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Priority Issues:
Our campaign is focused on the importance of access to affordable healthcare, high-quality public education, good-paying jobs, and fixing our broken campaign finance system.
Our government should be a democracy by the people and for the people, as our founders intended. People of all income levels and backgrounds should be able to participate in government by running for office and by having a say in who their representatives are. Unfortunately, the deck is stacked in our elections by the powerful and the moneyed, and we need to fix that with campaign finance reform.
Because the voices of ordinary Americans are being drowned out by wealthy corporations and special interests, we?re not solving the issues that are most important to ordinary Ohioans. It?s critical that we break through the dysfunction to address important issues like the costs of healthcare and prescription drugs, the need for good-paying jobs, and quality public educational opportunities from early childhood through career transitions.
America?s workforce training needs to be better aligned with industries that are growing and expanding, and business has made it clear that what they need isn?t tax cuts but targeted investment and workforce development. Workers are being left behind and it?s important that they have opportunities to train for good, quality jobs.
To read more, visit our website here: www.BetsyRaderForCongress.com/priorities/
Reason for Seeking Public Office:
I?m running for Congress because our district deserves a voice in Congress who represents the hard-working people who live in our communities. I?m a lifelong Ohioan, and I?ve lived in Northeast Ohio for over 24 years, so I care deeply about the future of our area and ensuring that we all have opportunities to succeed.
Too often, it feels like our voices are being drowned out by the powerful special interests and our elected leaders are looking out for their donors instead of their constituents. That?s why I?ve taken the No Corporate PAC pledge--it?s important that voters know that I?ll be looking out for them in Congress, not some corporate special interest.
Unfortunately, Congressman David Joyce and his campaign are mostly funded by their big donors like Goldman Sachs, big pharma, and others, which is why it?s not surprising that he votes to cut taxes for the top 1%, hasn?t taken action on prescription drugs, and has supported dismantling clean air and water policies.
We need to change what?s going on in Washington, and that includes replacing Congressman Joyce with a true advocate for Northeast Ohio.
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice
2. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes
2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Unknown Position
3. Other or expanded principles
- Congress needs to exercise effective oversight regarding defense spending, and make budget decisions based upon sound information.
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes
2. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Unknown Position
3. Other or expanded principles
- To encourage economic growth, we need to target specific areas of need that will actually create jobs. Across the board corporate tax cuts don?t target the creation of jobs and frequently only help those at the top.
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Yes
2. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes
3. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes
2. Other or expanded principles
- My dad was a game warden and on the weekends, we'd go out hunting. As someone who grew up in a family of gun-owners, I respect folks' 2nd amendment rights and think they should be protected. It's also important that we pass common-sense gun safety legislation like background checks and bans on armor-piercing bullets, silencers, and high-capacity magazines. These steps will help make our schools, law enforcement, and communities safer.
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No
2. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- Unknown Position
3. Other or expanded principles
- The treatment of undocumented persons should be determined on the basis of the individualized circumstances of those persons.
1. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- No
2. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- Unknown Position
3. Other or expanded principles
- Diplomacy should always be our first priority and military force should be a last resort used only when necessary. American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts must be determined based upon particular circumstances as they arise, but diplomacy should be our highest priority and military intervention should be kept to a minimum.
Please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- Our campaign is focused on access to affordable healthcare, high-quality public education, good-paying jobs, and fixing our campaign finance system.
People of all income levels and backgrounds should be able to participate in government and have a say in who their representatives are. Unfortunately, the deck is stacked by the powerful and the moneyed, and we need to fix that with campaign finance reform. Because the voices of ordinary Americans are being drowned out by special interests, we're not solving the issues that are most important and it's critical that we break through the dysfunction to address them.
By Betsy Rader & Jason Bristol Laws are just pretty words if you can't enforce them, and we are arriving at a point in this country where the laws protecting workers' rights are merely words. A devastating blow to workers' rights was last week's Supreme Court decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis. The Court held that companies can force their employees to forego their right to go to court, and require them to give up their right to band together in a class action -- forcing employees to go it alone in a confidential arbitration proceeding when they have been wronged. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg pointed out in her dissent, "[t]he inevitable result of today's decision will be the underenforcement of federal and state statutes designed to advance the well-being of vulnerable workers." Employees are often subject to a mandatory arbitration agreement without even being aware of it. Often, they first learn of it when they try to bring a lawsuit in court and are told they must go to secret arbitration proceedings instead. The "agreement" may have appeared somewhere amidst an on-line application for the job, been mixed in with copious on-boarding documents at hire, or buried in an email sent out after they started the job. Even if employees realize what they are signing, they need the job and do not have any real bargaining power to decline to sign the agreement. Why do 80% of America's top companies require their employees to arbitrate workplace claims, and why do half of those require the employees to waive their rights to class actions? Because it helps the companies avoid liability for wrongful conduct and hides bad behavior. A private arbitration proceeding takes away the workers' right to have her case heard in an open court by a jury of her peers. Instead, a professional arbitrator decides the case -- an arbitrator who knows that the arbitration expenses are typically paid by the company and who knows full well that if he develops a reputation for giving large recoveries to workers, he will not be selected by the company to hear cases in the future. Arbitration is typically extremely confidential, so no one will ever hear of the company's misconduct, and no precedent will be set by the outcome of a case in the worker's favor. Arbitration places a heavy hand on the scales of justice in favor of the company. On top of this, requiring waiver of class actions means that most cases will never be brought at all, especially if they involve low wage earners. As employment lawyers, our phones ring daily with calls from workers who have been denied overtime pay, sexually harassed, or terminated for unlawful reasons. These workers typically can't afford to pay an hourly fee, so lawyers take these cases on a contingency fee basis, where we are paid a percentage of the recovery only if we are successful. Since the amount of a recovery in these cases is based on the amount the person earns, a low wage earner's case may not be worth a great deal of money even if we win. However, the time involved and the expenses like filing fees, copying costs, and expert fees may be as high for a case over a small amount of lost wages as for a case involving a higher earner. Therefore, for a low wage earner to bring a lawsuit over something like unpaid overtime, it often only makes economic sense to bring such lawsuits as a class action. Epic Systems is the equivalent of a three-alarm-fire for workers' rights. Action must be taken immediately to contain its devastating impact. Lawmakers must amend the law to release employment disputes from the grip of mandatory arbitration. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is the co-sponsor of the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2018, and workers must demand passage of this bill, or one like it, in order to restore their longstanding right to their day in Court.
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