OH-07: Steve Austria's Military Problem

bluefiftytwo — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:27:15 -0700

Promoted from the forums --David

Wow, huge h/t to Joe R at Fundamental Truths for noticing this latest major problem with Steve Austria's campaign:

This photo is one of the rotating clips on Steve Austria's website, and Joe R points out it's been used in other places, too, like printed literature. Joe R calls our attention to it because these soldiers seem to be breaking a DoD rule that says in-uniform military personnel can't be in campaign materials. Joe R suggests that maybe it's a fake photo -- by which I guess he means either that Steve Austria was photoshopped into the picture of soldiers (seems highly unlikely), or that the men in the Army uniforms are actors, not soldiers, which would be sickening if true. I'm no lawyer, but I'm not sure how legal that would be, either.

So either Steve Austria enticed three soldiers to break regulations, photoshopped himself into a photograph with soldiers at the state house, or hired actors to pretend to be Army specialists for his fancy photo op. In any case, I'm appalled.

So we've got Steve Austria with a major military problem, with any explanation meaning that, at the end of the day, he doesn't respect the uniform or the people who serve in it. And you know what's icing on the cake?

What the heck is Steve Austria doing staging a photo op on the grounds of the capitol? Is he that anxious to emphasize how much of an insider he is? Is that a lame attempt at looking like an incumbent? It's absolutely unbecoming.

OH-07: Sharen Neuhardt Cleans Up...Literally

bluefiftytwo — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:10:09 -0700

I was going to post on this, and then I saw this great post in the forums - Nick D.

So, I've been lurking around for a while, but I just can't stay quiet any longer. When Sharen was put on Red To Blue last week, it was the first time I got really excited about my home-town race. Our district's been red for so long...and to see the DCCC make the decision that it's really a winnable seat was really encouraging. But it still wasn't enough to get me into the race.

And then I saw this video on Sharen's website, and I couldn't hold myself back any longer. After the storms this weekend, Sharen put her campaign on hold and just went out and volunteered. Didn't make a big stink about it, just rolled up her sleeves and started helping.

I've seen too many politicians just talk the big talk about change, about leadership, about community. But Sharen means it -- she's really one of us. I could feel it in the power of this video. I can see her leadership by this one action. She doesn't ask us to join her campaign in the video, or to donate to her. She asks us to serve our community, to pick up a hammer ourselves. That's leadership by example. Real leadership. And I'm ready to fight for her.

(Crossposted at Ohio Daily)

Buckeye State Blog - District 7

OH-07: Steve Austria's Military Problem

OH-07: Sharen Neuhardt Cleans Up...Literally