First a personal note. I’ve been quiet around here due to some business travel followed by the worst kind of sickness. Two things I learned from my trip to Vegas: Fold aces preflop (lost with them in every way imaginable) and poker rooms and planes are flu breeding grounds! Ugh.
On to the topic du jour. While I was away we had a potential candidate to challenge Jennifer Garrison in a Democratic Primary for Secretary of State, Sharen Neuhardt. We had the ODP force Garrison out of the race and anoint their own candidate in hopes of avoiding a base revolt in the fall. Garrison responded by abandoning the party all together and announcing she wouldn’t seek re-election to her house seat either.
Boo fucking hoo. Good riddance I say. To those chirping about how this throws control of the house into jeopardy I say get better candidates in more districts and get to work. I give two shits about controlling a legislative body if those in control don’t subscribe to the basic underlying ideals of the party they pretend to serve. I’m not a big fan of putting Republican Lite candidates into “reddish” districts just to have more people at the Statehouse with Ds by their names. I think ODP got that message loud and clear. Kuddos to them for making the tough call here.
Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with moderates in the party and there will be those who disagree on one issue or another. What is unacceptable to me is to allow the worst kind of wingnuttery to exist in our own party. Those demons must be exorcised. Jennifer Garrison was no moderate.
Two big takeaways for me here. First, blogs deserve a shit ton of credit on this one. Not all of it, mind you. The activist communities within pro-choice and gay rights circles deserve the bulk of the credit, but blogs banged this narrative home for MONTHS. This is a big win for progressive blogs.
Second is that one of the biggest “progressive” organizations in the state, Progress Ohio has some serious egg on it’s face in all of this. They made the conscious choice to provide political cover for Jennifer Garrison in the form of an interview with my old boss and Executive Director Brian Rothenberg. The rationale was – and no doubt still is – that this was an effort to help pass HB 176, which was a bill to outlaw workplace discrimination based on sexual identity.
The gay community did not appear to be impressed by this identity cleansing apology tour given the recent moves by the party to stave off a complete meltdown in turnout come November. Additionally, HB 176 from what I can tell is stuck in the Senate Rules Committee. Probably going nowhere. All those involved knew of this impending fate before laying their valuable political capital on the line.
It was a political risk to be seen as providing cover for someone regarded in progressive circles as completely unacceptable as a statewide candidate. I questioned the move at the time and was very critical of both Brian and my former employer Progress Ohio.
It’s clear now the political capital spent both by the organization and Brian was not only wasted, but detrimental to the overall goals of the group. These are the types of candidates and officeholders that Progress Ohio was formed to combat. I personally look to them to lead the way to ensure Democrats give us the best most progressive candidates and leaders available. In this case, they’ve completely failed me and others who might support them. The party establishment has now gone so far as to purge this person completely from the Democratic ranks while you are stuck with this parting shot which will exist online in perpetuity:
Had Progress Ohio stayed true to it’s goals and not tried to triangulate on this one, they’d have come out smelling a whole lot better. As it stands, this one gets chalked up as an unmitigated failure. My hope is a great deal of hard won learning will come of this and some serious introspection will occur.
A lot has been made of what Garrison will do with her $300,000 cash on hand now that she isn’t running for anything. Maybe she can donate it to Progress Ohio for services rendered. At least they tried to help her rehab her image. She may be owed a discount.
Share on Facebook
Saw this over at Harding’s PO blog. Glenn Beck apparently lost his arbitration on the rape and murdered a young girl in 1990 satire meme. The owner of the domain glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com was obviously protected under the 1st Amendment. Funny Glenn never stood up for this right given how big he is on The Constitution and all.
In a big middle finger to Beck, Isaac Eiland-Hall sends him a letter doing a victory lap and then turning the domain over to him. Classic. LOL.
Still no word on whether Glenn Beck actually did rape and murder a young girl in 1990. I sure hope the real truth comes out so that this great nation can once again move forward without the harrowing uncertainty about Beck handing over it’s head.
Update: From comments, Isaac lets us know that the site is now located at http://gb1990.com, despite having given up the original URL to Beck.
Share on Facebook
While we squabble about gay-baiting candidates for Secretary of State, political cover, and serious journalists, there is also important work that must be done:
WHAT: Tribute to Senator Kennedy: Health Care Rally and Action Fair
WHERE: The Lausche building at the Ohio Expo Center – Ohio State Fairgrounds, 717 E. 17th Ave., Columbus, OH 43211
WHEN: Tuesday, September 1, 7 PM
SPEAKERS: Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola, SEIU nurse Barb Montgomery, US Action President William McNary, Ohio Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Senator Sherrod Brown, Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman
I’ve been invited to this in at least 4 different ways, so there is a very big push to turn out progressives to this event. Along with the above, Organizing for America will also have their “Health Insurance Reform Now” Bus Tour there.
RSVP:
Organizing for America – 1,018 signed up
Progress Ohio – 3 signed up
Progress Ohio (Facebook) – 82 signed up
It should be a good turnout and I hear CNN will be there. Now is the time to step up and be seen and heard on healthcare. See you there.
Share on Facebook
I swear I woke up this morning and it was 2006. Like groundhog day. I find Joe Hallett misrepresenting blogs and (after having admitted reading them) belittling them in a way that left his own credibility in the matter wanting. I also find Brian Rothenberg stepping into the blogosphere and getting his ass handed to him.
Let’s take them one at a time. Joe first.
[This will be long, so click through for the full piece] [click to continue…]
Share on Facebook
…and that’s just the good news.
The bad news? He did do some work for them and I’ve been hearing about it from just about everybody that heard it and knew I started PO with Rothenberg back in 2006. Countless emails and IMs that basically all start “dude, wtf?”.
So here’s the truth of the matter, which neither Naugle or Russo had right.
Leo Jennings was paid in some capacity to do some work but was definitely NOT “hired” by PO. He was never in an employee relationship with PO. It’s still one of the dumbest things I’ve heard all year. Hands down. When you combine this with the fact that Progress Ohio completely missed the boat in going after Dann for obvious corruption and malfeasance while in office (even after every single elected person in Ohio – including Dems offered you cover), AND the fact that Dann and his buddies have ties to someone involved in the launch and continued operation of Progress Ohio the whole thing stinks to high heaven.
Political amateurs make these types of plays. Rothenberg and Rusnak should know better. You don’t bang the drum of corruption and right-wing wrongdoing and get away with this kind of stuff. I’m smart enough to see that and I’m not even a “political professional”, much less a communications guy.
So Matt heard partially right and Tim played it partially right in his post. The truth is Leo did a very small amount of work for them – I’m hearing stories ranging from “consulting” to “editing”. That the guy got within a phone call or 200 yards of the place is amazing to me. Stupid, really.
I don’t have time to share my thoughts fully on the state of Progress Ohio since I left. Suffice to say I’ve been relatively disappointed.
Share on Facebook
