David Esrati
Esrati, 49, lives in Dayton and owns the advertising agency The Next Wave. He helped lead revitalization of the historic South Park area, where he lives. He has run for Dayton City Commission multiple times, and ran in the 2008 and 2010 Democratic primaries for Congress.
For years, Esrati has called for a new campaign finance system, referring to two-year Congressional terms as one year of campaigning and one year of paying back campaign donors. He favors publicly funded campaigns in which voters could have equal information from candidates.
He suggested three main reasons for America’s financial struggles — military spending on unnecessary weapons, wars and overseas bases; financial industry deregulation that led to a “casino” setup on Wall Street; and higher health care spending than any nation in the world.
Esrati focused more on corporate issues than most candidates, pushing for an end to “corporate welfare” and suggesting that CEO pay be capped at 35 times average worker pay for government contractors. He called for stronger penalties against corporate criminals, saying possession of $100,000 in crack cocaine will earn a life sentence, while corporate misdeeds that cost many times that in cash, jobs and pensions receive little punishment.
He called for pulling troops out of Afghanistan, focusing the military more on special forces roles, the need for a public option plan in health care reform, simpler rules and regulations for small business, and some tougher rules for those on public assistance. He said if elected, he hopes to post to the Internet a daily report of what happened in Washington.
Asked about his public disagreements with some local officials — he won repeated legal appeals after a spat with then-mayor Mike Turner got him arrested in 1996 — Esrati said he works well with people who want to be worked with.
“I’ve had a business for 22 years,” Esrati said. “I hate to tell you, but if you can’t work with people, you wouldn’t have a business for 22 years.”
Olivia Freeman
Freeman, 56, lives in Fairborn and works as a consultant to small business. She said she has worked in software sales, as a corporate recruiter and as a substitute teacher. She ran unsuccessfully in the 2010 Congressional primary for the 7th district.
Freeman spoke repeatedly about the need to revitalize American manufacturing, describing it as an answer to job woes as well as deficit problems, and saying “anyone who can start a manufacturing business needs to start it today.”
She said the lack of credit available to small businesses is a hurdle to accomplishing this goal and called on credit unions and the U.S. Commerce Department to make more loans available. She said if the government can find money for corporate bailouts, it “bloody well better find money for this.”
Freeman also called for the use of “simulation technology” in education to better prepare students in science curriculums. She is in favor of getting American troops out of Afghanistan, and said she does not believe in cutting entitlement programs, saying once the Baby Boomer wave is past, the programs will be sound again. She said her business experience has prepared her for a bipartisan approach.
“When I am working with companies, I’ve got to work on both sides of the fence, making sure both the city and the contractor are getting their needs met,” Freeman said. “And I am a tough negotiator.”
Thomas McMasters
McMasters, 49, lives in Huber Heights, and is a retired Air Force officer working as a support contractor at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He has run for Huber Heights City Council and challenged John Boehner in a 2010 Republican Congressional primary. He said he considers himself an independent who could fit as either a Republican or Democrat.
McMasters is soft-spoken and shies away from simple answers to policy questions, saying on his web site that his “strengths are the willingness to do a lot of technical work, the ability to comprehend the details and sensibility to promote credible solutions.”
He said he sees the federal debt and deficit as a major hindrance to the economy and called for deeper analysis of fiscal decisions. He said policymakers pushing to raise interest rates need to weigh whether raising taxes would have the same effect. He said lawmakers now calling for trillions in deficit reduction should realize that the Bush tax cuts were the equivalent of a $4 trillion expenditure.
Asked about abortion and gay marriage positions, McMasters said, “If you’re hard on one side, you’re probably not going to vote for me.” He leaned toward “civil unions” for gay couples, and said from a religious standpoint, abortion makes him “nauseous” but he wouldn’t support legislation against it.
McMasters said it makes sense that the defense budget decrease as wars come to a close and needed efficiencies are found. His key to building a better political system is to “get the middle of the country voting” and better informed.
Sharen Neuhardt
Neuhardt, 60, lives on a farm near Yellow Springs and practices business law for the firm Thompson Hine. She won the 2008 Democratic primary for the 7th U.S. House District, but lost the general election race to Steve Austria. She has been endorsed this year by the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
Neuhardt said one way the government can help the economy is by avoiding the near-shutdowns of the past two years over the debt ceiling and tax decisions. She said government contractors have had to start and stop work because of political gamesmanship, and all businesses struggle to prepare for last-minute changes in tax withholding rates because of temporary fixes rather than long-term solutions.
She said her career as a business lawyer would help her create compromise in Washington, as she has brokered deals between companies where “neither side gets 100 percent of what they want.”
Neuhardt said America needs more tax revenue, and it needs to come from the wealthy. She would support an increased rate on the top tax bracket, saying most in that bracket don’t object to paying more, but object to “the government wasting their money.” She said America’s tax code needs to be simplified.
Neuhardt said giving the president a line-item veto on budget items would be a good way to reduce our debt, because giant spending bills come before Congress, containing a multitude of provisions that wouldn’t pass if considered on their own. She said efforts to improve the local economy need to be broad based.
“We have to ...make sure the Air Force base is strong and flourishing,” Neuhardt said. “But not everybody can work at the base. We have to do a good job of reaching out to businesses that are already located in the Miami Valley and asking them to invest more here. What will it take for you to put that next factory here instead of Indiana?”
Ryan Steele
Steele, 28, lives in Beavercreek and works as a pizza delivery driver. He has said at campaign events that he recently earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts at Wright State. He clarified Friday that his course work in religious studies and philosophy is finished, but he will not receive the degree until outstanding fees are paid.
Steele is new to politics and claims that as a strength, arguing that Americans have sent lawyers and CEOs to Congress and gotten little in return. “They’re not 28, a pizza delivery guy and a philosopher ... that’s a combination we haven’t tried yet.”
Steele said it’s more the market’s job to take care of the economy, with the government there to referee and regulate. He said situations like the recent recession are the points where government can step in with public works projects to get people back to work. He suggested entitlement programs should not be dismantled, but also should do a better job of eliminating abuse.
He said as a former Libertarian, he has “an insane hatred of the income tax” and is tired of politicians arguing over who raised or lowered taxes on which group. He said the FairTax, or a similar form of governmental sales tax, is the best idea he’s heard so far, as long as it doesn’t disproportionately affect lower-income people.
Steele prides himself on being able to see both side of an argument, so he said he should be able to work in a bipartisan way.
Mack VanAllen
Van Allen, 67, lives in Centerville and is a retired high school government teacher. He said he has worked on local political campaigns, but this is his first run for office.
Van Allen says his primary concern is the handling of the federal deficit and debt problems. He cited an early November letter sent by 100 Congressmen, urging the debt supercommittee to pursue an aggressive $4 trillion debt reduction, rather than $1.2 trillion. “If Mike Turner had been one of those 100, I wouldn’t be in this race,” he said.
Van Allen said gradual, long-term fixes can be made to programs like Social Security and Medicare that would prevent the United States from having a Greece-like collapse in 10 or 15 years.
“It’s all about choices,” he said. “We have to have a sound fiscal policy in order to do the kids of things we would like to do socially.”
Van Allen’s entitlement suggestions wouldn’t be draconian, as he said a society is judged by how it cares for those least capable. He agrees with Neuhardt that long-term fiscal planning, rather than repeated six-month stopgap measures, would inject certainty into the economy, encouraging businesses to invest again.
He says he’s against earmarks, is against the payroll tax cut because it undermines social security funding, and is not a military isolationist, believing quick responses to some international conflicts are appropriate. He said he knows the inertia of government, and that as a freshman legislator, he wouldn’t change the world.
“I’m old-school ... you elect a representative because you expect them to provide some leadership,” Van Allen said. “So it’s your job to make some judgments, and if that judgment runs counter to your district, but it’s clearly best for the nation, you’ve got to cast that tough vote. And if the voters want to throw you out, that’s their prerogative.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2278 or jkelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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