Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring our outreach team, the staff who are out and about every day in Ohio communities, listening to and working with the people we serve. They make sure our work reaches every corner of Ohio, from Ashtabula to Cincinnati to Marietta to Toledo. Whether it is meeting with local governments or walking picket lines, visiting local businesses or representing our office at naturalization ceremonies or Eagle Scout dinners or neighborhood festivals, these dedicated workers embedded themselves in Ohio communities, in every county all over the State. I always said, I am an 88-county Senator. The outreach staff is a big reason why. And it is their conversations that help center our work on the issues that matter most to Ohioans. John Ryan has served Ohio as my State director for 18 years, since I was first elected in 2007. But our paths had crossed long before, when I was in my early 20s. John had just been elected president of CWA Local 4309. I had been elected to the State legislature representing my hometown of Mansfield, OH. We began working together on behalf of workers across our State. John was an aggressive, creative, and fierce union activist who was widely respected not just by workers, but by everyone in Cleveland, even if he was picketing outside their business.…”