Two Cleveland area candidates and a lawyer from the Plain City area will appear on the primary ballot for the Democratic Party’s nomination to face Republican incumbent 4th District Congressman Jim Jordan in November.
|
Meet the CANDIDATES Norbert Dennerll Jr.
■ Age: 86 ■ Hometown: Elyria, Lorain County ■ Occupation: Retired real estate broker and owner of magic and costume shops in and around Cleveland; former superintendent of charter school; veteran of Korean War era ■ Previous political experience: Cleveland City Council, 1957-1964, multiple bids for U.S. Congress and Senate, 1964-present ■ On the web: Site under construction
Janet Garrett
■ Age: 63 ■ Hometown: Oberlin, Lorain County ■ Occupation: Retired primary and special education school teacher ■ Previous political experience: Ran for 4th District Congress in 2014 ■ On the web: www.janetgarrett.com or www.facebook.com/Janet4OH/ Daniel Johnson ■ Hometown: Plain City, Union County ■ Occupation: Lawyer * Could not be reached for comment
|
Janet Garrett, 63, a retired schoolteacher from Oberlin who ran against Rep. Jordan two years ago, stopped in Bellefontaine to introduce herself this week while Norbert Dennerll Jr., 86, a businessman from Elyria and former Cleveland City Councilman, responded to a telephone call. The third candidate, Daniel Johnson, who lists a Plain City address on election filings, could not be reached for comment and has no campaign information available on the Internet.
Both Ms. Garrett and Mr. Dennerll said their ultimate objective is to unseat the fifth-term Urbana incumbent, who they believe has drifted too far right on the political spectrum from the views of the average voter in the geographically spread out district.
The 4th Congressional District encompasses 14 counties from Champaign and Logan counties at the southernmost tip and snaking northward to the shores of Lake Erie to a portion of Lorain County, which is the most populous county in the district.
“The people in the district deserve better. Jim Jordan has demonstrated through his votes whose side he’s on,” Ms. Garrett said, citing controversial votes on bills regarding violence against women, equal pay for women, Hurricane Sandy relief efforts and the automotive industry bailout of 2008.
“He seems to say ‘no’ to anything that involves spending money and that shows a supreme lack of empathy. If you have someone in the driver’s seat, you want someone who cares,” Ms. Garrett said.
“Jim Jordan has been wrong on just about everything and it’s time for a change. He’s the chair of the Freedom Caucus and the face of gridlock in Washington.”
Mr. Dennerll echoed those sentiments in his reason for seeking election.
“You’re either a Democrat or Republican, but if you are a Tea Party person or Freedom Party run as that,” the Democrat said of Rep. Jordan’s position within Congress. “People trying to prove they are 100 percent conservative, doesn’t really impress me.”
He also said the incumbent, who takes a hard line against spending, fails to bring federal money back to the local level.
“He is supposed to bring back money to the community, but he has never been able to do that,” Mr. Dennerll said.
Both candidates also spoke critically of Congressman Jordan’s decision to invite Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk of court who refused to issue same sex marriage permits, to this year’s State of the Union address.
“He could have given that ticket to someone from the district — a student, a teacher, a veteran, a factory worker — but he gave it to a clerk from Kentucky who refused to obey the law,” Mr. Dennerll said.
But to face off against Rep. Jordan, Ms. Garrett and Mr. Dennerll must emerge from the primary first.
Ms. Garrett ran against Rep. Jordan in 2014 and was defeated 125,907-60,165. She said she was convinced in 2014 by Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, to run as a write-in just prior to the 2014 Democratic primary and got a late start to her campaign. Plus, she said she was trying to work full-time as an early childhood education teacher.
This time around, however, she is retired from her teaching career and began her campaign in advance of the primary with a strong campaign team behind her.
“As soon as I found out I had a primary challenger, we started getting to work,” Ms. Garrett said. “We are extremely serious. We’ve been reaching out and I’m planning a tour of the district. I’ll spend a day in each county introducing myself.
“We’ve been working day and night and we are going to win because the people of the district deserve better,” she said.
Mr. Dennerll said he had a chance to meet Ms. Garrett and Mr. Johnson, but said his own experiences, which include military service as a training officer during the Korean War era, Cleveland City Council from 1957-1964, time as a superintendent of a charter school in the 1980s and ownership of a business and real estate offices, make him a solid candidate for office.
“Last Saturday, we were all three at a place and allowed to speak,” Mr. Dennerll said. “I respect (Ms. Garrett); she has been a teacher, active 35 years in the educational field, and gave good answers on the questions asked.
“If one of the other ones won, I would support that person in the race against the Congressman, but I do think I will win (in November) if I am elected in the primary,” he said.
Ms. Garrett said her political platform is based on three issues: “promote our workers; protect our seniors; and prepare our children.”
On the economy, she said she would promote better jobs for middle class workers; on the issue of the elderly she would focus on fixing Social Security and Medicare; and on education, she would fight the trend toward standardized testing and try to return educational control to the local level.
Mr. Dennerll said he would like to leverage a position in Congress to return money to the district and improve education.
He also said as a veteran and grandfather of three young men who have served in the military, he would have a sympathetic ear toward veteran issues and take seriously any request to send troops to foreign soil or engage in military conflict.
“We have candidates running for president that have no idea what war is about,” Mr. Dennerll said. “One of candidates said he is ‘going to drop a bomb’ and I don’t think he knows that means killing a bunch of people. I’ve got three grandsons who have been in Iraq and Afghanistan and I would take any request that we go to war very seriously.”
Only voters who request a Democratic ballot will see this race. Early voting has begun at the Logan County Board of Elections, 225 S. Main St., and the primary election is Tuesday, March 15, with the polls open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Rep. Jordan is running unopposed on the Republican ticket.