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Washington, DC--May 22, 2006--Ohio PDA Spokes Council Representative Mary Nichols-Rhodes of Summit County Progressive Democrats and Ohio Co-coordinator Michael Carano of Portage Democratic Coalition met with Rep. Sherrod Brown's assistant for International Relations, Christine Lemberti. Mary explained that the presentation focused on key Out of Iraq Resolutions and Bush's policies toward to Iran. Ms. Lemberti stressed that Rep. Brown strongly opposes any use of nuclear weapons against Iran and supports direct negotiations instead of military action, and he insists that the 2002 resolution allowing use of force against Iraq – which Brown opposed – did not allow expansion of the conflict to Iran. Lemberti promised to share the contingent's concerns with Rep. Brown. Three members of Peace Action from Ohio--including Mohamed Dini--joined the meeting.
Michael's impression was that Lemberti misunderstood the timing of withdrawal under H.Res. 4232, thinking this measure would require immediate withdrawal. Lemberti also expressed that members of Congress were reluctant to vote against funding the war, out of concern that the troops will suffer. The contingent thanked her for Brown's cosponsoring the discharge petition H.Res. 543 and other measures.
Several attempts to meet with Senator Voinovich's office failed to bear fruit, while Republican Senator DeWine's staff unresponsive to repeated requests for a meeting. Two PDA Chapters have endorsed Congressional Progressive Caucus member Rep. Brown in his effort to unseat arch-conservative DeWine.
Mary and Michael attended the PDA Leadership weekend May 20-21, 2006 along with PDA Ohioans Michael's brother Patrick, Patrick's wife Lisa Zeno Carano, and Fred Mendiola. Mary said she enjoyed the weekend, and seeing all the PDA people "it's like family," she said. Michael felt the highlight was "meeting with a diverse group of fellow activists determined to end the death and destruction imposed by this administration." Mary said, seeing "how effective PDA is – and how the movement is growing--represents hope to me."
