A new democratic institution has been created in my hometown. I'm running to be the voice of transparency in that government's new legislature, and to be a street fighting Democrat in some of the most important precincts in Ohio presidential politics.
My hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, is in Cuyahoga County. Last November, the voters of the county responded to an unprecedented FBI corruption investigation into county government by eliminating all existing county offices but one, and creating in their place a county executive and a new county council, consisting of 11 members. I voted against the measure (Issue 6) and against it's competing Issue 5, because neither reform initiative measured up regarding transparency.
Now that this new democratic institution is created and will be seated in January, 2011, I'm not standing by to carp from the sidelines. I am running in a crowded Democratic primary on September 7, 2010, for County Council District 7, which includes the heart of Cleveland - the neighborhoods of downtown, Tremont, Ohio City, St. Clair Superior, Hough, Glenville, University Circle, Little Italy, and Slavic Village. Here's my announcement video with a tour of the district.
Why am I running? As many of you know, I spent years abroad in fledgling democracies (mostly in the former soviet republics working for NDI) helping citizens make their new democratic institutions more transparent. Cuyahoga County's new democratic institution is already off to a non-transparent start, it's starting to look comedically less transparent by the day, and more like what I used to see in a former soviet republic.
As county councilor for District 7, I plan to use the new charter's legislative oversight power to shine a light on every single thing this new county government does. You can learn more about my campaign at my campaign's website, TimRusso.org.
I'm asking for this community's support for two reasons.
First, Kossacks at their core demand transparency from their government, at every level. Transparency is one of our most basic reasons for engaging in our democracy. I need your help to make transparent government a reality in my hometown.
Second, we all know how important Ohio is during presidential elections. I'm proud of my record of fighting for Democrats in Ohio, and to put Ohio in the D column every four years - most recently through my blogging, and my Politico Award winning world famous Youtube channel which specializes in throwing a little transparency on the teabaggers, as I did in the now legendary McCain Palin Mob video....I take it straight to Republicans, hard.
Every four years, presidential elections come down to Ohio.
Every four years, Ohio boils down to turnout in high D, low turnout precincts.
The highest D, lowest turnout precincts in Ohio are in County Council District 7.
The D index for the whole of District 7 is 89%. There are precincts in District 7 where John McCain got ZERO votes in 2008, where George W. Bush got ZERO votes, where George H. W. Bush got ZERO votes. But presidential turnout in the vast majority of these precincts ranges from 10% to 30%. In this year's county council election, the turnout in these precincts will range from 10% to 25%.
I know these numbers well - In 1994 I worked these precincts overtime as field staff for the Ohio Democratic Party in Cuyahoga County, in the worst environment for Democrats before or since. Two years later in 1996, I was the state GOTV director for the Ohio Democratic Party, and these precincts were the top GOTV priority in Ohio's successful effort to re-elect Bill Clinton. In 2004, I helped recruit, train, and deploy hundreds of attorney polling place challengers to defend the integrity of the voting process for the Kerry campaign - in precisely these precincts.
If I am elected County Councillor for District 7, Cuyahoga County will get a street fighting Democrat battling for transparency in its new legislature, and the Democratic Party will get a GOTV professional who will spend 2 years between the September 7, 2010 primary and Barack Obama's re-election in 2012 to help create an infrastructure of voter turnout in the most important high D, low turnout precincts in the entire state of Ohio. My campaign is already focused on creating that turnout for my September 7 primary.
Please donate to my campaign (every donor gets an original depiction of the Cleveland skyline by Cleveland artist Bridget Ginley), and if you're in the district, please join the campaign's Facebook group.
On election day in 2012, the eyes of the world will be on the precincts in Cuyahoga County District 7.
This community has an opportunity, TODAY, to help make sure the world witnesses those precincts re-elect Barack Obama President of the United States by supporting a street fighting Democrat who will bring transparency to Cuyahoga County's new legislature.
As Barack says in the video below, we are the change that we seek. I'm running to do just that.
Tim Russo for Council website.
Donate page.
Thank you.