Ohio House 19th: Harris (D) Steps Up

Grandmother and political activist-turned-candidate Marian Harris (D-Columbus) is showing her mettle in an uphill campaign against entrenched 19th District incumbent State Rep. Larry Flowers (R-Canal Winchester).

The Columbus Dispatch recently published a hard-hitting letter from Harris, lambasting the House GOP for playing politics instead of helping Ohioans. Specifically, Harris attacks Republicans for tabling all of the Democrats' floor amendments to the budget-correction bill, H.B. 530, thus defeating measures intended to address critical needs of Ohio residents. The resulting law "ignores the least among us, those for whom each House member promises to advocate and represent: widows, the elderly and the infirm." As examples, Harris describes the amendments offered by Rep. Peter Ujvagi (D-Toledo) and Rep. Dan Stewart (D-Columbus) to create the War Widows and Orphans Scholarship Fund and to ensure the viability of the Home Energy Assistance Program, respectively, both deflected by the GOP. Further, Harris points out that H.B. 530 "did nothing to address school-funding issues" and did not "repeal the secretive commercial-activity tax that allows state government to tax every link in the food-production chain." Harris decries the partisan politicking of the House leadership:

"We endow our elected officials with the power to make decisions on our behalf, to represent fully and fairly the interests of everyone in Ohio. I am disappointed to learn that partisan politics appears to be more important than the public trust.

"To my knowledge, every amendment offered by a Democrat in the current session of the House was tabled. There is no bipartisan concern about what is best for Ohioans, and I’m ashamed to say that my representative’s role in the Republican leadership is to move to table any Democratic amendment that comes before the House.

"We need legislators who can work together for the common good, who care about the least among us and who can put politics aside to accomplish good things for the people of this state."

As detailed on her website, Harris has been selected for Democracy for America's "A" list, joining Congressional candidate Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus), as the only central Ohio candidates to be selected to date. She has also been endorsed by the Stonewall Democrats of Ohio.