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Friday, May 21, 2010
Esrati to run for Congress
By Joanne Huist Smith Staff Writer
DAYTON — Dayton activist and business owner David Esrati is the latest Democrat to announce that he’s running for Congress to challenge U.S. Rep. Mike Turner in November.
On Friday, May 21, Esrati said he has started collecting the 50 signatures required to get his name on the ballot to run in the 3rd Congressional District. The district covers most of Montgomery County, northern Warren County and all of Clinton and Highland counties.
Political consultant Joe Roberts of Kettering, who announced he was running earlier this week, picked up candidate petitions on Friday.
The party’s former candidate, Dr. Mark A. MacNealy of Vandalia, informed the Montgomery County Board of Elections earlier this week that he is no longer seeking the 3rd Congressional District seat held by Turner. Roberts was working for MacNealy before he dropped out of the race.
Steve Harsman, director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections, proposed to the Ohio secretary of state a deadline of June 10 for candidates to file petitions for a special election to be July 13. He expects a decision from the state by Monday.
The state will pay for the special election estimated to cost between $300,000 - $325,000. Esrati ran in the Democratic Primary for the 3rd congressional District in 2008 and lost to Jane Mitakides who lost to Turner in the general election. Esrati’s last election was a bid in 2009 for Dayton city commissioner.
Esrati’s petitions to run for Congress in this year’s May 4 primary were rejected by the board of elections because his candidacy declaration was not properly signed and dated. Harsman asked the Ohio secretary of state to determine if Esrati’s earlier filing prevented him from seeking the office again.
“It’s the secretary of state’s opinion that he can file for it,” Harsman said.
Esrati said he is video taping citizens as they sign his candidate petitions. Esrati, owner of The Next Wave advertising agency, plans to incorporate the video footage into his campaign ads.
“I have a passion for honest, open government,” Esrati said. “I can bring accessibility. I can bring new thinking. I can bring a true independent perspective that’s not going to sell out to corporations and special interest groups.”
Roberts said he’s running because he’s tired of seeing families suffer.
“We really need someone to step up with a middle class background who understands what it is to live from paycheck to paycheck,” he said.
The Montgomery County Democratic Party plans to look at all candidates who file, then decide whether to endorse, said Mark Owens, chairman of the party.
Turner campaign spokesman Adam Murka said the congressman is fully focused on working on behalf of his constituents.
“We look forward to running a strong race in November that will focus on the issues pressing our country and Mike Turner’s strong record of achievement, regardless of who our democratic opponent might be,” Murka said.
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Ohio leads nation in job gains in April
Ohio gained more jobs than any other state in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, May 21.
Ohio gained 37,300 jobs over the March number, followed by Pennsylvania which gained 34,000 jobs, the bureau reported.
Despite the gain in April, the state still has a long way to go before recovering all the jobs lost since the beginning of the current recession in December 2007. There were 5,023,000 jobs reported for April, 405,000 fewer than the 5,428,000 jobs in December 2007.
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, who’s been blasted regularly by Republicans for job losses, praised the new report in a press release:
“This news, coming on the heels of the recent passage of Ohio Third Frontier and the ongoing research being generated by our great universities, should give us all hope that Ohio is well-positioned for recovery. Ohioans are working hard to rebuild our economy.
“We have a long way to go, but Ohio is making steady progress in the right direction.” The report came as the state’s unemployment rate for April declined to 10.9 percent, from 11 percent in March.
Economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics in Pepper Pike, a Cleveland suburb, said the numbers for the unemployment rate and jobs come from separate surveys.
The unemployment rate numbers come from a survey of households while the jobs numbers come from a survey of business establishment. The business establishment survey is less volatile, said Mayland.
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Republicans launch new ad against Strickland
The Republican Governors Association launched a 30-second TV ad on Friday, May 21, that attacks Gov. Ted Strickland’s campaign for attacking the John Kasich campaign.
The RGA piece features a young woman and 50-something man sipping coffee at a diner counter and speculating on the strategy behind a political ad that the Strickland campaign ran on TV more than two weeks ago. In Strickland’s ad, a young woman questions why Ohio would want John Kasich, a former Wall Street banker, as governor.
The RGA puts forth a narrative that Strickland used an attack ad because he has nothing good to report about his track record in the governor’s office. And the ad only refers to Strickland and Kasich by last name.
RGA spokesman Tim Murtaugh declined disclose the ad buy or distribution but it is reportedly running in the Dayton market. “The ad stands out. We are actually very happy with it,” Murtaugh said.
To view the RGA ad, click here.
