Update: 5/5/10. Mr. Iott won the Republican primary yesterday and will now face-off against Ms. Kaptur.
For the last 28 years northwest Ohio has been in the stranglehold of US House Democratic Progressive Caucus member Rep. Marcy Kaptur. According to the Caucus ideology the members advocate:
“universal access to affordable, high quality healthcare, fair trade agreements, living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into labor unions and engage in collective bargaining, the abolition of significant portions of the US Patriot Act, the legalization of same sex marriage, [sic] a complete pullout from the the war in Iraq, a crackdown on corporate welfare and influence, an increase in income tax rates on the wealthy,tax cuts for the poor, and an increase in welfare spending by the federal government.”
Ms. Kaptur will also be remembered as one of the “Stupak 11″ who compromised their pro-life position to deliver the necessary yes-votes to pass health care reform, and she received an extremely dismal rating of 15.31 out of 100 from the American Conservative Union.
Rich Iott is a Conservative Republican candidate for Ms. Kaptur’s seat. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Iott and learning of his campaign platform.
Rich has been in business for 30 years. He began working at age 14 and later ran a small family-owned chain of supermarkets. Rich feels his experience as a businessman will bring to Washington and his constituents, if elected; expertise and knowledge he feels is sorely lacking. He believes the Federal government is the biggest impediment to job creation with taxes and regulation the largest obstacles.
Rich would like to eliminate the US dependence on foreign oil and believes the oil-rich area of Montana would be an excellent place to begin. He would also like to expand our nuclear energy capabilities. He has the unique idea of offering veterans returning home positions as Border Patrol and Security personnel. He is a member of the Ohio Military Reserve and is also a staunch supporter of 2nd Amendment rights. He believes those being held at Guantanamo Bay and any other terrorists should be treated as enemy combatants, not criminals and held in military prisons and given military tribunals, not criminal trials.
Born of a single mother, Rich understands the sanctity of human life and is totally against abortion. If elected Rich tells me he would not want to serve more than three terms and would never “vote for favors.”
Here is a short video of Rich and his basic platform:
Please take a closer look at Rich. Here is his webpage for more information. You can follow Rich on twitter @iott4congress.
Rich’s Republican contender for the Ohio primary on May 4 is Jack Smith. You can find my post on Jack here. Also running for Ms. Kaptur’s seat is Libertarian Joseph Jaffe.
I like that Mr. Iott has 30 years of business experience. He knows the day to day reality of work and leadership in the real world. He is right about taxation and over-regulation by the federal government being a major stumbling block to business growth and jobs. I love the idea of offering returning veterans jobs as Border Patrol and Security personnel. We have a desperate need for their services and the veterans are uniquely qualified for such employment. I like Mr. Iott’s viewpoints on everything that matters to me. You can count on my vote!