Local News

Roberts challenges Johnson for 6th District seat

LISBON -- Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Marietta) and challenger Shawna Roberts are going to be the choice facing voters in the Ohio 6th Congressional District on Nov. 6.

When asked about their top three priority issues facing the district, both talk about some of the same things. However, whether or not Johnson, who is completing his eighth year, is addressing them seems to be up for debate.

"I decided to run because I think this is the best region in the world, and I believe they deserve someone who will listen to them," Roberts said, adding she believes Johnson is more concerned with the interests of "big donors" and what those in Washington, D.C., want him to do.

One of the biggest issues Roberts believes people are concerned about is health care. She said Johnson and Republicans have voted continually against "quality, accessible and affordable healthcare" for everyone, including trying to cut Medicaid and Medicare, which many along the 6th District depend on and, she says, they are trying to make it more difficult for those with pre-existing conditions to find coverage. Roberts notes 53 percent of the people under 65 in the district have pre-existing conditions.

Johnson has been among those who have voted to repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as "Obamacare," 40 times. He also voted for the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which successfully repealed the individual mandate, requiring people to purchase health insurance and often requiring higher cost insurance than what people need. Johnson also supported allowing children to stay on their parents health insurance until age 26.

Roberts said healthcare ties into the opioid epidemic. She wonders how making cuts to Medicaid is helping addicts get treatment when nine out of 10 people who get treatment are on Medicaid.

Johnson also lists the opioid crisis as one of his top three issues. Johnson points to the Training, Education and Community Help (TEACH) to Combat Addiction Act, legislation he sponsored, which gained bipartisan support and has passed both the House and the Senate. TEACH will help educate healthcare personnel to look at other options to help those in pain instead of prescribing addictive pain medications and provide financial support for local peer specialists, who have recovered from addiction and are dedicating their lives to helping others do the same. It will also expand the use of telehealth services, allowing those with addiction to speak with specialists on the phone for immediate help instead of traveling long distances for care.

It would also streamline the preauthorization process for treatment for Medicaid patients.

Johnson lists jobs as a big need in the 6th District, although he says the jobs are there. Across the country, Johnson says we are experiencing 4.2 percent economic growth and the lowest unemployment rate since 1969. In the 6th District, Johnson says, employers tell him they are having problems finding qualified workers to fill their open positions. Johnson says he supports and has been involved in training programs to retrain workers, programs to show high school students job skills and events geared at showing women manufacturing jobs are available for them as well as men.

Johnson says businesses and individuals in the district are happy with the tax cut, which allows them to have more money in their pockets or to expand their businesses and he is working to make that tax cut permanent.

"We are definitely back in business, and it's a good thing for Americans, including those here in eastern and southeastern Ohio," Johnson said.

Johnson also talks about the oil and gas development playing a major role in the region, with money being invested in the region for plants and other related jobs. He says the U.S. is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas and will soon be producing more than we can consume. He is working on legislation which would help open the door for exporting the excess to other countries.

Although regulations Johnson blames on Obama have harmed the domestic demand for coal, Johnson says production is up, and there is still other demand for coal. Johnson notes 60,000 Ohio jobs are directly or indirectly involved in the coal industry.

Roberts is concerned about the region basing so much of its economy on the oil and natural gas industry, which she says will not last forever. Roberts notes while she believes oil and natural gas has been great for our area, she would like to see more support for diversity. According to Roberts, the rest of the world is moving away from oil and natural gas and into other forms of energy, renewables such as wind, solar and others. She believes the U.S. will also move in those directions.

"We've got to diversify to make sure this area doesn't have another economic crash, when the rest of the nation moves on," Roberts said.

While America is doing better, Roberts says that has not translated into a lot of improvement in the 6th District.

"The rest of country is doing better than us," Roberts said. "We still have more unemployment, more poverty and more child poverty than the average."

She would like to see more support for small businesses, incubators which promote the development of new technologies and types of jobs.

Johnson believes new plants being built in the area are going to bring new jobs. He says they are already hearing from companies manufacturing plastics and textiles, which want to locate or relocate near an ethane cracker plant slated for Belmont County. Besides the 6,000 to 10,000 jobs to construct the plant, Johnson says there will be about 600 to 1,000 permanent jobs for people from all over the region for the ethane plant alone.

Both Roberts and Johnson see a need for infrastructure improvements throughout the 6th District, including the expansion of broadband internet access for everyone.

Johnson says the maps created through the Federal Communications Commission do not accurately report internet access available to people in rural areas. A bill he co-sponsored, the MAPPING NOW Act of 2018, authorizes the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to create correct maps, so the problem can be more readily addressed.

Roberts says she has been in a county in the 6th District where there is no broadband internet available, and she questions how we are supposed to compete in the 21st century without access to broadband internet.

Additionally, Roberts is concerned about other crumbling infrastructure in the area, including cell phone towers, roads and bridges.

She believes a $22 billion infrastructure bill passed by Congress, of which Johnson says $625 million is to go toward broadband internet, is not nearly enough. According to Roberts, the American Society of Civil Engineers has released a report stating the country needs more than $3 trillion to fix infrastructure problems.

In response, Johnson says he sees the $22 billion only as a start and also looks for private partnerships to help provide some of the help for infrastructure, such as businesses making investments such creating new, larger, water lines, which support their business and others in the community. Additionally, Johnson has been in contact with Ohio gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine, a fellow Republican, who agrees there is a big need for more support for infrastructure projects in eastern and southeastern Ohio.

"Our region has always been in the back of the minds of those in Columbus and in Washington," Johnson said, adding he is working to make sure that changes.

Roberts believes it is important now to work to help make the region a better place.

"When I talk to people (in the district) they want someplace they can leave to their kids that they can be proud of," Roberts said. The mother of five is tired of seeing children leaving the area to find great jobs to support their families and then returning to the area later, "because they remember how wonderful it is here."

Johnson says if the people in the area choose to send him back to Washington, D.C., for another term, he will continue to work hard to address their issues.

Roberts, a Democrat from Belmont is 54 years old and married to Kevin Roberts. In recent years she was a homemaker, who worked part-time at a fast food restaurant across the street from the school her five children attended so she was available to pick them up after school. Previously she was a commercial beekeeper for 15 years, before the business was closed by the recession of 2009. Roberts attended San Jose State University in California, where she earned a bachelor's in English literature and at one point held a teaching certificate. She has never run for public office.

Republican incumbent Johnson, 63, is finishing his fourth term, serving eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He lives in Marietta and is married to LeeAnn Johnson. They have four children. Johnson served in the Air Force from 1973-1999, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has a bachelor's degree from Troy University and a master's from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

djohnson@mojonews.com