In a video that ends with a plea from Ohio State Representative Jon Cross (R-Kenton) to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Cross asks for Ohio to be opened and his district to be relieved from measures that are choking out businesses and workers.
Cross represents Ohio’s 83rd District, comprised of Findlay, Kenton and an area with over 119,000 Ohioans.
“This is not an attack on the Governor. This is my artistic way of drawing attention to the situation.”
In the video, Cross says:
We are fighting for our jobs. We are fighting for our livelihood. We are fighting for our economy. Tone and tenor matters. Facts matter. Science and data matters. Our Constitution matters. We all stood down here in on this well of the floor, put our hand on the Bible and we swore to protect and defend this constitution. And what you don’t do in the middle of a crisis is you don’t open the doors up and fling the Constitution out. We’re protecting our rights and freedoms. We’re protecting Ohio Businesses. We’re protecting the Ohio worker to send a message that we have the backs of all Ohioans.
In an exclusive interview with The Ohio Star, Cross said the goal of his video is to “show people of Ohio and the Governor the economic distress of my hometown due to government regulations and curfews.”
“Just like they talk about the hospitals being overrun, you can’t see it. Last night we filmed the video and I got done editing it at 3:00 a.m. I want the Governor to see what Hardin County looked like on a Saturday at 10:00 p.m.,” said Cross.
“Governor, please sign House Bill 621,” that’s the direct message, said Cross.
He continued, “look at the devastation being caused. This is why we are writing legislation.” Cross noted that in his district “you have a bigger city like Findlay and smaller communities like Kenton” and that the area cannot sustain the economic distress that bigger cities like Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus can handle.
“When the local bartender, a guardian of her two great grandchildren, is used to taking home hundreds of dollars in tips a week and is now taking home $40, that’s a huge problem. The economic distress caused on our constituents should not be as deadly as the virus.”
Cross said that the legislature and Ohioans need to “begin thinking about recovery” and “to get a vaccine to Ohioans to end the virus; to help constituents who will have extremely expensive COVID health care bills; to help people who are unemployed.”
“The Governor cannot do this by himself,” said Cross – “he will need our help. We need to start thinking about the recovery. The financial recovery and our health care recovery.”
Asked whether he believes Governor DeWine will change course, Cross said “we can only hope; but he won’t change course if he doesn’t see it. You can’t just fly around and stop at airports for 30 minutes. We are living it, seeing it, feeling it every day.”
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Jack Windsor is Managing Editor and an Investigative Reporter at The Ohio Star. Windsor is also an Investigative Reporter at WMFD-TV. Follow Jack on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
