By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
On Saturday, September 26, Congress came to Toledo to celebrate achievements and to urge the congregation to use their influence in the community to ensure that voters continue to support the local congresswoman.
Northwest Ohio’s Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur was joined by Cleveland Congresswoman Joyce Beatty and a host of local church leaders and supporters. The breakfast was termed a morning of prayer, fellowship, listening and constructive conversation.
Rev. Calvin Burney served as the master of ceremonies for the morning event; Councilman Rev. John Hobbs, III, recognized the elected officials; Rev. David Young spoke about the church’s historic role in civic life, Shaun Strong introduced the “Follow Me Campaign” and Rev. John Jones introduced Congresswoman Beatty.
And Congresswoman Beatty lit the room up. Several hundred attendees listened as Beatty touted the knowledge, the wisdom, the experience, the leadership of her colleague, Kaptur, as well as the depth of Kaptur’s feelings for Toledo and, particularly, those feelings for the city’s African American community.
“Marcy Kaptur has never bragged about herself,” said Beatty. “She talks about you, she talks about the richness of the Black community, she talks about the history of the churches … there is something wrong if you can’t vote for Marcy Kaptur.”
Kaptur, as Beatty noted, is the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, the committee that handles all the financial decisions for the House. If Democrats take control of the House in these midterm elections, Kaptur will chair that committee.
“She is a true public servant who knows every line item in the federal budget, especially funding allocations,” said Beatty. “There is no other member in the United States Congress that does what Marcy Kaptur does.”
Kaptur’s knowledge and experience is exactly what Republican have feared all these years, said Beatty. “They have gerrymandered this district all the way to Indiana, they want to get rid of her.”
Urging those in the audience to work for Kaptur’s benefit in this election, Beatty noted how important that work will be. “Marcy Kaptur can win this election, but she can’t win without you. You wake people up, get them out to vote. Go out to vote and fight for Marcy Kaptur.”
During her address to the audience, Kaptur recounted her days as an urban planner in Washington during the Carter Administration and how that experience has shaped so much of her career, dealing with the physical structures – buildings, waterways, land, roadways – that can impact the lives of her constituents in so many different ways.
Fresh water concerns, for example, throughout the nation, particularly in the western part of the nation, points out for Kaptur how residents of the upper Midwest are so blessed – so far – and need to maintain those blessings.
“What we have is so precious, we need to protect it,” Kaptur said. But we need so much more, she added. More parks, for example. More solar energy to preserve the natural resources.
Kaptur also assailed the current administration for its labor practices. “They are trying to take away any decent living got the working men and women,” she said of the hardships created by the recent deregulation agenda, employer-friendly moves and trend to reduce collective bargaining rights for federal workers.
The prayer breakfast concluded with closing remarks by Shaun Strong, who leads the Black Leadership Table of Kaptur’s campaign, and a call to action by Rev. Burney. “Souls to the Polls” will happen in area churches on Sunday, November 1.