Letters: Akron police chief; candidates for Senate, US House, Ohio legislature;

Wrong to call Chief Mylett a liar

Following the unrest of our city after the death of Jayland Walker, I am furious that the religious community is calling out our new police chief, Steve Mylett, for "lying" because he brought back officers involved in the incident.

Where were these religious leaders when we neighbors needed to get to work or doctor appointments, to care for a loved one when downtown was blocked off? What church will step up to pay the store and restaurant owners for the damage done to their businesses?

Yet, they can sit down with one another, fabricating a letter to the Akron Beacon Journal and the mayor, saying a man who took the job of overseeing the protection of our city lied. Mylett said that letter hurt his heart. I believe he cares for Akron and all our citizens.

Shame on those letter writers. Shame on the civil unrest agitators. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Cathy S. Wood, Akron

Emilia Sykes' experience counts

Congressional candidate Madison Gesiotto Gilbert is running an ad “to vote for an outsider to crush inflation.” What in the world does that mean?

Republicans get an unwarranted rosy view from voters on economic matters. The last two Republican presidents left our economy in tatters (George W. Bush, the Great Recession of 2008; Donald Trump, the pandemic recession of 2020). Two and a half years ago the unemployment rate was at 14.9%. Gas was at $2 a gallon because the oil industry had shut down due to the imploding economy. The Dems get criticized for not cleaning it up fast enough. Doesn’t make sense to me.

On the other hand, Emilia Sykes is equipped with the experience and education to continue our nation’s journey toward a more perfect union. She has a law degree and a master’s in public health; she's someone well positioned to take on the unhealthful conspiracy theories of the right wing. She served eight years in the Ohio House, four in minority leadership. She will not be a rookie going to her first committee meeting when elected. Vote for Sykes; we need a veteran legislator, not a rookie, representing us in Congress.

Dick Bardoulas, Copley

Trump endorsement not enough

The time to send inexperienced non-politicians to state and federal offices is clearly over. All the way up to the presidency, this “drain the swamp” fad and failure of a political experiment yielded negligible results at best, as we now live in more divided, stalemate times than ever.

Here in Ohio, J.D. Vance and Madison Gesiotto Gilbert want to go to Washington based on a fraction of the merit of their opponents. What can we honestly expect them to accomplish with no legislative experience — working with those of opposing views to craft difference-making legislation, negotiate compromise, and truly represent us when they’ve done literally none of the above thus far? Their respective side hustles of author and beauty pageant winner don’t qualify them to represent us.

We can all admit that endorsements from Donald Trump are the sole reasons these candidates have made it this far. Is a Trump endorsement really more important for the needs of Ohio and the country than the proven results and lifetimes of legislative experience in the case of both of their opponents?

Michael Eckart, Cuyahoga Falls

Shaughnessy is a public servant

As a lifelong resident of the city of Green, I’m writing to tell you what you need to know about Matt Shaughnessy, who is running for the Ohio Statehouse in District 32.

You might have seen hate mail linking Shaughnessy to extremist positions, such as defunding the police. These divisive lies not only obscure the truth — that he is a former cop and knows the sacrifice our police officers make each and every day for our safety — but this also disrespects his record of protecting and serving our community.

Shaughnessy is a public servant through and through, and has served on our Green City Council, as a firefighter and in law enforcement in the Cleveland area. He has shown an unrelenting dedication to improving our part of Ohio, and I know he will fight for our district at the Statehouse in Columbus.

Shaughnessy supports community safety, good living-wage jobs that allow someone to support themselves and their families and finding common ground with his Republican and Democratic colleagues to get things done. We need a proven leader who will unite us instead of divide us, and in this election, that man is Matt Shaughnessy.

Margie Mucklow, Green

Map a win for Democrats

Save our state from gerrymandered districts: Vote for Democratic Judges, senators and representatives at all levels of government. Preserve our democracy!

Nancy Henry, Silver Lake

Pay attention to legislators

How did Ohio's government get so extremist? I don't remember such extreme legislators like Sen. Kristina Roegner and Rep. Bill Roemer even 10 or 20 years ago. They keep passing radical abortion restrictions, gun promotion, voting suppression and gerrymandering legislation which goes against the majority of Ohioans' views, especially those of their constituents in Summit County. If we don't start paying attention and voting these people out, we won't have a democracy anymore.

Jan Oakley, Sagamore Hills

Believe in election process

With only 16 days between Election Day and Thanksgiving, I certainly hope that the candidates from both parties who happen to receive fewer votes than their opponents are still able to be thankful that the integrity of our election process is at least on par with the office they were running for.

We all take risks when facing great challenges, but we should learn from our losses, not complain about them. Making false accusations of fraud without proof would draw attention away from the problems Vladimir Putin is having with Ukraine which epitomizes the true importance of democracy.

Those running for office must lead by example by accepting defeat and vow to do better next time. Otherwise, they become a "puppet for Putin" regardless of party affiliation.

We should all be thankful to be living in a nation that maintains partisan debate within the boundaries of a peaceful transfer of power after every election for every office and jurisdiction. Hopefully, by Thanksgiving we will all realize the difference between a true threat to our personal happiness and success from just another American patriot with a different point of view on a number of issues.

Michael J. Walzer, Akron

Connected to Republicans

Those Republicans who believe their party is vastly superior take great pleasure on the airwaves and social media in criticizing all persons, policies and mistakes connected to Democrats. These Republicans, however, want their party evaluated without including all of the people, policies and mistakes of their ilk.

QAnon is yours. Christian nationalists are yours. The multitude of militias, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, are yours. White supremacists are yours. The Jan. 6 insurrectionists are yours. The fake electors are yours. Also yours are those anonymous cretins who threatened the lives of innocent election workers, lawyers and Republicans and Democrats alike who chose to be critical thinkers and embrace the evidence about the 2020 presidential election.

Alex Jones is yours, as is Mike Lindell. Convicted criminals Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone are yours. Martial law enthusiast Marjorie Taylor Greene is yours. Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell are yours. Herschel Walker is yours. Ye West is yours. Lara Logan (look her up) is yours.

Many more politicians are yours, but don't need listing because they served this country well until they were scared or intimidated by the past president.

The belief here is that, one day, there will be a mutual understanding about the equal worth of each side.Likely, it will come after the next uprising. That's when the cult leader is indicted for his actions before, during and after Jan. 6, and in Georgia, among others. Many Republicans will say, "If he is found guilty, he must face the consequences." Many more will say, "He said he is innocent. He is just being picked on again." And they will act. God help us.

Tom Gaffney, Stow

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Police chief Steve Mylett cares as Akron faces challenges