General Assembly candidates speak

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Four of five candidates for local representation in the Ohio General Assembly were on hand for a “Meet the Candidates” Night sponsored by the Heart Land Patriots on Tuesday.

Speaking were both incumbent Ohio Representative Tony Burkley and his opponent, political newcomer Brett Eley, as well as Milo Schaffner and Corey Shackleton, two candidates running for the First Ohio Senate seat held by Cliff Hite.

Burkley gave a synopsis of his current committee assignments, as well as his political beliefs. A former Paulding County commissioner who owns two businesses in that county, Burkley talked most about his newest assignment as a member of the Ohio House’s Education Committee.

“I’m really excited about being a part of the Education Committee because I think that, as time goes on, there are a lot of things I can accomplish by being on that committee,” the state representative noted.

Burkley also talked about legislation he is sponsoring, including a bill dealing with Tax Increment Financing.

Eley, a Wapakoneta native who has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Ohio University and a graduate degree in public administration from OU, touted his work with non-profit organizations and also talked about the struggles Ohioans have had in the economic downturn.

He talked about economic development and also talked about the fact that local communities have fewer young people returning to the area and his goal to increase economic development in the area.

“One of my main missions is to get more industry into the area,” Eley said.

Hite, who is seeking re-election, couldn’t attend the meeting due to a Senate caucus meeting in Columbus, but sent a letter outline his qualifications to the Heart Land Patriots’ Rev. Keith Stoller.

In his letter, the first-term state senator noted that, while he supports the Ohio core education program, which he said gives school districts the right to choose their own curriculum, he has opposed the federal Common Core educational curriculum.

“The Ohio core curriculum is controlled by each school district’s board of education,” Hite stressed.

The state senator also talked about his support for Ohio’s Heartbeat Bill and his endorsement by the Ohio Right to Life organization.

Schaffner, a Van Wert County native, talked about his political experience as a former member of the Lincolnview Local Board of Education and his current tenure as a Hoaglin Township trustee. He also outlined his three core beliefs: belief in the Bible as the divine word of God, belief that life begins at conception and that the U.S. Constitution was written with divine guidance.

Schaffner, an opponent of county wind turbine projects, defended his belief that funding for local governmental entities should come from state and local sources, not through payments from wind farms.

He also cited his career experience, first as a teacher, then as a tool-and-die maker who later started his own successful business.

Corey Shankleton, a Stryker resident who is a church pastor as well as a successful entrepreneur, talked about his goal for a return to common sense and morality in state politics.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know, at the federal level, what can be done,” Shankleton said, adding, “Every day I watch violations of our Constitution, of the morality of our society. We’re watching those things begin to unravel.”

The conservative Republican said the current state of politics was one of the reasons he decided to run for state senator when asked.

Also speaking during the meeting were State Central Committee candidate Jim Horton and local Republican Central Committee candidates.