Wray McCalester seeks 83rd District State Representative seat
Whitley County resident Wray McCalester of Tri Lakes is the Democrat Party’s nominee for the statehouse in the 83rd District, a district that includes parts of Allen, Noble and Whitley counties. McCalester, who retired from General Motors in 2007, is currently pastor at the United Methodist Church in Wolf Lake, where he has served since 1999. He is the longest serving pastor in the 167 year history of the church.
McCalester was selected as part of the committee to negotiate the innovative labor agreement at the then new Fort Wayne Assembly truck plant in 1985.
He participated in three negotiations, the last as chairman. In 1997, he was appointed to the position monitoring the insourcing/outsourcing of work at the facility, a position he held until his retirement.
During his terms as a negotiator and representative the Fort Wayne plant became widely known for its quality, profitability and innovative approaches to problem solving. His last major accomplishment before retiring was to lead the committee that negotiated a 300,000 square foot addition to the plant where sequencing of material is performed. The Fort Wayne plant is the only General Motors facility in the entire country to retain that work. The new building added approximately 140 jobs to the facility and put Fort Wayne in an advantageous position when General Motors was looking for a plant to add a third production shift. The new shift, currently in start-up mode, will add hundreds of new jobs to the facility.
After retirement, he recognized that many, through no fault of their own had no access to affordable health care. McCalester asked for and received permission from the church to explore the possibility of sponsoring a free health clinic in the Wolf Lake community to serve portions of southern Noble County and northern Whitley County. Receiving permission, he approached Dr. Tom Hayhurst, also recently retired at that time, about opening a clinic in Wolf Lake. They recruited other volunteers, and the Wolf Lake Free Health Clinic, now housed in the church, opened in November, 2007. It provides free basic health care for those with no insurance. Most of the clinic’s patients come from Noble and Whitley County. While some free clinics restrict services to residents of one county or area, the Wolf Lake Free Health Clinic does not. McCalester believes it is important to provide services for patients needing care regardless of county of residence.
McCalester said he intends to speak out for small businessmen and women, working men and women, and the many victims of this recession in the district who have lost jobs, homes, and sometimes even their dreams. He plans to stand up for a budget that gives our children a chance for a quality education, and avoid cuts in the numbers of teachers, police and firemen who provide much needed, and often unappreciated service.
He said he believes that much of this can be accomplished by avoiding rash and costly decisions such as the 1.3 billion dollar catastrophe springing from the privatization and outsourcing of the Indiana Family and Social Service Administration to an unproven companies located outside of Indiana.
“Indiana works best when Indiana companies and Indiana workers handle Indiana needs,” said McCalester. “Indiana should not be spending the taxpayer money to hand profits to out of state companies at the expense of Indiana businesses, workers and families. The focus of the legislature and Governor’s office ought to be on bringing in jobs for business and workers and not sending them out.”
“Everyone knows that small businesses are the backbone of a healthy state economy. They employ the most workers and care should be taken to protect them from government foolishness,” McCalester said.