Contract with Ohio

A good idea for Ohio Democrats....

(This article was written for the Carnival of Ohio Politics at Northwest Ohio Net, make sure to visit tomorrow morning to see what some of the best bloggers in Ohio contribute.)

Most of us want accountability from our elected officials. While the mere signing of a document doesn't guarantee this, it at least demonstrates support of a concept. When I visited Marc Dann's site today on an unrelated issue, I noticed the logo for Contract with Ohio. I had not heard about this, so of course my curiousity led me to click on the website link. After visiting the site my original idea was to contact those Democratic candidates for office that had not yet signed and see if they had signed and the site was just not updated yet or why they had not signed.

I first contacted Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur's office here in Toledo. The staffer I spoke with was not aware of the Contract with Ohio but felt it was "probably a state not a federal issue". I explained to her that there were other Ohio federal candidates who had signed, she then stated it was something that should be addressed to the campaign staff and suggested that I contact Marcy's re-election campaign staff. I did contact Marcy's campaign staff but did not hear back from them before the writing of this article. I had also planned to ask Sherrod Brown about this and still plan to even though he is no longer going to participate in the Meet the Blogger event.

Then I became curious as to when the Contract with Ohio was created and how they had informed candidates of it's existance. I felt to be fair I should discover how long this had been out there and how it was being promoted before I continued on my mission. Ryan Fissel and Paul Ackerman are the creative minds behind the concept of Contract with Ohio. Paul was kind enough to talk to me and answer some of my questions, which I greatly appreciate. Paul used to be the owner of the blog Bring Ohio Home, as well as having been active in several campaigns in Ohio and is still very active in Ohio Politics. Currently his wife, Jean Herendeen Ackerman, is running for State Representative in the 21st district.

Contract for Ohio was created around September of 2005, there has been some contact with a few candidates as can be seen by those who have signed so far. Paul stated just recently several more candidates signed up and their website is updated frequently. Ryan Fissel has been updating progress on Daily Kos. Paul stated they plan to promote this more in February after the deadline for announcing candidacy has passed. I told Paul I was planning on writing about the Contract with Ohio for the weekly Carnival of Ohio Politics. I realize this is a bit early in the campaign season to focus on who has and who has not signed, but I think it's important to bring attention to this topic and I plan to update the status of the list in the future. Ethics is an important issue to many of us in Ohio, as clearly stated in the Contract with Ohio. Democrats need to demonstrate they acknowledge these concerns, supporting and signing the Contract with Ohio to me is one way for them to show this is a shared concern.

A most appreciative thank you to Paul and Ryan for coming up with this idea and for putting it into action. Another thank you would go to those candidates who have already signed and demonstrated their willingness to go on record as supporting these five very important ideals. As for those who haven't signed yet? We'll be watching....