Before the election next Tuesday, candidates are making their final campaign efforts, hoping to spur people to the polls and earn their votes. The entire statewide Republican Party ticket did just that on Thursday while visiting Mansfield area at State Rep. Mark Romanchuk’s facility, PR Machine Works, in Ontario as part of a two-day bus tour.
Speakers at the event included Gov. John Kasich, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, Attorney General Mike DeWine, State Auditor Dave Yost, Secretary of State Jon Husted, State Treasurer Josh Mandel, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judi French, U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi, Rep. Romanchuk and Ohio Republican Chairman Matt Borges.
Over 100 people crowded together to hear the candidates. The audience consisted of various community members, local leaders, school officials, and even students.
Before introducing fellow Grand Old Party members, Romanchuk commented, “I’m extremely pleased at their stop today and I’m especially pleased at the job they’re doing.”
He continued, “It seems like every week there’s a new crisis that comes out of Washington D.C….You also notice that you never hear anything about Ohio. Why is that? It’s because we have a group of people who know how to govern and how to get the job done.”
Several of the candidates discussed the significance of voting. Based on his role as the state’s chief election officer, Husted was able to speak more in depth about the upcoming election and noted, “Voting has been going on for over three weeks now. We’ve had about 900,000 absentee ballots that have been requested. Half a million people have already made their voices heard in this election.”
However, he expressed concern in that he believes people are a little “apathetic” toward the upcoming election, and therefore, people need to make sure that they are not only heading to the polls themselves, but also encouraging others to do the same.
French spoke specifically about the race for the Supreme Court justice and why people should pay special attention to who they elect for that position.
“When the legislature passes a bill, the legislators that you elected pass a law, the governor signs it. Who is it that decides whether it’s constitutional? Who is that decides what it means? Who is that decides how it will be implemented? The Supreme Court.”
She described herself as a conservative justice. “It means that I conserve my power. It means that I limit my role. It means I define my role by the Constitution. It means I don’t legislate from the bench,” she explained.
Other candidates spoke about the progress they’ve witnessed since entering office.
“When we all came in [to office] the state’s financial ranking was 43rd in the country. Today the state’s financial ranking is seventh in the country,” said Mandel. “We’ve seen a group of men and women who’ve put Ohio on the right track,” he said.
DeWine discussed how his office has helped improve the way in which DNA testing is handled during criminal investigations. He said the wait time for the completion of DNA analyses lasted 125 days prior to him taking office.
“Despite the fact that we’re now doing four times as much DNA testing as was done four years ago, we’ve taken the wait time down 125 days to an average of 22.3 days, and maybe more importantly, we can and we do turn cases around in 24 hours,” he said.
Taylor also spoke of improvements seen within the state, noting, “Ohio is in a much better place. Gov. Kasich and I knew that when we came into office Ohio was in the ditch. We faced an $8 million budget deficit, we had 89 cents in our savings account, and we had lost 350,000 jobs in the private sector.”
She continued, “Today we have nearly $1.5 billion in our savings account and nearly a quarter million jobs have been created in the private sector since we took office.”
She discussed how the business sector has been positively impacted and said, “We are getting rid of the silly rules and red tape that are standing in the way of job creators.”
The final candidate to speak was Gov. Kasich, who was greeted by audience members with a standing ovation. He touched on job development and noted, “We are growing significantly from 350,000 jobs lost to 250,000 jobs up. That’s filling Ohio Stadium two and a half times with people walking back in and being able to go home and say, ‘I have a job.’”
He said his office has been working aggressively to combat the drug issue and to educate the youth about the hazards of drug use. Speaking directly to students in the audience he said, “Kids, stay away from drugs…you all have hopes and dreams, don’t you? If you take drugs, you destroy them.”
He also talked about the importance of making opportunities available for everyone. He said, “I believe that we all have a purpose, and our purpose is to improve the world in which we live, and that means that everybody, everybody gets a chance.”
“With the working poor, we’re providing programs now to get them trained and get them uplifted so they can move themselves along and share in the growing strength of Ohio,” he noted.
He also stated, “In our state for the first time in 12 years, the people of Ohio by 60 percent are saying that Ohio is headed in the right direction.”
He continued by saying that Ohio sets an example to the rest of the country by working together. “When we stay together and continue to solve problems, include everyone and build a stronger economy, we send a message to the rest of the country that needs a message desperately about how to get things done, how to serve the people,” he said.
