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A Path To Prosperity

By: Rob Portman (Diary)  |  May 7th, 2010 at 09:55 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

There’s a clear choice in the Senate race here in Ohio. I am running because I know we need a new direction. Ohio is suffering from record unemployment and continues to fall behind. Everything Washington is doing – from the higher taxes and more regulations to higher energy and health care costs and record deficits – makes it harder for Ohio to get on its feet.

My opponent, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, likes what he sees in Washington. He is in lock step with the Pelosi/Reid/Obama agenda and would be a reliable vote for policies that will dig an even deeper hole for Ohio. He was a champion for the $800 billion “stimulus” bill, and to hear him tell it, the Washington big government healthcare bill didn’t go far enough; he wanted a strong government option.

The choice is clear, and I hope you agree, it’s time for new leadership and new ideas to turn things around and chart a path to prosperity for Ohio and our nation. If elected to serve the people of Ohio, I will stand with the people of Ohio to oppose these wrong-headed policies, but also to advocate for common-sense policies to get Ohio back to work as we suffer through the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.

Lt. Gov. Fisher brings a failed record to the race. Since the Strickland-Fisher Administration took office in January 2007, and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher became Ohio’s Jobs Czar, Ohio has lost more than 430,000 jobs and our unemployment rate has more than doubled. Even for those who are working, paychecks are not stretching as far as they used to, and the value of homes and retirement accounts have declined, putting more pressure on working families.

As Ohio continues to fall behind the rest of the country, the policies and lack of leadership in
Washington and Columbus are making things worse. I have traveled to every corner of our state, meeting with workers and small business owners in all of Ohio’s 88 counties. Everywhere I go I meet Ohioans who are frustrated by the lack of focus on jobs by our elected officials and who are looking for a new direction and real leadership to help Ohio’s economy grow.

Our path forward starts by recognizing that the private sector, not government, creates jobs. As an example, since the government-focused stimulus was enacted more than a year ago, Ohio has lost nearly 200,000 private sector jobs while the government sector has grown.

Ohioans are hurting, and if elected, I will bring a laser-like focus on jobs and Ohio’s economy. I believe we are at a moment of truth for Ohio and that’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate. The fundamental question is whether we will leave to our kids and grandkids a better world, or whether we will continue to let Ohio fall behind? Will we continue to see businesses and young people leave our state or will we help develop solutions to renew our state and our country? Now is the time for bold action and decisions to turn things around.

Government does have a very important role to play: to create and foster an environment that leads to job creation and economic growth. Unfortunately, the policies and proposals coming out of Columbus and Washington right now have the exact opposite effect. Rather than unleash the private sector to encourage Ohioans to innovate and invest in new technologies and workers, government is instead saddling Ohio businesses with higher taxes, more burdensome regulations, and costly legislation. It goes without saying, the more costly it becomes to operate and grow a business here in Ohio, the more businesses we will see leaving the state and the more families we will see losing their jobs.

This does not have to be Ohio’s future. Let’s work together to chart a new course for Ohio families and businesses. Government must create the climate for success, rather than what we see now, which is government promoting irrational job-killing policies, more burdensome regulations and higher taxes.

It is possible to get things moving again, but it will require changing the way Columbus and Washington do business. Ohio needs and deserves effective new leadership to get our economy back on track during these tough times.

- In order to win I need your support. Please take a moment to Download my Plan to Create Ohio Jobs. Read it and let me know what you think; and send it to your friends and family.
- Visit RobPortman.com and sign up to get involved in the campaign.
- Follow me on Twitter and stay in touch with the campaign on Facebook.

I know that working together we can create the environment for job growth again and put Ohio and America back on track for our children and grandchildren.


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COMMENTS

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  • hickorystick

    putting a human face and a human story to each point, and explain how the federal interference hurts Ohions. Americans are so much into Adam Smith right now, as they are into Emile Zola

    • Ausonius

      Ohio Dem Lee Fisher has several class-warfare ads specifically targeting the “evil corporations sending Ohio jobs to China” and their Republican supporters.

      Some woman with an 85 I.Q. comes on TV and complains about her lack of Health Care, and how Republicans don’t care about her children, blah blah blah.

      Republicans need to avoid the weakening of a Conservative message, as is seen in England right now with so-called Conservatives joining the “Here’s what we will give you!” bandwagon. Showing how allowing citizens to work and handle their own health care -with a tax credit they can carry to any company they want – is much better.

      The exporting of jobs is another issue which has subtle points needing explanation: Americans might lose job X to China, but by doing so 2 Job Y’s are created. Yet, one does want to help American businesses to expand here through lower and simplified taxation.

      No sobbing mothers would be involved in such ads! :)

      • hickorystick

        between people who aren’t making an effort, and those whose industries have been screwed by government policies. There are plenty of people out there who studied, had a job, and maintained control of their lives. But through no fault of their own, the company they owned or worked for was destroyed by bad policy decisions and/or corporations shifting factories to countries that don’t support freedom or workers protection.
        I’m particularly irritated at corporations who design and build products in foreign countries, then import them without tariff. The navy that protects the transport ship, the port that supplies infrastructure, the road the product travels on, the police that secure property possesion, don’t come free. It’s just the corporation doesn’t want to pay for it. It usually is dropped on the state taxpayer. I won’t even go into what China’s environment looks like compared to ours. Rust belt states like Ohio are particularly hard hit because they have no port (no pun intended). They have zero negotiating ability to influence foreign countries decisions or trade
        .

    • SIConservative

      Thanks for taking the time to post here, Rob. I hope that you stick around for some questions, as I have one and I’m sure others have their own.

      I realize that the deficits projected under President Obama are considerably larger than those under President Bush, but I should hope that we all agree that a standard of “better than Obama” is not the measure of fiscal responsibility. Given the deficits under the Bush administration and your role in them as Budget Director, could you please explain why should we trust you to be a fiscally responsible member of the Senate?

      • http://robportman.com Rob Portman

        During my tenure at OMB, I submitted a balanced budget to Congress, but unfortunately the Democratically controlled Congress increased its spending and our deficit by $298 billion. I also spearheaded efforts to put earmarks on-line to increase transparency and reduce pork-spending, And I worked to lower taxes and the burden of government for all Ohio families and businesses.

        I also supported providing the President Line Item Veto authority to get spending under control and took the lead as OMB Director in getting legislation passed in the House in 2006. Glad to see that idea is back under consideration, it would have my support.

        Leading conservative organizations support my fiscal conservative record:

        • janis

          like to know how you defend your support of the Presidential Line Item Veto authority, given the diary that was posted by Moe Lane here about this very subject. He posited that Obama would use it to defeat any possible attempt to repeal HCR. If the Line Item Veto question was ruled unconstitutional under Clinton, then why would you support it now?

          • janis
        • SIConservative

          Thanks for your quick response. I’m glad that you submitted a balanced budget to Congress, and I certainly had no qualms with your record on taxes. I am, though, concerned about your focus on earmarks in your response.

          As you are well aware, though most citizens probably are not, earmarks are a negligible part of a considerably larger problem. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the accumulating debt required to fund them, are the real problems, though barely any politicians have demonstrated the political courage to say so, never mind act accordingly. That’s not entirely their fault, as voters don’t often respond kindly to the politicians who tell them what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. For decades, our politicians have put us on a path of national bankruptcy by sweeping these problems under the rug. Will you be any different?