The Little Things Matter, Too—Plus, a Silver Lining About Going on Offense Post-State Issue 1
Ohio’s supermajority Republican General Assembly should do the right thing and close the Husted loophole immediately.
Often in these notes I focus on the bold color ideas I believe Ohio needs to become the great state it once was. Big ideas are important, but the little things matter, too. In some cases, the little things tell us a lot about people. For elected officials, I’ve long believed how they handle the small stuff provides meaningful insights into their mindsets when it comes to governing. After all, we the people vest in them enormous powers over our lives, fortunes, and futures, so we should be mindful of the glimpses we get from them.
In case you didn’t know, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). On one occasion while serving at DHS, I had to travel with a colleague so we met at the airport. When I went to get into the TSA security screening line, he told me to come with him to avoid standing in line. He shared that he never stood in the lines because he would have his assistant reach out to a TSA person to meet him to whisk him through the TSA offices. I frankly was shocked. At the time, a good friend of mine traveled nearly daily for business and constantly hit me with complaints about how slow screening went (this was before TSA-pre and other programs). I told my DHS colleague that I was going to stand in line like the rest of America had to do, as it wouldn’t be fair for me to evade the annoying system we were in charge of running and, hopefully, improving. Thus, he went his way and I went mine, but it was revealing about how he viewed public service.
On another occasion, I had to go to Israel for a bilateral counterterrorism exchange with the Israeli Defense Forces. I traveled with a couple colleagues and a few guys from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). We were surprised when we boarded the flight to see the FBI guys sitting up in First Class. They told us it was FBI policy on flights longer than a certain time. It frankly never occurred to us that the government would ever approve such extravagant and expensive travel options using taxpayer funds. In hindsight, it shouldn’t have surprised me. It just wasn’t something I would think to do as a steward of taxpayer funds.
I don’t share these stories to pat myself on the back; rather, I tell them because they demonstrate how I approach the use of taxpayer funds and power, which I think you deserve to know. Here a few small items that will change when I’m governor:
It seems every new governor has to put his stamp on Ohio by creating a new license plate even though the old design is still perfectly good. The DeWine-Husted Administration rolled out a new license plate with the Wright Brothers’ airplane backwards, so not only were taxpayer funds used to design the new license plate just a few years after John Kasich did HIS new license plate, but they had to scrap a bunch of the ones made with the incorrect airplane. I will not issue a new license plate.
New governors also like to make sure their names are plastered on every sign around the state. I see no reason why taxpayer funds should be used to change the names on those signs every four or eight years. If we can’t get volunteers to erase the DeWine-Husted names, we’ll just leave them on. I won’t put my name on signs. No one cares whether I welcome them to Ohio or not.
Government entities routinely have subscriptions to newspapers and magazines paid for by taxpayers. As I see it, if a government worker wants to read the newspaper or a magazine, they should order it at home and pay for it with their own funds. We will cancel all such subscriptions across every government entity. It may not be a lot of money, but it is the principle of conserving all taxpayer funds for core government functions, not excesses.
Despite sunshine laws, elected officials routinely conduct business over private emails and personal phones via texting and messaging apps. They do this improper practice to evade freedom of information act requests and to shield what they don’t want taxpayers to see. That practice will not be allowed in my administration by anyone working for or appointed by me.
On the symbolic side of things, something struck me as absurd when my family visited the Ohio State Fair this year. As we walked around, I kept seeing buildings named after former governors. Now, I’ve seen the buildings on previous visits to the fairgrounds, but didn’t really take note of the names until this year. Gilligan Building. Rhodes Center. Celeste Center. Voinovich Livestock and Trade Center. Taft Coliseum. Kasich Hall. I think that covers every elected governor since 1963 except Ted Strickland. I don’t want to pick on them, but some of these governors just weren’t very good. Under one, Ohio’s private sector lost a net 124,900 private sector jobs during his eight years. Another’s legacy is the massive expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare (1,000,000+) and a private sector that got weaker the longer he was in office.
Beyond the fact that I think naming things after politicians should be done rarely and only after they’ve passed away, doing so also sends the wrong message. Namely, that politicians are deserving of immortality on buildings instead of the real heroes who power our state. Heroes of industry like the Wright Brothers, Charles Kettering, John D. Rockefeller, Frank Seiberling, and Thomas Edison. Or heroes of history like General Ulysses S. Grant, Astronaut Neil Armstrong, and Olympian Jesse Owens. Those are the names that should adorn our buildings at a state fair celebrating the greatness of Ohio, not a bunch of politicians.
The final “little" thing I want to discuss is the Husted Loophole in which Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted works in the private sector while working full-time for taxpayers as the Lieutenant Governor. It is a loophole because no one ever thought a governor or lieutenant governor would actually take on a private sector job while serving Ohioans. I could be wrong, but I’m not aware of one other serving Governor, Lieutenant Governor, President, or Vice President in America today who also works in the private sector (though Joe Biden is close via Hunter). Husted is the only one. He gets paid roughly $21,000 by Heartland Bank and its parent company. This arrangement comes with lots of potential and real conflicts of interest. Here are a few:
Heartland Bank has business before the state;
Heartland Bank customers have business before the state;
Heartland Bank’s competitors have business before the state; and
Heartland Bank’s competitors’ clients have business before the state.
If I owned a business that had an issue with the state and my business had sizable deposits and/or loans, I’d absolutely consider moving my business to Heartland Bank to take advantage of having the sitting Lieutenant Governor associated with my business. Regulators aren’t stupid about who the boss works for. There are lots of acts or omissions Husted could do that would help Heartland Bank or its clients that wouldn’t trigger alarm bells, but certainly could directly or indirectly benefit Heartland Bank or its customers. It is the reason no other elected executive in America has a private sector job. One has to wonder why Heartland Bank even would add Husted to its business given he has zero business or banking experience to bring to bear. The only things he brings to bear are his government experience, his enormous government rolodex, and his high status as Lieutenant Governor. It feels very Biden-esque.
Even worse, taxpayer funds must be used to monitor these various conflicts. My guess is the time spent by legal counsel and others involved in this monitoring likely cost taxpayers more than Husted is making from Heartland Bank. Does Husted plan to remain in his job there as governor? If not, why not? In stark contrast, not only will I not have a private sector job as governor, we will close the Husted loophole and I pledge to live by my policy to cut the pay of every legislator, the lieutenant governor, and governor in half via a pay for performance plan on day one. Frankly, Ohio’s supermajority Republican General Assembly should do the right thing and close the Husted loophole immediately. We simply don’t need elected officials who are constantly looking for ways to hit a payday from their government service, especially during their government service.
Finally, in speaking to Ohioans after the defeat of State Issue 1 (SI1), it was clear there was a high level of frustration and sadness among voters. I want to suggest there is a silver lining to the defeat of SI1. Instead of sitting back and watching the Left push left-wing progressive issue after issue, the Right needs to develop a strategy to move on issues WE care about. Let’s go on offense instead of getting crushed by playing defense. As I’ve discussed, several items in my bold color agenda likely won’t get passed by the legislature so we will have to move those via a ballot initiative. We won’t need 60% to win now, but just 50% plus one vote. That goes for other conservative issues with high support among voters. Let’s start putting that agenda together, raising the funds needed to promote that agenda, and start getting items on the ballot. Ask yourself: where is the leadership from Mike DeWine, Husted, Dave Yost, Robert Sprague, or Keith Faber on developing that agenda? We cannot unilaterally disarm as the Left tries to fundamentally change our state for the worse.
ICYMI, here is this week’s interview on the Bruce Hooley Show where we discuss Joe Blyston’s endorsement, Frank LaRose’s firing of Rob Nichols, and lack of strategic thinking by Republican leaders in Ohio. Also, here is Bruce’s analysis of Blystone’s endorsement that he provided to his listeners in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton (start at the 11:00 mark) earlier this week.
P.S. Following the exciting news that Blystone endorsed me, I saw a great uptick in support on social media. Unfortunately, I also saw an uptick in those coming at me with an agenda—sometimes overt and sometimes hidden—involving a range of grievances having literally nothing to do with my agenda for Ohio. From criticism for accepting Joe’s endorsement to complaints about my comments about a third Jim Renacci run for governor, I saw it all. Most of it I accept as part of politics today. A few, however, seemed intent on trying to besmirch my reputation without any evidence for their claims and attacking me in a deeply personal way because of some axe they wanted to grind. I suppose that is also just politics today. Curiously, not one raised ANY issue with my agenda.
Let me be clear about a few things. First, I have very deep political experience going back two decades, including winning an award for my campaign work and accurately predicting several statewide and national elections when “experts” went the other way. I’m not saying my political antenna is infallible, but it just might be a bit better than some of my critics are giving me credit for. Next, Joe didn’t earn 22% of the vote in Ohio and win 23 counties with 2nd place in 40 other counties last May because he hit radio and television. His support was a genuine grassroots campaign based on word-of-mouth. Maybe that 22% has disappeared or turned elsewhere. I suspect, however, much of it remains and Joe’s support will help me with many of those voters. Again, I could be wrong. Lastly, and, most importantly, other than from possibly Donald Trump, I am not going to win or lose because of endorsements or lack thereof…from Joe, Jim Renacci, Ron Hood, or my kids. Endorsements largely matter only to the core group of voters who truly get engaged in the campaign. Those are the folks I heard from over the last seventy-two hours. Because I know my message is stronger than anyone else who is in or who will get in and feel strongly I am a better messenger than those folks, I am going to win in May 2026 if and only if I am able to raise enough money to get my bold colors agenda in front of enough Republican primary voters to earn their vote (i.e., the ones who don’t show up at campaign events or spend hours daily talking politics on Facebook) and if I can keep the Republican State Central Committee from endorsing Husted so low information voters don’t just vote for him because they read his name on the Ohio Republican Party slate card. So, while I’ll gladly take endorsements from those who want to give them to me, I fully appreciate how steep the hill I am climbing is and what it will take to reach the top of it. If you don’t want to support me because of issues having nothing to do with my bold color agenda and are fine with Husted becoming governor in 2026, then die on that hill or find someone you think is better than me to finally fix what ails Ohio.
Because social media tends to be dominated by the loudest voices and rarely provides a conducive avenue for genuine exchanges, I will not be responding to comments going forward. You can comment to your heart's desire, as I won’t shut down that aspect of my social media. If you have a genuine question for me on my bold colors agenda or experience, please send me a note or come to one of my speeches and I’ll try to respond. What I won’t do is waste my valuable time responding to every comment someone makes on social media. I have to save my time for Ohioans who haven’t already made up their minds or aren’t carrying water for someone else. It is a serious problem when someone can post that I’ve been fired from every job I’ve held without so much as a shred of evidence to back that preposterous claim up (I actually haven’t been fired from a single job in my adult life). With great power comes great responsibility. On social media, we have too much of the former and far too little of the latter.
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