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Feb
19
Chris Redfern, Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, hosted a blogger conference call today. It was a little odd in that only three questions were asked, and I asked two of them. It’s nice to have primary source answers but it was kind of like a first date between people who have eyed one another for a long time but still don’t know how to act in each other’s presence. That’s not so unique when it comes to party officials and bloggers, but you’d think by now…well, okay. Anyway – here we are so…let’s just deal with that.
Redfern said he hopes to have these regularly after Labor Day and I’d urge them to have the calls in the morning. My brain and questioning acumen is a lot better then, but also, it’s better for the news cycle: you have the entire day, after the newspapers are already out and delivered. Maybe we even need to have some kind of funkadelic music or something beforehand – bloggers know how to have fun and be serious, but this call was a bit tomb-like.
Redfern used his intro to make it known that this was an opportunity to get info from the horse’s mouth, rather than blogger conjecture and opinion. Of course, asking a blogger to restrain from conjecture is like telling a dog not to catch the ball when you throw it. While I appreciate effort and newness (which really isn’t new but okay) and primary source info, other than the admission by Redfern that he feels “saddled with” the pre-primary endorsement process, this was a very.dry.call.
I gotta tell ya – that’s not what most bloggers are interested in – if you want a stenographer, get those “real” journalists with the editorial filters and all that – like Mark Naymik et al. But if you want people who are interested to get a sense of what things are really like, you need to be prepared to be looser and far more candid and human. Redfern tried that by remembering (who couldn’t?) that of course I have kids and juggle my days away doing who the hell knows what. And again, that feeling “saddled” thing – that’s good, that’s very good. Give us more of that. All the other stuff, really – we can get that from the campaign or party websites. Bloggers are best at what’s on the ground – including your heart. Anything else is really not going to satisfy us.
That said – here’s my steno:
The three questions:
1. What plans if any does the ODP have for boosting Ohio Treasuruer Kevin Boyce‘s visibility and name recognition since he will have to run to be elected to a full term (he was appointed to the post when Rich Cordray was elected to the AG spot in November 2008). (Fellas – couple of quickies: get his photo on the Treasurer’s site, yeah? And that “coming soon” at the ODP site – soon would be now.)
First, Redfern asked if I’d ever met Boyce. No, I haven’t. I’d never heard of him before the appointment.
The short official ODP answer is that the state party will do “everything” it can to hold that seat, regardless of who the GOP nominee is (he mentioned Josh Mandel and Jon Husted as possible challengers – making a quip about Mandel being unknown and from a suburban area).
Redfern listed some info about Boyce:
-he is the former chairman of Columbus City Council’s finance committee, overseeing what Redfern called one of the top five budgets (size-wise) in Ohio
-he’s already secured a political staff and is building a robust team that will be announced during the first week of March; Redfern said that there will be former DNC folks as well as people who previously have run statewide efforts.
- Strickland’s appointment of Boyce is history since he is the first African-American to hold the office, and that the position itself is one of great important and therefore, “we need to hold that seat” and, Redfern said, the state party will do “everything it can” to hold that seat.
He ended by saying that the ODP will offer its services to Boyce, as far as staff etc. and asked us either to host or think of people we know who would host a house party. Gotta get in the ask (we were all on mute so no one could really blurt anything out that the rest of us could hear, just so ya know.)
Redfern said that Boyce has young children but that Boyce travels and attends political events for the purposes of getting known and elected regularly and often.
2. Anthony Fossaceca of Ohio Daily Blog asked Redfern to speak about former Lee Fisher Chief of Staff, former ODP Interim Communications Director now, Lauren Goode – Fisher campaign communications person (not sure of exact title)
Redfern stuck to a simple line about Goode and asked that we contact her directly. Anthony clarified that he wanted to know why she left the ODP so quickly.
Redfern said that it was never her intent to stay long term for the party and that when the opportunity to get involved in Lee Fisher’s campaign came up, she took it. Redfern wanted her to make the decision quickly and she did.
3. I asked about the role of pre-primary endorsements for the 2010 cycle, and gave the pre-amble about how much I dislike the pre-primary endorsement process.
Other than Redfern allowing that he feels “saddled with it,” he reiterated that if candidates send the letter asking for the party’s endorsement, then the ODP executive committee must follow the process for giving one, unless and until the executive committee decides to get rid of it. He cautioned that there’s a lot of time between now and the 2010 primary and that he will ask the EC to not take up any letters requesting the endorsement until after 1/1/10.
Redfern then threw in some info about how strong he sees Fisher and Brunner, that he spoke with them on the day they announced and asked them to build strong campaigns and so on.
SOS replacement and auditor’s seat: Redfern said that he’s spoken with at least 10 potential candidates, but hasn’t endorsed anyone for one position or the other, and no one has asked for that endorsement.
He sought to clarify his quotes in the newspapers about Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason: that Mason is the front-runner in terms of announcing his candidacy for the position (SOS), but that’s only in the sense that no one else who wants to be known as a candidate has contacted him.
He confirmed that former Congressional candidate Sharon Neuhardt indicated to him today that she wants to be included in the list of names mentioned as people interested in the SOS seat should Brunner be the eventual Dem nominee for the senate.
Todd Portune (from Hamilton County), Tyrone Yates (from Cincy) and Peter Lawson Jones (Cuyahoga County Commissioner) were also mentioned as interested in the senate race, but of those, Jones is the only one with whom Redfern has not yet spoken. He last mentioned Anita Lopez as being interested in statewide but undecided position and reminded the callers that there are two Supreme Court seats to be elected.
Other takes on the call so far:
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:43 pm February 19th, 2009 in Democrats, Ohio, Politics, senate, treasurer
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15 Responses to “ODP blogger outreach conference call: Kevin Boyce & pre-primary endorsements”
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Um, Ken Blackwell was the first African-American Treasurer of Ohio, not Kevin Boyce.
Well – as I wrote, I was basically a stenographer – I need to come up with some Capri Cafaro “reveal” kinds of questions – it’s just been a while – I’m a bit rusty.
I’m checking around but I’m quite certain he said that because he was pointing out the appointment as being “historical” and that being another reason to retain the seat. Maybe we bloggers scared him or something?
See – it’s that late day thing – really – not a good time for one of these.
I don’t have steno, but I do have radar. Here’s my radar:
YAWN. ODP will endorse Fisher. YAWN.
Laughing at Eric’s comment, so Plunderbund, that’s why we love them. Also a little giggle about Question 2 from ODB. Don’t give up Anthony, keep digging …
That sure makes Redfern look dumb to say that Boyce’s appointment is historical. Both Ken Blackwell and Jeannette Bradley have served as Ohio Treasurer, but I guess Redfern doesn’t really consider them to be African-Americans since they are Republicans. While the ODP looks for token African-Americans to appoint to statewide office, the ORP elects competent officials to statewide office regardless of skin color, and some of them happened to have been African-American. Who was panicked that rank-and-file voters would snub Obama for president because he was partly African-American? The ODP. And what did the election results show? Though losing overall in rural, Republican-leaning, northwest Ohio counties, Obama hit a high-water mark for a Democrat candidate. Obama underperformed John Kerry in heavily Democrat urban areas like Cuyahoga County. Hmmm . . . I think Redfern and the ODP still have their work cut out for them. The dynamic is this: If a competent Democrat African-American steps up to run for statewide office, and that person seems like a take-charge kind of person, I think the ODP tries to undermine such a candidacy because they feel they can’t keep a leash on such a person. By the same token, the ODP feels obligated to include an African-American somewhere on the statewide slate, but they carefully comb through the party ranks and pick someone who will be dutiful and loyal, even if not very well-suited for the position, that they can keep on a leash. The ODP feels an obligation to vigorously promote their token African-American statewide candidates, but they don’t empower them. ORP candidates feel empowered. That’s the difference in the success rate between the two parties.
Ohio Republicans know that competent, take-charge kind of individuals are those most likely to propel themselves to electoral victory. Keeping candidates on a leash just weakens their chances, no matter what their skin color. It’s easy to see why a swaggering Ken Blackwell, who famously said, “It may not be my turn, but it’s my time,” was appealing to a majority of Ohio Republicans in a gubernatorial primary against Jim Petro, even though it turned out that Blackwell didn’t have cross-over appeal among Democrats.
To Redfern, Mandel may seem to pose no threat for Ohio Treasurer as an “unknown from a suburban area.” Mandel feels a sense of empowerment, and feels that he can create his own destiny. I think you sense that, because you already seem a bit concerned that Mandel’s prospects indeed look good.
Lastly, I’d say that Sharon Neuhardt would come to the Secretary of State office with a partisan agenda. I, as an Ohio voter, am not interested in supporting an uber-partisan for the SoS job. In fact, at this point, I’ve been hoping against hope that someone else emerges to carry the Republican banner for the job other than Jon Husted for the very same reason. Mike DeWine has made some noise about seeking statewide office again, perhaps as AG, Senator, or Governor, but I don’t really want DeWine in any of those three positions. I’m hoping that DeWine would take a look at running for Secretary of State. If one has an agenda, as Neuhardt does, then one should seek legislative office. The proper forum for debate between competing agendas is in legislatures. However, Neuhardt needs to be more open, transparent, and articulate about where she stands on issues in order to be a better candidate for legislative office. I think she hurt her chances in her past election by keeping some of her views under wraps. If she wanted to be in Congress, then she must have wanted champion her view and engage in debate, because that’s what happens in Congress. She wasn’t so forthcoming on the campaign trail, so she didn’t demonstrate to voters that she was ready for Congress.
I plan on seeing ORP chair Kevin DeWine tonight at the Erie County Lincoln Day Dinner, and I intend to follow up with a blog entry about it either on Saturday or Sunday.
Oh, and, what office do I suggest Husted seek if he isn’t content with being a state senator, and wants to go one step higher on the ladder? I think he should run for Kilroy’s congressional seat. I’d support him against Kilroy.
I am amused that he makes a quip about Mandel being an unknown, but his own guy, the dem in office, he did not know of until the appointment, nor has met him. Did I read that right?
No, you did not read that correctly-I am the one who did not know of Boyce nor have I met him.
Take the pledge! Sign the petition!
http://www.plunderbund.com/2009/02/20/what-if-no-senate-2010-candidate-sought-the-odp-endorsement/
Jill,
Any chance “the Chairman” would let a fiscally conservative, socially moderate GOP blogger on the next call?
Kyle
Well, if I haven’t cooked my own goose at this point, and they’re actually inviting us onto a call – knowing what they already know is the range of what us more left of center bloggers write? I can’t see how they would turn you down but obviously I can’t speak for them.
FWIW, I’ve tried to be in touch with John McClelland over the years, more than a few times, and he NEVER ever responded to me – not even once. It’s been a while though. On the other hand, Carlo LoParo and I had a very nice and frequent back and forth with a few touchés here and there even though we knew where we stood – I think it helped both of us make our arguments stronger (also been a while since we were in contact though).
You are certainly more of a known quantity, right (though I wasn’t familiar with your name at all until doing some googling)? I’d say give it a try – it’s REALLY hard to imagine that you could do anything much worse that we might.
Redfern or whomever can always say they’re not going to answer something.
If I were you, I’d email Todd Hoffman, Redfern and maybe even Doug Kelly – for sure, email and cc someone – even me, just for the record, you know? Wouldn’t want someone to say they never got the request.
If, as an opposition party member, you intend to ask questions – it would be reeeallly smart to bone up on the Party rules and processes before sticking your head into a, by definition, partisan operation. Our, OR, state chairwoman likes to talk, she also doesn’t have a lot of patience with ignorance – especially partisan ignorance.
Chuck,
Thanks for the heads-up. I am definitely a GOPer, but as anyone who reads my blog regularly can attest, I am an equal opportunity type of guy.
I have been kicking Kasich in the a$$ as much as I have been kicking Strickland in the a$$. Basically, if I see something that I think is bull then I write about it whether it is a dem or a republican. If it is not appropriate for me to be on the call that is fine with me.
In that case my question would be this:
If you see merit in my question(s) for Mr. Redfern will you or Jill ask the question(s) for me and let me know what his answers are afterwards? Thanks! Kyle
Kyle – I’d be more than happy to ask your question – assuming that is that they invite me onto another call.
Given how the last one went, I make no promises!
Kyle,
Jill’s your person on that, I’m an Oregonian without skin in this – well other than Democratic. My point is that there is a difference between legislators and Party officials in regard to what they actually do and the rules regarding it, so questions need to start with knowing the rules the Party is operating under.
A few days ago I skinned somebody here for holding a resentment due to a complete lack of understanding of DNC rules, taken whole cloth from a candidate’s perspective rather than the actual rules. I know my State Party (DPO) rules and a good chunk of DNC rules, but I’m a County Chair and State Delegate along with some Caucus offices and as a former US House Primary candidate I know when people are way off base. Asking questions of a Chair that are to the point and cognizant of the rules they operate under should cause no grief. I’m sure ODP rules are available on-line and you really don’t have to memorize rules, just understand them.
I’ll give an example, asking our Chair why the DPO isn’t backing incumbent “X” in a challenged primary gets the answer, “It’s against the rules,” and that’s OK but people don’t want it to be against the rules and want to exlore other reasons and the Chair isn’t going to be happy, because it is simply against the rules.
I cannot speak to the RNC & associated state parties, but being a Dem chair means one of the jobs is to be the public face of the Party and all D pols don’t fit together real well on some hot topics, so the Chair’s job is pretty complex and most Chairs do not find it in Party interest to criticixe a fellow (D) pol, even in the face of some Party stated resolutions. Our Chair wouldn’t be adverse to fielding Q’s from a Republican, in fact showing the differences is her job, but stupid question just won’t work, regardless of the affiliation behind them. Being stupidly partisan will guarantee a lack of access.
Personally, I’d encourage you to pursue getting access.