Democrat John Doll is seeking election to the Ohio House to represent the 38th Ohio House District. Mr. Doll spoke at the South of Dayton Democratic Club on May 12, at the Wright Library, and I recorded his speech. (See below.)

Mr. Doll is an attorney and has been a member of the Centerville Board of Education for 19 years. He is a graduate of the Ohio State University and played football for the legendary Woody Hayes.

In 2008, Doll was the Democratic Candidate for the Ohio Senate for the 6th District and was defeated by Jon Husted. In that contest, Doll received 38.6% of the votes.

Mr. Doll’s opponent in this contest, Republican incumbent, Terry Blair, was first elected to the Ohio House in 2008. Blair’s Democratic opponent was Centerville Council member, Susan Lienesch. In spite of the fact that Ms Lienesh didn’t attempt a campaign, amazingly spending zero dollars, she still received 39.2% of the vote.

In the 2008 race, the DDN slammed Republican Blair, and endorsed Ms Lienesch. The newspaper wrote:

Mr. Blair has been a Washington Twp. trustee for 20 years. He ran for re-election last year, knowing full well that he didn’t intend to finish his term and that he would be running for this House seat. The local Republican Party screening committee recommended Tom Young for this seat, but Mr. Blair challenged that decision, and a bigger group of Republicans overruled the screening committee.

In short, some Republicans aren’t keen on Mr. Blair being their person in Columbus.

Mr. Blair makes no bones about the fact that his main focus is reducing taxes. But Ohio has cut income tax rates by 21 percent, and the new commercial activity tax for businesses also represents a tax cut for most companies. You get the feeling that he is a one-string violin and that his votes would be purely ideological.

Mr. Doll feels that he 38th District contest gives a realistic opportunity for a Democrat to defeat Mr. Blair. He feels Mr. Blair is vulnerable because of his radical conservative stands on many issues such as charter schools, that puts him outside of the mainstream of values held by voters in the 38th District. Doll says that Blair has an unrealistic view, not in keeping with the view of his constituents — that proposes that “no government,” not just “less government,” is the answer.

Steve Byington is the Democratic candidate seeking election to the Ohio House of Representatives from the 37th District. Mr. Byington spoke at the South of Dayton Democratic Club on May 12, held at Wright Library, and I recorded his short speech on my video camera. (See below.).

Byington is an architect. He is an active Oakwood citizen, a member of Oakwood Rotary, Oakwood Planning Commission, and Oakwood City Council. At the Council’s January meeting, Byington was chosen Vice-Mayor of Oakwood.

On his web-site, Byington writes, “I’m not sure people know, or ask, what my party affiliation is. They just know me as someone who’s willing to listen to all sides and work hard for solutions that will best serve all the stakeholders. That’s the kind of bipartisan approach—not just lip service, but real, practical outreach—I believe Ohioans want and deserve from their legislators. As I campaign, I want to hear from everyone in the District, regardless of party affiliation.”

In order to win the 37th District, Byington must convince a big block of voters who previously have sent Republicans to the State House to switch their vote. In 2008, the 37th was an open district because the incumbent, John Husted, was term limited. Byington’s opponent in this contest, Republican Peggy Lehner, in 2008, received 65% of the vote and her Democratic opponent, Andi Eveslage, received 35%.

Byington says his campaign will emphasize three topics: job creation, education, and “government itself.” He says, “i’m frustrated with everyone’s frustration with government.” He says the current Ohio Assembly is not focused on solving problems and he will go to Columbus “to get something done.”

The Reorganization Meeting for the Montgomery County Democratic Party will be June 2 at 7:30 PM at the Democratic Headquarters on Wilkinson Street in downtown Dayton. At this meeting officers will be selected and a constitution and by-laws approved.

I’m not counting on any improvements in local party policy or local leadership to emerge from this meeting, because attending the Reorganization Meeting for the most part will simply be the same crowd controlling that is already in charge.

At the Reorganization Meeting, voting delegates are those Democrats who were selected to the Central Committee in the May Democratic Primary. Every precinct may select a delegate, but of the 360 precincts in Montgomery County, only 186 precincts had any delegates seeking election. You may see a PDF of the 186 elected delegates here.

I attended my first Reorganization Meeting four years ago, in 2006, when I first became active in the county organization. At that meeting, I was actually shocked by the attitude and actions of those in control of the meeting — I observed a stifling of debate and a rush to push through a preestablished outcome. It was my first taste of the antidemocratic attitude of the leadership of the local party.

For this Reorganization Meeting, I personally recruited about seven people to run as a delegate and three of those individuals won, but most Democrats in the county had no idea that this opportunity for participation in their local Democratic Party, via the Democratic Primary, even exists. And so 184 of the 360 precincts in the county had no candidate. The party suppressed information about this delegate opportunity and even the DDN seemed in collusion to suppress information about the opportunity — refusing to print a letter to the editor I wrote in January urging county Democrats to become involved.

My effort to get Central Committee support for advertising the Primary delegate deadline got zero support. See Special Interests Controlling Montgomery County Democratic Party Suppress Expansion Of Participation

The 186 delegates, chosen in the May Democratic Primary, for the most part, are the same crowd already on the Central Committee, the same crowd that has established the current policies and who chose and still support the current leadership. Many of these delegates — who wouldn’t dream of challenging the status quo — are those who hold elected office, those who hold patronage jobs given to them via the influence of the local party or elected Democrats, and those who have influence in the current structure.

I intend on attempting to suggest changes to the By-Laws of the the MCDP to stop the antidemocratic practice of Primary endorsement used by the clique in charge of the Montgomery County Democratic Party to advance their buddies and keep themselves in power. But, I’m not expecting my effort to go anywhere. I’ll post the language of a motion I intend on making in a later post. See Mark Owens Says Most Montgomery Dems Approve The Party’s Suppression Of Primary Participation

The people in control of the local party like to be in control and, generally, like the way things are. I’ve heard several Central Committee members, over the last four years, declare that they were finished coming to any more monthly meetings because they had concluded that their voice had no chance of being heard, that they were sick of the “rubber stamp” mentality expected of them.

Working to reform and vitalize our local political parties, I feel, is the best opportunity for meaningful grassroots democracy to make meaningful advancement. The only hope is to get a lot more people actively involved. The next chance for Montgomery County Democrats is in 2014.