Gail Pavliga, Portage's new state representative, settling in to new role

Three months after being sworn in as state representative for most of Portage County, Gail Pavliga is settling into her role.

A Republican, Pavliga was elected in November to serve the 75th District in the Ohio House of Representatives. Serving as vice chair of the Behavioral Health and Recovery Supports committee in the statehouse, she said she's using her experience as a counselor and educator to represent Portage County.

"Every other job I've ever had in my life has prepared me to be there," she said. 

Pavliga, a 30-year resident of Atwater, spoke about her new duties while near Kent State University. It's a familiar place to her family, because both she and her husband, Frank, as well as their adult children, Katie and Steve, hold degrees from KSU. 

She has started and built several businesses, including a counseling practice. Pavliga previously said she believes Portage County has become more conservative, and those people have not been represented in the 75th District, which has been represented by Democrats through most of its history.

She remains an adjunct professor at Malone University by teaching one class, and does some counseling on weekends, but devotes most of her time to her duties in Columbus. In addition to her work on the behavioral health committee, she also serves on the higher education and career readiness and primary and secondary education committees.

Pavliga said she knows representing Portage County means reaching across the aisle, both in Columbus and working with local Democrats in Portage County. She said she's reached out to Juvenile Court Judge Patricia Smith about legislation that would extend the protection of the court to guardians ad litem, and establishing a court appointed Special Advocates group in Portage County. 

Despite a red wave in the last election, Pavliga said she knows that Portage County is still a swing county, with voters not necessarily adhering to party lines.

"They will vote on the issues and on the people," she said. "It's very much down the middle. I have no problem reaching across the aisle."

Pavliga said her concern about the opioid epidemic led her to co-sponsor House Bill 193, which requires all prescriptions for Schedule II drugs to be prescribed electronically, a move meant to cut down on fraudulent or stolen prescriptions. She said her co-sponsor on the bill, Al Cutrona, a Republican from Canfield, is a lawyer for his family's pharmacy practice.

She also is working with the family of Cpl. Ben Dillon, an Edinburg native who was killed in 2007 while fighting with the U.S. Army in Iraq. The bill, part of a larger piece of legislation, would create a highway in Dillon's memory in the Edinburg area. 

She said her office gets 30 to 60 emails and calls a day and some people are surprised when she responds. But she said she believes it's her duty to work hard to represent local residents and give them answers to their questions.

The fast-paced environment of Columbus has her running from building to building in sneakers, slipping on her high heels before she walks into the statehouse, she noted. She relies on her background as a counselor to fill notebooks with her observations.

"It's very vibrant and fast-paced and interesting," she said.