The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and asked of all candidates for this office.

See below for questions on UN Dues, Health Care, Campaign Finance Reform, Education

Click on a name for other candidate information.

Answer from Theodore S. Celeste:

As a Signatory to the UN charter, United States has a binding legal responsibility to pay its full dues or risk losing its voting rights in the UN General Assembly. The United States, as the wealthiest nation and the sole superpower, must support international institutions that advocates social progress, higher standard of living for families and education for children; promotes cooperative relations among nations, carries out peacekeeping and humanitarian operations and protects the environment. Only after paying our dues, can the US regain its leadership role, credibility and leverage to demand reforms that will result in a more efficient organization.

Answer from Patrick Allen Flower:

No response

Answer from John A. Eastman:

No response

Answer from Mike DeWine:

I support paying our fair share of United Nations dues, and also support funding to pay our outstanding arrears with the U.N. I voted for legislation that included a bipartisan agreement to provide $351 million for U.N. arrears.

Answer from Michael Joseph Fitzsimmons:

no response - candidate not asked

Answer from John R. McAlister:

no response

Answer from John R. McAlister:

At the very least all health care expenses that individuals have should be offset by a federal income tax credit.

The ideal solution would be for the government to get completely out of the health care business which would allow insurance companies to design and sell policies based on people's wants, needs and budgets--just as they do for auto, homeowners, life and disability policies.

Answer from John A. Eastman:

I will work to transform our current "disease care system" into a true "health care system." I will start with making it legal for federal health programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA to cover common sense, scientifically proven, cost-effective, prevention-oriented health care practices that are now illegal to cover. Then health care coverage must be extended to include all Americans which will be fiscally responsible when the focus is turned to providing health rather than solely treating disease. Federal research on prevention must be increased. Now such research is about 1% contrasted with 70% of disease being preventable.

Answer from Patrick Allen Flower:

The creation of a collaborative public forum will provide for citizens the time and the tools to study the health care industry. I am confident that consensus will be reached regarding the fiscal soundness of this industry. Where industry practice and principle has suffered over the years, for a variety of reasons, companies have been forced to operate under pure economic model restrictions. With prudent policy in place, enforced by a mobilized, informed, and insistent public, the health care industry will find it affordable to operate using socioeconomic principles where their first and bottom line is to monitor and maintain their clients health.

Answer from Theodore S. Celeste:

I will fight to provide access to affordable and quality care; protect the rights of patients to choose their own doctor; require medical decisions be made by doctors, not insurance companies; hold HMOs responsible for their actions. I will stand up for seniors by assuring they have the information and support they need to make good choices. I will fight for prescription drug coverage for Medicare. I will fight to make sure all families eligible for the Children's Health Insurance Program are able to participate. I believe that reproductive choices should remain with a woman, her physician and family.

Answer from Mike DeWine:

I believe the following components need to be a part of health care reform: · Guaranteed emergency room care · Direct access to an OB-GYN or pediatrician · Ensure pregnant mothers have continuity of care · The ability to see the doctor of your choice · Higher investments in medical research, which will improve the quality of care · Prescription drug coverage to seniors that can't afford it · Measures to make health insurance more affordable and accessible · A timely and inexpensive appeals process for all patients to contest a denial of coverage.

Answer from Michael Joseph Fitzsimmons:

We demand free health care for all, cradle to grave. The criminal profiteering of the health insurance and pharmecutical monopolies is one of the greatest illustrations of how the market relations of capitalism are in direct contradiction to the needs of humanity. This cannot be reformed. Only in a socialist society like Cuba, in which the workers and farmers themselves hold state power, will health care be treated as a human right and not a business. We also advocate free and legal abortion on demand.

Answer from Mike DeWine:

I co-wrote a bipartisan campaign reform bill that would: increase disclosure requirements. The support of individuals and organizations for candidates should be public. Expand broadcast ad reporting requirements. Interest groups that place political ads should meet the same reporting requirements for candidates that buy political ads. Cap soft money contributions at $60,000. Most experts believe a soft money ban is unconstitutional. I support a middle ground, rather than leave it unrestricted. Adjust individual limits for inflation. If we cap soft money and do not adjust hard-money limits, more money will go to third-party ads, away from public view.

Answer from John A. Eastman:

We must completely and totally end the corrupting influence of special interest money in politics. When our representatives are freed from that corrupting influence, solutions for the common good will naturally emerge because the attention of Congress will be on what works for us, the people, not on what will satisfy corporate special interests. I will work to completely eliminate special interest money, both PAC money and "soft money" from political campaigns. Campaigns should be financed solely by a combination of contributions from individuals, with appropriate caps, and public funding that is equitable for all candidates of all parties.

Answer from John R. McAlister:

"The problem with elections is not that there is too much money involved, but rather that choices are restricted by government policies crafted by incumbents who want to be protected from competition." We need free and open competition in the marketplace of ideas.

Limiting campaign finance by the government itself is not constitutional. Elections are markets for ideas that ought to be free from federal interference and government restrictions. Our founding fathers gave no power over political campaigns to any federal bureaucracy.

Answer from Michael Joseph Fitzsimmons:

The influence of industrial and agricultural monopolies on bipartisan politics is endemic to capitalism. No measure of reforms will change this. Working people should break with the parties of big business- which only serve the wealthy-and chart a course towards independent working-class political action. Real social change will only occur through massive united struggles of working people to defend our unions, family farms, and democratic rights. Our campaign champions the fight for a workers and farmers government, in which those who produce the wealth will run society in our own interests, putting humanity and solidarity ahead of profits.

Answer from Patrick Allen Flower:

Campaign finance is a confusing topic for most Americans, which turns into a fear of " Being Excluded." A specific measure I will support for campaign finance is the creation of a nationwide, non-partisan public forum. "ALL CITIZENS" will join broadbased participation using a democratic process to generate essential dialog and critical collaboration. Diverse interests will find common ground as consensus on accountability, disclosure, and monitoring are attained. Democracy is a never-ending process. Immediate reform for the sake of reform may prove to be clumsy. I believe reform should be approached cautiously with our future in mind.

Answer from Theodore S. Celeste:

I advocate Common Sense reform of the Campaign Finance system. Candidates solicit millions of dollars from big corporate and special interest groups and then vote their way in Congress. The answer is to dismantle this money mill by passing the McCain-Feingold bill and building a system in which everyone has an equal voice. Ohio's U.S. Senators should make Common Sense decisions to meet the needs of real people, not special interest groups and lobbyists. I am advocating for such a system right now in the way I am raising funds to finance my campaign.

Answer from John R. McAlister:

There is no place in the U.S. Constitution that even hints at a federal role for education of children. The responsibility for education of children should rest solely with parents and the state.

I don't think education should be politicalized, bureaucratized or unionized. I think parents know what's best for their children. I don't htink politicians and bureaucrats running government schools will ever know more about what's best for aparent's child than the parent. Parents determine what's needed for their children to become productive adults.

Answer from Patrick Allen Flower:

When citizens are provided the time and tools necessary to study scholastic circumstances in society, concensus will likely be that we are already in very good shape. What we are missing are goals. Goals established by the people through collabroation. Lofty and noble goals that are challanging to achieve. I believe the federal government will learn to aid and assit a public policy concensus that will undoubtably be: "Any education less than a full college degree is incomplete and, therefore, unacceptable".

Answer from John A. Eastman:

FEDERAL ROLE IN EDUCATION

We must ensure that teaching is an honorable and prestigious profession with commensurate compensation. I would eliminate the B2 Bomber program, that the pentagon doesn't even want, to immediately give a $10,000 raise to every teacher in the country through block grants to the states. Then streamline the Department of Education to research, showcase and disseminate what works in education so teachers and local schools can select what fits their schools and children. In education "One size fits no one!" Education must be about empowering children's inherent interest in learning, not forcing an outcome or "teaching to the tests."

Answer from Michael Joseph Fitzsimmons:

While we oppose all attacks on public education, schools under capitalism are not institutions of learning, but of social control, aimed at reproducing the class relations and privileges of the prevailing political order. Rather than advocating education reforms within the framework of molding children into obedient servants of capital, we argue that learning must be transformed into a universal, lifelong activity which prepares workers and farmers for the battles coming in the years ahead: to throw off the self-image we are taught, and to see ourselves as capable of taking power out of the hands of the exploiting class.

The order of the candidates is random and changes daily.