COLUMBUS - The economy and programs to increase jobs are expected to dominate Gov. Bob Taft's sixth State of the State speech today.
If past experience is any measure, the governor may have difficulty getting the recommendations enacted.
Taft, a Republican, called for comprehensive tax reform last year, only to have lawmakers largely ignore it. They also discounted his 2001 school-funding proposal in favor of their own plan.
Lawmakers passed the governor's 2002 proposal for the $1.6 billion Third Frontier Project, but voters last November rejected a plan to let Ohio borrow
$500 million of the money through the sale of bonds.
What the governor needs to offer is some real substance
said Senate Minority Leader Gregory DiDonato, a New Philadelphia Democrat. We know what the problem is.
Taft will echo several themes he raised last month in a speech to Ohio manufacturers, spokesman Orest Holubec said yesterday.
The state has lost more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs in the last three years, Taft said at that Dec. 11 speech.
Ohio manufacturers paint an equally gloomy figure, counting 190,000 jobs lost since the recession began in Ohio in March 2000. That figure covers a greater time period than the one cited by Taft. 17
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