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Our Recommendation: Mike Turner clearly the best pick for 3rd District
Monday, October 23, 2006
This year has some Democrats thinking big thoughts about their chances of knocking off Congressman Mike Turner, R-Centerville. After all, his 3rd Congressional District, while designed to favor Republicans, is not an absolute lock for them. Centered in Montgomery County, it does have a lot of Democrats.
And Democrats are expecting their best year in a very long time. And they caught a break in this race. Coming into 2006, people weren't lining up to run against Rep. Turner. So the nomination went to a newcomer. That candidate had to withdraw for personal reasons. Then came Richard Chema.
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As the top federal prosecutor for criminal cases in this region of Ohio (having been named to that position by a Republican prosecutor), he deserves to be taken seriously. If he's not exactly a household name, he does have a public record. He also has connections to raise some money. He can make a case for himself that, if it lacks the Mike Turner polish, is nevertheless professionally done and substantive.
The case Mr. Chema makes is not fuzzy. It is that the incumbent is a Republican, and a loyal one. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, Rep. Turner has supported the war in Iraq. He's been a member of a House majority that is racked by scandal. He has been part of a team that is doing little about the nation's energy or education problems. People looking for a change should vote for the Democrat, says the Democrat.
In fact, Rep. Turner does have some answering to do on the question of party loyalty. He never raised a public peep about the notorious Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the most bitterly partisan, ethically offensive major figure in American politics in years.
Rep. Turner and his colleagues just kept re-electing him to leadership. A whole network built up around Rep. DeLay that included disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff. It was a dark day.
However, Rep. Turner himself has not been caught up in any scandals. He has gone about doing the legitimate work of a nuts-and-bolts legislator effectively. He has helped create an agenda for "urban Republicans," pushing his party to support cleaning up "brownfields" so that cities might redevelop them.
He successfully fought a Bush administration plan that jeopardized a federal program — Community Development Block Grants — that urban specialists know to be a good one. Dayton benefits from this money, as do many other local cities.
He has served his home community on other fronts, too, including being part of a successful battle to prevent the Army from disposing neutralized nerve gas in the area.
He has impressed his party leaders and won good assignments, such as chairmanship of an ad hoc committee to study security threats to the country.
Loyal to President Bush? That's certainly true. Perhaps the best that can be said on that score is that his actions have won him some freedom of maneuver on urban issues.
Rep. Turner did oppose the president's call for partial privatization of Social Security (in his first campaign for Congress).
His experience and record in Congress, as mayor of Dayton and, before that, as a citizen activist, make him clearly a more qualified choice to serve this community in Washington than an opponent who not only has not held local elective office, but has never been active in the community beyond his job.
Rep. Turner has served energetically, creatively and honorably. He deserves to be judged as an individual. The district would serve its own interests by doing so.
