April 8, 2024 — four years from today — the Miami Valley will be at the heart of a full eclipse of the sun — the first full eclipse in this region in over 100 years.

Greetings. I am Albert Griggs Jr.  I’m seeking the Democratic nomination for the Ohio State Senate, District 6. I retired as an Air Force senior civilian leader. In that role, I led organizations that designed and managed complicated systems. My life has been devoted to service. I am seeking election to the Ohio State Senate to continue to serve. I believe I can win this election by providing leadership, and vision that will inspire an awakened citizenry.  (See below summary of my career of service.)

The shocking election of Donald Trump was a big wake-up call that our democracy is in deep trouble. This pandemic is a second wake-up call. The lack of preparedness of our divided and corrupt government is very disturbing. Many Republican leaning voters agree that our democracy is in trouble and that the polarization — the hatred and division within the citizenry — is a growing danger.

Fellow Democrats, I am offering the leadership and the plan that can inspire and engaged this awakened citizenry. I can win Republican votes and flip this district by showing my plan for being an effective senator of the people — all the people. I can win Republican votes by showing my plan to empower citizens and to bring citizens together in harmony. I’m calling my campaign, “The Campaign To Build A 21st Century Democracy.”

District Six has 240,000 registered voters. My goal is to create such interesting and challenging opportunities for service that at least one percent of these voters will want to become active in a “District Six Leadership Community.” The technology of the 21st century makes it possible to create a cyber space where hundreds of individuals can come together as a deliberative community.

This Leadership Community will study and debate the work of the Assembly and will partner with me — empowering me to be an effective, responsive, transparent, and creative member of the Ohio Senate. This Leadership Community will be committed to developing consensus within the group. It will write proposed legislation and will engage and inform the public. The goal is for young people to become active and creative members in this civic community and for this experience of service to prepare youth for eventual election to public office.

The goal is that Leadership Community members in every jurisdiction will organize, as a local community group, and will advance projects that inform citizens and that engage youth in civics education projects. The local groups will be networked together and will help each other to be successful.

Albert Griggs Jr. and Mike Bock — Glad to welcome Albert Griggs as a guest author today. This picture is from an event that Al hosted at the West Carrollton Library on March 7.

My campaign literature shows a beautiful picture of a total eclipse of the sun. I’m anticipating April 8, 2024 — the date when the entire Dayton region will experience a full eclipse. My goal is to do the work and provide the leadership so that, by the time of the eclipse, I can celebrate, with 2400 new friends, the light breaking through scattering the darkness. Within four years, I want to celebrate the establishment of an exemplary 21st century system of democracy in District Six, a model for the whole state.

We should learn from history. I am enjoying reading “How Rome Fell Into Tyranny,” by Edward J. Watts. Humanity suffered a great loss when the Roman republic became a dictatorship. If our politics persists in producing a divided and ineffective government, eventually, a crisis will provoke a big public outcry to end our incompetent democracy and to establish authoritarian control. If we are to preserve freedom for new generations, we must repair and strengthen our system of democracy now.

This pandemic is waking an electorate to realize that our democracy is in trouble. Worried citizens are ready to be energized by a campaign to build an exemplary 21st century democracy in District Six. Providing leadership and vision for building community and for strengthening our republic is how we can win this gerrymandered district. I have the message, the experience, and the plan. I am asking for your vote in this Democratic Primary.

See: Albert Griggs Jr. Has My Vote March 17 For The Democratic Nomination For The Ohio Senate — Here’s Why

My Civil Service Career

During my Civil Service career, I managed a wide range of programs and provided leadership to organizations ranging from approximately 35 to over 3,500 government civilians, military, and contract personnel. My experience includes cross-functional positions in strategic planning, program acquisition/management, and weapon system support. I worked in staff positions at Product/Logistics Centers, Major Commands, Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition), and the United States House of Representatives.

Programs I managed:  aircraft (fixed wing and rotary wing), space (space based and ground systems), Intelligence, Weather (space and terrestrial), Missile (offensive and defensive), and the integrated tactical warning and attack assessment network.  I’ve worked with other governments on very sensitive issues.  I held a TS/SCI security clearance when I retired from the government.

Secretary of State, Frank LaRosa

The primary election plan unanimously agreed to by the Ohio Assembly will dramatically reduce voter participation. Of course, participation will be suppressed at this point, regardless. But the plan approved by the Assembly advances the worst solution to a difficult problem.

I am flabbergasted that every Democrat in the Ohio Assembly agreed to this absurd decision. I can’t understand why our Democratic members of the Assembly did not support the clearly superior plan proposed by Secretary of State, Frank Larosa. I’m hoping there is more to this story than I know.

If the goal is to encourage voter participation, the Larosa plan is preferable because this plan clearly would result in many more people voting than the plan approved by the Assembly. Just the requirement to pay for the needed postage would discourage some voters. Greatly reducing the number of days that voting is allowed would have an impact. Why did Democrats not support the better plan?

What the Assembly unanimously agreed to:

• The Ohio Secretary of State must design, print and mail approximately 7.8 million informational postcards to every registered Ohioan that explains to them how to obtain the form necessary to request an absentee ballot.
• Based on preliminary estimates from prospective vendors, it is expected that these postcards will reach registered voters in the second week of April.
• Voters who want to cast a ballot must then either print out an absentee ballot request form themselves or call their county board and ask for one to be sent to them.
• Voters must then affix their own postage and send the request to their county board of elections.
• Boards must then process the request, print the ballot and send it to the voter.
• Each voter must receive their ballot, cast their vote, and return the ballot in a postage-paid envelope, postmarked by April 27th.

What Secretary of State, Frank LaRosa, proposed:

• The Secretary of State would directly mail postage-paid absentee ballot request forms to the approximately 7.2 million registered Ohioans who have not yet voted. These forms would arrive at the homes of voters around April 27th. This plan would essentially skip the step of sending informational postcards.
• Interested voters would send their postage-paid requests back to their boards, who in turn would process the request, print the ballot and send it to the voter.
• Voters would have until June 1 to postmark their ballot in a postage-paid envelope for submission and tabulation at their county board of elections.
• This plan afforded all voters a fair, safe opportunity to cast their ballots by mail and a limited in-person voting opportunity, pending the public health emergency being lifted, for Ohioans with disabilities and those who can not receive mail.

The beautiful community room at new Kettering Library at Wilmington and Stroop is reserved this evening for a get-togther for area Democrats for the purpose of meeting Democratic candidate Albert Griggs Jr and discussing his vision for flipping Republican control of Senate District Six.

Albert Griggs Jr. — candidate for the Ohio Senate — will meet with Democrats this evening, March 9, at the beautiful new Kettering Library at the corner of Wilmington and Stroop Rd. There will light refreshments from 6:00 PM to 6:45 PM and then Griggs will make a short presentation starting at 6:45 PM. All Democrats and all interested voters are welcome to attend.

The topic of Griggs’ presentation is, “The Campaign To Build A 21st Century Democracy.”

Griggs is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for Senate District Six. The Democratic Primary is Tuesday, March 17. 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.

Griggs says that the dysfunction of our democracy is our biggest issue, and that Democrats can gain public support by structuring a grassroots “for-democracy” movement that builds unity. He believes that this is the issue that will inspire non-voters and unaffiliated voters to support his campaign. His plan calls for empowering citizens with opportunities to fully participate in an “E-Democracy” — a on-line participatory democracy — he is initiating.

Albert points out that because we fail to elect a government of the people Ohio’s tax system is opposite of what most citizens think is fair. He feels that that Republicans must be held accountable for cutting expected state payments to cities and schools in order to cut state income taxes for the very wealthy. He points out that 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. Meanwhile these tax cuts for the wealthy have forced an increase in property tax, sales tax, and other local taxes for everyone else.

Griggs pointed out that now 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 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.

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 am looking forward to meeting with fellow Democrats at a get-together this evening at the new Kettering Library at Wilmington and Stroop Rd. I hope there is a good turn-out. All interested voters are welcome to attend.

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