For Immediate Release
Friday, January 22, 2010

Chairman Betras, Vice Chair Aslam, area social workers call on DeWine and Kasich to apologize for demeaning remarks

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chair David Betras, Vice Chair Jaladah Aslam, and four social workers from various local agencies today called on Ohio Republican Party Chair Kevin DeWine to issue an immediate public apology for derogatory remarks he made about professional social workers earlier this week. The group also called on GOP gubernatorial nominee John Kasich to repudiate Mr. DeWine’s statement and to direct him to apologize at once.

Releasing the contents of a letter sent to Republican Party Headquarters in Columbus, Mr. Betras said that while he was not surprised that the GOP chair made the insulting comments because …”vitriolic rhetoric has long been a staple of the Ohio Republican Party,” he and social workers across the state found his derogatory statement about Governor Strickland’s running mate, Yvette McGee Brown, “particularly objectionable.”

The remarks were contained in an e-mail Mr. DeWine released on Monday after Governor Strickland announced that Ms. Brown, who was twice elected to the Common Please bench in Franklin County and now serves as the president of the Center for Child and Family Advocacy at Nationwide Children's Hospital, had agreed to run for lieutenant governor this year. In the e-mail Mr. DeWine said: He's had nearly a year to make this selection, and the best he could come up with in the face of an unprecedented fiscal emergency is a social worker with no experience in public finance or state government.

“Although I’m certainly not surprised be the fact that Mr. DeWine would take ludicrous pot shots at Governor Strickland and Ms. Brown, I am shocked that he chose to denigrate the thousands of professional social workers whose work vastly improves the quality of life in our state,” Mr. Betras said. “At this moment, social workers in every community in Ohio our helping veterans, the developmentally disabled, people contemplating suicide, rape victims, children who have been abused and neglected, and women who have been raped or are the victims of domestic violence,” the MCDP chair said. “These dedicated and highly trained men and women deserve Mr. DeWine’s praise, not his scorn.” Mr. Betras said Judge Brown’s social work background makes her eminently qualified to lead the state during the difficult times caused by the Bush recession. “When things are tough, when people are struggling, we need leaders who understand what families are going through and know how to help,” he commented. “Judge Brown does and that makes her substantially more qualified than either John Kasich or Mary Taylor to lead Ohio over the next four years.”
Joining Mr. Betras were Party Vice Chair Jaladah Aslam and social workers; Andrea DeJacimo case worker job and family servicesDenise Homa case worker job and family servicesMaria Diggs case worker job and family servicesRose Colucci case worker job and family servicesCathy Grizinski associate director help hotline