Sherrod Brown's Wife Takes A Leave of Absence

[OzarkDem]

from her job as a columnist for the Plain Dealer. She's had to endure months of threats, verbal attacks and pressure to fire her from a group of people who opposed Brown's candidacy. As a woman and a feminist, I too am offended that a woman is pressured to leave her job because her husband is running for office, and that the pressure comes not from her employer but from her husband's opponents in the political arena. Take a moment to read some of her past columns, some of which won her a Pulitzer Prize last year.

http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf?/base/news/1138797018226220.xml&coll=2&thispage=2

....

What may not feel great for me is better for everyone around me. So, this column is my last for a while. I'm taking a leave for the duration of the campaign.

This is my decision. No one asked me to do this now: not Plain Dealer Editor Doug Clifton, not a single colleague, not my husband. I made this decision after doing what I taught my children to do: Take the stomach test. Go sit some where quiet, imagine all your options, and see what feels right in your gut.

Works every time.

Like most women, my life has been episodic, rather than a straight narra tive. I've been a married, stay-at-home mom, a single mother, a career woman and a love-sick middle-aged bride.

It's time for life to take another turn.

I'm the most comfortable I've ever been, but there's a fine line between comfort and complacency. That's a border I don't ever want to cross.

I'm not disappearing. I have a full schedule of speeches, and I'm a judge in several journalism contests. In April, Random House is publishing my first book, "Life Happens." It's a collection of my columns, along with some new essays because I never seem to run out of things to say.

Maybe I'll see you on the book tour. Or on the campaign trail. Or in all those other places where we've bumped into each other over the years. We're called the Heartland for a reason. Nothing could make us strangers.

I love this job, and I'm going to miss it. My hope is that I'll return to this corner of the page when the leaves start crackling under our feet and the autumn air pinches our cheeks.

In the meantime, please remem ber to ask who gets the money in the tip jar at the coat check and at the bar.

Tip restaurant servers in cash whenever you can.

And if you or someone you love is thinking of settling down with an other human being, keep in mind what my mother always told us girls: Don't marry him 'til you see how he treats the waitress.

[gWbush is Mabus]

1. who's brown?

[OzarkDem]

2. Sherrod Brown - Hackett's opponent

His wife has been under constant attack from her husband's opponents ever since he announced he was running for the Senate, a week before Paul Hackett announced.

[chancew]

4. Interesting

It's funny how you classify Hackett supporters into one big group.

[OzarkDem]

6. Not so

Re-read my comments, they neither say nor imply any such thing.

[Old and In the Way]

3. This is plain wrong.

I'll bet most of the threats are pre-emptive strikes by DeWine supporters though.

[OzarkDem]

5. I personally know differently

and the editor of the Plain Dealer will tell you the same.

[madfloridian]

7. Could you prove such an accusation as that?

If I posted that, I would immediately be asked to prove it.

[OzarkDem]

8. Sure, here's an excerpt

from a column written by Plain Dealer editor Doug Clifton last year when the whole brouhaha began. It was written the first week of December, so its now in the archives, to which I subscribe.

Perhaps someone who has lexis nexis can back me up. There are also some links to some of the bloggers who routinely posted smears and insults against her. The worst one has been taken off the internet.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=172x12491

[OzarkDem]

9. ..