When I travel in our congressional district, almost everyone, whether conservative, moderate or liberal, tell me the same thing: We have some very serious problems in the country but our Congress in Washington is doing nothing.

Our Congress once so admired at home and abroad is locked in a sterile political war and no longer executes its most basic responsibilities. No surprise, Congress now has its lowest public approval rating in its history — less than 10 percent.

That’s the bad news. The good news is this fall we, the people, get to elect a new House of Representatives in Washington. With new faces in Congress, we put a stop to this endless gridlock and get this great country moving forward again.

In 2012-2013, I served as Marietta’s president of council. At the end of our term we were told by many we were the best city council in the past 20 years. We found there were several keys to governing well.

We always respected each other even though at times we had deep divisions over an issue. But no one played “gotcha” or “payback” or automatically rejected an idea.

We were team players working with the rest of city government, the voters and interested parties to understand issues and formulate common sense solutions.

We were not afraid to tackle hard problems. We worked on solving issued, even the most difficult ones that had festered for several years.

We listened and strove to understand all facets of a problem realizing that to get the right fix you have to fully examine the situation first.

Most importantly, our goal was always to pass legislation that provided the great good to the most people.

If you are happy with the way things are going in Washington, then vote to return Bill Johnson to Congress. If you are part of the 90 percent who disapproves with what’s happening on Capitol Hill, however, vote for Jennifer Garrison.

Garrison showed in three successful terms in our Ohio Legislature that she knows the keys to governing well and will end Washington’s gridlock and get this country moving forward again.

The polls are now open. Make your choice and go vote.

 

Walt Brothers

Marietta