My Take, Ohio House of Representatives 20th District Race

This is an easier post to write than the last "My Take," mostly because of the absence of a strong 3rd party candidate.  It looks like the Lawrence Binsky campaign completely ran out of steam after getting it's candidacy certified on May 4th.  While I'm sure there's passion, good ideas, and thought-out positions in the person of Binsky, I have no way of knowing it.  This is exactly the sort of performance that leads major media to not even pay attention to most third party candidates.  At this point, I wouldn't even consider voting for Binsky.

Nancy Garland is the incumbent, and I'm not really fond of any Ohio Legislature member right now.  That being said, they can't ALL be a part of the problem, and I'm inclined to think Garland as a freshman legislator was more part of the solution.  I also like the "No" vote on transition funds...which seemed rather appropriate, given the context.  On the whole, I'm leaning towards giving Garland another shot at the Statehouse.

Matt Carle seems to be an extremely capable, accomplished person with a long history of political experience, albeit behind the scenes.  I'm sure his background would definitely enable him to be a successful legislator...but I'm not in favor of that happening, on an ideological level.  His experience working with so many prominent GOP candidates over the years just indicates to me a person who's values do not ideally match with mine, not to mention I've rarely agreed with a candidate endorsed by a Right to Life group on most social issues.  I really don't anticipate voting for Carle.

Ohio House of Representatives, 20th District: Lawrence Binsky

The Libertarian candidate for the 20th District is Lawrence Binsky, a small business owner in Bexley.

Binsky has lived in Bexley since he was nine, and now shares a home there with his wife and five children.  He attended OSU, and started Advantage Food and Beverage with one vending machine, and grew it to the current size of 21 employees.

Gleaning from his biography page, Binsky is running because of the obstacles put in front of small businesses.  He wants to make things easier for businesses, and thus create a better state.  He is also against the tax and fee burden and thinks a small government would be helpful in reducing that load.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much to the Binsky campaign that I was able to determine.  Maybe this will change at the election date gets closer.

Ohio House of Representatives, 20th District: Matt Carle

Side note, I'm kicking it up to a 3 day a week schedule: Tuesday, Friday, Sunday.  Too many candidates/issues to cover in 2 months otherwise!

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Matt Carle is the Republican challenging Nancy Garland for the 20th House District.

A graduate of Westerville North High School and a current resident of Gahanna, Carle graduated from OSU and earned a law degree from Capitol University.  He's worked on several campaigns in recent years, including both Mike DeWine's and George Voinovich's Senate campaigns and Betty Montgomery's campaign for Auditor.

Other work Carle is involved with include being the Director of Development and Community Relations for the Ohio College Access Network, and his career as a real estate and zoning lawyer.  He is a member of the Columbus Bar Association.

Carle's stances include the standard "Smaller Government/Lower Taxes" found on GOP tickets, claiming his work with OCAN and others gives him a good grasp on where government waste is.  He also feels the disparity between urban, suburban, and rural school districts needs to be stopped.  His stance on health care is "minimizing the damage that could be caused by national health care reform" while making sure Medicaid is funded.  He also has a bullet point about protecting rights and freedoms with the right to bear arms being the only one specifically mentioned.

There's a well set up endorsements page on Carle's webpage, showing endorsements from the FOP, the Right to Life PAC, the Chamber of Commerce PAC, and others.