What would you call a candidate who was on the right fringe of reproductive choice issues and used attacks on gay marriage to get elected? If you’re like most people, you’d probably call her “Republican.” But in the case of Marietta’s Jennifer Garrison, state representative from Ohio’s 93rd district, you’d be wrong.
Garrison’s district is in southeast Ohio, along the Pennsylvania
border. It’s a rural, conservative area, and it’s understandable that a
Democrat representing it would have some positions to the right of most
Ohio Dems. But Garrison has announced her run for statewide office. In
early August, she launched her campaign to be the Democratic nominee
for secretary of state to replace Jennifer Brunner, who is running for
the U.S. Senate. (She joins Franklin County commissioner Marilyn Brown,
who announced last winter.) The response — from those paying
attention this early — ranged from cautious curiosity to outraged
backlash to endorsements from 35 fellow Democratic state
legislators.
Last year, Garrison responded to a questionnaire from
abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America. She stated that she
supported banning all abortions except to save the mother’s life and
declaring fetuses to have full “personhood” rights. Politically, these
are far-right positions.
NARAL’s Ohio executive director Kellie Copeland says, “Obviously
we’re unable to support people who hold such extreme views about the
rights of women over their own bodies. When we have candidates who
advocate outlawing abortion, it’s disturbing.”
She points out that, unlike anti-abortion Congressman Tim Ryan
(Oh-17), who has been a leader in supporting Prevention First, which
looks at preventing unwanted pregnancies through comprehensive sex
education and access to birth control, Garrison has no such track
record.
“She has had opportunities to sign on [to Prevention First], but she
hasn’t,” says Copeland. “We introduced it [in the Ohio legislature] in
2006; we introduced it last session, we’re about to introduce it
again.”
Janet Carson, chairman of the Geauga County Democratic Party, hopes
to hear Garrison clarify her stands on women’s issues.
“I think any candidate — especially any woman candidate
— that doesn’t put women’s issues at the top of their list is not
a candidate a majority of the Democratic party could support,” she
says. “Ohio’s a conservative enough state that we need our candidate to be pro-women’s issues and pro-rights issues. We need to
elect officials who are willing to take a broader look at Ohio and
bring us into 21st century. I’m afraid Jennifer Garrison is too
conservative for a majority of Democrats in Ohio.”
She adds, “I’m going to invite both candidates to our regional
women’s caucus meeting, so women voters can understand the positions of
both candidates not only on issues of choice and women’s issues, but on
issues of the secretary of state office. I don’t know her stands on
issues so it would be impossible to make an educated judgment on her as
a secretary of state candidate.”
Michael Daniels, co-owner of Columbus-based gay-oriented Outlook
Media, has made up his mind: He’s launched the Facebook page Oppose
Jennifer Garrison for Ohio Secy of State, which currently has more than
325 members, more than twice as many as Garrison’s Facebook campaign
page. He says he’ll endorse Republican Jon Husted if Garrison is the
Democratic nominee, pointing out that Husted is better on gay issues:
As speaker of the House, he killed a bill that would have banned gay
adoptions in Ohio.
Garrison didn’t merely support the 2004 ballot issue banning gay
marriage — she took an aggressive stance to the right of her
Republican opponent to win her seat in the legislature. In a letter
published in the Marietta Times in April that year, she wrote,
“As bewildering as the gay marriage debate may seem, we know precisely
where it originated: In a courtroom in Boston, Mass, … It is
troubling that a small group of Massachusetts judges are rewriting the
laws of their state. As we learned in school, it is the role of judges
to interpret laws, not write them. Even more unsettling is the fact
that judicial activism in Massachusetts could set policy for other
states.
“Marriage is a fundamental building block of society, one that
predates our nation and even the birth of Christ. Ultimately, it is a
statement about our values as human beings. Massachusetts Governor Mitt
Romney — himself an opponent of same sex marriage — said it
well: ‘The institution of marriage was not created by government, and
it should not be redefined by government.’ I agree.”
These are well-worn Republican talking points.
“I understand the Democratic party should be a big tent,” says
Daniels. “But as far as human rights and moving progressive values
forward, we shouldn’t be giving up ground.”
Some might ask why Garrison’s positions on these “values” issues
matter to an office concerned with overseeing elections and maintaining
business filings.
“The secretary of state plays pivotal role in reapportionment and
how the districts are drawn,” says Copeland. “The reason we have a
majority of anti-choice legislators in the [state] Senate and House is
how the districts are drawn. Polls show a majority of voters are
pro-choice. So I think it matters very much who sits on the
reapportionment board.”
Says Daniels: “A person’s view on basic rights issues has a lot to
do with how much trust I have in how they’re going to run fair, free
and open elections. I believe how you approach voting rights has a lot
with how you approach civil rights in general.”
While Garrison voted against HB 3 in 2006 and SB 380 in 2008 —
both aimed at erecting hurdles to voting rights — she hasn’t been
outspoken on the issues they raised. Her campaign website offers
generalities about “good government” and “transparency.” That raises
the question of why she is running for this particular office.
“It’s a steppingstone to higher office,” says Daniels bluntly.
Copeland concurs. “We all know secretary of state is a launching pad
for higher office — for U.S. Senate, which approves Supreme Court
nominees, for governor who has veto power over legislation. It matters
a lot what her positions are.”
One of Garrison’s House colleagues says she is “relentlessly
ambitious. She’s definitely looking beyond [the secretary of state’s
office].”
History bears them out. Following Ted Brown’s long tenure
(1951-1979), every Ohio secretary of state has aspired to be governor
or senator. Anthony Celebrezze Jr (1979-1983) ran for governor. Sherrod
Brown (1983-1991) is currently U.S. Senator. Bob Taft (1991-1999)
became governor. Ken Blackwell (1999-2007) ran for governor. And
current Secretary of State Brunner is running for the Senate.
With no record of interest in voting issues, it seems like Garrison
too could be aiming higher than the secretary of state’s office. And
then, as Copeland says, her positions on issues of reproductive choice
and gay rights could matter very much.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2009.