ST. MARYS — Both Tony Burkley, incumbent representative for Ohio’s 82nd House District, and GOP challenger Craig Riedel espouse conservative principles, and both got to make their case for taking those principles to Columbus during a debate Wednesday held by the St. Marys Rotary Club.
“I’m not a career politician,” Riedel, a Defiance resident and retired businessman, said. “I have 27 years of private business experience, and I’m not a career politician, so I’m not indebted to anybody. What I’m going to do is go to Columbus and do what I think is right. I’m going to vote my conscience and what I believe God wants me to do.”
Burkley was a Paulding County commissioner for 16 years before being elected to Statehouse in 2012. Having that experience is an asset in dealing with the intricacies of state government.
“Government is a tricky animal,” he said. “I always like to try to take business practices with me, but trying to navigate through the minefield of government is not always as easy to do.”
Both candidates called for more local control over education.
“Decision-making power should be done on the local level with our administrators and teachers,” Riedel said. “They know what they’re doing and we need to trust that they’ll do their jobs correctly.”
One of Burkley’s primary goals is hoping to see more of an effort to build up the skill sets of young people for available jobs in the state.
“I’ve had a good relationship with the joint vocational schools in our district,” he said. “I find a lot of value in the skills they’re providing, whether it’s machining, 3-D printing, like Tri-Star is doing, or welding skills.”
Riedel’s major goal is to make Ohio a right-to-work state, which would curtail the extent to which unions would require membership or payment of dues as a condition of employment.
“Indiana is a right-to-work state, and businesses flock to the state of Indiana,” he said. “To me, it’s imperative that Ohio become a right-to-work state if we want to be competative with neighboring states, especially Indiana.”
Ohio’s 82nd House District encompasses Defiance, Paulding and Van Wert counties, along with northern portions of Auglaize County.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
