Shelby County Ex-GOP Chairman Chris Gibbs To Gym Jordan: "Legislation Is Not Wrestling. It Isn’t Pin And Get Points"

Gym Jordan by Chip Proser

Last week, much of the nation united in its hatred for a man few had ever heard of before, Gym Jordan, the former wrestling coach who allowed one of his colleagues to molest his Ohio State University students for years, despite their pleas for help. It was Jordan's harsh, loud and ugly screaming at congressional witnesses during the Intel Committee impeachment hearings that etched him into the nation's book of political villainy. His turns at bat, even more than his colleagues John Ratcliffe and Devin Nunes, became excuses for bathroom breaks from coast to coast.

On Thursday, Brent Larkin, the former editorial director of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, gave Jordan exactly what he deserved on the pages of the most widely read newspaper in his congressional district, accusing him of being a national afflication. The problem started not in Congress but with Ohio's notorious gerrymandering. "Of all the regions in all the states in all the country, Jim Jordan got dragged into ours. There was no good reason to punish Greater Cleveland by making the person who’s now the second most contemptible human being in the entire U.S. government part of the region’s delegation to Congress. Worse yet, the betrayal was bipartisan. When Ohio’s political and legislative leaders were drawing new congressional boundaries prior to the 2012 election, Democrats wanted a district that would protect U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge. Republicans wanted districts that would elect the maximum number of GOP congressmen. And some people from both parties wanted a district that would likely lead to the defeat of longtime Cleveland Rep. Dennis Kucinich. They all got what they wanted. But to make it work required drawing a hideously gerrymandered district for the southwest Ohio congressman, one that meanders some 200 miles from near Dayton north into Lorain County near Cleveland."

And now it’s fitting that Republicans have given this seven-term sycophant a starring role in the televised House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump. The assignment comes as Jordan is being credibly accused by some of knowingly turning a blind eye to sexual abuse by a team doctor when Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University from 1987 to 1994.

At least five people-- four of them former wrestlers and one of them a longtime friend-- have said Jordan had to have known former OSU team doctor Richard Strauss was on a sexual rampage that would include-- according to OSU-- 1,429 sexual assaults and 47 rapes of student patients during Strauss’ time at the school (1978 to 1998) prior to his suicide in 2005.

That makes Jordan an ideal candidate to lead the defense of a malignant president who has bragged about physically abusing women and who has been accused by two dozen women of sexual assault or misconduct.

Jordan was appointed to the Intelligence Committee the same day, Nov. 8, that NBC reported on a lawsuit filed early this month in which a former wrestling referee alleges Strauss masturbated in front of him in the shower following an OSU wrestling match in 1994.

When the referee told Jordan what happened, he alleges that Jordan blew him off with, “Yeah, that’s Strauss.”

As the allegations pile up, Jordan’s denials remain unchanged. He dismissed the latest one as “ridiculous.”

People have every right to believe Jordan’s angry dismissals. Common sense suggests they’d probably be better off believing five men who have no reason to lie.

When Jordan slithers out from under his rock each morning, dons a shirt and tie-- sans the jacket, lest he be mistaken for Joe McCarthy-- his life’s work is to besmirch everything America stands for in service of Donald Trump.

If it takes undermining yet another principle of democracy by condoning attacks on men and women who have devoted their lives in honorable service to this country, Jordan is always ready and willing.

If it takes changing the Trump defense strategy on an almost daily basis because facts keep getting in the way, Jordan is the ideal bootlicker. Trump’s support is all that seems to matter to the man former House Speaker John Boehner regularly referred to as "a legislative terrorist”-- along with a whole bunch of other descriptions unfit for print.

Why would Jordan so readily ruin what little was left of his reputation? One theory holds he hopes to inherit Trump’s base for a presidential run of his own in 2024. The swamp will be a crowded place in four years, overrun with loathsome folks angling to continue the dastardly business of shredding the Constitution.

Michael Gerson’s credentials to analyze Jordan are impeccable. He is an evangelical Christian, lifelong Republican and onetime chief speechwriter to former President George W. Bush.

In his Washington Post column of Nov. 14, Gerson showed his keen understanding of Jordan, describing him as “the Truly Trumpian Man-- guided by bigotry, seized by conspiracy theories, dismissive of facts and truth, indifferent to ethics, contemptuous of institutional norms and ruthlessly dedicated to the success of a demagogue.”

Gerson applied the identical description to Stephen Miller, the White House resident white supremacist.

Everything about Jordan reeks of a man willing to cast aside common decency and fairness in service of a corrupt and cruel president.

He may be the most unfit man to ever represent part of Greater Cleveland in Congress.

Bad news for anyone who thought we were finished with the agony of Jordan's screaming with the impeachment inquiry moving from the Intel Committee to the Judiciary Committee: he's a member of that committee too. As for defeating him at the polls... nearly impossible. The state legislature, in drawing his district, managed to cobble together one with the most low IQ voters in the entire state of Ohio. It isn't even that the PVI is R+14 and that Trump beat Hillary 64.3% to 30.7%. Of the 14 counties in the district, only one, Lorain, has the sense it takes every two years to reject Jordan. Others, like red hellholes Auglaize, Shelby and Mercer, have more in common with neo-fascist bastions in Alabama and Idaho than with other parts of Ohio. Last year, in the midst of his Ohio State molestation scandal voters reelected him 167,993 (65.3%) to 89,412 (34.7%). That's nothing short of an indictment of the backward ignorant voters in Allen, Union, Auglaize, Shelby, Seneca, Marion, Logan, Champaign, Crawford and Mercer counties. This cycle, three Democrats-- Shannon Freshour, Mike Larsen and Jeffrey Sites-- are competing to take on Jordan. On top of that, Chris Gibbs, a local farmer and the former chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, is mulling a challenge to Jordan. Gibbs resigned as the chair of the county GOP and quit the Republican Party because of Trump's devastating agriculture and trade policies. He wants to run against Jordan as an independent. "People are tired of the vitriol in Washington, on both sides," said Gibbs. "It isn’t just Jim Jordan. It’s the vitriol back and forth and the lack of ability to roll up your sleeves and get something done for the American people... I never anticipated that the Republicans in Congress would wilt in their responsibility to their oath and serve the President over serving their districts."

Two Progressive Candidates We Need To Talk More About-- One In Ohio And One In North Dakota

Let's start with a guest post from Janet Garrett, a progressive retired school teacher taking on far right extremist Jim Jordan in Ohio's very gerrymandered deep red 4th district, carefully drawn to avoid "the contagion" of Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus and Toledo. Most of the voters live in Lorain (the most Democratic county in the district, where Janet is way ahead), Allen, Sandusky, Union, Shelby and Auglaize counties. I asked Janet to write a brief issue-oriented compare and contrast guest post that explains how replacing Jordan with her would impact that contentious battle over health care in the U.S. Her post:

As I have traveled around campaigning to represent Ohio’s 4th-district, it never ceases to amaze me how opposite my opponent Jim Jordan and I are on key issues that deeply affect our citizens.

People tell me they’re worried about health care. Jim Jordan has voted against Obamacare 52 times without once mentioning something, anything, he would propose to replace it.

I see things differently. Obamacare has had some valid successes. Because of Obamacare, you can no longer be denied coverage for preexisting conditions. Actually, because of Obamacare, you can no longer be denied insurance coverage at all. Because of Obamacare, children can stay on their parent’s coverage until age 26. These changes in America’s health care system have benefited millions.

Does Obamacare need improved? Yes, of course. Any new program does. Premiums need to stay affordable and more people As a matter of fact, I wish Obamacare would morph right into a single-payer system so that all Americans could have peace of mind, as do the citizens of Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom, when it comes to their health care.

My ultimate desire is that all citizens, right down to our legislators, have the same Universal Health Care program so that we are all taken care of, one and all. Why should legislators have benefits that their own constituents cannot access? Politicians shouldn’t have a better insurance policy than the constituents they represent.

People also tell me they are greatly worried about their Medicare and Social Security benefits. Jordan has been rated 0% by the ARA and supports Wall Street/corporate privatization of both Medicare and Social Security. It frustrates me greatly that the current congressman supports corporate greed that would harm the delivery of benefits Americans have earned and deserved. I will fight for Medicare and Social Security and will to not let people like Jim Jordan plunge our seniors, like my own parents, into poverty by defunding their imperative Medicare and Social Security lifelines.

We could go on and on with the differences between Jim Jordan and myself. He voted NO on raising the minimum wage and equal pay for women. Obviously, I support equal pay for women and support raising the minimum wage so that working families can get ahead. Jordan voted to defund Planned Parenthood. I believe women must make their own important life decisions without the intrusion of politicians. Jim Jordan homeschools his own children and supports giving tax dollars to alternative education corporations that take funds away from public schools.  As a retired public school teacher, I feel strongly that taxpayer dollars should be used to invest in the public schools in our communities and not to support private or profiteering alternatives  that waste millions of taxpayer dollars.

I have been doing a lot of canvassing throughout the district. I recently spent two days in Lima. I canvassed millionaires, middle class and some of the poorest people I have seen outside of my Peace Corps experience. If my opponent had been walking by my side, (which he wouldn't) he would have seen undeserving, lazy people who in his words, should get help from their churches and their families. For my part, I know the families and the churches are already doing all they can. I saw people who have been let down by their country, for lack of opportunity and in the cases of the mentally ill, for lack of resources. As a public school teacher, I feel a responsibility to get every American the opportunity and resources they need to thrive. This doesn't mean a hand-out but a hand-up.

On and on we can go. On issue after issue, Universal Health Care; Medicare and Social Security; Wages;  Women’s Health; Workers’ Rights; Education; Jobs; Healthcare; etc…., Jim Jordan and I can be found on opposite sides of the spectrum.

However, there is one area in which Jim Jordan and I agree. We both want to represent Ohio’s fourth congressional district and fight for the issues we believe in.

The question is, which opponent aligns with the issues YOU believe in?

The case for Chase Iron Eyes, who we should have been writing more about this cycle was made by Tracy B Ann, an enthusiast of his candidacy.

Mark Ruffalo with Chase Iron Eyes

Not Only Do I Want To Vote For Chase Iron Eyes For Congress, I Now Want To Move To North Dakota
by Tracy B Ann

That’s how inspiring he is. I had the good fortune of talking to Chase Iron Eyes by phone one day late this summer. I started off just like when I’m talking with any other politician; half listening, moving about my office, doing 4 other things at the same time.

Minutes Seconds into the conversation I was seated, taking notes, and deep breathes, soaking everything he said in. For a whole lot of reasons, good reasons, I don’t like many people, but there is something about Chase Iron Eyes that touches a deep part of my soul.

Like, the common greeting, Namaste, which, translated, means something like... "the higher self in me, greets the higher self in you,”  Chase Iron Eyes reached out and grabbed the higher self most people would swear I don’t even have. And this was just an every day candidate interview, we weren't talking about the meaning of life. Except, sort of, I guess we were, politics has a lot to do with the meaning of life.

I want this guy in Congress! Whether I live in North Dakota or not, I have no doubt that he will make my life better.

"We have to lend our voice to the collective song of America" -Chase Iron Eyes

ND-AT Large- Chase Iron Eyes-- it’s hard for me to put into words why it’s so important for him to be a member of my Fantasy Congress. He has what I call, a gentleness, about him. Cara Currie Hall, describes him as "a young old man." I want him in the Native American faction and environment faction of my dream Congress. His solid foundation of Sioux principles gives him a deep love of the land from a global perspective.



"Iron Eyes was recently the subject of a profound 5-minute Laura Flanders Show segment. Iron Eyes is not another Big-Money bought duck & cover politician. He’s instead a leader for all people of North Dakota. See how and why… pull up a cup of coffee and have a watch."

"Think free. Vote different."

You can contribute to Chase Iron Eyes and to Janet Garrett by clicking on the thermometer below: