Subodh Chandra in Columbus, April 8, Part 1

I was really wiped out this morning after a long day yesterday--really a long week. So it was a challenge to drag my carcass out of the house and go to the Subodh Chandra event sponsored by the Coalition of Democratic and Progressive Organizations in Central Ohio. Especially given that it was at Ohio State, so I had to pay to park, (I'm cheap) had to *find* parking, and then I had to, a good ten minutes after the event was set to start, wander through the rats' maze of the Ohio Union to find the Buckeye Gray Room. I think that's what it was called. I know it wasn't in the Scarlet Suite. I could tell I was finally headed in the right direction, and that I was apparently not yet late, when I saw Subodh smile and wave before ducking into a room at the end of the hallway. Okay, I really did *have* to go to this thing today. I mean, I've heard the guy on podcasts, read about him, and he was even kind enough to send me a guest entry to post at Howard-Empowered People (a month ago today, I just noticed). So I really didn't want to miss my opportunity to see him in person.

There were probably 30 or so people there--I'm not good at estimating these things--and Subodh was losing his voice. There was a major event going on, having to do with raising the minimum wage, and apparently that's where Marc Dann was. He was originally scheduled to debate Subodh, but instead, Dann's wife, Alyssa Lenhoff, came and spoke on his behalf. She described some of the sacrifice that comes with having your spouse run for statewide office. When it was Subodh's turn to speak, he quipped that Dann is ahead of him in the endorsement race, having secured his wife's endorsement. Subodh said, "I don't know who my wife's going to vote for on May 2!" and to Alyssa, referring to the sacrifice she described, "I feel your pain".

Below, you will find the first part of the talk Subodh gave in Columbus this morning. I'm still working on the rest of the transcript, and I will post more of it as I am able.
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If you're like me, and you've watched our economy erode into shambles, our educational system crumbling, perhaps you're savvier than I am, but I was only attributing it to a difference in political philosophy, energy level, and perhaps intelligence level. That, well, these folks have kind of a funny philosophy about the world and, well, they're pretty lazy and don't do with governmental authority what I would do if I had the opportunity, and, maybe they're not that bright...some of them, at least, although probably some of them are quite cunning. But, what the scandal stories out of Columbus revealed, from the hundreds of millions of dollars lost out of the Workers' Compenstion system...school facilities commission, spending recklessly but not paying the prevailing wage to their workers so they can support themselves.

What these stories prove is that these folks weren't just people with a funny philosophy, or people who were lazy, or people who weren't bright. No, these folks were lookouts at the scene of a bank robbery, whistling along while their pals were looting the bank. And it's a fundamental difference, and that's what inspired my wife and me to commit to this incredibly, painfully long job interview--the longest job interview I've ever been through in my life. Actually, I had stepped down as Cleveland law director last January with no intention of doing anything like this. My wife and I have triplet sons who just turned two years old, and the pregnancy had been a challenge, a terrible challenge. My wife had been hospitalized for three months. The boys were born healthy and happy but, the idea was to step back from public service because of its demands, if done correctly.

But, the scandal stories pointed me in another direction, because I have a professional background in cleaning up messes. That's what I do, and so, duty called.

So the questions that you have to focus on--that we all have to focus on--as the primary approaches, and the general election approaches are as follows:

Why should we even care about the Attorney General's race? And, who should you choose--how do you choose?

First, I'm going to talk about why you and your families and your friends and their families should care about this race. It's not often that I quote the President, but there's one phrase of his that's always stuck in my mind with respect to the Attorney General's race, and that's that we are the victims of the "soft bigotry of low expectations."

One of the reasons that people like yourselves, who pay close enough attention to politics that you're actually here on a morning like this--and it is a lovely day, by the way. I hate to tell you this, but you all are a little odd--you know this, right? But even the people like you who are so devoted to country and community that you're here, can't name anything that the Attorney General of Ohio has done for you after the last 12 years. It almost seems statistically impossible that people could be in those jobs for so long, and leave no footprints. How is it that that happened?

Well, the Attorney General's job is to run the people's law firm, to be the people's lawyer. To protect us from harm and from loss. That's the job. The governor's job is to lead us to prosperity, to take us to new places. (Spontaneous audience laughter at the mention of the governor leading us to prosperity.) Boy, heaven knows we need some prosperity--and heaven knows we need a new governor, and we will have one. But all the prosperity that a new governor brings through the front door of our homes will be rendered meaningless if thieves are looting us out the back door, and they have been.

And the Attorneys General that we've had over the past twelve years, who were supposed to be standing guard at the back door. They weren't just asleep at the back door, they were holding the door open for the thieves--and we've all payed the price.

We paid the price when instead of preserving money, and protecting it for injured workers, money that Ohio's farmers and struggling small businesses paid into that system, they permitted thieves to loot it, and invest it in goofy things like rare coins, Beanie Babies, autographed baseballs, the rare coins being used to purchase fine wine--some of you have heard me tell that story before.

We all paid the price when natural gas companies fleeced us with huge price increases, even though demand has been stable and supply has been stable. And four midwestern attorneys general, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, just three weeks ago released a report showing that, and demonstrating that the increase in prices must be due to the lack of transparency in the trade, and price manipulation, and called for greater Federal government oversight. And Congressman Kucinich joined me in press conferences when he endorsed me and said, we've got to fight for this, we've got to have an Attorney General who can go after these companies.

We all paid the price when predatory lenders wreaked havoc across our state. If you just saw the news, we continue to have the highest foreclosure rate in America. It's up 8% over the previous year. One out of 71 homes in Ohio foreclosed. It's astonishing--absolute devastation. It's another Hurricane Katrina happening right under our noses.

And what did the Attorney General do? Nothing! He didn't call for legislative authority, didn't use the legislative authority he had, and in fact, when I was Cleveland law director, we passed a law to protect our citizens from these predators, because the state failed to do so. And it didn't surprise us when the lenders got the General Assembly that they bought and paid for to pass legislation that they had written, and it didn't surprise me when they sued the city of Cleveland and Dayton trying to stop us from enforcing our law.

But you know what shocked me? Jim Petro, *our* Attorney General, who didn't even have a dog in the fight, moved to intervene in the case, and chose the predators over those who were preyed upon. He chose the lenders over the elderly and vulnerable. He chose private interests over public interest.

We all paid the price as four rulings from the Ohio Supreme Court say we need to fix our system of educational funding because it's unconstitutional and inequitable, and the children are victims, and the Attorneys General just blew it off. And aided and abetted the state legislature in blowing it off, instead of holding them accountable, which is the Attorney General's job.

We've *all* paid the price. That's why this office matters.

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