Paul Hackett (politician) - Race For Congress - Criticism of Schmidt

Criticism of Schmidt

Hackett criticized Jean Schmidt as a "rubber stamp" for Ohio Governor Bob Taft's "failed policies" and said she would continue in that role for George W. Bush if elected. At their debate at Chatfield College, he said "If you think America is on the right track and we need more of the same, I'm not your candidate" and asked "Are you better off today than you were five years ago?", echoing Ronald Reagan's question in his debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980. "Rubber stamp" was Hackett's catchphrase throughout the campaign. Hackett even appeared in front of the Hathaway Rubber Stamp store in downtown Cincinnati on July 27, to emphasize the point.

"If you think America needs another career politician steeped in a culture of corruption who does as she's told and tows the line on failed policies, then I'm not your candidate," he wrote in a guest column for The Cincinnati Post. Hackett hammered on Schmidt's ethics. When she denied she knew or ever met Thomas Noe, at the center of the Coingate scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, Hackett produced minutes from a meeting of the Ohio Board of Regents that showed Schmidt had indeed met with Noe, once a regent.

He laid out his positions in that Post column:

I'm for limiting government. I'm for fiscal responsibility. I'm for a strong national defense. I'm for fair trade. This means I don't need Washington to tell me how to live my personal life or worship my God. And I don't need Washington to dictate what decisions my wife can make with her doctor any more than I need Washington to tell me what guns I keep in my gun safe. I fought for Iraq's freedom, not to come back and have a government tell me I can't have my freedom because the world is too dangerous. Our freedoms are what make America great and desirable to the rest of the world and any government that wants to take away its people's freedoms under the pretense of national security is what makes the world more dangerous.

Hackett was highly critical of his opponent's record. On June 12, he went to Nicola's Ristorante on Sycamore Street in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood to call attention to Schmidt and other members of the Ohio General Assembly having accepted dinner there and Cincinnati Bengals tickets from a lobbyist for pharmaceutical company Chiron, Richard B. Colby, on October 24, 2004 and failing to report the gifts on their financial disclosure statements. (The others were Representatives Jim Raussen of Springdale, Michelle G. Schneider of Madeira, and Diana M. Fessler of New Carlisle.) "What will she do in Washington when she's around real big money?" Hackett asked.

The Cincinnati Enquirer ran a front page story on July 2, reporting on the candidates financial disclosure statements that revealed both were millionaires. Hackett was worth between $650,000 and $1,600,000, while Schmidt was worth between $1,700,000 and $6,800,000, most of her wealth in the form of a real estate company owned with her three siblings, RTJJ, LLC. These figures did not include the value of either's home. The Hamilton County Auditor valued Hackett's home on 5 acres (20,000 m2) at $552,800 and the Clermont County Auditor valued Schmidt's home on .667 acres (2,700 m2) at $138,510.

Hackett told The Enquirer, "I'm a self-made guy. I didn't inherit it. I didn't marry for it. What you see is what I made in the last decade." The newspaper noted the median household income in the district was $46,813. Schmidt used her own wealth in the campaign. She told The Cincinnati Post the week before the election she put $200,000 of her money in the campaign that she had planned to use to buy a condominium in Florida.

Hackett was a strong advocate for the Second Amendment, but nevertheless lost the endorsement of the National Rifle Association to Jean Schmidt. Hackett, a long-time NRA member and holder of a concealed carry permit, told The Enquirer "I don't know what I have to do. I've gone against the grain in the Democratic party. There isn't a bigger gun enthusiast than me." (A spokesman for the NRA said the endorsement was based on Schmidt's voting record in the Ohio House and that Hackett, having only served on a city council, did not have the voting record Schmidt did.) Schmidt also won the endorsements of the Fraternal Order of Police. The FOP's Keith Fangman criticized Hackett: "He has a track record of filing frivolous and malicious lawsuits against law enforcement officers in Clermont County," said Fangman because Hackett had represented a plaintiff in a suit against a Clermont County police officer. "That's what lawyers do," Hackett told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "We're not in the business of filing lawsuits we know are frivolous or malicious."

Both candidates talked of the environment. Hackett paddled down the Ohio River to call attention to its condition. Schmidt called for reducing America's dependence on foreign oil by increasing use of ethanol and drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Hackett opposed drilling in ANWR.

The candidates participated in only two debates. The first was held on July 7, at Chatfield College in St. Martin in Brown County, moderated by Jack Atherton of WXIX-TV, the Fox Network affiliate in Cincinnati. Hackett told the audience his opponent was "a rubber stamp for failed policies" and "if you think America is on the right track and we need more of the same, I'm not your candidate." The second debate was held July 26, at the Ohio Valley Career and Technical School in West Union in Adams County. Howard Wilkinson of The Cincinnati Enquirer said Hackett in the second debate was "trying to paint Schmidt as a Taft-Bush robot." The two also made joint appearances on WCET-TV's Forum on July 28, and WKRC-TV's Newsmakers on July 31.

Hackett held campaign rallies in Waverly in the far eastern end of the district on July 11,; in Loveland on July 19,; Mariemont on July 20,; and Lebanon, the northernmost part of the district, on July 21,. Hackett arrived at many events on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.