Aw, Crap! Stephanie Studebaker is arrested!

Dr. Stephanie Studebaker, the Democratic nominee for Congress in OH-03 against Mike Turner, and her husband were both arrested on domestic violence charges following a disturbance at their home.

http://news.yahoo.com/...

There's no good way to spin this one. This is fatal to her campaign, and we can cross her off the list. In that part of Ohio, we now need to focus our efforts on OH-01 and OH-15.

•  Buh Bye!!

  Bummer.

  by bincbom on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:33:25 PM PDT

  •  Don't write off the campaign too quickly

    Stephanie's web site has this posted:

    Due to personal issues, the Studebaker for Congress campaign is suspending all campaign activities for the time being. We will inform our supporters and the media on any future developments but request that the privacy of our campaign be respected during this time.

    She is a very good woman going through a very rough patch. If her campaign can be salvaged, she'll find a way. Give her time before writing any postmortems.

    by Dan Hrkman on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:04:33 PM PDT

•  Well

  there are no details yet.  maybe it was self defense.  i could still turn out ok.

  by Cecile on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:34:09 PM PDT

•  She Has Already Suspended Her Campaign....

  And what's more, Taegan Goddard's Political Wire already has the mugshot.

  by Steve Singiser on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:36:11 PM PDT

  •  Hmmmm

    I know nobody looks stunning in a mugshot - except DeLay who had his stylist with him - but do ya think that alcohol and/or drugs had anything to do with it?

    by johnnygunn on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:28:38 PM PDT

•  Violence to Women and Citizens!

  Rebublican controlled county law enforcement LOVES to "GET" female bitches: women with the brains and savvy to run for office and to take a moral stand!  What's her crime:  not being barefoot, pregnant and passive!

  Keep up the press coverage of her!  Turn this around so that she isn't victimized twice.  That will also empower the citizens in her district.

  Been there in Ohio, been attacked and abandoned!  Don't do this to her!

  by Buffy Orpington on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:38:33 PM PDT

  •  I agree 100%!

    I never jump to conclusions regarding anything that's "republican controlled." "Republican controlled," has turned out to be a very bad policy, all the way around.

    by lyvwyr101 on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:52:46 PM PDT

  •  I agree

    I suspect the husband's charge of domestic violence is total baloney.  Stephanie is the victim here.  Nobody who is an abuser ends up with a bruised face like this.

    http://www.abcnews.go.com/...

    by ortcutt on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:46:35 PM PDT

•  Well, here's my repub congressman, Randy Kuhl:

  In the Kuhl papers, Jennifer Kuhl asked for a divorce on grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment. Kuhl, first elected to New York's state Senate in 1986, later countercharged, accusing her of abandonment. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the court-stamped papers and verified their accuracy. Both Kuhl and his former wife declined several requests by the AP to address the contents of the court papers. "In or about 1994, while the parties were hosting a dinner party at their home, the defendant (Kuhl) took out two shotguns and threatened to shoot plaintiff (Kuhl-Peterson)," the papers charge...

  Let's wait for the facts to come out, and don't give up hope just yet.

  by Ellicatt on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:42:59 PM PDT

  •  Massa for Congress! n/t

    by AKTup on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:08:02 PM PDT

•  Already diaried

  OH-03: Democratic nominee, husband arrested

  Any further news on this sad story, like who's stepping forward to run in her place?

  by WV Democrat on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:44:31 PM PDT

•  Why does this automatically disqualify her?

  Many elected pols, including Bush and Cheney, have arrest records. Is fighting with one's spouse worse than drunk driving?

  Can we wait for more info?

  by perro amarillo on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:52:46 PM PDT

  •  Excellent point!

    Quite a few republican legislators have "arrest records" in their past.
    But, on the other hand, it does cheer me up quite a bit to know that democrats are expected to be perfect. It's a tough job, but we're expected to do it, apparently!

    by lyvwyr101 on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:55:22 PM PDT

    •  Democrats too.

      by perro amarillo on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:44:08 PM PDT

    •  This has ALWAYS bothered me

      Democratic candidates have to be spotless and above reproach. Republicans can do anything and if you point out that maybe being arrested for beating their kids and wife, smashing their car head-on into another and killing two people, the cops finding crack in their car and kiddie porn on their home computer might disqualify them from office, they will shriek that you are being partisan and it's a private matter and they are taking steps to get their life together. And Republicans will all rally around and publically praise the candidate as a great Christian who is being unfairly attacked by the media.

      Democrats on the other hand, without knowing any of the facts, will go "Oh, her campaign is through" and "this destroys her credibility." Believe me, if this were a Republican, there wouldn't be the slightest thought of her quitting the race. This would be small potatoes compared to all the bribes, gifts, payoffs and other financial machinations going on on the GOP side of this state.

      by anastasia p on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:19:33 PM PDT

      •  Why we-as-a party

        back down so quickly from these people, I'll never understand. Have we truly taken such a battering from Gop that we are that afraid of them?
         I'm not.
         The republican party in this country has proven itself time and again to be unethical,greedy, self-serving, manipulative and politically opportunistic;and they have demonstrated this mentality in no uncertain terms-over and over again.
          And they have been right upfront with this kind of conduct. Even for appearances sake:they do not  pretend to be otherwise.
         Their pundits have literally called for our deaths (both verbally and in writing)-read Coulter sometime-your hair will stand on end. No morals of any kind. We have been battered to the point that we are constantly on the "defensive" with these people.
          We need to be on the "offensive," instead. Period.
          Why not start here? Since when have republicans cornered the market on morality? And more to the point, why do we "buy into the argument" that they do? Ludicrous!
         Time to really take these people on. On their own turf, so to speak.
         As a party, we really need to stop being afraid of these people.The time to start, has long since past.
        They have used "fear" to literally hold an entire nation hostage, and in many ways; I believe we have almost been "conditioned" by  years of their rhetoric, to fear them.
        Over with. This mentality truly needs to be "over with."  And the time is now. Period.

        by lyvwyr101 on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 04:27:14 AM PDT

  •  Maybe not...

    but the mug shot doesn't help:

    

    by MLDB on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 04:55:37 PM PDT

    •  Agreed. But I'd like to see Bush and Cheney's.

      by perro amarillo on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:44:58 PM PDT

  •  It doesn't disqualify her per se...

    ...but I'd imagine she's going to have way too much stuff to be dealing with right now to wage a congessional campaign. This isn't embezzling money here, it's her family falling apart. She looks battered in that photo. I don't know the details of what happened but she's going to have to be devoting most of her energy for the rest of the year to either couples counseling, getting a divorce, recovering, and/or anger management.

    No one just picks up and runs a winning political campaign a couple months after their husband beating them up like that. No matter who started it or whether they forgive each other for it. It's far too stressful a thing to have happen.

    I wish her all the best in this difficult time. And I hope we can find another candidate, fast!

    by tjekanefir on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 08:13:43 PM PDT

•  Holyerhorses there

  We don't know squat as of yet. Give it some time.

  by Little on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:03:36 PM PDT

  •  Ope, campaign suspended. Nevemind. n/t

    by Little on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:04:50 PM PDT

•  I wouldn't rule her out yet!

  Give it 48 hours.

  Please

  She is a great lady.  Would be a great congresswoman and if there is a way out of this situation and survive politically she is smart enough to find it.

  by Gator on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:08:12 PM PDT

•  My experience and it's a doozy!

  I lived under constant life threatening circumstances in a county close to Columbus, Ohio.  Countless times, the county sheriff's deputies responded to my calls for help from "neighbors" who shot at me, my animals (I had a farm sanctuary) and who trespassed, stalked me and would drive behind visitors to the farm animal sanctuary, block them in the drive and shout obscenities, and their "help" was solely to the terrorists.

  The deputies pointed out the security cameras to the perpetrators, they violated my 4th amendment rights by coming onto my property and breaking into and vandalizing my house and farm buildings so many times that I lost count, my filed reports were "lost", many of the terrorists were "fine, upstanding township trusttes, village councilmen, county prosecutors and a newly apponted federal judge (related to the terrorists - they are ALL related by family or business) and I finally fled in the middle of the night after being shot at one too many times to bear.

  This is business as usual for the Ohio mafia.

  Do not abandon this woman.  She, if she stays, will assuredly be threatened with death, as am I.  And they will be happy to tell her that she can leave, but that the death threat will follow her forever.

  Written by one who has been in hiding for 10 years!

  by Buffy Orpington on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:14:17 PM PDT

  •  Why are they coming after you?

    Do you have dirt on the mayor or something?  It sounds like a hell of a campaign against you!  Farm animal sanctuary doesn't sound like the sort of business that gets in the way of John Gotti.

    by Mikey on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:20:28 PM PDT

    •  Haz Waste Dump

      I discovered a large tire and hazardous waste dump on property that I had the right of first refusal to purchase and that was being tenant farmed by a township trustee.  Another trustee was related to the sellers of my property, and the third was in business with the first two.  When the sellers refused to clean up the dump, which included jars of mercury and unidentified liquid materials - all on the side of a hill leading to a fresh water stream, I contacted the county health department - big mistake - under the thumb of the trustees.  Without knowing this and after their inaction, I contacted the EPA.  It did respond and apparently did something to compel the owners to clean it up, with a convoy of trailers hauled in to haul out the tires and waste.  The sellers,the trustees and all of my surrounding "neighbors" - friends, relatives and customers of the township trustees, threatened me at that time and from that point on.  Workers and contracters I hired to improve the farm were threatened and harassed.  

      The county prosecutor is in the pockets of the trustees.  A Bush appointed federal judge is a relative of the farm sellers to me.  My "next door neighbors" turned out to be spies for the trustees, who brought township equipment to work on their property, did repairs for them, and proceeded to regrade the road to drain all of the run-off into my barns and flood the farm drives, tore out the grade to the main farm driveway, and generally, caused unsightly turf damage and damaged the  road frontage.

      Two of the trustees are factory livestock farmers. However, they or their cronies, somehow persuaded PETA to send people to poison some of the sanctuary animals and to staff protests on my property, hosted by "the neighbors" as a last act to make me flee."  I have been told by the former veterinarian that the county filed animal abuse charges against me for an animal that was under veterinary care and that was stolen from the sanctuary.  The county dog warden admitted to harboring the dog.  I do not know what became of the animal, or what became of of several other cats, dogs and poultry that were stolen from the sanctuary.  A favorite pasttime of the "neighbors" was to put chicken feed in the road, wait for animals to come toward it, and then run them over. Other animals were taken through fences and let loose on the road) miniature horses).  Dogs were shot; cats went missing.  A real little Christian Ohio farm town, if ever there was one.

      Their lawyer, not surprisingly, represented the sellers of my farm, and he is also a neighboring village councilman and a Baptist church elder.  The federal judge (Bush appointee without opposition)is related by family or business to all the trustees, the sellers and the councilman.  

      I was falsely charged with crimes, and I was ridiculed publicly (on audio tape) at township trustee meetings. I failed at getting any media coverage.  I stupidly left the trustees' audio tape with a newspaper editor, and it disappeared.  Sheriff's reports that I filed also mysteriously disappeared.  My lawyer suddenly became "friends" with the councilman/trustee buddy/everyman's attorney.

      by Buffy Orpington on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:11:13 PM PDT

      •  Excuse me, but

        what. the. fuck?

        Are you kidding me?

        by Scout Finch on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:19:14 PM PDT

        •  I am

          hiding in plain sight, destitute, with no help on the horizon. I've been tracked and harassed in three states. And I am not creative enough to make this up.

          by Buffy Orpington on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:26:47 PM PDT

          •  Help will not be forthcoming

            Attornies will be harassed, threatened and effectively shut down. The last attorney I hired demanded that I plead no contest to the charge of allowing a dog that had been stolen by "neighbors " who had purchased property across the road from me and who were public friends with the township trustees, from my locked and fenced yard to be uncontested.  Next month, she was a declared candidate for county municipal judge.  I will never find "justice" as there is no such entity.

            All I will ever find is a continuing threat to have me dead.

            by Buffy Orpington on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:50:28 PM PDT

      •  That is just horrible

        Are there any lawyers here that can help her out? If someone ran over my chickens or dogs they would no longer have a right leg to press the gas with.

        I have a crazy neighbor out here in the country, so I can relate. Fortunately, he only passive-aggressively mows part of my yard if it gets too tall for his tastes. When he started burning some brush on my property I had to say something, but it has been relatively quiet since then. I really just think he is old and bored, not malicious. You have my sincere sympathies for what you are going through.

        by Blue Southerner on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:20:05 PM PDT

•  Why throw in the towel

  so quickly, unless she has?  I hope that if she in fact does have the qualifications as someone above suggested, then she can turn this around with apology and a declaration of truth and fact in having "a bad hair day, and, or night" as we all are guilty of one or the other.  Besides, I'd rather vote for someone who is tough, humble and truthful than a squeeky, clean phony.

  by yowsta on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:32:55 PM PDT

•  Idiots.

  by Delaware Dem on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:15:10 PM PDT

  •  What?

    How is she an idiot for being beaten?  Look at the photo.

    http://www.abcnews.go.com/...

    Is this the face of a woman who was beating her husband or of a woman who has just been beaten by her husband?

    by ortcutt on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:41:10 PM PDT

•  Stephanie isn't done yet.

  Give her 48 hours.

  Please

  by Gator on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:29:26 PM PDT

•  She's a victim here, not a criminal

  From the look of her face, she's been beaten very badly by her husband.  The husband's charges that she beat him are probably complete baloney.  What woman being struck that hard wouldn't defend herself.  I'd like to see us stand up for her and not write her off.  She may be able to make domestic violence an issue in her campaign.  It would certainly be a public service to raise such an important issue.

  by ortcutt on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:38:04 PM PDT

  •  Actually

    it's impossible to tell from that photo of she was "very badly beaten." She just looks a little haggard and the lighting is horribly glarey. It's hard to even tell if those are black eyes or just dark circles and a little eye shadow.

    It's way too soon to project our own fears, beliefs, crusades or viewpoints on this situation because we don't know what happened yet.

    by anastasia p on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:25:16 PM PDT

•  Montgomery County Dems state

  that The Studebaker Campaign will be suspended for a few days while Stephanie sorts things out.

  Just saw it on the Dayton Local News.

  Give her 48 hours.

  by Gator on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:07:10 PM PDT

•  Fascinating. Case study?

  To compare with Republicans and men?

  I am interested in keeping an open mind and making sure anybody who hits a woman once never hits anybody again.

  I was sitting here wondering if it might be an advantage in politics if people know you might hit them back?

  by LNK on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:17:53 PM PDT

  •  Wondering the same thing!

    by lyvwyr101 on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 09:47:48 AM PDT

•  One of the worst things I could have imagined

  I had a horrible feeling in my stomach when I saw the phrase "Congressional candidate arrested in domestic violence case" on Yahoo under Cinci Enquirer news. My worst fears were realized when I clicked on it and saw Stephanie's mugshot.

  Apparently the arrests went down about six hours before I was distributing Stephanie's campaign literature at the Dayton Blues Festival. Two weeks ago I talked my very reluctant partner into attending Stephanie's rally at a veterans' memorial. Makes me feel pretty foolish.

  But Sam Studebaker looked absolutely horrified in his mugshot, and I'd be willing to bet that Stephanie's eyes were swollen with crying. Although Stephanie had appeared serene and casual when I'd seen her, I had thought before about how much pressure the family must be experiencing. I truly believed that she was making a painful sacrifice of her peace and domestic happiness to run for office. Now I'm convinced that the sacrifice was too much for the family to handle. I think they have become martyrs to our insane political system, where an intelligent, ethical, conscientious candidate with a heart is at a fatal disadvantage when running against a dim-witted, pre-fab puppet supported by wealth and corporate power. They're only going through the motions, so there won't be any breakdowns.

  by Cowalker on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:38:25 PM PDT

•  Studebaker OH-3

    We were surprised to see Stephanie on CH 2 and CH 22 here in Dayton.  It seems curious that the media that couldn't find time to cover her fledgling campaign, couldn't wait to find all the personal documents from domestic court to paint her opposition to Turner DOA.  Sheriff Vore, a dedicated public servant and registered Republican, was professional and detached as he set the coffin nails on TV news.
    I live in OH-8, but actively supported Stephanie, hoping to see her go to DC. She will get  over this, but it may leave OH-3 uncontested.  Maybe Rick Carne, Tony Hall's legislative aide, will be interested in running again against Turner.
    As my friend has pointed out, Republicans have to overcome about a 15% switch over by the Independents in OH-3 this fall.

  by von67trumpet on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 12:05:24 PM PDT

  •  Ohio Dems need to ask themselves...

    if trying to push another candidate now or try to prop up Steph long enough for her to get her legs.  I hope she gets till Fri before having to make a statement.  Lets see what her grassroots volunteers can do for her.

    by Gator on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 01:25:57 PM PDT

•  Democrats

  don't elect icons; they elect human beings!

  by lyvwyr101 on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 05:01:05 PM PDT

•  Stephaine Studebaker Withdraws from oh-3 campaign

  At 4PM, Stephanie Studebaker released the following statement:

  "After deciding to focus my efforts entirely on my family, I am withdrawing my name from the ballot as a candidate for Ohio's Third Congressional District, effective immediately. Ohio families are ready for a change, and this is a seat Democrats can and will win in November."

  That's doing it with class.

  We should  give her and hers the space and time to hopefully resolve their family issues.

  At the same time it will very important to continue the fight in OH3 against Mike Turner, a lockstep bushevik who really needs to be booted out. Two other candidates in the primary will probably be locked out by ohio's sore loser clause, so the party  is going to be in a scramble this week. One high profile candidate mentioned is County Commissioner Debbie Lieberman [NO relation...]. Unfortunately that would leave a hole in the 3 seat commission curently controlled by two repubs with a party swticher [Dixie Allen] recentley appointed by the repugs to replace Vicki Pegg, a "moderate" repug who resigned. And, would whoever steps up be the kind of progressive Steph is?? I think the field of potential candiates  is pretty slim in that regard.

  Shit really does roll downhill.I hope we can find a shovel [candidate]  big enough to clean this one up.
  Omegaman

  by omegaman on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 06:05:47 PM PDT