Below is the text of a letter that I sent to Rebecca Pearcey, candidate recruitment director for parts of the Midwest (including my home state of Ohio) for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It is in regard to the DCCC recruiting Jennifer Garrison to run for Congress against Republican Bill Johnson in Ohio's 6th District. The email was sent July 29th and I have yet to receive a response.
Ms. Pearcey:
I called the main number for the DCCC and they gave me your contact information. I wanted to express my extreme disappointment in the DCCC's recruiting of Jennifer Garrison to be a candidate for Congress in the Ohio 6th.
Jennifer Garrison has a history of taking the wrong side on a number of issues. Whilst running for a previous office, she attacked her Republican opponent, Nancy Hollister, for opposing the Defense of Marriage Act and she expressed support for Ohio's constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. In fact, many journalists in the state described what Garrison did as "gay-baiting' her opponent to win her race (Garrison sent mailers to voters in her district asking "If you believe marriage is between one man and one woman, there is something you should know about Nancy Hollister.") When she attempted to run for Secretary of State at the urging of then-Governor Ted Strickland, she unceremoniously dropped out after it became apparent that her past support for DOMA was going to hurt the state party's standing with activists. I cannot imagine why the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wants to recruit an anti-gay "Democrat" in 2013 - a year which has shown us the incredible strides GLBT persons have made in a struggle for legal recognition and civil rights.
In addition to her outrageous position on gay rights, Garrison is also anti-choice and she has a 0% rating with NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. Again, in a previous run (against Nancy Hollister) she was far to the right of her Republican opponent on the issue. She supports banning all abortions, she supports legislation that would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraception, and she supports funding those "pregnancy crisis centers" in Ohio - organizations that lie to women seeking reproductive healthcare. With skirmishes occurring almost daily in the War Against Women, does the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee really want to choose as their standard bearer in Ohio a candidate who will happily join up with the right wing Republicans in further diminishing and demeaning women?
These two issues are only the most glaring reasons why Jennifer Garrison is an awful candidate for Congress here in Ohio. Garrison's distaste for the minimum wage is well known as she voted against it. Garrison has also taken massive political contributions from the coal industry which gives an idea of where she stands on climate change. EMILY's List refused to help her when she ran for Secretary of State. She voted against anti-bullying legislation in Ohio that might have helped children from being tormented while in school.
I sincerely hope that Congressman Israel will reconsider his support of Jennifer Garrison for Congress. Surely there are other candidates who don't hold positions that are anathema to the overwhelming majority of Democrats in Ohio. The area covered by the 6th district is actually just south of where I grew up and although I would not enjoy it, I have no problem going back home and doing everything I can to fight against Jennifer Garrison getting anywhere near the House of Representatives except perhaps for a tour of the Capitol.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Ryan Fissel