Dear Friends,

One of my favorite things is greeting school children when they come to visit the Statehouse. I take them into the House Chamber and let them sit in members' seats and let them dream that some day they may be there. I ask them what they think a State Representative does and inevitably they answer "make laws." I tell them that's only part of what I do.

A good part of my time is spent listening - listening to the citizens in my district , listening to the businesses, the villages, the townships, the cities, the schools. Town hall meetings, weekly "coffee hours", attending council, township and school board meetings, attending chamber of commerce events in all the communities in my district, attending events - all of these are opportunities for me to hear what the people of my district are concerned about. That's my job!!!

Legislatively, we passed a balanced budget without raising taxes and while we are all still hurting because of the recession, our children's education has been protected.  We also streamlined the waiver process for those school districts that don't think they'll be ready for all day kindergarten until 2012.

My bill that requires new construction using state dollars be built to "green" environmental and energy standards passed the House and has had its second hearing in the Senate. This is a bill that will help create jobs and make Ohio a leader in the new "green" economy.
 

I continue to meet regularly with Superintendents of all the school districts in the 19th House District and the exchange of ideas and information has helped me make informed decisions and hopefully has helped the school districts stay informed about what's happening in the Statehouse

I am proud of the domestic violence bill I have introduced with Rep. Peggy Lehner, R, Kettering. We have been meeting with interested parties and working hard to craft a bill that will help victims. I worked closely with the Consumers Counsel and constituents to publicize the outrageous rates asked for by Ohio American Water. We were successful in achieving a PUCO decision that considerably reduced the requested rate increase and my bill limiting the amount of expenses that can be passed through to consumers has had several hearings.

My door is always open to all my constituents. I want to be back next term to continue the work I've started. I need your help - feel free to contact me -- and if you want to help on my campaign hit the volunteer button on my website. I need people to host neighborhood House Parties so I can get to know the neighbors! I need people to knock on doors, make phone calls  and help however they can -- lots of things to do to keep me where I am -- representing the families in the 19th House District.

So I look forward to your support and your ideas, to meeting you at a coffee or town hall meeting and to working with you to make life better for all of us.

Marian