County Democrats hear from candidates

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

More than 100 area Democrats gathered Thursday evening at Elks Lodge 1197 to hear information from local and statewide candidates, or their representatives, and to raise funds for the current General Election campaign.

Speakers for the night included Sara Lape, candidate for Van Wert County auditor; Bonnie Thatcher, candidate for Van Wert County treasurer; Michael Galbraith, candidate for the Fifth U.S. Congressional District; Adam Papin, candidate for the First Ohio Senate District; Aden Baker, candidate for the 82nd Ohio House District; and surrogates for U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray and his running mate, Betty Sutton.

Lape stressed her 33 years of experience in the county auditor’s office working for her mother, current Auditor Nancy Dixon.

Lape noted that the auditor’s office is important because it manages more than $76 million of taxpayer revenues and oversees the county budget of approximately $31 million.

She also stressed that county voters need to get out and vote, noting that just 24 percent of eligible voters voted in the last general election.

Lape also said her campaign plans to ramp up its efforts in the coming weeks prior to the election, with a door-to-door campaign and other activities planned in that time.

Thatcher, a Van Wert County native and a teacher who retired in 2015 after 37 years in the Van Wert City Schools, said she was looking for her next career even before retired from teaching.

She added that her career in education never felt like a job. “I just enjoyed going every day and I loved it,” Thatcher said, noting that she feels being county treasurer would be a similar experience to her teaching career.

“I’m energetic, I love working with people, and anything I do is with enthusiasm and passion,”

Thatcher said, adding that she favors the team approach and believes every member of a team can make a contribution.

Papin, a blue-collar worker from Bryan who is challenging incumbent Rob McColley, a Republican, for the First Senate District seat, said one thing he has found while campaigning is that too many people feel that neither party represents them, adding that he wants to provide that representation to all Ohioans in his district.

Without a doubt, the most dynamic speaker of the evening was Baker, a 2018 Wayne Trace High School graduate and a member of the Paulding County Democratic Central Committee who is running against incumbent Craig Riedel, a Republican, for the 82nd Ohio House District seat.

Baker said Democrats need to do more to challenge Republicans for elected offices in northwest Ohio.

“The reason we are not winning is because we are not competing,” Baker said, noting that even in a predominantly Republican area, good Democrat candidates can be successful.

The young candidate said that some of the people with Democrat candidates’ signs in their yards are not even Democrats.

“These people don’t care about parties, they care about people,” Baker said, who added that he did some research about running for the 82nd House District after seeing the nasty campaign run during the primary election for the seat the last time around.

Baker said his mother, who earned her teaching degree while he was in school and now teaches fourth grade at Grover Hill Elementary School, was an inspiration to him growing up, while also providing an example of what a true public servant should be.

“It was really inspiring to me because I’ve seen firsthand the effort that takes,” he said, adding that what’s oftentimes missing with today’s public servants is the “servant” part of the equation.

“I think what’s missing so much from the government today is the ‘servant’ part of that title,” Baker said, noting that his mother put 110 percent into her job as a teacher.

Galbraith, who is seeking the Fifth U.S. Congressional District seat now held by Republican Bob Latta, is a financial adviser from Maumee who previously worked in the international financial markets for 30 years, and has since also taught at Bowling Green State University in the departments of management and finance.

He also mentioned that Bob Kreienkamp, who ran against Latta in the Republican primary, is supporting his candidacy over Latta.

Galbraith called Kreienkamp an “old Republican,” like in the days of Dwight Eisenhauer, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.

“The Republican Party has been hijacked by a completely different group of people,” Galbraith said, noting that he wants to reinstate the money taken away from Americans by the New Republicans, while also working to implement a single-payer health insurance program.

“I promise to represent all of you, not just some of you,” he added. “Because at the end of the day … it doesn’t matter if you’re Republican or Democrat; what matters is if you care, if you’re compassionate, or whether you’re just chasing the money, and we care.”

Steve Maurer, a former state senator and state agricultural director, spoke on behalf of Sherrod Brown, noting Brown’s service to Ohioans and ending with an old saying about putting the car in “D” to drive, while adding that putting a car in “R” means people aren’t going anywhere.