OFCC PAC endorsees score key victories in 2004 party primaries
A little over one year ago, several OFCC members formed the OFCC Political Action Committee (www.buckeyefirearms.org). Time was critical - there were only 60 days before the November 2002 elections. We told potential supporters that the time was ripe to make a difference, and to reinforce the General Assembly and Supreme Court with candidates who supported your right to self-defense.
In the weeks that followed, we were attacked by another Ohio "pro-gun" political action committee. We were accused of sending a "sleazy attack" letter about them months before we even existed. We were called "anti-gun" because we supported passage of HB274. We were ridiculed for our endorsement of Lt. Gov. Maureen O'Connor for Ohio Supreme Court. They said we were "total amateurs who have no idea what they are doing".
We stood firm on our endorsement, and with your support, Maureen O'Connor was elected as a Justice. The OFCC PAC was soon proven to have been 100% correct. In 2003, Justice O'Connor authored the blistering dissent to the Ohio Supreme Court's majority opinion, which found Ohio's ban on concealed carry to be constitutional. Our other 2002 endorsee, Justice Evelyn Stratton, joined in the dissent. On the legislative side, Senator Lynn Wachtmann has credited the OFCC PAC with being the key difference in the narrow victory of another Senator that year, who provided several crucial pro-concealed carry votes for HB12 in preparation for its passage.
In the 2004 Ohio primaries, and thanks to your votes and support, the OFCC PAC can once again be credited with making the difference in a KEY Ohio Senate race, one which we believe will improve the face of the Ohio Senate for some time to come, with regard to your self-defense rights.
Rep. Jean Schmidt won the Republican nomination for Senator in District 14 (replacing term-limited Sen. Pres. Doug White) on Tuesday by 62 votes, out of 33,760 votes cast!
UPDATED FINAL COUNT: Rep. Niehaus nips Rep. Schmidt by 22 votes for White’s Senate seat
As we indicated in our endorsement of Rep. Schmidt on December 22, this was a race in which the conventional wisdom would have suggested an issue-based advocacy group should have chosen not to get involved. We did not follow conventional wisdom, and thanks to your votes, the candidate who we believe has proven herself most ready to be a true fighter for our self-defense-rights in the Ohio Senate, has won an extremely close primary race in this conservative Republican district, and will face a Democrat challenger in this fall's elections.
Click on the "Read More..." link below for more on the 2004 primary elections.
This was OFCC PAC's first primary. In most cases, we were successful at making certain the most concealed carry-friendly Republican was nominated for State House and Senate. We also saw a strong pro-concealed carry Democrat endorsee win his party's nomination for Senate, and succeeded in helping place a pro-CCW person on the Republican State Central Committee.
We were, unfortunately, not successful at helping pro-concealed carry Democrats achieve their party nomination for State Representative this time around. We hope to improve upon that goal in the future.
OFCC PAC's 2004 Primary endorsements, and the March 2, 2004 elections results, can be viewed by clicking here.
The OFCC PAC now has a proven record of electing of pro-concealed carry candidates. And, as a direct result, we achieved the victorious passage of Ohio's shall-issue concealed handgun licensure law less than eight weeks ago. Our critics opposed HB12 to the very end. Had they been successful, April 8, 2004 would just be another day in Ohio. Instead, April 8 has become Self-Defense Day - the first day Ohioans can apply for their Concealed Handgun License.
It is now time to support the PAC which commits 100% of its funds to elections, rather than to lining our personal pockets. It is now time to support the PAC which has supported you since 2002, and which has achieved numerous victories. Here is how you can help:
1) Register to Vote!
The deadline for registration is 30 days prior to November 2, 2004.
You may register to vote IN PERSON at the following locations:
To locate your county BOE office online, click here. (If you prefer to call the office, it is always listed in the phone book under “Government Offices – County.”)
2) FUNDING
The political process is very expensive today, both in terms of time and money. As stated above, NO ONE at OFCC PAC receives any pay for the thousands of hours we spend fighting for our common cause. We believe that your money should go straight to work for you, not for us.
Our primary goal this year will be to educate pro-concealed carry voters. Postage and printing alone are extremely costly. We want to mail our voter guide to as many as 50,000 pro-concealed carry voters before Election Day. The need for additional resources is real and time-critical. If you are able to help, you may send your contribution to:
OFCC-PAC
17461 Pearl Road #308
Cleveland, OH 44136
Corporate checks are not permitted.
Donations are not tax deductible.
Election law prohibits us from accepting contributions without required information*. You MUST provide us with:
Full name
Address
City, State, zip
*We must report this information to the Secretary of State, and all records are available to the public.
The bottom line is this; if you show your support for OFCC PAC, we will be able to move forward with efforts to improve Ohio's concealed carry law by improving the makeup of the General Assembly. If you do not, Governor Taft's veto-power will cripple future attempts to "reform the reform."
OFCC PAC
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