DeWine to Visit GLI on Post-Announcement Tour
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – State Attorney General Mike DeWine will visit GLI Pool Products this afternoon, one day after formally announcing he would run for governor in 2018.
The former U.S. senator and lieutenant governor will visit Youngstown to meet with supporters and share his vision for Ohio’s future, according to a news release from his campaign. As part of his stop here, he will discuss small business development in Ohio at GLI, which is undergoing a $750,000 expansion and renovation.
The company “represents a model that works for Ohio small business. Tenacity, innovation, and a ‘why not here’ attitude has driven GLI to the top of its field,” the DeWine campaign said.
Doors open at 2 p.m. followed by a tour at 2:30 p.m. and public remarks at 2:45 p.m. Members of the public can RSVP at this link.
Yesterday DeWine used the occasion of his annual Ice Cream Social, held on the lawn of his family home in Cedarville, to confirm that he would seek the Republican nomination for governor next year.
“Ohio is a great state but we have some very significant problems,” DeWine told supporters. “The tragedy of our state today is that too many Ohioans will never realize their dreams because they simply lack the education, the skills, the training — and, in too many cases, the sobriety.”
DeWine said he is determined to address the interrelated problems of the lack of quality education for all Ohio children, the need for filling jobs with skilled employees, and Ohio’s drug and opioid crisis.
“When I am governor, our state will be fundamentally different, because I will focus like a laser . . . to champion schools that work and hold them up as examples that should be replicated in communities all across the state,” he said.
To address the addiction crisis, he proposed more aggressive drug prevention education, starting in primary school, and the continuation and replication of local grassroots efforts that include law enforcement and the faith-based community. “We cannot sit by as we lose a generation of children to addiction,” he said.
He also pledged to “free up Ohio’s economy from stifling regulations so that businesses can thrive” to build the state’s job base. “We need to keep taxes low; make our tax system fair and predictable; and encourage individuals and businesses to invest in Ohio,” he said.
His visit here is part of a tour of Ohio cities that will include Independence, Maumee, Cincinnati, Dublin, and New Boston.
DeWine joins a GOP field that so far includes Secretary of State Jon Husted, U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor.
Betty Sutton, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor, said DeWine’s record stands in stark opposition to the leadership and direction Ohio needs, according to an email following his announcement. As attorney general, he “fought protections for women’s reproductive health, looked the other way when an elected official cheated workers out of a fair wage, and continually failed the most vulnerable in our state,” she said.
As a member of Congress, Sutton said she supported expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and “not only fought for and voted for the Affordable Care Act,” but also authored an amendment that stopped insurance providers from discriminating against individuals with pre-existing conditions.
DeWine, on the other hand, fought to stop the ACA’s implementation, and would like to see it repealed.
“He wants to roll back the expansion of Medicaid and stop lifetime and pre-existing conditions protections,” she continued. “With a track record like this, it’s only fair that a candidate for governor be truthful to Ohioans.”
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
