STATEMENT: Sen. Cates on Gov. Strickland Visit to Butler County

Release:

COLUMBUS—State Senator Gary Cates (R-Butler County) issued the following statement in response to Governor Strickland’s visit to BizTech this afternoon to discuss small business job creation initiatives.

“I would like to thank Governor Strickland for traveling to Butler County today to talk about ways we can help stimulate job creation and grow small businesses in Ohio. However, I must question why after three years of failing to address major barriers to economic development in our state and doing very little to ‘turn around Ohio’ as he promised, the Governor is now ready to talk jobs just as campaign season starts to heat up.
“Under the Governor’s watch, Ohio has lost more than 300,000 jobs. He has refused to talk about concerns with recent rate increases at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, which increased premiums for thousands of small businesses in our state, and he has not pushed House Democrats to pass a regulatory reform bill that Senate Republicans approved months ago.
“In addition, he chose to raise taxes on Ohio families and businesses during one of the worst economic periods in our state’s history, and his unwillingness to even discuss many reasonable long-term cost-saving ideas is leading our state down a path toward an even larger tax increase in the future.
“Really, the Governor’s only big jobs proposal over the past several months has been advocating for renewal of the Ohio Third Frontier program, which was established by former Governor Bob Taft and the Republican General Assembly.
“While I am glad the Governor chose to discuss job creation in Butler County, his paltry economic record over the past three years and lack of action on critical reforms that would improve our business climate, gives me serious doubt that he is qualified to turn around our economy and put our state in a position to grow and succeed in the future.”