No. Not a chance. Never hinted I was. Never said privately or publicly I was even thinking about it. Why would I? According to the most recent study of Congress done by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, I was found to be the seventh most effective Member of Congress, out of approximately 240 Republicans in the House of Representatives. And I am the Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, and the only Ohio Member, Republican or Democrat, to be a full committee chairman.
But the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) saw fit to put me on their “retirement watch list.” Why would they do that? Because they figured the media might pick it up and run with it. Which the Cincinnati Enquirer did. And that this might somehow hurt my chances for re-election, and help my Democrat opponent this year. Which I don’t really think it will.
But that’s just what the DCCC does. They make things up. They put a negative spin on anything Republicans do. They raise a lot of money. And a great deal of that money is spent trashing Republicans, in press releases (which they hope will be picked up by gullible media outlets), or on paid negative attack ads against Republican candidates, or occasionally on positive ads for Democrat candidates.
They’re the folks who alleged that Republicans are trying to take your healthcare away, when what we actually believe is that the American people deserve better than Obamacare. They’re the folks who lied to the American people, telling them over and over that only the very wealthy would have their taxes reduced under the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, when probably 90% of the American people will have their taxes reduced. (You can use this tax calculator to figure how you’ll be affected.)
And they’re the folks who are trying to mislead the public (especially young people) into believing that Republicans don’t care about school safety, when in fact Congress just last week passed legislation, signed by President Trump, which will go a long way in making our schools safer. Among other things, the STOP School Violence Act of 2018 doubles the federal money available for school safety measures from $30 to $75 million for metal detectors, school resource officers, mental health screening, and training for active shooter situations. The bill, which combines proposals from legislation introduced separately by me and Rep. John Rutherford from Florida, passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 407 to 10 in the House, passed the Senate, and President Trump signed it into law. But you’d never know that if you only saw the hysterical attacks on Republicans by the DCCC and their handpicked candidates.
I’m on the DCCC’s hit list this year, so we’ll be on the receiving end of a lot of false and misleading attacks. Why? Because they think I’m vulnerable, in a year that could be challenging for Republicans. Donald Trump only beat Hillary Clinton by 6 points in my Congressional District. That was the closest race of the 12 Ohio districts held by Republicans.
My campaign is gearing up for a tough fight, but I’m confident that with your help we’ll prevail. I haven’t asked in a while on this blog, but if you’d like to help, you can click here to contribute, or you can write a check to Chabot for Congress and mail it to 220 Findlay Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202. This quarter ends in three days (March 31st), so if you can help by then, I’d really appreciate it.
Sorry to have to bug you for help, but it’s a necessary evil from time to time. Anyway, thanks for being one of my faithful blog readers, whether you contribute or not. (And I won’t bug you about a contribution on here for at least three months or so.) See you next week.
