Ways to Become Involved with the Ohio Democratic Party

Transcription

1 Ways to Become Involved with the Ohio Democratic Party Become a Precinct Coordinator: o The Precinct Coordinator is the volunteer in charge of coordinating all campaign activities within their precinct. Duties include: Build the Precinct Team Support candidates Help get out the vote on election day Commit to recruit additional Election Day Volunteers Contact our Ohio Democratic Party organizer Southwest Ohio-Denise Gastesi- denise@ohiodems.org DGastesi@nextel.blackberry.net, Nextel Phone Number: (614) Office (614) Ext. 119, or (614) Central Ohio -John Sauter, john@ohiodems.org, jsauter@nextel.blackberry.net, Nextel Phone Number: (614) Office (614) Ext. 115 Northwest Ohio-Steve Chaffin steve@ohiodems.org, SChaffin@nextel.blackberry.net Nextel Phone Number: (614) , Office (614) Ext. 130 South East Ohio-Currently Vacant John Sauter-Athens, Guernsey, Hocking, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble Washington Denise Gastesi-Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton Matt Ross-Coshocton North East Ohio-Matt Ross, MattRoss@ohiodems.org, MattRoss@nextel.blackberry.net; Nextel Phone Number: (614) Office (614) Ext. 124 Large Counties-Demetrius Gorham demetrius@ohiodems.org; DGorham@nextel.blackberry.net Nextel Phone Number: (614) , Office (614) Ext. 142 Large Counties-Demetrius Gorham: Butler, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Montgomery, Stark, Summit, Trumbull Contact the Ohio Democratic Party at: o Phone: (O) , Cell o Web: o denise@ohiode ms.org o State Party Contact: Denise Gastesi, Field Director

2 Buy a Democracy Bond o Support the 50 State Strategy by helping us fund full-time field staff in your state through the State Partnership Project by becoming a monthly sustaining donor: o Attend your local County or District meeting o For information on the next meeting in your area, look on the web at for events and to find links to county party websites and for county party contact information. Write Letters to the Editor o Help spread the Democratic message to local papers and radio talk shows by joining the Writer s Guild. o Sign-up/Contact Brian Rothenberg -brian@ohiodems.org or Participate in a Training o The next training in our area is currently in the planning stages. Details will be posted on our website and sent out by when available.

3 2006 is an Exciting and Important Year for Ohio Democrats: GOP Bad Apple Talking Points Background: Republican chair Bob Bennett, when confronted by the ethical lapses and outright thievery of public funds, said these misdeeds were perpetrated by a few bad apples and that his party would weed them out. So far not one apple, no matter how wormy, has been tossed by the GOP, and that includes the governor who pleaded guilty to crimes or Brian Hicks, his former Chief of Staff who was also convicted yet remains on the board of OSU. How this happened: Arrogance and cronyism have fostered the culture of corruption in which large campaign contributors are rewarded with no-bid contracts, access to tens of millions of dollars in public funds, and legislation that serves the special interests. Pay-to-play gives contributors nearly unlimited access to powerful public officials which is how GOP businessman Tom Noe was able to golf with the governor and have Brian Hicks at his Florida home. Noe was able to carry out this deception because Betty Montgomery, Jim Petro and Ken Blackwell were too busy taking campaign cash from Noe and defending him when the story broke to make sure that public dollars were protected. Petro has failed time and again to act to protect the people of Ohio. As auditor he never looked at the BWC, as attorney general he turned the other way even when the SEC sent him a letter

4 alerting him to the fact that they believed something suspicious was going on at the Bureau. Had Petro acted when he received this letter, he, rather than the Toledo Blade, may have uncovered the coin scandal and done so a year earlier than the newspaper. The pay-to-play system runs so deep that five of the seven members of the Ohio Supreme Court were forced to recuse themselves from a case involving Coingate because they had accepted contributions from Noe. Examples of how pay-to-play distorts the legislative process: A bill to regulate construction debris dumps passes the State Senate on a unanimous vote. It heads to the House where it dies after industry representatives contribute $17,000 to House Speaker Larry Householder. Coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, these were the first contributions made by that group. Attempts to reform banking and credit laws have been repeatedly blocked by the GOP even though problems related to predatory lending, fraud perpetrated by mortgage brokers, and the need to improve the state s bankruptcy laws in order to give working families a chance to get back on their feet are widely recognized. Why? Because banks and credit card companies giver Republicans lots of money. While the GOP repeatedly ignored Supreme Court orders to reform the school funding system, they readily embraced the concept of charter schools a concept that has sucked hundreds of millions of dollars out of public education. And who did a lot of the sucking David Brennan who operates the for-profit White Hat Corporation and has contributed millions of dollars to Republican candidates at the federal, state, and local level an investment that has paid off nicely for him, but nor for Ohio s school children. And that is why Democrats are fighting for real reform to change the way we do business in Ohio and end the pay-to-play system:

5 Forbid any company or person who does business with the state from contributing to a political candidate or party Impose tougher penalties on incorrectly filing financial disclosure forms Change Ohio s racketeering laws to make it easier for the state to recover lost money End the pay-to-play system at Ohio s colleges and universities by preventing members of Boards of Trustees from contributing to political campaigns Establish a truly bi-partisan commission to investigate the scandals, find out who s responsible, and ensure they never happen again Strengthen the state s whistleblower laws to ensure that public employees who know of wrongdoing can come forward without fear of reprisal or job loss. Mid-level auditors at BWC raised questions about the coin investment scam for years but those questions were shoved under the rug. Create a statewide database of contracts to make it easier to enforce pay-to-play laws A Democratic auditor and attorney general will be more careful protecting the public interests. A Democratic governor will hold himself to a higher standard of ethics. And Democrats in the legislature will end the culture of pay-to-play once and for all and return our attention to the real issues facing Ohioans.