Terrorists are attacking the city and all Jeri Kline can do is hole up in the studio and report the news as her relationship and the world around her come crashing down. This is the scenario faced in the film “The Closing Broadcast,” written, directed and produced by Owens Community College student Matthew Cooper.

The lead role of Jeri Kline is played by Bowling Green student Eli Brickey, who was excited about the Dec. 16 premiere at Owens.

Matthew Cooper

“I have never been to a premiere like this before and I am beyond excited,” Brickey said. “It is a completely different experience as far as theater goes. I cannot adapt or change anything about my acting like in theater and so it will be interesting to sit back and see our work from a few months ago.”

The idea for the film came to Cooper while shadowing his fiancée as she worked the overnight shift at 13abc.

“It was really dark,” Cooper said. “She was the only person in the building. There was no sound except the police scanners that were saying every horrible crime that was happening in the city. It had this really dour feeling to it. The original idea was, what if there was a zombie apocalypse and you don’t actually see anything happening. You’re hearing about it like a radio drama, hearing all these things take place and trying to have an impact on it when really you don’t have any ability to.”

Since Cooper was working on another sci-fi/horror project, he decided to take zombies out of the equation.

“I didn’t want to start off being seen as one type of filmmaker,” he said. “I decided to take it in the direction of more reality. I took away the zombie aspect and thought of what a plausible situation is that would be just as horrible. Ironically, when I was finishing the script, situations were occurring that are very close to the subject material. I was upset we couldn’t have the movie done and out right then.”

Cooper spent time at 13abc as a floor director and camera operator and used that experience when writing “The Closing Broadcast.”

“I was able to figure out the relationships, dynamic and politics of making the news and utilize that for the story,” he said. “I found the way the anchors worked with the producers so entertaining and unique.”

Cooper began making films in his early teens. This project was important to him because most of the cast was involved in a previous film called “Preliminary Testing,” which wasn’t completed due to personal reasons.

“To not be able to let them experience it going out there and people seeing them, I took that as a great personal failure,” Cooper said. “This was a chance to do something even bigger than that ever could have hoped to have been and give them something they can be proud of.”

The cast consists mostly of theater students and community actors including Brickey, Nicholas Anthony Corbin, William Toth, Heath Huber, James MacFarlane, Jordan Jarvis, Kari Duffy-Shrader and Casey Toney.

“I was really impressed with how professional the rest of the cast was,” Brickey said. “At the same time, they were all able to keep their sense of humor while shooting such intense scenes. I think this kept everyone grounded and we were all able to connect easily because of it.”

Brickey almost wasn’t part of the cast. After filming a trailer for the movie, the actress playing Jeri Kline had to drop out and recommended Brickey audition for the part.

“[Brickey] was very personable and showed us two great sides of her,” Cooper said. “She could be friendly but also very dramatic. She had this incredible monologue that showed how far she could take this character.”

“I remember sitting at home debating whether or not to drive to Owens to the audition and I am so thankful that I went for it because it was a wonderful and challenging experience,” Brickey said. “When Matt contacted me about being cast I was just so thrilled. I was filled with all these nerves about it, too, because I wanted to do the best that I could and I didn’t want to let the cast and crew down.”

Another late addition to the cast was Brickey’s boyfriend Casey Toney, who she recommended when another actor dropped out two weeks before they began shooting.

“The character had the information that pushed the story forward, and there wasn’t much more to him than that,” Cooper said. “Casey came in and brought this weight to it, like he was the only guy who understood what was going on and how bad it was. It totally changed the dynamic of the characters around him. We ended up changing the relationships of the characters to accommodate that. It took a fairly static character and made him one of the most powerful characters in the story.”

Cooper received $7,500 of funding from businessman Rich Iott and added $1,500 of his own money as well as various donations. He decided to spend $3,500 of the budget to rent a Red One camera for a week. It is the same camera used to shoot “The Social Network.” The two days it took to transport the camera left five days for filming the 45-minute movie. The setting of the film required them to shoot at night as they worked 12-14 hours each day.

“I am finding that I am falling more in love with the film aspect to performing,” Brickey said. “Film acting has its challenges, but I am learning more about it and it is so exciting. This project was different in the sense of the filming process. Since this film takes place during a third shift essentially, filming took place sometimes from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and that was the challenge I found, was staying on my toes for that long.”

Brickey also shadowed Cooper’s fiancée at 13abc for an evening.

“I am such a hands-on learner, so this allowed me to see and experience all the work that goes into just one evening of news,” Brickey said. “It was the best information I could have asked for as an actor and I got a deeper appreciation for those doing the behind the scenes work. I was able to experience that sense of isolation that those who regularly work third shifts might feel. That is what I love about acting, getting to see the world through a different lens and growing from that.”

Cooper said he was impressed with what Brickey brought to the role of Jeri Kline.

“She grounded that character in a way I didn’t anticipate,” he said. “When you look into her eyes in these really dramatic moments, there are so many layers going on at once with the hurt, the happiness and the anger. She could put those on top of each other, which is an incredibly hard thing to do at this stage in an acting career.”

“This was my first time working with Matt and it was really great because I could see the passion he had for this project and that was inspiring,” Brickey said. “It made me want to do the best that I could each time. He was so hands-on throughout the process rather than being passive, so it was nice to get the feedback from him and to apply it there and then. He really made sure that I had an understanding of all the scenes before we shot them and was so helpful if I had questions about anything.”

Cooper has written two books as well as several feature-length scripts and shorts, and said he works something personal into every project. For “The Closing Broadcast” it was his struggle to balance his career and a personal life with his fiancée.

“Every single one of them is me working out some sort of neurosis or some personal demon,” Cooper said. “A lot of times I don’t know what it is until I’m done. Writing is always very therapeutic for me. Film is at its strongest when it’s cathartic and gives people an emotional reaction they might not have in everyday life.”

Cooper plans to show the film in nine regional theaters and enter it in 12 festivals, but first it will debut at Owens, where most of the filming was done. The premier is Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. in the Owens Center for Fine and Performing Arts’ Mainstage Theatre. General admission tickets are available for $10 at the college’s box office.

“It’s a great moment for me, because I took acting classes at Owens,” Cooper said. “There was something about that space that just grabbed me and awoke something in me. I let everyone else leave in front of me. For a moment I was on the stage by myself. I looked out at all the seats and said to myself, ‘Someday I’m going to fill this place.’ This is my chance to make that happen.”

Tags: Eli Brickey, Matthew Cooper, Owens Community College, Rich Iott, The Closing Broadcast

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 5:54 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Featured, Film.
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A new, high-end storage concept has come to Toledo.

Local businessmen Greg Repass and Rich Iott have partnered to create Stone Oak Business Condominiums. The warehouse-type building features 20 luxury “mancaves,” which are designed to bring its tenants’ dream spaces to reality.

“My partner Rich and I are car guys,” Repass said. “We understand the need for storage space for big boys and big toys. We are a consumer-driven society. Once we acquire the stuff, where do we put it? What if you have multiple cars, a motorcoach or a boat? What if you have a big trailer? Where do you put that? Therein lies the idea for this.

“It’s a really neat concept here and nobody has been either brave enough or stupid enough to do it. We are the first to bring this to market for sure.”

These spaces, however, are much more than just storage facilities. The mancaves, which start at 1,475 square feet, more closely resemble entertainment areas that can house anything from boats and motor homes to classic cars and hot rods in their owners’ dream spaces.

“People say ‘Is this storage?’ and I tell them ‘No, this is storage on steroids,’” Repass said. “We don’t use that word storage. This is way more than just storage. We are in this to create a concept that nobody else has created. That’s really our motivation for doing this.”

Stone Oak Business Condominiums, a $2.6 million facility owned by Greg Repass and Rich Iott, offers 20 luxury ‘mancaves.’

The $2.6 million facility has already sold out all 20 spaces and is planning to launch Phase II, another 20 spaces, by early fall. Repass said that they have the space to build up to six buildings onsite and could expand past even that. Repass said while half of the spaces are utilized as entertainment areas, the remaining have been used as homes for small businesses.

“We have everything from small businesses, mom and pop startups, cottage industry businesses all the way up to multimillionaires and their private car collections and everything in between,” Repass said.

Selco Industries, one of the biggest companies to operate out of the mancaves, is a national manufacturing company that specializes in office filing products. Among the businesses it works with are Office Depot, Office Max and Staples.

Patsy Thompson Designs is another company utilizing the mancaves space. The quilting supplies company began when Patsy began buying supplies in bulk for her hobby and selling the remainder on eBay. That spawned a full-fledged company, which includes employees running business operations out of the space.

Virtual office spaces also exist in the complex. In one example that Repass featured, the mancave hosted 10 individually-leased offices, two restrooms and even a conference room for client visits.

Some of the other businesses utilizing the mancaves include an overhead sprinkler company and a construction company. These small companies were important to Repass, who was the owner of Precision Motors until his retirement.

“I’m a small-business guy and have been in this town my whole life,” Repass said. “For a little guy, especially a startup, to buy any real estate anywhere around here and build a new building is impossible. You can’t afford it. However, because we share the same economies of each other, it makes it affordable to come on board here and actually have ownership.”

Each mancave can be leased or bought and comes standard with air conditioning, heat, cable and high-speed Internet. Repass can cater each space to its owners’ needs, bringing anything they can imagine to life.

All the mancaves also feature a “loft,” which Repass said came from a childhood wish for a tree house.

“I wanted a tree fort and I never got my tree fort,” Repass said. “The rich kid down the road had a tree fort. I never got up in his and now I’ve got my own tree fort. That’s what the loft is all about, we call that the bonus room, that’s the tree fort.”

Repass is especially proud of how the company has remained local in all forms. The construction of the building brought 200 jobs to the area and now 50 people work out of the mancaves.

“Quite frankly we could afford to live and build wherever we want,” Repass said. “We choose to live and invest in Northwest Ohio and it was important to us that we used all Northwest Ohio skilled labor and products from the area to attract local companies.”

For more information on mancaves, call Repass at (419) 865-6500 or visit www.MancaveCondos.com.

Tags: Greg Repass, Mancaves, Rich Iott, Stone Oak Business Condominiums

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 at 9:18 am and is filed under Entrepreneurs, Toledo Business Link.
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Work force training is crucial

TO THE EDITOR,

A May 1 Toledo Free Press article, “First Solar, Owens partner on work force training,” highlights how public-private partnerships are moving Ohio forward. Work force training that involves existing local companies is crucial to a sustained economic recovery.

To help scale up through workforce development, I have introduced the bipartisan Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success Act (SECTORS), which would empower local communities — community colleges, industry leaders and workforce development boards — to address the disparity between high unemployment rates and a shortage of skilled workers for emerging industries such as biotech, clean energy and information technology.

By tailoring work force development programs to meet the needs of these expanding industries, we can better prepare our students to fill new jobs while attracting emerging industries to our state. This is just one way we can strengthen middle class families in Ohio while rebuilding our communities.

Let’s act swiftly to get Ohioans back to work.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, Ohio

VA clinic duplicates existing services

TO THE EDITOR,

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur  is so proud of the new VA Clinic being built virtually adjacent to the University of Toledo Medical College. She is proud of her role in making it happen. She says that this will increase veteran services here in Toledo so that vets don’t have to go to Ann Arbor as often.  But she says that this isn’t even enough; she wants more. She wants a “full service campus for our vets.”

Why do we need anything at all?

I’m all for providing medical services and other support to veterans. But why duplicate clinics and hospitals that already exist in the private sector? Why not just send the vets to local medical facilities — or specialty facilities like The Cleveland Clinic if required — and have the VA pick up the bill? Wouldn’t that be more efficient? Wouldn’t that save a lot of taxpayer dollars? Don’t forget, those vets are taxpayers, too.

It seems that the law prohibits the VA from doing this. So the solution is to build a multi-billion dollar system which parallels the private sector. It seems that the only federal solution to anything is to spend more money. Wouldn’t it be simpler — and a more prudent use of taxpayer dollars — to just change the law? Isn’t that why we have lawmakers in Washington?

Of course, if that were the case, our elected representatives would miss out on press conferences to tout what they’re doing for us and photos ops at groundbreakings when the project is finished (usually behind schedule and over budget).

The real solution is to privatize VA facilities and get the VA out of the service provider business. Just have them write the checks for the men and women who were willing to write a check for this country and sign it with their lives.

Rich Iott, Monclova

Burnard gets mail

Don, with regard to your column of April 17 (“Are you paying attention?”), I wish to congratulate you for paying attention. Too many people are unaware of what is being done to them.  The shrinking middle class is one of the great dangers to our country.  Thanks for your column.

Frank Eckart

Please, Mr Burnard, do yourself a favor so you don’t sound like an idiot every time you put pen to paper, and enroll in a basic economics class. You would be surprised what you would learn so you won’t read like a moron when you write your Hot Corner.

Winfield Sturgeon

Tags: Don Burnard, First Solar, Marcy Kaptur, Owens Community College, Rich Iott, Sherrod Brown, Toledo Free Press

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 5th, 2011 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Letter To The Editor, Opinion.
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People in the news business will tell you there is no such thing as “too much news,” but local readers could be forgiven if 2010 pushed the limits of that viewpoint.

The emotional roller coaster ride that is just rolling to a stop delivered some amazing highs and lows. We watched a local “farmer’s daughter” rise from humble origins to national fame as Crystal Bowersox made an amazing run on “American Idol.” Our friends and partners at FOX Toledo allowed us to share access to the Bowersox journey as the Elliston native brought the best kind of attention to our region. Bowersox dominated the local discussion so strongly that she made the cover of Toledo Free Press more times in one year than just about anyone else has in our six years of publishing (she gets one more for good measure as her “Newsmaker” profile leads the issue of Toledo Free Press Star distributed in this issue).

Other entertainment highlights included the inaugural year for the Huntington Center (also profiled in this week’s Star), which experienced some growing pains by not scheduling enough events to keep all the neighboring businesses happy, but still brought Carrie Underwood, Elton John, The Eagles and scores of other concerts and family events to Toledo. The Toledo Zoo had blessed news with the birth of Siku the polar bear and grim news when longtime elephant keeper Don RedFox was attacked and seriously injured by Louie the elephant.

Tim Beckman led the University of Toledo football team to its first bowl game in five years. The Dec. 26 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field did not have a happy ending for Rockets fans, but that gutsy two-point conversion call that gave the team a brief lead with a minute to go in the fourth quarter summed up everything you need to know about Beckman’s approach to the game and his faith in his team.

The news seemed to bring shock after shock this year; the police shooting death of Linda Hicks; the trial and acquittal of Lucas County Sheriff James Telb for events following the death of inmate Carlton Benton; the missing Skelton boys in Morenci.

The early June tornadoes took seven lives and destroyed homes, schools and businesses in Lake Township, Northwest Ohio, Dundee and Monroe. We have been privileged to chronicle one family’s journey as they rebuild from the tornado with the yearlong “Storming Back” series, in which Associate Editor Brandi Barhite has followed the Blank family from their initial days of survival to their triumphant move back into their rebuilt home.

Attention turned to education as Toledo Public Schools (TPS) struggled with budget woes, two failed levies, closing Libbey High School and the hiring of a new superintendent, Jerome Pecko. Next week, Toledo Free Press will announce a major education initiative partnership with a local nonprofit that will keep TPS issues in the spotlight.

On the political front, we have watched Toledo Mayor Mike Bell settle into his new job, clash over the city’s budget with unions and City Council, trave to China to seek business and brin a more accessible approach to One Government Center. May and November elections saw levies passed and defeated while Lucas County voters ignored the state and nation’s GOP sweep.

But the biggest newsmaker of 2010 was Rich Iott, the former Food Town owner who mounted a major challenge to longtime Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. Iott galvanized local conservatives and made the most serious run at Kaptur in her 15-term career, only to see poor campaign management and an international controversy derail his more than $2 million self-financed campaign.

As we look forward to beginning our seventh year of covering local news, we also look back on our own busy year. In March, we launched the city’s only entertainment-themed weekly newspaper, Toledo Free Press Star, which has quickly grown a connection with local artists and performers, such as Jerry Gray, Rachel Richardson, Jim Beard and Dustin Hostetler, while also capturing interviews with national stars such as Usher, Joel McHale, Rob Schneider … and, of course, Bowersox.

For the second year in a row, Toledo Free Press was named best weekly newspaper in our 100,000+ circulation class by the Ohio chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, an honor we aim to defend as best as we can moving forward. That challenge is possible thanks to the small but dedicated team of journalists, salespeople and circulation and delivery folks who work to make our vision a reality. We are also indebted to our advertisers, who make it possible for us to offer a more open, fair and accurate look at local news than most readers are accustomed to.

We thank you for joining us on our 2010 trek, and look forward to seeing what 2011 has in store.

Happy New Year and God bless our city and its people in 2011.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. E-mail him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: American Idol, Crystal Bowersox, Don RedFox, Huntington Center, Jerome Pecko, Marcy Kaptur, Mike Bell, Newsmakers 2010, Publisher's Statement, Rich Iott, Tim Beckman, Toledo Free Press, Toledo Free Press Star, Toledo Public Schools, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 30th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Community, Newsmakers 2010, Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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NOTE: The full Newsmakers top 10 feature story package will be posted Dec. 30.

In preparation for the 2010 Newsmakers issue, I e-mailed Rich Iott and asked if he would meet me for an interview. I offered to publish a straight question-and-answer transcript to preclude any concerns that I would edit his answers or interject any opinion into the story.

Iott responded with a curt “No, thank you,” for which none of his many supporters will blame him. “Why should Iott talk to someone who, in the height and heat of his campaign against Rep. Marcy Kaptur, called for him to drop out of the race?” they will say. I would point out that for Iott’s supporters to criticize Kaptur for avoiding critics, such as those at WSPD and the Children of Liberty, and then cheer him on for avoiding me is hypocritical and indicative of their emotions trumping their intellects.

I had dual motivations for asking for Iott’s time. First, I once liked Iott. I admired his self-financed entry into politics and his lack of polish. I respected that he spoke his mind without qualifiers and buzzwords. When Toledo Free Press Publisher Tom Pounds and I left our endorsement interview with Iott, there was little question we planned to endorse him for the office.

Then, the wheels came off.

The weekend of Oct. 9, The Atlantic website released photos of Iott in a Nazi uniform, during what Iott called a “historical re-enactment.”

Between that moment and Iott’s November defeat, nearly every major news organization on the planet reported on the Nazi photos. The vast majority of the reporting and attendant commentary was incredulous; how could a U.S. congressional candidate not know how damaging such photos would be? How could he not display an iota of contrition or offer any semblance of apology?

Iott and his campaign mishandled the controversy in epic fashion, allowing the political newbie to swim with national TV sharks, which resulted in exactly the bloody-red waters anyone else would have predicted and prevented. When we learned that Iott had an apparent problem remembering his occupation on campaign finance forms and that those forms mostly detail contributions to some of the most left-leaning Democrats who breathe Lucas County’s Maumee River-tainted oxygen, it was clear Iott was not going to be our next congressman.

On Oct. 14, I published an opinion column, “Iott should exit, stage Reich,” which in summary said the region was suffering enough embarrassment from the Nazi uniform controversy and that the only way Iott could salvage his dignity and legacy was to bow out.

Hundreds of calls, e-mails, snail mails, threats and delivery cancellation requests accompanied the scores of feedback messages in agreement. As late as Dec. 28, WSPD “Eye on Toledo” host Fritz Wenzel and his callers were still bemoaning the stance I took. I understood then, and am more convinced now, that the column provided people who had placed great hope in Iott with an outlet for their frustration at his sudden — unquestionably Democrat-engineered — implosion.

The second reason I wanted to give Iott a forum to voice his thoughts was that while I maintain I was right in suggesting he bow out, I agree with the people who say he got a raw deal, from media and the Republican machinery. In early November, Iott began commenting on Toledo Free Press website stories, seeking to clarify what he felt were many misconceptions about his past and his campaign.

Here are those unedited comments, so Toledo Free Press 2010 Newsmaker of the Year Rich Iott can have the last word.

Posted by “Kathy,” Nov. 12, 2010 at 1:55 p.m.:

Mr. Iott and his son Rich were the majority share holders after the sale and son Iott was on the board of directors. He in fact ran Food Town into the ground along side the other members of the board after he cashed out.Iott casts himself as a job creator. Also false. Until he has created the thousands of jobs he destroyed he cannot make that claim.His weekend hobby was not the issue, it was his remarks subsequent. Admiring the individual Nazi soldiers was his downfall.this is not a man who should walk in the halls of congress.

Posted by Rich Iott, Nov. 14, 2010 at 11:34 p.m.:

Kathy, I was going to call you a moron but I will, instead, refer to you as part of the unfortunately misguided and uninformed masses whose opinion is shaped by the media or unions and who never bother to do objective research for themselves.

Fact: In each of the years that I was president and CEO of Food Town our sales an profits increased (per the TOLEDO BLADE study).

Fact: The year prior to the merger with Spartan Stores was the most profitable in the company’s history (per the TOLEDO BLADE study).

Fact: Food Town was a publicly held company. The merger with Spartan could only happen with the approval of the Board of Directors first, and then the approval of the shareholders.

Fact: Percent of ownership had no bearing on the Board’s vote. Each director has one vote. If it was a bad idea it could have easily been defeated.

Fact: Food Town was not sold. It merged with Spartan. If it had been sold, there would have been a lot of money change hands and the future of Food Town would have had no effect on my pocketbook. That was not the case. I — like every stockholder — received one share of Spartan stock plus five dollars cash for every share of Food Town stock surrendered. That was it; no buy out, no golden parachutes.

Fact: Unlike most Food Town shareholders who could bail out if the deal went badly, as an officer of the company I could not sell any shares for three years. When things began to go south, shareholders sold out. I could not. I rode the stock down from $16 a share to $0.99 a share. I ended up selling most of it for between $8 and $13 a share. I lost millions on the deal that other shareholders did not.

Fact: Food Town was destined to fail because changing market conditions. The Board and I saw that coming. The regional supermarket chains destroyed the local grocers in the 50s and 60s. Now the mega-chains (and non-union chains like WalMart) have destroyed the regional chains.

Fact: My father was still Chairman of the Board and the largest single shareholder (but not the majority shareholder) at the time of the merger. He founded the company. If he hadn’t agreed with the merger and thought it was in the best interest of the company, it would not have happened.

Fact: My Congressional opponent chided me for ‘selling’ a profitable business. She displayed her total ignorance of real business: one sells a business when times are good! Who wants to buy a failing business? Democrats, I guess…

Fact: The nearly 5,000 Food Town employees are not unemployed. Spartan sold many of the stores to independent operators who kept the employees on (in a non-union status, of course, which I guess menas that they are “unemployed”….). Rite-Aid acquired all The Pharm stores as well as the employees.

Fact: I served on the Spartan board for three years following the merger and I argued against operational decisions which I thought were wrong. By the time I was proven right (and we had sacked the Chairman of the Board who was the root of the problem) it was too late.

Fact: It was the right decision at the right time; the successor failed to continue to do the right things.

Lastly, I do NOT admire individual Nazi soldiers. I am enough of a student of history to admire the military accomplishments of a single country which took the combined efforts of the entire free world to defeat. For your information, WWII German tactics are a large part of required study of every major military force in the world today — including the US. And these were NOT Nazis — in fact, it was against German army regulations to belong to an active political party — they were German soldiers serving a Nazi Government. But they didn’t have a lot of options. I do not condone or support the objectives of that government, but I recognize the fact that the war DID happen and that ordinary people served on both sides. That is the same approach I have taken to the American Civil War or WWI where I have reenacted both sides. And most of my WWII reenacting has been as an American. Hmmm.. wonder why my opponent didn’t want to talk about that?

I forgot one thing. Our polling showed that ten days after the Kaptur campaign’s release of the “Nazi bomb”, I was 1/2 point HIGHER in the polls than before. People got it. They understand reenacting for what it is and they understand politics for what it is. It had no effect on the election.

I find it humorous now that the most senior woman in the House who “sits right next to the gavel” has not even been considered for any Minority leadership positions. Yep, NW Ohio is going to be proud of its representation….

Posted by “Kathy,” Nov. 15, 2010 at 5:35 p.m.:

I’ve seen all your “facts” in your ads throughout the campaign ad nauseum. I would describe them more as splitting hairs than factual. FACT: The SEC warned you about “merging” with Spartan. FACT: the Kaptur campaign did not release your Nazi “bomb”, nor did she hold a gun to your head forcing you to pose for the photo op. I stand by my remarks. As to your added comment regarding Rep. Kaptur’s leadership consideration, you simply don’t understand Congress or politics. You must recognize the NUMBERS, both in the districts and the House of Representatives … That little act during the TFP/FOX debate where you turned to her claiming your years of friendship and how she knew you as though you two had dinner once a week was quite a show. I found you and your campaign’s attacks on that hard working, respected member of congress and good woman terribly offensive.

Be well Mr. Iott.

Posted by Rich Iott, Nov. 15, 2010 at 11:58 p.m.:

Well Miss Kapturite, please note the following:

Fact: The Lucas County Democratic Party set up the “Rich Iott Nazi” web site in March of 2010 but did not release it until October.

Fact: The Atlantic reporter was a “plausible denial” setup. He called to “talk about the campaign” and then dropped the ‘Nazi bomb”. I did not deny having worn a German uniform on occasion but explained my 30 years of reenacting in mostly various American, sometimes Confederate, sometimes German, uniforms. I sent him dozens of photos; he printed only one. And he talked about only one aspect of the whole sphere of historical reenacting.

Fact: While Kaptur denied any responsibility or knowledge, the Ohio Democratic Party Chairman on the Wednesday before the release revealed to the Ohio Republican Party Chairman that they “had the goods” to “bury your boy in the 9th district”. Curiously, Kaptur’s ad campaign suddenly switched three days before the release to her talking to WWII veterans. Coincidence, eh?

My “act” on Fox? Kaptur praised Food Town for being one of the largest employers in the region. If she was such a good representative, why had she never met the president and CEO of such a significant company in her region? She actualy asked me to serve on her Military Academy Selection Board in the 80s… but I guess she never met me, eh? And she said she knew little about the OHMR… but in fact, she visited its Annual Training, was briefed by the Commanding General, and was made an honorary captain in the OHMR. And I was the liaison officer who set it all up!. I have several of photos from the event if you’d like to see them. Would yo like to see the newsletter articles about it?

She consistently lied to make her point. End of discussion. Maybe I was foolish for not making them public; but I was trying to stick to the issues: her voting record and my positions. She was trying to deflect any and all attention for those two points. After all, that is the Democratic way, right?

Saved myself some money? Hell, no! The money I spent was an INVESTMENT in America. You see, I BELIEVE in this country and I am willing to up my money where my mouth is. I don’t spend union or PAC money to get my message out there; I believe in this country. Look at the FEC reports. Tell me how much Washington PAC money Kaptur raises versus money from the real people. Most of her funding comes from out-of-state. And so who really owns her?

Lastly, your comments about the SEC warnings are laughable. If you have ever read any merger document (how many have you read?) you would know that is simply boilerplate legal nonsense that is put in there by lawyers on both sides as a CYA. It has nothing to de with the actual deal being made. But then, you have probably never managed the merger of two multi-million dollar companies, have you? So I guess your ignorance is to be expected. :-)

I shall be well, thank you. My other businesses will continue to thrive. We have provided a large number of (union) construction jobs in the area when no one is building anything. And we are about to start on Phase II. My movie production business is thriving (we just won at the Toronto International Film Festival and are closing worldwide distribution deals). It is the people of NW Ohio that will suffer from two more years of Kapturism.

Tags: Lighting The Fuse, Marcy Kaptur, Michael S. Miller, Newsmakers 2010, Rich Iott

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 29th, 2010 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Community, Featured, Lighting The Fuse, Newsmakers 2010, Opinion.
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The day after Election Day, a caller told WSPD’s Fred LeFebvre that the members of his temple could not vote in good conscience for Rich Iott because of the photograph of him wearing a World War II German soldier’s uniform. Never mind that he was involved in a historic reenactment; he was linked with Nazism in these people’s minds.

These good people certainly weren’t alone; to judge by the final results of the election, a majority of District 9 voters also could not bring themselves to vote for Mr. Iott, for whatever reason. But while I can certainly understand the revulsion that Nazism arouses, the implication of making this decision on the basis of the photograph as a matter of conscience, as this gentleman expressed it, is disturbing.

If you chose not to vote for Mr. Iott because of your political beliefs, that’s one thing. But it’s entirely another to make such a decision because of a blatant smear, because doing so implies a tolerance, if not an outright preference, for deceit.

The photograph was released in a cynical exploitation of fear, gullibility and ignorance. Voters were expected to react by dismissing Mr. Iott as a candidate, based not on what his character or platform, but rather on how a malicious third party chose to falsely represent him. Moreover, they were expected to not bother acquainting themselves with the facts about either him or his opponent. The ploy was entirely successful, and it is to the District’s shame and embarrassment that so many voters bought into the deceit hook, line and sinker.

Besides the smear itself, the controversy that the Democrats manufactured about it was also a deceit, in that it took the voters’ attention away from the real issues at hand. What really mattered in the election was not Mr. Iott’s hobbies from years ago – especially when that smear comes from the same party that voted a former Ku Klux Klan recruiter into the Senate eight times! What mattered was Ms. Kaptur’s unwavering support for the Obama agenda with its higher taxes, higher energy costs, higher health care costs, punishment of private enterprise success, and unconstitutional expansions of federal power, and Mr. Iott’s opposition to same. But a sizable majority of District 9 voters were perfectly fine with sending her back to Washington, because they evidently preferred to believe a lie about her opponent rather than the hard truth about her record of casting votes that ultimately harm them.

Even the Toledo Free Press bought into the deceit when it decided, in essence, that Mr. Iott was unworthy as a candidate because he was making Toledo a laughingstock. But guess what? We are anyway. What else to make of a city that prefers deceit over facts in an election? Especially when deceit is chosen in the name of good conscience, God help us all?

There was also the deceit about Food Town, in which Ms. Kaptur “absolutely” stood by another smear even after it had been proven false – by the pro-Kaptur Toledo Blade, no less! But this too was acceptable to a majority of Toledoans. Vote her back in, we don’t care; even though voters all across the country are handing other progressive Democrats their pink slips, we’d rather have a proven liar representing us than the person she and her party lied about.

How much longer will we meekly nod our heads at whatever we are told to think by those who lie to protect their power? How many more good, successful people will be smeared and slandered for daring to come between a politician and his or her power while we side with the slanderers? How much longer will we tolerate, let alone fulfill, the presumption that we are merely ignorant rubes who will fall for anything that plays to our fears?

How much longer will we allow deceivers to use loud, flashy and false scandals to divert our attention from the quiet but critical issues of freedom, prosperity and honor? How long before we finally rip down the veil of deceit and search out the truth? How much further must our liberty be eroded before we take a stand by voting out those who threaten it?

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies, goes the old Fleetwood Mac song. How many more lies will we believe?

Thomas Berry, for the Children of Liberty, www.meetup.com/The-children-of-liberty

Tags: Children of Liberty, Election 2010, Rich Iott, Thomas Berry

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 7th, 2010 at 11:48 am and is filed under Children of Liberty, Opinion.
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An affinity for politics is an occupational hazard when working at a newspaper. When information and insight are part of your job description, it is incumbent upon you to know the incumbents.

I have spent nearly 20 years in newsrooms, and I can say the election cycle that ended Nov. 2 was one of the oddest and most compelling voters are likely to experience. And I say that having been in South Florida during the days of hanging chads.

While most of the state and a great deal of the nation was painting itself with a big ol’ brush dipped in GOP red, Northwest Ohio brushed off the change and stayed predictably Democrat blue.

The Grand Old Party captured the Ohio governor, attorney general, state auditor, secretary of state and treasurer offices, but none of those candidates carried Lucas County.

Not one.

The only local Republicans who claimed victory in Lucas County were George Sarantou as county commissioner (in a squeaker against Carol Contrada), Steve Yarbrough for 6th District Court of Appeals and Barbara Sears, who overcame some nasty campaign commercials to best Harry Barlos for 46th House District. Two of those candidates were endorsed by Toledo Free Press and all three of them chose to advertise in these pages; political aspirants, take note.

In addition to the expected “GOP wave” storyline, there were a number of interesting races that merit discussion.

In the 11th District Ohio Senate race, Blade-endorsed Edna Brown handily defeated Toledo Free Press-endorsed Tom Waniewski. It may not be fair to praise voters when they agree with you and bash them when they get it cataclysmically wrong, but with all due respect to Brown’s near-decade in Columbus, Waniewski represented an opportunity for a truly moderate and intellectual voice. I know I am not alone in hoping that Waniewski absorbs the loss with his characteristic grace and then sets his sights on another run at state-level office.

The most intriguing race on a county level was the quest for Lucas County Auditor. Four years ago, Anita Lopez unseated then-auditor Larry Kaczala. On June 8, Kaczala died in an apparent suicide. Lopez found herself defending her position against Kaczala’s widow, Gina Marie Kaczala, who on Aug. 9 replaced Norm Witzler as the Republican candidate.

It is not polite to speculate on how a person can parlay two months worth of shock and grief from losing a spouse to suicide into a run for that spouse’s former public office. Credit to Lopez for never going anywhere near that land mine of insensitivity, but it must have seemed surreal for the incumbent auditor to find herself running against another Kaczala under circumstances no one would have predicted.

Voters agreed that the Toledo Free Press-endorsed Lopez was by far the better choice than the Blade-endorsed Kaczala. It is unlikely we will again see such a contentious and emotionally charged race for a long time.

A race across the state line that caught my attention was between Democrat Harvey Schmidt and Republican Nancy Jenkins for the 57th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives, which includes part of Lenawee County. When I worked as news editor for the Adrian Daily Telegram, I interviewed Schmidt a number of times and witnessed the impact he had on the Tecumseh community during his dozen years on city council and decade as mayor. As a continuing resident of Tecumseh, I have witnessed the careful and wise growth of our town under his leadership.

So when the Jenkins campaign began a series of nasty, dishonest commercials disparaging Schmidt, I found her false accusations about water and sewer rates and her aggressively errant characterizations of Schmidt offensive. My interactions with Jenkins when she worked as an aide for State Sen. Cameron Brown were professional, pleasant and did not indicate she had such a vile, beguiling streak.

Of course, she won; the Daily Telegram reported that people in Adrian and Tecumseh who are familiar with Schmidt voted for him, but those in outer rim territories like Morenci and Hudson swallowed the lies.

The other race that will mark this campaign season in our memories was the 9th U.S. District House of Representatives seat between now 15-term incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur and Republican challenger Rich Iott.

Kaptur won, although Iott earned the support of more than 81,000 voters.

I maintain Iott did his party no favors by stubbornly remaining in the race after his campaign’s epic mishandling of the re-enactment controversy (not just the re-enactment itself, although that point is lost on Toledo Bar Association employees who have free time during the workday to bray online without a shred of moderate thought or logic). Iott did not surround himself with professional advisers able to  distinguish themselves when he most needed them. To the contrary, as the heat began to rise, the judgment of his team melted as they proved themselves incapable of handling the exploding series of distractions.

Political aspirants, take note.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Call him at (419) 241-1700 or e-mail him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Adrian Daily Telegram, Anita Lopez, Lighting The Fuse, Marcy Kaptur, Michael S. Miller, Rich Iott

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 4th, 2010 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Lighting The Fuse, Opinion.
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Incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur clinched her 15th term in the U.S. House of Representatives Nov. 2, successfully navigating a contentious race that attracted national media attention to defeat Republican Rich Iott with about 60 percent of the vote.

A crowd of about 100 Democratic supporters and campaign workers gathered at the United Auto Workers Local 12 building in Toledo to watch election results. Around 11 p.m., Kaptur arrived and addressed the cheering crowd, saying “We did it!”

Edna Brown, Marcy Kaptur, Teresa Fedor surrounded by supporters

“This year we flew into the eye of the storm and we never yielded,” Kaptur told the crowd. “All across our country the American people sent a message that Washington better focus on jobs, on our economy, on the future of the middle class. People were trying to send a message. They have sent a message, we better listen.”

Iott – perhaps the toughest competitor Kaptur had faced in years – came out as a strong contender, but his campaign was hurt in October when photographs surfaced of Iott dressed as a Nazi soldier during a reenactment event. The images attracted national media attention.

Kaptur has represented the 9th Congressional District in northern Ohio since 1983. Already the senior-most woman in the House, Kaptur will now likely be the second most senior member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

“To make an economy grow doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen in one Congress,” Kaptur told Toledo Free Press. “It means for someone like myself I have additional responsibility in a new Congress as a senior member to really try to move the institution to help create jobs and to help the middle class push forward and out of the recession that we’ve been experiencing. So it’s really a call to listen to what the people have said and to translate that into action that will help them not hurt them more.”

Kaptur said the shift from a Democratically controlled House to a Republican one means bipartisan action will be needed to keep the economy on an even keel.

“I don’t think the public is in the mood for any shenanigans on either side of the aisle. I think they expect cooperation and they expect us to do a good job on their behalf.”

Kaptur said her main focus going forward will continue to be jobs and the economy.

“For me, the primary focus has always been jobs and the economy. It’s why I first ran for office and it’s why I still run for office. And fighting some of the forces that prevent us from creating more jobs in this country and not having them sucked away to other places. The American people want results on the job front and we have to deliver that.”

Kaptur said she couldn’t speak to how much difference the Nazi photo controversy may have made in the race, but said she felt campaign spending was a more important factor.

“We were outspent four to one in this race and if that kind of spending had not been part of the equation I think that we may have been able to pick up some additional percentage points, but it was a huge amount of money that (Iott) was able to self-fund and it’s an example of, I think, overspending in the race,” Kaptur said. “We need campaign finance reform across this country. Any members that went down, went down in areas where they were outspent five and 10 to one. That shouldn’t be what a democratic republic is all about and so I think the money factor was the most important factor.”

Campaign manager Josh Thurston said Kaptur spent the afternoon visiting polling places and volunteer centers in the eastern portions of her district, including Erie, Lorain and Ottawa counties.

As of 1 a.m. Nov. 3, with 93 percent of precincts reporting, Kaptur had received 110,542 votes (59 percent) to Iott’s 78,150 (41 percent).

Only once since 1984 has Kaptur received less than 70 percent of the vote – in 2004 against Larry Kaczala.

Tags: Congress, Election 2010, Marcy Kaptur, Rich Iott

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 1:22 am and is filed under Community, Election 2010.
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Prepared remarks from Rich Iott, candidate for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, on election night results:

“There are so many people to thank that I’m not really sure where to begin.

“When I decided to run for Congress, I was frustrated at the direction our country was taking and was willing to do whatever was necessary to put our nation back on track. I soon found myself surrounded by terrific supporters and volunteers who agreed with me and were willing to put their efforts toward our common goal. To all of you who’ve worked so hard – putting up signs, making calls, putting on stamps and labels, stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors, marching in parades – all the things that helped us get to tonight, my sincerest thank you.

Rich Iott

“To all the people who believed in me enough to donate to my campaign – your contributions helped pay for all those phones and stamps and labels and envelopes – and all the mailers, television and radio ads. Without the financial support – whether it was the maximum amount or the two dollar donations from the Two Dollar Project – we wouldn’t be here without you and I’m deeply grateful.

“I was also honored to be endorsed by such terrific organizations as the National and Ohio Right to Life PACs, the Susan B. Anthony List, Gun Owners of America, Buckeye Firearms Association and the National Federation of Independent Business. These organizations were willing to get behind a first-time candidate based upon my beliefs and my word – and I want to thank them as well.

“While many of you have done so much, I want to especially thank Joe Jaffe. For those of you who don’t Joe, he was the Libertarian candidate for congress who decided not to run, but to endorse and support me. We knew this would be a close election and I know his calls and efforts on my behalf helped us in the final counts.

“To my family – Chris, Devon and Ian – you’ve always been there for me and this endeavor was no different. We’ve always done things as a family and I know that I never would have embarked down this road if it hadn’t been for your support and your confidence in me. Thank you for coming on this journey with me.

“And because of all of you, we put on a terrific campaign and tonight, I thank you for your votes. Even though we did not win at the polls, there is still much to celebrate.

“It looks like we’ll have a new governor by the name of John Kasich.

“We’ll have a new senator named Rob Portman.

“State Representative Barbara Sears will continue to serve the 46th House District.

“And, we’ve won back control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Across the nation, the American people have sent a message so loud that even President Obama had to hear it.

“I wish Marcy Kaptur well in her next two years and I wish this fantastic Congressional district the success it deserves.

“Now, I know I’ve asked a lot of you during this campaign and I’d like to ask one more thing. Please pray for our elected officials. Pray that they listen and make good judgments on our behalf – and continue to pray for our country – the greatest nation on earth.

“Again, thank you all for placing your trust in me and for being with me throughout the campaign and tonight.

“Good night – and God Bless.”

Tags: Marcy Kaptur, Rich Iott

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Community, Politics.
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House GOP leader John Boehner assured Ohioans that Republicans will lead Congress in a much different way than the last time around if he becomes speaker.

He pledged that they’ll look at every item on the federal budget and won’t pay for programs that the government can’t afford.

“We’ve got big expenses that we don’t have the money to pay for,” he said.

Boehner, in line to become the next speaker if Republicans gain 40 seats in the House, spoke briefly at a GOP fundraiser in rural northwest Ohio.

He also wants to change the mechanics of how Congress operates.

Too often, he said, bills with hundreds of pages are introduced with little time for lawmakers to digest what’s inside, allowing pet projects to slip in unnoticed. “We’ve got to fix the Congress,” he said.

“It’s going to real different,” he said.

Wearing an Ohio State pullover, he was confident and at ease despite facing a hectic weekend of campaigning. He delivered a few one-liners and talked mainly about fiscal responsibility.

“Your government has not been listening to you,” he said to cheers. “Your government is out of control.”

He predicted Republicans will have a big night next Tuesday.

Boehner has been campaigning for dozens of GOP candidates nationwide and traveled throughout Ohio on Saturday to be with several Republicans who are trying to knock off incumbent House Democrats.

The GOP is confident it will gain at least two seats in Ohio and is targeting six districts where Democrats are vulnerable.

Boehner visited Lucas County, where he expressed his support for 9th District congressional candidate Rich Iott. Despite Boehner’s support of Iott, Roll Call reported that Iott has not confirmed he will support Boehner as possible leader of the House.

“I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see,” Iott told Roll Call when asked if Boehner would have his support for the top House job if Republicans successfully win the majority in the House.

Iott did not state who he would support.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tags: Congress, Election 2010, John Boehner, Rich Iott

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 30th, 2010 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Community, Election 2010.
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