Values Matter
A BRIGHTER FUTURE
Our Communities
Deserve Better
For too long we've seen our leaders avoid real People and real communities. Avoiding town halls, keeping up with donors rather than people around the table and frankly just not caring about what People are dealing with every day unless it fits their next campaign attack ad. Accountability and representation are why I'm running for the 87th Ohio District.
The place I call home deserves better than the partisan politics that serves only those who are in power and it's only gotten worse throughout the years. It's time for a change and this time we'll make a good change that involves People and our communities because when we work with one another, we can achieve better.
So, let's make our campaign for a better community a successful one. Join myself and others as we fight corruption, inaction, and harmful policies that make our communities worse.
Meet Craig
A Promise to Myself & To You
When I was 19, working as a mover to pay for college, the company had us going to the West Coast. We were laid over in Phoenix at a truck stop one night and a car pulled up alongside us and the driver approached and asked if we needed any help. We could offer nothing as we only had an hour’s worth of work the next day and then off to Los Angeles. His wife and kids were with him and I noticed they were living out of their car. That image would stay with me forever and that night I made a promise to myself that if ever given an opportunity to help people like that again I would do everything I could.
Working as a Representative is a civic obligation for me, something I just can't let drive by. Helping People, communities grow and support each other is what I promised myself that I would do and I intend to do that as your Representative.
Values Start
With Experience
Inspiring Leadership at Home
Probably the hardest job I ever had was working for myself for the first time at my restaurant. It was also the most rewarding to me. With extremely long hours and common mistakes business owners make their first time but the lessons I learned proved invaluable. Part of being a leader meant you helped others lead with you toward a shared goal, and the reward was seeing those you inspired move on toward growing themselves. As a Representative that means inspiring communities through good values and integrity to lead themselves toward growing their future overall.
Never Give Up Fighting For People
Working with constituents, hearing about problems, making time to figure out the solutions to the community issues of the day can be demanding and frightening. People’s livelihoods can depend on you not giving up on them. I remember when I was driving long-haul freight before the Christmas holidays some years ago out in the Pacific Northwest when an ice storm hit us in the Rockies. It was my turn driving and the fear of driving on 2 inches of ice made me want to stop, but I couldn't because my team needed me. Being a Representative is a lot like driving on 2 inches of ice with a deadline.
When your constituents need you, you don’t just give up.
The Power of People Can Never Be Beaten
When I was in Washington, D.C. I worked for a Law Firm that participated in a Summer softball league and they asked me to manage their team. Our team ranged from firm partners to hard working mailroom staff and it didn’t matter to me if they were any good at the game. If they showed up, they played. It was about People first. One game we were on the opposing team’s home field where we noticed they were cheating through sudden lineup changes. My team wanted me to sub out our “worst” players in response. I refused and played everyone who came to play. We ended up winning the game because we all worked together using our strengths with integrity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How should a State Representative serve you?
A:
I believe your representative above all else must be a voice for you while serving your needs with state matters. I also wholeheartedly believe a representative should be transparent and accountable to their constituents, no matter the party they subscribe to, and that means being available for People and yes that also means Open Town Hall meetings where constituents ask the questions, not staff.
Q: Why should State laws vs Federal laws be more important to People?
A:
Because the 10th Amendment to the Constitution delegates to the States the authority to take care of those things that the Federal government believes should be reserved to the States and to the People; which actually covers a lot of personal freedoms such as rights to privacy, reproductive healthcare and voting.
Q: Should a Representative have experience?
A:
The beauty of our country is that you don't need to in order to perform a civic duty. Working in real estate contracts, running forklifts on 3rd shift, and doing some long haul trucking is certainly an experience that's worth having though if a representative wants to truly understand issues the average working constituent goes through.
Q: Shouldn’t Congress focus on governing rather than constantly campaigning?
A:
Our Republic is uniquely built to represent the People. Unfortunately, with a faster economy, faster communication, and faster society Congress is forced to campaign right after they're elected. To fix this, we must enact meaningful campaign finance reform that not only makes it so that representatives aren’t constantly campaigning, but also closes the doors to the corrupt influences of dark money.
Q: Shouldn’t Congress follow the same rules as we do?
A:
It’s sad that this question even needs to be asked nowadays, but here we are having to ask whether or not our leaders should follow the same rules as we do. Our leaders should be using the same health benefits we have to use, conducting themselves appropriately in the workplace, and not using their power to enrich themselves by buying and selling stock. And that is just the start.
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