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Apr
30
Early on, I didn’t believe Jennifer Brunner wanted to run for U.S. Senate.
Early on, I felt sadness creep in because 1) I was wrong in not believing that she wanted to run for the U.S. Senate and 2) I really loved her as Secretary of State.
But early on, when I learned that becoming Ohio’s junior U.S. Senator was what she wanted to do, I never, not once, not for a single second, hesitated to support her as the best candidate and as someone who would serve Ohioans with distinction as a U.S. Senator. I will be voting for Jennifer Brunner in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate race on May 4, next Tuesday.
Ironically, early on in my life in Ohio, not even two years into living in the Cleveland area, I met Lee Fisher. I clerked for lawyers whose assistant is one of Peggy Zone Fisher’s siblings. Lee and Peggy were very supportive of one of my bosses who ran in more than one judicial race. I don’t have many memories from those meetings – they were usually just in big gatherings – I don’t know if we even spoke much, if at all, beyond introductions.
But then I worked in children and family services for eight years and with people who were big supporters of Lee. And I learned about him and his work. And I liked (and like) Lee a lot.
I met Jennifer Brunner early in 2006 and among blog posts, my posts about the Brunner standard became somewhat well-known – they explained how I felt she stood head and shoulders above nearly all candidates in my opinion on a variety of specific measures that were/are important to me.
Meanwhile, when Ted Strickland selected Lee to be Lt. Governor and his running mate, I thought it was an outstanding selection, certainly from a political point of view.
Since all these folks won in 2006, I’ve been privileged to be allowed to deepen my knowledge of them as people and as elected officials. And I hold Jennifer and Lee in the highest regard.
So how do you make a choice in a situation like this? How?
I don’t believe in the predictive ability of darts, so I have had to come up with slightly more reasonable logic. I believe reasonable logic to support Lee and reasonable logic to support Jennifer exists. I believe the same about logic to not support one or the other.
My logic is this:
As Secretary of State, Jennifer has demonstrated without question her ability to tackle an utter mess of a system. She tackled a system that suffered from extreme degradation of trust. She rescued an untrusted system that undergirds every belief we have and every hope to which we cling that we can make a difference in our world: the electoral system.
Is there anything more basic to the reason why our country – our state – our county – doesn’t deteriorate into fist fights in our capitol buildings or on our streets when eventual winners and losers are declared?
No.
And so, while the importance of jobs to Ohio is of utmost importance, and the roles Lee Fisher has played in our state for so many years have also demanded and been given superior attention via his abilities, at this time in the history of our Congress – when the experience of having literally turned around Ohio’s electoral system, which was made fun of nationally for months and even now years, demonstrates extraordinary focus, tenacity, decision-making in the face of naysayers and, most importantly, objective success in the form of how our 2008 elections proceeded – I believe that Jennifer Brunner is the best primary candidate in the May 4 race.
I’ve said it before and I’ll write it now: I will support the winner of the Democratic primary without hesitation. Rob Portman is a horrifically inferior candidate, on the “what have you done for me lately” measure alone, let alone all the other reasons we can come up with (and I’ll think about reprising my 57 reasons to vote…posts at the appropriate time).
But on Tuesday, May 4, I will be voting for Jennifer Brunner to run as the Democratic party’s candidate to be the next U.S. Senator from Ohio.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:24 pm April 30th, 2010 in Democrats, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, lee fisher, Ohio, Politics, rob portman, senate
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Wake up and look at the facts. Jennifer Brunner lied when she told former Secretary of State that she would not “do mass firings” with the staff. One week before Christmas, 39 employees received a group e-mail notification that they would not be offered positions in her administration. That is 25% of the staff! What a liar! I was a veteran with 27 years experience yet she had no regard for my service. I will work for anyone running against her.
[...] Jill Miller Zimon writes: [W]hile the importance of jobs to Ohio is of utmost importance, and the roles Lee Fisher has played in our state for so many years have also demanded and been given superior attention via his abilities, at this time in the history of our Congress – when the experience of having literally turned around Ohio’s electoral system, which was made of fun nationally for months and even now years, demonstrates extraordinary focus, tenacity, decision-making in the face of naysayers and, most importantly, objective success in the form of how our 2008 elections proceeded – I believe that Jennifer Brunner is the best primary candidate in the May 4 race. Posted in Jennifer Brunner, Politics, What They Say… No Comments » [...]
[...] contest to be sure; good-against-good are always the harder decisions. Jill Miller Zimon wrote on her blog WritesLikeSheTalks (don't you love that name?) about the respect she has for both candidates [...]
Jennifer Brunner has excelled in creating obstacles to keep Ohioans from prospering, even more than our misguided governor, Ted Strickland. As a business owner, I’ve witnessed firsthand what a mess she’s made of Ohio. She took a flawed system and destroyed any trust and credibility it had left. She should not be let near government again, including the US Senate. She stands squarely in line of the message being sent to Democrats and is an example of the incompetence and other things that need to be fixed in government. Keeping her in power would be torpedoing an already sinking ship. Toss Brunner out on her ear and bar the doors.
[...] to be sure; good-against-good is always the harder decision. Jill Miller Zimon wrote on her blog WritesLikeSheTalks (don’t you love that name?) about the respect she has for both candidates and why at the same [...]