Mike was born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania. His mother is a teacher at a Catholic school and his father is an accountant. He has one younger brother. Mike actively participated in the nationally renowned Norwin High School marching band and his high school track and field team. Mike was also involved in numerous church activies including Chancel Choir, teaching younger children with the Youth Club, and Bell Choir at the First Presbyterian Church in Irwin, PA.
In 1997, Mike moved to Columbus, Ohio to attend The Ohio State University as an engineering undergraduate student. After experiencing the trials and tribulations of academic life and getting several years of real-world working experience, Mike completed school at DeVRY and graduated in October 2004 with a BS in Computer Information Systems.
Literally the next day, Mike started graduate school at the Keller Graduate School of Management. In just 16 months of intense work, he obtained a Masters in Public Administration with a dual emphasis in government management and nonprofit management (February 2006) and a Masters in Project Management (October 2005).
Mike's work experience includes a wide variety of job sectors including customer service, food service, manual labor, manufacturing, banking, e-commerce, auditing, health care manufacturing, and affordable housing rental and management. Currently, his is an IT Support-Analyst for a privately owned/operated provider of affordable housing, helping to support high quality living arrangements for some of Ohio's citizens.
After attending the Libertarian Party of Ohio convention in 2007, Mike became Deputy Treasurer and helped oversee the subsequent growth of the LPO as it became an organized force in Ohio politics. Later that year with the resignation of the elected Treasurer, Mike was automatically elevated and then later elected to that position. Mike's involvement in the LPO has included lobbying the Ohio legislature for freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and equal protection rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America and the Ohio Constitution.
Mike is running in this race to restore freedom, limited government, self-determination, and dignity to the people of the 19th district and Ohio. For too long, our elected leaders have expanded the scope and cost of government until today, when we have a government that takes, through various means, more than 50% of the average working family's income. Modern American families need two incomes so that one income can pay for the government and its regulations, while the other supports the needs of the family. This is wrong, and needs to be corrected. Mike will stand up for working families in ALL income brackets, not just those it is politically expedient to support. Mike will oppose the growth of oppressive state regulatory agencies that have crushed Ohio's economy, reduced employment, and sent millions into foreclosure and bankruptcy. Only by making the government smaller can Ohio's economy and energy dependence on other nations be improved.
Regardless of the outcome of this race, the people of Ohio will always need someone to stand up for their freedom against the lobbyists, special interests, and corrupt politicians that have plagued our state and our nation. It is up to YOU, the people, to maintain your own freedoms by using the ballot box and the right of your vote to select the candidate or candidates you feel will best represent you and protect your freedoms, rights, and responsibilities as American and Ohio citizens.