Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Their Strategy

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the local newspaper and the Ohio Republicans are pushing their candidate for Congress. Since Republican State Sen. Steve Stivers announced his intention to run for Congress (after previously turning down the offer), he has sponsored new legislation in the Ohio Senate nearly every week. It appears that this strategy is being promoted by the Ohio GOP, the Republicans in the state senate, and the Columbus Dispatch. If some legislation is planning to be introduced, the Republican controlled state legislature is apparently allowing Stivers to be the sponsor. In this way, he appears to be actively participating in creating new laws and his name keeps appearing in the Republican-leaning Dispatch. By all accounts, Stivers, who previously was a no-name in the state senate, recently has had his name in the newspaper at least once per week.

Why has the newspaper suddenly become so important to the Republicans? It is free publicity! The Ohio Republican Party and the National Republican Party have had difficulty getting contributions. Their campaign war chests are a little empty compared to previous years. Therefore, they will maneuver the GOP's candidates' names in the newspaper through stories, announcements, and in Stivers' case, sponsoring legislation.

People have to realize that if they elect people like Stivers to the House of Representatives, nothing will get done. Stivers and the Republicans will continue to be pro-business, and let the rights of the consumers be trampled upon as they've done in the past. (Example: Stivers was against putting a top on the percentage rate that could be charged to customers at payday loan outlets.)