Graham Veysey Identifies Most Important Issues Facing Toledo & Cleveland
Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012, will be an important election for Ohio and the country. Not only will Cuyahoga County be electing a new Prosecutor (see Cool Cleveland’s questions to Prosecutor candidates here), but they will also be electing a member to the House of Representatives from the newly created 9th Congressional District, which stretches along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland. Because the new district contains heavily Democratic voters, the primary on March 6 will most likely determine who is elected in November.
Three candidates are in the race: Representative Dennis Kuchinich, Representative Marcy Kaptur, and Graham Veysey. All three have been invited to answer a few questions from Cool Cleveland that we plan to publish prior to the election.
Please use a maximum of 700 words total to answer the following two questions:
What procedures and techniques will you put in place to ensure that you are able to fully & fairly represent the two vastly disparate urban regions: Toledo & Cleveland?
I’ve been racking the miles up on my Jeep going back and forth along the new 9th district — the North Coast. Despite being different in geography, many of the same issues confront both cities. First of all, I’d continue to spend time not only in Toledo and Cleveland but in Lorain and Sandusky and all of the other communities of the new 9th.
Once elected to Congress, I’d make sure that my congressional team would be geographically dispersed. Furthermore, this campaign has utilized “new” media in a way that has helped organize and keep people informed. The campaign hosted the first Twitter Town Hall in Ohio with over 10,000 people participating. We will implement the traditional constituent service that people have benefited from but improve it with the new technology that is available at no cost.
Name the top three issues that affect Toledo specifically, and the top three issues that affect Cleveland specifically, and why.
Separating the issues geographically is counterproductive because the problems facing each of these communities overlap and those overlaps are what should focus on.
1. Economic Recovery – We can’t let this economic recovery bypass us like the last one did. I often hear from people in Cleveland and Toledo express that they haven’t recovered from the last recession, let alone any current economic uncertainty.
2. Poverty – Toledo and Cleveland are a one/two punch. Congresswoman Kaptur and Congressman Kucinich have delivered a poor record on poverty and we need to address it. Toledo had the #1 rise in poverty in America and Cleveland has the #2 rate of poverty for big cities. We need to break the cycle of poverty by focusing on early childhood education and getting kids enrolled in pre-K. Less than 50% in Ohio are enrolled. We can do better. We need to do better.
3. Lake Erie – Leveraging our greatest asset– we need to build on Lake Erie and its $10 billion annual economic activity. Through commerce and tourism we can grow that economic activity. Kaptur and Kucinich were the only two Congresspeople with districts on the Great Lakes to vote AGAINST the Great Lakes Water Compact. For too long, we’ve let perfect get in the way of good. I promise to serve in Congress as a champion of the Great Lakes and Lake Erie.
To read all the candidates’ responses to all of Cool Cleveland’s questions, please click here.