Mary Jo Kilroy on the Plunderbund Podcast (transcript)

Al Gore is scheduled to be a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.

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Eric Vessels of Plunderbund interviewed our own Mary Jo Kilroy on his most recent podcast. Well, okay, she's not our *very* own, but Demetrius and I have certainly seen her face to face more often than any other political office-holder I can think of. The first time, as I recall, was at a community forum at First Unitarian Universalist Church in Columbus. And I recall being impressed by her--and the level of thought and care she brought to issues--long before I thought I cared that much about politics.

Eric: To tell people just a little bit about you, you served on the Columbus School Board for 7-8 years--

Mary Jo Kilroy: For 8 years, for two full terms.

Eric: And then you were elected and are currently serving on the Franklin County Commissioners?

Mary Jo Kilroy: That's correct, I'm in my second term as County Commissioner--part of our local "red to blue" program here!

Eric: (laughing) That's right. Well, I'm reading an interesting article this morning, just doing a little bit of prep here. We don't do a ton of prep on the Plunderbund podcast--low budget. But USA Today has an interesting article about GOP lawmakers who are fighting to keep their jobs. And it mentions you, and it mentions your opponent Deborah Pryce, who I believe in 2004 won by a 60/40 margin?

Mary Jo Kilroy: That's correct.

Eric: Basically the article says "Here's all these people that could be tested in November." I'm assuming that your goal is not to "test" someone

Mary Jo Kilroy: (laughing) That's right--my goal is to win!

Eric: That's right, and it sound like Ohio's 15th is one of those districts that people are keeping an eye on. What do you think is causing that vulnerability, and the exciting prospect of your getting elected, and representing us in the 15th district.

Mary Jo Kilroy: Well, first of all, I think Deborah Pryce has never had a challenge since she's been elected, by a Democrat, who has held office.

Eric: Right.

Mary Jo Kilroy: --and who has run campaigns, and who knows how to campaign, and fight hard. And, if people know me, and my political history, you know that I have worked hard to win races being outspent substantially. Being attacked, and I expect that they'll do that again, but fighting back against that and getting elected. So first of all, she's got a different candidate against her. Secondly, I think the Democratic party as a whole is much stronger. Like I said, we've been doing our local red to blue program. The Democratic party locally has been electing more candidates to county-wide offices, and I think that this is sort of the next domino to fall as central Ohio goes from red to blue.

Eric: Right.

Mary Jo Kilroy: Thirdly, and this is really important--I think this is a referendum on the failed policies of the Bush administration.

Eric: No doubt.

Mary Jo Kilroy: And Deborah Pryce has been a leader in Congress, she has pushed his agenda as one of the House leaders--she is one of the top four in the house. And I think the voters see this as a way to send a message to George Bush that we do *not* like the direction this country's going in, we do *not* like the direction the United States House of Representatives is going in.

Eric: Right, absolutely. And let's break that down into numbers. I'm just looking here. Deborah Pryce has voted *with* President Bush 88% of the time, with the GOP Caucus 93% of the time, and with the now shamed and disgraced Tom DeLay 90% of the time. So, it's got to be pretty difficult for her to wiggle away from that stuff, and I think you're right that it is a referendum. And I feel a lot of energy behind that.

Speaking of energy, we posted some pictures that our readers sent that attended the Memorial Day Parade events. I don't know if you saw those, but it was pretty striking the amount of support that you had, that came out for that, as compared to your opponent. And so that indicates to me that there's definitely a lot more energy around what you're doing.

Mary Jo Kilroy: There's a lot of energy in our campaign, and a lot of energy at the grassroots level and that's coming together. I think that turnouts, like at our parades this weekend, both in Grandview and in Worthington, and up at the Groveport Arts Festival--that was a great event. And we were at the Asian Fest as well, so we have volunteers all over the community working hard to win this race and to make sure that we have a Congress that reflects what central Ohio values.

Eric: Now, you talked a little bit about your political history, and you talke also about your grassroots support. You've got a pretty deep history and background with grassroots activists--am I right about that?

Mary Jo Kilroy: I've been involved with a lot of grassroots groups over the years, yes.

Eric: I'll share just a quick story with you. We've actually met. You probably don't remember--it's been years ago. A friend of mine invited me to, I think it was the Powell Library. It was a roundtable discussion of progressives, and you were one of the people there. But at that time, there wasn't a lot of energy. There were like 8 people in the room. But what I noticed about you, and I will compliment you now on that, is you were attentive the whole time. There weren't a lot of people, and you might not have gotten a lot of political payoff out of it because of that. But you were attentive the entire time, and it seemed like you cared, and you had a lot of energy.

And that really struck me and stayed with me, and that's why when I saw your name come up as running for Congress, I thought, "Great--this is the kind of people that we really need!" Because it appeared to me that what you've done, and what you are planning to continue to do, is really be a voice for the people. And I think we need that, especially in this day and time.

Mary Jo Kiroy: Well thank you very much, Eric, for that compliment. I recall the event. I believe it was at the Hilliard Library--

Eric: Oh, yeah--you're right.

Mary Jo Kilroy: --and those kind of discussions were important. And I engaged in a lot of discussions like that all around the community. With progressive groups, with community groups, and with Democratic party activitsts. After the '02 elections in particular, when we saw our turnout in the midterm elections that year, drop, I convened a lot of meetings. And that Hilliard meeting I don't think was part of that series, but a lot of meetings with community members, and ward leaders, party leaders. Talking about why Democrats weren't voting, and what the impact of that was on elections. This midterm election is drastically different, I think, than '02. I think the country is angry about a lot of things. Angry about the Bush agenda, angry about the war, and about the economy, and the job loss. About global warming. Angry about Katrina and that response.

But everybody that voted in 2004 for Kerry, and everybody that worked for Kerry in that campaign, in the neighborhoods and at campaign headquarters, needs to get involved this year in these extremely important midterm elections.

Eric: Absolutely.

Mary Jo Kilroy: And those meetings, like you referenced, may have been small, but I think they're important. Because those meetings in '02 and the other ones that I had with the ward leaders, they can start to rebuild the party. Rebuild the level of grassroots excitement and enthusiasm and they're very important involvement

Eric: Right, absolutely. You're right--you have to start somewhere. And when I go to meetings like that now, you can hardly get in. So we've definitely build the momentum for this. I want to talk a little bit, while we still have a little bit of time here--I want to talk about blogs. I'm a blogger, and obviously this is being distributed via blogs and internet. And I'm also a part of Meet the Bloggers, and proud to be really a part of what's a growing progressive and Democratic blogger base here in Ohio. You seem to "get" blogs and blogging--you've hired a guy who is from Upper Arlington Progressive Action, and blogs there. He's working with your internet communications. What do you see in blogs, and what makes you able to make me perceive that you "get it"?

Mary Jo Kilroy: Well, first I see grassroots democracy in action. And the internet has been an amazing forum to allow people without corporate domination of the news media, to raise issues and to communicate, to debate, to get an alternative point of view out. And I think that without that kind of discussion and interaction, that democracy can dry up. And I think that people's lack of involvment, to a certain extent, stems from people's lack of access and control of the media. The blogging community changes that equation dramatically, and I think it's great.

Eric: So, your experience with grassroots already--we've kind of talked about that--is that why it naturally follows that your campaign would be real friendly to blogs, because of that grassroots connection?

Mary Jo Kilroy: That's probably a fair statement. And over the years I have probably written many a leaflet or pamphlet and tried to do it the old fashioned way. And the value of doing that on the internet is immediately apparent to anybody who's been out door-knocking and trying to plan events or build an organization. So I'm really lucky to have a great webmaster with Dave Harding. He does a terrific job. We try to link to the Democratic blogs. We try to make sure that our press statements are directed to the blog community, because we think it's a very very important method of communicating with voters, communicating with Democrats.

Absolutely, and I think that what you're doing--what Dave's doing--I hope that other campaigns will watch it and I hope the party will watch it. Because I think it's a really good example of how to interact with blogs and leverage the power of blogs. That's definitely another compliment coming from me that way. Well, Mary Jo, thanks so much for being on the Plunderbund podcast, and I wish you all the luck going through this summer season, and right up into the crunch time as we get closer to November. Best of luck

Mary Jo Kilroy: Well, thank you, Eric, and let me also thank the people who organize their own blogs, because I know it's a lot of work to do that, and I appreciate what the blog community does very much. And if we are going to change Congress, if we are going to send a message to George Bush, we are going to need all of your involvement and help. This is a big endeavor to run for Congress, and I know that the other side isn't going to just throw in the towel. It is going to be a highly contested election, and I really encourage people to join us, and check out our web and communicate with us, through the web or elsewhere. We'd be delighted to hear from everybody.

Eric: Absolutely! Well, you've got all the support that I'm going to be able to muster, and a lot of other people's support, and I think you're going to do a heck of a lot more than just "test" Deb Pryce! And we really look forward to watching it, and to helping out any way we can. Thanks for being on the podcast.

Mary Jo Kilroy: Thank you!

And don't forget that you can donate to Mary Jo's campaign through our Howard-Empowered Act Blue page.

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