Mary Jo Kilroy - Covert Socialist?

Is Ohio Democratic Congresswoman and Homeland Security Committee member Mary Jo Kilroy, a covert socialist?


Evidence has emerged that in the early 1990s, Mary Jo Kilroy, then an Ohio lawyer and activist, was a member of the U.S.'s largest Marxist-based organization, Democratic Socialists of America (D.S.A.).

Furthermore, while running as a Democrat, Mary Jo Kilroy was backed by her D.S.A. comrades in her both unsuccessful (2006) and successful (2008) races for U.S. congress.

D.S.A. has long been influential inside the Ohio Democratic Party. In 1990 D.S.A. member Tom Erney unsuccessfully ran for Congress on the Democratic Party ticket. in 1992, D.S.A. member Bob Fitrakis, also ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat.

According to the D.S.A.'s newsletter - the Democratic Left, November/December 1992, page 9, the socialists did have one success in 1991. They elected D.S.A. member Mary Jo Kilroy to the local school board.


Kilroy was also named as a D.S.A. member in Democratic Left, July/August 1992, page 11, as part of a report on a D.S.A. National board meeting in Washington D.C.

The text indicates that Kilroy actually attended this high level D.S.A. meeting.


Incidentally, the Paul Pinsky mentioned above is now a leftist Democrat leader in the Maryland State Senate.

The Center for Democratic Values, the think-tank project of Democratic Socialists of America, held its first national conference, "Arguing with the Right," November 6-7 1997 at the Clarion Hotel Columbus Ohio, in conjunction with the DSA national convention.

The conference will include historical and analytical sessions, plus skills workshops for contesting the Right's current dominance of American political discussion.

Workshops included "Arguing for Public Schools": Mary Jean Collins and Mary Jo Kilroy (Columbus Board of Education).

Ten years later, Mary Jo Kilroy was Democratic Party candidate for Congress in Ohio's 15th Congressional District.

According to Democratic Left Winter 2006/2007 page 7

Former Representative, now Senator Sherrod Brown is the most visible symbol of this change... A longtime critic of “free trade” agreements, frequently characterized as far left and out ofthe mainstream, Brown handily defeated the relatively moderate but free-trade proponent Mike DeWine.

Trade was also an issue in the narrow loss of Mary Jo Kilroy to Deborah Pryce. Local DSAers worked in both the Brown and Kilroy campaigns

Central ohio D.S.A. and Mary Jo Kilroy and had better luck in 2008 - securing a very close victory.

According to Democratic Left, Winter 2008, page 10

In Columbus, Ohio, DSA members campaigned for both Obama and congressional candidate Mary Jo Kilroy, who, after a suspenseful count of provisional ballots was declared the winner in December, raising the Democrats’ majority in the House to 257.

Several D.S.A. member have served in the U.S. Congress, as Democrats in recent years including Reps Ron Dellums, Major Owens and Danny K. Davis. Many more have close ties to the organization, including reps Jan Schakowsky, Jerry Nadler, John Conyers and former Hawaii Rep. Neil Abercrombie.

Is Mary Jo Kilroy yet another "DSAer Democrat"? Does she still owe allegiance to her old Marxist comrades?

The voters of Ohio surely deserve answers to these questions.