By Sheryl Roadcap

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PIQUA — Miami County elected officials, business leaders and municipal employees attended a State of the State luncheon that was hosted by Covington, Piqua, Tipp City, and Troy Area Chambers of Commerce at the Fort Piqua Plaza on North Main Street in Piqua on Thursday, Aug 24.

Presentations were slated to be given by Congressmen Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Mike Carey (R-OH), but Davidson, was unable to attend due to a change in his schedule.

“We would like to pass along Rep. Warren Davidson’s regrets, as his schedule was changed as he was called up for an overseas delegation trip with the Foreign Affairs Committee, which he was appointed to in January,” said Piqua Area Chambers of Commerce Executive Director Kathy Sherman after welcoming attendees.

After lunch was served, Carey spoke about his background, how he came into office to help those present learn more about himself, and the work he is doing in Congress. Carey said he was sworn-in as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 4, 2021, after winning the 2021 special election and never previously running for office. He represents Ohio’s 15th Congressional District. The 15th district is comprised of parts of Miami, Shelby, Clark, Fayette, and Franklin Counties, as well as all of Madison County. He currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Committee on House Administration.

“I come from the background; I worked on the Hill and I actually started at the State House,” said Carey, about working as an aide to State Senator Merle G. Kearns.

He went on to say he grew up on a farm in Sabina, a small Ohio town in Clinton County. Carey said after three years at the State House he then began to run several trade organizations in Columbus before going on to work for the largest, independent energy company in the U.S. for 15 years.

“So, I was pretty familiar with members of Congress, and all of the sudden Steve Stivers, who was a member, decided he wanted to spend more time in Central Ohio, and he took the job with the chamber as president for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, so that left a big void,” Carey said.

“And so when I ran, I decided that I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, but what I’m going to do while I’m here is try to make as much of a change to the system that we call this experiment of the government that we have in Washington, D.C.,” said Carey. “

He noted that redistricting occurs every 10 years, and said when the 15th congressional district was redrawn, he went from representing at least one county away from West Virginia to one county away from Indiana.

“If you add that up, in about two years, I represented about 21% of the state of Ohio,” Carey explained.

He spoke on the various committees and legislation he has brought forward including, partnering up with Rep. Floyd Smucker (R-PA) to bring forward the Main Street Tax Certainty Act, which is aimed to help small business be treated like large corporations, among several other pieces of legislation.

“I’ve kept my promise to the voters that I was not just going to sit on my hands and knees, If I got elected. So, I think we have been very successful to work with a lot of the local communities to make sure we were able to bring back dollars that usually would go to New York and California,” Carey said.

When taking question from members of the audience, Carey touched on his take on State Issue 1 that was just on the ballot, passing the appropriations bill and the upcoming November election. He shared his thoughts that when a vote needs to be a “yes” on the ballot, as with Issue 1, the message has to be clearly sold. He also said the Senate race — containing candidates whom are all his good friends — will be a tough one, and said he believes after this break in Congress, they think they have “put together enough people” to get the appropriations bill passed.

Carey also said he wishes to see civility return among those of opposing parties in Congress and has reached across the aisle to work on creating the Freedom Civility Caucus.

For all things Mike Carey, visit his website at https://carey.house.gov .