I met with a representative from Sherrod Brown’s campaign last Thursday evening. They’re starting early because they anticipate a tough race. I appreciate that she contacted me, and allowed me to play expert on my little neck of the woods. I hope I was helpful. I have all sorts of directives I must deliver, as we all do, here at Balloon Juice. She was able to eat dinner while I was haranguing her and I suspect she works constantly, so that’s good. Not a complete waste of time for her.
First, some background on Sherrod Brown and the state of the race:
Brown is a liberal populist, and has been his entire career in Congress. From speaking with local people here, I know he emphasizes trade issues and middle class concerns when he meets with them. That’s a good fit for this county, because the median income is 32k and we (still, barely) have a manufacturing-based local economy. My personal feeling is that Brown’s long commitment to those issues puts him in a good position in 2012. He didn’t change. The county came around to his way of thinking:
Rep. Sherrod Brown became the first Ohio Democrat elected to the Senate since 1992. He had vowed to campaign as a progressive and not move to the center, confident that voters dissatisfied with the economy and Republican leadership would respond.
In defeating two-term incumbent Mike DeWine (R), Brown emphasized the frustrations of the middle class. He criticized free-trade agreements and accused DeWine of doing the bidding of big business on issues of health care and energy policy. Brown, who voted against the Iraq war and the USA Patriot Act, charged that DeWine was ineffective on the Senate intelligence committee.
Brown, 54, was first elected to the Ohio legislature at age 21, straight from Yale. A seven-term member of Congress, he says the Senate is his final stop. During the campaign, he crisscrossed the state with his wife, Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
I have gotten very good feedback on Brown’s attention to constituent services. We have a local manufacturer who does his own DC lobbying: he or his wife lobby on trade issues that are specific to their family business. They both told me that Brown and his staff were well prepared when they arrived, had clearly researched their company and the specific trade issues that apply to their company. They were impressed. They compared Brown favorably to Voinovich, and they voted for and supported Voinovich. They felt Brown was more responsive to their concerns than Voinovich was, and more knowledgeable about their business.
The top-tier challenger to Brown is Mandel. Mandel is currently the Treasurer of the state of Ohio. Mandel is raising a lot of money.
When northern Ohio businessman Benjamin Suarez makes a big campaign contribution, few people are surprised. He owns a direct marketing company that does $100 million annually in sales, and he has a history of giving to Republicans. But in the current election cycle, a large number of his employees and their wives — many of whom have never before given to federal campaigns — have contributed to two specific congressional candidates: Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci (R., Wadsworth), who represents Ohio’s 16th District
The company’s spokesman, Lauren Capo, said the company did not reimburse employees or provide money for the contributions, though she later emphasized that she couldn’t “speak on the behalf of anyone, other than our brand and products.” Federal campaign finance law prohibits a corporation from providing bonuses or salary increases to employees to reimburse them for political contributions. Among the employees who gave, many of them are managers, directors, or executives, according to federal election filings. Some of them, however, list their occupation as “writer,” “copywriter,” or merely “marketing.” Campaign finance experts said it was especially surprising to see individuals with those titles giving such large amounts.
“A $5,000 contribution from someone who makes $300,000 a year is completely normal,” said Paul S. Ryan, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center in Washington. “A $5,000 campaign contribution from someone who makes $30,000 a year strikes me as unordinary”.
Unordinary. That’s all he’s saying.
What’s interesting about this research on Mandel donors is that Ohio Republicans have a history here . In 2005, there was a huge GOP scandal in Ohio regarding (among other things) “conduits”. Conduits are people who make a donation and then are reimbursed by another party for that donation. The Toledo Blade is not alleging that these generous donations going to Mandel are illegal or improper. They’re simply raising the question of why someone who makes (perhaps!) 30k a year might donate 5k to a GOP Senate primary race. Given the recent GOP history in Ohio, it’s a fair question. It’s unordinary.
In any event, I was able to make suggestions for how Brown might approach a campaign in my little corner of the state. He’s very popular among local Democrats. On the other side, I honestly have not heard any real vitriol directed at him from local Republicans. Right now, this far out, he has strong support from our base (here, anyway) yet has somehow managed to not inflame and enrage local Republicans. Not a bad place to be.
Linda Featheringill
Yea for Senator Brown!
evap
One of the highlights of the 2006 election for me was Sherrod Brown’s victory in Ohio. I donated money to his campaign and will do so this year, even though I’m not in Ohio. I’m very pleased to read this, I hope he wins!
kay
@evap:
It was great, but 2006 was a wave year for Democrats in Ohio. Due to the massive GOP corruption, in my opinion. I’m not sure it had anything to do with issues, although that’s what the national press attributed it to. I’d like to think it was all about “ideas” but honestly I don’t believe that.
I think it was the blatant, rampant corruption that did them in. Bush didn’t help, particularly as his campaign was tied to the corruption….
Culture of Truth
Then I’ll do it.
Villago Delenda Est
Sherrod Brown is indeed one of the good guys.
More power to him, may he crush his vile Rethuglican foes.
Napoleon
I use to work in Stark County and my distinct recollection was that Suarez was thought to be less then on the up and up on a lot of things.
TaMara (BHF)
Kay, I think if you ran for office and the B-J people could vote you’d win in a landslide. Heck, I’d wager if you ran for office and we couldn’t vote (but of course we’d raise oodles of money for you), you’d win in a landslide.
Elliecat
I’ll say it’s “unordinary.” People don’t even tithe that much to their churches (and I’ve occasionally met people who were going broke through tithing).
Jim in Chicago
We need a real progressive candidate in 2016 (not another choice like the one between Barack and Hillary). I believe Sherrod Brown would be well positioned for that race assuming he wins re-election next year.
mem from somerville
I was really just stunned when Bill McKibben’s 350.org went after Sherrod Brown. Targeting top progressives from the left does what exactly???
Nobody ever came by to explain that to me.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/18/986520/-350org-goes-after-Sen-Brown-ErSherrod-Brown
dww44
Kay, I too wish to commend you for your diligent work in the trenches for the Democratic and liberal causes. You are a personal heroine of mine. If you want to run for office, go for it, but it’s probably just as important that you continue to contribute your skills and efforts to the cause of liberalism.
Sherrod Brown has been one of my personal heroes since his election, and I do love his gravelly voice. He seems to have held true to his populist roots and he should be supported by all of us who have too few populist representatives in the Congress. Now, if we could just figure out a way to effectively thwart the corrupting influence and amounts of money in our election process. Now, that is a real populist cause.
kay
@mem from somerville:
I love Bill McKibben, (I don’t know him: I loved one of his books and I think he’s genuine and well-intentioned) so I’m going to defend him. I’ve been reading him for years.
Sherrod Brown, along with the other midwest liberal Senators, raised concerns about the climate change bill because they thought it would impact midwest (cold!) manufacturing and ag states disproportionality and adversely. I agree with that.
They are both right. McKibben is right on his issue, and Brown (and Franken, and others) are right on the interests of their states. It’s a tough situation, but there it is, IMO. They are both “right”. They are both operating in good faith. Their respective interests diverged.
Jamey: Bike Commuter of the Gods
Well, let me do it for them.
Fucking crooks.
artem1s
general disclaimer, I adore Senator Brown.
But I am less than happy with how the party has conducted campaigns in the last few years. Brown resonated with a lot of young and independent voters here in NEOH in 2006. He was perceived as a new face among the usual tired also-rans that the Dems had a habit of fielding. If he wants to get re-elected he needs to reconnect with the grass roots energetic base that propelled him, Strickland and Jennifer Bruner into office. I don’t think he has lost them completely but I would love to see him reach out to Jennifer Bruner and her brood of organizers and get them involved in his campaign.
Also.too.mention Mandel’s broken campaign promise every chance he gets.
http://tinyurl.com/3ztvz2t
Jamey: Bike Commuter of the Gods
@Culture of Truth: Aw, dammit!
kay
@mem from somerville:
It’s so complicated, the midwest liberal Senators and climate change and energy, but here’s where you might start.
In any event, Mkibben is an issue advocate and here’s where he and Brown (and the others) part ways. It’s a real dispute, not that you could tell that from the crappy ad, but it’s going to have be addressed or resolved or climate change legislation won’t go forward, w/out the liberal Senators, it’s not, anyway.
kay
@artem1s:
I decided no one gives a shit about that, I don’t know why, but that’s what I decided.
I told her I want direct mail, because 1. I’m tired of getting all my direct mail from Karl Rove and 2. older, rural people love mail. They love it. I know this because I used to deliver it to them.
low-tech cyclist
Another Ohioan, the late George Steinbrenner, got into trouble this way. Seems that a bunch of his lower-level employees got $3000 bonuses, and – funny thing! – gave all the money to one or another of the Nixon re-election campaign’s shell groups.
In fairness to Steinbrenner, it wasn’t his idea; the money was basically extorted out of him by the Nixon Administration.
kay
@low-tech cyclist:
The spokesperson said “I can assure you they’re all conservatives”.
What does that mean, exactly? They only hire Republicans?
SiubhanDuinne
I have admired Sherrod Brown in a casual kind of way for a few years now, and am always glad to learn more about him. He’s a good man and a good senator. I’ll send a contribution.
I also really like Connie Schultz. I’ve read two of her books and have seen her on C-SPAN’s Book TV. She’s funny and sharp, and she and Sherrod seem like a great partnership. Have you ever met her, Kay?
mem from somerville
@kay: That vote had zero impact on climate legislation. And everyone knew it. Nobody voted for it besides a handful of people who needed to cover their asses. And Sherrod voted the right way on the measure that mattered.
The ad campaign was absurd. Undermining progressives based on zero impact votes in a close race makes no sense at all. It’s a stupid waste of donor funds, which could have been much better spent on actual legitimate targets.
It’s practically Hamsherian.
kay
@mem from somerville:
I agree, but have you ever read McKibben, particularly lately? He’s despairing. He reads desperate. He believes there is no other issue other than climate change, so, from his point of view, it doesn’t matter that Brown is good on trade or whatever.
I think that’s sincere and he has a long history, he’s not a gadfly skipping all over the place, so I’m sympathetic to him. They’re probably paying professionals, at this point, right? Someone or other is advising them on these ads? He’s not writing them himself, surely.
kay
@mem from somerville:
Broadly, it bothers me, because here’s this problem: the midwest liberal Senators have problems with EPA action and climate change in their states.
Rather than address that (real) disagreement, we’re going to attack them?
It’s still cold in the winter, manufacturing still draws a lot of energy, and we haven’t solved anything.
Exurban Mom
I am always grateful when the candidate’s personnel touch base with the local experts. My biggest complaint about the Obama campaign in exurban Ohio last time around was how they parachuted in a bunch of 25year olds who expected to be greeted as liberators, even though they didn’t know shit about how we do things around here. (Yes, we want our fucking yard signs, deal with it!)
Tell the senator to tell Obama’s people to actually TALK to the locals before they start lecturing them on the percentage of voters who are swayed by yard signs. Seriously.
mem from somerville
@kay: It’s not that he was good on trade–he was good on the vote that actually mattered–to retain EPA’s ability to do the job.
And just a couple of days before McKibben was at DK raising money for the Brown attack–the Scott Brown attack. He did not disclose that the same campaign targeted Sherrod Brown.
Deceptive crap like this from the left does not help, and it certainly did not help the climate.
kay
Mem, I get all that and I agree that the ad is deceptive.
I think McKibben is past the point of caring about those things.
Ayn L. Roberts
Brown (the good one) is one of my two Senators. He’s a good guy and is responsive every time I contact him. We need more smart, liberal Dems like him.
mem from somerville
These are not allies I want to work with. And people are wondering why the climate left isn’t stronger….
SteveinSC
Sherrod Brown is not one of my senators, unhappily, but he is one of the good guys and if he needs money and I have it, I’ll share.
Ocotillo
I recall back in the 2006 race, there was an Iraq War vet, Paul something or other, that as an outsider, I was hoping would get the nomination. He had lost the House race with Mean Jean Schmidt. Anyway, I was disappointed when this Sherrod Brown guy actually got the Democratic nomination. Turns out he is one of the best U.S. Senators in the whole damn place.
Was still hoping the other guy would run in the race Portman won.
debbie
Josh Mandel ran the ugliest campaign seen in Ohio in many years.
http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2010/oct/14/josh-mandel/josh-mandel-weaves-images-islam-throughout-ad-alle/
He is everything that is ugly about today’s GOP and today’s AIPAC-influenced world. He must be stopped.
debbie
Sherrod Brown is great, but I bet with his gravely voice, the Republicans will frame him as a union thug.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ocotillo: Wow, I had completely forgotten that! I had the same experience, so very much wanted the Iraq vet to get the nomination. But I had honestly forgotten that it was Sherrod Brown who got it. I agree, he is among the best of the lot.
Kathleen
I feel so fortunate that he is my Senator. I’ve met him and his wife Connie Schultz about 2 or 3 times. The first time I met Connie we talked about writing projects and she was very encouraging to me. The subsequent times I met her she always asked me how my writing was going and told me to keep at it. They are both lovely people.
vera lynn
thank you Kay. I look forward to your Ohio posts. It’s nice knowing how it’s going on the ground. I’m encouraged by Ohio. :)
Ocotillo
Paul Hackett was his name. Got off my lazy kiester and used teh Google. Maybe Ohioans can get him to run against the thug Kasich.