2010 General Elections: Nov.2, 2010: Northwest Ohio, Toledo Races

By Ingrid Marie Rivera, La Prensa Correspondent

As Election Day is closely approaching, here is a rundown of the local candidates running for Lucas County, Toledo, and the surrounding areas, including the three Toledo councilmen seeking higher political offices.

Races include:

U.S. Congress District 9

Rich Iott (R): the CEO of a small family business and creator of several companies in Toledo, as well as a member of the Ohio Military Reserve, he said he has “30 years of experience creating jobs and building successful businesses.” He said high taxes are deterring the creation of jobs and the hiring of new employees by companies.

Marcy Kaptur

He said he opposes the federal health care reform bill, calling it “unconstitutional and a job killer.” He said he will work to repeal the bill that will result in less access to health care and less control over one’s personal health care. Instead, he proposes tort reform and allowing consumers to buy insurance across state lines.

On immigration reform, he said the country needs to better control its borders. He said Arizona should have never been taken to court for its immigration law, as stated in his campaign statements.

“All you need to know about illegal immigration is just that – it is illegal,” he said in his campaign “A country that fails to control its borders ceases to exist. Clearly, the government has to stop playing politics with this issue and get to work to fix it.”

He said he opposes funding the state’s high speed rail project because it will not arrive in Northwest Ohio, is too costly, and will be an inferior 19^th century speed train.

Marcy Kaptur (D): the current representative to the 9^th district, is serving her 14^th term with 28 years in Congress, and is the senior-most woman in the 111^th Congress.

She said the steps she has taken to create and keep jobs at home have been nurturing local innovation and fighting against unfair trade deals like NAFTA. She said in her campaign she also voted to close tax loopholes that reward “big corporations for moving American jobs overseas.”

Kaptur said the health care legislation she supported will provide coverage to 32 million people, more than 94 percent of U.S.-Americans and lower their health care costs over the long term.

She said the historic legislation will reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the next ten years, and an additional deficit reduction of $1.2 trillion in the following 10 years.   

She said she supports funding the high speed rail: “Investing in a modern high-speed passenger rail system is essential to securing the future economic development of our region and the nation.”

On immigration reform she said in her campaign statements: “Millions of uprooted immigrants risk their lives crossing the U.S.-Mexico border region, in search of the American Dream. Millions of U.S. citizens find their standard of living dropping as living wage jobs with benefits are outsourced to Mexico and other nations where half the population exists on $4 per day,” she said “Only when these flawed trade deals are renegotiated will the root causes of America’s immigration problem be resolved.”

U.S. Congress District 5

Caleb Finkenbiner (D): From Defiance, he led a department of twelve employees at a small furniture company. In his campaign he states “Some will say I don’t have the right experience to be a politician; To them I would simply say, I am not in this race to become a politician I am here to represent the people of the 5th district.”

He said it is urgent to bring jobs locally as the district’s unemployment rate has reached well over 14 percent, up from 5.7 percent two years ago. He proposed creating a green collar working class.  He said the empty factories need to be replaced with assembly lines that produce the energy of the future. He also said it is important to punish the companies that ship jobs out of the region, and give incentives to those that keep the jobs in the country.  

Bob Latta (R): the current representative to the 5^th district, he is serving his second term and is seeking re-election. Before elected to Congress, Latta served in the Ohio House of Representatives, the Ohio Senate and was a former Wood County Commissioner.

In the Ohio General Assembly, Latta eliminated the death tax (federal estate tax) that would help 78 percent of small business owners and farmers. He also supported the DNA bill that requires felons and certain misdemeanants to supply DNA samples to be placed in state and national databases, he said.

He said he also supported the Bald Eagle license plate, where proceeds go to buy eagle habitats and eagle preservation efforts. Plus, he said he supported the poaching legislation that increases penalties for the illegal taking of game in the state.

He opposes Obama’s health care reform.

Also running for this position is Libertarian Brian L. Smith.

State Senate District 11

Edna Brown (D): the current state representative of the 48^th district, she is serving her fourth elected term, and can no longer seek re-election due to term limits. She is now seeking the state senate seat. From Toledo, she spent 6 years on the Toledo City Council and 32 years working within the city.

Her voting record includes creating the “no excuse” absentee voting in Ohio bill that became law in 2006, and introducing a bill that would immunize young women from the human papilloma virus.  

This year she sponsored a law that allows juveniles to get civil-protection orders against stalkers.
 

Anita López

Tom Waniewski (R): the current Toledo city councilman of District 5, he was also a former television investigative journalist, and creator of an Internet company.

He said he will help small businesses prosper by lessening their tax burden.

As the unemployment rate in Lucas County has reached over 26,000 people, he said he proposes Foreign Trade Zones– procedures placed on U.S. plants that engage in international trade. He also said in his campaign he will work to create alternative energy jobs and limit government spending.

State Representative 46^th District

Harry Barlos (D):  While Mayor of Maumee, he helped develop the Arrowhead Business Park which has created over 20,000 jobs for the area, he said in his campaign.

He also served as a Lucas County Clerk of Court, Lucas County Commissioner, and as Administrator of the Village of Holland where he supervised the building of a new police station and community center.

In college, he worked as a page in the Ohio House of Representatives, he said.

He said he has balanced budgets and never raised taxes during his entire career in public service.

Barbara Sears (R): the current State Representative for the 46th House District, she said in her campaign “I will continue to strive for lower taxes, support of small businesses, and affordable healthcare in the Ohio Legislature.”

From Monclova, She is also a co-owner of Noble and Sears, Inc., a firm that handles employee benefits and financial planning. Sears served 10 years on the Sylvania City Council, and served as council chair for the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments.

She has said her priority if re-elected will be to create a better business environment to attract jobs to the state. Another priority will be to insure more access to health care, she said.  

She said she will fight to insure the schools receive their fair share of the state budget, and eliminate the burden on taxpayers.

State Representative 47^th District

Rick Bush(R): a fourth-generation Toledoan, he formerly worked as a messenger for Toledo Trust in 1977 and as a Senior Systems Engineer at Key Bank and later in housing. He said the high taxes and regulations made him interested in politics. “I am running to preserve freedom for my sons, and theirs,” he said in his campaign, “I know that sounds pretentious, especially from one so ordinary but government is out of control at every level.”

Instead of sending funds directly to public school districts, he proposed distributing state funds in the form of a tax credit to parents so that they can decide how to spend that funding, and at which school, thereby making the schools compete for each student, he said in his campaign.

For creating jobs and stimulating the economy he proposes to “cut government, cut taxes and make Ohio a haven for investment, business, and jobs once again,” he said.

He said government has grown too big.

“They just shoved socialized medicine down our throats, but you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet,” he said in a written statement “Cap-and-trade is just around the corner.” 

Teresa Fedor (D): currently serving her second term in the Ohio Senate representing the 11th Senate District, she is seeking this new state representative position.

Fedor formerly served as a state representative for the 52nd district, has served in the U.S. Air Force and Ohio National Guard, and has taught in the Toledo Public Schools.

In the General Assembly she said she has worked to improve Ohio’s economy, educational opportunities, services for veterans, and access to children’s health insurance as well as to better criminalize human trafficking.

Also running for this position is Libertarian Joseph Pfeiffer.

State Representative 48^th District

Michael Ashford (D): the current Toledo City Councilman for District 4, he said he is a strong supporter of downtown business. In council, he created the downtown Entertainment District legislation, helped to create safe and affordable housing, and focused on improving public safety and job creation, he said.  

His contenders are Carolyn J. Eyre (R), and Schylar M. Meadows.

State Representative 49^th District

Matthew A. Szollosi (D): From Oregon, he is a Partner with the D’Angelo & Szollosi Co., a law firm, served 4 terms on the Oregon City Council before becoming the current representative to the 49^th district, serving his second term.

In his campaign he said he fought to protect families from losing their homes, worked to limit credit card marketing to teens and young adults, extended healthcare coverage for those workers with COBRA benefits, and protected Medicaid services.

He also said he worked on a budget that cut spending and that kept taxes low while still committing funds to education and work creation.

His contender is Jeff Wingate (R).

Lucas County Commissioner

Carol Contrada (D): She is a 6-year Sylvania Township Trustee, vice-chair of the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, a small business manager for 20 years, teacher and an experienced attorney.

In her campaign she states she knows how to handle a budget and fund job creation efforts.

George Sarantou(R): Currently serving his third term as an at-large member of Toledo City Council, he is employed by Brennan Financial, LTD, that helps businesses and individuals achieve their financial goals. With 28 years of business experience, he said he is very dedicated to job creation.  

Lucas County Auditor

Gina-Marie Kaczala (R): a former employee of the county auditor’s office for 21 years, and former director of internal audits in the finance department for 18 years, she said she knows that office so well and her experience makes her the better candidate. She also said she will insure senior citizens that have been ignored in the county are properly cared for.

Anita López (D): the current Lucas County Auditor is seeking re-election. She was a former Lucas County Recorder and member of the Toledo Public Schools Board of Education. She said she will continue to insure property values are fair. She said she has cut spending in the office and worked to make the Auditors Real Estate Information System (ARIES) more transparent. She said she plans to change the ARIES website so citizens can see how the government is spending their property taxes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Online: The Lucas County Board of Elections: http://www.co.lucas.oh.us/index.aspx?NID=74

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