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: Nancy Garland

Nancy Garland is standing for reelection to her seat as the 20th District's Representative.  She's in her first term after being elected in 2008.

Some key votes over the past couple years can be found here, courtesy of Project Vote Smart.  I find it interesting the only "Nay" vote they list is against the transition fund amendments the senate tried to tack on to a campaign finance bill.

Garland lives in New Albany, and has a son at Ohio State studying political science while participating in Air Force ROTC and a daughter who is a practicing attorney after graduating from Miami University over in Oxford.  Before serving in the House of Representatives, Garland spent 7 years as the CEO of the Ohio Physical Therapy Association.  She also spent several years in Washington, DC in several positions, from legislative assistant to Director of Government Affairs for the American Physical Therapy Association.  Garland is also a clinical assistant professor at Ohio State.

Garland has three main issues listed on her website: Job Growth, Economic Development, and Health Care.  She emphasizes partnering with businesses small and large as well as the unemployed workforce to build new jobs, attract new industry, and help keep current organizations healthy and growing.  As for healthcare, it's the common line regarding the unacceptable numbers of unemployed Ohioans, and how we need to solve the problem in order to keep the state competitive nation wide.

Many groups have endorsed Garland, including the AFL-CIO, Ohio Association of Public School Employees and the Ohio Education Association, and more.