This fall, Citizens for Global Solutions nonpartisan political action committee, Global Solutions PAC, launched a new initiative for the midterm elections. The Howard Taylor Field Election Organizer, named in honored of former PAC treasurer Howard Taylor who passed away in September 2006, seeks to put a PAC-funded coordinator on the ground to work with our members and candidates in the run up to elections. For the 2006 midterm elections, we deployed our organizer to Ohio to work on the U.S. Senate race and the U.S. House races in the 13th and 15th Congressional Districts. Global Solutions PAC has endorsed and supported Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate, Betty Sutton for the 13th District’s seat and Mary Jo Kilroy for the 15th’s seat.

The Howard Taylor Field Election Organizer project has two main goals. First, we want to engage Citizens for Global Solutions members in the electoral process. Second, we want to continue to strengthen our relationships with the three selected candidates. A secondary goal is to begin developing relationships with important constituencies and grasstops in the targeted areas.

After an exciting interview process, Global Solutions PAC selected Judah Ariel for the inaugural organizer. A native Ohioan, Judah is an exceptional choice. He brings a background of foreign policy experience on Capitol Hill and political organizing acumen in Ohio to this position.

Judah arrived in Ohio at the beginning of October and began engaging the campaigns and local leaders of Citizens for Global Solutions. After three weeks working with all three campaigns and some of our members, we decided to focus the final weeks before the election solely on Sherrod Brown’s Senate challenge. Judah’s reports from northeastern Ohio have heightened our expectations that all three of our endorsed candidates will emerge victorious when the polls close on November 7th.

After the elections are over, Global Solutions PAC will frankly assess the outcomes of hiring an organizer to work directly with our members in the field and with campaigns. The hope is that in future election cycles, we will be able to send out more than one organizer to crucial areas. Additionally, we hope to select and deploy these organizers much earlier in the process so that they can have a maximal effect.


Contributing writers: Varietta Davis and Drew J. Asson