As a citizen of Ohio, and as a citizen of Ashland County specifically, I feel compelled to offer the following as it relates to the most recent primary election.
It has been my practice to try to learn about each candidate’s views before I vote, and I attempted to do so in this last primary election also. The information available to me, whether from the internet or candidate mailings, is often, at least for me, inadequate to decide who to vote for, and it was the same in this election, too.
So, I take it upon myself to speak to the candidates so I can have particular questions which I have, and which are important for me to make a decision, answered.
My interest for this primary were the views of the candidates running for the Ohio House seat on two particular questions.
I am an independent in my voting but in this case asked for a Republican ballot since all the Republican candidate’s fliers essentially showed no difference in their views. Well in advance of election day I attempted to contact each candidate by way of either Facebook, text, or voicemail, and with some, more than once.
Interestingly, the Facebook connections all stated the candidates or someone from their office would get back to me within a couple of days. With the voicemails and texts I had a direct link to one of them, but the candidate never responded to any of them.
To me, if someone wants to and is going to represent me in the state legislature, they should be interested to hear from me if I have concerns and questions. That should be the same for any of us, not just me.
The only response I received, out of the three Republican candidates, was from Mr. Ron Falconi, and I thank him for that.
I must tell you I’ve tried asking questions ahead of elections many times and of many candidates, and Mr. Falconi and one other are the only ones who have responded.
Should we be satisfied with this extreme lack of concern and respect for all of us? I’m not!
Dr. J.A. Klobutcher
Ashland, Ohio
