To the editor:
Northern Johnson County has changed dramatically over the last 28 years. Our representation in the Indiana General Assembly has not. The challenges facing our district now and for the future are much different than those of 1980s. Our rapidly growing community deserves a new vision for economic growth for all, and a committed leadership in touch with those they serve.
In Indiana, 71 percent of all jobs are not economically self-sufficient, and 24 percent of those jobs pay minimum wage. Hoosiers’ per capita income ranks 39th in the nation, and the average Hoosier worker makes $8,000 a year less than the rest of the nation. The out-of-touch super-majority controlling the statehouse has not focused on providing, retaining and preparing our workforce for well-paying jobs.
Instead, the assembly, with support from District 58’s incumbent representative Woody Burton, has had a special interest agenda that has damaged the middle class. There has been an orchestrated attack on public education, disempowerment of labor and an obsession with socially divisive issues.
This has damaged us economically, embarrassed us nationally and harmed our reputation as a welcoming and business-friendly state. The result? Hoosier families are working longer and harder, and earning less. We deserve better!
The Indiana General Assembly in recent years has neglected their state’s greatest asset, the hard working men and women of Indiana and their children! We have been forgotten over the desires of the privileged and special interests.
If you want to change this, then cast your vote to remove those responsible for putting us in this position. Send a message to the statehouse. It belongs to you!
Ed O’Connor
Needham
Democratic candidate for state representative, District 58
