21st Century Democrats in Action - Jennifer Brunner

21st Century Democrats was proud to have endorsed and supported Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner in her 2006 election. Howard Dean, DNC Chair said that Jennifer’s race was the most important in the country. We heartily agree! It remains a truism of national politics, “as Ohio goes, so goes the nation.” The voters in Ohio now have at the election helm a person of unparalleled experience with a passion for elections. The vote of every Ohio voter will be counted now that Jennifer Brunner is Secretary of State.

Recently, we spoke to Jennifer about all she’s been able to accomplish in her first six months in office. As Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer established four goals for her term as Secretary of State. The first goal is to work to restore trust to Ohio’s elections. With the November 2008 presidential election looming, Brunner knew that this was her paramount responsibility.

Upon entering the office, Jennifer realized her predecessor had fundamentally ignored Ohio’s 88 county Boards of Elections for eight years. Among other things this neglect resulted in substantial variances in the election process county-by-county. The second surprise was how little had actually been put into writing during the last six months of 2006. One major impact was that counties interpreted the voter I.D. law and absentee and provisional voting policies in many different ways. This lack of direction caused confusion among voters and election workers. Voter I.D. laws, absentee and provisional voting rules and regulations are particularly important in Presidential elections when only a few thousand votes may separate the winner from the loser in a state with 20 electoral votes.

To most efficiently and effectively remedy the confusion, Jennifer divided the state into fourteen districts assigning field representatives to them. The field representatives now meet regularly with and provide assistance to county Boards of Elections. Additionally, Secretary of State staff attorneys have now been assigned to each Board by region, so that they can immediately answer questions that arise and offer sound legal advice when needed. Finally, a training program is in development to train Ohio’s pollworkers in the proper procedures of running fair and efficient elections.

Under Jennifer’s tenure the Ohio Secretary of State’s office will promote civic participation and a stronger democracy through ensuring every Ohioan’s right to vote in an election system that is free, fair, open and honest. In an effort to make the office more accessible to all Ohioans, she formed the Voting Rights Institute to work with communities, partner with organizations and implement programs that will ensure a safe, reliable and trustworthy voting process that fosters and enhances access to voting in Ohio. The Institute will also act as a clearinghouse where voters can express their concerns and describe their voting experiences with responses from the Secretary of State or the local Board of Elections. The Institute will also provide leadership on legislative and policy initiatives to accomplish its mission utilizing the Voting Rights Institute Advisory Council.

The Voting Rights Institute Advisory Council is teaming up with Ohio’s election stakeholders to restore trust to the state’s voting system. The all-volunteer Council consists of a diverse group of individuals and organizations that have experience, knowledge, passion and a common interest in improving Ohio’s elections. The council, which includes 6 work groups and meets as a whole on a quarterly basis, will make recommendations to the Voting Rights Institute and the secretary of state’s office on how to develop practices and proposals with the goal of making Ohio’s elections and voting systems a positive example for the nation.

The lack of oversight and consistency among the county boards of elections created problems at the county level. Cuyahoga County, the state’s most populous county was one such example. The situation that Jennifer faced in Cuyahoga upon taking office was daunting, at best.

There were some serious problems with the vote count in Cleveland in 2004. It eventually turned out that two high-ranking Board of Election employees were charged with and convicted of election related felonies for their role in the rigging of a recount from the 2004 Presidential Election. They were dismissed from their jobs but the confidence of the public in Cuyahoga County’s ability to hold an election had sunk to a new low. In March, Secretary Brunner asked the four Board members to resign, thereby directly taking on the Ohio Republican Party, the Cleveland Democratic Party and some local labor organizations. The result was a clean slate for the citizens of Cuyahoga County. A new Board was sworn-in by early May of 2007 and recently hired a new director and deputy director, based on merit.

In an effort to expand participation among our youngest voters, Jennifer unveiled in June a state pilot program, “Grads Vote 2007,” a pilot program, with statewide reach planned for next year. Graduating seniors in five Ohio counties were provided a voter registration form and information on registering, absentee voting and serving as a poll worker with their high school diploma.

Throughout July, the Ohio Secretary of State’s staff has been evaluating proposals from experts to test Ohio’s electronic voting systems, a necessary step, once again, to restoring public confidence to Ohio voters. Brunner’s office expects to complete testing by this fall.

Ohio’s new Secretary of State has already demonstrated in six short months that she has the knowledge and experience to run elections in Ohio and that she’s a tough and pragmatic politician to boot. Jennifer Brunner is an example of the kind of political leader 21st Century looks to identify and support. We’re happy to be associated with her and look forward to working with her in the future.

21st Century Democrats Announces Candidate Endorsements

Twenty-First Century Democrats
2007/2008 Election Candidate
Endorsements Round One

21st Century Democrats seeks out and supports bold, progressive leaders who fight for what’s right, not what’s politically expedient. We are proud to endorse the following candidates and, with the generous help of our progressive supporters, we’ll provide critical support to propel them to victory in the 2007 and 2008 elections. Click to continue.

We're rallying early for a huge 2008 victory

Twenty-First Century Democrats is in the middle of our Annual Youth Leadership Speakers Series. We put on this program in order to provide a chance for the interns who flood Washington DC during the summer to hear real progressive leaders. These young people come to DC with high idealism and a desire to change the world, yet too often they only find cynicism and complacency.

At a time when bad news about the war dominates public dialogue, it has been energizing to hear from progressive leaders with integrity and courage. We encourage our speakers to talk about big ideas and their bold vision in America. One of our endorsed candidates from 2006, freshman Representative Chris Murphy (D-CT), really cut to the heart of why we don’t hear big ideas any more, why as a public we aren’t inspired. It really made me think.

“I have this feeling in general that today there are so many politicians that are so afraid to go out there and talk about big ideas, right, I mean we have become so addicted to incremental change and so scared of failure that nobody really talks about change in revolutionary terms any longer.”

Chris went on to talk about what I think is one of the major barriers to seeing real leaders talk about big ideas – money in politics.

“What is happening is that the bar to becoming a candidate for office, certainly for federal office in Congress, but also to a certain extent even to run for local office is not how hard you’re going to work, is not how many good ideas you have, is not how committed you are to public service. It’s one simple question. Can you or can you not raise the money?”

Chris first ran for public office at 24, barely older than many of the people in the room. But it is near impossible to repeat that kind of success with out deep pockets or pandering to big money. Nevertheless, hearing this freshman congressman and his colleagues in the House talk about big ideas – like Chris’ work to make fundamental changes in the way campaigns are financed and pass comprehensive ethics reform was important to me and the young people who gathered around.

More than anything, though, I am excited by what I hear from the interns that are attending the series. These are the young people making things happen right now, on the ground. They are the campaign volunteers of today and the leaders of tomorrow.

“It was a great event. My only regret is that we didn’t have even more time to spend with the representatives. – Kendra Jackson (intern with Rep. Bob Filner)

“Nice to have the opportunity to hear from congressmen, on leadership and other issues that affect youth today.” – Ann Shikany (Cincinnati, Ohio)

“It was really encouraging to hear from current congressional leaders that were young when they first ran for office.” – Shannon Goldberg (intern with Rep. David Price)

Chris Murphy was not the only speaker in our series who connected with our group:

Rep. Brian Baird on what guides him – “Something we never talk about in politics is character… character is the embodiment of values, putting values into action. And those values would be honesty, integrity and responsibility.”

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton on her tireless effort to obtain a vote for the people of DC in Congress – “Eleanor Holmes Norton has a vision all right, it is not to make the whole world perfect but to make our country more perfect by making the citizens who live in our home capitol first class citizens.”

Rep. Henry Waxman on encouraging people to never give up on what they believe – “I hope you will leave with a renewed sense of commitment to fight for these ideas…fight for things that are more than what is in your own self interest but in the interest of all us.”

This is why Twenty-First Century Democrats does more than just endorse candidates with a “D” next to their name. We find real leaders, with big ideas and we help them get elected with boots on the ground field work, trainings, and strategic advice.

This is why we recently made Darcy Burner our first endorsement for 2008. Within days we will announce the full list of our first round of candidate endorsements. We had an overwhelming response to our call for applications and we found outstanding candidates running for all types of office. Our goal is help them win election and provide leadership to enact bold policies rather than incremental changes.

This Thursday we have another great line up of progressive leaders: Senator Sherrod Brown, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Jon Tester and Representative Paul Hodes.

We’re excited about the 2008 election and we hope to see you on the campaign trail.

Progressive politics on the ground

During the past few weeks, we’ve all watched the Republican party continue to implode. First Karl Rove resigned, then Alberto Gonzales’s reign at the Justice Department finally came to a close. This week, we saw another intolerant, far right Republican exposed as a hypocrite.

But while these events might give us some encouragement, we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us if we’re going to bring about real progressive change. In the DC area, local elections are beginning to ramp up, and these can go a long way in affecting communities. At Twenty-First Century Democrats, we’re jumping in and hitting the ground running to help progressive local candidates build the foundation for national change.

Our September schedule is packed. We’ll be helping out four different campaigns this month – knocking on doors, dropping literature and coordinating our results with the various campaigns we are supporting. Starting this Saturday, our team will be in Central Baltimore for an all day walk on behalf of Fred Mason III. We’re working with SEIU/1199, the Baltimore Federation of Teachers, HERE/UNITE and the Victory Fund to get the vote out for the September 11 primary. We’ll also spend two full days in Virginia on for Albert Pollard and Carlos Del Toro in Stafford County and in Fairfax for the Janet Oleszek campaign.

Every one of these candidates deserves our support.

We believe that each of them, when elected, will carry progressive values and legislative smarts into their new jobs. We’ll keep you updated on our progress.

Darcy Burner Leading in the Polls

A new poll commissioned by 21^st Century Democrats shows progressive Democrat Darcy Burner, the first candidate endorsed by 21^st Century Democrats this election cycle, pulling into a clear lead over conservative Republican incumbent Congressman Dave Reichert in the race for Washington State’s 8^th Congressional District.  Burner leads Reichert, 44 percent to 39 percent, with 17 percent undecided.  

The poll was conducted one day (August 28) after President Bush made a high-profile fundraising visit to the district to reward Reichert for his lockstep support – 17 votes and counting – of the president’s determination to extend the misguided war in Iraq indefinitely.  Beginning August 24, a four-day “Burn Bush for Burner” netroots fundraising drive culminating in a virtual town hall on Iraq live-streamed over the web generated close to $125,000 in small dollar contributions to Burner from more than 3,200 donors.

“Darcy’s Burner’s phenomenal success in using the web to reach voters with her message about ending rather than extending the war is clearly resonating with Democrats and Independents in the district,” said Mark Lotwis, executive director of 21^st Century Democrats. 

The poll showed that both candidates had largely locked up support from members of their respective parties, with 82 percent of Republicans supporting Reichert and 85 percent of Democrats backing Burner. Most notably, Independents were breaking strongly in favor of Burner, 40 percent to 24 percent (with 36 percent undecided).

That split appears to be a reflection of President Bush’s deep unpopularity among independents in the district because of the war: 83% of independents rated the president’s job approval negatively in the poll.  Even among 8^th District Republicans, more than one third – 36% - disapproved of Bush’s performance in office.

The automated poll of 509 registered voters in the district was conducted by Powell Phones of Portland, Oregon on August 28, 2007 and was donated to Burner’s campaign as an in-kind contribution by 21^st Century Democrats.

Read more about Darcy Burner.