Ed FitzGerald (D. OH) just scored a huge endorsement:
http://www.northwestohio.com/...
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) showed his support for Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ed Fitzgerald Friday morning.
Sen. Brown along with Fitzgerald, drummed up support for Fitzgerald's campaign among Democratic supporters at Michael's Restaurant.
The Cuyahoga County Executive made several trips throughout northwest Ohio in the summer, meeting residents and addressing his vision for Ohioans. - northwestohio.com, 11/15/13
By the way, I like this:
http://www.cleveland.com/...
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald is going to face some difficult dietary decisions next week.
From Nov. 17-23, FitzGerald says he will spend no more than $4.18 a day on food and beverages -- the average value of food stamps that users receive. On a post to the official county website, FitzGerald has invited his staff and members of the community to join him.
FirstGerald said he hopes to raise public awareness about poverty, particularly in light of a pair of recent changes that social service workers say will strain the public safety net.
First, a 5.7 percent cut in federal food stamp funding to Ohio took effect this month. Second, Cuyahoga County is facing down a state-imposed deadline to inform roughly 29,000 county residents that their food stamp benefits will be cut off unless they find a job working at least 20 hours a week or enroll in work training before the end of the year. - Northeast Ohio Media Group, 11/14/13
I greatly appreciate what FitzGerald is doing to highlight the problem with cuts to food stamps programs. Especially since it's really taken it's toll on his home turf:
http://www.cleveland.com/...
Reacting to a recent change in state policy, Cuyahoga County officials expect to spend $800,000 on employee overtime before the end of the year in a scramble to evaluate whether 29,000 people will remain on food stamp rolls.
The county must determine whether the people are working, and if not, notify them that they will lose their food stamps in three months if they do not find a job or enroll in work training.
Gov. John Kasich's administration announced in September (PDF) that in 72 of Ohio's 88 counties the state would no longer exempt able-bodied adults without dependent children from work requirements that are a condition of receiving food stamps. The requirements -- to either work 20 hours a week or attend work training -- had been in place since federal welfare reform was passed in 1996. But the state had exempted people since 2007, when the national economy crashed.
Cuyahoga County is not among the 16 counties that will continue to be exempt. Most are primarily in rural Ohio and selected because their two-year unemployment rates were at least 20 percent higher than the national average. - Northeast Ohio Media Group, 11/14/13
And the cuts to SNAP are hurting low income Ohio families all over:
http://www.nbc4i.com/...
For a family of four, that will result in a loss of $36 dollars a month. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank says those cuts will be devastating to families in Central Ohio. Foodbank employees say they see the need for food every day. Many families are struggling to put food on the table.
Currently, there are 1.9 million Ohioans on SNAP and 76 percent of those families have a child, a senior citizen or someone who is disabled.
Vice President of Marketing for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank Marilyn Tomasi says the main reason clients join the program is because of they are facing a family hardship. She is concerned what will happen after the cuts have been made.
"So we are making the cuts without a strategy to really figure out how to help people who will be directly impacted," said Tomasi.
Tomasi expects more families will be visiting food pantries to make ends meet. - NBC 4i, 10/28/13
The more and more I learn about FitzGerald, the more I like. TPM did a great piece on him recently about his experience as an FBI Agent in Chicago and how he plans to apply his record and experience to his campaign:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
The elected executive of Ohio's Cuyahoga County, FitzGerald said in an interview with TPM last Thursday that he thinks he can continue his track record if elected to the state's top job next year. He was widely credited with cleaning up the county government after a massive corruption scandal.
"Being an FBI agent has given me -- it certainly gave me an enormous amount of credibility when I ran for county executive because of the corruption scandal, it was directly relevant," FitzGerald said in an interview with TPM Thursday. "But I have to say, some of the things they're doing at the state level with the privatization of the economic development programs there are making it more relevant for this race too."
No other major candidates have so far filed to run in the primary against FitzGerald and he has lined up a slew of endorsements from his fellow local Democrats, making him, as he puts it, the "de facto" Democratic nominee.
There have been encouraging signs for FitzGerald in recent polls, too. An August survey from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found FitzGerald three points ahead of Kasich with 38 percent of the vote. Earlier polls showed Kasich with leads ranging from nine to 14 points.
According to FitzGerald, Kasich's policies are "laying the foundation" for corruption to be a major problem in Ohio.
"What they're doing with economic development out there, I am so opposed to the philosophy that's guiding it right now," said FitzGerald. "Here's what they've done, they've gone from saying government should be run like a business. ... They're running it as a private corporation. ... They took the state's economic development company, they put it into a corporation they claim is private, but the governor appoints all the members of it. They are approving loans to other companies that they have received compensation from and that they have sat on the board of, including some that they currently sit on the board of." - TPM, 11/11/13
I'm certainly excited about his candidacy because Ohio could use someone like FitzGerald running things. Especially with this clown still in charge:
http://www.plunderbund.com/...
The United Steelworkers released a new website this week, SaveOhioJobs.org, urging Governor Kasich to come back to the bargaining table to help save the jobs of nearly 1,000 Ormet employees who are now out of work and without health benefits.
Those layoffs came when the aluminum smelting companyshut down its Ohio factory last month after John Kasich’s Public Utilities Commission announced it would not provide the company a break on electricity rates. - Plunderbund, 11/15/13
If you would like to donate or get involved with FitzGerald's campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.edfitzgeraldforohio.com/