Cross-posted at ProgressiveOhio.org
Last Friday, I broke the story that the major unions in his home county of Scioto had rescinded their endorsement of State Rep. Todd Book for the OH-02 congressional seat: http://www.dailykos.com/...
I also reported indications from confidential sources that Book was preparing to withdraw from the race. Tonight it became semi-official as Clermont County Democratic Chairman David Lane e-mailed Democrats in his county that Book has indeed withdrawn.
Book's withdrawal leaves David Krikorian unchallenged for the Democratic nomination to challenge Jean Schmidt next November. However, Schmidt does face a serious primary challenge from the right, coming from her home county of Warren. County Commissioner C. Michael Kilburn comes at the paleozoic Schmidt from the GOP center fringe, claiming that she's just a big Obama softie.
If you think it can't can't get stranger in OH-02, you just don't know the terrain.
More below the ineluctable fold.
If you're just joining the OH-02 2010 Demolition Derby, Todd Book was hand-picked by the Wizard Behind the Columbus Curtain (i.e. Ted Strickland, also of Scioto County) to be the machine's knight-in-rusted-armor, for battling the insurgent dragon with a populist tinge, David Krikorian.
Cook Reports then "uprated" the OH-02 race for Democrats, on the basis of having recruited such a "quality candidate." Like I said, lots of professional pontificators don't know jack schmidt about this part of the world.
Strickland, you see, had failed to vet his man. It turned out that Todd Book had some rather large problems with loyalty to local labor. Book's private law firm, Book and Associates, filed as Ohio legal agent for Fitzpatrick Engineering, a non-union construction firm of Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Most of that I reported on Friday.
What I did not report was that Lawrenceville is also home to Todd Book's father's firm, Wall Technologies Company, Inc. Wall Technologies is likewise non-union, and in September it brought foreign workers from Georgia (immigration status unknown) to Ohio to work on a public construction project, for which Todd Book had taken credit for getting the state funding.
Extraneous thought: It was the prosecution and conviction of State Senator Joseph Coniglio in Bergen County, NJ, for deriving private benefits from a public project for which he had obtained the state funds that ultimately led to the downfall of Governor Corzine for inferred connections to the corruption.
Anyway, the Scioto County, Ohio, unions found out about Books's extracurricular arrangements after they had endorsed Mr. Book in September. On November 17, the Ohio caucus of the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council voted to rescind that endorsement. The writing was on the Wall, so to speak.
This morning, Monday, the Krikorian campaign sent notice to its supporters, alerting them to my report of last Friday. Perhaps that lit a fire under Mr. Book to get out while the getting was reasonably good. Book had failed to appear at a meeting of Democratic Party County Chairs on Saturday, giving away that his campaign was at an end.
The terse message from the Clermont County Chair sent at 5:30 pm tonight reads as follows:
Clermont Dems:
Please be advised that Todd Book has announced that he is formally
withdrawing from the race in the 2nd Congressional District. Todd will
devote all his energy to his legislative duties in Columbus. I will keep
you apprised of developments as they become available.
Regards,
Dave Lane
As of this post, Book has still not issued any statement directly accessible, and there is no notice of withdrawal posted to his website. But there have now been so many communiques expressing his intent, it's hardly reversible.
It is well understood that Todd Book has various matters to attend to.
Just please, Mr. Book, show that you do have some consideration for the team. Chances for redemption aren't all that easy to come by. No Copperhead backsliding now. We're watching.
To find out more and donate to the Krikorian campaign, go to: http://www.krikorian2010.com/
UPDATE: Book's withdrawal is the lead front-page story in today's Portsmouth Daily Times: http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com...
He told PDT of his decision yesterday. Book did not mention any of the union issues or corruption charges, and our ace local reporters apparently did not ask. The timing of the announcement following the union vote last Tuesday and my story published Friday should serve to verify my account.
Note also that Book plans to spend his next year making Ohio "attractive to Bioscience [aka Agribusiness]" under the recently approved Issue 2. That should serve to answer those on DKOS who refused to acknowledge that Book was the lead sponsor of Issue 2, a disaster for small farmers and for the environment and public health.
UPDATE 2: The mainstream media has picked up the story, with reports in CQ Politics and the Dayton Daily News, in addition to virtually all the newspapers in OH-02. A story in the Cincinnati Enquirer and Chillicothe Gazette (both Gannett papers) has the most in-depth coverage, such as it is, with reference to the Building Trades vote one week ago as laying the foundation for Book's withdrawal. That story is at: http://cincinnati.com/...