Five concepts defined the Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s annual Impact Ohio Toledo Regional Conference on Thursday: communication, respect, togetherness, one-mindedness, and a little bit of humor.
The morning event was in collaboration with the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and JobsOhio, and those five words were used by local legislators to describe the level of bipartisanship in Ohio.
While Ohio’s political landscape can seem impossible to find support across the aisle, five Toledo-area legislators said they are committed to putting the community ahead of the party.
State Sens. Theresa Gavarone (R., Bowling Green) and Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo) joined state Reps. Michele Grim (D., Toledo), Elgin Rogers, Jr. (D., Toledo), and Josh Williams (R., Monclova Township) to discuss facing the area from population growth, the tourism industry, and an aging population.
Mr. Rogers said the first step for most of the issues facing the community is “telling our story.”
“We live in a great place, and sometimes I wonder if people are anti-growth [because] they want to keep the good secret to themselves,” Mr. Rogers said about supporting Toledo’s tourism industry. “We need to make sure that we’re spending the dollars for marketing within our region and across the state.”
Ms. Gavarone agreed, adding that outside programs help bring awareness to the city internationally. She used the Italian Bowl as an example.
“I’m really excited to be part of the steering committee for the Italian Bowl …” Ms. Gavarone said. “... You’d be surprised when you talk to people in Italy. A lot of them are familiar with Florida, California, New York, but Ohio is on the map because of the work of the [Regional Growth Partnership of Northwest Ohio] and JobsOhio getting our name out across the world.”
On the topic of retaining people to fill jobs in the area, Mr. Williams touted the work the state legislature has already done, including reducing tax brackets down to two and investing in workforce development. He used the example of bringing the first Individual Microcredential Assistance Program, or IMAP, offering to the area.
IMAP, which is at Toledo’s Ternion Training and Education Center on Hill Avenue, is a certificate-style program where residents can participate in free training to receive a trade credential, but Mr. Williams said more work needs to be done.
“If we want to attract people to come across state line to fill positions, we also need to have training available for individuals that may not have those skills already that we can encourage them to come to Ohio, be trained in Ohio, get employed in Ohio, and stay in Ohio,” Mr. Williams said.
Ms. Hicks-Hudson, who was Toledo’s former mayor from 2015 to 2018, said in order to bring people to the area, it needs to be attractive.
“I look at it from the perspective of infrastructure because if it’s not easy to get from point A to point B throughout the state, if it’s not easy to have Wi-Fi throughout the state of Ohio, that causes some problems for some people to make decisions about whether or not they want to stay and live here in our communities,” she said.
She later voiced support for bringing back local government funds to communities to help offset the cost of revitalizing parts of the area.
The 45-minute conversation between the legislators gave insight into how they deliver for the community, but it can’t work without bipartisan effort, which Ms. Grim said is contingent on communication.
“Communicating with the other side, knowing where vote counts are, where certain members are on certain bills, that kind of thing is really important,” she said.
Attendees also heard from both proponents and opponents of Ohio’s only statewide issue on the general election ballot.
Issue 1 asks voters to approve the creation of a 15-member independent citizen commission that would draw Ohio’s congressional and state legislative maps. The Ohio Redistricting Commission, which is made up of four legislators and three statewide elected members, currently draws the maps. Five members of the Republican Party and two members of the Democratic Party make up the commission.
If Issue 1 passes, the citizen-led commission would be made up of five Democrats, five Republicans, and five independents. The 15 members cannot be current politicians or affiliated with a politician, which includes immediate family members, staffers, lobbyists, and consultants.
“I think there are so many [good] public servants, but at the end of the day, it's just too tempting to use that power to preserve their power versus drawing maps that fairly represent the people of Ohio,” Jen Miller, the executive director for the League of Women Voters of Ohio, said.
Ms. Miller spoke to attendees as a proponent of the amendment. The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization, and Ms. Miller argued that the amendment is a non-partisan issue.
Frank Strigari, an attorney with Zaino Hall & Farrin LLC, spoke to the attendees, opposing the issue. Mr. Strigari was the longest serving Chief Legal Counsel in the Ohio Senate and was the co-chair on the elections and redistricting committee for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“It’s been characterized as a bipartisan proposal. I think what is bipartisan about this proposal is the opposition to this,” he said. “They claim that they have bipartisanship by having one Republican, who is the former Chief Justice of the [state] Supreme Court, who is obviously the face of this whole thing, but that’s it. Name one other Republican who’s actually for it.”
Former Chief Justice for the Ohio Supreme Court Maureen O’Conner, a Republican, is one of the biggest drivers of the amendment, even writing some of the language herself. Citizens Not Politicians, the advocacy group behind Issue 1, has used the amendment’s bipartisan support on the campaign trail, even highlighting Republican voters in its advertisements. Earlier this month, community members across the Toledo area gathered in Sylvania, with members from the Democratic, Republican, independent, Green, and Libertarian parties present.
Throughout conversations about Issue 1, area legislators and attendees also heard from other state representatives and senators, as well as area stakeholders, on workforce housing, affordable childcare, and the future of the manufacturing industry in the area.
First Published October 24, 2024, 9:34 p.m.
