Judge, Ohio Court of Appeals 11th District (1997-2007)
Bill's reasons for seeking office:
I’m running for Congress because Washington needs new vision and new voices to bring common sense back to the table. On every crucial issue of the day – from health care to gas prices and our energy policy to the housing market to the war in Iraq – we are in crisis mode. On each of these crises, my opponent has done little to nothing to prevent or correct them. And in some cases his votes have even made the situation worse. It’s time we had a leader in Congress whose only special interests are the working families of Northeast Ohio.
Bill's qualifications:
What I bring to the table is the judgment of a soldier who earned the Bronze Star in Vietnam and whose son served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I bring a record as a judge that has been hailed for its fairness and for having the leadership to keep the special interests at bay. And I bring my experience as an on-call pediatric emergency room nurse, which gives me the tools needed to help navigate through the struggles of health care reform, toward a system that gives affordable coverage to everyone.
Where Bill stands on the issues:
Our economy is in crisis. Gas prices and a failed energy policy are taking their toll on families just trying to get to and from work without leaving half their paychecks at the pump. It’s hard to venture into a neighborhood in any community without seeing the impact of the foreclosure crisis. And Washington is intent on pursuing reckless trade agreements that have helped ship hundreds of thousands of jobs from our state.
We need to change the way Washington does business. That means standing up to the special interests and fighting for the people of Northeast Ohio. It means standing up against the job-killing trade agreements that have shipped Ohio jobs overseas. It means standing up to Wall Street and standing up for Main Street and the families trying to protect their homes and life savings. It means standing up to Big Oil and saying, “No more taxpayer subsidies while you’re making record profits.” And it means fighting to expand affordable health care to all, revising the employer-based model so we can give our small businesses and manufacturers every tool they need to compete in the global economy.
Bill's priorities if elected:
My top priority is to change the culture of Washington. Take one look at the financial crisis we're facing today and you'll see the devastating influence of Washington special interests. It's hard to stand up to those interests when they are bankrolling your campaigns.
That's why I have refused to take campaign contributions from the big oil companies and big banks that have had a stranglehold on our leadership for decades. Their influence is why we haven't seen the leadership in Washington we need to invest in renewable energy sources. Their influence is why Congress voted to deregulate the banking industry in the late 1990s leading to the foreclosure crisis that is crippling our region's economy. It's time we had a member of Congress who stood up to those interests. And that's what I plan to do.
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