by Susan Efroymson
(More expanded version to follow.)
No matter who you choose to vote for, candidates seeking our votes take note of our needs when we vote. One can vote by mail, at the Board of Elections, or at their polling location on Tuesday, November 6. Please consider the following:
(For any ballot items that are not listed here, there is no recommendation.)
Governor: Mike DeWine and Jon Husted (R)
State Attorney General: Steve Dettelbach (D)
State Auditor: Keith Faber (R)
Secretary of State of OH: Frank LaRose(R)
State Treasurer: Robert Sprague (R)
U.S. Senator: Jim Renacci (R) or Sherrod Brown(D)
Representative to U.S. Congress, District 11: Marcia Fudge (D)
State Senator District 21: Sandra Williams (D)
State Representative District 9: Janine Boyd (D)
Cuyahoga County Executive: Armond Budish (D)
Member of County Council District 10: Cheryl Stephens (D)
Ohio Supreme Court: Craig Baldwin (R), Mary DeGenaro (R)
Court of Appeals: Michelle Sheehan
Cuyahoga County Judges: Joseph Russo, Ashley Kilbane, William McGinty, John O’Donnell, Kathleen Sutula, John Sutula, Emily Hagan, Deborah Turner
State Issue 1 – Allows drug users out of prison by reclassifying drug possession as a misdemeanor. Vote No
Cuyahoga County Issue 10 – Disallows the county to discriminate regarding employment based on gender identity. Vote No
Cuyahoga County Issue 11- Allows the auditing office to bill the departments it audits. This is merely an interdepartmental issue and should be supported. Vote Yes.
Cuyahoga County Issue 12: Established the already in place office of Inspector General and gives it the power to subpoena in an investigation. Vote: no recommendation
Nosson Goldfarb says
I respectfully disagree with the recommendation to vote No on Issue 1. As a physician taking care of drug addicts, I am very familiar with the challenges of drug use and how the legal ramifications affect my patients. Drug users do not belong in jail, they belong in recovery programs. These are not violent criminals. They are people who have challenges with abuse of drugs or addiction. Once they have a felony on their record they have difficulty finding jobs to support themselves and their families. Also, it’s very expensive to incarcerate people. This amendment will actually save tax payer dollars and help fund more treatment for those suffering from this terrible epidemic.
Leah says
As a nurse practitioner, I agree
P. Mulivor says
Vote NO on Proposition 1. Insurance companies have already declared their intention raise auto insurance rates for Ohioans if Prop 1 passes, due to the massive number of drug users that will be on the roads rather than in prison. Accidents, crime, overdoses, domestic abuse, criminals in schools, and gun violence will all increase if Prop 1 passes. VOTE NO on Prop 1.
Eliot Gutow says
March 2015 Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of congress to address the threat Iran posed to the existence of Israel.
Shamefully, 50 members of congress boycotted the speech..
Among them: Marcia Fudge.
We should vote for her?
Seriously?
Surely we can do better than this.
Avrohom Henfield says
As Clinical Supervisor of a Medication Assisted Treatment program, I agree. Treat addiction as a disease, not a crime. These are non-violent offenders who need treatment, not punishment. Vote YES on Issue 1.
Chavi Singer says
I agree with the health professionals, that drug addiction is better treated than jailed. However, Issue 1 isn’t a well written law, because it doesn’t provide for the treatment of addicts. The tax dollars saved from non-incarceration are not earmarked for addicts. It’s just a hope that because we’re saving on jailing them, we’ll allocate money to treat them. For any of you old enough to remember, think about when they closed mental institutions, claiming many people would do better with group homes and other solutions. Did that happen? No. Because the vote to close the institutions didn’t also provide money earmarked for solutions.
I believe that the law should be changed, and that addicts are not criminals. But lets get a better law to do it.
For more in depth info: https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/09/no_on_issue_1_on_drug_crimes_e.html