Tallmadgeexpress.com - Dyer, Jones vie for state seat

by Amanda Harnocz

Reporter

Nov. 4 will be a deciding day for many people and positions, including the position of state representative in District 43.

Incumbent State Rep. Stephen Dyer (D-Green) is running for re-election this year against Judy Jones (R-New Franklin).

Dyer, of Uniontown, won the seat in 2006 for the first time.

"It's been great serving the last two years," Dyer said. "I've been very involved and interested in this district which has people interested in what's going on in Columbus. It's great to represent the people who care."

Jones said she is "excited for November" and feels prepared for Election Day.

"It's one of those years where people realize we need change ... they need to look within their hearts and decide what is best for their community and state," she said.

In the past two years, Dyer has worked on various Summit County-specific pieces of legislation, including a law to give free license plates to Purple Heart recipients, Dyer said.

"A second law came out of the elections from last time," he said, saying he changed the procedure for accepting and counting absentee ballots.

Dyer explained because there were about 200 absentee ballots that weren't counted in this area because they were received after the Election Day, he said he wanted to make every vote count.

Dyer's newest law allows every absentee ballot, post-marked before Nov. 4, to count in the election.

Jones is currently sitting as an at-large member of New Franklin City Council. Previously, when New Franklin was a village, she was on that council for one year.

Jones also currently owns and operates a beauty and tanning salon for the past 24 years and has managed a few of her husband's privately owned companies.

She was an appointed member of the New Franklin Board of Zoning Appeals in New Franklin for 13 years and she was a candidate for Ohio Senate, District 28, in 2000.

Plans if elected

If he is re-elected, Dyer said he wants to keep working on fixing state school funding, which he added was the reason he ran in 2006.

"I'm working on a plan that would get rid of a property tax levy problem we're having," Dyer said. "We need a new school funding formula."

Dyer plans to prepare for Nov. 4 by going door to door. "I'm ready for this -- I feel pretty good where things are now."

Jones said her campaign is focusing on "personal discipline," specifically in areas of education.

"No Child Left Behind needs to be formulated in a different way. We are teaching our students to just pass the test," Jones said, adding education needs to go back to focusing on an individual student and teacher, and what their progress is.

Also in education, if elected, Jones said she plans on working on changing the way schools are funded by the state.

Specifically, she said she would work on changing the rules from the Ohio Lottery, to give schools a better percentage of the gross income.

"Unfortunately [lottery money] only pays for 10 school days, for each school, in a year," she said. "Our schools are in a lot of trouble with a levy crunch and economic crunch -- it's difficult to come up with that extra money."

District 43 includes parts of Tallmadge, Mogadore and Brimfield as well as other Summit and Portage County cities and townships.

E-mail: aharnocz@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3911