October 7, 2004

Republicans say many are intolerant of differing views

GETTING OUT THE VOTE
The second in a series

By Diane Chiddister

It’s not easy being a George W. Bush supporter in Yellow Springs.

Recently, several Bush/Cheney signs were stolen from local supporters’ yards. And, according to one local Republican, some Yellow Springers who wanted to put signs on their property chose not to do so for fear of vandalism.

It wasn’t easy for Hugh Ricciardi to publicly show his support for Bush Saturday afternoon, Sept. 18, when he stood with about nine other Bush supporters holding signs at Xenia Avenue and Limestone Street. Ricciardi said he felt that he was being harassed by those who disagreed with him, but he wasn’t surprised.

“What I’ve seen so often in this town is, if you have a dissenting view, it’s one of the most bigoted towns in the country,” Ricciardi said, as he stood on Xenia Avenue. “I’ve seen it my whole life.”

Ricciardi grew up in Yellow Springs and has a Yellow Springs pedigree that only one other local person — his sister, Jo Dunphy — can claim. Their father, Carmelo Ricciardi, who worked for Hugh Taylor Birch, built the Yellow Spring in Glen Helen. But that pedigree has done nothing to shield him from what he perceives as many Yellow Springers’ disdain for those with conservative views.

“I’ve had veiled threats,” he said. “They try to surround you, try to push you out of the way. They try to make you look intellectually incompetent.”

Indeed, as Ricciardi spoke, several people did approach the group of Bush supporters, attempting to engage individuals in conversation. Some were respectful and others were not. Ricciardi had no inclination to debate the finer points of the economy or the war in Iraq with those whose views he opposes. He just wanted to be left alone, with his signs and his family and friends.

“People can have sincere beliefs on both sides of an issue,” he said.

Ricciardi grew up a Republican, he said, and his whole family supports the president. But beyond that, he admires Bush in many ways.

“He’s a man of his convictions and he does what he says he’s going to do,” he said. “He doesn’t change his position every other day. Kerry has flip-flopped so many times.”

Beside him, Ricciardi’s wife, Linda, held a sign that read that the “W” in George W. Bush “stands for Women.” But “W” could just as easily stand for war, and Linda Ricciardi supports the Iraq war wholeheartedly. Her most compelling reason for doing so is her son Michael, a Marine Corps officer in his 21st year of service and his third tour of duty in Iraq.

From her son, Ricciardi hears of the positive things the American forces are accomplishing in Iraq, news she feels isn’t reported in the mainstream media.

“He tells me that most of the insurgents are coming across the borders, that most Iraqis are grateful that we’re there,” she said. “I don’t see any of that in the papers. Everyone needs to find out that the truth is being squashed. It’s not as terrible” as the media shows.

Ricciardi said that she supports the president because “he’s helped to carry us through the war on terror. And his integrity. I back all the causes he’s backing.”

The fourth Yellow Springer at the Sept. 18 pro-Bush demonstration — the third, Jo Dunphy, declined to comment, and the others came from out of town — was Doug Fisher, who also cited the Iraq war as his prime concern.

“I want Bush as president to keep us safe,” he said. “If we don’t fight there, we’ll be fighting here.”

As he spoke, a van turned the corner onto Limestone, and its driver honked and waved. Lots of people who drove by Saturday showed support for Bush, Fisher said.

“There’s a lot of thumbs up,” he said. “A lot of clapping.”

Ron Lewis, a lifelong Republican, wouldn’t be surprised by the amount of Bush support that Fisher reported. A Yellow Springs resident and assistant co-chair of the Greene County Bush campaign, Lewis sees solid support for the president in his work calling voters and going door to door.

Last month, he said, the county headquarters received 5,000 Bush/Cheney signs, and they were gone in a day and a half.

“That’s a good indication of the support for the president in this county,” he said. “A lot of people are very interested early on.”

Most of the people he talks to cite the war on terror as their primary concern, Lewis said. As the father of four young children, Lewis understands those concerns.

“Safety is the number one concern for me,” he said. “We have to do everything we can possibly do to prevent another 9/11 situation.”

Bush will do better than Kerry keeping the country safe, Lewis said, because “I think he will continue to maintain a strong defense and will be proactive rather than reactive in supporting the country. That’s very important to me.”

Lewis, who is the law director for the city of Xenia, feels optimistic that Bush will win in November. While he sees many Democrats with a passionate dislike of Bush, he has met few with an equally passionate enthusiasm for Kerry. During the primary campaign, he said, Yellow Springs was dotted with signs supporting Kucinich or Dean, but only a few backed Kerry. That lack of passion for Kerry, Lewis believes, means his man will prevail.

And while Lewis hopes that Bush wins, he said he cares most that people take part in the political process.

“It doesn’t matter to me if they’re Republican or Democrat, I just want people to get involved,” he said. “Apathy is what bothers me most. That’s how I was raised.”

Lewis came by his passion for politics honestly. His mother, Brenda Lewis, serves as the chairwoman of the Greene County Republican Central Committee and currently works full-time for the Bush campaign.

Like her son, Brenda Lewis values political activism, whether the participants are Democrat or Republican. In fact, her 9-year-old granddaughter, already a political junkie, last month watched most of the Republican convention on TV, and in July she watched the Democrats. It’s valuable, Lewis believes, that her granddaughter hear both sides of the issues.

Her own parents were politically active, Lewis said, and they insisted that she and her siblings put in several hours per week of community service, whether in political activities or other volunteer work, and report their service to their parents each Sunday night. Until her father died last year at age 99, she said, he checked weekly to make sure she had put in her hours.

This fall Brenda Lewis will have no trouble getting her hours, since she currently spends 8 to 10 hours a day on the Bush campaign. Either at her home on Stephenson Road or at the Greene County Republican headquarters, she schedules volunteers, helps with the phone bank, and sets up the Republican booth at area weekend festivals. As a volunteer organizer, Lewis oversees about 25 to 30 people a day, a number that she believes shows the county’s passion for George Bush.

“It’s unbelievable,” she said. “I cannot believe how many people have responded. People come in and say, ‘what can I do?’ It’s overwhelming.”

In her outreach work, Lewis also cites the war on terror as people’s main concern, although she said they also care about the economy and health care. Most Republicans will support Bush, she believes, because “he’s the one who has kept us safe.”

While Brenda and Ron Lewis were happy to talk about their work for the Bush campaign, several others declined to comment for this article. Some said they perceive the News as a liberal paper that wouldn’t give their side a fair shake, and others said they didn’t feel comfortable speaking for the campaign.

Perhaps some would agree with Hugh Ricciardi that Yellow Springs’s famed tolerance doesn’t extend to those with conservative viewpoints. According to Village Council member George Pitstick, who declined to speak personally due to his public position, some local Bush supporters chose not to put signs in their yards because “they were afraid they might get a brick through the window.”

“I always thought,” Pitstick said, “that political signs were a form of freedom.”