Garrison Touts Shale Experience as She Launches Run
CANFIELD, Ohio -- A Democratic former state representative points to her experience representing landowners in oil and gas lease deals and working across party lines in Columbus among her assets as she seeks election to Ohio’s 6th congressional district in 2014.
Jennifer Garrison, joined by her family, a couple dozen supporters and a mix of area elected and Democratic Party officials, formally threw her hat in the ring for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-6 Ohio. Her event Tuesday at the Hampton Inn and Suites here followed an announcement earlier that day in Marietta, Garrison's hometown.
Garrison served as a state representative for six years, until the 2010 election, representing all of Noble, Monroe and Guernsey counties and parts of Washington and Muskingham counties. Johnson has represented the 6th District since unseating former Rep. Charlie Wilson in the 2010 elections. The district covers all or parts of Mahoning, Columbiana, Athens, Belmont, Carroll, Gallia, Guernsey, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Muskingham, Noble, Scioto, Tuscarawas and Washington counties.
After leaving the Ohio House of Representatives, Garrison, an attorney, founded the Southeastern Ohio Landowners’ Association, which helped landowners in the region collectively negotiate bonus payment in excess of $250 million on shale oil and gas leases.
Leasing in Ohio’s Utica and Marcellus shale plays is “a game changer for eastern and southeastern Ohio’s economy” and the knowledge she brings in the energy sector is important, she remarked. “Government doesn’t create jobs” but instead provides “the infrastructure so that businesses can be creative, and I will be working with energy companies to find a way that works for everybody,” she said.
Garrison said she has worked across party lines on issues, citing as an example having won bipartisan support for an amendment that reduced the local share to construct schools in Monroe County. “In the Ohio House of Representatives, I worked across party lines to solve problems. I have a history of solving problems,” she added.
Supporters on hand repeatedly touted Garrison’s support for working people and the middle class.
Garrison’s honorary campaign chairman, Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, who acknowledged he has considered running for the seat, said he knows “what it takes” to make a good member of Congress, having worked for former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. for 11 years, and knows the needs of the community. “She is the person best suited to represent the people that we have here in the Mahoning Valley and throughout the entire congressional district,” he said.
“Your utility bills as a result of this woman are much lower than they would have been,” said Columbiana County Treasurer Linda Bolon, who served with Garrison in the Ohio House. “She is just a remarkable, dynamic woman.”
A conservative Democrat, Garrison has come under fire from progressives for her stances on issues such as abortion.
“There are many issues which are women’s issues -- equal pay, which I support,” she said. She also pointed to her support for reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which Johnson voted against, and access to birth control. “We need to find ways that we can support women so that they can succeed in this economy,” she remarked.
“I’ve always tried to be a good role model for other young women so they can see that you can accomplish quite a bit, regardless of gender,” she added.
In an email Monday announcing Johnson’s second-quarter fundraising results, campaign adviser Matt Dole said the campaign expects President Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make the election for the seat “a hotly contested race to secure sure votes for their liberal policies from a hand-picked candidate.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Garrison responded. “I’m a very independent Democrat. My goal is to represent the people, not the party.” She also said that although she saw Pelosi at an event with "hundreds of people" but does not know the former speaker personally.
Following Tuesday afternoon’s announcement, Dole issued the following statement: "There will be plenty of time for politics, but now is the time to be working together towards solutions. That's why Bill is hard at work for the people of eastern and southeastern Ohio on issues such as promoting Ohio energy solutions to help make our country energy independent."
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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