Can Ohio Trumpist Mike Turner Be Defeated Next Year?

Turner and his guy

Mike Turner, the former mayor of Dayton, was elected to Congress in 2002. Most of his district (OH-10) is very purple, swingy Montgomery County, all of it. But Republicans in the state legislature added all of Greene County and enough solid red territory in Fayette Co. to guarantee that Turner can probably never be defeated. In 2008, Obama beat McCain in Montgomery Co. 146,000 to 128,681 and 4 years later Obama beat Romney 137,139 (51.42%) to 124,841 (46.81%). In 2016, the election was incredible close:

• Trump- 123,909 (47.97%)
• Hillary- 122,016 (47.24%)

On the same day, Republican Senator Rob Portman was reelected. Montgomery County was part of that, giving him a 144,700 (57.01%) to 98,101 (38.65%) win over pathetic Democrat Ted Strickland. In last year's Senate election, Montgomery County gave the win to Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown, 115,200 (56.1%) to 90,242 (43.9%). That's swing county. Neither Greene nor Fayette is though. Both are solid red. Tuner won all three counties last year. The partisan advantage in Fayette was R+45 and in Greene it was R+30. Montgomery, though, was, as you would expect, much closer-- R+7.

It's Greene and Fayette that allow the kind of crackpot e-mail, straight from the Republican Party talking points generator, that Turner sent his constituents over the weekend:

Congress continues to be stalled because of Adam Schiff's fabricated impeachment investigation. This circus show needs to end! Schiff needs to be held accountable for his actions.

...Productivity in Congress is no more because of Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi's lack of leadership in the House. What he is doing to the American people and this country is an absolute disgrace.

Legislation to lower prescription drug prices, passing the USMCA, and to fight the opioid epidemic are all stalled because of this fabricated impeachment investigation. I won't have it. I am in Congress fighting for these important issues, yet Adam Schiff continues to play politics over impeachment.

Americans deserve to know why Schiff is wasting their taxpayer dollars. This political investigation has to end. Tell Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi that enough is enough.

Can Turner's brain-dead support for Trump-- as a member of the House Intel Committee, he made a fool of himself at the impeachment inquiry several times-- be defeated next year? OH-10 isn't on any DCCC target lists. Right now, there are two Democrats competing for the nomination, middle of the road law school student Desiree Tims and woke scientist/egineer Eric Moyer. She's raised $41,603 and he hasn't raised anything. Moyer's statement sounds like the kind of values-laden appeal that could work-- if he can get it out: "This campaign is about kitchen table economics. It’s about returning the national conversation to solving the everyday issues of the people in our community: healthcare, wages, and education. I am a scientist, an engineer, and a community activist who was trained to identify problems and to solve them-- and that’s what I will do in Congress. The poor and the middle class have been waiting too long for wealth to start trickling down. Together we will begin to take back our power from the politicians who are absent from the community and unresponsive to our needs. We will also demand that the rich stop exploiting our health and our wealth for their own profit." He is campaigning on Medicare-for-All, tuition-free public universities and trade schools, $15 minimum wage, the Green New Deal, gun reform, strengthening organized labor, campaign finance reform, racial justice and the rest of the national progressive platform. Tims, on the other hand, sounds like a cross between Biden and Mayo.

It's probably worth noting that Morning Consult's Trump Tracker found Turner's guy down 19 points in Ohio since being inaugurated. Trump's approval among Ohio voters is now 46% and his disapproval is 51%-- 5 points underwater. That, alas, is not enough to displace Turner on its own. OH-10 will need to see a well-financed and politically compelling Democratic campaign-- and a bigger anti-red wave-- for that to happen.

All But 40 Democrats Are Co-Sponsoring The Ban On Assault Weapons. These Are The 40

Last February David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced H.R. 1296, an assault weapons ban. He has 196 co-sponsors, including six who signed on Tuesday-- Marc Veasey (New Dem-TX), Katie Porter (D-CA), Susan Wild (New Dem-PA), Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ... incredible what a primary from the left will do with an asshole like him), and Chris Pappas (New Dem-NH). There are still no Republicans co-sponsoring Cicilline's bill. Only 40 Democrats are still refusing to co-sponsor it. And these are the Democrats who are still refusing to back banning military grade assault weapons:

• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Cheri Bustos (New Dem-IL)
• Joaquin Castro (New Dem-TX)
• Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
• T.J. Cox (D-CA)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)
• Pete DeFazio (D-OR)
• Abby Finkenauer (D-IA)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Lizzie Fletcher (New Dem-TX)
• Jared Golden (D-ME)
• Vicente Gonzalez (Blue Dog-TX)
• Josh Harder (New Dem-CA)
• Katie Hill (New Dem-CA)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Andy Kim (D-NJ)
• Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)
• Conor Lamb (D-PA)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Nancy Pelosi (Bad Leader-CA)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Kim Schrier (New Dem-WA)
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)
• Greg Stanton (New Dem-AZ)
• Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)
• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)
• Mike Thompson (Blue Dog-CA)
• Lauren Underwood (D-IL)
• Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Filemon Vela (Blue Dog-TX)

During the 2018 cycle, I spoke to many of the freshmen on this last, one of whom-- Jared Golden-- we even endorsed (what a mistake and I apologize and will do my best to make up for it with him this cycle). But the rest of them couldn't fool me. I smelled the cowardice and deceit on them and Blue America refused to endorse any of the rest of them. Actually one we did endorse and then unendorsed very quickly. But yesterday I spoke with one of them. I asked her why she was not backing Cicilline's bill. I was very polite. She wasn't. Maybe she was having a bad day, but started screeching at me like a mad-women and accused me of pushing her too far towards the far left. (Banning assault weapons is "far left?" We'll get to that in a moment.) She seemed to indicate she will co-sponsor "the f**king bill" but that if she loses her election... it's my fault. She seemed so distraught that I didn't tell her what I was thinking, which was that if she couldn't help her constituents understand why banning assault rifles was good policy, she didn't belong in Congress anyway.

Ever hear of Mike Turner? He's a Republican congressman who represents Montgomery County, Ohio. That's Dayton, a city where served as mayor from 1993 'til 2001. He was elected to Congress in 2003 and never has much of a problem being reelected in his R+4 district where Trump beat Hillary 51.3% to 44%. And he's been a gun-nut kind of guy. The NRA gives him money and graded him an A last year. Sunday, his daughter was across the street from the shooting mayhem in Dayton. Tuesday he said he will now back legislation that "prevents the sale of military-style weapons to civilians, a magazine limit, and red flag legislation." This is his full statement, further than what any of these 40 Democrats above seems to be willing to say:

I strongly support the Second Amendment, but we must prevent mentally unstable people from terrorizing our communities with military style weapons. I will support legislation that prevents the sale of military style weapons to civilians, a magazine limit, and red flag legislation. The carnage these military style weapons are able to produce when available to the wrong people is intolerable.

We must pass red flag legislation to quickly identify people who are dangerous and remove their ability to harm others. Too often after mass shootings, we hear there were early warning signs that were ignored.

I believe these are necessary steps forward in protecting our country and a testament to American values, which include protecting human life.

I understand not every shooting can be prevented or stopped from these measures, but I do believe these steps are essential.

This weekend, a shooter wearing body armor opened fire in downtown Dayton with a weapon he had modified to be able to hold 100 rounds of ammunition. Dayton Police ran towards the shooter and neutralized him in less than thirty seconds, saving countless lives. In those few seconds, the shooter was able to murder nine people, injure at least 27, and deeply impact the entire community. If the police had not been present and able to instantly respond, the casualties would have been astronomical.

This tragedy must become a catalyst for a broader national conversation about what we can do to stop these mass shootings. I look forward to continuing this debate with my colleagues in Congress, as well as discussing these measures with the President during his trip to Dayton.

Progressive Democrat Kara Eastman is campaigning on several planks that she feels will help her neighbors in Omaha and one is sane gun policies. The Republican incumbent in her district comes from a very different mindset. "Donald J Bacon," she told me yesterday, "believes 'GUN CONTROL IS A RECIPE FOR ONLY THE CRIMINALS HAVING GUNS.' He is a member of the NRA and has taken thousands of dollars from the gun lobby. Once again, rather than representing the residents of the Nebraska Second, Bacon aligns himself with special interest groups. He has more interest in protecting them, than in protecting our children."

Eva Putzova-- a progressive Democrat like Kara-- is running against an "ex"-Republican, Blue Dog Tom O'Halleran. He's one of the handful of Democrats opposed to banning assault weapons, a good enough reason by itself to help Eva replace him in Congress. She made it clear that she and O'Halleran are on different planets when it comes to gun safety. "I support Representative David Cicilline's legislation banning the sale and possession of  military-style assault weapons. How many innocent people must be slaughtered by these weapons of war that have no place in civilian society? Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton, are just the latest in a long series of attacks on civilians by hate-filled individuals, including white supremacists, with easy access to assault weapons. No other nation in the civilized world experiences this mayhem on a regular basis like we do because citizens in those countries do not have access to these deadly weapons. In addition to a ban, we need a federal buy-back program that can take existing weapons off the street."

The next congressional election is the NC-09 election to fill the seat that the GOP was caught trying to steal last November. It's in a month. It's a lesser of two evils choice between a generally reactionary Blue Dog, Dan McCready and an especially vile Trump-supporting neo-fascist, Dan Bishop. They both suck, but Bishop is worse. When it comes to this assault weapon ban, though... neither would back it. On Monday, the Charlotte Observer observed that "neither Democrat Dan McCready nor Republican Dan Bishop would ban the kind of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines used in the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio."

“The fact is that the gun violence is new, the prevalence of guns in America is not,” Bishop told the Observer Monday. “Which means its not the guns that caused it. It is societal ills . . . and the problem must be approached comprehensively.”


...Some Democrats-- including Rep. Alma Adams of Charlotte-- have called for a ban or moratorium on the sales of assault-style weapons. McCready does not.

“I think the best way to deal with assault weapons is to implement comprehensive background checks,” he said Monday.

One in five gun buyers avoids a background check, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. McCready favors ending exceptions such as the “gun show loophole” that allows buyers to purchase weapons from a private seller without a background check.

Bishop, who was recently endorsed by the National Rifle Association, wouldn’t go that far.

“I’ve not heard of any proposal around that subject that has any explicable purpose other than leading to the creation of a national gun registry, which is anathema,” he said.

McCready said Trump’s tweets and rhetoric have fueled the acrimony in the country. The president’s recent comments about four Democratic congresswomen helped trigger the Charlotte City Council’s resolution last month to “strongly condemn” his “racist and xenophobic comments.”

“It clearly does,” contribute to divisiveness, McCready said.

Bishop said he doesn’t believe “the president deserves any particular blame for coarsening the debate or precipitating gun violence.” He points to comments like those of New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez likening border facilities to “concentration camps.”

He said the president’s language is no better or worse than that of his critics.

Bishop launched a new TV ad Monday describing McCready and congressional Democrats as “crazy liberal clowns.” It was a theme he turned to in responding to tweets about the shootings by some of those same Democrats.

When Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan tweeted that Trump incites violence with his own tweets, Bishop retweeted it, saying, “Crazy clown show continues.” When Ocasio-Cortez responded to Trump’s address by tweeting that white supremacy, not video games, caused mass shootings, he tweeted, “More crazy clowns. CRAAAZYYY.”

Adams, who just returned to Charlotte from a trip to the border near El Paso, said she wants a moratorium on the sale of assault-style weapons.

“Why do we need assault weapons on the street anyway?” she said. “Those are weapons of war.”

Adams said it’s time for Congress to do something.

“We can’t continue to just sit around and say, ‘We’re going to pray about it,’” she said. “The Lord expects us to do something.”

UPDATE: Two More Co-Sponsors

On Tuesday, August 13, two more New Dems, Cindy Axne (IA) and Joaquin Castro (TX), brother of the anti-gun presidential candidate, signed onto Cicilline's bill as co-sponsors. By the way, that leaves Abby Finkenauer alone with white supremicist dirtbag Steve King as the only members of Iowa's delegation to the House supporting the NRA position. And she claims to be less GOP-lite than Axne! Is your member of Congress on the list above? Most of them are susceptible to pressure on this and I'd say we could get half of them onto the legislation within a month. A dozen especially good targets for loud complaints. These 12 will flip with as few as 10-15 constituents calls:

• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)
• Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
• T.J. Cox (D-CA)
• Pete DeFazio (D-OR)
• Lizzie Fletcher (New Dem-TX)
• Jared Golden (D-ME)
• Josh Harder (New Dem-CA)
• Katie Hill (New Dem-CA)
• Kim Schrier (New Dem-WA)
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)
• Lauren Underwood (D-IL)

Suggestion if you call any of them: be polite but be firm. Don't start by threatening not to vote for them.

Republican Economic Agenda Devastating Southwestern Ohio

Jane Mitakides combating GOP trickle down economic disaster

Wilmington, Ohio isn't a place many Americans know of. It's a peaceful town that rarely gets any national media attention-- well, not counting the mostly unwelcome media attention involving right-wing terrorist Michael Bray who was convicted in 1985 of bombing 10 women's health clinics in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. Bray, who claims murdering doctors is an appropriate response to losing the political and ethical battle over Choice and who believes gays and adulterers should be subjected to the death penalty, lives in Wilmington where he is a member of an extremist GOP front group called the Army of God. Lately, though, Wilmington has been in the news for a much different reason: the devastation of Ohio's economy brought about by policies wedded to Republican ideology.

Ohio's third congressional district, centered in Dayton but including Wilmington and Clinton County is represented by a far right Republican ideologue, rubber stamp Congressman Mike Turner. Even after the tsunami of job losses due to NAFTA hobbled Ohio's economic development and devastated hundreds of thousands of Ohio families, Turner was still, zombie-like, rubber stamping the Republican Party party-line and voting for every awful "free" trade treaty Bush vomited up, from CAFTA to Peru to Colombia and everything in between. Mike Turner is not just an extremist and a rubber stamp, he is someone well known for taking "contributions" from big corporations and then voting for their special interests no matter how badly that hurts his own constituents. And that brings us back to Wilmington, a reliably Republican area. (The 3rd Congressional district gave Bush 54% of its vote in 2004 and re-elected Mike Turner with 59% in 2006.)

The biggest employer in Wilmington and in Clinton County, and a major employer for 5 adjacent counties, is German-owned DHL. Following the closure of the Clinton County Air Force Base in 1971 Wilmington was an economically depressed city until 1979 when Airborne Express bought the former base (which had cost approximately $100 million in taxpayer funds to construct) for a sweet $850,000. Airborne (ABX, Inc) has invested almost a quarter billion dollars in putting together a first-rate hub for its national delivery service. It's primary customer is DHL. Two months ago DHL announced it is in the process of coming to agreement with UPS, an agreement which will immediately cost Wilmington at least 6,000 jobs, probably 8,000, as DHL's business goes to Louisville. For Clinton County this is nothing short of what Democratic congressional candidate Jane Mitakides refers to as "a corporate Hurricane Katrina."

Authorities in Wilmington say that could be the most jobs ever lost in a small Ohio city, certainly in recent times.

...Wilmington, population 12,000, wants help from anybody who can give it. That includes the two men vying to be the nation's next president.

But there is risk for Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama if they are perceived as indifferent or merely offer sound bites. So far, they've offered help in their capacity as U.S. senators, although Ohioans Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich have that covered. The McCain campaign, saying it will do what it can but warning that the jobs might not be able to be saved, says its proposals can at least cushion the blow by keeping taxes low, reducing government regulations and reforming job-training programs.

Obama aides meantime cite a vow to get better trade agreements and end tax breaks that give companies an incentive to take jobs overseas.

Wilmington, the seat of Clinton County, is in the heart of farm country where most people vote for Republicans. Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland was an exception with his win in 2006, but residents knew him from when his congressional district included the region.

Some authorities say that economic uncertainty now could chip away at the GOP base, although total erosion is almost out of the question.

Many are wondering if there will be enough erosion to win the district for Obama and rid the area of "free" trade fanatic Mike Turner. Ironically, UPS has been one of his biggest campaign contributors-- among the top 10 in his entire shameful career. Turner has been AWOL from all the battles to save the jobs, especially when the Republicans passed a law-- supported by Turner-- to limit DHL's access to government business.

Republicans like to talk about trickle down economics. This is a case where trickle down devastation really is in the cards. The GOP model basically boils down to if the rich get richer they will hire more servants and the servants will be able to buy things at WalMart, increasing the living standard of Chinese laborers who can then support the Chinese government's purchase of weapons which will in turn make war profiteers like the Bush family even wealthier. Meanwhile in Clinton County, economic despair is spreading rapidly and impacting-- adversely-- the standards of living of thousands of American families. Businesses that sell cars and trucks and tractors report that business is already off because people are afraid to buy big ticket items. But even restaurants are estimating that their incomes will fall by as much as 50%.

John McCain, like Mike Turner, never saw a "free trade" treaty he didn't like or didn't vote for. Neither has ever shown any concern for American workers beyond crocodile tears. When cornered, McCain called the news of "a terrible blow... I gotta look you in the eye and give you straight talk. I don't know if I can stop it or not, or if it will be stopped... In fact, some more straight talk: I doubt it. OK?" He talks about retraining, although to the 300,000 Ohio workers already displaced because of NAFTA and CAFTA and all the bullshit "free" trade agreements pushed by McCain and Turner, "retraining" has meant low-wage jobs in fast food restaurants and retail outlets. McCain told civic leaders in Dayton "we've got a lot of work to do," but judging by the work he and Mike Turner have already done, they will soon turn southwest Ohio into an economic basketcase.

Democrats like Sherrod Brown, Gov. Ted Strickland and Jane Mitakides are a bit more aggressive in their approach and their priorities are on saving the jobs and the communities. "Deutsche Post [DHL's German owner] is going to want a lot of things from the U.S. government in the years ahead," Brown says. "And I think that President Obama at my urging is going to want to do a little less for them if they do this to 8,000 American workers."

While Turner has happily scarfed up huge campaign contributions from UPS, right when they were plotting to devastate the lives of so many of his constituents, Brown and Mitakides have been working with DHL to come to a less drastic position. Today Jane told DWT that this situation isn't atypical of how the GOP has adversely affected the American economy.

“I have been working with the Mayor of Wilmington, who is an old friend, and the task force, quietly, behind the scenes. The jobs are far more important than scoring political points. While I hope we can change this terrible decision, we must remember that this is a business decision made being by a foreign company. The German businessmen making this decision will never know personally or care about the tens of thousands of people whose lives are being devastated. This is the direct result of the failed policies of the Turner/Bush years that allow our jobs to be shipped overseas, and foreign entities to buy our precious assets."