July 28, 2005
Jean Schmidt and Me
You may have heard about Paul Hackett, U.S. Marine and Iraq War veteran, who is running for a congressional seat against a right-wing opponent, Jean Schmidt, in Ohio.
What I didn’t realize until yesterday is that I used to know Jean Schmidt. This was a long time ago, but I’ve done some checking and I’m sure this is the same Jean Schmidt.
From about 1978 to 1983 or so I (and my now ex) lived in a suburb of Cincinnati, and the two houses next door were occupied by twin sisters (Jean and Jennifer) and their husbands. The twins’ father owned several acres of the neighborhood–former farmland–and had built most of the houses, including the twins’, who’d been given the houses as gifts.
I remember the twins as friendly, very pretty, about my age, and pleasant people to live near. We were never chummy, mostly because I found their interests (clothes, money, and the Indianapolis 500) not entirely compatible with mine, plus neither was the sharpest tack in the box. But friendly girls, they were.
I’ve been wondering whether I should even mention that I once knew the twins, but just now I read about something Jean said that really pissed me off. So now I’m dishing the truth about Jean Schmidt.
Today John Aravosis wrote,
American vets from Iraq war not qualified to serve in public office, GOP US House candidate says in Ohio
by John in DC - 7/28/2005 06:10:00 PM
This is bad, seriously. Paul Hackett is running as the first Iraq war vet to run for Congress, and now his GOP opponent, Jean Schmidt, just said that being an American vet from the Iraq war is the wrong kind of experience for a member of Congress. I kid you not.
The Swift Boaters started it last year with Kerry, and Bush did the same thing to McCain in 2000. Slur a guy because he’s a vet. And now we have a GOP candidate for Congress saying that service in the Iraq war apparently disqualifies you for being a member of Congress.
Any US service members watching? This is what I’m talking about. You think the Republicans are automatically your friends? Ask yourself why the only ones upset about all of you guys getting killed, maimed, sent to war based on a lie, not being given any plan to win the war, not even being given body armor three years after hostilities commenced - why the only people upset about all of that are Democrats? Then listen to this woman.
Any questions?
And I’m thinking, who the hell is that spoiled, lamebrained little snot to say that a U.S. Marine isn’t qualified to be a congressman?
So now I’m gonna dish.
This article about Schmidt is a crock, for example.
Today, the farm girl from a traditional German Catholic family who was told early on women could only go so far could very soon become the first woman to represent southern Ohio in Congress.
“In our very German family, boys were held in higher esteem,'’ said the 53-year-old Republican candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat. “I never really understood it, but that’s the way it was.'’
She was the daughter of Gus Hoffman, a man born in poverty who worked his way to success in business and to almost legendary status as the owner of a car racing team that ruled the region’s sprint car circuit for decades and ran in the ultimate race, the Indianapolis 500.
Gus and Jeanette Hoffman, both of whom are deceased, raised four children on the family’s Miami Township farm in Clermont County - two sons, Jean and her twin sister Jennifer, all of whom still live within a mile of one another.
If Schmidt is a farm girl I’m Lance Armstrong. I know exactly where the “farm” is, because my home was on the edge of it, and when I lived there 25 years ago it hadn’t been farmed in a great many years. As I remember, Gus never farmed it (somebody should confirm that), but bought the land up cheap and, bit by bit, turned it into a subdivision. And from googling I found that Jean is still living in the same house (on Wards Corner Road, in Loveland), which then was a subdivision, not a farm, and I rather doubt it reverted back to farm status in the years since.
And as far as “the boys being held in higher esteem…” maybe so, as I don’t remember ever meeting “the boys.” But daddy saw to it the twins weren’t hurting for anything (like houses).
Daddy owned Indianapolis 500 race cars, which was a little detail that tipped me off Jean Schmidt was The Same Jean Schmidt.
I remember at one point the other twin, Jennifer, went on a crusade to stop a property tax increase that would have benefited the local public schools. The school buildings were shabby, and news stories claimed the kids were using 20-year-old textbooks. Both twins believed that public schools were inherently bad, and since anybody who was anybody sent their kids to Catholic schools they didn’t see any point in funding them. Property taxes were remarkably low, and the increase would have been less than $200 a year average per household, but Jennifer was on a rampage that she would be ruined if she had to pay that tax.
As I recall, the campaign was a success.
That same year, the twins got matching full-length mink coats for Christmas.
Annoying, to say the least.
The election is Tuesday. I see the Hackett campaign is still accepting donations, here.
By Barbara O'Brien 4:42 pm
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2005/07/28/jean-schmidt-and-me/I know it's three days old but it needs to be spread around again. It shows what a phoney she really is.
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