By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
If either James Neu Jr. or J. Michael Galbraith would succeed in their bids represent the Fifth Congressional District in the U.S. Congress, the winner would be the first Democrat to do that in 80 years.
And for 40 of those years, a congressman named Latta has held the seat, Del Latta for 30 years from 1959-1989, and his son, Robert Latta, for the past 10.
But both candidates, as well as the incumbent’s two Republican challengers, feel Latta is vulnerable, and all for the same reason – Latta has largely been unresponsive to constituents’ calls to meet with him on a range of issues. (A story on the Republican primary race with challengers Robert Kreienkamp of Wayne and Todd Wolfrum of Middle Point, is forthcoming.) Voters will decide on May 8.
Galbraith said in a recent interview that “hardly a day goes by when I don’t run into a Republican who tells me something has to be done about our current representative.” And, yes, those are Republicans.
Latta “does not listen to us,” Galbraith said. “That’s why I’m running.”
Neu said that Latta has four challengers is a sign of the dissatisfaction. “He does not listen to them. That’s the main thing we hear from them. He doesn’t listen to constituents.”
James Neu Jr.
This is the second time Neu, of Perrysburg, has challenged Latta. He ran in 2016 and garnered 100,000 votes, 29 percent of the vote.
James Neu Jr.
Neu said the only way to unseat an incumbent with high name recognition is for a candidate to build their own name recognition over several races. He’s said he has people who recognize him as the candidate who challenged Latta in 2016. Such recognition, he said, is “surreal.”
Neu sees himself as a representative of the middle working people. He works on the floor at the Chrysler plant, and serves as a union steward. He said he’s knows the dilemma of having to decide whether to pay bills or buy food for his kids. “I can relate to the average worker in the Fifth District.”
He sees the tax bill that was passed late last year with Latta’s vote as “the worst.” People may be seeing a little extra in their paychecks right now but in three or four years those will be gone and “we, the middle class, are going to be paying for the benefits that the top one percent will be receiving from tax bill.
Neu said he’s “a firm believer” that if the government gears tax cuts to the middle class, those people will go and spend the extra money, not invest it. They’ll buy appliances, or maybe go on a vacation. That spending will help the economy. “We want more money circulating in our economy to drive our economy.”
The wealthy he said may put some into the economy, but much will go into “off shore’ accounts.
Asked about school violence and louder calls for gun regulations, Neu said, that the first step is: “We need to enforce the many laws that are on the books. Those that don’t work should be fixed or gotten rid of. But “I don’t believe in arming teachers.”
As a recently retired as a volunteer with the Perrysburg Township Fire Department after 17 years, he knows about the uncertainty of going into a crisis with “very clouded” information.
Who’s to tell in such a situation who’s the shooter?
“Guns are so ingrained in our country and our culture. I don’t think we’ll ever get all guns out if the United States,” he said, adding “99.9 % of gun owners are responsible.”
There are a few, those suffering from mental illness, who should not have access to guns.
Neu would like to repeal the Dickey Amendment that is seen and putting restrictions research into gun injuries by the Center for Disease Control.
Neu also laments “kids being bombarded with violent images.” With families needing to have two parents working to support the family, this makes it worse.
This goes back to the economy and people having to work such long hours to make ends meet. Renegotiating trade deals could help bring better paying jobs back.
Still, Neu said, the recent levying of tariffs will not help the economy. It will hurt farmers in the district as China retaliates and in the long-term, it will hurt consumers.
When it comes to immigration and the DACA program, he states. “We’re a nation built on immigrants.”
The DACA “Dreamers” should not be punished for what their parents have done. “Most have repaid their debt.”
Immigrant and Customs Enforcement agents, he said, have gone too far in trying to apprehend immigrants here without proper documentation.
“Maybe we need to make the process easier and less costly,” Neu said. “These are people trying to get away from repressive countries and governments. I don’t blame them.”
Neu said unlike the incumbent who goes along with everything the Trump Administration proposes, he will take a more bipartisan line. He thinks President Trump is “in over his head,” still Neu would be open to meeting with him, and supporting him if warranted.
- Michael Galbraith
Galbraith takes a different approach. He would like to see Trump gone. He is unfit mentally for office. And if Trump moves to fire Assistant Attorney General Rob Rosenstein or Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller that would pose a Constitutional crisis.
J. Michael Galbraith
Galbraith, of Maumee, worked for 30 years in international finance in Denmark and the United Kingdom. For the past seven years, he’s run a small management company with a small investment fund.
“We have to know what’s going on at all times,” he said. Galbraith said he’d bring that broad reach of knowledge of world issues to Congress.
He also taught finance as a part-time instructor at Bowling Green State University for three years, stepping down to concentrate on his campaign a year ago.
Immigration, he believes, benefits the country. Just look at the key players in Silicon Valley or Wall Street who are immigrants or the children of immigrants. “These are smart people, let’s not turn them away,” he said.
Most people who move here are “looking for a better life.”
“They’d rather not leave their homes, their families, their countries,” he said. “We need to speed up the process.”
Any money spent on a wall is wasted, he said.
Those with DACA status “have every right to be here. This is their home.”
When it comes to school violence and gun regulations, he said, “I wish people would examine more closely the Second Amendment,” especially the part of about the “well-regulated militia.”
“If you want to have a military grade weapon, join the military,” he said. He can’t drive a tank down the road. And to drive a car, “itself a lethal weapon,” he said, “I have to get a license I have to pass an exam.”
While people should have a right to own weapons, they should have to show they are competent in their usage and be licensed.
Still the main issue remains Latta’s unwillingness to meet with constituents.
Because he, unlike his Senate and House colleagues from Ohio, refuses to hold regular town hall meetings, he’s not hearing the concerns of people.
That frustration came through when he was in St. Marys for a Rotary Club event. He said he was surrounded by Republicans pleading that something had to be done about Concentrated Feeding Operations that were contributing to the algae problem.
The algae is so thick on Grand Lake that “you can almost walk on it.”
Latta is also not hearing that people “don’t want to suffer financial distress for medical reasons,” Galbraith said.
He doesn’t hear concerns about the opioid crisis and the people dying from drug abuse.
“This party no longer represents my values,” the Republicans told the Democrat. “It’s no longer the party of family values.”
And with a budget that’s projected to increase the national debt to $1.5 trillion, it’s no longer the party of fiscal responsibility.
Latta, though, doesn’t hear those concerns, Galbraith said. As a Toledo Blade editorial put it, if he’s unwilling to meet face to face with constituents, he should find a new job.
Galbraith wants to be the one who starts Latta on that job search.
