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    Oyango Snell is Hitting the Campaign Trail

    On August 1st, Oyango Snell officially jumped into the race for the 15th District of the Ohio Senate. This young Columbusite was most recently serving as the Director of Legislative & Governmental Affairs for the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, and previously as a Government Relations Lawyer for Bricker and Eckler. Additionally, Oyango serves on Mayor Coleman’s Create Columbus Commission, has been recognized as one of Business First’s “40 Under 40”, and participates in a variety of other civic boards and volunteer-based organizations.

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    We recently sat down with Oyango to learn more about his decision to run for public office, and what sort of new perspective he plans on bringing to the table.

    Walker Evans: This is the first elected position you’ve run for, so I’ve got to ask right off the bat… why now? What made you decide that now was the right time to step into the race?

    Oyango Snell: Actually, a lot of things helped me make that decision. We just participated in a very historic election last year, no matter who you voted for. During that process, young professionals got a chance to get engaged and involved, and hopefully enlightened about what was going on in our state and in our country. I was one of those individuals. But even before that, I grew up always wanting to be involved in politics and law. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and when I was around 7 or 8 years old I had the opportunity to see Harold Washington become the first African American Mayor of Chicago. He lived in our neighborhood, Hyde Park. My mom was a community service worker, and I would go with her to help pass out campaign material for Harold. He ran his campaign with a focus on bringing people with different backgrounds together to build a sense of community. Seeing that at a young age, it’s always stuck with me, and I’ve wanted my career to be a marriage of law and politics.

    WE: So how did you make the eventual migration from Chicago to Columbus?

    OS: Central State University first brought me to Ohio back in 1994. I played football there, and was on the 1996 championship team. About 2 or 3 years into college, Central State was going through some turmoil. There were some allegations that some administrators at the school had mismanaged funds and the school was in danger of being closed down. I quit the football team and got involved with other students to help fight to keep it open. Central State is one of the only, if not the only, publicly-funded historically black colleges in the Midwest.  It was around that time that I learned the importance of the political decisions in Columbus having effects throughout the entire state. So I applied for an internship and for law school at the same time in 1998. I didn’t get into The Ohio State University, but I did get the internship, so I took that. It has been the best opportunity of my entire professional life. So that’s what brought me to Columbus originally.

    WE: For those unfamiliar with the area, can you tell us a bit about the portions of the city that the 15th Ohio Senate district encompasses?

    OS: It’s a very large district, and the current Senator is Ray Miller. Each Senate district includes three House districts. This particular district encompasses the 25th, 26th and 27th House districts held by Dan Stewart, Tracy Heard, and W. Carlton Weddington.

    The 25th district includes the west part of the city… The Hilltop, Franklinton, Westgate and the Southwest side. It also includes part of the Short North, Arena District and some of the South Side. The 26th district includes the rest of the South Side and part of the East Side. The 27th district includes the OSU campus area, Clintonville, and some of the area out towards Easton and Gahanna. Of course, there are some other sections and cities carved out such as Bexley and Whitehall.

    All in all, there’s about 330,000 to 345,000 residents in the 15th District, which may jump up by another 10 to 15 thousand after the new 2010 census is completed.

    WE: With such a large and diverse area, are you able to find some common ground for the platform issues that you’re running on?

    OS: Of course. Healthcare is obviously very significant issue for everyone, and we will focus on it, but the number one issue right now is our economy. It’s important for folks to have jobs so that they can afford healthcare and avoid foreclosure on their mortgage and so on and so forth. A lot of these big issues we have are derivative of not having adequate employment.

    So we’re going to start by focusing on the economy and creating a sustainable and more vibrant community for entrepreneurs and small businesses in Ohio. A quarter of the US population either work for or own a small business. But our policies at the state and federal level do not put forth a friendly environment for small businesses, especially minority-owned and women-owned small businesses. So there are a lot of programs I want to take a look at. For example, when you look at state contracts there’s what’s called the “Set Aside Program” for minority-owned and women-owned small businesses, and yet the state returns a large portion of those funds because folks are not aware of the processes of bidding for those contracts. So that’s one of the types of things I want to make the public more aware of, and I’ve been kicking around a few ideas on how we can do a better job of things like that.

    Another key issue is education. It’s hard to get a job without proper training for the 21st century. We’ve got to really improve the quality of education for our children to prepare for the jobs of tomorrow. Which also ties into another important issue being the attraction of green jobs to Central to Ohio. What I’m referring to are the same types of construction, maintenance, and building jobs that we have now, only working with new technologies. Ohio is posed to be a leader in the manufacturing of technologies such as windmills and solar panels. But we’ve got a lot of improvements to make in re-educating our workforce.

    Last but not least, an important issue for me is the preserving and protecting of our civil rights. Regardless of your race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation or disability, no one should be discriminated against for any reason.

    WE: With the economy and job market being one of your top issues, I have to ask what you think of our current business climate in Ohio. I’ve seen quite a few studies and rankings completed that indicate that our business-friendliness is quite low on a state level for a variety of reasons. Do you see that as a black eye for Ohio, or as an opportunity for improvement?

    OS: I think it’s the latter, but it’s also a realistic picture of where we currently are. With every problem that anyone approaches, you have to first assess the landscape before you can look at the opportunities. These studies let us know where we stand with our business climate, and now we need to take a look at new processes that we can implement, new innovations to help businesses thrive and prosper. We know what some of the issues are… healthcare costs, high taxes, et cetera… so how can we as public policy developers create an environment that lets businesses get back to doing what they do best without being held back by these problems.

    WE: So how has the response been on the campaign trail so far? Are you getting a lot of good feedback?

    OS: Yeah, it’s going pretty well. We officially kicked off on August 1st, so that was almost a month ago. This is a very long process. This election isn’t until May 2010. I started early because I feel that when you’re asking for the responsibility to serve, you have a responsibility to understand who you’re trying to serve, and that takes time and education. I’ve been a part of this community for almost 12 years and I’ve been all over the city, and participated in a lot of community activities. I’ve managed to meet many folks, some in the social services arena, and a lot of the response from them has been great. There have been a few neighborhood leaders that have jumped on board with the campaign and the things we’d like to accomplish both in the senate and in our city.

    Anyway, I’m looking forward to this race. I make no illusions on how difficult it is, but nothing that’s worth having ever comes easy. We’re going to work hard and get out and meet a lot of folks. It doesn’t stop there though. The easy part is getting elected, the real challenge will be serving.

    WE: Thanks for taking the time today to sit down and chat with us.

    OS: My pleasure.

    More information can be found online at OyangoSnell.com.

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    Walker Evans
    Walker Evanshttps://columbusunderground.com
    Walker Evans is the co-founder of Columbus Underground, along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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