Are focused on the republican and democratic primary races for president but local races will also be on the ballot. Primaries by their nature are ugly. Republicans. Democrats call ledge democrats. Often alacking their opponents with as much or more venom than enter party contest. Along the way they explore areas winters. The ohio house of representatives is a great example of the impact of gerry mannedering. In a state that has one republican and one u. S. Senator and voted twice for president barack obama. The ohio house with 99 seats as 65 p republicans and 34 democrats. Almost all of the districts are noncompetitive in the fall. For that reason, the primaries are everything. The way the lines of the ohio House District 31 are drawn, this he include central neighborhoods of the city of cincinnati like clifton and the cities of norwood, amberley village, overall, this is a significant centers of highly educated liberals, africanamericans be appeared working class voters. The seed has been held the last eight years by the street house, who is term limited out and will run this fall for Hamlin County commission. The democratic primary race in district 31 has turned explosive in the last several weeks. The seed has been held by denise tree house. But now to replace her is going to be a real contest. And i am joined this morning by four of the six democrats who are running for that seat. Paul booth and paul saiddy were unavailable this morning and hopefully will join me next week. Brian gary is a partner in a familyowned business, green city ecoinstruction. Nicholas holland lift lives in clifton and owns valley dental Services Based in rosemond. Bridgett kelly lives in norwood where she has served in the past on the norwood city council. Relations director of the united food and commercial union local 7 a. And ben lynndy is the executive director of teach for america in the cincinnati dayton and covington regions. Okay, with all of that, welcome. Thank you. And im glad to have all of you here. Its not easy to have four at one time. So were going to do the best we can here. Dan, lets start with you. The controversy that has really started in the last few weeks centers on you. And you wrote an article in 2000 it was published in 2011 by yale law journal and its entitleded the impact of teacher collective keep rolling that for me please i dont remember the whole title. Tell me the title. Most people dont. Thats okay. Teacher collective bargaining and its impact on Student Outcomes appeared whatever and whatever and whatever. Okay. Begin with this question. What motivated you to do this research originally . Why did you do this research originally . Why did you take this up . Sure. And again, thanks so much for having us here, as a cincinnati native and former Public School teacher im excited about this race and really very very grateful for the chance to be here. I wrote a paper in law school about the state law change in new mexico. And i found results about the impacts of teacher bargaining laws on student achievement. And they were interesting and they were mixed. It found that sat scores went up, graduation grades went down. And im someone who believes that Research Debate ideas, these are things that are really politics. Am im glad that we have an open primary with many different people competing for the votes 6 voters. Im going to ask you straight up. Did you go into that research with the a bias against teacher i did not, dan. And actually, it wouldve been an easier paper to write in a bias way if the results all pointed in the same direction, if both sat scores and Graduation Rates went down or both went up. The fact is that they did different things. And i think following research where it leads is important. I also think and ive said this a couple of times through out the process, i think labor is an important part of our broader party coalition. I think collective bargaining rights are under attack in ohio. And i think we need more democrats who will stand up for those things. At the end of the day, im incredibly proud of our Democratic Party, they decided twice to beat back resolutions that wouldve made this a less inclusive process. And i think we stood up for research, for debate and ideas and open okay. Bridgett, you work for a union. Have you read bens paper . I havent read bens paper. Oh, its only about 48 pages. I read it. I got it right there. The but based on what you know about it. What do you think . Well, first of all, i would like to say, im really proud of the work ive done over the last ten years. Ive spent my entire career fighting for people who work hard for a living every day. And who are on a path to a better life because they have a union contract. So i think that is something that is really important, to create more opportunities for a family in our community. And certainly, organized labor is a huge part of the Democratic Party. And its sort of been woven into the fabric of it. Because traditionally the but is that why ben and this whole question of centering ben came up . Because the unions are such a big part that, you know, sort of, they were trying to strike back . I think given whats happening at the state house, both in ohio and across the country, us democrats, i think that people want to know whoever to stand up and fight for the rights of bargain. Theyre going to fight to protect prevailing wage. Theyre going to fight to protect better lives for people who work hard every day. I think its a bigger conversation about labor and the Democratic Party. Were you in favor of sensors ben . I was not at the meeting. Thats not the question. I think that the Democratic Party and labor have a relationship where, you know, if we cant count on democrats to stand up for collective bargaining, then who can . Weve seen party line votes in West Virginia on right to work. In ohio, on right to work and i think we need somebody who will stand up and fight unequivocally for the people who work hard every day. Brian, what do you think of bens position and have you read the paper . Let me first say thanks for having us. And i think that whats important for me is my history justice, activism within the party and on the streets of cincinnati. With relation to bens situation. I couldnt vote. Im not on the hand picked executive board. Were i on the executive board, i wouldve vote to sensure ben. I wouldve voted for the amendment for the motion that the aflcifo put forward. And why . Because teach for america, of which he is executive director, regional director, is antiunion. And is therefore for the privatization of Public Schools. Obviously, Public Schools need to be free, universal and public. Obviously. So lets be clear here, i didnt want to get too deep. I was going to come back to this. Teach for america is this organization thats national in and ben is the head of it. And how many years ago did you start locally here. Fourth school year. Fourth school year. You were on this show when you first got started. And it attempts to bring bright graduating seniors out of colleges and have them devote two years in teaching inner city under served students. So youre saying no, that that functions as antiunion. Clearly the unions feel that teach for america is antiunion. And clearly the Teachers Union, the ohio education association, Cincinnati Federation of teachers, definitely feels that theyre antiunion and that they are for the privatization of Public Schools. Which we cant have. Its fundamentally wrong. Its making a business out of education. And well come back to let you talk about teach for america. In a bit. But nicholas, what about both the paper that now tfa is a where do you stand on this . I think everyone would agree that organized labor is the bedrock of Democratic Party. Anyone who attempts or perceives to attempt to under mine that, would lose supportive helpful they might win friends in columbus. But theyre going to lose supportive helpful i think organized labor, the motion they put forward was not sensure, the word sensure was never used. It was simply taking away the right of running as a democrat for ben. I sustain that vote. Im on the executive committee and i believe im a conflict of interest in outcome of that vote, and inappropriate for me to cast an official vote on that issue. But you have an opinion . Sure. I believe we should be a party that stands for something. If we dont stand for something, then whats the point of being a democrat . Why are we here, whats the mantle of being a democrat all about . Organized labor is the bedrock. My grandfather a union been very good to my family and millions of other families. I think its something we have to stand up for. Ben, lets come back, is teach for america not necessarily theoretically but functionally anti union and for the privatizesation in affect the privatization of Public Schools as brian was saying over here being laid out. Not at all. First, all of the teachers nonprofit organization, modelen the peace core, they all join the union, theyre all cft members. Cft and cps schools. A member of the nla affiliate. A lot of your members are teaching in private schools and in Charter Schools; is that correct . Not really. We have no teachers in private schools. Very small percentage, less than 25 teaching in Charter Schools. Some teach preschool and Head Start Centers too. Public schools in senate tee or dayton, theyre Union Members . All the of rules for the teacher willing in that district. Major democrats like president obama, have been supporters for teach for america. Just last weekend was in washington, d. C. With 16,000 teacher for america alumni and the president sent a mess damage for us, thanking us. Were not going to solve the problem ourselves, education is a big problem. We need as many allies as we can possibly get and i think we should Work Together to try to figure the out how to solve our education crisis. Im proud of what teach for america has done in that. I want everybody else to xhenlt on whatever you want for this topic and then were at the end of our first part. Bridgett bridgett, what do you think about all of that in teach for america wasnt on the table when we i think sort of with ben and related to this entire issue of resources, so Union Members sacrifice a dollar a week in order to support candidates and fight for them. And when you have people that work hard every day and that are choosing to make that sacrifice and you have leadership thats choosing to invest in candidates and causes that will go fight, they want to know that no matter which way the wind blows, that these candidates or these organizations are going to have their backs. But if theyre dish if teach for america teachers are members of the union, thats there, right . So is that a specious argument in this particular case. I think theres no question that there are certainly issues at the national level, in terms of teacher unions and teach forker me. But i think just like any other Public Service we want to have highly qualified teachers teaching our kids highly people building our bridges and roads. Highly qualified people staffing our prisons. Thats another argument for teach for america, i dont want to be getting inside baseball brian, do you want to respond to what ben said . Well, i think that its that its clear that theres a distinction between myself, who is not an establishment candidate and the establishment candidates who are running in this race. And i think its also clear the position of the Cincinnati Federation of teachers and the Teachers Union and the aflcio who came out against ben in this race. Theres a reason that they vehemently attack bed ben. It was a 15 minute expose against ben in the meeting. Went on and on, paper after paper, fact after fact, there were reasons this he attacked ben. Nicholas, final comment . Sure, i think we have to be pragmatic, if were going to make any difference in columbus, whoever the representative from this race is going to be, that person has to be effective, that collaborative in their approach, work thesing with labor, woulding with infrastructure thats in place, Charter Schools, voucher perhaps, any one of these issues need to be tackled and the only way to do that, is pool together, work across the aisle to be successful. Everybody stay where we are, this morning on the democratic primary for the seat in district 31 in the ohio house of representatives. Im joined by four of the six candidates, brian gary, who has run for various offices in the past, including cincinnati city council,ic in colhas solding who has run in the past, bridgett kelly, a former member of the norwood city council, and ben lynndy who is making his first run for public office. Back on this side, what were the issues that really motivate you and made you decide that up wanted to be in this race and want to be in this house of representatives. Suffer. It really boils down to an issue of service, how i can make a positive impact in the community that we live in. And my business is in health care. Its what i do for a living. Medicaid expansion, is a hot button issue last time around. Our governor, give him credit, perhaps the one thing he did was but he had to go around his own party to do it. I see the need for Medicaid Expansion in ohio and i want to fight for it. I think people ought to be able to go to the doctor when they need to. Thats what compels me to get out of the bed, go to the office and try to make an impact there and hopefully go to columbus and make an impact there. Brian. Well, dan, im unapologetically progressive and ive been progressive from day one from my time with reverend more russ mick cracken for 13 wonderful years at his side, going onto my mentor, David Crowley and my good friend, chris seal pot, championing the issues, lgbt issues, racial issues, women issues, i think what distinguishing me or puts me aside from the other establishment candidates is that i have this broad breadth of 32 years of social justice and Economic Justice work in our city. Progressive with proven results. And i have the scars to prove it. Okay. Bridgett, what about you, your Top Priorities that you care about . Well, we see every day, 30,000 members in my local union and the impact of policies in good ways and bad ways and i think people are really looking for a way for government to help them to have a better life so they can pay sick and family leave, things like corporate account ability, not just handing over money without any sort of oversight, keeping money schools. So i think those are all things that are important that matter to people every day. Id also like to continue some of the work that denise tree house is working on, things like equal pay, which we are well past due for. In the on this question of schools, i suspect a lot of you would agree on this, but i want to be clear, would that the way you were saying that, protecting the budgets for lowering the commitment to Charter Schools . Absolutely. Okay. Everybody in the same boat on that one . I think particularly for private Charter Schools. I think those are some of the baddest act are tos ohio. Thats my opinion. Theyre for profit, thats what they are. Okay were and what besides Education Matters to you. Thank you. Fewer one in five low income kids go into college academically ready. I think in addition to that, i think we need better access to workers. And eliminate racial dissupports in our education system. Education, economic opportunity, criminal justice reform. Those are where we need new ideas and bigger voices in columbus. Im going to ask the process question and does this come up, how can somebody when the off 34, and thats a structural gerrymandering situation, how can you be effective if youre one of the 34. And what is it that you need to do i dont care who starts with a with that one. Anybody can talk about what theyre going to do. I want to talk about what ive done. And my dad is not a lawyer. My dad is not a doctor. My dad worked at gm. And what ive done with my life as a Community Coordinator for the naacp. We stopped a huge mega jail, stopped the privatization of lotter brian all due respect, how does that translate to the state house. This is what im getting at. We stopped the trash tax, we stopped the red light cameras. And all of these issues, all four of these issues that we were successful on, putting on ballot initiatives, were in concert, as you know, with republicans. And that is we come from very different perspective as to why we think there should be no mega jail or no trash tax, because theyre antitax. However, we come it from a social justice perspective. Obviously, the regress of taxes that hurt the poor. But we actually got things done in a by partisan thing here in cincinnati. Id love to answer your question. Yes. We sit at bargaining tables across from Big Companies and Small Companies and we have to figure out when do you compromise and when do you fight in order to get the best outcome for the largest number of people and i think that makes me best qualified in storedo go out and when to figure outreach across the aisle and when to fight for things that are really important for the people who live in the district. I think if we elect, a idea log disposition, meander in such a way, all we do is hammer on one or two specific issues that person is regulated to the sidelines on the flip side of the coin, we need somebody to appropriate. I think with he need a moderate to be in this position. Can work across the aisles, find run republicans who want to work with us to make an impact. If we dont work from the middle, were not going to be effective. Thats where i believe we need a candidate to step up and be that middle road. All of the folks running and the only person who has had experience getting things done with both republicans and democrats and doing that in columbus be and i think the best example i can think of is teach for america. When we were coming back here for the first time in 2011 there was a bill passed allow our teachers to pass a license, and senator eric kearney democratic from the cincinnati was one of those who supported that bill. Democratic support and republican support. I think you can do a lot by being thoughtful about what issues you take on. I think there are incredibly property centers like preschool we can work up, cleaning up for profit Charter Schools. I think with invoices, strong accomplish. And you mentioned senator tierney. You are following, one of the people in this race is going to follow denise tree house. How would you evaluate those two people in their way of operating now . Senator tierney was the in the senate but its essentially the same thing, in terms of the balance. How do you think both of them hand that being in the minority . Senator kearney and denise tree house both are very Community Minded people. People who are out in the community making connections and if you talk to any community council, people in evanston or hyde park or across the city, they know who denise tree house is and they respect her for bringing back resources to their community. The problem i see with the other candidates in this race, im a community person, im a progress ive is person, im reaching out to i mean, all of my life, justice issues and i fight for the collaborative agreement in 2001. I dont think anybody else can talk about these issues from that perspective. I dont see them out in the community anywhere. Anybody else with those two people, somebody else who is sort of your model . Well, im personally really proud to have the endorsement of both representative tree house and senator kearney and a number of other elected democratics in selected organizations. Theyve both been examples of showing to you show get things done, whether in committee or in the larger house or just coming back and being really responsive district. You know, there are people that have no clue what happens at the state house. But i think theyve been doing a really good job on informing people of what kind of issues happen and what they can do to be helpful. One minute left for you two to split up whatever way you want. You are this. Ween have to pick on specific issues were going to campaign on. Defunding planned parenthood is the hot button issue, that we we have to to have people who stand up and for that. I absolutely support planned parenthood. Everybody there . Absolutely of this isnt how who your friends are, it its about who has the best idea, and who can get work done for all you have us, not just one of us. Nevering colhas, did i cut you off there, im sorry. I guess my point i was trying to end on, was specifically, we have to have someone who is going to work across the aisle to be effective. I think i can do that. Okay. This is our first race that were covering this year for the primary. I thank all of you for being involved, being committed, and being willing to get out there and share those ideas. And well see what happens here. Thank you. Thank you for making new his makers a part of your sunday morning. The annual arts led campaign is underway and this year headed by a fascinating talented couple, pryyath and jill prior. Have a good week. Up next, business lunch presented by the business currier. Its a brewery boom in cincinnati, why craft beer is king in the queen city. 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