Damages and ego

Unsuccessful politicians often blame their opponents, the media, their staff – sometimes even themselves. Stephanie Studebaker blames her father-in-law.

A year ago Studebaker, a veterinarian from Montgomery County, had easily won the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Mike Turner in Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District, which takes in Montgomery and much of Warren counties. But her political prospects self-immolated on Aug. 13, when she and her husband, Sam Studebaker, signed domestic violence complaints against each other following a fight at their home. The brief but splashy story at the time noted that police went to the house after receiving separate 911 calls from Stephanie Studebaker and from her father-in-law, James Studebaker. The story said James Studebaker reported getting a call from his son claiming his wife was hitting him.

Stephanie Studebaker dropped out of the race a short time later, the couple divorced and Turner beat a substitute candidate. Studebaker was a rookie candidate, and her chance of unseating Turner was probably a long shot in everybody’s mind but hers.

In a suit filed last week in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, she argues that the only thing that kept her out of Congress was the 911 call made by her father. She claims that in the call, James Studebaker told police she had a history of violence and alcohol abuse, which she denies. According to the suit, he must have known the call would be recorded, and as a public record would ruin her campaign.

I’m not making this up. Included in the damages the suit seeks are the $337,000 salary she would have received had she been elected, plus $52 per hour for the 2,000 hours she spent campaigning and $7,678.71 in out-of-pocket campaign expenses.

This is the first time I've heard of a candidate with an hourly rate.