Latta Republican opponent knocks on 10,000th door in Maumee

Dec. 05--Todd Wolfrum, a Van Wert County Republican trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green), knocked on what he said was his 10,000th door during a campaign walking stint Monday in Maumee.

Mr. Wolfrum, 46, of the village of Middle Point, a lawyer and two-term county commissioner, contends Mr. Latta isn't living up to the promises Republicans made to reverse the growth of government.

A "Trump" flag hung from the front of the house on Greenfield Drive that Mr. Wolfrum said was his 10,000 door knock of the campaign, a good sign from Mr. Wolfrum's perspective.

Owner Jim Beaverson, a sports merchandising entrepreneur, said he's supporting President Donald Trump "big time." Mr. Beaverson offered Mr. Wolfrum modest encouragement.

"I think Bob Latta has done a good job. I know Todd's out trying for that position, so we'll have to wait and see," Mr. Beaverson said.

At another door, a woman engaged Mr. Wolfrum in conversation, starting with, "You're a Republican? Why are you running against Latta?" She said she didn't care about the budget, but about abortion, religious liberty, and illegal immigration.

Mr. Latta has represented the 5th Congressional District since winning a special election in 2007, after defeating four other Republicans. The district is made up of all or parts of 14 counties in northwest Ohio, including the western half of Lucas County.

A former Wood County commissioner and the son of the late former congressman Delbert Latta, Mr. Latta defeated Republican primary opponents in 2008, 2010, and 2012, but ran without internal opposition in the last two elections.

Mr. Wolfrum said he wishes Mr. Latta was more like his Ohio neighbor Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Urbana), who is a Tea Party leader in Congress and a member of the Liberty Caucus.

"I would join the Freedom Caucus," he said. He also said he would hold open town hall meetings, even if it means getting yelled at by some constituents.

"That's a requirement of the job," he said.

"Mr. Latta's way of doing his job is hiding," Mr. Wolfrum said. "I don't know Mr. Latta's opinion on anything."

"I haven't seen one thing he's done to further limit the growth of government," Mr. Wolfrum said. "He votes how the leadership tells him to vote. A monkey could do that.

"When you campaign as a pro-lifer why aren't you sponsoring legislation to advance that," he said. An example, he said, would be legislation to fully de-fund Planned Parenthood.

Mr. Wolfrum's views are not universally shared among anti-abortion rights organizations. Family Research Council in February gave Mr. Latta the 'True Blue' Award for his 100 percent anti-abortion voting record on the 2016 scorecard.

According to Family Research Council, the scorecard includes "votes that support faith, family, and freedom including eliminating taxpayer funding for abortion, protecting religious freedom, and preventing government discrimination against pro-life groups."

Campaign spokesman Drew Griffin responded to The Blade for Mr. Latta.

"Congressman Latta is proud of his conservative record in Congress. He has the backing of the pro-life community, 2nd Amendment supporters, and conservative groups because he consistently stands up for the values of Ohio's 5th Congressional District," Mr. Griffin said.

He said Mr. Latta has held 129 "courthouse conferences" and many telephone town hall meetings since arriving in Congress and in the last five years more than 800 meetings in his district.

"The voters in northwest and west central Ohio know Bob Latta, and they know he's fighting for them in Congress," Mr. Griffin said.

Mr. Wolfrum launched his campaign in June. Since then, he has been knocking on doors and leaving his campaign literature throughout the district. He said he knocks at the homes of people who voted in the 2016 Republican primary, of which there were about 100,000. Assuming that every home has, on average, one and one half Republican voters, that means there are more than 60,000 voter doors to knock in the district.

He keeps a record of the houses he's knocked and posts his progress on the Internet at toddwolfrum.com.

He's learned a lot about the times people are most likely at home, and whether they want to chat or not.

"If they want to talk, you give them the opportunity. If they don't, give them something to read," he said. He said he has been walking neighborhoods in Maumee, Sylvania, Perrysburg, and Bowling Green weekly since about August. He has made multiple trips to Findlay, Napoleon, Defiance, Wauseon, Bryan, Kenton, Celina, Archbold, and Upper Sandusky.

The Republican primary is in May, 2018.

On the Democratic side J. Michael Galbraith of Maumee and James Neu, Jr., of Perrysburg have said they will seek their party's nomination.

Mr. Wolfrum recently self-published a book, "The Conservative Story." The book is 216 pages.

Contact Tom Troy at [email protected], 419-724-6058, or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

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