Bob Dylan once asked, “how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?” State Representative Haraz Ghanbari has been testing Dylan’s question for his entire time in office. For example, Ghanbari has ignored the 30 percent of people in Bowling Green living in poverty, and has no policy suggestions to improve the lives of the countless other people living paycheck to paycheck, just barely surviving due to the costs of healthcare, housing, utilities, child care, transportation, and the other necessities of life. Regardless of what he may say, Ghanbari’s party, as always, is using the government to exclusively benefit the wealthy, far-right Christian Nationalists, and the NRA, despite over 40 years of evidence illustrating that nothing positive trickles down to the rest of us.
Ghanbari is also testing Bob Dylan’s question of “how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?” As evidence, Ghanbari and his party virtually abolished abortion rights in Ohio and required a 10-year old rape victim to rush to Indiana in order to access an abortion. Ghanbari surely didn’t hear her voice during that long car ride, nor will he listen to the countless other women who will now be forced to make the same decision. In a truly remarkable demonstration of being out-of-touch, Ghanbari credited his vote to abolish bodily autonomy for women as one of “inclusion,” without of course realizing that poor women and women of color will now be the ones most likely to be forced into childbirth since they don’t have as many financial resources to leave the state for abortion care. Inclusion, according to Ghanbari, must mean forcing his archaic views about women’s health and women’s rights onto the rest of us.
It is no coincidence that Ghanbari also turned his head away from the League of Women Voters candidate forum, clearly afraid to answer questions about his dismal record on women’s rights, LGBTQIA rights, gun violence, income inequality, not to mention the climate crisis. He seems to believe that, through simply presenting himself in the image of a genial man, it will be enough to distract people from his extremist voting record. This level of ignorance should be exasperating to anyone in this district who lives in reality.
Thankfully, even in the illegally gerrymandered district that Ghanbari helped to create, democracy gives us options. Perrysburg Councilwoman Jan Materni is a strong candidate running to unseat Ghanbari. She understands the importance of both having a government that delivers on policies to improve the resources and opportunities available to regular folks and will also leave the reproductive healthcare decisions of women to themselves and their healthcare providers. We need people representing us in Columbus who want to change the reality under which working people and the poor live instead of looking the other way and ignoring the struggle. This district is long overdue for a change in management among its state and national representatives. There is just too much going on in the real world to wait any longer. Please join me in voting for Jan Materni for State Representative.
Jordan Wilfong
Bowling Green
