As gas hovers just under $4 a gallon and inflation is on the rise, many Ohioans are looking at their budgets. And that’s top of mind for voters, most of whom rank economic issues as the main factor in their votes this November. Statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles takes a look at how the issue is affecting the race for Governor.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said at the Intel groundbreaking earlier this year that if Ohio stays on track, it has a bright future.
“This is a great victory and it is just the beginning”
It’s not just Intel: Honda, Ford, GM’s Lordstown Motors, and Google are a few of the other big companies expanding and creating new jobs in Ohio. DeWine says that’s because he and majority Republicans have made Ohio attractive for businesses. Though DeWine declined to sit down to answer questions about his economic plan, he talked about a key part of it in his State of the State speech earlier this year.
“We slashed state spending at the point of the pandemic by a whopping $1.2 billion dollars. And we cut taxes by more than $3.6 billion dollars, creating Ohio’s lowest taxes in more than 40 years (applause fade under)”
Democrat Nan Whaley, who would be dealing with a Republican-dominated legislature, has a different approach. Her “One Good Job” plan focuses on creating workforce opportunities statewide, and she wants to boost the minimum wage to $15. And to help Ohio families deal with inflation, she said she would give working Ohioans rebates of $350 or $700 from the $5.3 billion in American Rescue Plan funds that came to Ohio.
“States like Florida and Indiana have done this so we aren’t talking about blue states for sure.”
Whaley said Ohio families are hurting and there’s more that DeWine should be doing and that she would do.
“Really stopping price gouging. You know Ohio is one of the few states in the nation where it is still legal for corporations to gouge consumers without any repercussions. That’s affecting us on prescription drugs, utility costs, example after example. The governor could do that right now with an executive order and still won’t do it.”
Whaley also said while companies coming into and expanding in Ohio is good news, there’s too much emphasis on development in Central Ohio. And she said DeWine has a poor record of being accountable when it comes to what the state is giving up to lure those businesses.
“Mike DeWine likes to go to the ribbon cutting but he is always scant on details. You know just ask the folks in Wood County who were excited that they had a Pelaton manufacturing facility coming with 2000 jobs. Mike DeWine was all there with the big ribbon cutting. When it was announced the jobs weren’t coming, he was nowhere to be found. And we see that an awful lot across the state – big announcements, no details.”
DeWine has been making a lot of announcements over the last year about the money he’s spending – and mentioned that in an ad.
"....Dewine increased funding for law enforcement to keep us safe....”
DeWine used federal American Rescue Plan money for that, to pay off a $1.5 billion federal loan to the unemployment compensation fund, to expand broadband and other things he’s taken credit for – while criticizing the federal government for what he calls “reckless spending”. Whaley called DeWine a “hypocrite” for an ad where he slams her for supporting the American Rescue Plan, which wouldn’t have happened without Democrats, since no Republican members of Congress or Senators voted for it.
Whaley is the first woman to be a major party nominee for Ohio governor and has struggled with fundraising and low name recognition. DeWine has raised an unprecedented amount for the governor’s race, and has stayed away from traditional campaign events and has rejected interviews. Whaley has been doing those things, and said she’d like Ohioans to have the opportunity to watch her and DeWine debate, but he has refused.