What A Grassroots Progressive Blueprint For America Sounds Like Far, Far From The Beltway-- OH-06

We've written a few posts here and there about Steve Israel's worst recruit of the 2014 cycle, Jennifer Garrison, an anti-Choice, anti-environment, homophobic fanatic who has been embraced by the DC Blue Dogs and by others from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. We haven't done as much about Garrison's progressive primary opponent, Greg Howard, mostly because he is relatively new to the field of battle. Progressives in eastern and southern Ohio didn't mobilize to find a real Democrat until early in 2014, long after Garrison assumed she had wrapped up the nomination (having chased state Senator Lou Gentile out of the race).

This morning, Gallia County's Gallipolis Daily Tribune published a report by Michael Johnson on Greg's campaign blueprint. ALthough Greg only draws distinctions between himself and Republican Incumbent Bill Johnson, almost all of those distinctions allies equally well to Jennifer Garrison. Her vision of governance has far more in common with Johnson and the GOP's than with Howard's and the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party's.

Greg Howard has several points for what he calls a “blueprint for a Democratic and economically sound society.”

...The first item on his blueprint calls for no cuts to Medicare or Social Security.

“People need to know the things I took for granted,” he said. “Medicare and Social Security are not entitlements. We pay for them and they shouldn’t be messing with them.”

Howard also believes in job creation and plans to call for the end to the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“I’ve looked at (NAFTA) pretty hard,” he said. “It promised 600,000 to 800,000 jobs and we’ve lost 1 million. Mexico hates it, too. They were in the streets not too long ago protesting it. It only benefits a few guys on Wall Street. As far as I’m concerned, (NAFTA) needs to go away.

“The Trans-Pacific Partnership should not even get started,” Howard added. “We need to review all these trade laws and start creating legislation for the American people.”

Howard said monetary reform is in need to build infrastructure in the U.S.

“High-speed broadband is a necessity, not a luxury,” he said. “Companies won’t come here if there is no access to it. The fast Internet-- the gigabit system, does not exist in District 6 or anywhere in Ohio.”

Howard also said many highways and bridges are needed.

“Many of our state, county and township bridges have been de-rated,” he said. “This limits growth at the grass roots level. We need a program to bring them up to highway standard.”

Howard also believes money should stay away from politics.

“Government is not broken, it is ‘fixed,’” he said. “It is working just as Big Money intends. The Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vs. FEC, of 2010, has allowed corporations to flood the political scene with money. This drowns out the voices of individuals and effectively silences them. No longer is it ‘one person, one vote.’”

Other points on Howard’s blueprint include employment, energy, agriculture and education.

“Congress has worked diligently at keeping unemployment high,” he said. “High unemployment equates to high corporate profits.”

Crystal clear… and if you'd like to help make sure Greg Howard is the Democratic nominee in Ohio's 6th district-- and voters there have an actual choice rather than being forced to pick between two conservatives-- you can contribute to one of the most grassroots-oriented campaigns anywhere in the country… right here.

Steve Israel's Anti-Choice/Anti-Gay Conservative Candidate In Ohio, Jennifer Garrison, Will Now Face A Populist Primary Challenger

Inauthentic in every way

Steve Israel made a lot of really bad choices this cycle. His Jump Start program is a compendium of most of the worst, most reactionary corporate shills running as Democrats this year. Not all of them, but almost all of them are not worth voting for even against Republicans. Remember, the lesser of two evils is still evil. And several of his candidates are Republicans and have just switched their registration for sheer opportunism and careerism. One of his favorite candidates is Jennifer Garrison in eastern Ohio, all the way from the southern suburbs of Youngstown down along the West Virginia border into Scioto County across the Ohio River from Kentucky. It's a very Republican part of the state-- Obama only won 43% against Romney in OH-06, third worst of Ohio's 16 districts-- and Israel's strategy was to find a Democrat even more conservative than the Republican. That's been the story of Jennifer Garrison's miserable political career-- out-rightwinging the Republicans. She won her first office by attacking a Republican for being too pro-gay. She's an anti-Choice fanatic and opposed to just about every core value Democrats stand for. Israel has lied to his House colleagues about her and persuaded many of them to donate to her campaign. Some are now fuming. He got both Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi to do fundraisers for her. Now she's going to have to spend that money trying to win a primary against a real Democrat, Greg Howard.

In the 4th quarter, Garrison-- with massive help from Israel, Hoyer and Pelosi only managed to take in $102,031. She has an inadequate $134,298 in the bank. In the same time period, incumbent Bill Johnson took in$183,466 and now has $650,942 in the bank. His party is united behind him and he has no primary challenger. Israel shouldn't be playing in this primary and wasting scarce Democratic resources on a PVI R+8 district Democrats can't win anyway. Yesterday, the Athens News reported that Greg Howard has officially filed his petitions and is now a candidates "declaring his intention to press for an overhaul in the American economy because, he said, the country currently fails to provide many citizens full employment at a living wage." He laid out a classic, straight-forward progressive campaign for the Marietta Times: "I've not held political office before, but our current elected representatives are working for special interests like large corporations, not for the people they represent. And this area's economy needs to be a lot better."

Howard alleged that Johnson is blocking economic reforms that help average Americans.

"I will push for a substantial increase in the minimum wage and the retraining of unemployed workers," Howard said, adding that it is "critical to extend unemployment compensation for the long-term unemployed."

Ohio's 6th District includes all or parts of Athens, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Gallia, Guernsey, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mahoning, Meigs, Monroe, Muskingham, Noble, Scioto, Tuscarawas and Washington counties, and runs along the eastern border of the state. The district includes the two southeastern-most townships in Athens County.

Howard's release added that he supports a U.S. Constitutional amendment to abolish the controversial Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. the FCC, calling it an "abomination." Howard said that while corporations have economic value, they should not be allowed to dominate American political life.

The release from Howard's campaign stated that he is a member of the Meigs County Democratic Central Committee, and comes from a family of union pipefitters. Howard said he graduated with a B.S. in civil engineering from Ohio State University, and has had extensive experience as a construction engineer on large projects including power, petrochemicals and hazardous materials remediation in several states.

…"It is time to have money created as a public asset rather than as public debt. Monetary reform can pave the way to job-creating investment in the nation's infrastructure, and could ultimately result in the balancing of the federal budget and the paying off of the national debt," Howard said in his release. "It would also rein in the 'too big to fail, too big to jail' Wall Street banks, whose business practices put us into the economic slump that we are in currently."

Israel tells his batch of conservative mystery meat candidates to use the word "results" and to say "Congress is broken" instead of talking about a legislative agenda or about issues. All his zombie candidates parrot those moronic phrases. Here's a short contentless, policy-free, process interview Garrison did with Roll Call in November. The most anti-gay politician in Ohio, she answered the question about her homophobia by trying to misled people about her putrid record. And she told Obama to keep out of OH-06 during the campaign.



If conservative voters want someone who stands for right-wing values, they can comfortably vote for Bill Johnson and have no need turning to Jennifer Garrison. At least Greg Howard will be offering a genuine alternative vision for the district and the country. This is what Alan Grayson had to say about these kinds of races:

Trump Is A Roll Model For Republican Politicians Who Lie About Everything To Everyone All The Time Now

Trumpist Melissa Howard with her fake diploma and a woman she says is her mother

Florida House District 73 is very red-- and very white. The eastern Sarasota and eastern Manatee counties district is 90% white. It elects Republicans. In 2016, Republican Joe Gruters, co-chairman of Trumpanzee’s Florida campaign, beat Democrat Jim Golden 68,343 (65%) to 36,678 (35%). But follow this: Tom Rooney decided to retire from Congress when a far right extremist, state Senator Greg Steube, announced he would primary Rooney, declaring "as a pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, anti-illegal immigration fighter for our constitutional rights, I will proudly support Trump and his agenda in Washington." Joe Gruters, also on the very far right of the GOP and who had been in the state House for less than 2 years, then announced for Steube's state Senate seat, leaving his House seat open.

Two Republicans jumped into the primary-- Lakewood Ranch business owner Melissa Howard and Sarasota attorney Tommy Gregory. Zac Anderson, political editor of the Herald Tribune reported last month that "there may be no better example of the recent rifts within the Florida GOP than" this contest. The differences involved guns and money.

Melissa Howard came out as a supporter of using tax money to lure businesses to the state and help them expand. The Florida Chamber of Commerce endorsed her. Tommy Gregory is skeptical of incentives. "Meanwhile," reported Anderson, "Gregory says he would have voted against the big school safety package approved by the Legislature this year because he opposes the gun control measures in the bill, including raising the age to purchase a long gun from 18 to 21. He has received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, which sharply criticized the bill. Howard also opposes raising the purchase age for long guns but would have supported the bill because of the $400 million in it for school safety. The Chamber vs the NRA is the equivalent of the Florida GOP clash of the titans."

The race has been pretty even although Gregory raised more money-- a feat that was obliterated when Howard wrote herself a $100,000 check. Everything changed, though, last week when Howard was exposed as a serial liar. On Tuesda, FLANews.com reported that Howard didn’t have the college degree from Miami University in Ohio that she claimed. She then flew to Ohio Friday to prove their report wrong. She then posed on Facebook with that diploma and her mom. Case closed? Nope. Remember, we're dealing with Republican politicians here, so expect lies and more lies and, after that... more lies. First off all, the diploma is a forgery.

Not only were Howard’s friends and supporters looking at the picture she posted on Facebook, so were officials at Miami University. Sometime during the afternoon Friday, Howard removed the diploma pictures from Facebook as her story of earning a Bachelor of Science in Marketing began to unravel.

According to Miami University, Howard did attend but there is no record of her earning a degree either in 1994, which she initially claimed, or in 1996, which she later claimed.

The degree Howard was holding in the picture contains inconsistencies, according to the university’s general counsel.

Miami University does not offer a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, instead it offers a Bachelor of Science in Business. Howard’s major while attending Miami University was Retailing and if she had graduated would have received a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences.

The diploma Howard is holding contains the signatures of James C. Garland, President and Robert C. Johnson, Dean. Mr. Garland was President of Miami University in 1996, but Mr. Johnson was dean of the graduate school not the dean for either the School of Business nor the School of Education and Allied Professions. Johnson would not have signed Howard’s diploma.

FLA News first reported that a non-profit clearinghouse that partners with Miami University maintains Howard did not have a degree. After Mrs. Howard pushed back on our reporting-- calling it a lie, we asked the National Student Clearinghouse to re-confirm with the university.

The organization sent a certificate stating – no degree earned. FLA News asked Howard for a copy of her diploma, which she promised to send last Saturday. Then it was Monday and finally Tuesday. FLA News published its story Tuesday afternoon and it contained a statement from the Howard campaign calling the assertion a dirty trick from her GOP opponent, Tommy Gregory in House District 73 which includes Manatee and Sarasota counties.

This is Howard's side of the story, blaming it all on her opponent, Trump-style. She called everything she was caught lying about-- oh, yes, there's more, like claiming an NRA "A" instead of the "B" they really gave her--part of Gregory's Gish Gallop strategy: tossing out "a large enough volume of lies that an opponent can’t respond to each one individually and presto-- the galloper wins without making a positive case for himself."

She demanded that Gregory stop slandering her reputation and accused him of negative campaigning. Over the weekend it become a station story (AP) but she still hadn't withdrawn from the race. The top paper in the district, the Herald Tribune recapped it for their readers:

Facing accusations that she lied about having a degree from Miami University in Ohio, state House District 73 candidate Melissa Howard sprang into action.

The Lakewood Ranch businesswoman said she flew back to Ohio and obtained transcripts and a diploma proving she graduated. She distributed pictures Friday to media outlets-- including the Herald-Tribune-- of what she claimed was her diploma. She took to Facebook and posted what appeared to be her transcript.

In the Facebook post, Howard declared “The truth shall set you free!”

“It only took a night of flying back to my old stomping grounds to catch my opponent in yet another lie!” Howard wrote.

But a bombshell email sent to the Herald-Tribune from Miami University general counsel Robin Parker declares unequivocally that Howard never graduated. And Parker also takes aim at the diploma seen in the pictures, laying out a series of reasons why it does not appear to be authentic.

The episode is a strange and sensational twist in a race that has been heated for weeks and has only grown more acrimonious as the Aug. 28 primary approaches.

...Allies of Gregory have been blasting Howard in mailers, saying she “isn’t telling the truth” about her rating from the National Rifle Association and that “her claims just don’t add up.” Howard said on Facebook she received an A grade from the NRA but the organization’s Florida lobbyist, Marion Hammer, said that’s not true.

“She has a B,” Hammer said in an interview. “She has never been given an A.”

The mailer also questioned Howard’s claim that she is a lifelong Republican. Howard’s truthfulness had become a central line of attack for Gregory’s allies when the questions about her degree began to come up.

...Howard claimed in an interview with the Herald-Tribune that she discovered the framed diploma during her trip back to Ohio, saying her mom had stashed the document in a storage unit.

“I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t deal with this,” Howard told the Herald-Tribune Friday, saying she felt compelled to obtain proof that would dispel the accusations.

But after Howard spoke with the Herald-Tribune Friday and shared the diploma and transcript images, Miami University’s general counsel, Robin Parker, declared in an email that Howard had not graduated from the university.

“Melissa Marie Fox, DOB 12/25/71, does not have a degree from Miami University,” Parker wrote, citing Howard’s maiden name and date of birth.

Parker’s email goes on to state that the “the picture of the diploma that was posted on the HowardforHouse73 Facebook page does not appear to be an accurate Miami University diploma.”

“The picture of the diploma shows that Melissa Marie Fox received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing degree from Miami University on December 20, 1996,” Parker wrote. “We have no such record of a degree.”

Parker notes in her email that Miami University doesn’t even offer a degree in marketing.

“Miami University’s degree for Marketing majors then, as it is now, was a Bachelor of Science in Business,” Parker wrote.

Parker goes on to point out that Howard’s actual major-- according to university records-- was retail, and “the degree for that program of study was a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences.”

The implication is that the diploma is a fake.

...Howard could not be reached for comment Saturday about Parker’s email. Her campaign consultant, Anthony Pedicini, said in a text message that Howard’s husband had a “cardiac event” Friday evening and is in the hospital.

“Melissa is focused on her family-- not fake news this morning,” Pedicini wrote.

Gregory said in a text that “voters deserve nothing less than truth and integrity from their elected officials.”

“Unfortunately, it seems that Melissa Howard has failed that test,” he added.

Am I saying that every Republican candidate and every Republican elected official lies about everything all the time? Pretty much. Look at Trump. He has consistently claimed that he graduated first in his class at Wharton, but in reality he was a very mediocre student and the 1968 commencement program doesn’t list him as graduating with any sort of honors at all, let alone as first in his class. Meanwhile, Howard or Gregory will face off against Bradenton progressive Democrat Liv Coleman, a political science professor, in November.

DCCC's Red To Blue List-- Feebler Than Ever

DCCC downgrades 2 of its worst recruits, Aguilar and Garrison

Today the DCCC announced its Red-to-Blue program. Not every one of Steve Israel's ridiculous Jump Start candidates made it to the Red to Blue List and two, empty suit Pete Aguilar (CA-31) and ex-CIA agent Kevin Strouse were downgraded completely. Aguilar's D+5 district is now listed as a Red to Blue district, which was what Israel should have done from the start-- but was forced into by endorsements of the progressive in the race, Eloise Reyes, by a number of congressmembers, particularly Xavier Becerra and, today, Lucille Roybal-Allard. Strouse's Bucks County, PA district is now an emerging race district, taking into account that Shaughnessy Naughton may beat Strouse in the primary. Also downgraded… Jennifer Garrison was pushed down into the Emerging Races division, as were Michael Eggman (CA-10), Suzanne Patrick (VA-02), Sean Eldridge (NY-19) and James Lee Witt (AR-04).

Israel has some especially bad recruits-- anti-Choice, anti-gay, anti-environment, pro-Big Business, pro-NRA… all kinds of corrupt shills and miscreants. We're still sorting through them to figure out who's worst of all. But, as we've said before, Jennifer Garrison, pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with DCCC recruiting. As of today, Blue America officially endorsed Garrison's primary opponent, Greg Howard, an organic farmer, construction engineer and a progressive member of the Meigs County Democratic Central Committee. You can contribute to his grassroots campaign here.

Over the next few months we'll be comparing and contrasting the stands that the two conservative candidates-- the NRCC's Bill Johnson and the DCCC's Jennifer Garrison-- and the progressive candidate-- Greg Howard-- take on the issues facing hard pressed southeastern Ohio (OH-06). Today, when I was looking over Howard's new campaign website, I came across the approach he's taking on energy in this coal mining Appalachian area. Johnson and Garrison are both lockstep shills to King Coal and big money energy interests. Howard is promising to "work to put the incentives in place to develop 
the next generation of automotive fuels so that the public will be able 
to reduce their transportation costs and breathe clean air… Peak oil is past. We must plan for, and build, the future energy solutions."

A few months ago Steve Israel's favorite recruit, Jennifer Garrison put out a press release that showed exactly hat we can expect from her if she ever gets into Congress. She's all about "clean coal," an oxymoron invented by the coal barons who have financed her disgraceful political career. Her press release is an attack on-- you guessed it-- the Environmental Protection Agency, the kind of attack you hear from Republicans everyday but not all that frequently from Democrats. Her quotes could very well come directly from the p.r. firms that are employed to greenwash Big Energy.

“It troubles me that people in Washington making these regulations may not understand the impact it will have on people where I live. Part of what’s wrong in Washington is when people put the interests of their party or their party’s leaders ahead of the needs of their constituents. When President Obama is wrong, I won’t hesitate to speak out, and this is one of those times.

“I am very concerned that President Obama and the EPA are moving too quickly in trying to force overly burdensome regulations on the coal industry. This is short-sighted, and it would have a tremendously negative effect on Ohio coal miners and the nation’s economy. The technology does not yet exist at a scale or cost that would allow the industry to comply with these regulations. These regulations would sound the death knell for the coal industry.

…“Not only would these burdensome regulations put Ohio coal miners out-of-work, but it would cause American families’ electricity rates to surge and lead to more manufacturers shipping jobs overseas. Our economy cannot afford these types of job-killing measures.”

Garrison makes her living hustling her neighbors for companies that buy and sell fracking rights. I'm sure there's some reason why she runs for office as a Democrat instead of a Republican… but I haven't found it yet. There is not a single issue where the Garrison/Johnson approach is as good for Ohio's people as Greg Howard's approach. Please consider helping him compete against these two corporate monstrosities. He's on a the Blue America ActBlue page-- and there is no such thing as a contribution being too small.

Ohioan Appalachia-- Jennifer Garrison vs Greg Howard… The Republican Wing vs The Democratic Wing Of The Democratic Party

Who has a worse makeup job? 

Ohio's 6th congressional district is redder than the state of Ohio. It's whiter, poorer and less educated. The state is 82.9% white and OH-06 is 95.3% white, the whitest in the state. Ohio's medium household income is $45,749 and the district's is $41,355. Only 11.7% of Ohioans didn't graduate from high school. In OH-o6 that number is 14%. Obama won Ohio in 2008 (52-47%) and 2012 (51-48%) while Obama lost both time (53-45% in 2008 band 55-43% in 2012). The closest the district has to an actual city is Steubenville (population- 18,659) and Obama lost 17 of the district's 18 counties, Athens County (of which only a small strip is part of OH-06), being the exception. OH-06, with the loss of the liberal city of Athens and some Youngstown adjacent areas after the 2010 GOP gerrymander, has been turned into a culturally Republican, backward-looking stronghold, with more in common with West Virginia than with bustling Ohio cities like Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron or Dayton.

OH-06 is represented by a dull, ineffectual conservative Republican backbencher, Bill Johnson. He's among the least influential Members of Congress. Neither the DCCC nor the Ohio Democratic Party has worked to create any grassroots enthusiasm for a progressive vision of governance. and the people are left to rot with Hate Talk Radio, Fox "News" and religious bigots painting them a sordid, paranoid picture of reality.

There are two Democratic Party candidates running, one, Jennifer Garrison, recruited by Steve Israel and backed by the DCCC, and the other, Greg Howard, a grassroots activist with no support from the party above the county level. Garrison is from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. She's virulently homophobic and built her career on demonizing the LGBT community. She's also vehemently anti-Choice, pro-NRA, pro-fracking and has the backing of the reactionary Blue Dog caucus. Howard is from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt school of progressive Democrats. The reporter covering their race most closely, The Vindicator's David Skolnick, pointed out yesterday that neither Garrison nor Howard are "big fans of their political party or President Barack Obama." Their reasons, however, are polar opposites and point out the difference in the two candidates. Howard is disappointed that Obama hash;'t been progressive enough and Garrison takes her talking points straight from the GOP, her spiritual home.

“I’ll be representing a district; I won’t be representing a party, though I am a Democrat,” said Jennifer Garrison, a three-term former Ohio House representative who works as an attorney representing landowners who sell mineral rights to oil and gas companies.

As for President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat, Garrison said, “There are a lot of things he could have done better, like communicating with Congress.”

Garrison of Marietta said she is a Democrat because the party, like she, believes “in lifting up the middle class,” but added, “I’ve met very few people [who] agreed completely with the platform of their party. That is true of me.”

…Garrison also said she wouldn’t have voted for Obamacare if she was in the House in 2009 because “it’s hard for me to vote for anything that cuts Medicare.”

But Garrison said she supports a number of Obamacare’s provisions such as allowing children to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until the age of 26, no lifetime caps and requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions.

 Garrison doesn’t support repealing Obamacare-- “this train has left the station”-- but wants a more open dialogue between Democrats and Republicans to make improvements to the law.

“The parts of it that aren’t working we should be spending time working together to resolve,” she said.

Garrison has more in common with the Republican incumbent-- lots in common in fact-- than she does with Howard, who supports Obamacare but would have preferred Medicare for all. He differs with Obama where he's gone off the rails in favor of corporate interests (like in the case of the Trans-Pacific Partnership).

When Howard talks about why he's running for Congress, you get the picture of a man who wants to serve his neighbors and his country, very much the opposite of the grasping and craven Garrison. He's fueled by love, wisdom and respect. She's fueled by ugly petty hatreds and personal avarice. He says he wants to "stop or reverse the privatization of the many government functions that government does best: Social Security, Medicare, Post Office, Military functions, National Security." She wants to trick Ohioans out of their land on behalf of facking interests, which is what her disgraceful law practice is all about.

"When elected," writes Howard, "I will fight to reverse the Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission, by working to get the two thirds vote necessary to pass the 'We the People' amendment to the Constitution thus returning corporations to entities not persons… I will fight to reverse NAFTA, reducing the incentives for corporations to take jobs out of the United States and once again creating jobs for the working people… I will seek out the solutions for income inequality and job creation." He lives in a very different world from the one Garrison, Johnson and the stinkenly corrupt Beltway elites inhabit. He's on the Blue America ActBlue page

.

Jennifer Garrison Is So Conservative Not Even EMILY's List Will Touch Her Flailing Campaign

If Democrats want to support antigay, anti-Choice bigots, they can just vote for Republicans

Wednesday is the filing deadline for candidates running in Ohio's May 6 primary. The DCCC and their wretched conservative recruit, Jennifer Garrison, will be in for a big shock when grassroots progressive and community activist Gregory Howard officially throws his hat into the ring. I've talked to him at some length and I'd say his as good a candidate as Garrison is a terrible one.

Even though Garrison has a grotesque right-wing record as a state legislator, she's trying to blend in with Steve Israel's mystery meat candidates so that Israel can lie to his House colleagues about the monster he's asking them to back financially. Israel doesn't tell other House members she's vehemently antigay and anti-Choice and anti-environment. He just "sweet talks" them into contributing to "our candidate." What a waste of money-- in a red district with a PVI of R+8! And she's Ohio's Sarah Palin!

Garrison beat a Republican incumbent in 2004 to win a state house seat from Southeast Ohio, by ATTACKING HER GOP OPPONENT FOR BEING TOO PRO-GAY. Yes, you read that right. From the Gay People's Chronicle: Garrison already has a rocky relationship with the LGBT community. She won her House seat by gay-baiting her predecessor, Nancy Hollister, in 2004.

Earlier that year, Hollister was the only Republican to vote against the so-called “defense of marriage act.” It was considered a courageous vote.

Garrison sent out mailings that read, “If you believe marriage is between one man and one woman, there’s something you should know about Nancy Hollister.”

The other side of the card said, “DOMA was enacted precisely to protect Ohioans from having to accept ‘marriages’ or ‘unions’ entered into in other states. Despite the value of DOMA, Nancy Hollister voted against it. Jennifer Garrison believes marriage is between one man and one woman and will fight to protect our values.”

In 2006, as a member of the House Education Committee, Garrison helped to kill an amendment that would have required Ohio schools to protect students from bullying for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The anti-bullying bill passed without the LGBT protections.

An attorney, Garrison opposed EHEA last year, saying it is wrong to single out classes of people for protection. This is a common talking point that anti-gays use against equality laws, and is legally flawed.

From the Akron Beacon Journal (November 11, 2004):

Garrison turned the Hollister vote [against the Ohio Defense of Marriage Act] into something seemingly sinister. She told the Parkersburg (W.Va.) newspapers that "the big difference between Nancy and I is the gay marriage issue. I am against it. She is for it."Garrison sent mailings into homes that read: "If you believe marriage is between one man and one woman, there is something you should know about Nancy Hollister." The mailing then all but declares that Hollister embraces gay marriage, concluding Garrison will "fight to protect our values." Karl Rove would be proud. Clearly, Garrison rode the wave of state Issue 1. She and her pals should be ashamed.

But not only content to have the LGBT community exist as second-class citizens, Jennifer Garrison also wants her own gender to subist that way. From a NARAL email yesterday:

Last week, Jennifer Garrison, a Democrat from Marietta, officially entered the race for Ohio’s Secretary of State. Jennifer Garrison currently serves in the Ohio House of Representatives and has a 0% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.

Rep. Garrison showed just how extreme her anti-choice position is when she filled out the 2008 candidate questionnaire for Ohio Right to Life, saying she would:

• support legislation in Ohio to outlaw abortion (with only an exception to save a woman’s life),

• support legislation that would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraception, and

• support state funding for so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” that lie to women about the risks of abortion and never refer patients for abortion or birth control services.

Representative Garrison does not share our values.

She and Israel are trying to hide that record from Democrats-- Garrison from Democrats in Ohio and Israel from Democrats in Congress. Now even Republicans are noticing the kind of phony-baloney campaign she's running. Matt Dole, the campaign manager for GOP incumbent Bill Johnson brought up her status as a Steve Israel mystery meat candidate last week. "Jennifer Garrison has been in this race for months, and yet her website doesn't even have an issues page and she refuses to take a stand on important issues like Obamacare and the budget deal recently passed by Congress," Dole said. "The people of Eastern and Southeastern Ohio deserve to know where their candidates stand, and we call on Jennifer Garrison to share her stances on important issues." Israel thinks he's so smart to tell his conservative candidates to hide their views from the voters. You'll see how well that works in November.

Steny Hoyer, of course, has already been out to Ohio to campaign for her. How could he miss an opportunity to try to elect another corrupt corporate shill who will help him reach his career goals? Meanwhile, all you hear from her are the same shop-worn platitudes Israel has all his fatally-flawed candidates regurgitating across the country.

Garrison says she is running because she thinks Washington is broken and not representing all of the people.

"My goal is to represent everybody. I'm filing as a candidate on the democratic ticket, but I think people send us to D.C. to work together and that would be a lot different than what we have in the current congressman," Garrison said.

Even with Steve Israel beating up Democratic congressmembers to contribute and Hoyer and his lobbyist friends out in Ohio asking for donations for her, Garrison did worse than almost any other of Israel's other awful Jumpstart candidates. She only raised $102,031 and has a measly $134,298 cash-on-hand, although the DCCC had demanded she raise at least $250,000 last quarter. Her Republican opponent, Bill Johnson raised $183,566 and has $650,942) on hand. As soon as Greg Howard files, we'll alert you.


UPDATE: A Real Democrat Is In For The OH-06 Seat

Monday Greg Howard filed with the FEC to run for Congress, giving actual Democrats who would like to get rid of Republican incumbent Bill Johnson, an alternative to voting for Garrison in the primary.

In a news release, Howard said he decided to run to press for an overhaul of the economy which he said presently fails to provide for full employment at a living wage.

Howard criticized Johnson as blocking economic reforms which would help average Americans.

“I will push for a substantial increase in the minimum wage and the retraining of unemployed workers,” Howard said. He indicated it is also critical “to extend unemployment compensation for the long-term unemployed.”

Howard said he supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to abolish corporate constitutional rights, calling the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the  Citizens United case an “abomination.” He described corporations as valuable economic tools, but added “they should not be allowed to dominate our political life.”

Howard is a member of the Meigs County Democratic Central Committee, and has with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Ohio State. He said he has had extensive experience as a construction engineer on large projects, including power, petrochemicals, and hazardous materials remediation in several states.

Also in the press release Howard said he “opposes the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) because I believes that, like NAFTA, it will result in shipping American jobs overseas.” He said he would work to eliminate the special exemptions to the Clean Air and Water Act for shale oil and gas extraction that were written into the Energy Act of 2005.

Howard intends to push for monetary reform. He points out that the current federal reserve system of money creation, as credit, by private banks has pushed governments, businesses and the great majority of citizens deeply into debt. “It is time to end the uncontrolled creation of money, most of which flows to Wall Street instead of Main Street,” said Howard. “It is bizarre and tragic that the government, which is constitutionally charged with the duty to create money, instead borrows from banks to which it gave away the privilege of money creation, and then pays the banks interest on this money from taxpayer pockets.”

It is time to have money created as a public asset, rather than as public debt. Monetary reform can pave the way to job-creating investment in the nation’s infrastructure, and could ultimately result in the balancing of the federal budget and the paying off of the national debt. It would also rein in the ’too big to fail, too big to jail‘ Wall Street banks, whose business practices put us into the economic slump that are we are in currently.

Worthy Candidates-- Realistic Goals

Blue America reached and surpassed our March goals for most of our candidates. Today's the last day of the month. We can make up for the contributions we didn't deliver next month. But, if you're inspired by all the spam from the DCCC and their dreadful candidates to give to candidates who would represent our values in Congress, these are the candidates we fell a little short on. Actually, first, these are the candidates where we hit the goals:

• Alan Grayson (FL-09)- $13,000/ $13,694
• Tom Guild (OK-05)- $3,500/ $3,734
• Patrick Hope (VA-08)- $1,000/ $2,470
• Daylin Leach (PA-13)- $6,500/ $7,048
• Mike Obermueller (MN-02)- $1,200/ $1,202
• Eloise Reyes (CA-31)- $5,000/ $5,339
• Michael Wager (OH-14)- $500/ $547
• Kelly Westlund (WI-07)- $500/ $646
• Rob Zerban (WI-01)- $7,000/ $9,400

A lot of awe-inspiring over-achievement from Rob Zerban's, Daylin Leach's and Patrick Hope's teams. Here's where we've fallen a little short and where you can help out. The amounts are how much we're short of our goals:

• Stanley Chang (HI-01)- $263
• Paul Clements (MI-06)- $32
• Greg Howard (OH-06)- $30
• Pat Murphy (IA-01)- $80
• Lee Rogers (CA-25)- $255

We know our candidates so well-- and write about them so frequently-- that sometimes we make the inaccurate assumption that everyone knows who they are and what they stand for. See that little white rectangular box in the upper left hand corner of this blog? That's a search box. If you were to type in, for example, "Greg Howard," all 8 mentions of Greg on DWT would pop up and you could read about all his positions. We're going to make it even easier this time, though. I asked each of the 5 candidates we haven't reached our goals for to give us a one sentence explanation about what they would like to accomplish in Congress. Perhaps their answers will help you decide which one or two you want to contribute to:

Lee Rogers: "I want to go to Congress to work with Members like Rep. Alan Grayson, Rep. Barbara Lee and Sen. Bernie Sanders to reorient spending towards building a strong, vibrant domestic economy that benefits hard-working American families."

Paul Clements: "I want to defeat the member of Congress the L.A. Times called 'one of the biggest threats to Planet Earth' and get Washington focused on real solutions to invest in education, infrastructure, and job creation while combatting climate change and income inequality."

Stanley Chang: "I'm running for Congress to enact a bold agenda for change that will set Hawaii and America on a path to prosperity by raising the minimum wage, reforming Wall Street, and fixing our broken immigration system."

Pat Murphy: "I will protect our seniors by increasing Social Security benefits and ensuring it is solvent for more than the next century, by working to raise the cap on the Social Security tax."

Greg Howard: "When elected to Congress, I will fight to reverse NAFTA, reducing the incentives for corporations to take jobs out of the United States and once again creating jobs for the working people."

If you'd like to chip in, there is no such thing as a contribution too small. Here's the place you'll find all of our House candidates.

Ohio Progressive Greg Howard Takes On The Deranged GOP Response To President Obama's Weekly Address on Overtime Pay

This morning, President Obama gave the above weekly address about strengthening overtime pay protections. It isn't complicated and shouldn't be controversial. "What every American wants," he summed up, "is a paycheck that lets them support their families, know a little economic security, and pass down some hope and optimism to their kids." It's less than 3 minutes long-- and even a Republican congressman should be able to understand it. John Boehner tasked one of his dullest backbenchers, Ohio Republican Bill Johnson, to respond to the president. Johnson, who has voted to repeal or wreck the Affordable Care Act, couldn't help himself and instead of addressing the president's points about overtime pay, went straight for the Republican obsession: denying health insurance to working families.

Johnson: "I've heard from seniors across Eastern & Southeastern Ohio who are losing access to their doctors and seeing premiums increase because of Obamacare's cuts to Medicare Advantage," Rep. Johnson said. "President Obama promised us that if we liked our health plans, we could keep them. That has proven false, and each day more and more Americans are finding that out firsthand. I look forward to using this address as an opportunity to bring greater awareness to the very real problems of the president's health care law."

Yes, Johnson is a blathering imbecile who almost no one takes seriously. We asked the progressive Democrat running against him, Greg Howard, a civil construction engineer and organic farmer, to listen to Johnson's "rebuttal" and respond to the response. Howard is in total agreement with President Obama about protecting overtime pay for workers but he addressed Johnson's off the rails remarks.

"The Medicare Advantage program," he reminds us, "was set up under the Bush Administration. It was set up for low premiums and high out of pocket co-pays (up to $7,000). A reputable independent insurance agent will not sell it. It was set up for people who had means, who could afford the co-pays and were healthy. Per the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) the insurance companies are now limited to 15% overhead and profit in this program. The insurance company defines the network so limiting access is part of their profit plan. If you need to drive 100 miles to use an in network provider, you may not go (let alone the co-pay). Out of network visits are not compensated.

"It is the Medicare Advantage insurance companies that are interfering with or eliminating our seniors’ relationships with their doctors.

"The good news is that under the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), with preexisting conditions, seniors can change insurers and acquire a policy for Medicare Supplemental Insurance (Medigap). These policies allow for choice of doctors and hospitals so seniors can visit their doctors and local hospitals.

"The best and easiest solution is Medicare for all, with the premiums now being paid to insurance companies going directly to Medicare. The savings would pay for the improvements of coverage to all seniors.

"The Republican Weekly Address should not be used to spread misinformation."

Before Greg can go to the voters and take on Johnson directly, he has another conservative to beat first, Steve Israel's worst DCCC pick of the 2014 cycle, wretched Blue Dog Jennifer Garrison. Garrison got her ignominious start in politics by running to the right of a Republican state legislator! She's built a sleazy career in Ohio politics as an ardent opponent of women's Choice and as one of the worst and most vicious homophobes ever elected to the Ohio state legislature. If Greg can beat her in the May 6th primary, voters will have a choice in November between a progressive and a conservative, instead of between two conservatives. If you'd like to help Greg beat his two conservative opponents, here's the place.

UPDATE: Last Night's Primaries In Ohio And North Carolina

Speaker Boehner beats French teacher Winteregg

Last night there were primaries in Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina. Unless you're related to one of the candidates, there was nothing to write home about in Indiana but there was a lot of action in Ohio and North Carolina. Well, a lot in North Carolina and a bit in Ohio. Predictably, the anti-Choice, antigay, pro-fracking, pro-NRA shill Steve Israel recruited for OH-06, Jennifer Garrison, beat grassroots progressive Greg Howard with a lopsided 73-27% victory. In November she'll be beaten badly by GOP incumbent Bill Johnson, though not before the DCCC wastes even more money on her. Greg should be congratulated for his quixotic, purely grassroots effort to give voters in the district a real choice. 

The two other primaries we were watching in Ohio were Republican long-shot bids by teabaggers to beat more mainstream conservative incumbents. We were hoping that bizarre sociopath and tax scofflaw Matt Lynch would upset corporate hack David Joyce in OH-14, making it easier for progressive Democrat Michael Wager to win in November. Lynch came close-- but not close enough and the wounded Joyce can claim a 27,069 (55%)- 22,046 (45%) victory, having spent-- between himself and his Chamber of Commerce allies-- almost $2 million to Lynch's (and his Tea Party allies') just under $200,000. Wager, who was unchallenged in the primary, has an excellent chance of beating Joyce in November and you can contribute to his campaign here. The other race was between Boehner and J.D. Winteregg in OH-08. Since Steve Israel is once again committed to undermining any Democrats opposing Boehner, the primary was the only shot to get rid of the corrupt corporate stooge. Winteregg scored 22% and 2 minor canddiates scored another 10%, leaving Boehner with a 69% win, He'll face Tom Poetter in November, who won his own primary 55-45 against Matthew Guyette.

In North Carolina the most important race was a GOP primary to determine which right-wing lunatic would go up against conservative Democrat Kay Hagan in November. House Speaker Thom Tillis, with immense financial support from the Chamber of Commerce and Rove, avoided a runoff by taking 46% of the vote . His closest competitor, bizarre neo-fascist lunatic Greg Brannon won 27%. Convention wisdom was that Brannon would have been easier for Hagan to defeat but people underestimate the hatred most North Carolinians have for the state legislature Tillis, who basically hates working people, has been running. Tillis spent $2,195,741, Rove spent $1,631,618 and the Chamber of Commerce spent another $101,485. Brannon spent $1,145,673 and a ragtag group of teabagger groups spent some more, but not enough. Going into the general, Tillis has $1,067,859 cash on hand and Hagan has $8,623,328. The GOP Establishment is expected to fill his coffers right back up again though.

An even more interesting race that was decided last night was for state Senate, district 31, where an antigay former drag queen, Steve Stiles/Monica Sinclair came in third of three GOP candidates:

This isn't that uncommon among Southern Republicans, inordinate numbers of whom are notorious for their closeted lives and their obsessive, self-loathing, anti-gay bigotry. One of the Republican congressmen in Monica Sinclair's area is Patrick McHenry-- who won his primary last night and who is also a closet case who has been involved in scandal after scandal that his simple, backwoods constituents can't grasp.

A quick rundown of the most-watched North Carolina congressional primaries has to start with NC-03 where the GOP Establishment went after anti-war, libertarian-leaning Walter Jones again. Their candidate, Taylor Griffin, won 19,937 votes (45%) and failed to dislodge Jones, who won 22,534 votes (51%).

Up in NC-06, where Howard Coble (R) is finally retiring, Establishment favorite Phil Berger was forced into a runoff with Mark Walker after a 9-candidate brouhaha. Berger managed 34% to Walker's 25%. The DCCC recruited one of their typically mediocre candidates with no chance and no message, Laura Fjeld, who won here primary against Bruce Davis 56-44%. Interestingly, Fjeld and Davis together drew 33,787 votes while Berger and Walker together drew only 26,140 votes.

Also finally forced into retirement is Blue Dog Mike McIntyre. A far more progressive Jonathan Barfield won the primary with 58% but will now face the Republican who almost beat McIntyre last cycle, David Rouzer, who won his NC-07 primary with 53%. You can contribute to Barfield's campaign here.

When I went to bed last night the Democratic primary to pick a candidate to face Renee Ellmers (who survived her own primary challenge) was too close to call. NC-02 Democrats were almost evenly split between Clay Aiken (11,649) and Keith Crisco (11,277) with all 156 precincts reporting. I guess, wih just 372 votes separating them, there will be a recount.

How Did The Democrats Allow Ohio To Turn Into Such An Electoral Hellhole?

Over the weekend, Marilou Johanek took apart the Ohio Republicans' elaborate excuses for strangling voters' access to the polls and concluded that it's just plain old voter suppression.

If we rule out cost-cutting, uniformity, and fraud as legitimate excuses to restrict the voting process in Ohio, what other explanations make sense? Why else would Republican lawmakers pass bills, signed into law by Republican Gov. John Kasich, that erect voting hurdles for Ohioans?

Why curtail early voting, regulate the mailing of absentee-ballot applications, and make provisional ballots harder to count? Why add to voting changes-- as Secretary Husted did-- by slashing evening and Sunday hours for early in-person voting?

He tried that in 2012, but a federal judge saw through his ruse. Ohio is a key swing state in presidential elections.

If Republicans could change the rules and limit access to a select bloc of voters, the outcome might change on Election Day. Sunday voting just ahead of the general election is widely popular with many black churches in urban centers.

Worshippers organize “souls to the polls” caravans after religious services. But if expanding access to the ballot box allows an influx of left-leaning voters to defeat right-leaning candidates, what’s the GOP to do?

Concoct a myth as cover for voter suppression. That’s what.

Neatly gerrymandered by Republicans, Democrats hold only 4 of Ohio's 16 congressional seats. Last time voters were at the polls electing 12 Republican congressmen and only 4 Democratic congressmen, 2,827,710 (51%) voted for Obama and 2,,661,433 (48%) voted for Romney. In fact, on that same day, Ohio's very progressive U.S. senator, Sherrod Brown-- far more progressive than Obama or any of the congressional incumbents or the congressional candidates-- beat standard issue Republican hack Josh Mandel 51-45%. There are the PVI's of the 16 Ohio House seats. Nice how the districts were drawn to include just enough Republicans to win as many seats as possible, while throwing as many Democrats as feasible into as few districts as possible:

• OH-01- R+6 (Steve Chabot)
• OH-02- R+8 (Brad Wenstrup)
• OH-03- D+17 (Joyce Beatty)
• OH-04- R+9 (Jim Jordan)
• OH-05- R+7 (Bob Latta)
• OH-06- R+8 (Bill Johnson)
• OH-07- R+6 (Bob Gibbs)
• OH-08- R+15 (John Boehner)
• OH-09- D+15 (Marcy Kaptur)
• OH-10- R+3 (Mike Turner)
• OH-11- D+30 (Marcia Fudge)
• OH-12- R+8 (Pat Tiberi)
• OH-13- D+11 (Tim Ryan)
• OH-14- R+4 (David Joyce)
• OH-15- R+6 (Steve Stivers)
• OH-16- R+6 (Jim Renacci)

The average Democratic district has a PVI of D+18.25 (plenty of Democrats to spare) and the average GOP district has a PVI of R+7.16 (safe but, other than Boehner's seat, not impregnable). There are two Republican seats that could be seen as vaguely vulnerable, Turner's and Joyce's. Obama won-- albeit narrowly-- Turner's district in 2008 and did better there in 2012 than in any other Republican-held seat (48%). Joyce's district wasn't bad for Obama either. McCain beat him 50-49% and Romney 51-48%, the second best showing in an Ohio red district.

Steve Israel's DCCC isn't interested in either seat. They didn't bother recruiting anyone to run in either. Both districts have grassroots candidates running. Turner's opponent is Robert Klepinger who hasn't even raised the $5,000 that would trigger as FEC report. And Joyce's opponent is Michael Wager, as credible as candidate as the Democrats could hope for. Sherrod Brown and former Governor Ted Strickland are behind him and have pushed the DCCC to back him. Wager, a strong and committed progressive who has been endorsed by Blue America, has raised over $400,000 and as of December 31 had $347,645 cash on hand. Israel has dragged his feet on Wager and, under increasing pressure from other Democrats wondering whose side Israel is playing for, finally put him on the Emerging Races list, one short of Red to Blue, the list that Israel uses to signal big donors that the DCCC is serious about a candidate. This month Jan Schakowsky will be in northeastern Ohio campaigning with Wager… while Israel fumes that she could be campaigning with his favored Ohio candidate, Jennifer Garrison, the only Ohioan who made it onto his Jumpstart list.

Garrison is probably the worst recruit this cycle and is so far to the right that she barely qualifies as a Democrat at all-- other than inside-the-Beltway. And why should a principled progressive like Schakowsky stump for Garrison? Garrison is against everything that Schakowsky has fought for her whole life. An anti-Choice fanatic and deranged and virulent homophobe, Garrison has been recruited by the Blue Dogs and devotes herself to political corruption and an anti-environment agenda. A Steve Israel dream candidate! He's throwing away realistic opportunities in OH-10 and OH-14 to pursue his demented and pointless Garrison fantasy. OH-06, where she's running, is an R+8 district and Obama only managed 45% against McCain and 43% against Romney.

In covering the selection of Garrison and Wager for the Emerging Races list, the Tribune Chronicle doesn't mention it was a demotion for Garrison and a promotion for Wager. They do mention, though, that Garrison has a primary opponent the DCCC is ignoring, progressive activist Greg Howard (also endorsed by Blue America).

Two candidates part of Red to Blue emerging races. Congressional candidates in the 14th District, Michael Wager and in the 6th District, Jennifer Garrison, are on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's list of "emerging races," according to a DCCC news release last week, to be campaigns that "are on track and working hard to put seats in play."

The listing puts the two on track to be included in the DCCC's Red to Blue Program, which highlights the top Democratic campaigns in the United States and offers the candidates "financial, communications, grassroots and strategic support."

Wager of Moreland Hills, the former chairman of the Cleveland Port Authority, is challenging Dave Joyce, a Russell Township Republican, who is after his second full term in the 14th District in November. Neither have primary election challengers.

In the 6th District, Garrison, a former state representative from Marietta, must first get around Democrat Gregory D. Howard of Albany in May's primary election to challenge Republican Bill Johnson, after his third term.

DCCC chairman Steve Israel said Wager is committed to growing the middle class, bettering the economy and creating jobs and that he is working hard "to put this seat in play so he can fight to lift middle class incomes and will work together to find solutions for Ohio families."

Israel had this to say about Garrison: She has put this seat into play "because she is a common-sense leader who will take a responsible approach to creating jobs and providing educational opportunity."

Mike Turner has a swing district but Steve Israel gives him reelection immunity

End Of The Quarter Blues

Blues in a good way though. We don't like making a big fuss about these arbitrary reporting quarters, as though they have any kind of intrinsic value. It's just a Beltway subterfuge Blue America prefers to ignore. Except not this quarter. We're embracing it. Yesterday we announced a fun little "contest." The Blue America PAC, we decided, would give a thousand dollar check to whichever progressive House candidate-- they're all here-- motivates the most supporters to contribute to their campaign by 6AM (PT) tomorrow.

Actually, Jacquie just made me alter the rules slightly. Instead of one check for a thousand dollars, she went out and found a matching donor so that there will be two checks for a thousand dollars each. Jacquie's reasoning was pretty simple. Alan Grayson has helped all the other Blue America candidates build up their mailing lists and their donors are all Grayson donors too. So what we've been finding, as we do every year, is that when someone donates to, say Rob Zerban, they also donate to Alan. Actually, Alan is so much of a netroots hero that even supporters of the candidates he hasn't helped yet, like Patrick Hope for example, are also giving Alan a contribution.

When we started the contest yesterday, Alan had 504 donors on the page. This morning he already has 571 donors-- and he hasn't even sent out a letter to his own supporters yet! So we'll have two prize checks-- one that we already know will be headed to Orlando and one for another candidate whose staffers manage to work hard enough and smart enough to persuade enough donors to contribute. So far I have been especially impressed with the efforts by the Wisconsin contingent. Rob Zerban and Kelly Westlund are in it to win it. Rob's donors have already given him around $3,000. Patrick Hope is our newest endorsee and his team is tenacious and formidable-- and coming up strong. And over night, Stanley Chang's team made him a contender with a grassroots onslaught of small donors. Here's the baseline from when we started the contest, so you can follow along yourself on this page. You'll know who the winners are as soon as I do (except I have to go through the contributions and make sure we just count one donation from each e-mail address).

• Stanley Chang (HI-01)- 96
• Paul Clements (MI-06)- 228
• Alan Grayson (FL-09)- 504
• Tom Guild (OK-05)- 233
• Patrick Hope (VA-08)- 6
• Greg Howard (OH-06)- 29
• Daylin Leach (PA-13)- 344
• Mike Obermueller (MN-02)- 106
• Pat Murphy (IA-01)- 156
• Eloise Reyes (CA-31)- 190
• Lee Rogers (CA-33)- 290
• Michael Wager (OH-14)- 58
• Kelly Westlund (WI-07)- 17
• Rob Zerban (WI-01)- 164

Here's where you "vote" and since yesterday we've brought in over $8,000 for our candidates from 283 contributors. 

A New Jersey Democrat Explains Why He's Stopped Contributing To DCCC Candidates

Fressers from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party

Jack Hannold is one of the DWT regular sources on political news in New Jersey. Rachel Maddow has Steve Kornacki. Ken and I have Jack. Today the South Jersey Times published an OpEd by Jack that may be difficult and confusing for Democrats who don't pay close attention to electoral politics.

In the waning days of August, my email account was flooded with 30 messages from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, all of them urging me to donate to their campaign fund before some Aug. 31 deadline.

I didn't contribute, and here's why.

The DCCC is controlled by self-styled "centrist" Democrats-- actually conservative, Wall Street Democrats-- who routinely use the funds they raise to support only candidates who share their views, which are often not those of grassroots Democrats.  Some of their favored candidates are former Republicans who were persuaded to switch parties and run as Democrats.

In a race where a grassroots progressive wins a primary against a more conservative DCCC-backed candidate, the DCCC usually withholds its support in the general election. But the progressive usually gets trounced by a well-financed, DCCC-directed campaign. The case of Christine Cegelis is a good example.

Cegelis had built a strong local organization in the Illinois Sixth District, and in 2004 she gave Henry Hyde his closest race since he won his first term in 1974.  When Hyde announced his retirement in 2005, the DCCC began looking for a more conservative candidate to run for the open seat in 2006.

  Their candidate, Tammy Duckworth, spent nearly $1 million, most of it DCCC money, on a three-way primary she won with 44 percent of the vote, but then went on to lose the 2006 general election to Republican Pete Roskam, a far right state senator.

And the DCCC is no better today. In the Thirteenth District of Illinois this year, progressive George Gollin, who was endorsed by three important newspapers, lost to DCCC-backed candidate Ann Callis. And in Ohio's Sixth District (in what I believe is probably the worst single example of a DCCC candidate at odds with Democratic Party values), progressive Greg Howard lost to anti-choice, pro-gun, pro-fracking, pro-Keystone XL pipeline candidate Jennifer Garrison, who has been called "Ohio's Sarah Palin."

With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans? No progressive should donate one red cent to a bloated beltway organization that is trying to turn the Democratic Party into some kind of "G.O.P. Lite."