Litt focuses on keeping jobs in Ohio, working together

Litt

MELISSA MACKEY

Staff Writer

If elected to the 12th Dis­trict of the U.S. Con­gress, Mans­field native Doug Litt plans on using his nego­ti­a­tion skills to bring mem­bers of both polit­i­cal par­ties together.

Litt, 55, takes on fel­low Demo­c­rat Colum­bus attor­ney Jim Reese in the March 6 pri­mary, a step toward 12-year incum­bent Pat Tiberi’s seat.

Litt unsuc­cess­fully ran in the 2007 pri­mary race against a Demo­c­rat oppo­nent for the mayor of Mans­field and was asked by con­stituents to con­sider run­ning for Con­gress, he said.

“It was just some­thing I really enjoyed, trav­el­ing around and meet­ing peo­ple when I ran,” Litt said. “I feel like I can make an impact and help other people.”

Litt has worked in the man­u­fac­tur­ing indus­try for 38 years and cur­rently works as an assem­bler for Gorman-Rupp in Mans­field, a com­pany that designs, man­u­fac­tures and sells pumps for use in water, waste­water, fuel and oil.

His expe­ri­ence in the work­ing indus­try, includ­ing two lay­offs and the sub­se­quent 5– and 7-month unem­ploy­ment peri­ods, puts him in a posi­tion to iden­tify with the mid­dle class, Litt said.

“I under­stand the hard­ships that the mid­dle class go through,” Litt said. “I’ve actu­ally seen hun­dreds of peo­ple apply for just a few posi­tions. I kind of get it right there. Some of these other peo­ple who run are career politi­cians and are in it for them­selves. I could care less about the money. I would actu­ally take a pay cut and pro­vide my own insur­ance, instead of tak­ing the gov­ern­ment handout.”

He earned a schol­ar­ship to study lead­er­ship for four years with the United Steel Work­ers and worked in man­age­ment for 13 years, he said. Litt earned a diploma from Ontario High School and went directly to work fol­low­ing graduation.

Litt, who plans on liv­ing in Mans­field if elected, has been appointed to the Mans­field city char­ter com­mis­sion in 2008 and 2012 and has held var­i­ous union posi­tions. He has worked as a vol­un­teer with the juve­nile court’s CASA (Court-Appointed Spe­cial Advo­cates for Chil­dren) pro­gram and the local hos­pice group.

“I just love get­ting out in the com­mu­nity and work­ing,” Litt said. “My nego­ti­a­tion skills learned over the years are really going to ben­e­fit me. We need to get both par­ties work­ing together right now.”

If ulti­mately elected, Litt’s focus will be the employ­ment sit­u­a­tion in the United States, try­ing to get jobs back into the state and the dis­trict, he said.

“I’d stop the flow of jobs exit­ing the state,” Litt said. “My pre­vi­ous employer of 15 years just closed its doors in Decem­ber because it was offered money to move cor­po­rate to Bowl­ing Green, Ky. The plant in Mans­field was fine and pro­duced the most of any of the plants they have.”

Litt is mar­ried to Julie Ann, and they have four chil­dren and five grandchildren.

Posted by Melissa Mackey on Feb 14 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.