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I came away from the Dayton Daily News / WMUB candidate forum last night thinking that all the candidates, seeking to become Ohio’s Attorney General, in their own ways, are impressive individuals. The three candidates are seeking election to finish Mark Dann’s term.

Attorney General candidates (L-R): Robert Owens, Michael Crites, Richard Cordray. Moderator, Gary Scott, News Director at NPR at eighty-eight-five, WMUB. In foreground, Bill Cohen, reporter for Ohio Public Radio

In his answers, Independent Robert Owens spoke articulately and with passion. He accused both Democrat Richard Cordray and Republican Michael Crites as being, “bought and paid for by private interests,” and he asserted that he would not take political money, that he would represent all of the people of Ohio. Owens emphasized his political independence and he also emphasized his religious commitment, at one point saying that his style of leadership would be informed by Biblical teachings concerning “servant leadership. ” And, at one point shared a story about his influence on a man named Tony that ended on this note: “Tony found the Lord.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer says: “Owens is an ardent supporter of limited-government groups such as the John Birch Society, Gun Owners of America and Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership. He is not Jewish. He proudly claims to be the only gun owner of the three candidates. if elected, he pledges end the no-bid contract process the office sometimes employs and to send all money collected by the office from successful litigation to the state treasury.”

Michael Crites seems an impressive person. He spoke sensibly and with confidence. Crites told of how Ronald Reagan telehoned him to appoint him US attorney and that he became responsible for 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties (from 1986 to 1992). Crites emphasizes his legal experience, and his main strategy seems to be to try to tie Conray to the sins of Mark Dann.

I found The Plain Dealer’s assessment of Crites to be accurate: “Crites’ campaign strategy is simple: Talk up his credentials while belittling those of Cordray with savvy sound bites questioning his opponent’s motivations.”

I almost got the opportunity to ask a question of the three AG candidates, but time ran out. My question:
The gerrymandered structure of Ohio’s State Assembly districts and US congressional districts are overwhelmingly gerrymandered, and this gerrymandering is causing a great harm to our democracy. In 2005, Ohio had a proposal on the ballot, Issue 4, that asked voters to approve a constitutional amendment to change the redistricting process, and this issue failed by a whopping 70% to 30%. In your opinion, should Ohio try again to change the redistricting process via constitutional amendment? And, if yes, what are some details of an amendment you would recommend?

I’m thinking I will e-mail the question to each candidate and see if they respond.

After the meeting I had the chance to talk a short time with Bill Cohen, the reporter for Statehouse News for Public Radio. I always enjoy listening to Cohen on the radio and feel that he shows a great amount of knowledge and in-depth insight about every aspect of state government. I asked Cohen if he had ever considered writing a column about Ohio politics and having it syndicated in newspapers around the state. He said that he is kept busy doing his present job and wouldn’t think he could find the extra time that such a project would require. You can hear his reports at the Statehouse News Bureau web-site.

I did some You-tube research and found several videos about the attorney general race. This ad summarizes much of Crites’ strategy in trying to win this election:

In this ad, a take-off on the PC / Mac commercials, Crites tries to tie Cordray to the Mark Dann, and asks, “Matt: But didn’t Cordray endorse Dann, support him and ignore 16 months of Dann scandal? … If you like Marc Dann you’ll love Richard Cordray.”

The Plain Dealer says, “While Cordray did back Dann for election, he quickly joined other Democrats led by Gov. Ted Strickland in May in demanding that Dann resign in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal in his office. And to this point, no hint of corruption or scandal has been linked to Cordray, as the ad implies.

Here is a more recent Crites’ ad:

Cordray’s comments emphasized a lot of points he makes in this commercial (below), his experience as State Solicitor, the fact that he has argued six cases before the Supreme Court, the fact that he has the endorsement of law enforcement groups.

Here is a longer video from Cordray, a seven minute biography narrated by his wife, Peggy.

A web-site called ProgressivePunch.org gives all members of congress a “progressive score” based on their voting record. For example, it calculates that Dennis Kucinich has a progressive score of 88.8, meaning that, according to Progressive Punch’s calculation, 88.8% of Kucinich’s votes are progressive.

John Boehner’s progressive score is 2.64, Jean Schmidt score is 4.12, Hobson’s score is 10.52, and Mike Turner’s score is 10.93.

Progressive Punch has collected data from 1991 to the present. It follows 17 categories of votes. This is a big job. In 2007, all told, it accumulated data on 747 different votes in the US House.

Here is Congressman Turner’s score (each out of 100%) in each category, accumulated since he was sworn in as a US congressman in 2003.

Aid to Less Advantaged People, at Home & Abroad (17 subcategories) 4.98
Corporate Subsidies (14 subcategories) 1.67
Education, Humanities, & the Arts (3 subcategories) 3.92
Environment (15 subcategories) 8.21
Fair Taxation (6 subcategories) 2.34
Family Planning (2 subcategories) 6.25
Government Checks on Corporate Power (31 subcategories) 3.52
Health Care (15 subcategories) 2.94
Housing (2 subcategories) 10.71
Human Rights & Civil Liberties (10 subcategories) 1.79
Justice for All: Civil and Criminal (7 subcategories) 1.27
Labor Rights (8 subcategories) 7.92
Making Government Work for Everyone, Not Just the Rich or Powerful (16 subcategories) 5.82
War & Peace (18 subcategories) 2.44

There is a lot of data to study. For example, Turner got a progressive score of 2.94 in the Health Care category, but under that category are 15 subcategory. One of the subcategories is “Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs,” and in this subcategory, Turner made a score of 0.0%, meaning each of Turner’s votes in this category were opposite of the votes deemed “progressive” by Progressive Punch.org. Here are the votes that determined that subcategory score:

Roll Call 23. Requiring the federal government to negotiate with drug companies for the prices of drugs covered under Medicare (H.R. 4)/On passage Jan 12, 2007. Turner voted No
Roll Call 22. Requiring the federal government to negotiate with drug companies for the prices of drugs covered under Medicare (H.R. 4)/Motion to recommit with instructions to add language that ensures that beneficiaries will not be restricted in their access to prescription drugs and that the negotiations will not result in the price increase of prescription drugs for any group Jan 12, 2007. Turner voted Yes.
Roll Call 11. H. Res. 6 Adopting the rules of the House of Representative for the 110th Congress/On adopting Title 5 of the resolution Jan 05, 2007. Turner voted No
Roll Call 10. H. Res. 6 Adopting the rules of the House of Representative for the 110th Congress/Motion to commit with instructions Jan 05, 2007. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 173. A vote on a Democratic motion to send back to its drafting committee HR 4281, — legislation allowing small business to band together as a means of lowering the cost of providing their employees with health insurance — with instructions that the bill must not preempt state regulations regarding coverage for breast cancer, pregnancy and childbirth, and well-child OB/GYN services. May 13, 2004. Turner voted No
Roll Call 172. Vote on passage of a Democratic substitute to the Republican-backed HR 4281, legislation designed to enable small businesses to join together to form “associations” that will leverage their collective buying power to get lower-cost health insurance for their employees May 13, 2004. Turner voted No
Roll Call 88. H. Con. Res. 393. Fiscal 2005 Budget Resolution/Vote on the Congressional Black Caucus’ Version of the Budget Resolution Which Would Reduce Previously-Enacted Tax Cuts to Wealthy Individuals and Increase Funding for Domestic Spending Priorities such as Education and Health Care. Mar 25, 2004. Turner voted No
Roll Call 670. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to End Debate on the Final Version of Prescription Drug Legislation. Nov 22, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 669. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote on Final Passage of a Conference Report on Prescription Drug Legislation. Nov 22, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 668. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Recommit to Committee a Conference Report on Prescription Drug Legislation With Instructions that the Measure Be Amended to Allow the Importation of Prescription Drugs from Canada. Nov 22, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 666. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Allow Consideration of the Conference Report on Prescription Drug Legislation. Nov 21, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 665. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Allow Consideration of the Conference Report on Prescription Drug Legislation. Nov 21, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 660. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Allow Same-Day Consideration of a Rule Governing Debate on the Prescription Drug Conference Report. Nov 21, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 659. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Allow the Consideration of a Rule Governing Debate on the Prescription Drug Conference Report. Nov 21, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 650. H R 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Sixth and Final Vote to Instruct House Conferees to Drop Provisions in the Conference Report Which Would Allow Private Health Plans to Compete Directly With Medicare by 2010. Nov 20, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 637. H R 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Fifth of Six Votes to Instruct House Conferees to Drop Provisions in the Conference Report Which Would Allow Private Health Plans to Compete Directly With Medicare by 2010. Nov 19, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 624. H R 2673. Fiscal 2004 Omnibus Appropriations/Vote to Instruct House Conferees to Include Provisions in the Omnibus Conference Report Which Would Allow the Importation of Less-Expensive Canadian Prescription Drugs Into the United States. Nov 18, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 619. H R 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Fourth of Six Votes to Instruct House Conferees to Drop Provisions in the Conference Report Which Would Allow Private Health Plans to Compete Directly With Medicare by 2010. Nov 07, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 615. H.R.1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Third of Six Votes to Instruct House Conferees to Drop Provisions in the House Bill Which Would Allow Private Health Plans to Compete Directly With Medicare by 2010. Nov 06, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 599. H.R.1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Second of Six Votes to Instruct House Conferees to Drop Provisions in the House Bill Which Would Allow Private Health Plans to Compete Directly With Medicare by 2010. Oct 30, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 573. H.R.1. Prescription Drug Benefit/First of Six Votes to Instruct House Conferees to Drop Provisions in the House Bill Which Would Allow Private Health Plans to Compete Directly With Medicare by 2010. Oct 28, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 528. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Instruct House Conferees to Adopt Senate Language Which Insures Drug Coverage For All Seniors During Conference Committee Negotiations. Oct 01, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 524. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Instruct House Conferees to Adopt Senate Language Which Insures Drug Coverage For All Seniors During Conference Committee Negotiations. Sep 30, 2003. Close Vote Absent
Roll Call 522. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Instruct House Conferees to Adopt Senate Language Which Insures Drug Coverage For All Seniors During Conference Committee Negotiations. Sep 25, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 510. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Instruct House Conferees to Adopt Senate Language Which Insures Drug Coverage For All Seniors During Conference Committee Negotiations. Sep 23, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 502. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Instruct House Conferees to Adopt Senate Language Which Insures Drug Coverage For All Seniors During Conference Committee Negotiations. Sep 10, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 445. H.R. 2427. Importation of Prescription Drugs/Vote to Allow the Importation of Less-Expensive Prescription Drugs. Jul 25, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 420. H.R. 2799. Fiscal 2004 Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations/Vote to Prevent the Federal Government from Interfering With State Laws that have Decriminalized the Use of Medical Marijuana. Jul 23, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 359. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Instruct House Conferees to Adopt Senate Language Which Insures Drug Coverage For All Seniors During Conference Committee Negotiations. Jul 14, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 332. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote on Final Passage of a Bill to Provide Seniors With Drug Coverage Through the Private Sector Rather Than Through the Medicare Program. Jun 27, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 331. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote to Recommit to Committee a Bill to Provide Seniors With Drug Coverage Through the Private Sector Rather Than Through the Medicare Program. Jun 27, 2003. Turner voted No
Roll Call 330. H.R. 1. Prescription Drug Benefit/Vote on Democratic Substitute Bill Which Would Provide Prescription Drug Coverage Though the Medicare Program (Rather Than the Private Sector) and Would Not Contain Any Gaps In Drug Coverage. Jun 27, 2003. Turner voted N0
Roll Call 328. H.R. 2596. Medical Savings Accounts/Vote to Make Prescription Drugs More Affordable By Creating Tax Incentives to Encourage Individuals to Save in Anticipation of Future Health Care Needs. Jun 26, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 322. H.R. 1, H.R. 2596. Prescription Drug Benefit and Medical Savings Accounts/Vote on Rules of Debate on Two Bills: One Would Create a Voluntary, Privately-Run Prescription Drug Benefit for Medicare Beneficiaries and the Other Would Create Medical Savings Accounts. Jun 26, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 321. H.R. 1, H.R. 2596. Prescription Drug Benefit and Medical Savings Accounts/Vote to Allow Consideration of Two Bills: One Would Create a Voluntary, Privately-Run Prescription Drug Benefit for Medicare Beneficiaries and the Other Would Create Medical Savings Accounts. Jun 26, 2003. Turner voted Yes
Roll Call 81. H Con Res 95. Fiscal 2004 Budget Resolution/Vote on a Democratic Substitute Measure Which Eliminated Tax Cuts for Wealthy Individuals and Increased Spending for Medicare and Prescription Drugs. Mar 20, 2003. Turner voted No