Dem opens office for Congress race

Angela Zimmann, the Democratic challenger to Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, opens her Perrysburg campaign headquarters. Ms. Zimmann of Springfield Township spoke to about 120 people Friday night in front of the strip mall office on West South Boundary Street. She is running in Ohio's 5th District. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Buy This Photo

Democrat Angela Zimmann, the challenger to incumbent Republican Congressman Bob Latta, opened her Perrysburg campaign headquarters tonight with a message to her supporters that her opponent is out of touch with his constituents.

Speaking to about 120 people in front of the office at 126 W. South Boundary, Ms. Zimmann criticized U.S. Rep. Latta (R. Bowling Green) for voting against the federal bailout that saved General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC as well as his no votes on legislation to fund veterans programs and laws that would have guaranteed women equal pay for equal work and protect them from domestic violence.

“Bob Latta, has been walking the party line, voting along party lines, ignoring the voices of the people who elected him,” she said. “Boy is he going to be in for a November surprise.”

Phone messages left for Mr. Latta or an office spokesman were not returned today.

Among the supporters who gathered for the kickoff to open the campaign office were representatives from about a dozen labor unions and members of the Democratic Parties from Lucas, Williams, and Wood counties.

Ms. Zimmann said that she has traveled to communities throughout the 14 counties that comprise the 5th District since embarking six months ago on the challenge to unseat Mr. Latta, a member of Congress since 2007.

“I am running because I know that the people of Northwest Ohio deserve a voice that represents them in Washington. I am running to bring good jobs with good benefits back to Ohio. We need to fully fund our kids’ schools,” she said. “I will be a common sense centrist voice for northwestern Ohio families rather than a lap dog for partisan politics.”

She said the grassroots campaign has grown from working out of the spare bedroom of her Springfield Township home with an “idea, skeletal staff of volunteers, and a legal pad with a list of people to call” to the strip mall office that is now “ buzzing with interns and volunteers who are passionate about changing our area for the better.”

Robin Weirauch who ran against Mr. Latta for the congressional seat in 2007, whipped up the crowd by reminding them that Mr. Latta voted against President Barack Obama’s national health-care program. She also chastised the Republican congressman for having the reputation of being anti-environmental and earning the number seven spot on the list of the “top 10 enemies of the earth,” referring to an editorial in the New York Times in December. “That is something that we all have to get angry about,” she said.