League of Women Voters of Ohio
Hamilton County, OH November 7, 2006 Election
	Connie Pillich Answers Questions Candidate for State Representative; District 28

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area and LWV Ohio and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

2. What are your Qualifications for Office? (50 word limit)

My Education: BBA, MBA, JD; My Service: Eight years active duty Air Force, eight years reserves; My Occupation: Attorney; My Clients: All walks of life My Livelihood: Business owner; My Family: Husband, Paul; daughter, Kayla; son, Tallin; My Volunteering: Sycamore Schools, Girl Scouts, Band Boosters, Soccer coach and ref

3. What plans do you have to address your top three priorities? (100 word limit)

Examine the state budget and call for a performance audit of every state agency. This will reveal where we can free up revenue. Dedicate that excess revenue toward higher education. 21st century businesses are attracted by an educated, stable workforce.

Immediately form a task force to study the school funding formula. Learn from the dozens of other states that have successfully revised their school funding to more equitable methods.

Initiate bold health care reforms that provide affordable health insurance to those who wish to have it. Hospitals prosper if patients have insurance. And patients with insurance seek preventive care.

4. What changes would you recommend for improving public oversight of charter schools? (150 word limit)

Ohio's newest voucher program for private charter and parochial schools has many problems and little success. Vouchers do not fully cover elite private school tuition, thus precluding the poorer families that vouchers are supposed to help. Moreover, not all private charter and parochial schools accept vouchers, and private schools can exclude anyone they want.

The schools they leave? The voucher program doesn't help them. It just reduces funding, further strapping the struggling schools. This means a greater burden to taxpayers: not only do we pay for our public schools and all the students there, but now we must pay for private schools, too.

Voucher experiments throughout the nation show that voucher and public school students achieve similar test scores. But, voucher students have a high attrition rate, and charter schools have trouble surviving. The voucher program is like pouring salt on a wound: it makes it hurt, and heals nothing.

5. Ohio has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation. What actions would you support at the state level to address this crisis? (150 word limit)

One of the leading causes of foreclosures is predatory lending + the preying upon vulnerable people to con them into mortgages they cannot afford.

As a lawyer, I've represented victims of predatory lending. Saving my clients' homes has been some of the most gratifying work I have ever done.

Ohio's legislature recently reversed its protracted opposition to pass some long overdue reforms. The Ohio Home Buyers Protection Act, effective in 2007, should help some consumers swindled by unscrupulous brokers. But the Act should be modified to extend the regulations to mortgage assignees. This loophole leaves consumers just as vulnerable as before. In addition, Ohio should expand the ability of consumers to pursue civil remedies.

But not all foreclosures stem from predatory lending. Many foreclosures happen from the loss of a good job. Ohio must begin to attract 21st Century businesses in order to help all of us survive.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. Word limits apply for each question. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: November 4, 2006 11:46
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