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Two seek Democratic vote for U.S. Representative

Shawna Roberts

LISBON — Two Democrats are seeking their party’s nomination to run for the Congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican.

Shawna Roberts of Belmont and Werner Lange of Newton Falls will be on the May 8 primary election ballot. Both believe Johnson is no longer the right choice for residents in the rural 6th Congressional District.

Roberts said Johnson has ignored the people here for the past eight years. Instead she said he votes with the Republican party without taking into account whether it is good or bad for the 700,000 residents in this part of Ohio. Additionally, she said Johnson is not available when people in the district try to contact or meet with him.

“He really doesn’t care,” Roberts said, adding the district is set up to help Republicans. “He feels confidence he doesn’t have to be responsive…The lack of responsiveness is egregious.”

Lange agrees we are in “crisis,” but he believes the primary reason is the Trump regime. Lange said he believes people need to do everything they can to get things back on the right path for residents of the district.

Lange also said Johnson “has disgraced the halls of congress” and called him one of the worst representatives ever.

“(Johnson’s) a puppet of the 1 percent super rich and a puppet of the fracking industry,” said Lange, who states he joins fellow Democrat Dennis Kucinich’s call for a moratorium on fracking in the state of Ohio.

Roberts is a proponent of geothermal energy, which she said can heat buildings to 55 degrees efficiently, and wants to see grants to help defray installation costs. She said geothermal energy is an innovative alternative for the area’s energy needs, including for schools and city offices.

While Roberts does not see a reason to get rid of coal, oil and gas, she has concerns about the “boom or bust economy” associated with the oil and gas industry. She suggests people need to see them as part of the economy, but not as the foundation.

Lange said he sees oil and gas as the past, not the future for this country.

“The technology is there for 100 percent renewable energy,” Lange said. “We just don’t have the political will to do it. I do.”

Lange, the father of five adult children and grandfather of six with more grandchildren on the way, said he is running for his grandchildren. He believes the country needs to invest in families and children, “the future of our country.”

Additionally, he supports fully paid maternity, paternity and family leave.

Roberts said while Johnson has been in office there is a higher poverty rate in most of the counties in the district and the state ranking for education in Ohio has dropped.

She is the mother of five children, who have been raised in the 6th District. She and her husband have had a business and they know the people here.

“The people here are so kind and so generous,” she said. “They deserve someone who is going to look at what they need.”

While sending the money here for infrastructure improvements can help employ people for 10 years, Roberts said a diverse economy helps to make certain people can get the jobs they want. Labor unions need to be supported to make certain people receive fair wages, she said.

“If you can’t afford to live on what you make, then someone somewhere is going to have to make up the slack,” she added.

Roberts said one of the reasons she decided to run for political office was concerns about the possibilities of Medicare and Medicaid reductions. She said about 38 percent of the residents in the district use Medicare and 23 percent are on Medicaid. She believes affordable, quality healthcare is important for everyone and the CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) is something families depend on.

“The Affordable Care Act was flawed,” Roberts said. “It didn’t manage to make healthcare affordable to everybody. We need to repair it.”

She also does not believe relying on private healthcare works, because by definition a private company is trying to make more money than what people are spending on healthcare in order to make a profit. However, she also does not think a single-payer system is the answer either.

Lange said he believes it is time the United States joins the rest of the world and provide everyone with universal health care. He believes health care is a right and not a privilege.

Lange also feels it is time for the country to invest in education, and said it was ignorance that led to the Trump Presidency. Instead, Lange suggests some college should be free to everyone because he said a college education is today what a high school education used to be. He suggests public education include pre-kindergarten through grade 14.

When asked how he proposes to pay for the additional education for all students, Lange notes college is free in many European countries and he believes a country as rich as America can afford it. Additionally, Lange, who has spent 40 years working at various colleges as a professor, said the amount of student debt those currently graduating are leaving school with is “criminal.” He believes it undermines the graduate’s ability to buy a home, start a family and live without the stress and burden of debt.

He also said that many universities have become more businesses than places of higher learning and a focus needs to be placed on providing quality education.

Roberts believes that one of the thing that would help improve education, business, and the quality of life for everyone in the 6th District is more widespread broadband internet.

She said that while 70 percent of people do have internet access, rural areas still struggle.

For example, she said there is no broadband in Monroe County, and in Gallia County only 13 percent of residents have access.

Cost of internet is also an issue. She said she spoke to a woman at a trucking company who spends $700 per month for the internet the company needs.

“Everybody deserves to have broadband,” Roberts said. “It’s a key component of being successful here.”

Other needs Roberts sees for the communities of the 6th District are infrastructure improvements such as roads and bridges and public transportation. She noted there are people in Noble County currently hauling water because the county water has not been hooked up yet. In Gallia County she said there are residents being charged $50 for sewer systems, which also have not been hooked up.

Roberts also said she wants to take on the opioid crisis. She said shutting down “pill mills” was positive, but it also led to people turning to fentanyl and heroin. She said she recently helped at a community clean up event where they were told if you see needles, powder or anything else suspicious, place a marker there and leave if for the experts to clean up. Roberts said the opioid crisis is also affecting Children Services, which in some counties are already running out of money in their budgets in April.

She is in favor of the community alternative sentencing center, which is a jail-type facility that also provides treatment. She said the stigma for people having problems with drugs should be lifted. While it is bad, people should know where to go for help.

Overall, Roberts said she believes in this beautiful area and believes the people here can do some amazing things, adding, “It’s time we have someone who doesn’t ignore us.”

Lange likens himself to Bernie Sanders, noting, “If you liked Bernie Sanders, you’re going to love Werner Lange.”

He calls himself a “Berniecrat” and said that is what is needed to take on the “right-wing militarist.” He questions the endorsement of Roberts by the local Democrats in Columbiana County, saying that an endorsement for Roberts is an endorsement for Johnson to get a fifth term.

“I’ve got a feeling the voters are smarter than that,” Lange said.

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