by David on 10.30.2009
Our historic campaign has emerged to be the grassroots campaign to win this election. We are amazed at the number of people who are joining the cause to see the first woman elected to the United States Senate from Ohio. Every day more and more step forward, saying, "What can I do?
They recognize that this campaign is different, that its supporters represent the diversity of our state and nation. Ours is a campaign to which class distinctions are invisible. Ours is a campaign that values a truly democratic process.
Our campaign has not been easy. We aren't raising thousands from the banks, insurance companies and other corporate special interests. We're building a campaign on the support of people just like you, and on the toughness and integrity of our candidate. But she needs your help. And you can start by joining us and giving $25 or $50 or pledging $10 a month starting now.
Throughout her life--public and private--Jennifer has shown herself to be unbought and unbossed. She understands that honesty and hard work are what make a good public servant.
These traits enabled Jennifer to exercise courage and independence in situations when Ohioans depended on her to make tough decisions and do the right thing, even if it meant she would be attacked by partisan interests, Republican or Democrat.
Jennifer's courage and independence were the reasons her tenure as Ohio's first female Secretary of State has been one of the most successful in the state's history. She restored the nation's trust in Ohio's elections and helped Ohioans trust the office again, creating transparency so that citizens like you can judge whether your government is fulfilling its promises.
She did all this with the heart and tenacity of someone who loves her state and cares deeply about its future. And for her efforts to restore trust in elections, she was awarded the highest honor that an elected official in our nation can receive--the Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
Our campaign is rooted in the issues that matter most to you. Jennifer takes tough positions, stands up for what she knows is right, and speaks directly to the concerns of Ohioans.
Americans and Ohioans want more from their candidates and elected officials. I think that's why so many of you have come forward to ask how you can help--because you, too, are unbought and unbossed and ready to show corporate-owned politicians what courageous, dedicated individuals can do together. By giving what we can, $25 or $50 or pledging $10 a month, we can move an unbought and unbossed candidate to the forefront to fight for us.
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by Jennifer on 10.26.2009
After speaking to the District 4 meeting of the Communication Workers of America on Wednesday last week, I made my first stop on our campaign’s Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs, traveling to Meridian Bioscience, Inc.
This company is the largest employer and taxpayer in Newtown, Ohio just inside the Hamilton County border almost to Clermont County. Meridian’s history is compelling. Its founder, Bill Motto, started the company in 1975 with a $500 investment working out of his garage. The company is now a $139 million dollar company publicly traded on the New York stock exchange with American and European subsidiaries in Florida, Maine and Tennessee, and in France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands and more than 400 employees with nearly 250 right here in Ohio in the Newton home office.
Meridian manufactures and distributes medical diagnostic test kits and related products throughout the U.S., and to over forty countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This is the mainstay of its business.
Meridian also enhances medical research and diagnosis through its U.S. subsidiary, Medical Life Science, Inc., which supplies reagents (critical to analysis and examination), antigens, antibodies, and contract biological R&D and manufacturing services to the research, diagnostic, and biopharmaceutical markets. In short, Medical Life Science is a supplier for markets involved in purchasing biomedical reagents in bulk and in both discovering and developing drugs and vaccines for medical advancement.
For those not medically inclined, I looked up the definition of a “reagent” and found that it is defined as a substance that, because of the reactions it causes, is used in analysis and synthesis, that is, a substance used in a chemical reaction to detect, measure, examine, or produce other substances. For instance, the lines on a testing kit mark a reagent that reacts with the appropriate bodily fluid to show the presence of another substance in the system. A reagent allows for the detection of the presence of a particular bacteria or virus, or even a foreign substance such as a drug in a persons’ bodily system.
L to R: Founder and Executive Chairman of the Board Bill Motto, Executive Assistant Brenda Hughes, Jennifer Brunner, and CEO Jack Kraeutler
When we arrived at Meridian, we met with Bill Motto, now Executive Chairman of the Board; Jack Kraeutler, CEO; and Larry Baldini, VP Operations and Information Systems. Larry led us on our tour. We met Rita at the front desk, and Brenda Hughes did a great job arranging our visit. We met many other employees as we traversed the various areas of this large manufacturing and distribution plant.
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by Laney the Underdog on 10.23.2009
I'm an underdog. And you can believe me on that. My owners found me at a pet shelter in an old house in north Columbus a little over 2 years ago. I was named "Lane" I guess because they found me emaciated and wandering around Lane Avenue. I was pretty scared and traumatized, just like many people are today with the tough times they deal with.
I remember being in a cage. And this tall woman was looking at me and then quietly kneeled beside my cage. The next thing I knew, I had a leash on my collar and she and this big guy wanted to take me that night, but they wouldn't let them until I had some kind of operation. So they left and said they would be back in a few days. In the meantime, I got kennel cough from some beagle puppies. I never got the operation until after they took me home.
Things weren't so good for me at first. I coughed something awful and chewed up everything in sight. They were pretty mad when I chewed up a picture frame with all 3 of their kids' pictures in it. Eventually, I got the hang of things. I learned how to play with toys, walk in the park and avoid chewing family photos. It wasn't easy.
Lately, my mom's been pretty busy. She's running for the U.S. Senate. I watch how hard she works and I've even heard her on the phone for hours working to raise money. Once I heard my mom and her oldest real daughter, Kate, talking about how this was the first time a woman would be elected from Ohio to the U.S. Senate. I swear I even heard her say "underdog." I couldn't believe it!
I heard Kate say, "Mom, you know, you don't have to do this." Then I heard my mom say, "I owe it to you and Laura and all the young women who need someone to prove to them that they can be whatever they want to be." That's my mom.
She never gave up on me. She won't ever give up on you. That's why all of us underdogs understand that she'll make a great U.S. Senator.
That's why we need all you other underdogs (and big dogs, too) to help her with a donation.
Please give her $25 or $50 or pledge $10 a month starting now. You won't be sorry. I'm not. And when she's our Senator, Ohio will go from being an underdog to on its way to being the new top dog.
She'll help grow jobs in Ohio, because she's smart, she listens, she works hard, and she knows how to bring together the people and the parts we need to build a thriving economy in Ohio. She's top dog in my book, and in your book, she'll be a great U.S. Senator.
So, please give to her campaign today.
Woof best regards,
Laney (the Underdog)
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by Jennifer on 10.22.2009
“Call me the underdog,” I said, in response to a reporter’s question about fundraising seven months before the primary election contest for the open U.S. Senate seat in Ohio.
Polls show me competitive in a race with Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, a four-time candidate for statewide office who last won an election in his own right 19 years ago in a 1,234-vote squeaker (out of more than three million votes cast).
A recent news story called me an “outsider” when the four other statewide Democrats—all men—made an appeal to Congress to pass consumer protection legislation to create an oversight agency, but they didn’t include the only female officeholder of their party—me. They must have overlooked the press release from May 29, where I called for that very thing more than 4 months ago.
Another reporter took the opportunity to point out that if I had more money, my message may have had more impact at the time I offered it—for an idea long overdue in light of the bank bailout mess of the last year.
I’m finishing my first term as Ohio’s Secretary of State. I won my seat with a 15-point lead in a 4-way race, winning in 52 of Ohio’s diverse 88 counties. I’m running against a candidate who’s been running for office over the last 30 years and is best known for his prolific fund raising record—a record that shows he has raised more than a million dollars more than any candidate to whom he has ever lost.
Republicans say quietly that I would be the toughest candidate to beat in next year’s fall election, and they’d rather have my opponent as their opponent. Early polls have shown that I have garnered the best independent support of any Democratic candidate in the country of the 16 statewide races studied—even better than some sitting U.S. Senators! But I am not the institutional candidate, because my opponent is supported by the establishment.
I recall the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes. In that tale, the emperor had been duped by swindlers who claimed to make clothes from cloth that was invisible to anyone who was either stupid or unfit for his position. Wearing these invisible clothes, the emperor led a procession through town, accompanied by his ministers who also bought into this farce. It was only when a child cried out, “the emperor has no clothes!” that the crowd realized the child was telling the truth, and they began to trust their own judgment.
So much of what we, the American public, put up with—from the election of our leaders to the grudging tolerance of their actions—is a misguided sense that because they are in leadership, because they tell us that it is so, it must be right. And even if we don’t believe it, many believe there is nothing we can do about it. An alarming number of Americans have simply stopped caring—until it has hurt so much they have to pay attention, and for some Americans, the voice they eventually pay attention to is only out for the money, not the truth.
Real underdogs are often the children in the crowd who shout out the truth. With enough traction—when heard by enough people—their voices can transform a situation that seems hopelessly one-sided to one that is supported by our common sense and gives us hope.
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by Jennifer on 10.20.2009
The excitement continues to build for our Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs as new nominations arrive daily on our web site. Business leaders, elected officials, and ordinary Ohioans flood our campaign with enthusiastic comments. People all around Ohio recognize that the real hope for our struggling economy lies not with huge multi-national corporations and Wall Street behemoths focused primarily on protecting their own, but with new enterprises right here at home fueled by the creativity, ambition, and hard work of Ohio's visionary entrepreneurs. There are many great examples of fast-growing enterprises creating new jobs all across the state, and I am thrilled to be able to bring attention and encouragement to them through this initiative.
Last week I kicked off the Innovation Tour with a fascinating visit to Meridian Bioscience, Inc. in Hamilton County. Meridian Bioscience is a fast-growing bio-tech company that manufactures, markets, and distributes a broad range of innovative products including medical diagnostic kits. During my visit I learned about the company's important recent success in obtaining FDA clearance to add two strains of 2009 H1N1 Influenza A virus -- swine flu -- to the the sensitivity properties of its rapid and reliable flu testing devices.
Today I am happy to announce that we have selected Arteriocyte Medical Systems, founded and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, for the second tour stop on Thursday, October 22nd. Arteriocyte is a clinical-stage biotechnology research and development company, focused on adult stem cell therapies to treat ischemia. Based on technology developed by and licensed from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, this exciting high-tech enterprise utilizes umbilical cord and adult bone marrow-derived stem cells through FDA-regulated clinical procedures. The company's therapeutic objective is generation of new blood vessels to support cardiac and other at-risk tissue from lack of adequate blood supply, and it is also developing an additional line of supporting products for cell delivery, localization, isolation, and storage. Arteriocyte has grown from 5 employees to over 50 in just five years.
Arteriocyte's success is based on accelerated product development through collaboration and partnership with world-class researchers and business partners. While achieving financial growth and generating new jobs, the company is dedicated to its core mission of making a difference in patient care and clinical outcomes through its innovative products and services, and is committed to high ethical standards and constant improvement of the quality of its work and customer service.
With its focus on strategic partnerships, Arteriocyte expects to be positioned to continuously provide innovative products to provide solutions for currently unmet medical needs based on emerging advances not yet brought to market. This forward-thinking entrepreneurial spirit, tackling head-on the significant challenges of bringing cutting-edge technologies to the marketplace, helps to provide Ohio with a bright future in the growth industry of health care technology.
As I continue to travel around the state on our Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs, I look forward to highlighting additional innovative enterprises in all fields of industry and service. The Innovation Tour reaffirms the long and proud tradition of creativity, dedication, and caring among Ohioans. Those are the qualities that we must harness in order to face the challenges of our times, by creating new jobs and leading Ohio to a prosperous future.
I hope that you will take a few minutes to reflect on innovative businesses, programs or projects anywhere in our state that may have come to your attention, and visit our web site to nominate projects to be included in our Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs.
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by Barbara Gates on 10.19.2009
I'm Jennifer Brunner's mother. I just read Ohio State Senator Jon Husted's latest fund raising letter about my daughter, and I can't help but think, what is this country coming to?
First there was the disrespectful comment on the floor of Congress by Congressman Joe Wilson that turned into his raising more than a million dollars because of his misbehavior. Now, Jon Husted, whom no one can say with a straight face really lives in his Ohio Senate District, is raising money on my daughter's tie-breaking board of elections vote as Ohio's Secretary of State. This vote was forced on her by an Ohio Supreme Court order issued at Senator Husted's urging.
Jennifer's father and I taught our daughter to be honest and work hard. So, like a good daughter and a good attorney, she wrote a 12-page decision and followed the law, even though she told me she hoped the court would overrule the law, because she didn't think it was a fair law.
She called it like she saw it. She made the tough decision that a State Senator who is a term-limited former Speaker of the Ohio House and who is now running for her job (she's running to help Ohio in the U.S. Senate), does not live in his district and cannot vote there. Period.
What did she get? She got a rebuke from an all Republican Ohio Supreme Court that didn't order her to do anything, but instead ordered the local board of elections not to cancel his voter registration. Now Senator Husted has sent out a letter to thousands of Ohioans, asking for $1500, $1000 or $500, with the exhortation: "Join Jon Husted's Campaign and Stop Jennifer Brunner!" In his letter he mentions her name eleven times . . . and he calls her doing her job a "witch hunt."
I abhor political name calling and smear campaigns. I think that behavior is deplorable and not representative of effective government. Like I said, what is this country coming to?
And it gets worse. The chairman of the Ohio Republican Party has called my daughter a "dimwit." One thing my daughter remembers is how I taught her to never have to depend on a man to take care of herself . . . she has heeded my words. My daughter started her own law practice from the corner of her bedroom with three small children-and it is thriving today. She was a judge, known first and foremost as fair, before being elected Ohio Secretary of State with overwhelming support (15 points in a 4-way race!), and I can tell you from all her report cards, she is anything but a dimwit.
My daughter is running to be elected to the U.S. Senate, and it will be the first time a woman is elected to the Senate from Ohio. I know and many of my Republican friends know that she will be the toughest candidate to beat in next fall's general election. That's why it seems like everyone is ganging up on her . . . Democrats who don't think it's her turn, and Republicans who know it's better to beat her now.
We've got to stop them. Please contribute what you can to help her fight against them.
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by Jennifer on 10.14.2009
The response to my Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs has been enthusiastic -- and inspiring. I extend heartfelt thanks to all those who have so far submitted nominations for your participation in this initiative, and also for your faith in the creativity, ingenuity and hard work of Ohioans. Together, we can harness the strengths of Ohio's entrepreneurs and visionaries to create and retain good jobs and help restore Ohio's economy.
Here are just a few of the nominations submitted so far:
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Meridian Bioscience, Inc. is a life science company in Clermont County that manufactures, markets and distributes a broad range of innovative diagnostic test kits, purified reagents and related products.
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The Green Collar Jobs/Energy Conservation Tech Program at Columbus State Community College in Franklin County provides "green pathways out of poverty" through the combined efforts of the Construction Sciences Department and the Orientation to the Trades Apprenticeship Program.
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Sansai Environmental Technologies LLC in Cuyahoga County is an environmentally-friendly enterprise specializing in organic soil and recycling and recoverable resources.
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Patriot Energy LLC in Summit County is planning a facility that will convert solid waste into ethanol for use as fuel.
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Kenyon College Innovation Greenhouse in Knox County, based on a three-year grant from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation to help students at Kenyon strengthen critical thinking, scientific method, and self expression associated with the liberal arts and essential in business careers. Students can start a small business at Kenyon or collaborate with a Knox County business.
I am pleased to announce the first stop on the Innovation Tour. We have selected Meridian Bioscience, Inc., headquartered in Newton, Ohio, for the kickoff site visit today.
Meridian Bioscience began with a $500 initial investment and now manufactures, markets, and distributes a broad range of innovative products such as medical diagnostic kits for gastrointestinal and upper respiratory infections, serology, parasitology and fungal disease diagnosis. These medical diagnostic kits are designed to provide accuracy, simplicity and speed in the early diagnosis and treatment of common medical conditions. Since 1991, the company has developed and introduced more than 30 products developed by engineers in the company--right here in Ohio. Meridian Bioscience was first-to-market with numerous key products including tests for H. pylori in 1998, E. coli in 2003, C. difficile in 2004, and Shiga Toxin in 2007.
Last month, Meridian Bioscience announced that it had obtained clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration to add two strains of 2009 H1N1 Influenza A virus -- swine flu -- to the sensitivity properties of its rapid flu testing devices. "Meridian is working diligently to provide our global customers who are facing an influenza pandemic with product features that will assist them from a testing standpoint," said Meridian CEO John A. Kraeutler in making the announcement. "We must provide our customers with tools that allow them to do their jobs in a rapid, safe and effective manner, thus improving patient care."
Meridian Bioscience has responded to changing market needs with innovative products to improve medical outcomes and save costs for health care providers. It has achieved rapid growth and now employs over 215 Ohioans. The company has earned widespread recognition, including being named to the Fortune Fastest Growing Small Businesses each year from 2005 through 2008 and to the Forbes Best 200 Small Companies seven times.
As the Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs continues, we will highlight more creative enterprises in Ohio in other areas of industry and service. Ohioans have that special drive to work hard, care for their fellow citizens and think creatively to meet the changing demands of the 21st century. We are the force behind helping Ohio prosper and grow our economy with new jobs in these challenging times.
Please take a few minutes to think about and identify innovative businesses, programs or projects that you have encountered anywhere in the state, and visit our web site to nominate projects to be included in my Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs.
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by Jennifer on 10.09.2009
Although times are hard, the future of Ohio is bright -- thanks to the spirit of innovation, creativity, and hard work that has been a beacon for Ohio and its people since the days of Thomas Edison and the light bulb, Granville Woods and the mobile railway telegraph, Josephine Cochran and the dishwasher, and of course The Wright Brothers and the airplane.
My campaign for the U.S. Senate is launching our "Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs." The history of Ohio maps a trail of innovation over time and geography that sets Ohio apart from so many other states. In times like these, when we focus on what has made our state realize progress, I am struck by the wealth that is our very people. I have often said that our diversity is our greatest strength. When it comes to ways to promote economic progress for Ohio, we need only start with our people to see our potential. My Senate candidacy is about the kind of leadership that will empower that potential to grow jobs and progress for a state that deserves so much.
Our Innovation Tour for Ohio Jobs encourages Ohio's entrepreneurs and assists small businesses with big ideas by highlighting their outstanding vision and creativity. I'll be traveling across the state, promoting the work and efforts of innovators and visionaries in technology, business, health care, agriculture and education to help bring together the people and resources that make jobs and progress happen for the people of Ohio.
I urge you to nominate Ohio businesses, organizations, individuals, or institutions who offer Ohio new ways to grow jobs for the 21st century that will sustain our economy, our quality of life and our future for a strong, clean and healthy Ohio. We've established a place on our web site to accept your nominations, and I encourage you to visit the site today to nominate local projects that reflect and promote our state's history of innovation, creativity, and hard work. That's how we've always brought more jobs to Ohio.
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by Jennifer on 10.07.2009
Yesterday I wrote to Ohio officials, including Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher as head of the Ohio Economic Growth Cabinet, urging action on my proposal to shore up Ohio's vital automotive supply chain by using federal stimulus money to launch a loan guarantee fund for auto parts suppliers. As I said when unveiling my urban agenda at the City Club of Cleveland in August, today's credit crunch is making it hard for even viable suppliers to get the necessary loans they need to survive. My plan would give priority to auto parts suppliers who have existing orders or to those that will supply newer, more fuel efficient vehicles.
Imminent layoffs in Toledo show why action is needed now. The Chrysler Group's Jeep Wrangler plant announced plans for a temporary shut down this week at the Toledo Jeep Assembly complex because of what officials called "a parts shortage from an external supplier." The shutdown will idle about 500 Chrysler workers on two shifts and 500 to 700 supplier workers in the complex. As I wrote in my letter requesting full and immediate consideration of my loan guarantee proposal, Ohio's automakers and automotive suppliers can no longer afford to wait, nor can their employees and their families.
Ohio is America's No. 2 automaker and its No. 2 manufacturer of auto parts. Automotive News is reporting at least 20 U.S. suppliers have filed for bankruptcy protection in U.S. courts so far this year, which does not include smaller suppliers or companies that have gone out of business without filing for bankruptcy.
State Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) joined me in calling on state officials to immediately address auto suppliers' critical needs, pointing out that the Jeep assembly complex is vital to northwest Ohio's economy. "The loan guarantee is a viable and necessary plan," she said. "Auto makers can't survive without auto parts. If Ohio does not move quickly, Ohio workers and their families will endure more unnecessary layoffs."
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