DEAR EDITOR:
On Nov. 6, let's give our 13th Congressional District Representative, Tim Ryan, an experience identical to the one 20,000 Delphi Salaried employees have been experiencing for the past three years.
Here is how it may go for Tim when he wakes up the next morning. He just realizes he lost his job. He has no income. His pension will be frozen. All his health care and life insurance benefits will be canceled. Then he realizes he does not qualify for unemployment benefits, either.
In addition, Tim realizes he lost any chance of running for the governorship of Ohio in two years. How can a candidate lose a seat that his party has held for generations and expect to get elected governor? As a side note, Dave Betras probably won't three-peat his county chairman of the year award either.
When the Delphi retirees met with Jay Williams, the former mayor of Youngstown and now the auto czar, to ask for his assistance in getting our pensions restored he told the Delphi retirees to go get any job and to check into some type of job retraining program. Most Delphi salaried retirees have engineering, business degrees, MBAs and vast manufacturing experiences. The retirees can teach the job retraining programs, they do not need them. Since Tim Ryan knows he has never held a real job, he is likely asking himself, what can I do with a law degree and no license to practice?
I know Tim knows a little bit about how we feel and why we can't let the government and local politicians pick winners and losers. Obama, Reid and your mentor Pelosi didn't help us and they won't help him either.
If folks reading this editorial like Obama, Reid and Pelosi and the direction this country is going by all means vote for Tim Ryan. But, if you dislike the direction this country is headed, vote for someone who will not pick winners and losers.Also, please don't vote for someone who allows other politicians to take from one group of people and give it to another just to get votes. This fall only we the voters will get to pick who wins and who loses.
I urge the other 20,000 Delphi retirees, current workers and their families to think about for whom they will vote in November and ask this question. Do we deserve better from our elected officials? For me and my family it is a resounding yes, we deserve better.
By the way I found better. It is Dr. Marisha Agana who is running for the 13th Congressional District Representative against Tim Ryan and she will be a citizen legislator, not a politician. In case you think no one can beat Ryan, guess again. National polling data I have seen shows Agana is within the margin of error of Ryan's numbers.
Ed Love
Warren