Reorganization
As is required by law, the Clermont County Democratic Party conducted the party reorganization by electing a new Executive Committee and new Executive and Central Committee officers on Wednesday, May 27. Due to the pandemic, we were unable to meet in person to reorganize as we have done every two years in the past. Instead, the meeting was conducting online through Zoom, hosted by the Ohio Democratic Party, and livestreamed on our Facebook page. I want to thank all our Central Committee members for participating and for your patience and decency as we all dealt with a new way of meeting.
Congratulations to our Executive Committee members and our officers: Elaine Barnett, Executive Committee Vice Chair; Judy Miller, Executive Committee Treasurer; Patty Lawrence, Central Committee Chair; and Bonnie Carlier, Executive and Central Committee Secretary. We have a good team. I look forward to working with them, with our Central Committee, and with our Clubs. Finally, I thank the Executive Committee for re-electing me as Chair.
There is no secret that were divisions within the Party over the last two years. We must put those behind us. We are outnumbered in Clermont County already. Dividing against ourselves further diminishes our effectiveness. Now, more than ever, Clermont County needs an effective alternative to the one-party rule that has brought so much corruption into our county government.
Troubled Times
Unless you completely ignore the news, you are aware that we are living in very troubled times. Rather than focusing on what you have read and heard about, I want to bring to your attention an incident you may not know about. Sometime during May 29-30, bullets were fired into the Greene County Democratic Party Headquarters in Xenia, Ohio. Thankfully, as far as I know, no one was hurt. If you know Greene County Democratic Chair Doris Adams, I’m sure you will agree that it is difficult to think of anyone with greater kindness or benevolence.
I’m sure the incident in Greene County had nothing to do with the person currently serving as president of the United States having tweeted that “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.” Yeah. Right. The incident illustrates what we are up against. The far right has declared war. trump (I won’t give him the honor of using an initial capital letter in his name) is egging them on. Most “mainstream” Republicans at all levels are acquiescing by silence.
There are two takeaways from the Greene County incident. First, we absolutely must push ideas like the idea that it is ok to shoot at people of the other party back out onto the lunatic fringe from which they came. That can best be done by defeating donald trump in November. It is necessary for Joe Biden to win Clermont County to win Ohio’s electoral votes. It is essential that we get him more votes in Clermont County in 2020 than Mrs. Clinton got in 2016. That is an achievable goal.
Second, and I hate to say this, we need to be careful: not to lower our voices but to watch our backs. We are no more immune from violence in Clermont County than they are in Greene County, maybe less so. Don’t be scared. Don’t stop working. Do be careful.
Suppressing the Vote
It appears that Republicans understand that the more people who vote the worse they will do. Among other tactics to discourage voting, Ohio Republicans have introduced House Bill 680, which would change voting procedures for the November election. A non-exclusive list of what H.B. 680 would do is: (1) shorten by seven days the time for military and non-military voting by mail, (2) eliminate the last three days of early in-person voting, (3) repeal a law passed last year that directed the State to send every registered voter in Ohio an application for an absentee ballot, and (4) severely limit both state and local authorities’ ability to respond if the Corona virus makes voting a health risk this November. Reach out. Tell Doug Green (House Dist. 66), John Becker (House Dist. 65) and Terry Johnson (Senate Dist. 14) to vote against H.B. 680 and any similar legislation.
