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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > June > 30 > Entry
Martin Gottlieb: Righter-than-right forces tug at local Republicans
If you were to judge by the headlines in Butler and Warren counties in this no-big-elections year, you might get the sense the real action in politics these days is on the political right.
The hard right. The righter-than-right right.
If, on the other hand, you have followed the national media all year, you know there’s been a lot of hand-wringing about whether the conservative movement has lost appeal beyond the Republican base and whether the party must move toward the center.
When some political people talk about the party’s base, they use the phrase “Southern, white males.” They’re exaggerating for effect, of course. Still, they might add the exurban Northerners, the people who live beyond the suburbs that surround a big city. John McCain beat Barack Obama by well over 2-1 in Warren County and by about 5-3 in Butler.
Person for person, the Republicans might not be any more conservative than anyplace else. But there are so few Democrats that conservative Republican incumbents worry more about challenges from more conservative Republicans than from Democrats.
The highest-profile political figure in Butler County, Sheriff Richard Jones, has considered a run for Congress. He took out papers for 2010, but eventually decided against running.
Now the highest-profile political figure in Warren County, Commissioner Michael Kilburn, is reported to be considering a run.
The adjacent counties are in different districts. Sheriff Jones would have been running against fellow Republican John Boehner, the incumbent, of West Chester. That’s the 8th District, which goes up the Indiana border from Butler, curls over Montgomery County and dips back down into Huber Heights and east Dayton.
Kilburn would be running against fellow Republican Jean Schmidt, another incumbent, of Loveland, outside Cincinnati. Her 2nd District mainly sprawls eastward from Cincinnati but also reaches up into Lebanon.
Both Kilburn and Jones have become visible by pushing — or pulling from the right — on national issues, despite holding county office.
For the sheriff, the issue has been illegal immigration, which he rails — and acts — against, winning favor from right-wing media outlets.
His activism predates this year. However, the talk of a congressional run surfaced this year, as conservative anger mounted about the general Obama direction.
For Kilburn, the big issue is federal spending. He got national attention for saying he’d let his county go broke before taking Obama’s “filthy” stimulus money.
Says fellow Warren County commissioner, Pat South, a Republican, about Kilburn, “I’m glad to see he is considering a run for Congress, where he can work to be part of the solution, rather than continuing to tear our commission meetings apart with his tirades.” Quite an endorsement.
Both of Kilburn’s fellow Republican commissioners show some pragmatic moderation. They agreed with him in rejecting one pot of stimulus money, but are accepting others.
Says Commissioner Dave Young, “I hate it. We wanted to give it back, but they won’t let us… If I turn the money aside, and it goes to Ashtabula County or whatever, I and 207,000 Warren County residents are still paying for it.”
Undoubtedly, though, Kilburn has received much positive feedback about his uncompromising position. The anti-stimulus, anti-Obama people include a passionate hard core that is all about being heard.
These high-profile uprisings are some sort of sign of the polarized times. After all, Boehner and Schmidt are seriously conservative. Move any farther to the right and you’re on talk radio.
Yet both have strayed from ideological purity. They voted for President George W. Bush’s $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry.
Boehner has never been seriously challenged by a Democrat. Schmidt, widely seen as a weak candidate, has been, but seems to have survived her roughest years.
She has many Republican critics, but few are likely to see Kilburn as a stronger candidate, given that some voters who are open to his views might not like the “filthy” talk.
One might argue that the Jones and Kilburn stories should not be taken seriously. In the end, both “candidacies” might prove to have been fleeting and weak. Still, for the moment, the report from southwestern Ohio is that the Republican move to the center is invisible.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Martin Gottlieb, Miami Valley Politics
Comments
By lastmanstanding
July 4, 2009 7:54 AM | Link to this
Mr. Gottlieb, you are so out of touch. The public is moving beyond the right wing, left wing thinking. That is for Washington wonks and political operatives. The voting public, if you have not recently witnessed, is looking for leaders that will do the right thing for America, not what is good for them or the party. Get with it Martin. Your efforts to perpetuate the political infighting is so yesterday. The future is grassroots- Like the Tea Party that you detest so much.
By jeml
July 12, 2009 1:14 PM | Link to this
“Get with it Martin. Your efforts to perpetuate the political infighting is so yesterday.” I just adore this remark! Martin is definitely so yesterday…
By Madge
November 2, 2009 10:49 AM | Link to this
Uh oh, do I detect fear? I believe I do. This infighting article was in fact so yesterday. Don’t know who made that comment, but I loved it!!!!!