Progressive U.S. House Seat On The Line -- It's Up To You

Hello from the great state of Ohio, where we heaved that Bush monkey off our backs and helped elect President Barack Obama, took over the state house with a progressive slate of candidates and elected two more Democrats to Congress.

Make that three, if you're willing to help.

In Ohio's 15th district, centered around Columbus, Ohio, we have one of the few House races that is still too close to call. Progressive champion Mary Jo Kilroy is currently down only 146 votes in the Ohio SOS tally to Republican Steve Stivers, and with your help she can easily pull this race out.

First, let me tell you what is on the line. In the left corner, we have Mary Jo Kilroy, who is in favor of gay marriage (take that Prop 8!), the Employee Free Choice Act, universal healthcare, eliminating tax breaks for companies that take our jobs to China and President-elect Barack Obama's tax plan--to give tax cuts to hard-working middle class families while raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, who make over 250K per year.

Here is Mary Jo, from her own website, on her position on Iraq:

It's time to bring our troops home. It was a mistake to invade Iraq and it's a mistake to stay there now. Our brave men and women in uniform did their job. Iraq needs to step up and take responsibility for its own country.

Five years is more than long enough. I will vote to start to bring our troops home the day I am sworn in. We need to put America first, honorably bring this war to a close and take better care of our veterans.

In the far-right corner, we have Steve Stivers. He is a former bank lobbyist who was one of only 4 state senators in Ohio from either party to oppose regulating predatory lenders (on whose behalf he lobbied), mentions nothing about Iraq on his website and most ominously is one of Boehner's boys--a reliable crony for House Minority Leader John Boehner, who in a major moment of projection called our new President "chickenshit" and is infamous for having once handed out tobacco checks on the floor of the House to his GOP buddies (he also has the same spooky tanning habits as George Hamilton--but I digress).

Now, remember, this is a R+1 district, which encompasses a bunch of the suburbs and exurbs of Columbus, and we can get a Congresswoman from here who supports unions, gay rights, women's rights and redeploying our troops from Iraq. Or we can get Boehner's buddy--who you can count on to be a loyal vote for his best man on all legislation having anything to do with corporate power, Iraq and our constitutional rights.

It's our choice.

Right now there are 27K-30K early absentee and provisional ballots left to count, more than enough to easily have the will of the people respected and send Mary Jo to Congress. These votes should be overwhelmingly Democratic, as they are largely from Democratic Franklin County, but we need to ENSURE they are counted (and as Stivers is Boehner's boy, well, you get the picture).

In fact, when Mary Jo first ran two years ago and took on the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, Rep. Deborah Pryce, she ended up down 3,500 votes after election day. But once provisional votes were counted she made up a whopping 2,500 votes. We have already seen progressive Jeff Merkley win a U.S. Senate seat this year after trailing his Republican opponent, based solely on early votes from Democratic districts. In other words, this is not only doable, it will be done if we want it badly enough.

The issue is that provisional ballots have to be verified, so Mary Jo needs to keep paying some staff to ensure that legitimate ballots are not thrown in the trash. That means, whether you can afford $5 or $500, if you are willing to go to her recount page at ActBlue and give a donation, you can ensure that all the votes are counted and she becomes the kind of progressive voice in Washington that can help ensure President Obama ends the War in Iraq, protects our rights and brings us back to economic sanity.

Or we can get another reliable vote for right-wing GOP Leader Boehner's positions on economic issues and Iraq (more supply side and endless war for everyone!). This is entirely in our hands.

As history has taught us, we need every vote in Congress that we can get (see Bill Clinton and universal healthcare for a refresher course). And a win by a progressive over the Boehner Machine and Republicans who routinely attempt to suppress Democratic votes in Ohio, via the counting of every vote, well, that would just be the icing on the cake.

Mary Jo Kilroy's ActBlue Page for all recount-related donations

Comments

[AngryOhioan]

We had an election and Kilroy lost. Now people like you are trying to help Kilroy destroy the rule of law and the integrity of our elections and change the rules after the fact. A judge appointed by Bill Clinton ignored the law and is trying to substitute his decision for the decision of the voters of the 15th congressional district. While don't you outsiders stop interfering in our elections. The whole process is a farce. Kilroy was not elected and if she defies the will of the people and is seated in Congress she will be a tyrant not an elected official. Apparently "progressives" like you think money and the loyalties of judicial appointees should trump legitimate election results.

[scottaa]

Cliff,
You note that Kilroy is for the oddly titled Employee Free Choice Act. Can you make an attempt to explain to me in your next post or a comment why you prefer getting rid of the secret ballot for union elections? Maybe explain how that lessens possible intimidation from either the union or the employer. And can you let me know if you'd keep the secret ballot for governmental elections and why, since they're apparently improper for union elections?

Thanks,
Scott

[DrPaulProteus]

What the hell is this? The candidate has to pay her staff in order to make sure the votes are counted and verified? If they're legitimate ballots, they should be counted, and the candidates should have nothing to do with it.

[LardGreystoke]

I don't disagree with the sentiment, had a Kilroy sign in my front yard, but as a neighbor of Stivers for 10 years let me do my bit to de-demonize him:

He chooses to live in a downtown neighborhood about as progressive as you can get in corn-growing Ohio, gets along with everyone quite well (which is why he got 1/2 the vote in a Democratic landslide), doesn't beat his dog, is reasonable to talk to, has a genuinely nice wife, served a couple of tours in Iraq (Ohio National Guard, LtC, Bronze Star), and has a reputation as a "moderate" in an Ohio legislature somewhat to the right of Genghis Khan. He was reluctant to run for Congress and was talked into it not so much for being a "buddy" as being an attractive, amiable candidate capable of running a successful campaign for a seat the Republicans desperately needed - a wise choice, as it turned out.

Anyway, send your money to Kilroy, she will represent me well, but Stivers is not so much of a troglodyte as you might think from the cartoons.