Here are some of the statistics illustrating Springfield and Clark County’s current condition.

• We have an escalating unemployment rate which now sits at 7.4% up from 3.6% in 2000.
• We have a dwindling workforce: which in 2000, Clark County had 70k employed citizens, it now has 65k.
• Clark County ranks 6th in Ohio for foreclosure filings, 1 in every 127 are now filing, a 672% increase from 1995.
• We have a poverty rate of 15%, higher than Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus.

Change That Works!

We need to hold our legislature accountable for the economic mess we have found ourselves in. The main focus is to stimulate and attract more jobs into the area, both small and large. We need to ensure that our children and our workforce have the adequate training and education needed to fill these new jobs. Fixing our economic situation cannot be solved by short-term policy sound bites engineered for political points, but rather long-term solutions; education reform, small business development, investing in high-tech industries, and making our community more attractive for economic development.

Small Business Development

State-wide and regionally we need to expand our relations with the federal government to increase funding for small business development. Small businesses are the backbone of America’s workforce and creative ingenuity. We need to work together with the Small Business Association and get Ohio more federal loans in which individuals can get the start-up needed. Loans such as the Basic 7a Loan Program, the CDC/504 Loan, and other Micro-Loan Programs can be accessed and expanded offering more Ohioans the opportunity to open their own business and live out the American Dream.

Jobs for the 21st Century

As a state and a community we need to adapt our workforce for the 21st century. We need to compete with states that have invested in high-tech regions; such as Florida’s I-64 High-Technology Corridor, Oregon’s Silicon Forest, and the Capital Region high-tech hub. These high tech regions represent industries such as computer technologies, telecommunication technologies, and healthcare technologies. In Florida’s I-64 High-Technology Corridor, wages grew higher than the national average, 62,000 a year compared to the national average of 37,500. High-tech jobs are the industries of growth and the industries of the future. We have to invest in Ohio’s job market and get the jobs that are demanded.

Making Clark County Economically Attractive

We need to be able to give businesses looking to develop in Springfield incentives necessary for them to set up and bring in these desperately needed jobs. Tax abatements and credits can be utilized to give these potential companies the incentives needed to locate. While offering these credits and abatements, we need to go a step further. Too often businesses take advantage of these offers, set up shop, and leave the local workforce in the dark. We need to ensure that these abatements and credits come with local stipulations that require local hiring practices.

Fixing Our Foreclosure Problem

We also need to make Springfield more attractive by fixing our mounting home foreclosure problem. Clark County is ranked sixth in Ohio for foreclosure filings. When communities are stricken with foreclosures like Clark County, the whole County feels the impact. Foreclosed homes bring property values down in neighborhoods. With home values plummeting we are seeing the decay of our beautiful city. We need a legislator that will partner with Gov. Strickland and put an end to predatory loan practices.

We need an education system that places emphasis on the collaboration between the schools and the local businesses. We need students learning real world trades and having the opportunity to get the training and education that apply to jobs and further education in the future. Also, we need to fix the unconstitutional school funding system.

We need a comprehensive plan for education.

• Placing key emphasis on early childcare and education.
• Improving the “No Child Left Behind” accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.
• Making college more affordable by supporting the recent improvements to the Higher Education Act.
• Fix the Phantom Revenue problem once and for all. Phantom revenue is the result of inequitable collection of property taxes from district to district. Due to this unconstitutional funding formula, school districts are left with varying amounts of local revenue and mismatched state funds.
• Implementing education policy is primarily the responsibility of state and local governments.

Finding solutions to these problems is critical. However, by focusing on the problems, we often lose sight of the strengths in American healthcare. With creativity and innovative thinking, we can harness the potential of this industry and create a better, more efficient system.

I also want to take a positive look at the pharmaceutical companies. My central question is this:

"How can we make the most advanced medicines available to the greatest number of people, at a price they can afford, while continuing to encourage innovation and future medical breakthroughs?"

The answer is by establishing state policies that increase efficiency and reduce costs, while at the same time creating the high-skill, high-wage jobs that this district and this state desperately need.

Health Care For All Ohioans Act.

We can provide health care for all Ohioans and cut costs through a single-payer system.

I can hear the objection immediately: "Socialized medicine!", but the charge is false.

Doctors and hospitals would remain private; only the single-payer department would be publicly funded. That is why Physicians for a National Health Program was an early supporter of a single-payer system.

"Expensive government bureaucracy!" is another common objection, but the evidence suggests otherwise.

A recent study by the Lewin Group, an independent firm with two decades of experience in analyzing the cost of health care, suggests that a single-payer system would be significantly less expensive and less bureaucratic than the present system.

Administrative costs for Medicare as a percentage of total medical expenses are substantially lower than the administrative costs of our current system of private medical insurers. A single-payer system would also save money through bulk purchase of drugs and durable medical equipment. The majority of individuals and businesses would pay less for health care than they currently do.

And yet all persons in Ohio would be covered.