Lucas County Party Leadership

There has been much speculation about the future leadership of the Democratic Party in Lucas County. I believe it is important that the future leadership of the party have the following attributes:



1. Solid Democratic Party credentials. We need someone who has been involved with the party at the local level for a period of time, fought the battles in the trenches, and has earned respect with their contributions to the Democratic Party in Lucas County.



2. Ability to relate to and forge partnerships with all factions of the local party, the knowledge and experience of having been active in local campaigns, and the drive and energy to stabilize the existing party structure and grow the party by inviting newcomers and welcoming back members who have become less active. We need to captilize on our strengths , recognize and correct our weaknesses, and build a party structure that appeals to the rank and file members across the county. If the job is done correctly and thoroughly, we'll move toward a party which no longer consists of "teams" but focuses on working to achieve progress for the citizens of Lucas County.



3. A professional approach which seeks to focus on a business-like atmosphere, to maximize our efforts in building a broad based coalition of labor, management, seniors, and young people to establish a party structure that will grow over time and look toward inclusion of all who believe in the principle of the Democratic Party in Lucas County and raises funds to help elect qualified, quality candidates.







My experience in the 2006 campaign leads me to believe that these goals are possible. I was able to work with, relate to, and get assistance from individuals associated with the "A" and "B" teams and I witnessed many newcomers to the political process become involved in some of the different campaigns. I was fortunate to have a core group of supporters who were basically new to the process, along with some political veterans, so I can speak from experience that there are concerned citizens who would like to become involved, so we must nurture those relationships.



I was fortunate to have the help of many newcomers, particularly young people, who expressed an interest in getting past the "politics as usual" approach which is pervasive in government and deters people from becoming involved.



With the help of labor organizations, and our core supporters, we were able to put forth a tremendous grass-roots effort which caused our opponent and the State Republican Party to spend upwards of $450,000 to defeat a candidate who began the race with zero name ID in Western Lucas County. The aggressive and spirited effort, was obviously recognized by the opposition which saw fit to spend the bulk of their resources telling voters why they should vote against me, rather than why to vote for my opponent. That, in addition to being quite sad for them, is remarkable. Money is certainly pervasive in politics, but our effort was successful as resources that could have been diverted to other state house districts stayed in District 46, allowing more Democrats to win across the state.



That being said, I would do it again, as I believe we need more "citizen" candidates, who have no polarizing agenda, but simply seek to work toward a government that actually addresses issues of concern to the average voter, rather than merely working for a certain constituency who happen to contribute large amounts to campaign coffers.



We need nothing less than a monumental movement to take our government back from the special interests, and lobbyists which currently drive public policy. In NW Ohio, we can help to ensure progress toward this goal, by building the strongest Democratic Party possible to assist in forwarding legislation that seeks to solve problems which will increase the quality of life for the average hard-working citizens.



Thanks and have a great evening.