Thank you for contacting the office of Representative Ron Maag and expressing your concerns regarding library funding. As his Legislative Aide, Rep. Maag asked that I respond on his behalf.

As you can imagine, the District 35 office has been flooded with hundreds of e-mails and dozens of telephone calls on this matter. The incredible amount of support shown throughout the community for the library system is evident by our inbox, which continues to overflow. Rep. Maag greatly appreciates this correspondence, as he too supports the libraries, and would like to thank you for your sharing your voice with our office.

Rep. Maag stands by you and has grave concerns for the future of our libraries. He believes that what Governor Strickland is proposing is a monstrosity to the education and livelihood of our communities, especially to our children and seniors. Rep. Maag is also very worried about the impact the governor’s funding cuts will have on all residents who use libraries to borrow materials, use the computers to search for employment, and the employees who may be laid off. Like you, he believes that losing the libraries would be an enormous step in the wrong direction. He understands that, while cuts need to be made across the state, libraries should not be the ones to receive such cuts.

The Budget Bill (House Bill 1) is currently in conference committee, where it is being reviewed by a selected group of six legislators who will hash out differences between the version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives, and the version of the bill passed by the Senate. It is then that this final version would be sent to the governor.

Because Representative Maag is not on the conference committee, there is a limited amount of influence he has on the budget bill at this point. However, Representative Maag has taken the opportunity to write a letter June 23, 2009 to the office of Representative Ron Amstutz, a member of the conference committee who is also part of the House Minority Caucus with Rep. Maag.

In this letter, Rep. Maag has expressed his enormous support for libraries and explained his concern for any funding cuts proposed by Governor Strickland. He knows that libraries play an essential role in keeping the public informed and educated. In addition, they provide services that many either do not have access to or cannot afford.

I would like to encourage you to also contact Governor Strickland’s office directly to express your displeasure with his proposed cuts to libraries. His office can be reached by dialing (614) 466-3555 or online by completing this contact form. It is important that Governor Strickland hears directly from the people he will be impacting by these devastating cuts.

While Rep. Maag does not sit on the conference committee, he will certainly continue to monitor any development on this issue. Again, thank you for writing and making Rep. Maag aware of your concerns. If this office may be of assistance with this or any other state related issue, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best Regards,

Michael J. Evans
Legislative Aide
Representative Ron Maag, District 35
Ohio House of Representatives
p: (614) 644-6023
f: (614) 719-3589