Connie's campaign if you agree she should run against Mean Jean Schmidt, we can persuade her. You can do it here. And we wouldn't have to do much to update this video, would we?

Is Mitt Romney-- Or Any Of Those Baboons-- Fit To Be Commander-in-Chief?

Connie & John aren't gay, but I bet a right wing mob would boo them anyway

Tomorrow afternoon, Michigan Democratic congressional candidate John Waltz is being formally endorsed by Blue America and he'll be blogging with us at Crooks and Liars (2pm, ET). Ohio Democrat Connie Pillich won't be doing a Blue America session until the end of October. Both, however, have something in common that I want to share with you now. Connie and John both enlisted in the military. Connie served in the Air Force during the Gulf War. John served in the Navy and saw action in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Both, like all good Americans, were horrified at the spectacle last night at the Fox Republican "presidential" debate when the audience booed an active duty America soldier asking a question. But the ignorance and bigotry of the audience was one thing... how about these men and a crazed woman who want to be Commander-in-Cheif of the United States Armed Forces? Not one had the decency-- or the courage-- to stand up to the vile booing mob of louts in the audience. Romney may have looked embarrassed, but he didn't raise a well-sculptured eyebrow.

"It is quite obvious that Republicans are fully committed to hatred and blatant racism," John told us this morning, "which became quite evident at the debate last night. Not one presidential candidate uttered a peep about the hateful and homophobic booing of a gay soldier in Iraq. I challenge any Republican or Tealiban member to sign up for the military and get shipped over there and see if they have any complaint when a gay or lesbian soldier is protecting their lives.

"I know during my time in the service we had a massive fire and several of us were pulled out by a lesbian and not one of us stopped her to ask if she was sleeping with a man or woman that night. This behavior is despicable and should never be tolerated. The repeal of DADT was a major step forward in civil rights for our nation and anyone that is willing to serve our nation to protect our freedoms should never be discriminated against."

John Waltz is the kind of candidate Blue America is backing this year. I hope you'll come by tomorrow and meet him. If you'd like to donate to his campaign, you can do it here at our Blue America ActBlue page.

Connie serves in the Ohio state legislature and lately her battles have been around the legitimate aspirations of working families and keeping the Republicans from doing away with democracy in her state. Previously she served in support of both Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield. "I find it reprehensible that any American would jeer any American soldier who simply reported for duty. All of our members of the Armed Services deserve our respect and support. And anyone running for president who will necessarily become Commander-in-Chief ought to defend and support all of our troops against such malice." Connie isn't up on the Blue America page yet (soon), but you can contribute to her campaign here for now.

Richard Allen Smith from VoteVets was as outraged-- but not as surprised, writing today that the Republican audience was finally honest with America about how they feel about America's servicemembers when they booed an active duty Soldier serving in Iraq.

[T]he audience didn't boo him simply because he's a Soldier. They booed him because he is a gay Soldier. But that shouldn't matter any more than if he were a hispanic Soldier or a blue eyed Soldier or a brown haired Soldier. He is an American service member serving in harms way. But the audience, as well as the Republican candidates who allowed this to happen without a word being spoken in support of the Soldier, still gave us valuable insight into the Republican party.

Republicans will wear their flag lapel pins and put yellow ribbon magnets on their car so long as you support their narrative. The moment you deviate from their party line, they throw you in the gutter. It's what they did to Pat Tillman. It's what they did to this Soldier last night, and it's what they've done for decades to Soldiers and Veterans by exuding superficial patriotism on the campaign trail and betraying us once they end up in office. 

It isn't just a class war we're being dragged into. It's a full-fledged war against fascism. Except this time the fascists aren't be fronted by a creep in Germany with a funny little mustache.

Cincinnati Wing-Nut Steve Chabot's Constituents Jeer His Anti-Choice Fanaticism

On Monday an Iraq War vet and progressive Ohio state legislator, Rep. Connie Pillich, did a guest post for us here about her battle against John Kasich's fascist anti-union agenda. At the time I found a floor speech she gave in Columbus that I thought showed what she's made of and asked for readers to consider chipping in a contribution for her campaign. I reposted it above. Why again? And so fast?

Her opponent is a pathetic John Boehner clone named Steve Chabot, who Cincinnati voters fired in 2008 and who managed to slip back into office in the Great Shellacking of 2010, mostly because of dissatisfaction with the Democrats' tepid agenda for what they promised would be Change. In 2008, 155,089 voters (52%) elected moderate Democrat Steve Driehaus over the incumbent Chabot, who they gave 140,469 votes (48%). Two years later far fewer voters came out for the rematch. But Chabot only lost 36,699 votes, while Driehaus had a catastrophic 62,417 voter falloff (allowing Chabot to regain the seat with 51%, even edging Driehaus in Hamilton County, which is a relatively Democratic stronghold.

Next year, voters won't have to chose between a conservative Democrat and a more conservative Republican. Connie comes from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt wing of the Democratic Party. She's all about the legitimate aspirations of ordinary working families. And Chabot is... still as extreme and far from the mainstream as ever. Monday be was abusive towards constituents who wanted to talk with him about unacceptably high unemployment in the region and was booed and jeered at his own Cincinnati town hall meeting-- and it centered on his virulent opposition to federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

After a citizen asked the congress-man why he stood “against funding Planned Parenthood when public funds are not used for abortion,” Chabot argued that the money was fungible so he opposed funding because “they are the largest abortion provider in the United States.” This response brought loud jeers and shouts of “no!” from the audience. When Chabot later accused Planned Parenthood of using federal funds for abortion, one constituent asked, “Do you have any proof of that happening?” Chabot declined to respond.

...By Chabot’s logic, Congress ought to strip federal funding for any religious organizations that receive federal funds to finance their charitable and social work because “money is fungible.” Yet it’s difficult to imagine Republicans will use the same standard to target groups like the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops any time soon.

Still, the questioner makes an important point that ought not be missed in the discussion: Planned Parent is vitally important to women’s health care, especially poor women. Despite Sen. Jon Kyl’s (R-AZ) assertion that abortion is “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does,” in fact, it accounts for just 3 percent of their services. The other 97 percent includes such procedures as breast cancer exams, STI testing, and cervical cancer screening.

Yet if Chabot and Republicans in Congress had their way, Planned Parenthood would lose $330 million in federal funding that would otherwise be used to provide critical medical services to women across the country.

So... if you'd like to see a strong progressive woman working for working families in that seat instead of a crackpot like Chabot, you can help Connie win the election here.

Guest Post From Rep. Connie Pillich (D-OH): Ohio's Senate Bill 5

State Rep. Connie Pillich is running for the Cincinnati-bassed House seat currently occupied by GOP corporate shill Steve Chabot

Now that the recall elections are over in Wisconsin, all eyes should be turning to Ohio. In Ohio, an even more restrictive anti-collective bargaining law was passed by the Republican-dominated legislature and signed into law by the Republican governor in March.

While teachers were demonstrating in Madison, thousands of fire fighters, police officers, teachers, nurses, hospital workers, school bus drivers, and many others were protesting in Columbus. We just didn’t get the national press.

Ohio’s law restricts collective bargaining for all public employees, including safety personnel such as police officers, fire fighters, and nurses. The law, called Senate Bill 5, was introduced by one lone state senator without a single co-sponsor. It quickly drew the ire of public employees, their unions, and their friends.

In its original form, SB 5 prohibited all collective bargaining for all public employees. Later it was amended to permit what the sponsor called collective bargaining for wages. This “bargaining” eliminated arbitration, giving the final say on any contract to the employer. In reality, this is nothing more than collective begging. One does not need to be an attorney to understand the patent unfairness of such a provision. The bill also contains unconstitutional provisions and hurts veterans.

Using the power of social media, public employee unions urged their members, their families, and their supporters to attend the committee hearings on SB 5. Hundreds and thousands heard the call. They began to pack the State House on committee hearing days. The Republican hierarchy began to panic at the response. Had they really not anticipated this reaction? By eliminating collective bargaining, they not only were taking away people’s rights, they also were jeopardizing their livelihoods and safety equipment.

Ohio’s State House has been the site of many protests and gatherings over its 150-year history. The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board is well-equipped to accommodate large crowds who attend committee hearings and sessions. They prepare over-flow rooms for the crowds, setting up thousands of chairs and piping in the audio from the committee room. CSRAB prepared for these protests as they had done for others. But too many people came.

I made sure to walk from my office over to the State House during the protests. I not only wanted to show my support for the public employees, but I also got a pick-me-up from visiting. As a Democrat serving at a time when the Republican majority was introducing such draconian legislation, I loved stopping by the State House to see several thousand of my friends. I would walk over, roam through the crowds and find people from my district. Every now and then, people would erupt into a cheer, or start clapping their hands. Other than that, it was pretty peaceful as they strained to listen to the committee proceedings. I would chat for a while, and then I would head off to my next appointment. But on February 22nd, everything changed.

On that day, the doors to the State House were barricaded to keep Ohioans out.

Every door to the State House, the Senate Office Building, and the Atrium-- which connects the two-- was blocked by State Troopers. They granted entry only to state legislators, staff, people on official business, lobbyists, and 700 citizens who wanted to listen to the hearings on Senate Bill 5. The remaining thousands who wished to listen to the hearings were forced to wait outside in sub-freezing temperatures for hours while vast expanses of the large State House complex remained empty.

Attempts to learn who ordered the paltry limit and who had the authority to modify that order were rather fruitless, as troopers suggested I call the dispatch clerk (no answer) or the Columbus Fire Marshall (there isn’t one).

State Rep. Teresa Fedor marched right past the State Troopers and opened the doors herself, letting dozens more in. State Rep. Bob Hagan convinced Troopers to allow an additional 500 people in. Other state reps. were permitted to escort dozens more. But thousands continued to wait outside in the cold. We handed out cookies, coffee, and doughnuts and led spectators in cheers and chants. Fire fighters played bag pipes.

Unable to get relief from the barricaded doors through the chain of command, Democrats opted to seek an injunction in court to keep the State House open. Under the threat of a lawsuit, Republicans opened the doors and permitted many to enter late in the day.

It is an abomination that we had to resort to such action. The State House is the people’s house! It is normally open to everyone. It provides the forum for people to petition their government. It is the very essence of our First Amendment rights to assemble and speak freely. To deny entry to ordinary citizens who merely wish to listen-- and chant and clap-- is nothing short of tyranny.

Is this what we have come to? I had to wonder.

Governor Kasich signed SB 5 into law on March 31st. Public employee unions and their supporters immediately began a referendum effort to put SB 5 on the statewide ballot in November. On June 29th I joined about 6,000 people as we marched to the Secretary of State’s office. We delivered 1500 boxes of petitions holding 1.3 million signatures of people demanding to put SB 5 on the ballot. SB 5 will be Issue 2 this November. A “No” on Issue 2 means a repeal of SB 5.

With a majority of Ohioans opposing SB 5, the lines are being drawn. Business groups and chambers of commerce are officially endorsing the embattled bill. The middle class, working families, fire fighters, police, teachers, nurses, and those who appreciate them are lining up on the other side. This issue and the division it is causing are symptoms of the growing polarization in our state and nation. SB 5, if enacted, will be another step in the dismantling of the middle class, ruining the livelihood that has sustained so many families and local communities. And shutting down the engine that has driven our national economy for 60 years.

This week, Governor Kasich announced he is interested in “talking” with SB 5/Issue 2 opponents. I suppose he has seen the polling that shows a huge majority of Ohioans oppose SB 5. He claims he hopes to find a compromise that will avoid the costly referendum election this fall. Opponents are pleased that he has finally admitted that the bill is flawed, unfair, and unconstitutional, as well as harmful to veterans. But the idea that he suddenly wants to talk is ludicrous. Where was he when thousands descended on the capitol last winter? Instead of talking, he hid behind locked doors.

If Gov. Kasich is really interested in compromise, he and the Republic legislative leadership should show an act of good faith: Convene the legislature and repeal SB 5 this month. Then all parties can sit at the same table to craft a mutually agreeable solution. Anything short of a full repeal this month would destroy all goodwill between the two sides. And, it will reveal the Governor’s statement for what it truly is: a campaign tactic in this difficult battle.

The mobilization of ordinary, working people in response to the draconian content of SB 5 and the tyrannical efforts to keep people out of the State House has been amazing. It has been the one bright spot in this year of terrible legislative policy by the Ohio Republicans.

Rep. Connie Pillich

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UPDATE From Howie

I looked around the archives for a video that would show something of Connie's soul as a public servant. I found several. I want to share this one with you just as I ask you to consider chipping in for her election campaign at our ActBlue page.