JIM RENACCI'S 2012 "SEEKING COMMON GROUND" NOWHERE TO BE SEEN IN CURRENT "SHUTDOWN" & "DEBT CEILING" CRISES

UPDATE:  10/17/2013 AT 10:30 AM

Courtesy of the "Cleveland" Plain Dealer here are the comments of Stark County congressmen Jim Renacci (Republican - Wadsworth), Bob Gibbs (Republican - Holmes County) and Tim Ryan (Democrat - Niles).   Here is a LINK to confirming their votes (Renacci, no; Gibbs, no; Ryan, yes).

ORIGINAL BLOG

In the 2012 16th Congressional District race Wadsworth Republican Jim Renacci made big splash about his effort to encourage bipartisanship within the United States House of Representatives.

The Stark County Political Report has always been skeptical of Renacci's authenticity on his claimed willingness to "cross the aisle" to work with Democrats to do the very best that our elected representative can do for the benefit of Republicans, Democrats, independents and others of various political persuasions who populate the American electorate.

At the time of his "across the aisle" initiative, his race against Democrat Betty Sutton (an incumbent herself - the old 13th district - forced to run against Renacci because of decentenial Constitutionally required redistricting) was thought to be a close one.

Renacci obviously knew he was not in a "gerrymandered safe" district and under the right circumstances could lose the seat that he had wrestled from Democrat John Boccieri in 2010. (the old 16th which included all of Stark County)

The result?

A move towards "seeking political common ground."

In the 2010 match up against Boccieri, the rising political tide was definitely with the Republicans and Renacci took full advantage by emphasizing his Republicanism.

In 2012, there was much more political equilibrium across the nation and the "new" 16th was part of the shift in political sentiment.

Being the political animal he is, Renacci appeared to move off his strident partisanship into more of a "let's work together" mode.

He was quoted thusly in a Cleveland Plain Dealer piece in the run up to election day 2012:

According to Renacci's office, he and Carney [a Democrat from Delaware] are founding members of a bipartisan working group that regularly discusses ways Republicans and Democrats can work together. Members of the group have introduced legislation on issues including unemployment insurance, savings accounts for home buyers and reforming the budgeting process.

"Congressman Carney and I have worked closely over the last two years to achieve open dialogue and find common ground between our two parties in the House of Representatives," Renacci said in a press release. "While much of Washington is polarized and plagued by gridlock, we have focused on areas where we can work together to get America back on track."

Well, the Sutton challenge did not prove, in the final analysis, to be so challenging.

Consequently, Renacci appears to have gotten to feeling cocky and feeling no need to "reach across the aisle" has abandoned his bipartisan foray.

And just when we Americans are looking for Republicans and Democrats in Congress alike to step up and assume leadership "in seeking common ground" on getting out of the political stalemate induced government shutdown and impending (Thursday) impending debt ceiling crises, Renacci is nowhere to be seen.

His AWOL status is enough for the SCPR to conclude that the bipartisanship was a political ploy designed to get him by the 2012 election.

He seems to have slipped back into the highly divisive political rhetoric over the Affordable Care Act (also referred to as 'Obamacare;' used pejoratively by Republicans, but owned with pride by President Obama) which he used very effectively to defeat Boccieri in 2010.  Renacci was one of 63 Republicans swept into office in the Republican house-cleaning of that election.

Boccieri was among a handful of Democratic congressperson from marginal Democratic districts (2008) who were key in their votes for the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

From a recent WCPN-FM (Ideastream) interview (October 11th), here is an excerpt which shows Renacci's current preoccupation with Obamacare as an issue that is preventing Republicans (especially in the House) from reaching out to Democrats in order to end the national government "partial" shutdown which may escalate into American defaulting on its debts beginning this coming Thursday.

There are still many business members in the community who are unhappy with the president’s health care plan and want us to continue to do something there. 

There are many others who want us to work to get the government back open because they’re seeing a slide in their business.  And there are others who are a little bit concerned about interest rates and the credit markets with the debt ceiling. 

So I’m hearing various comments, always…some small business owners who are hurt very, very bad by the president’s health care plan, you know are very adamant that we need to make some changes to that.

Apparently, Renacci is part of that band of core Republicans in the House (thought to be about 80 members strong) who have been trying to use the shutdown and the debt ceiling crises as leverage to try to get at Obamacare.

President Obama, so far, is having none of it.

So who is getting hurt?

Many ordinary Americans, a number of whom live in the 16th.

Polls are showing that Americans are turning anti-incumbent especially if you are an incumbent Republican congressman who represents a district that is somewhat competitive.

The 16th is such a district.

While he is putting on a brave face in the WCPN interview and pooh-poohing any concern with polls showing that Republicans are getting hurt in the current crisis.

And, November, 2014, is a year away.

Voters have shown that they have a short memory and such is what Renacci is likely relying upon.

But maybe not so quick.

Yesterday, a USA Today published Pew Research poll came out showing that 74% of Americans want incumbents to be defeated next year.

The longer that the shutdown and the deficit ceiling default issues stay prominently in the news and begin to hurt more and more Americans, the likes of Jim Renacci ought to start worrying about their longevity in Congress.

The SCPR thinks Renacci, in particular, should worry because a second "seeking common ground" feint is not going to work.

For one thing, the crises and the attendant political vulnerabilities will likely cause promising candidates with the resources to run a strong campaign to take a new look at running against Renacci.

For another, when America, Ohio and 16th district citizens needed a bit of "reaching across the aisle" at "crunch time;" Jim Renacci was nowhere to be seen.

Stiff competition from "across the aisle" in the 2014 elections might well fire up 2013 memories of Renacci's failure to showing any bipartisanship whatsoever - notwithstanding his grandstanding on the matter in 2012 - "when it counted."

Maybe, just maybe, Renacci's 2012 ploy might come back and bite him in the "political tenders."

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO 16TH DISTRICT CONGRESSMAN JIM RENACCI'S "BIPARTISAN" BREAKFAST CLUB?

Serving who?

By the looks of things from an Associated Press report, second term Congressman Jim Renacci (Republican - Ohio's 16th congressional district [which includes north, northwest Stark County and a spike down into Canton {Democrat Canton Councilman's Kevin Fishers ward} to capture The Timken Company]), is serving partisan interests over and above the interests of his entire constituency be the voters Republicans, Democrats, independents or non-partisans.

Clearly, his "you" has to be a reference to staunchly Republican partisans.

So?

He's a Republican, isn't he?

Indeed, he is and notwithstanding the big ballyhoo he made last October - when the national civic group Jefferson Action made of his race against sitting Democratic congresswoman Betty Sutton (the old 13th congressional district) decided to focus on the race - about his "apparent" involvement in a bipartisan effort on his part to bring "a spirit of seeking common ground" to congressional decision making, the SCPR was skeptical of the authenticity of his claim.

Now that he triumphed over Sutton in what was thought to be at the time "an up for grabs - could go either way" seat, it appears that his feint towards reaching out to the Democrats in Congress is at an end.

For reminders of his dissembling move towards bipartisanship in the interest of the well being of the nation, here is an MSNBC link that served as a forum for Renacci's posturing.



Not only did Renacci make the MSNBC appearance, he also postured bipartisanship at the Jefferson Action forum (confirming:  see Jefferson Action video at the 17:00 minute mark)

As recently as April of this year the Plain Dealer was empowering/enabling Renacci's dessembling with a piece published on April 3, 2013.

But that was then.

It seems that Congressman Renacci has had "a change of heart."

Witness  a Associated Press piece (published locally in the Akron Beacon Journal) covering a Renacci August 15th in Wadsworth.

To underscore his obvious turn away from a supposed bipartisan inclination to out-and-out partisan Republican politics, take a look at these quotes out of the AP article:

It’s not the easiest thing when you only control one-third of the federal government,” said Renacci, R-Wadsworth, faulting the Democrats who control the Senate and the White House for the stalemate as he flipped through a series of PowerPoint slides intended to send a message that Republicans are focused on “Making Washington Work.

And:

This summer at the behest of their [political party] leaders, House Republicans like Renacci are fanning out across the nation to press this anti-Washington, blame-Democrats pitch at town hall-style meetings. They’re trying to counter claims that they are responsible for a “do nothing” House and feed on the public’s antipathy for anyone linked to Washington. (emphasis added)

Do ya think that the congressman is reaching out in a bipartisan fashion?

It is indeed disappointing that Renacci has proved not to be "the real deal" in searching for authentic bipartisanship solutions to pressing national problems in response to voter-desired action that Congress as a whole do just that.

Should the Democrats field a strong candidate against him next year when he is up for reelection, you can expect Renacci to do another feint towards bipartisanship.

For the SCPR, Jim Renacci is no different than folks he has criticized (e.g. Democrats John Boccieri and Betty Sutton) who, as he pointed out, were captives of their political caucus.

It is this sort of thing - triffling with the public's trust in candidate/office holders actually being what they say the are - that jaundices and jades those of us who do not buy into the partisan panaceas as workable solutions.

For most of us could care less about a Republican agenda or a Democratic agenda.

What we want is a reach out to the other in a "come let us reason together" fashion as a workable context to solving the very real problems of our nation, state and local communities.

In playing with our sentiments, hopes and dreams, Congressman Renacci has contributed to the increase in citizen cynicism that seems to abounding these days.

Congratulations Congessman Renacci in furthering his personal and political party agenda at the expense of the interests of the nation.

Hope that makes him feel a sense of achievement.

How he can ever utter the "bipartisan" word ever again is hard to see.

But as most American have come to expect, it would be surprising to see him not to have the effrontery to do exactly that.

That he and many, if not most, other politicians toy with us is "par for the [political] course."

In doing so, they undermine the public's trust that they say they so earnestly desire.

Trust has to be earned.

Renacci et al are no where near earning the trust of anyone but the most ardently partisan voters.

The rest of us vote "the lesser of two evils."

Swell, just swell, no?

(VIDEO: LOCAL/STATE OFFICIALS TALK FLOODING MITIGATION) CONNECTING "PHOTO OPS" TO LEGISLATIVE ACTION: 16TH DISTRICT CONGRESSMAN JIM RENACCI!

UPDATE:  08:00 AM

On June 19, 2012 the-then incumbent congressional candidate Jim Renacci (Republican - Wadsworth - Ohio's 16th congressional district which includes North Canton) made a big show of coming into North Canton to meet with North Cantonians who live astride the frequently flooding Zimber Ditch in a show of solidarity or was it?

A scant two weeks or so later (June 29, 2012) he joined:

• Congressman Bob Gibbs (Republican - Holmes County - Ohio's 7th Congressional District which includes most of the rest of Stark County), 
• Congressman Tim Ryan (Democrat - Youngstown - Ohio's 13th Congressional District which includes the Alliance area) and 
• United States Senator Sherrod Brown (Democrat) 

in voting for the “Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2012,” which extends the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years and makes reforms to the program."  (reference:  Insurance Networking News LINK).

Only U.S. Senator Rob Portman (Republican) voted against the measure which also included a surface transportation re-authorization bill and a student loan measure.

The vote could prove costly to flood-prone-property owners in North Canton and other such affected areas throughout Stark County.

According to Stark Emergency Services Director Tim Warstler, currently qualified owners receive a federal subsidy which keeps their flood insurance premiums affordable.  Currently, he says the typical flood insurance fee ranges between $1,000 and $2,000 but that he knows of one property owner who pays an $8,000 annual premium.

Maybe likely to be affected Stark Countians (probably about 20% of the county's flood victims) shouldn't be all that unhappy.

They could be worse off.

In The Report's talk with Warstler,  he agreed that under the new law a home owner on the outer banks of North Carolina (as an example:  Nags Head) will likely be paying $25,000 a year for flood insurance.

Why so high?  Because about once every ten years a Nags Head house is going to get swept out to sea.

Insurance Networking News says that the reform and modernization includes:

• phasing out subsidies for many properties, 
• raising the cap on annual premium increases from 10 to 20 percent, 
• allowing multifamily properties to purchase NFIP policies, [and],
• imposing minimum deductibles for flood claims,

On Monday, April 15th (10:00 a.m.), Warstler will be at a work session of the Stark County commissioners to explain premium ramifications specific to Stark Countians.

Ever since Commissioners Bernabei and Creighton encountered irate flood victim Perry Township residents at a community meeting (LINK to SCPR blog on meeting) on June 15, 2011 (as they were traversing Stark County to get support for a county sales tax ballot initiative), they have kept their eye on the ball in terms of trying to find solutions to Stark's chronic flooding problems.

Less than a month ago (March 19th - LINK to SCPR blog covering the event), the commissioners held a work session with key Stark County officials in an endeavor to explore ways and means for Stark to start actually taking measured and planned steps to - over the longer haul - get manageable control over Stark's flooding problem.

On March 28th, North Canton Council President Jon Snyder brought to North Canton's Civic Center a number of officials to address the city's Zimber Ditch generated flooding problem.

Included were:

• State Rep. Kirk Schuring (Republican - Jackson Township) whose 48th Ohio House District includes North Canton,
• Steve Ferryman and Josh Stigmon of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Emergency Management Division,
• Director Tim Warstler of the Stark County Emergency Management Agency,
• Bob Fonte the executive director of the Stark Parks (who, himself, is a hydraulics engineer)

The SCPR camera was also present the meeting and here is a video of the opening of the session:



Noteworthy to Stark Countians is a statement made in the video by Representative Schuring, to wit:

You can put it on me.  I will be the person who will try to be the conduit with all the elected officials be it federal, state or local to see if we can get you the solutions you need [to solve the Stark County flooding problem]

Perry officials have jumped on the bandwagon with the county commissioners' effort as indicated by this email:

In contrast to Renacci, Gibbs et al local officials are here day-in, day-out.

Congressman Renacci was only a "little late" in taking up a concern about North Canton's Zimber Ditch problem in showing up on June 12, 2012 for flooding that took place in July, 2011 (LINK to ABJ article).

But "better late than never," no?

At least from Renacci's perspective.   He had what at the time appeared to be a highly competitive race to retain his seat in the election of November, 2012.

For North Cantonians who have a persisting flooding problem, it should now be rather obvious that his appearance then was a feigned interest in his pursuit of reelection.

A couple of weeks or so later he was voting against their interests.

Such is what We Americans have come to expect of our politicians.  Especially congressional types.

And they wonder why we hold them in such disdain?

ELECTION ANALYSIS: IS JIM RENACCI ABOUT TO FOOL US ALL?

From the results of Tuesday's election, it is still apparent that America is deeply divided along partisan political lines.

Here in Stark County, the results of the Obama/Romney face off:

A mere 644 votes of 173,272 cast separate the two.

So Stark County could have gone either way and still may switch inasmuch as the provisional ballots voted on Tuesday will not be counted until the week of November 19th.  About 5,900 provisional/absentee ballots remain to be counted.

One of the consequences of Obama's reelection will be that Obamacare will in fact become fully implemented except as modified by a United States Supreme Court decision earlier this year.

One of the most strident voices against Obamacare since he ran against and defeated former Democratic congressman John Boccieri in 2008 is 16th District Republican congressman Jim Renacci.

Based on his continuing harangue and rail against Obamacare ever since the '08 campaign, one would expect that he will join hands with nearly all the other 234 Republicans elected to the new Congress on Tuesday to do everything but throw in the kitchen sink to make the Affordable Care Act (the official name of the health care reform law of 2008) unworkable.

But maybe not.

About a year out from this week's election, Congressman Renacci burst forth with an announcement on MSNBC that he had formed a bipartisan breakfast group.

Here is the MSNBC video of the announcement.



And, as recent as his and Sutton's appearance before the Jefferson Action citizen-participation project in Summit County (July through October), the need for more bipartisanship action in Congress seemed to be a continuing and emphatic Renacci theme.

The SCPR is somewhat skeptical of Renacci's new found "come let us reason together" way of being, but it could be for real and his Stark County constituents should hold his feet to the fire on his apparent change of heart.

As noted above, he has been a firebrand against Obamacare.  Now that Renacci has lost on the issue given the reelection of Obama, he should square up with political realities and be a constructive force within his blossoming breakfast group to find ways and means across the isle to have Obamacare be the very best in health care that it can possibly be.

While he has lost on the debate over the Affordable Care Act, Renacci did win his reelection bid over Democrat Betty Sutton on a relatively narrow scale in the "new 16th" (constituted for 2012 by the Constitutionally required decennial redistricting) which includes parts of Cuyahoga, Medina, Portage, Stark [Jackson, Lawrence and parts of Lake Township], Summit and Wayne counties.

The vote breakdown: (unofficial count)

To The Report, his personal post-election victory over Sutton and his supposed campaign commitment to bipartisanship will be put to the test on the health care issue.

Will he be a help or will he continue to be a hindrance on whether or not Obamacare gets accepted and embraced by Americans?

The SCPR for one will be watching to see whether Renacci's breakfast group will produce nourishment for those of us who want Congress (with a favorable rating ranging from 9 to 17 percent) to find solutions to the nation's problems through the political parties reaching out to one another.

Is the bipartisan breakfast group the real deal or will it prove to have been a cynical political manipulation designed to get Jim Renacci reelected?

PART III - A SCPR CRITIQUE OF THE JEFFERSON ACTION RENACCI/SUTTON CITIZENS FORUM

Jefferson Action (a 501c4 non-profit civic education organization) provided citizens of the 16th congressional district a splendid public service in selecting the district to be a focal point of a citizen inquiry into candidates Jim Renacci's (R - Wadsworth) and Betty Sutton's (D - Copley) view on various economic issues at play in their match up against one another to see which of the two will remain in Congress.

Renacci and Sutton (both currently in Congress [Renacci - the 16th], [Sutton - the 13th]) were forced to run against one another because U.S. Constitution required decennial redistricting required a reallocation of congressional seats across America with population losing states [Ohio was one of them, losing two seats due to population loss] ceding seats to states gaining population.

The Jefferson Action process (a seven day one spread out over three months:  July, September & October) involved:

• In July,  getting a 24 member randomly chosen 16th District citizen group (which actually ended up being 23 number) and identifying the boilerplate issues, to wit:
• Weak Economic growth,
• Unemployment, and
• the Federal Deficit and Debt
• In September, preparing the citizens group to acquire a depth of information about the issues with which to frame specific questions of each Renacci and Sutton bounded by the generalized issues of weak economic growth, unemployment and the federal deficit and debt,
• In October, (the SCPR was present and videotaped both candidate interviews) meeting each of the candidates face-to-face (The Report being one of the media present), but separate from each other, for about 75 minutes of a back and forth on pre-framed question with spontaneous follow up.

While The Report applauds the project having been put together and implemented, it is important to the integrity of the process that Jefferson Action, the citizen-participants and the candidates performance be reviewed and critiqued.

Such is the focus of this blog.

Prior blogs have honed in:

• on the organization of the project with an SCPR evaluation on whether or not Jefferson Action put together a "sustainable" model for other civic involvement organizations to follow (LINK),
• on the preparation of the citizens group in terms of whether or not the members were adequately prepared to frame meaningful questions, both prepared and spontaneous follow up, to pose to the question and designed to compel the candidates to be responsive to the questions asked (LINK to a prior blog which dealt somewhat with the preparation phase.  

As previously stated, this blog is an analysis of how effectively Jefferson Action, the citizen group members, and the candidates themselves responded to the challenge.

A wealth of materials covering the entire seven days is available at Jefferson Action's website (LINK).

In hindsight, looking at what appears to be a consistently "skewed" citizen evaluation in Renacci's favor, the SCPR believes that the "random" selection process was not thoroughly thought out and resulted in a group composition predisposed to the congressman's viewpoint.

In reviewing the citizen-group's "votes" on the candidates' responses to the questions presented to them on weak economic growth, unemployment and the federal debt, the SCPR's take is that the result was not as much as thoughtful analysis of the candidate responses as Jefferson Action would undoubtedly preferred, but appears to have been laced with underlying political preference.

Moreover, it appears (again, in hindsight, seeing the groups' findings - LINK) that the stronger personalities within the group were Republican "right-of-center" types (one person, in particular, stood out) who prevailed in terms of getting their views accepted by the more neutral members of the group.

A solution?

Jefferson Action should have put more effort in ensuring that the group participants were eight solid Republicans, eight solid Democrats, and eight solid independents. 

It is very easy to check historical voting records in primaries.  Determining who has voted consistently and which political party ballot they have taken or that they have taken no party ballot at all is a walk in the park.

Also, pre-selection interviews from a pool of potential selectees should resulted in the ferreting out of overpowering personalities.

It was obvious to The Report that one personality in particular was driving the engine of JA selected group and possibly was a key factor in slanting the vote of the group as a whole towards Renacci.

The SCPR's take on the Renacci/Sutton answers was that the quality of  their answers was pretty much of a draw. 

It seems to yours truly that the citizen-participant follow ups were not strong/persistent enough to have any hope of driving the candidates off their talking points.

And consequently seasoned political observers would be hard pressed to say that one candidate was more effectively responsive that the other.

Here is an example.

One of Renacci's bromides at the forum, which is a well-known universal talking point among many Republican candidates, is the insistence that lower taxes produce jobs.

Well, there is another point-of-view.

Democrats (and, of course Congresswoman Sutton) rightly or wrongly, are fond of saying "we have tried that and where did it lead us?"

Democrats in Congress (including Sutton) and President Obama favor massive infrastructure investment a la President Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal."

But the follow up questions, failed:

• to draw out distinct clarity on the differences between the candidates,  and
• to press for evidence that one answer was more right for the country than the other.

The citizens could easily have asked Renacci to provide data that the tax cut approach has worked.

And anticipating what clearly was going to be a main tenet of what Sutton was going to say, why wouldn't "inquiring minds" want to ask him what part a "spending for infrastructure" might play in job recovery and economic recovery.

Sutton should have been asked for economic studies that are evidence that the tax cut scenario does not pan out.

And Sutton should have been pressed on her infrastructure argument.  For beginners: what was good for the 1930s and 1940s might will work in 2012, no?  The candidates should have been pressed to provide evidence for his/her point-of-view.

To be fair to the citizens, the SCPR believes the structure of the separate interviews was inadequate to the task at hand and greatly hampered the type of vetting of the candidates that might have been more enlightening as to which view offered solutions to what ails the country on the economic front.

A more beneficial format would have been for it to have been a townhall-esque setting like the one that Romney and Obama will be having Tuesday night.

Jefferson Action's 16th congressional district citizens forum project was a noble enterprise.

But it could have been so much more!

(VIDEOS) PART II - JEFFERSON ACTION CITIZEN GROUP PREPARES IN SEPTEMBER TO MEET & QUESTION CANDIDATES RENACCI & SUTTON IN OCTOBER

Readers of this blog should have read Part I (LINK) prior to reading this blog.

PART II - JEFFERSON ACTION PREPARING ITS CITIZEN GROUP FOR OCTOBER 7, 2012 Q&A WITH CONGRESSPERSONS RENACCI & SUTTON

It all begin back in July of this year.

A non-profit civic organization named Jefferson Action (JA) brought together an effort to enable and empower voters in the 16th congressional district to know the candidates better.

This is how JA describes beginnings of its project:

On July 27-29, the first Citizens Election Forum met to discuss the economic problems facing Ohio’s District 16 and identify the most important economic issues for the Renacci and Sutton campaigns to focus on. Twenty-four citizens randomly selected from the district worked hard over the course of three days to identify three economic issues they want the Renacci and Sutton [LINK] campaigns to address. In the end the group agreed that weak economic growth, unemployment and the federal budget/deficit are the economic issues the candidates should address.

The SCPR believes that a major impediment to everyday citizens interacting in a critical/analytical way with their elected representatives is their unprepardness.

We all know the feeling.

Unprepared for anything equals insecurity.

Oh yes, if the citizen has a particular problem they can and often do scream and yell at their elected public official.  But to do so is to risk coming off as a "hot-head" not to be taken seriously and thereby plays right into the hands of an experience-advantaged politico who has no answer.

A citizen/politician match up in terms of prior preparation is in fact a mismatch.

If nothing else, the official will have honed up on his/her talking points and likely thereby to make onlookers see the citizen as being a politically ignorant person.

Accordingly, it was very empowering for Jefferson Action to have gone out an gotten nine experts (the September 20 -23 sessions) in economics and politics to meet with its 24 randomly selected across the 16th congressional district citizen-participants.

To repeat, the framework for the Q&A with Renacci and Sutton was centered on three broad issues of the candidates' respective campaigns.

• Weak Economic growth,
• Unemployment, and
• The Federal Deficit and Debt

For you and I, carefully chosen experts are seemingly not in the cards.

Accordingly, the Jefferson Action model (as put together as its 5th project) is  not a realistic one for ordinary citizens in that respect.

However, there may be a viable alternative.

In this day and age of a vibrant Internet, one can become, if so disposed, self-educated on the issues in any campaign.  But there is no doubt about it, it takes a lot of time and effort to do so.

A threshold consideration is therefore:  whether or not it is realistic to expect folks busy with their work-a-day worlds will have the time and resources to take advantage of the Internet (and other) resources?

The SCPR thinks not unless a ready-made resource is put together that is easily accessible.

Perhaps Jefferson Action could lead the way in the following ways:

• for starters, being a rallying organization for the creation of citizen groups in competitive congressional districts across America which meet at centrally located public libraries and thereby able to have Internet access,
• to make available web-accessible "simple to use" organizational materials,
• to make its staff available via various mediums as consultants and resource persons for citizen groups to avail themselves of,
• assisting citizen groups formed to obtain commitments from congresspersons running in the chosen districts to participate in a format like that employed by JA in the Renacci/Sutton exercise,
• in developing an web page which everydays access to ask questions of a panel of experts assembled by JA,
• to provide document templates which provide content and timeline structures which lead the citizen groups from the preparation process through developing vetted and highly relevant issue Q&As, and
• helping the citizens to evaluate the Q&A responses and provide a web-based depository for anyone to access as an aid to deciding in who to vote for in the chosen districts.

Jefferson Action has made a tremendous contribution towards facilitating a reasoned public dialogue in the conduct of political campaigns in its five projects.

However, unless the organization creates a follow-up, sustainable and continuing effort, it could be remembered for doing a good public work that has life only as a fading memory of those who participated in and witnessed parts of it.

Here are a series of videos published by Jefferson Action showing actual preparation stage sessions of its 16th congressional district citizen group.

PART I (VIDEOS) MATCH UP: (SORT OF) 16TH DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES RENACCI AND SUTTON AT JEFFERSON ACTION ON SATURDAY. DID EITHER WIN IN THE MINDS OF 24 16TH DISTRICT CITIZENS? ALSO, FROM THE SCPR PERSPECTIVE?

INTRODUCTION

This Stark County Political Report blog is "Part 1" of a multi-part presentation of a Jefferson Action (JA) "of, by and for the people"  Renacci/Sutton project that The Report will be spreading out over the next week.

(Note:  The Report will be publishing additional blogs on other Stark County political topics during the run on the JA event series)

For a grand total of seven days over a number of weekends (culminating on this Sunday - October 7th - Jefferson Action (LINK) has brought together a group of 24 citizens of Ohio's 16th Congressional District (with the 130th Congress which takes office in January, 2013) to become informed about the campaigns of Republican Jim Renacci (Wadsworth) and Democrat Betty Sutton (Copley) and at the end to evaluate their candidacies.

Both Renacci and Sutton are congressional incumbents.  Renacci has represented the 16th congressional district for the past two years.  Sutton has represented the 13th congressional district for the past six years.

They were thrown together because of U.S. constitutionally required (post-every-10 year-census) redistricting.  Ohio lost population and correspondingly two congressional seats from 18 to 16.

The race is too close to call for political prognosticators.

And it is drawing the infusion of millions of dollars of outside-of-the-16th District political actions committees.

While it is unlikely that Republican control of Congress is at stake, it could happen but a more likely and realistic scenario is whether or not Democrats can narrow the Republican margin of control.

WHO IS JEFFERSON ACTION AND WHY IS THIS MINNESOTA NON-PROFIT INVOLVED IN OHIO?

First, take a couple of minutes to view this YouTube video produced by Jefferson Action in order to get an overview of what the organization is about.



Next, one should ask:  why is Jefferson Action involved in projects of citizen education (the Renacci/Sutton project is the fifth such project) in pursuit of its mission?  JA describes it mission as being:

a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to returning democracy to the people. Our mission is making the informed voice of everyday citizens heard — and making sure elected officials and politicians address the issues.

Politicians spend too much time on attack ads and too little time listening to the people. Special interests have hijacked the debate and steered it into the gutter.

Jefferson Action offers a solution. Our Citizens Election Forums are a remarkable tool with a track record of satisfying the voting public’s hunger for action and accountability.

Beyond the obvious and sincere civic aspirations of JA, the SCPR believes that the the 16th District was chosen because of:

• the tightness of the race, 
• the fact that two incumbents are running against each other, 
• Renacci's loose association to right wing Tea Party movement and Sutton's "left-of-political-center" stance, and
• the respective Renacci and Sutton articulation/communication skills

played large into JA selection of Ohio and the 16th to focus on.

A MODEL FOR ALL CITIZENS TO FOLLOW CLOSELY

The SCPR invites the readers of The Report to digest much of the information that was presented by Jefferson Action in the form of providing a framework (via Jefferson Action personnel, college professors and others) so that the citizen-participants were equipped and empowered to question both Renacci and Sutton, to mull over the answers, discuss among themselves the answers and to endeavor to come up with some sort of an evaluation of the candidates and their campaigns.

Of course, the SCPR will present (through the courtesy of Jefferson Action in the sense of making the Renacci/Sutton material available on its website which can LINKed to direct) the candidates in their presentations and a summary of the citizen-evaluations and The Report will offer an assessment of the candidates (parsing the video of their respective JA presentations), their campaigns and the citizen-evaluators assessments.

Due to the exhaustive work done by JA and the citizen-participants, as indicated above the SCPR will be spreading blogs out over seven days.

Stark County does have a direct stake in the outcome of the 16th District congressional race.

But whether or not you as a reader of the SCPR live in the 16th, following closely along with the JA project will equip you to cast a more informed vote in your own congressional race; be it the 7th (Democrat Healy-Abrams v. Republican Gibbs) or the 13th (Democrat Tim Ryan v. Republican Marisha Agana).

Moveover, following the JA Renacci/Sutton model will certainly put you in a position to critically evaluate your candidates and better able to make more persuasive arguments to your friends, neighbors, family and community members as to why they should support the candidate that you have become convinced is the best candidate.

WHERE TO START?

For starters, readers of this blog owe to themselves to take the time out to watch the Q&A between the citizens and the candidates.

Just as the citizen-participants invested considerable time in informing themselves, 

Here is the Jefferson Action YouTube video of Congressman Renacci (the old 16th):

(Note:  The SCPR took a video of the event and in breaking down the film by candidate point-by-point will be using said video)



And here is the Jefferson Action YouTube video of Congresswoman Sutton (the old 13th)



In Part II tomorrow, the SCPR begins an assessment of the candidates, their campaigns and the JA citizen-participant evaluation of the candidates and their campaigns.

RENACCI SHOWS WHY SO MANY AMERICANS DISDAIN CONGRESS?

On Friday, the SCPR received an e-mail from 16th District Congressman Jim Renacci (Republican - Wadsworth) which, on the face of it, seemed to be a description of laudable bipartisan legislation he was undertaking.

Renacci is engaged in the political fight of his life to retain the 16th District congressional seat (reconstituted due to decennial redistricting as required by the U.S. Constitution) because the redistricting process threw Democratic Congresswoman Betty Sutton (now representing the 13th) into the 16th.

(NOTE:  The SCPR has sought a reaction to the Renacci claim to be on the side of those struggling to redeem their credit standing, but has not received a response as of the publication of this blog)

In his email, Renacci said (in part):

... Representative Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, and I brought some significant national attention to the credit reporting bill we introduced last week ... .

Renacci directed readers of the email to a Wall Street Journal Op-ed authored by himself and Ellison.

Hmm?

He goes on to say:

The substance of the bill is actually quite simple. It would allow utility and telecom companies to report on-time payments from customers to the three credit rating agencies. Right now, utility companies are only allowed to report when people are late with their payments. The way I see it, if a utility company can ding your credit, shouldn’t they also have the ability to help you rebuild it? 

Double down on the "hmm?

Jim Renacci (who reportedly has a $37 million fortune) concerned about the plight of a number of the 47% down and outers who Mitt Romney has written off?  Interesting, no?

Go on Congressman!

This additional reporting can help those without access to other forms of credit – so-called “credit invisibles” – build their scores. It can also help those who may have made a mistake or two in the past recover from the damage done.

Triple down on the "hmm?"

But, of course, the SCPR does not "take at face value" what anyone says, no matter who they are.

So why is this seemingly good deed suspect to the SCPR?

Well, here is the list:

• It is a little late in coming.  
• Renacci became congressman on January 1, 2011 and so how is it that he waits until September 12, 2012 some 57 days before he is up for re-election in an extremely tight race (which a number of pundit figure he is behind in before he becomes the prime sponsor of H.R. 6363?
• Those needing credit repair didn't suddenly materialize about two months before the election, did they?
• Despite the congressmen's claim that HR 6363 will help the down-and-out rebuild their credit scores, there are those who believe that Renacci's bill will actually hurt the "credit-impaired."  One such organization is the National Consumer Law Center.  The Center objected as follows in a letter to Renacci (dated September 12th; LINK to the NCLC letter) that:
• in Ohio, for instance, 21% of utility customers have a history of paying late,
• a resulting low credit score "can put a target on consumer's backs for predatory lenders such as fee-harvester credit cards, who rely on pre-screened lists of consumers with bad credit."
• would be employers might back off from hiring those with a history of late pay on utility bills,
• insurance companies might well use the reports to charge these folks higher insurance rates,
• There is only a 3% chance that the Renacci bill will become law which makes it pretty clear that he has introduced the bill to make it appear he is consumer friendly knowing full well that it is remote at best that the bill will ever pass even if one wants to by his spin that it help the down-and-out as against an organization (the NCLC) that just might know a little more about how to help the down-and-out than Renacci does.

Below is some information from GovTrack.us which shows how little chance Renacci's initiative has of ever making it into law.

By the way GovTrack.us describes itself thusly:

GovTrack.us is a tool by Civic Impulse, LLC to help the public research and follow legislation in the United States Congress and the state legislatures. Our goal is to promote and innovate government transparency, civic engagement, and civic education through novel uses of technology.  (LINK to analysis of time track of Renacci's legislation)

So as far as the SCPR is concerned it is pretty evident that Congressman Renacci has come up with this piece of legislation in order to fool the people into thinking he has become a friend of a number of the 47% who are not supportive of his political party.

It is efforts like Rencci's that when discovered for what they are (a cynical use of legislative processes for individual political advantage and manipulation) that contributes to the 17% approval rate that the American public has towards congressmen/women.

Take a look at the polling picture Congressman Renacci is helping to paint!

(VIDEO) SEE/HEAR MATTHEWS, CREIGHTON, GIBBS & RENACCI IN LEAD-IN SPEECHES TO VP CANDIDATE PAUL RYAN SPEECH

The face of the Republican Party in Stark County is Stark County Commissioner Janet Creighton.  Not Stark GOP chairman Jeff Matthews.

Sure he was first up in the run-up to Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan taking the microphone.  But Jeff Matthew has never been elected to anything from Stark County's complete voter base.

Janet Creighton has.

She has been Stark County recorder, Stark County auditor, mayor of Canton and now Stark County commissioner.

However, Matthews was first at the lectern on Thursday and therefore the SCPR presents his introduction to the festivities.



While there is no doubt that Commissioner Creighton is a committed Republican, she is one of those staunch partisans who knows how to separate the Stark County community-at-large interests from partisan politics. There were few at Thursday's event the SCPR believes cannot do so (e.g. state Rep. Christina Hagan, R - Marlboro).  Hagan would do well to be schooled in the appropriateness of the how, when, and where of partisan zeal at the feet of Creighton.

Here is Creighton in all her "appropriate" Republican glory on Thursday.



A newcomer to Stark County is Congressman Bob Gibbs (a Republican from Holmes County).  By the SCPR take on the upcoming election he could be facing an upset at the hands of Democrat Joyce Healy-Abrams (brother of Mayor William J. Healy, II of Canton).

Because of decentennial redistricting, he no longer has the comfort zone of running in the district he has been serving in (the 18th).  About 70% of the 18th is missing from the new 7th District which includes most of Stark County and all of Canton (except The Timken Company complex which 16th District Congressman Jim Reanacci had gerrymandered into his district).

It's always a challenge to defeat an incumbent,  but perhaps an issue like Paul Ryan's prescription for reigning in the entitlement program Medicare costs (possibly passing on insurance premium costs in excess of a government provided voucher to recipients) might be the godsend that candidates like Healy-Abrams need to pull a victory over an incumbent Republican off.

Here is what Gibbs had to say about Ryan and his policies in the lead-up to Ryan's appearance.



And speaking of Jim Renacci (who is facing a challenge of his own from Democrat incumbent Congresswoman Betty Sutton of Copley, Summit County [now the 13th District but facing off against Renacci in the 16th because of redistricting]); he was given the honor of the direct introductory remarks bringing Paul Ryan on stage.

If it turns out that the Ryan Budget Plan which is perceived by many Americans as being "the beginning of the end of Medicare as we know it" results in his defeat at the hand of Sutton; whether or not (post-mortem-election) he will be wanting to take these words back?

RENACCI & SUTTON: AN "UNUSUAL & SORT OF" DEBATE?

What's this?

The people get to decide what questions get asked of the candidates?

And to evaluate the answers for public dissemination?

Indeed!

Several days ago the campaigns of Republican Jim Renacci and Democrat Betty Sutton agreed to participate in a debate sponsored by Jefferson Action on October 6th, 2012 at the Radisson Hotel Akron/Fairlawn sometime in the morning.  The exact hour the debate will begin has yet to be set.

Renacci, who is the sitting 16th district congressman, and Sutton, who is the sitting 13th district congresswoman, were thrown into this race against each other because Ohio lost two seats (from 18 down to 16) due to a loss of population in the 2010 census.

As far as the SCPR is concerned, this is a debate to see more than most debates because the questions will be framed by 24 random 16 congressional district constituents (the new district).

According to a press release issued by Jefferson Action (re:  Reclaim November, Ohio!) on August 10th:

The forum (Ohio Citizens Election Forum) will gather 24 randomly selected residents for an intensive, seven-day (the six day immediately preceding the debate and, of course, October 6th itself) exercise in learning and discussion focused on economic issues.

The subject matter of the unusual and  sort of  debate will be:  weak economic growth, unemployment and the federal budget deficit and debt.

The Report describes the debate as being unusual and sort of  because Renacci and Sutton will each appear separately for an hour of questioning by the citizen panel.  Panel members will then report back to the public on their impressions:

(in the words of the release) on how well each candidate addressed the issues, and whether they’re campaigning on the issues — or basing their campaigns on attacks and negative soundbites.

Space will be made available to both the public and the media.  However, the forum will not be available on "live" media.

The Stark County Political Report applauds Jefferson Action for generating the idea of a discussion of economic issues by Renacci and Sutton and also that the questions will come from everyday citizens.

The Jefferson Action group says of itself:

Jefferson Action is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to returning democracy to the people. Our mission is making the informed voice of everyday citizens heard — and making sure elected officials and politicians address the issues. Our Reclaim November, Ohio! project aims at making the voice of the people heard by candidates in Ohio’s hotly contested 16^th Congressional District.

Based in St. Paul, Minn., Jefferson Action uses the Citizens Election Forum process to bring together randomly selected citizens to consider important issues. The citizens are educated by experts representing a wide range of viewpoints. The group then recommends a course of action.  Jefferson Action lets the public know if the politicians are addressing the important issues – or simply attacking one another.

While there may be other debates between Renacci and Sutton to take in, as far as The Report is concerned, this is one for those Stark Countians who are part of the 16th to see!

WISH UPON A STAR: WISH RENACCI WAS MORE LIKE RETIRING CONGRESSMAN STEVE LATOURETTE

 

Do they match up?

Not really.

According to Open Congress, a non-profit, non-partisan civic organization, this is how they stack up against one another.

When Renacci ran against the-then Congressman John Boccieri in 2010 in the 16th Congressional District (which then included all of Stark County), he made a big deal out of the fact that Boccieri voted with Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party 95% of the time.

And the Stark County Political Report agrees 95% is way too high of a percentage for party line voting.

But now we learn that nearly two years into his first term that Renacci has voted with John Boehner and the Republican Party 93% of the time.

What a disappointment, no?

And, we should add, what a hypocrite!

Recently,  LaTourette (first elected in 1994) announced that he was not running for reelection to the 113th Congress which begins in January of 2013.  He represents the 14th congressional district.

Reason why?

According to LaTourette (Retiring Rep. Steve LaTourette: You have to ‘hand over your wallet and your voting card’ to extremes, The Washington Post, July 31, 2012, Rsoalind Helderman):

“I have reached the conclusion that the atmosphere today and the reality that exists in the House of Representatives no longer encourages the finding of common ground,” ...

...  [to rise in party ranks, politicians must now hand over] “your wallet and your voting card” [to party extremes] ... .

Because of his inclination to try to find common ground with Democrats in Congress and because he did not raise enough money for the Republican Party cause, LaTourette likely was not going to be named chair of the Labor-HHS subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee according to Roll Call (a Washington-based political publication).

Coupled with other frustrations, the prospect of highly partisan politics playing large in his committee assignment and chairmanship as a senior ranking Republican was likely "the straw that broke the camel's back" in terms of LaTourette running for reelection.

But none of the "selling out to my political party" apparently bothers Jim Renacci.

He is right in line with a trend that has been manifest since the early 1990s.

 

When LaTourette entered Congress, it was much more likely that a congressman would seek to work across the aisle to do the people's business and he fit right in.

In 2012, "finding common ground" is viewed as being politically naive and is the perfect environment for Renacci who obviously believes that the Republican Party is the reservoir of all that is good for America.

Apparently, his opponent Democrat Betty Sutton (currently 13th District congresswoman forced to run against Renacci because of decentenial redistricting) is cut out of the same cloth as Renacci.  Her Democratic Party loyalty factor is 94%.

Undoubtedly, they deserve each other. 

But the election of either one will mean that tens of thousands of 16th District constituents will go unrepresented because the congress person of the opposite political party was elected.

Shame on both of them for putting partisanship over the common public good!

And we all should lament to the political demise of the likes of Steve LaTourette.

RENACCI GIVEBACK A SIGN OF TROUBLE IN HIS CAMPAIGN TO RETAIN THE 16TH DISTRICT SEAT?

It is looking more and more to the SCPR that Republican Jim Renacci might be panicking a bit about the prospects of his maintaining a seat in the United States Congress.

With a poll (done by Normington, Petts & Associates) coming out in early July showing fellow-incumbent and Democrat Betty Sutton (redistricting is forcing them to run against one another) in the lead 41% to 38%, one could understand a little bit of concern.

But The Report's take on Renacci's campaign mode is that he must know something that the rest of us don't?  Well, what could that be?  How about an "internal" poll showing an even greater spread in favor of Sutton?

Those of us familiar with political campaigns know that the general public never sees the light of day on internal polls except if one happens to show a candidate way ahead.  Even then the campaigns do not talk numbers.  The candidate and staff merely takes on a smugness about themselves that betrays what they are not revealing to the public.

But there are other signs that Renacci figures himself to be in trouble and is scrambling to turn things around.

Let's focus on some of the other signs.

First and foremost is the flap about his having received about $100,250 in campaign contributions from employees of Suarez Industries Incorporated.  In a story broken by the Toledo Blade on August 19, 2011 (Canton firm's workers making unusual donations), writer Tony Cook made the following points:

• "All together, 17 employees from Canton-based Suarez Corporation have contributed to one or both candidates, according to federal campaign filings. Sixteen of those employees (and six of their spouses) have given $5,000, the maximum amount allowed under federal election law."
• [A company spokesperson] 'said the company did not reimburse employees or provide money for the contributions, though she later emphasized that she couldn't "speak on the behalf of anyone, other than our brand and products.' Federal campaign finance law prohibits a corporation from providing bonuses or salary increases to employees to reimburse them for political contributions."

Initially, Renacci just blew off Democratic leadership expressed suspicions that he - Renacci - may have been the person who came up with the idea for Suarez employees (who did not have much if any track record of contributing to political campaigns in the past) to make individual contributions.

The FBI picked up on the contributions and embarked on an investigation of whether or not they were improperly (by the standards of campaign finance law) made.

Congresswoman Sutton demanded that Renacci return the questioned contributions when the FBI investigation became public knowledge this past May.

Renacci refused saying through a campaign spokesperson that he would "wait and see" how the FBI investigation turned out.

His approach was quite different from that than fellow Republican and Ohio secretary of state Josh Mandel who is running to unseat Democrat Sherrod Brown from the U.S. Senate.

As soon as the FBI action became known, Mandel immediately took measures to return about $105,000 in political donations he had received from Suarez employees in the same fashion as Renacci.

Okay.  Sounds like a reasonable difference of approach, no?

If Renacci had stayed the course, yes.  But he didn't.  In an abrupt reversal, last Friday Renacci announced the was returning the $100,250 to the Suarez employees contributors.

His reason?

To take the matter off the table as a campaign controversy so that he and Sutton could get on with discussing the substantive issues of the campaign.

Hmm?  Does he really think Betty Sutton is not going the harp and harp and harp some more about the Suarez thing?

Pretty politically naive, if he does, no?

A second sign that a sense of urgency may be setting in with Renacci has to do his whining about being stalked by videographers.  It appears that he is indeed being tracked by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and by American Bridge which is thought by some to be Democratic congressional candidates' "unofficial" opposition research arm.

What Renacci fails to say is that "opposition research" is Politics 101 and undoubtedly he and national Republican organizations are undoubtedly tracking Congresswoman Sutton.

It appears to The Report that Renacci is whining because he fears that the Democrat researchers may come up with material that could be a difference maker in this close, close race.

The question that yours truly has is why Renacci in being so sensitive to be tracked and monitored?  Does he know that there are politically explosive skeletons to be discovered?

The Report doubts that such is the case because certainly the Boccieri campaign would have discovered them (if they existed) in Renacci's successful campaign to unseat Boccieri in 2010.

So the answer is likely that Renacci didn't figure on running behind with only about 100 days left before the election and he is coming just a little bit unglued.

A third sign that a campaign rush may be setting in with Renacci has to do with his challenge to Sutton to come out and debate him on the merits/demerits of he Affordable Care Act (referred to by Republicans as being Obamacare) on the heels of the United States Supreme Court ruling the core of the act constitutional.

The SCPR, for one, thinks that Sutton should take him up on the challenge.

She may find that there are many (perhaps, even a majority) in the 16th who do not want to see the act repealed as Renacci has committed himself to.  National polls show that a majority of Americans do not want the law repealed.  But it is close.  The worse that The Report thinks Sutton would do is to have a standoff on the issue.  And a face off could be a real educational experience for the voters of the 16th.

No doubt Renacci thinks otherwise and feels that if he can bait Sutton, then he is well on his way to pulling ahead of her and thereby resolve his concern that his congressional seat may be slipping away from him..  He appears to desperately looking for a head turner issue and he thinks this is it.

What's the saying?  Be careful what you wish for!

So the foregoing are signs (there are others) that the SCPR thinks demonstrates Congressman Jim Renacci might be losing it just a tad on maintaining campaign composure.

If his unease accelerates, he is likely to do some really dumb things and then "Katy bar the door," real political trouble is just around the corner in terms of him doing himself in.

It is well understood by most of us that human beings do not function well under stress.

Could a panicky Jim Renacci turn a very close race into a sold win for Betty Sutton notwithstanding Renacci's large lead in fundraising?