MILFORD – Milford resident Jon Hare is seeking the State Representative District 22 seat on the Republican ticket.
The seat is currently held by Republican Rebecca Kubacki, Syracuse.
Hare said he feels if elected he can represent the working person, and provide balanced representation.
Hare, 41, is employed as a heavy equipment technician for Walsh & Kelly, an asphalting company, and works out of the Goshen and South Bend offices.
He is a lifetime resident of Kosciusko County.
A 1989 graduate of Wawasee High School, he attended Northwestern Business College in Ohio.
He is a 15-year journeyman card holder for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 where he has held the offices of election commissioner and union steward.
A 22-year volunteer fireman, he has served 12 years on the Milford Fire Department since 2000, and served 10 years on Syracuse Fire Department from 1989 to 1999. He served as secretary and assistant fire chief at Milford Fire Department.
He currently serves on Milford Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter.
He lived in Syracuse from 1993 to 1999 before moving to Milford.
Hare said this is his first time for seeking a political office.
He said he decided to run for the District 22 seat when the Right to Work bill was being discussed.
He said he doesn’t think Indiana should be a Right to Work state because he said it should be the citizen’s choice whether or not they want to join a union or pay union dues.
“I feel the bill is a political attack on the unions, and I feel it ought to be a choice of the people to pay union dues or not and join the union,” Hare said.
He said during the Right To Work bill discussion he tried to contact his legislators to speak about his concern with the bill, and did not receive a response.
He said he feels District 22 is not getting represented on both sides of the issues currently.
“If elected I’d put my personal views aside and listen to constituents because both sides need to be heard,” Hare said.
He said the average worker needs to be heard more, and feels the current representation voting record is more toward big business.
“I have worked in this district for more than 26 years and my opponent, as far as I know, has not held a time clock job like I have,” Hare said.
He spoke about job creation, and said there needs to be a way to keep existing jobs in Indiana.
He spoke about the orthopedic industry, and said there is skilled labor in the industry and there needs to be a way to keep the industry in Warsaw.
“I would work with the orthopedic companies and see why they move out of Warsaw and back to the city and get the companies to commit and stay in Indiana,” Hare said.
He spoke about education and said there needs to be more funding.
“We need to have a checks and balance for funding in the schools and I don’t think we need students going to Taj Mahal schools,” Hare said.
He said he feels teachers are underpaid, and need to receive higher wages and have an incentive program that gives teachers bonuses when their students are excelling.
He said Indiana should make connections with other states to see how they are succeeding in ISTEP testing, and Indiana can help other states out with Indiana’s educational strong points.
“I don’t believe taxpayer money should be used for private schools, and believe taxpayer money should go to public schools,” Hare said.
He spoke about the smoking ban and said although he is not a smoker, he does not agree with a smoking ban in Indiana.
“The business owner pays taxes, and if he decided to hang a sign that says smoking is allowed that should be his business,” Hare said.
Hare spoke about road and street repairs, and said Indiana used to have a good road repair system.
“I feel with the lottery money and Major Moves money that money could be used for counties to repair roads and streets in Indiana,” Hare said.
He said there have been a lot of counties that lost tax revenue with the recession and they could use state money to help fix roads and streets.
He said when roads are bid out for repair, skilled laborers should be doing the work and repairs should be done correctly the first time.
Hare said he feels connected to this district because of his charitable and work history and said he feels he is very qualified to represent the 22nd District as state representative.
Hare is a member of American Bikers Aimed Toward Education and Sons of the American Legion.
