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Jim Siegel The Columbus Dispatch @phrontpage

State Rep. Candice Keller compared Planned Parenthood to Nazis on her Facebook page last week, drawing fire on social media from supporters of the organization and others who felt it was inappropriate.

Keller, R-Middletown, posted a meme that included the statement, One day we will look back at this with an arrow pointing to the Planned Parenthood logo, and then the same way we look back at this, with an arrow pointing to the Nazi swastika.

Keller, who is in her first full term, is defending the post.

Just as the Nazis took the lives of millions of innocent people and sold their valuables for profit, Planned Parenthood has done likewise as we have seen in hidden camera videos, she said in a written statement. Planned Parenthood is a horrific industry that profits from the innocent and the American people should be appalled at their unconscionable activities.

Kellers Facebook page has been placed into an unpublished status. She said Facebook is investigating violations of its community standards policy by others.

The Republican-controlled legislature have taken steps in recent years to block Planned Parenthood from certain funding, based on objections to the abortions it provides along with other health care services for women. But House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, did not support Kellers comparison.

Speaker Rosenberger understands that there is a lot of passion around the issue of protecting the unborn and Planned Parenthood, said spokesman Brad Miller. That being said, he does not believe that using such comparisons is an appropriate way to convey that passion or to advance the public discourse.

Keller tweeted on Monday: I support Life from Conception to Natural Death. I ran on that platform as a Republican and I'll never be sorry.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio declined to comment.

A group called TWW (Together We Will) East Cincy tweeted at Keller that it donated to Planned Parenthood in her honor. She replied: How much did you give? We have donors that will dbl. match it to Pro-Life Org.

jsiegel@dispatch.com

@phrontpage

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Republican lawmaker compares Planned Parenthood to Nazis - The Columbus Dispatch

Here is a quick look at the people who want to be mayor of Rochester. Brian Sharp, Carlos Ortiz

Tony Micciche(Photo: Provided)

Monroe County Legislator Tony Micciche announced his mayoral bid on Monday the first Republican to officially campaign for the office in more than a decade.

Miccichekicked off his campaign in a parking lot of the former Piehler Pontiac at Lake Avenue and West Ridge Road, highlighting the loss of business and jobs in that corridor and challenging what he called the "legacy of failed progressive Democrat philosophy."Citing the city's rising poverty, failing schools, crime, high taxes and what he said was overregulation by a Democratic-run City Hall, Micciche asked: "Had enough yet?"

The 59-year-old property investor ran a write-in campaign for mayor in 2009, andfirst was elected to the county Legislature in 2011, unseating Democratic incumbent legislator Stephen Eckel. His district covers portions of Gates, Greece andin Rochester; the Charlotte and Maplewood areas.He was re-elected in 2015, winning 51 percent of the city vote; 53.5 percent of the district vote overall.

His is a compelling story, having come from a poor family andgrown up in foster care. He was on his own atage 13, he said, "sleeping in cars, working full-time." As an adult, he worked 25 years at a General Motors plant, only to be "downsized" and forced to reinvent himself. Thus he began buying, flipping or holding properties. He has been a union member for more than 40 years.

"I am one of you," he told the more than two dozen supporters gathered Monday. "And I am the American Dream."

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But he is a Republican, running for the top office in a city where enrolled Democrats outnumber Republicans 6-to-1. The last time Miccichereported his campaign finances, in January 2016, he had just more than $500 on hand, records show. He has reported no activity since.

Mayor Lovely Warren, by comparison, had nearly $240,000 in her campaign account to start the year. Warren, along with Democratic challengers James Sheppard and Rachel Barnhart; even Green Party candidate Alex White, all have a head-start in the campaign. Lori Thomas, an independent, has also announced a run.

I'm trying to put a fire under their butt.

"I don't underestimate Tony," said Monroe County GOP chairman Bill Reilich, who joined Miccichefor his announcement and, in a later interview, touted the candidate'scity campaign wins. "He is going to be dedicated to this race."

Lawyer John Parrinello was the last GOP candidate on the ballot, back in 2005. He received at least $50,000 from the party and got16 percent of the voteto Robert Duffy's 72 percent.Reilich said all candidates must meet certain benchmarks to trigger party support, including their own fundraising, the work and commitment shown and other measures.

"I know it's a different race," Miccichesaid of the mayoral campaign. "And I know the odds are that I probably won't win."

But he has come out firingwith a litany of proposals, taking stances counter to prevailing Democratic positions, and painting himself as a common man with common-sense ideas. Said Micciche: "I'm not hiding behind fancy words like 'collaborative' and 'transparency.'"

His issues include:

Schools: He would give the City School District one year to restructure, cut the ratio of administrative to instructional staff, raise graduation rates to 65 percent and take other actions, including the creation of a "detention school" to remove troublemakers. If those conditions are not met, he pledged toput the entire $119 million in city aid to the district in escrow until matters improved. Pressed on whether such a move is legal, he answered: "I will try."

"Why are we paying for failure?" he asked. "It would force the school district to start to perform. I'm trying to put a fire under their butt."

Public safety: He would establish the planned but yet-to-be-located police precincts in the former Charlotte, Franklin, Wilson Magnet (the old West High), and East High schools. This, he said, would save money not having to rent new facilities, while improving school safety, truancy enforcement and support neighborhoods as well as police-community relations.

He pledged a realreduction in crime, noting the city is boasting of a 30-year-low in the crime rate while the number of murders, robberies and rapes are up year-over-year.

Business: He would "unshackle" property and business owners from "redundant, expensive, wasteful and unneeded regulations," citing complications faced by Nick Tahou Hots, L&M Lanes and others. He pledged to install a "business hot line" in the mayor's office, resurrect the late Jake Kemp's urban enterprise zones to fight poverty, encouraging reuse of existing buildings in exchange for expedited approvals, reduced property taxes and fees.

He would dump the city's sanctuary city policy, seek to cut taxes by 10 percent and said in prepared remarks that he would "advocate for drug testing and DNA testing to hold accountable those that misuse taxpayers money." Asked to clarify, he said he was referring to those who repeatedly seek drug rehabilitation services, and the children of mothers on public assistance who do not or cannot identify the father, who could then be held accountable for assistance.

"Most of the people who are committing crimes tend I won't say all tend to be on some kind of assistance," he said, noting similar measures have been pushed at the county level and that the matter would be a county and state issue, primarily.

"Some of these proposals are just that, they are things to look at, to throw on the table," he said.

In the legislature, Miccicheserves as chairman of the public safety committee and vice chairman of the transportation committee.

BDSHARP@Gannett.com

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Republican Tony Micciche to run for Rochester mayor - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

American democracy has always been a work in progress. What Abraham Lincoln called the unfinished work of ensuring government of the people, by the people, for the people has suffered its share of setbacks. For decades, Americans trust in government has been declining, signaling that not all was well. Yet until recently, democracy seemed secure in the United States.

No longer. President Donald Trump has unleashed a barrage of attacks on the underpinnings of democratic governance, threatening checks and balances, civil liberties, civil rights, and long-established norms. During last years presidential campaign, Trump discarded the notion of facts as necessary anchors of political discourse and challenged the legitimacy of his political opponent, threatening to lock her up if he won. Since his inauguration, he has castigated sections of the mainstream media as fake news and called them the enemy of the American people, attacked the judiciary, and claimedwithout evidencethat electoral fraud cost him victory in the popular vote. These displays of illiberalism suggest that the American project of self-governance, which Americans have long taken for granted, may be in a more precarious condition than most assumed.

How did the United States come to this point? And how can it revitalize its democracy? Two new books offer useful guidance. Democracy for Realists, by the political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels, helps explain the roots of the current crisis. And Democracy, by the historian David Moss, reveals how Americans have overcome political divisions in the past.

The authors of both books make clear that political conflicts in the United States are nothing new. Today, Americans face serious threats to their countrys democracy, but they can draw on a long tradition of conflict resolution. They should relearn how to use the institutions and toolsleadership, negotiation, and compromisethat have sustained American democracy in the past.

FALLING APART

In Democracy for Realists, Achen and Bartels explain that deep-seated social identities and group affiliations motivate political action far more than

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Democracy on the Brink - Foreign Affairs (subscription)

The election of Donald Trump as president of the United Statesa man who has praised dictators, encouraged violence among supporters, threatened to jail his rival, and labeled the mainstream media as the enemyhas raised fears that the United States may be heading toward authoritarianism. While predictions of a descent into fascism are overblown, the Trump presidency could push the United States into a mild form of what we call competitive authoritarianisma system in which meaningful democratic institutions exist yet the government abuses state power to disadvantage its opponents.

But the challenges facing American democracy have been emerging for decades, long before Trump arrived on the scene. Since the 1980s, deepening polarization and the radicalization of the Republican Party have weakened the institutional foundations that have long safeguarded U.S. democracymaking a Trump presidency considerably more dangerous today than it would have been in previous decades.

There is little reason to expect Americans commitment to democracy to serve as a safeguard against democratic erosion.

Paradoxically, the polarizing dynamics that now threaten democracy are rooted in the United States belated democratization. It was only in the early 1970sonce the civil rights movement and the federal government managed to stamp out authoritarianism in southern statesthat the country truly became democratic. Yet this process also helped divide Congress, realigning voters along racial lines and pushing the Republican Party further to the right. The resulting polarization both facilitated Trumps rise and left democratic institutions more vulnerable to his autocratic behavior.

The safeguards of democracy may not come from the quarters one might expect. American societys purported commitment to democracy is no guarantee against backsliding; nor are constitutional checks and balances, the bureaucracy, or the free press. Ultimately, it may be Trumps ability to mobilize public supportlimited if his administration performs poorly, but far greater in the event of a war or a major terrorist attackthat will determine American democracys fate.

WHAT BACKSLIDING

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Is America Still Safe for Democracy? - Foreign Affairs (subscription)

The Hindu

Challenges to party democracy The Hindu In the 21st century, among countries where there is electoral democracy, the dominant form is representative democracy. Daniele Caramani's paper, published in the American Political Science Review, titled 'Will vs. Reason, the populist and technocratic ...

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Challenges to party democracy - The Hindu