I am glad to endorse Democrat Albert Griggs for the Ohio Senate — seeking to be the Democratic candidate in the Democratic Primary on March 17.

This Senate District Six has elected a Republican to the Ohio Senate for the last 35 years — reliably contributing to the big Republican 24-9 super majority. It is a huge geographic area consisting of about two-thirds of Montgomery County.

I am endorsing Albert, because I feel he would make a great senator. More than that, I believe that he is the Democrat with the background and message that gives him a good chance of flipping this Republican district.

Albert completed a successful career as a civilian leader in the U.S. Air Force where he was an expert in getting complicated systems and projects to work.

Griggs says that the dysfunction of our democracy is our biggest issue, and our biggest danger. We are headed for a wild future with robots and intelligent machines taking jobs, global warming and terrorism. The challenges of the future will require a strong and united government — one that arises from a united citizenry and a robust democracy. To produce this democracy will require leadership and a plan and I’m impressed that Albert is ready.

Albert believes that a grassroots “for-democracy” movement can build unity and fundamentally change the traditional partisan and party calculation in this district. He believes the public will respond to his vision. He is calling his plan, “The Campaign To Build A 21st Century Democracy.” This calls for empowering citizens with opportunities to fully participate in an “E-Democracy” — a on-line participatory democracy — he is initiating.

The goal is to bring citizens from all over the district to network together and to bring grassroots leadership to local jurisdictions.

Albert feels that that Republicans must be held accountable for radically altering Ohio’s tax system — cutting expected state payments to cities and schools in order to cut state income taxes for the very wealthy. In this latest tax cut, the one percent of Ohio income earners — average income over $1 million each year — will receive 20% of the tax cut.

This effort to give more tax breaks to those who least need the money has meant an increase in property tax, sales tax, and other local taxes for everyone else. Low income earners are now paying twice as much of their income in state taxes than high income earners.

Albert Griggs says:

“Our tax system is very unfair. It is a tax system that a government of the people would never have implemented.

“The central issue of our time is the brokenness of our system of representative democracy. The suppression of the vote has been very deliberate. The lack of transparency and accountability of the Ohio Assembly has been very deliberate. The central battle of our time is between those of us who welcome democracy and those who resist it at every turn.

“I like Martin Luther’s words, ‘Here I stand I can do no other.’ In this 2020 election, our opportunity is to challenge voters to take a stand — a “for-democracy” stand. This is the issue that can bring citizens together in unity. I believe the more that Democrats show an answer to the degradation of our democracy, the more we will gain the support that will flip this Republican district. The public is hungry for something real.”

“I have a plan and structure for building unity, a plan for empowering citizens and giving them a voice. I have a plan for how as senator I will be accountable.

I am glad to endorse Albert. He is sincerely motivated to serve and to use his life experiences to provide the leadership that will make a difference.

I appreciate Albert’s life story and his determination. Albert was born in Mississippi in a share-cropper family. He remembers not having adequate food or clothing. He grew up in Gary Indiana, in the same general neighborhood as the Jackson family and worked for eight years in the steel mills there. He served two years in the navy. He later served as a police officer in Los Angeles. Through a lot of determination he earned two graduate degrees and started on the ground floor as a civilian in the Air Force rising to the GS-15 rank. He oversaw billion dollar projects. He served one year as an Air Force Fellow working with our Democratic congressman, Tony Hall.

Al Griggs, I believe, is the Democrat who can flip this district.

  • His maturity and experience will help deliver the message that what motivates Al is a desire to serve — not political ambition.
  • His moderation will appeal to Republicans considering making the switch.
  • His experience as a navy veteran and civilian leader in the Air Force will resonate with many veterans and Air Force employees.
  • His conviction that unless we can make our democracy robust, our republic is headed for destruction will resonate with many voters who are making the same conclusions.
  • His understanding of systems and the specific plans to build unity and to give voters a voice — his “Campaign To Build a 21st Century Democracy” — will attract support.
  • His building an “E-Democracy” structure to empower voters will attract support.
  • His advocacy of specific changes in the Ohio tax laws will attract support.
  • His life story and his understanding through his own experience of the challenges of the poor and his advocacy for the underprivileged will attract support.

I am happy to endorse Albert Griggs to be the Democratic candidate for the Ohio Senate representing District Six.

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