OTTAWA — Ohio State Auditor Dave Yost came to the Putnam County Fair Wednesday to cut the ribbon at the new Putnam County Republican Party booth.
For years the Putnam County Republican Party booth was in a small, garage-like space about seven feet wide and seven or eight feet high. Their new booth is next to the old booth and about three times the size as the old, said Chairman of the Putnam County Republican Party Tom Liebrecht.
“We went to the fair board and said we’re willing to tear up that floor and fix if for the space,” Liebrecht said.
The Putnam County Fair Board granted the party an abatement on rent for a total of five years for them fixing the floor, he explained, adding they contracted a local company to do the work, which cost $3,000.
“The public has been pleasantly surprised,” Liebrecht said about the new space.
He is debating whether to paint the walls in the booth or leave them as they are because they have an authentic Putnam County barn feel to them, he said.
Yost participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony when he arrived and mingled a bit with local officials, such as Judge Chad Niese and Sheriff Brian Siefker.
“I try to stop by county fairs as often as I can,” Yost said. “This is America. Everybody goes to the county fair.”
Yost plans to run for Ohio Attorney General in the 2018 election, with plans to focus a great deal of attention to combating the opioid addiction issues plaguing the state.
“There is no part of the state that has not been touched by the opioid epidemic,” he said. “Everyone talks about going to rehab like it’s fixing a house. You go into rehab and get out and you’re fixed. That isn’t the way it works. It’s more like being on a freeway without exits. There’s no way out.”
Educating people not only about the facts of the drugs and addiction is just as important as fighting drug distribution, Yost explained.
“I’ve been preparing my entire life for this job,” he said about running for attorney general next year.
He has been a reporter and a prosecutor during his life because he was looking for the truth, he explained.
“People ask me why I’m not running for governor,” Yost said. “I’m running for attorney general because that’s where my heart is.”
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