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GOP candidate for governor stops in Marietta

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times Ohio Gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, of Wadsworth, center, speaks to members of Marietta Noon Rotary Thursday.

On the campaign trail Thursday Ohio Gubernatorial and U.S. Congressman candidate Jim Renacci made several stops in Marietta.

The Republican candidate, 58, of Wadsworth, near Akron, spoke with local pastors and representatives of Buckeye Hills Regional Council, made an appearance at the Marietta Noon Rotary Club meeting, toured Broughton Commercial Properties and held a commercial roundtable at Artex Oil before closing out the local visit with a meet and greet at Freedom Gate Church with local Republican party members.

“We’re thrilled that he wanted to come down to southeast Ohio and learn about the issues and concerns in this part of the state,” said Flite Freimann, after spending much of the day introducing the congressman to different parties and hosting Renacci as his guest at Rotary. “Ohio is a large state and it’s important to get out of Columbus and have meaningful conversations and listen and learn about the people you’re campaigning to serve. And if you want to hit all 88 counties it makes sense to be out here now even though the election is next May.”

Renacci will face off in the Republican primary in spring 2018 against Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, and Lieutenant Gov. Mary Taylor. There are also four Democratic candidates: Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, Former State Representative Connie Pillich and Former Congresswoman and State Representative Betty Sutton. Green Party Co-Chair Constance Gadell-Newton has also declared her candidacy.

Renacci said Thursday he is uniquely qualified to lead the state because he is “not a career politician” like the opposition, though he is currently serving his fourth term in Congress representing Ohio’s 16th District.

“I’m the only person in the race that’s even balanced their own budget. I’m also the only person in the race that has ever signed the front of the paycheck, not the back of the paycheck,” he said. “Our problems exist in many cases because we continue to hire career politicians to run our state when we really have to do is hire people who will understand what it is to make a payroll and to create a job.”

Tasha Werry, Building Bridges to Careers director, said she was interested to hear what Renacci had to share after his lunch visit.

“I asked him how he got into politics and he told me about how he used to be a GM dealership owner but lost that dealership when GM filed for bankruptcy,” said Werry. “He indicated that the government stepping in to try and help GM had been what caused him to close his dealerships and that’s when he got into politics.”

Renacci explained that he started his own business at 24 and over the course of his career opened and operated more than 60 businesses.

“I created over 1,500 jobs in over three decades,” he said.

The pair also discussed a little of what Werry has done setting up the BB2C Epicenter and Werry said she hoped Renacci would support continued funding matches to the Appalachian Regional Commission. The ARC just awarded BB2C with a grant to build a makerspace for business development and community tool use.

“I would not have met this candidate if he had not come to Rotary today,” she said. “If these (gubernatorial) candidates truly want us to know who they are and what they believe in and stand for then they need to come to public events and talk with people. There are undecided people all over the place so I hope to see other candidates down here as well.”

Education reform

“We need to direct our kids toward skill sets, not test sets,” Renacci said. “Too often we are graduating students who don’t have a skill set and we have to change our education system toward that.”

He said there’s not a lack of jobs in Ohio, but a lack of skilled workers to fill said jobs, thus clarifying his stance that vocational and technical education can have equal place in helping individuals live the “American dream.”

“Not everybody needs a college education to succeed. I have a friend who is a plumber who just sold his business and lives the American dream,” he said. “What we really have to do is catalog our jobs in the state and then direct our schools and our colleges toward skill sets, not test sets.”

Renacci equated the value of college training with vocational and technical training and said moves to consolidate resources so that education in any form becomes more affordable would be one of his priorities.

“We have a declining population in college entry. We really have to take a look at the colleges and bring educational costs down,” he said. “At some point in time we have to take a hard look at who’s doing the best job, are they getting our children and grandchildren the skill sets that are needed. There’s a place for college, high school, vocational and technical education.”

Opioid Epidemic

“We are today the No. 1 state in the country for opioid overdose and addiction,” said Renacci. “It’s not about money, it’s not about expansion dollars, what it’s really about is people. It’s about making sure that individuals get up in the morning and feel a value of worth to their life.”

The congressman also noted the need for local input and grassroots efforts to fight the crisis with state partnerships with local churches and pastors, community organizations and local law enforcement.

“This is where we’ll fix the opioid situation,” he said. “We didn’t get to No. 1 by having an outsider’s view, we got to No. 1 by allowing career politicians who are running for governor to be part of the process over the years.”

Budget

Washington County Republican Party Chairman Mike Webber said he was impressed with Renacci’s “business-like” attitude concerning both the state and federal budgets.

“He’s very business-oriented and claims to not be a career politician like some of his opponents who have been in office for 20, 30 or 40 years,” said Webber. “His view of the world focuses on assets, limiting liability and bringing profitability and that’s what we need right now.”

Renacci said if elected as Ohio’s 63rd governor, the first action he’d take would be to freeze the state budget.

“We have to look at our expenses and where we’re spending money that’s wasted or in an ineffective program,” he explained. “We can’t continue to grow our spending when we’re not growing the economic base of the state.”

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