Montgomery County Democratic Party to apologize for hit mailers against local dems in Dayton City Commission race

It was a historic night in the Montgomery County Democratic Party- a majority of the precinct captains in attendance voted to direct the communications committee to draft a statement condemning the 2 “hit piece” mailers against Democrats Shenise Turner-Sloss and Darryl Fairchild, and make it clear the mailers were wrong, the party made a mistake, and that all democrats- including Turner-Sloss and Fairchild are welcome in the party.

Of course, the fact that I’d called on the party leadership several times to vote to NOT send out mailers in the commission race at all, and to focus their efforts on defeating the Republican Mayoral Candidate- were soundly voted down.

Labor started out, almost insinuating that this kind of behavior may get them kicked out of the Union hall they use as their HQ for more of this garbage.

I called for Party Chair Mark Owens to resign. That was the only straight answer he gave to questions- when he said “no, he wasn’t going to resign.”

I also suggested that the “endorsed democrats”- do the right thing- and withdraw from the race, for their horrific behavior. No one was having any of that.
Amateur antics like this are just another reason I loathe early voting. See this post: Why you should never early vote ^[1] The depths that some candidates will swim willingly to in order to win at all costs often come out in the final week of the campaign cycle. Of course, this isn’t the only race where gutter politics against your own party come out- in the Miami Township race the carpetbagger man-child protegee of Niraj Antani- John Gomez, sent out similar hit pieces against the 3 other republicans running for Township Trustee.

Here’s an article about the hit pieces from Cleveland.com- of course, our local “newspaper” has no ability to cover much other than what is spoon fed them.

In Dayton, the Montgomery County Democratic Party paid for two sets of political mailers attacking two Democratic commissioner candidates, Shenise Turner-Sloss and Darryl Fairchild. One accuses them of not supporting public safety, featuring a prominent image of a shattered windshield.

“Without our safety forces, who will be there to protect your family?” the ad reads.

The reasoning?

The pair opposes a local program ^[2] that sets up acoustic sensors meant to detect gunshots to help police respond more quickly to violent crimes. Some residents oppose the program over privacy concerns or believe it to be biased and unreliable.

The other features Soviet-style art, highlighting an endorsement Turner-Sloss received from the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Mark Owens, the Montgomery County Democratic Party chair, said the ads were factual. The party has endorsed another pair of city commission candidates, Stacey Benson-Taylor and Scott Sliver.

“We just wanted to compare where she gets her support from,” he said. “…People can decide for themselves if they think that is a good thing or a bad thing.”

In a statement, Turner-Sloss called the attacks “fear-mongering” and a distraction from important issues.

“Voters want to send their kids to good schools, walk on safe streets, play in nice parks, be able to put food on the table with some money saved up for extras, see a doctor when they need one and just be able to live their lives,” she said. “Elections should be decided by who will improve their community, not who can tear down their opponent the most.”

The mailers carry the postmark and approval from the Ohio Democratic Party, which gets a discount on bulk mailing. The ads drew outcry from Democrats who questioned why the party would attack Turner-Sloss, a Black woman who got the most votes in the city’s primary election, and Fairchild, a white progressive incumbent commissioner. Internal party rules forbid the ODP from helping with ads attacking other Democrats.

Matt Keyes, a spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, said the mailers shouldn’t have been approved.

“The mail pieces should never have been submitted by the local county party, nor approved, but they, unfortunately, went out by mistake amid a staff transition at ODP in oversight of the mail program,” Keyes said. “We are working to ensure that oversight of this program is strengthened and that similar mistakes don’t happen in the future.”

Among those to rebuke the mailers were the Ohio Young Black Democrats. Jordan Hawkins, the group’s president, said Turner-Sloss is the kind of candidate the party should want to support, especially given its reliance on Black voters.

“This is the continual ‘othering’ that we see manifesting itself,” he said. “It’s really age-old tactics that quite frankly are racist, and they come from Democrats who claim not to be racist, so it’s really not something we can stand for.”

Source: Republican-style attacks in Ohio municipal elections reveal the ‘circular firing squad’ Dems are using against fellow Democrats – cleveland.com ^[3]

The ODP should step in and conduct an investigation, since no one locally will do it.

The real question is who is going to emerge as a serious contender to take Mark Owens out of the chairmanship when elections come up next spring. If you are interested in being the Democratic Party Precinct captain in your precinct- and having a say on issues like this- get your five signatures and get on the ballot. Here’s a video explaining it – that I did with the former Chair of the other party: How to run for precinct captain for your party- the video ^[4] Some of us- can actually work across the aisle.