Lucas County Commissioner Debate - closing statements...

Okay in opposite order, the closing statements transcribed as best I could from my tape recording. Both George and Ben had three minutes to make a closing statement.


George Sarantou closing statement:

I want to thank the League of Women Voters for this great opportunity to be here tonight, as the son of Greek immigrants I value this kind of discussion. I'm running for County Commmissioner because I think it's time we had a balance on County government, my twenty four years of business, financial professional experience is very very important. We are talking about a 138 million dollar general fund budget and the fact is I've worked with a one and a half billion dollars worth of budgets all of which have balanced and we've maintained our bond rating and Mr. Konop, the city is in great shape financially, we're running at 4 percent ahead of last year in revenue collection and last month's activity was 3/8% so I'm not ready to sound the alarm that we're at a panic stage. I'm also committed to economic development in this community and I have experience in doing that, the GM Powertrain project, Dana Tech project, G2 and the US Coking are just a few. I've also worked with numerous new businesses and small businesses out there to get them to relocate into our region. The other hot issue in my opinion is our cost of utilities, residential utility rates are nine percent higher than the average for the State of Ohio in Lucas County. Our Commercial rates are digustingly high 33.9% higher than the state average. I as a councilman have taken on this issue along with Democrats on City Council like Ellen Grachek and I am committed to continue in this battle. Just last week Mayor Finkbeiner and I and other Democrats and Republicans had a press conference where we called on both Gubernatorial candidates to tell us what they are going to do to lower the high cost of utilities in Lucas County. Ladies and Gentlemen, that's leadership, that's the difference between myself and my opponent, I've done it and he hasn't. I have not only talked the talk but I've walked the walk and I have a track record as a life long Toledoan, as a husband, as a father of three children, I'm committed to this community. I'm not going to move to another area to run for the Congress, I've chosen to live here in this community, I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve 300,000 residents of Toledo and if you think I've done a good job, if you think I've worked well to bring change to this community, if you think that our best days are still ahead of us, then I ask you to give me the opportunity to serve 450,000 people in Lucas County, to bring more jobs to this community, to lower our high utility rates, to make sure that our children and grandchildren have a future in this great community. I believe our best days are ahead of us and I'm committed to making postive changes in this community. Thank you.

Ben Konop closing statement:

Well, you know this area of town is especially important to me, my grandfather and grandmother immigrated to this country with little more than the shirts on their back. My grandfather's first job was selling flyswatters door to door and then worked at the Willy's Overland Plant and saved up enough money to open a small business and eventually was able to buy a house and their second house I believe was on Goddard Road right down the street from here. My mother is here today and she grew up on Goddard and was blessed to be able to live the American Dream and the American Dream was bestowed upon our family because of the warm generousity and economic opportunity that Lucas County offered and if you think things are going well and you think that our government is performing it's job to the best of it's ability and you think job creation is where we need it, then I'm probably not your candidate frankly; but if you we can do better, if you think we need new ideas and fresh vision then there is a contrast that has been pretty well illuminated today here in this debate. My opponent talks alot about his experience as Finance Committee Chair and all of the things he's done on City Council so apparently things are going pretty well in Lucas County so then why is everyone leaving? Why is economic opportunity not to be found? Why are ethics in government so questionable at best here in our community? I propose to you today Ladies and Gentlemen that there needs to be a change, the politics of the past have not got the job done. We are in very challenging times economically, very challenging, probably the most challenging our community has ever faced frankly and if we think the politics of the past are going to help us weather this storm I think that's a mistake, as I go door to door getting the chance to talk to citizens face to face I realize that the time is right for change and I'm excited to be the agent of change frankly, I'm excited to make sure that the future citizens of Lucas County have the opportunity to live the American dream like my grandparents have. I'm not a career politician, I'm not a politician, I don't give politician answers, I'll say straight up are we going to cut seven percent, are we going to cut (couldn't get) and I still haven't heard that answer and that is why so many people are turned off by the political process, it's time for a change, it's time for straight talk, it's time for new ideas and I ask for your vote on November 7th, thank you very much.