Dem state hopeful makes pitch for FitzGerald

CELINA - Wouldn't it be wonderful if Ohio made national headlines for granting equal pay to women and making college affordable, instead of disenfranchising voters?

Sharen Neuhardt, the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald, asked the question Thursday night at the Mercer County Democratic Fall Dinner at the Celina Eagles Lodge. She explained that Ohio needs a governor who wakes up every morning thinking about helping average people, not putting more money into the pockets of the wealthiest.
  Neuhardt also urged attendees to talk to their friends and neighbors, regardless of political affiliation, about what she believes is right for Ohio: voting for FitzGerald.

Gov. John Kasich, Neuhardt said, doesn't care about the people who make up the fabric of Ohio. Unless there's a photo opportunity or campaign event, you won't see Kasich in this part of the state, she said.

"We share common values when it comes to things like working for the middle class, believing that the best thing about Ohio is the strength of its people, not the strength of its 1 percent wealthiest people," she said.

Though Republicans have gerrymandered Ohio, every vote counts in the race for governor, she said.

"And a vote out of Mercer County is going to count just as much as a vote out of Cuyahoga County," she said. "So when we're talking to our friends and neighbors, we have to talk to them about the things that make us similar rather than the things that make us dissimilar."

Ohio is still 140,000 jobs short of where it was before the recession, and the best way to jumpstart a recovery is to strengthen the middle class, Neuhardt said.

"In July, Ohio had the lowest job growth of any state in this nation, below Mississippi, below Alabama," she said. "That's not a place I want to be. But John Kasich talks about this like it's the land of milk and honey, you know, and it's just not the case."

Schools in Mercer County and across the state are deprived of funding because of the Kasich administration's $1 billion investment in failing, for-profit charter schools, Neuhardt said.

"And that is just not right. It's not Democratic, it's not Republican, it's just not right," she said.

Neuhardt said Kasich boasts of balancing the budget, but he cut funding to local governments, forcing some to eat up surpluses and run levies to balance their books. Hurt, also, were police, fire and road maintenance departments, she said.

John Kasich ought to lose just on the basis of the potholes in Ohio, she said.

"We're a gigantic ATM. You're giving the money to the state government, and it's being sucked right out of Mercer County and it's not coming back. It's not coming back at all," she said. " ... Every governor in the history of the state of Ohio has to balance the budget, it's the law. It's not like Washington where you can print money and run deficits."

Kasich balanced the budget on the backs of everybody in Mercer County, she added.

Neuhardt also discussed the Grand Lake algae problem, noting farmers shouldn't be made scapegoats. Kasich should have been working on the issue a long time ago, she said.

Also addressing the crowd Thursday night was Robert Fry, a 64-year-old Democrat from Toledo and a pastor who is vying against incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, for the 5th Congressional District seat.

There are more people in Mercer County who don't vote than those voting for Republicans, he said.

Fry exhorted attendees to talk to fellow residents about freedom and the government and multinational corporations that have sold this country out from underneath Americans. Finding common ground, not arguing political philosophy and speaking the truth will take care of itself, he said.

The Democratic Party is not about the redistribution of wealth, as some detractors say, but about reclaiming a fair share of the income that was redistributed 30 years ago, Fry said.

"Forty percent of the money in this country is controlled by 1 percent of the people. That is uncalled for and unjust. Everybody that lives in Mercer County knows that," he said.

Fry said he is a capitalist and a believer in free enterprise. But he also believes in the Constitution. Capitalism without a conscience is a beast, he said.

Mercer County Democratic Party Secretary Mauri Cron on Thursday presented the party's Democrat of the Year award to Deb Sneddon, director of the Mercer County Board of Elections.

Cron praised Sneddon for her diligent work on behalf of district, state and national candidates and for providing valuable input on issues. She can be counted on to get things done and is a Democrat through and through, he said.

Party chairwoman Carol Jeffries said Sneddon is hardworking and very deserving of the award. She also thanked God that Sneddon is on their side.

Jeffries also urged all Democrats to vote this election to unseat a governor whom she said attacked the public sector and tried to eliminate collective bargaining, raised the sales tax, went after women's rights, cut voting rights and gave a $3 billion tax cut to the wealthiest of Ohioans.

"We need to stop the attack on the working class in Ohio, and we need to vote John Kasich out of office," she said.