Tiberi sinks to a whole new low.

I'm really, really angry, but I will state the facts as calmly as possible.

Today, in 2006, our nation is debating the ethics of embryonic stem-cell research. For those who believe that life begins at conception, part of the argument depends somewhat on whether or not eventual loss of viability after years of being frozen is inherently ethically superior to potential life-saving research being actively conducted on these embryos. We continue to argue over the proper ethical standards.

In 1982, there were no standards. Potentially anything went. A conversation began. According to the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, this is what ensued:

A legislative debate gathered momentum in the United States over federal standards on fetal experimentation which allow unethical experiments in certain circumstances. Tighter standards were approved by Congress after long debate, then invalidated when President Reagan vetoed the bill which included these standards as amendments.

According to Pat Tiberi, this is what ensued:

.

You tell me who has crossed moral and ethical lines. Pat Tiberi does not deserve this job.

The Blue Bexley Campaign Capsule #3 - Bev Campbell v. Jim McGregor

When I started this blog, I looked for races that were on the Bexley ballot, which were competitive, and in which added attention could make a difference. When I first looked at the Campbell-McGregor race, I saw a multi-term incumbent Republican who was mayor of one of the major communities in the district for 18 years. To my embarrassment, I underestimated both Republican overconfidence and Bev Campbell's desire, and spent my energy promoting other races.

Well, as I looked elsewhere, The Dispatch was talking about how Bev was working the crowd outside of every Buckeye home game, and Yellow Dog Sammy (BTW, how in blazes does he keep abreast of every single race in the state?) was highlighting the BevCampbell videos on YouTube, short speeches from meeting with voters that outlined her positions on issues. Gradually, it dawned on me, that here was an underdog Dem running to represent Bexley, running a positive campaign and working both with grassroots and netroots to win her race. The final piece, of course, was "is the race competitive?"

The first polling data that made it out to the public showed Ms. Campbell leading Jim McGregor in the 20th District.

At that point, I took my flying leap onto the bandwagon. In response, to my admiring surprise, Bev actually joined in a number of the discussions that have gone on between myself and various anonynous folks of different political stripes in the comments. As with many things in this race, Bev has a personal passion about many things the rest of us just 'commentate' upon.

As the campaign proceeded, her Republican opponent did what many Republicans have done this cycle, and started to dig up dirt on Ms. Campbell and fling it. The general thrust of the attacks has been that Bev Lied, Cheated, and Stole from her clients when she was an East Coast Lawyer. To be honest, I was glad that Bev was showing up on the blog to defend herself, because I didn't know the facts, and I was nervous going to bat for her without them.

So I contacted Bev, and asked about the content of McGregor's charges and her response. And I got angry myself. Working backwards, her opponents campaign claims that Bev is currently under investigation for ethics charges. This is true to the extent that the Republicans are the sole complainants in a baseless charge filed against Ms. Campbell (remember this technique from the Tiberi Campaign above?). Why do they think they can get away with this? Because Ms. Campbell did have a period of her life where she experienced problems. She was in a serious car accident, with devastating injuries. In the aftermath of this accident, she did not pay adequate attention to her responsibilities to her clients. She was punished for this. She does not deny this, although it is obvious that talking about this period of her life is not easy for her.

Is this enough to disqualify her for public office, years later, and after she fought back through the injuries to restore her body and reputation? I don't think so, and apparently her opponents didn't either. She did not lie. She did not cheat. She did not steal. They claim she was charged with and reprimanded for unethical conduct. She was not. They claim she was suspended from practicing law multiple times. She was not. Bev and her supporters have filed complaints that these charges are false and levelled with knowledge of and/or reckless disregard as to their falsity.

What does it say when a multiple term incumbent who was mayor of a moderate suburb for 18 years resorts to ugly disortions of his opponents past? It says he knows he won't win a fair fight, and it also says he doesn't deserve to. Bev has earned this seat.

First Big Day

We are now counting the time until the polls close in hours instead of days. The GOP has their 72 hour plan, and they really believe that their GOTV machine can snatch victories from the jaws of defeat. This year, things are going to be different. Pardon the preachiness and cheesiness, but it's going to be different because our side is realizing that, even if it's just for 72 hours every other year, simply reading blogs and voting won't get it done.

Please consider phone banking with Bev Campbell in Gahanna (9:30am-7pm today)

Or walking door-to-door with literature for Emily Kreider in Westerville(9:30 and 1:00pm)

Or canvassing for Bob Shamansky in Columbus (10am-12 pm)

(For campaign-specific work, details are here)

Or filling whatever slot they've got at GOTVOhio

(Details here)

Or, additionally, there may be opportunities elsewhere in OH-12 for folks with a sense of adventure and a poker face. Use the contact address (bluebexley@gmail.com).

Aw, Snap! Dispatch Ad Watch Smacks Tiberi

'Aw, Snap!'

That's what us un-hip adults are supposed to think the kids are saying, right? I should be able to do better but this has left me temporarily speechless. The Dispatch Ad Watch of the latest Tiberi ad is... well just go read it. Need a tease? It ends with the line:

Tiberi says he approves of his ad, but what do his parents think?

The Blue Bexley Campaign Capsule #2, Kreider v. Goodman

This is the second installment of my summary narratives of the campaigns I have blogged for the last two-and-a-half months. The idea here is that many people are just starting to gather information on races as they prepare to vote, and resources like this blog are much more useful with some context, which is hard to come by. If you're looking for background on the Ohio State Senate Race in the 3rd District, this is a place to start.

Like many Americans, Emily Kreider was drawn into politics by the issues facing the country at the time of the 2004 election. After working to get Democrats elected in that campaign cycle, people who knew her suggested that she would make a good candidate for public office herself. After an initial reaction of surprise, she got down to work researching what kind of qualifications a first term legislator typically has. Finding that her range of experiences and qualifications were actually quite in line with a typical first term legislator, she set about running for the State Senate.

By the time I was starting to put Blue Bexley together, Ms. Kreider had a full team of volunteer staff, months of voter outreach, and a simple but appealing and effective website that gave her background and platform. That platform included property tax relief for seniors, reform of the statewide school funding system, expansion of health-care access for small business owners and their employees, and the 90-10 plan to dramatically cut the number of abortions in Ohio through non-criminalization measures such as eliminating the designation of pregnancy as a pre-existing condition and providing better access to pre- and post-natal care.

It was relatively easy for me to find all of this out about Emily Kreider, but the same was not true of her opponent, David Goodman. He had a cookie-cutter Senate web page, and very little public record. He had once been from Bexley, but was now from New Albany. I began this blog by talking about what I liked from Emily's website, and by heckling David Goodman into letting voters know something, anything about himself.

Eventually, a website went up, and I began to hear things when I asked about him. The website was an absolute mess, and offered only the most vanilla of positions. I did find out that he had friends in the community, and one of the first comments on this blog was that I shouldn't pick on him, 'cause he was a good guy. The most that anyone had to say about Mr. Goodman came from Equal Rights Ohio - a group that works to promote gay and lesbian causes. To my surprise, they felt that Mr. Goodman deserved their support for fighting against the gay marriage ban. I still thought that I'd prefer Ms. Kreider to Mr. Goodman, but I was a little nervous that perhaps I could have picked more worthwhile fights.

But then the campaign started in earnest. Ms. Kreider's early work talking to the people of the district paid off with an eary lead in a poll conducted by the Ohio Dems. Mr. Goodman responded with the now infamous attack ad that tried to link Emily Kreider to the statehouse, talk about the votes that she had not cast, and offered up David Goodman as an opportunity to choose "leadership for a change." At that point my reservations melted away. If campaigning against the incumbent was good enough for David Goodman, the incumbent, it was certainly good enough for me.

Soon there was a debate at Otterbein. It was the first time I had seen Mr. Goodman in person. He was more comfortable with public speaking than Emily was, but what he was saying was literally unbelievable. He repeatedly claimed that the Ohio government was doing a great job, we were just too ill-informed to realize it. He made insulting comments about abortion that not only contradicted the pro-choice views he had led people to believe he once had, but canceled out the image of the social moderate that he had gained through the E.O. endorsement. And he defended his ridiculous TV ad.

I walked out of the debate thinking that David Goodman represented just about everything that was wrong with politicians. Getting him out of Columbus might even be doing him a favor. He was slick and somewhat mean. And he was incredibly well funded. The Ohio Republican Senate Caucus reserved a million dollars worth of Central Ohio TV time. As of earlier this week, they had contributed more than three quarters of a million dollars to his campaign.

David Goodman has raised more than $900,000 dollars all told for this State Senate Race so far. To put that in perspective, Zack Space and Joy Padgett are fighting a nationally watched contest to replace Bob Ney in the U.S. House of Representatives. According to Opensecrets.org, neither one of them has raised that much money.

So to summarize, Emily Kreider has a few, clear, distinct progresive goals. Reform school funding, reduce the burden that seniors feel when their taxes rise with their home value, increase access to healthcare, and work on bi-partisan measures to reduce the demand for abortions. David Goodman is an incumbent Republican who seems to want you to think that his opponent is responsible for the mess that he denies Ohio is actually in, and is willing to spend almost a million dollars to try to convince you that it's true. He accuses Emily Kreider of not having a plan to pay for reforming school funding, without offering a plan for complying with the Ohio Supreme Court's mandate to create a Constitutionally compliant method of equitably funding schools. He takes credit for supporting other peoples popular ideas and calls it leadership.

If that sounds biased, well the blog is called Blue Bexley. But the truth is that a vastly underfunded Democratic challenger in a district that is considered to be Republican has run neck and neck with an incumbent who has 9 times the resources available. If today's rumors are to be believed, the Republican Party's own polls are actually showing Emily leading with more than 50% support. I'm obviously not alone.