I attended the “Meet the candidates” session held by the Greene County Democratic Party. last Sunday, January 22, 2012, where all 6 candidates for OH-10 were there and spoke.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have my small camera and Tripod- and shot these with my iPhone handheld- took longer to title them and get them online.
Each candidate was given 5 minutes to speak and allowed to answer 2 audience questions.
First up was Tom McMasters– who can’t make up his mind if he’s a D or an R. He stumbled in the questions at the end on questions about education.

Olivia Freeman has gusto. She’s run before in the OH-7. She wants to be your “junkyard dog” going after Mike Turner. She’s also convinced that Montgomery County is full of African Americans who will vote for her just because of her race. I guess she didn’t realize that Gary Leitzell beat Rhine McLin in the last Dayton Mayoral election and Montgomery County isn’t a solid guaranteed D race anymore.. She also got caught in questions after her performance.

Mack Van Allen is a retired Centervill High School Government Teacher. All his campaign card lists is a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/vanallenforcongress

I like Mack, but, then again, I like teachers, it’s one of the last honorable professions left. I met his wife after, and she said that she had been having a conversation with her husband  after another event- and said to him that she had almost forgotten how much passion he had. He’d told her- “wait till you hear Esrati.”

Ryan Steele almost didn’t make it on the ballot the second time around. That would have been too bad. His answer to the question about his age at the end was thoughtful and telling. If he doesn’t make it this time, I hope he’ll keep trying. There is nothing wrong with being underemployed in this country right now- a lot of people are. He brings an honest perspective to the race. I’m pretty sure he isn’t ready to take on Turner- but his heart is in the right place. I can’t find a website for him.

I don’t wear a suit unless I’m going to a funeral, a wedding or working for you as your Congressman (well, unless I absolutely have to). That’s how I opened my talk. One of McMasters’ kids came up to me and said “I like how you don’t wear a suit” and won my heart over. Suits are highly over-rated, especially when you are driving out 35 on an icy day.

You are on my site- with all my issues clearly posted. Try finding anything like it on anyone else’s site- including the incumbents lame blog: www.miketurner.com/blog/

Last up is the candidate with the deep pockets, Sharen Neuhardt tells us she already hired a campaign manager. That’s nice, she didn’t have anything to handout, Her site is one page without positions, and when asked if she supported single payer health care- her terse answer was “I support what was passed.” She spent a ton of money including $78K of her own money losing to Steve Austria when there was no incumbent, and even Austria dropped out of this race. Considering Turner already has half a million in the bank, I hope her pockets are even deeper this time.

So, if you have an hour to watch all 6 video’s you can make up your own mind on who to support. Next time, I’ll have better video and have it posted quicker.

The Montgomery County Democratic party doesn’t host events like this, and I’ve not heard from the League of Women Voters yet- but the Beavercreek Chamber has an event on Feb 14th from 5:30 to around 7pm scheduled at Main Elementary, 2942 Dayton Xenia Rd in the auditorium.

Early voting begins Jan 31.