Today, John Kasich came out with his 2nd major policy proposal, The Common Sense Initiative.
Despite previous reform attempts, Ohio is beset by duplicative, outdated and excessive rules and regulations from state agencies that hinder economic growth and job creation. John Kasich and Mary Taylor will tear down the barriers to growth created by regulations and reduce compliance costs to the lowest level consistent with public health and safety and legislative intent.
Strickland’s campaign team has come out with an awfully strange way to combat Kasich’s proposal.
They’ve said Ted has already done it.
In other words, they are defending the status quo.
They look to the executive order signed by Strickland back in February of 2008 and say Kasich is simply copying his idea.
Make no mistake, folks on both sides should be looking to simplify regulations and make them more transparent. The problem? Strickland’s supposed reforms failed to make any significant improvements.
Want proof?
A bipartisan panel of Ohio legislators created a task force that looked at regulations in Ohio and had a few things to say about the Governor’s executive order:
This Task Force agrees wholeheartedly with the goals outlined in the Executive Order, but finds, based on testimony from citizens, organizations, businesses and economic development professionals from around the state, some regulatory agencies have made progress, but many have not yet fully implemented these efforts, and in some areas, legislative action can and should be taken.
Why would Republicans and Democrats alike recommend legislative action? Because the Governor had failed to implement the reforms he proposed.
Governor Strickland needs to learn you can’t govern by press release. Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice that an executive order was signed or that he called for this change or that change. But Ohioans need results, not rhetoric.
The Governor had his chance. And he failed.
And it goes beyond the legislative task force.
You may remember when 3BP discussed the 2010 CNBC ranking of the best states for business.
They ranked states in a number of categories. One of them was “business friendliness”. CNBC described the category this way:
“Regulation and litigation are the bane of business. Sure, some of each is inevitable. But we graded the states on the perceived “friendliness” of their legal and regulatory frameworks to business.”
Guess where Ohio ranked this year.
Last in the Midwest and 38th overall.
That’s this year. That’s the result of Ted’s regulation reform.
Dead. Last.
Think that makes a difference when companies are trying to determine where to build in the Midwest? Absolutely.
Governor Strickland, you claim to be proud of your executive order proposing regulation reform back in 2008. But are you sure you want to brag about these kinds of results?
Dead last in the Midwest?
Politically speaking, it’s also an incredibly strange tactic. With your job approval in the dumps and the vast plurality of Ohioans unhappy with the direction of the state, is it really smart politics to say that the status quo is satisfactory?
Ohioans need a Governor that can live up to his promises.
You haven’t.