By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — He was the longest-serving director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), and now Fred Dailey has announced he will run for the U.S. Congress in District 18.
“I’ve lived the American dream,” he said. “I came from humble beginnings; I want my kids and grandkids to have the same opportunities that I’ve had.”

Dailey said he loves his country and is a patriot. He is running for office because he thinks the United States is headed in the wrong direction.

“Whether it is cap-and-trade legislation that will raise the utility rates on every resident of the 18th district and put coal miners out of work, a radical government takeover of our health care system or reckless spending bill that are placing mountains of debt on future generations ...” he gave as examples.

The country’s fiscal policies are in a shambles, he said. “Fiscally, we’re in trouble because of the Congress’s insatiable urge to spend money,” Dailey said.

He also has strong feelings on cap-and-trade.

“Cap-and-trade it is nothing less than an economic declaration of war on the Midwest,” Dailey said. “Ohio gets 88 percent of its electricity from coal-fired electrical generating plants and Indiana gets 90 percent.”

It will increase the utility rates of everyone in the 18th District and will put coal miners out of work, he said.

“I would only run in a rural district because I identify with rural values,” Dailey said. “The 18th District is made up of farmers and manufacturers and coal miners. I like to refer to the 16 counties in the 18th Congressional District as the ‘sunrise side’ of Ohio.”
His identification comes from growing up on a small farm. His mother was self-sufficient with food and liked the values that farming instills in people.

“I came from a lower-income family but it was very rich as far as values; very loving,” Dailey said. “Our parents gave us something more important than money: A moral compass.”

He was working in Alaska earning money for college when he received his draft notice. He served in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. After the service he returned to college, earning an undergrad degree in political science and history and a master’s in public administration.

He served as the director of the Indiana Division of Agriculture for six years before returning to Ohio, where he worked for the Ohio Beef Council and the Ohio Cattlemen’s Assoc. In 1991 then-Gov. George Voinovich asked him to be the agricultural director.

While in that position, “we completely rebuilt the Department of Agriculture campus and laboratories,” Dailey said. “There were a number of laws we changed transferring the permitting for large livestock operations from the (Environmental Protection Agency) to the Department of Agriculture.”

Dailey is also proud of the fact that, as he said, the department managed the taxpayers’ dollars well while he was at the helm. After retiring from the ODA he spent time catching up on his 270-acre hay and cattle farm.

He is running for the seat currently held by Rep. Zack Space, a Democrat. Farm World contacted Space’s office repeatedly for comments, but he had not returned phone calls by press time.
For more information, visit www.freddaileyforcongress.com