A few years ago, I talked with thousands of people who live and raise their families in Southern Ohio. Many of you talked with me in your kitchens, on your doorsteps and in your living rooms when I worked my heart out to try to be your next Congressman. Even though other candidates had thousands (and eventually millions) of dollars,
without hardly spending a dime, I almost won the Democratic primary election the last time I ran for Congress. The candidate who did win later went on to spend millions of dollars in two political campaigns but failed to defeat Jean Schmidt both times.
Without spending money, but instead by spending time and by listening to the people that I tried to represent, we won Pike and Scioto Counties (the land of Ted Strickland). We came in second to Vic Wulsin in Clermont County (Jean Schmidt's home county). We came in second in Warren County and we came in second place in Brown County. We did not win Adams County; a beautiful place full of incredible people. But I've spent countless hours there since that election and I've also talked with the leadership of the Democratic Party in Hamilton County many times during the last several years. The Eastern suburbs of Cincinnati are in our Congressional District too.
I might not be a millionaire but I understand and believe in the people who live in Southern Ohio. We need to elect a representative who will work for ALL of the people who live in Southern Ohio.
The last time I ran for Congress:We offered
IDEAS to EXPAND ECONOMIC GROWTH throughout Southern Ohio without raising taxes. There is no more important program than the creation of a job. We need to elect a Congressman who knows what it means to have to work for a living. We need a representative who can work with government and businesses to expand Southern Ohio's economy and to create jobs and economic opportunity for the people who live here now!
We offered a
PLAN to LOWER the COST of HEALTHCARE WITHOUT RAISING TAXESfor small businesses and millions of Americans. I wanted to expand the Medicare program from age 65 down to age 55 by allowing businesses to purchase healthcare coverage for their employees at a lower price than any insurance company could ever care to offer. I explained that we can afford to provide healthcare coverage for every child in the United States of America and that it makes good economic sense to expand the Ohio HCAP free hospital care program to every state in America. We need to lower the cost of healthcare and save Medicare and Social Security for our children just like it was there for our grandparents before us. It is not a child's fault if he or she is born poor! The only way we will ever change the American healthcare system is to elect people to the United States Congress who actually understand how government pays for healthcare right now. If we don't do that then the insurance companies of America will continue to drive up the cost of healthcare for millions of American businesses and families. I once talked with Jean Schmidt about these ideas and she has never written one piece of legislation that has lowered the cost of healthcare in all the years that she has been in Congress.
We offered a plan for
ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND INDEPENDENCE - I presented an idea to work with the President to award $100 million dollars to any man, woman or child who could develop an engine that could get more than 100 miles per gallon and challenged the last President with the responsibility of working with American businesses to bring an affordable, energy efficient automobile to market by the end of the calendar year. He ignored me just like he ignored millions of you. I believe that every school, church and government building should be powered by solar power and that the government should help these organizations to become more energy efficient. I believe that we can expand economic opportunities to millions of people if we invest in renewable sources of energy and manufacture the products that will be necessary to make renewable sources of energy affordable for every American family; not just the rich and well connected. American energy independence is at the heart of economic growth for the entire nation. We can revitalize the economy for millions of American families by reinvesting the American spirit in a new energy efficient economy. But this will never happen so long as we have Congressional representative who give tax breaks to oil companies at the same time that you paid the highest prices for gasoline since the invention of the American automobile. And that is exactly what Jean Schmidt did to you.
I explained that the oil companies, the insurance companies and the prescription drug companies should share in the economic challenge of improving other people's lives. One of the greatest things about America is that we can accomplish anything if we work together.
Selfishness, Lack of Oversight and Greed are ECONOMIC PROBLEMS which must be eliminated wherever and whenever possible. My favorite part of running for US Congress was meeting so many of you. I met Governor
Ted Strickland (before he was the Governor of Ohio). I met Secretary of State and US Senate Candidate
Jennifer Brunner (before she was elected to political office) and US Senator
Sherrod Brown (before he was your Senator).
I personally knocked on the doors of thousands of people who live throughout Southern Ohio and listened to their concerns. I also met hundreds of people who dedicate their lives to public service and to the ideals that make up the Democratic Party of the United States of America.
There is nothing more honorable than serving in a local government or school board position without pay and for the right reasons. These are the people who deserve to be recognized all throughout America.I met people who came to their doors even though they had cancer or other terrible healthcare problems and they welcomed me into their homes and told me about the challenges they faced in their lives. One man told me that the doctors told him there was nothing else that they could do. One of the last things he ever did in his life was vote for me.
I believe that
FINDING A CURE FOR CANCER AND PREVENTING DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE for millions of American families should become a national top priority. These ideas should be at the forefront of national healthcare reform in America today. If we are going to make healthcare less expensive and still have the best doctors and hospitals in the world, then we need to take the profit out of the bottom lines of insurance companies and redirect funds to the providers of healthcare services and to the families who need their care.
AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE NEEDS TO BE AN ECONOMIC TOP PRIORITY IN AMERICA TODAY. But this will only happen if we elect people who have spent their lives working in healthcare to represent us in Congress and to allow them to use their knowledge, compassion and abilities to change the direction of healthcare in America for the next several generations. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege.
I once met a woman who told me that she made a decision years ago when she was a young girl that has changed her life forever. She spoke to me with tears in her eyes and she told me that I was the first person who she ever met who ran for public office who truly understood and could talk publicly about the decision that changed her life forever. My heart goes out to that woman and to every woman like her in America.
I met so many people who had lost their jobs, lost their healthcare coverage and didn't know what would come next for their families. They offered real stories that most politicians will probably never understand. And they talked to me with hope in their eyes about how they love their families and didn't know what they were going to do next.
The people I tried to represent mean more to me than all the politicians in Washington. It would have been a true honor to have succeeded in my attempt to dedicate my life to public service and to improve the lives of millions of people for the next several years.
In America people love their families and they especially love their children. The government of the past several years often forgot about this reality as they pushed through and RUBBER STAMPED legislation that hurt American families while helping oil companies, insurance companies and prescription drug companies at the expense of the people who work for a living, at the expense of the elderly and at the expense of the poor. When you elect me to represent you in Congress, I will carry the stories and the memories of these people with me every step of the way.
The America that I believe in will NEVER be for sale.The people of Southern Ohio have an incredible sense of adversity and I believe there is nothing that we cannot work together to overcome. You have an incredible sense of family. The people we love are the ones we turn to the most when things are at their very worst. And so many of you truly believed in my ability to do the things that I wanted to do to make your lives a little bit better. My only regret was the incredible amount of time and energy that running for US Congress took away from my time with my family. But nothing worthwhile in this world ever comes without sacrifice and I believed that I what I was trying to do would someday make my children want to maybe be a little bit more like me. Maybe someday they would understand that the
people who live in this country need somebody in government who believes in them and who doesn't care at all about money or politics, but instead really wants to make a difference in the lives of others.
Our children (even though one of them is now grown) are the most incredible kids in the world. During these last few years, my wife and I have had the chance to do and see so many incredible things with them. Our daughter won a few spelling bees, played in district band, ran track, and played soccer and softball. Our son won a spelling bee too and he played football like he really believes he will play in the NFL someday. I got to see him score his first touchdown and even helped with assisting the coaches of his team last year. Our oldest son has finished a few years of college in the law enforcement technology program. He might even go to law school someday. He's one of the most decent people that I know and I am very proud of the man that he has become.
I saw the love that people have for their children every day that I went out and tried to be your Congressman. I saw it in every corner of Southern Ohio and I am very proud of the people who live in Southern Ohio because they truly know the meaning of the word family.I was honored to have tried to be your Congressman and believe that I would have been a very good representative of the people of Southern Ohio. The results on election day showed that many of you truly believed in me too. Thank you for voting for me the last time that I ran for Congress. I apologize for the fact that I did not win because these past many months, so many people have seen the true realities of a bad economy in their own lives and maybe, just maybe, I could have done some things to prevent some of the economic problems that we are all forced to live with right now.
Many years ago, I chose a career in healthcare because I wanted to make a difference in other people's lives and that is exactly what I've done. A few years ago, I ran for United States Congress in Southern Ohio because I wanted to make a difference in other people's lives and that is exactly what I plan to do for you. If I win this election it will be for you and your family. My experience in healthcare leadership and management has allowed me to create jobs and provide economic opportunity to many people. I've had the opportunity to work with healthcare professionals throughout my career, to expand healthcare systems and to offer services that once were not available to people where they live but are available to them now. And I have successfully worked to make healthcare affordable for thousands of people throughout my entire career.
I look forward to continuing this incredible journey with you and the hundreds of thousands of people who live and raise their families in Southern Ohio. You are starving for leadership and I am running for Congress in order to make the world a little bit better place for you and your families. Thank you!
Jim Parker, Democratic Candidate for US CongressSouthern Ohio - 2nd Congressional District
Adams, Brown, Clermont, Hamilton, Pike, Scioto and Warren Counties
