The race for U.S. Congressional seat for the fifth district will be decided next Tuesday.
On the ballot voters will find John Green, Independent; Roger Anderson, Democrat; Paul Gillmor, Republican.
This year for the first time, all of Bowling Green will be in the fifth district. In previous years, the west side of the city including the campus has been in the ninth district.
All of Wood county is in the fifth district. The fifth district encompasses many counties including Van Wert to the south, Fulton to the north, the state line to the east and Huron county to the west.
John Green
The Independent candidate, John Green, wants to pay off the debt. In order to do this the Congress would have to abolish 199 programs and agencies that they fund.
An example of a program Green said should not be funded by the government is NASA. Green believes that this program, which has a yearly budget of $14 billion, should be privately operated.
According to Green, who lives in Napoleon, Ohio, said the job of the Congress is outlined specifically in the Constitution, but that the Congress does more than what they are supposed to do.
“I am afraid if we don’t get back to the constitution the nation will fall apart,” Green said.
Green stands for the four F’s: family, friends, faith and free enterprise.
“There should be a sense of morality in the United States,” Green said.
If Green wins the election he said that the estimated $13,000 he would make each month would be donated to student scholarship funds.
“I don’t want money. I don’t want the power,” Green said. “I just want to give people freedom.”
When talking about the social security tax, Green said that he doesn’t think a student who works 20 hours a week at $5.15 an hour should have to pay the federal government $53 a week.
He said he wants to change the flat 12.4 percent tax to one that gives breaks to students and other people in need.
Green, who was in the Korean War and has run for congressman four times, describes himself as a doer.
“If I am elected, the Congress would take notice,” Green said, “I’d be noisy!”
Roger Anderson
Democrat Roger Anderson has been a professor and chair of the Political Science department here at the University.
Anderson said he wants voters to know that the incumbent does not live in the 5th district.
“I have lived and worked in the fifth district for over 30 years,” Anderson said. “I want to work hard for the district.”
Anderson he wants to get consumer confidence back into the stock market and get the economy going.
“Indicators show the economy getting better, it is just a slow process,” Anderson said. “We will see the economy recover in the next few years.”
Anderson served on the Bowling Green City Council from 1976 to 1980. He said that he has always enjoyed politics and has learned a lot through teaching it.
Campaigning, Anderson said, has been a fun and interesting. “I have enjoyed the people I have met and enjoyed going to festivals,” Anderson said.
According to Anderson he never expected people to thank him for coming to events like festivals and parades, but everyone has been very appreciative and receptive.
Paul Gillmor
The Republican incumbent Paul Gillmor, he is basing his campaign on the experience he has had as a congressman. Gillmor is now serving his seventh term in the United States House of Representatives.
The issues Gillmor is focusing on in this election are economic security, retirement security and national security.
According to Gillmor he wants to change tax policies to retain jobs in communities and help small businesses.
Gillmor said it is important for people to vote.
“It is the citizen’s responsibility to get informed and to vote,” Gillmor said. “If you don’t vote, you don’t have a say in what is going on.”
Gillmor served on the Ohio Senate before being elected to Congress. He was also voted one of the 10 most outstanding legislators in the United States by the National Republican Legislators Association.
