By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
A third Republican candidate has stepped forward to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of State Rep. Tim Brown to become president of the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments.
Haraz Ghanbari, director of military and veterans affairs at University of Toledo, has applied to Ohio Speaker of the House Clifford Rosenberger to fill the vacancy, and then he will seek the nomination from the Wood County Republican Party for the nomination to run in November.
Ghanbari, who enlisted in the Army National Guard at 17, said being in the State House of Representative was “a bigger way to serve.”
Ghanbari has served a total of 15 years in the Army National Guard and the Navy Reserve. He is a lieutenant in the Navy. His service has included deployment to Bosnia in the Army and Afghanistan with the Navy. A public affairs officer, he has also worked for the Associated Press in its Washington Bureau.
The Perrysburg resident joins Theresa Charters Gavarone, a member of Bowling Green City Council, and Edward L. Schimmel, the mayor of Northwood.
According to a press release from Rosenberger, the selection committee will meet next week to discuss who will fill the vacancy until the beginning of the next legislative term.
In an interview late Friday afternoon, Ghanbari said his life has been “dedicated to serving others,”
In that he’s like the people who settled Wood County, he said. These “well-intentioned people” created a society that gave “many people an opportunity to succeed.”
Ghanbari grew up in Ohio and graduated from Bay Village High School in 1999 and Kent State in 2004.
He said there are people every day who take oaths to serve their fellow citizens. That includes not just those in the service but also the person bagging groceries at WalMart or the person who greets others at church. “I have a grateful heart for all those who serve in many capacities,” he said.
As exciting as his work as an AP photojournalist was, taking him to 30 countries and covering two presidents, “when I put my head on the pillow, I knew there was more I could be doing.”
He was aware from personal experience the difficulty service personnel faced when returning from deployment. “What better than to come home to help veterans?”
So he returned to Ohio to take the job at UT.
When serving with others in the military, he said, “it doesn’t matter what their beliefs are or what their gender identity is, we have a common mission. That’s something that’s been instilled in me. … Now this my time to continue my service.”
Support Independent News In Bowling Green
