Kent Smith talks about his race for the 8th Ohio House District: editorial board

Democrat Kent Smith is running for state representative in the 8th Ohio House District in the Democratic primary May 6. The seat is now held by term-limited Armond D. Budish, who is running for Cuyahoga County executive. Smith met with the editorial board on Thursday, April 15, and we later endorsed him.

His challenger, Sylvia James of South Euclid, was not able to attend the scheduled endorsement interview and did not submit a requested candidate questionnaire to the editorial board. She did not respond to numerous attempts to reach her by phone and email for a subsequent phone interview. The winner of this race will face Republican Mikhail Alterman, an IT consultant.

Here are some of the things that Smith had to say. You can listen to an audio tape of the interview here.

Kent-Smith

The 8th district covers parts of Cleveland, Beachwood, East Cleveland, Euclid, Richmond Heights, South Euclid and Woodmere. Early voting in the primary has begun.

1. Smith has written about foreclosure, which has been a big problem in Greater Cleveland and says that the comprehensive approach to blight mitigation and land-use planning now being explored by the development group for which he works in Akron could be applicable in other cities.

2. Smith says that “education is the long-term answer” if Ohio hopes to improve its economy. He would like to see better funding of public schools and a crackdown on failing charter schools.

3. Asked about the possibility that financially struggling East Cleveland, which is in the 8th Ohio House District, could merge with Cleveland, Smith says that’s a local decision and that he would be “supportive, but not a catalyst" for the merger.

4. He would like the state to focus more on alternative energy as other nations are doing. Not doing so is “like capping airplane travel in the 1920s,” he says.

5. He supports redistricting reform so that more people can "meet in the middle" instead of being lumped together in one-party political districts.