Back in December, the media in Ohio reported that DSCC Chair Sen. Bob Menendez had told Ohio Secretary of State/Democratic Senate candidate Jennifer Brunner the had "written Brunner off" because she wasn’t pulling in as much money as corporatist Democrat Lee Fisher:
The DSCC has all but written her off, however, and the establishment has turned to Fisher. In fact, Brunner said when she spoke with DSCC Chair Bob Menendez in Sept., he first told her that he "didn’t want to see a Democratic candidate at the end of the primary with zero dollars," and he followed up that his organization would go into the state to work against a candidate perceived as "being negative in the primary or not raising enough money."
Brunner said she responded: "If you do that, the women of Ohio will never forgive you." Menendez, she said, retorted: "I know you’re not scared of me, and I’m not scared of you."
One month and a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision later, Bob Menendez at the DSCC is sending out e-mails decrying the flood of corporate money the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision last week will result in. Except that Menendez wants you and me to give money to the DSCC so that corporatist Democrats like Lee Fisher get elected in Ohio instead of clean election progressives like Jennifer Brunner. (Fisher has received a maxed out donation from the President of Goldman Sachs).
There is no Senate candidate in the nation this year with a better record on campaign finance reform than Jennifer Brunner. In the 1980s, Jennifer Brunner worked in the offices of then Secretary of State Sherrod Brown (yes, that Sherrod Brown) on campaign finance issues in Ohio. After the 2004 disaster that was Ohio’s elections during Ken Blackwell’s reign of error, Jennifer Brunner turned Ohio from a national disgrace to a national model of clean and fair elections. Under her tenure, she’s even entered into legal settlements making it easier for minor party candidates to get ballot access and give their party recognition on the ballot as well.
The next Senator from Ohio will play an instrumental role during what could be at least two Supreme Court vacancies in their first term. As a former judge, Jennifer Brunner understands conservative judicial activism when she sees it. As a chief elections officer, she understands the complexities of election laws and the various methods used to try to undermine free and fair elections.
I’m proud to say that I’m working on the campaign to get Jennifer Brunner elected to the United States Senate. If you want to really send a message that our political system belongs to "We the People" and not "We the Corporations," please consider donating to Jennifer Brunner’s campaign, and not to Bob Menedez at the DSCC.
To learn more about Jennifer Brunner, be sure to check out her diaries on DailyKos or her campaign website.