Opportunity Ohio: Moving the Needle
Policy Work by O2 Critical to Getting Key Items Done in Ohio
With voters delivering Ohio a supermajority in the Ohio General Assembly in the 2022 election, we felt strongly that we needed to redouble our efforts to advance some of our key policy ideas. Other than the timid leadership of the DeWine-Husted Administration, it appeared to be a good time to push for reforms. Unfortunately, shortly after the election, Republicans in the Ohio House engaged in infighting with the result being a House Speaker elected by twenty-two Republicans and the entire Democrat caucus. That result didn’t bode well for getting bold reforms enacted in 2023.
Nonetheless, we ramped up our outreach to the legislature on some key issues to see if we could move the needle despite the intraparty dysfunction. Our outreach proved fruitful when we were asked by representatives to provide policy ideas for an alternative budget and budget amendments. We identified several of our key policy reforms that fit nicely within their budget strategy. Specifically, we shared with them our work on controlling spending in order to map out a plan to eliminate the state income tax, our approach on eliminating John Kasich’s budget-busting Medicaid expansion, and our bucket of ideas on empowering parents and protecting kids in school and on sports pitches.
Due to our weekly radio spot on The Bruce Hooley Show, another representative reached out to us about our policy initiative to eliminate the failed JobsOhio entity and use its funds for key infrastructure projects like building a world-class airport in Ohio to facilitate travel for Ohio and its businesses, as well as creating a hunting-fishing-golf-leisure travel destination hotspot in Southeast Ohio focused on The Wilds animal safari that would provide good jobs to an area of Ohio desperately in need of them. Based on our ideas, Representative Dean began the process of holding JobsOhio accountable for its failures and laying the groundwork for ending it.
Lastly, we also heard from a senator about similar policy reforms in the Ohio Senate.
As I’ve said repeatedly, with a supermajority in the legislature and Republican governors over the last thirteen years, Ohio should be farther ahead on enacting conservative policy ideas than it is. Yet, too many vital reforms fall to the wayside and too little gets done session-after-session. With our renewed outreach efforts, we aim to change that narrative and do what we can to push Ohio forward. Fortunately, our weekly radio interviews and expanding social media megaphone are allowing us to reach more Ohioans on a routine basis, thereby enabling us to push our ideas more aggressively than ever. Hopefully, these efforts will bear fruit in 2023.
With the increase in activity focused on pushing our reforms, we need more hands on deck to amplify our work and move the needle in the right direction. To that end, we’d greatly appreciate any support you can provide us. We’ve always worked extremely hard to leverage every dollar we received from loyal supporters like you. Our website contains over 1,300 postings covering all the big issues facing Ohio and America. With just a little increased funding, we could significantly raise the volume of our communications to not only hit policymakers more, but also to grow our grassroots supporters who can supplement our policy work with good old fashion citizen pressure.
Now is the time to strike because the iron has never been hotter. Without key reforms, Ohio will fall farther behind the other forty-nine states as I recently outlined in our latest policy piece “Ohio’s Political Leaders Must Acknowledge That the Status Quo Simply Isn’t Working for Ohio.” I hope you agree that time is of the essence to fix what isn’t working in Ohio and start the long climb from the back of the pack to the front.
As we plow ahead in our eleventh year, we truly couldn’t have gotten this far without the friendship of Ohioans like you who believe so strongly in the power of ideas to drive renewal, growth, and prosperity. In my more than two decades in the public policy arena, I’ve never seen a greater opportunity to make change than the one in front of us this year.
Together, we can and will make a difference in the lives of millions of Ohioans, their businesses, and their families. The needle is moving, but it can be moved so much farther. We will use any tax-deductible, charitable support you send to grip that needle with both hands and push as hard as our strength allows. Please donate via the above button or send your contribution to us at: Opportunity Ohio, P.O. Box 98, Dublin, Ohio 43017-0098.
Thank you!