{"id":42305,"date":"2013-08-26T07:22:12","date_gmt":"2013-08-26T12:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=42305"},"modified":"2013-08-27T07:57:59","modified_gmt":"2013-08-27T12:57:59","slug":"democratic-candidate-for-governor-visits-van-wert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/08\/26\/democratic-candidate-for-governor-visits-van-wert\/","title":{"rendered":"Dem candidate for governor in Van Wert"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/b>independent editor<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Ed<\/a>
Ed FitzGerald, a Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, spoke to a small crowd Sunday in Van Wert’s Fountain Park. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Democrat candidate for governor Ed FitzGerald, who spoke to a small group of area residents and media in Fountain Park on Sunday, knows he\u2019s in for a fight in taking on incumbent Governor John Kasich, but added that he\u2019s used to being the underdog.<\/p>\n

\u201cChances are I\u2019m going to be outspent by my opponent,\u201d FitzGerald told the crowd Sunday in Fountain Park. \u201cEvery race I\u2019ve ever gotten into in my life \u2026 I was always the first candidate in, because I knew I was going to be outspent and I have to make up for that by working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

FitzGerald, a former FBI agent who fought organized crime in Chicago, is now the first county executive for Cuyahoga County. He was a former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor, who also served as the mayor of the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, as well as being a member of Lakewood\u2019s city council.<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old Democrat has already been in 82 of Ohio\u2019s 88 counties, noting that, because this is his first run for state office, he wants people to get to know him and what he stands for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m somebody who is fiscally responsible, that I\u2019m somebody with a background in making government work for average people,\u201d FitzGerald said, noting that, although he is a Democrat, he feels those qualities are ones that residents in conservative areas such as Van Wert County can appreciate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m somebody whose roots are in the middle class,\u201d added the Democrat, who is the seventh of eight children. \u201cMy wife and I are raising four kids; we know what it\u2019s like to struggle in this economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

FitzGerald also said his background as a prosecutor and former FBI agent also means he puts a priority on law enforcement, while being a former mayor and a current county administrator shows he knows about the problems faced by Ohio communities.<\/p>\n

FitzGerald also blasted his opponent on several fronts, especially his state budget efforts that the Democrat said has resulted in the loss of $5 million to governments and schools in Van Wert County alone.<\/p>\n

\"Ed<\/a>
Ed FitzGerald speaks to a couple of area residents during a visit to Van Wert on Sunday. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s reckless the way he\u2019s taken money out of local schools and out of local governments and sent it down to Columbus,\u201d the Democratic challenger said.<\/p>\n

FitzGerald also criticized Kasich\u2019s JobsOhio organization, noting that, in his opinion, it\u2019s wrong to use public money to fund a private economic development organization and stating that JobsOhio would be much more open if he was governor. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be secretive \u2026 we have a big job creation program (in Cuyahoga County) and it\u2019s all transparent,\u201d he said. \u201cNothing good comes out of spending public money in a secretive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

FitzGerald, who also visited Defiance, Paulding and Fulton counties on Sunday, said he planned to revisit all 88 Ohio counties when the gubernatorial campaign begins in earnest next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will contest all counties,\u201d he noted, while adding that he plans to have a campaign organization in every county. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re going to win all 88, but we\u2019re going to go to all of them, and we\u2019ll give it our best shot in every single area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cuyahoga County resident said he was optimistic at this point, citing state polls that show him leading Kasich by 3 percentage points, after earlier polls put him behind by 10 points. Of course, FitzGerald said he knows it is early in the campaign, but said he feels he has a realistic shot at unseating the Republican incumbent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe polls show people don\u2019t really approve of this governor,\u201d FitzGerald said, noting that Kasich only defeated former governor Ted Strickland by 77,000 votes. \u201cEven his good polls don\u2019t have him with a very high approval rating.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the problem, at this point, is that many Ohioans don\u2019t know what the alternative is to another four years of the Kasich administration. \u201cI just have to start that conversation as early as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in good government — open and transparent government — and I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve had that in the last couple of years,\u201d FitzGerald said on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Democrat candidate for governor Ed FitzGerald, who spoke to a small group of area residents and media in Fountain Park on Sunday, knows he\u2019s in for a fight in taking on incumbent Governor John Kasich, but added that he\u2019s used to being the underdog. \u201cChances are I\u2019m going to be outspent by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 15:04:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}