Donors and PACs have donated nearly $70,000 to Lampton’s campaign since August of 2019. McCarthy’s campaign has raised $15,400 since Jan. 1, 2019.
Here are answers McCarthy and Lampton provided in response to questions posed by the Dayton Daily News:
Q: The governor’s Strong Ohio gun reform package isn’t likely to pass this legislative session and will likely be re-introduced next session. Where do you stand on the basic elements of the package?
McMarthy: I’m obviously not an expert on gun violence and what it’s going to take to address it in this country, so I don’t know if I could say necessarily that DeWine’s reform package is the answer to our gun violence situation, but I will say that we need to do something... that was the chant, right? I think a big problem we face is that the research on gun violence has been stopped for the last 20 years because of that sticky Amendment in 1996, where the CDC could no longer study it. I’m of the opinion that we need to study it and find out the scope of the problem, the causes of the violence, what strategies will work to prevent it and the best way to implement them? Background checks for gun purchases, that’s a pretty obvious thing that would have to be part of any kind of reform. There has to be enough due process built into the (red flag) law, so that there is protection against abuse. This would include an appeals process, a prompt evidentiary hearing and a burden on the petitioner to meet a certain standard of evidence. If these issues were covered in a red flag law, I would be in support of it.
Lampton: I am not in favor of the Governor’s gun reform package. There are multiple flaws with the red flag law he has proposed.
Q: Do you support or oppose the state authority to issue public health orders to shut down businesses, schools and other activities during a pandemic?
McCarthy: I am, in general, supportive of local rule or law over the state rules, but in a situation like a pandemic, where we need mass cooperation in order to address it, I am definitely in favor of statewide mandates, and the health department taking the lead on those mandates. I do not feel that the state legislature has the experience or understanding to be dictating laws above the health department. I was against that attempt by the house to override Amy Acton, obviously against the bullying of her, and I think DeWine did a good job. I think he backed off when the pressure was on a little bit, but I think overall, he did do a good job. I think the one thing that’s missing from the package is social support. In order to shut down, you do have to also provide the support for the people to be able to shut down.
Lampton: Anytime government issues additional mandates on our people it could be cause for concern. I think there is a balance between the two and Ohio is on the road to recovery.
Q: Do you wear a mask in public spaces when you cannot maintain six feet of social distancing? Why or why not?
McCarthy: I absolutely wear masks all the time, my whole family does, because of science.
Lampton: I wear a mask in public spaces when the 6-feet social distancing cannot be maintained.
Q: Do you support or oppose removing the ‘catch all’ language in Ohio’s child immunization laws that allow parents to opt not to have their kids vaccinated for reasons of conscience?
McCarthy: Parents have the right to decide that for themselves.
Lampton: I oppose forcing parents not to have the ultimate decision about their own children.
Q: Ohio and other states saw sustained demonstrations this summer against racial injustice and police brutality. Protesters called for a slate of reforms. What do you think are the most important changes we should make?
McCarthy: In Ohio, there’s a bill right now, HB 308, addressing allowing first responders to get workers compensation coverage for PTSD without a physical injury. Up to this point, they have insisted that they cannot get workers compensation for PTSD unless they had a physical injury along with it, which is ridiculous. That just passed the House, but the Senate has yet to pass it. It’s important that our police get the appropriate level of care, especially for their mental health. That (bill) is a great first step in making sure they have access to that. The whole approach over ‘defund the police’ has been exploited, as has nearly every other phrase that the people on the right use to exploit. I think it’s important that we look at what’s happening in our police force and maybe say, for a traffic accident, maybe we don’t send our police force out there, we send traffic control people to take care of that and fill out the insurance claim. If we have a person with mental health issues, we can have a social worker go out there to help defuse the situation. It’s important that we spread the load and take the immense pressure that’s obviously on our police forces. My 15-year-old boys and I were tear gassed by the Beavercreek police completely unnecessarily at the protest (in June in Beavercreek). I think we should ban choke holds and use of tear gas. I support training for deescalation and implicit bias training is essential.
Lampton: For the record, I fully support our local police and I don’t want to decrease their funding whatsoever. Every Beavercreek police officer wears body cams. I personally know several officers, and they are professional, caring, community minded men and women. The Beavercreek Police Department has earned the highest accreditations for a police department. I am equally proud of the Fairborn and Sugar Creek police departments as well as the Greene County Sheriff’s department.
Q: The FBI and DOJ is charging former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder and four other men in a racketeering scheme that allegedly involved $60 million in bribes to elect Householder and pro-Householder lawmakers, make him speaker, pass House Bill 6 and defend the bailout bill from a referendum. Have you received campaign donations or any support from Friends of Larry Householder, Larry Householder, Jeff Longstreth, Neil Clark, Juan Cepedes, Matt Borges, Generation Now, FirstEnergy PAC, any other FirstEnergy sources? If so, have you or will you donate that money to charities?
McCarthy: My opponent has accepted $32,000 from about six different entities, some of which are not listed on your list of names. I’ve taken a pledge to not accept any form of corporate PAC money. (McCarthy pointed out that Lampton’s campaign also received contributions from the International Union of Operating Engineers and Political Education Patterns, which have been named as contributors to Generation Now.)
Lampton: My campaign did receive contributions from Friends of Larry Householder and a donation from the First Energy PAC, and I have donated those exact amounts to local charities. Most of the claims from my opponent are so outrageous and false that I rarely give them much thought. The International Union of Operating Engineers and Political Education Patterns are both highly respected organizations that work to move Ohio forward. For example, IUOE represents tens of thousands of workers: from the heavy equipment operators and mechanics in the construction industry, to the stationary engineers; including those who maintain and operate building and industrial complexes and service industries. Her reckless comments are a slap in the face of hardworking Ohioans. To accuse an organization that is dedicated to serving and protecting the needs and interests of its members and their families is truly astonishing. To my knowledge, both organizations have not been named in any investigation.
Q: Do you support or oppose repeal of House Bill 6?
McCarthy: Yes, I support the repeal.
Lampton: I was not a member during the debate and discussion surrounding HB6 so I would have to study the issue first.
Q: State lawmakers craft laws that impact open meetings and access to public records. In your public service experience, how have you worked to increase transparency?
McCarthy: I haven’t been a public servant yet, but as a citizen, I founded and run a group called Greene County Voices. We follow along and monitor the Greene County Commission. One of the things that we succeeded in doing was forcing the commission to start videotaping and putting out for public viewing their weekly meeting back in 2018. I am a huge believer that it takes more than just electing one person to make change, that you have to have a movement of people pushing for that change as well. So as a legislator, I would be sharing information with people to help them understand the issue and where they stand on it, so that they too can become involved and push the government for the changes that we need. I did see another person who was running, say they were going to make their calendar available to the public so they could see every person they were meeting with, and I think that’s a really cool idea and definitely something I’d be open to as well.
Lampton: I fully agree with transparency and accountability and I will comply with the sunshine laws. I have no intention of restricting them.
Q: Given the pandemic and economic crisis, state tax revenues are tumbling and the upcoming budget is expected to be very challenging. Would you vote to increase income, sales and/or business taxes to avoid drastic cuts to state programs? Why or why not?
McCarthy: Even before the pandemic, I have been pushing for an increase in taxes. The Republicans in Columbus have lived on tax cuts, creating revenue deficit for the last 15 years. That has resulted in us losing about $6 billion a year in revenue; most of those cuts have gone to large corporations and the wealthiest Ohioans. We have a huge underwater tax system where the people at the top are paying about half as much as the people at the middle and the bottom. Obviously the pandemic is making this even more critical. I do not advocate the sales tax increase and no income tax increases on anyone else except for the highest earners. I am against cutting state programs. Our state programs have already been cut, and have continued to be cut for over a decade.
Lampton: I believe this budget process will be a difficult one. I believe the state will have to make spending cuts. Ben Franklin once said that there are 3 ways to improve wealth, increase income, decrease spending, but the best way is to do both at the same time.
Q: One of the major employers in your district is Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. What do you see as your role in gaining missions on the base, BRAC, etc.?
McCarthy: Missions, BRAC, that is not really something that falls under the jurisdiction of a state representative. What I do see as my role is ensuring that the surrounding community Wright-Patt sits in is strong. That would include having great schools and Wright State being a strong institution, so that we have a educated workforce to draw on for Wright-Patt. We want to have good communities that make them want to stay. Fairborn is the city that Wright-Patt sits beside and their schools are the weakest in the whole district. A lot of people don’t want to live in Fairborn because they don’t want to put their kids in the school district. So then that means they move into Beavercreek. And then that puts a lot of pressure on Beavercreek Schools because they’re bursting at the seams as well. I see it as making sure we have a strong infrastructure, strong education system, transportation and small businesses that make it appealing and help support the people who work at Wright-Patt.
Lampton: I will ask to sit on the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committee. I will work with all of our regional elected officials. I have already forged relationships with base personnel to keep the lines of communication open. My main focus will be to keep missions here and promote new missions.
About the candidates
Kim McCarthy
Age - 51
Hometown - Sugarcreek Twp., originally from Australia
Occupation - Accounting Manager for PQ Systems in Dayton
Education - Bachelor of Business - Major in Accounting, from Queensland University of Technology in Australia; Associate of the Chartered Accountants of Australia (equivalent to a CPA).
Political experience - I have more than 20 years of small business ownership experience. I have been a politically engaged citizen for the past 10 years, involved in organizing around issues, and advocating and lobbying of elected officials, both locally and at the state level. I ran for this seat in 2018 and achieved the best result for a challenger to this seat in decades. I am running again to continue to build on that momentum, and to offer the people of District 73 real people-focused representation for a change.
Brian Lampton
Age - 55
Hometown - Kettering, currently lives in Fairborn
Occupation - owner and operator of Lampton, Engle and Associates insurance agency for the past 30 years
Education - Bachelors in Communication from University of Dayton
Political experience - I am the past President of the Beavercreek Chamber, Rotary, Greenebucs and NAIFA Dayton and the current President of the Fairborn Chamber of Commerce.
Election 2020
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