Jennifer Garrison Seeks Seat Held by GOP's Bill Johnson
MARIETTA, Ohio -- Jennifer Garrison will formally announce her candidacy for Congress twice Tuesday, the first in Marietta at 11 a.m., the second in Canfield at 4 p.m. at the Hampton Inn.
Garrison, a Democrat and member of the Ohio House from 2004 until 2010, seeks to represent the sixth district of Ohio, now represented by Republican Bill Johnson, in his second term. The sixth district encompasses all or parts of Mahoning and Columbiana counties plus 16 others in southeastern Ohio.
Johnson's campaign announced late Monday that it rasied more than $269,000 during the second quarter and has more than $315,000 on hand to spend. The report was filed today with the Federal Election Commission.
Said Johnson campaign adviser Matt Dole in a prepared statement, "We expect Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi to make the 6th district a hotly contested race in an effort to secure sure vote for their liberal policies from a hand-picked candidate. This campaign finance report indicates that voters are already making their voices heard through their checkbook -- they support Bill Johnson's pragmatic conservatism."
Garrison, after leaving the state House, founded the Southeastern Ohio Landowners Association to help residents of southeastern Ohio with property atop the Utica shale collectively negotiate bonus payments of more than $250 million from energy companies. These companies are drilling on or beneath their land for oil and natural gas.
One reason for her seeking to go to Washington, she says, is to “make sure the benefits come to landowners and not just the oil and gas companies.”
The candidate has received endorsements from Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, whom she named “honorary campaign chairman,” and Columbiana County Treasurer and former state Rep. Linda Bolton.
In a prepared statement, Garrison said, “It’s time to solve problems and for the hard-working folks of Ohio’s sixth district to have a fighter for our middle-class families. Both political parties have not focused enough on jobs, job security and the kitchen-table issues that our neighbors and families face everyday. Whether it’s been improving education funding for rural Ohio, keeping utility rates low for consumers and manufacturers or demanding transparency from the Legislature, I have a track record of getting results and look forward to the campaign.”
Garrison is considered a conservative Democrat, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recruitment of her to run against Johnson is not sitting well with the party's far-left. Posted this morning at DailyKos.com is this observation: "Quite frankly, we can't trust the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to help Democrats take back the House in 2014. After all, they've recruited someone who, at least on marriage equality issues, could be classified as a right-wing extremist, to run for Congress in the Republican-held 6th congressional district of Ohio.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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