2008 Woodie Awards
Brinkman to run for district seat
State representative to challenge
Chau Nguyen
Issue date: 2/5/08 Section: Community
|
The race for Ohio's 2nd Congressional District has narrowed down to State Representative Tom Brinkman (R) and incumbent U.S. Representative Jean Schmidt (R), since Phil Heimlich's (R) withdrawal from the race Jan. 28.
The 2nd Congressional District is comprised of seven counties, stretching from downtown Cincinnati to Portsmouth, Ohio, and is the 57th most Republican district in the nation, according to the Cook Political Report. Victoria Wulsin is running on the Democratic ticket for the seat. Wulsin was unsuccessful in her bid for the seat in 2006 and was defeated by Schmidt.
Brinkman has a history with Miami University, as he attempted to bring a lawsuit against the university in 2005 for its same-sex partnership benefits-providing health and dental insurance-which he claimed was a violation of Ohio's ban on
civil unions.
The following year, the court ruled that Brinkman was unaffected by the policy and therefore, had no grounds to sue. The case was dismissed again in 2007.
With elections fast approaching, Brinkman moved on from his case against Miami, and in December 2007, he notified the Federal Election Commission about his candidacy.
He said he running for the seat because he is "disappointed" with Schmidt's performance in Congress.
"Our country is facing a tremendous financial crisis," Brinkman said. "Instead of facing the crisis and reducing spending, she is spending right and left and is putting us in more and more jeopardy."
Brinkman cited increasing debt due to government spending and the baby boomer generation's upcoming eligibility for benefits as important issues for the Congress.
"We have this huge debt that already exists and we have the largest group in history (becoming) available for entitlements and we don't have the money," Brinkman said.
Citing an article from The Wall Street Journal, Brinkman said that every baby born today has a $400,000 debt load due to government spending compared to $19,000 of debt 20 years ago.
According to Brinkman, raising taxes and cutting benefits could be solutions to the problem, but he favors another option.
"(We could) cut the needless spending, eliminate fraud, duplication and abuse," Brinkman said. "That is exactly what I've done in Columbus and that is exactly I'll do in congress."
In his fourth term in Ohio's General Assembly, Brinkman was elected to Ohio's 34th House District in 2000 with the campaign slogan "Promises made, promises kept."
Be the first to comment on this story