Valley residents thank Taft with their support

Shortly after he was sworn in as governor in 1999, Bob Taft came to the Mahoning Valley and addressed a gathering of business and community leaders. Taft let it be known that he had already been in contact with General Motors Corp. officials in Detroit regarding the future of the Lordstown assembly plant and pledged the state's full cooperation in securing a new product line for the Valley facility.
Then the Republican governor added a dash of politics to his speech. He noted that he received only 37 percent of the vote in Mahoning County and 36 percent in Trumbull. Taft had faced Democrat Lee Fisher in the 1998 election and although he won statewide, the predominantly Democratic Mahoning and Trumbull counties voted along party lines.
The message from Taft was clear: If I spend the next four years helping the Mahoning Valley in its economic recovery effort and do what I can to ensure the future of GM's Lordstown plant, I would hope the voters show their appreciation at the polls.
They did. On Tuesday, Taft received 46 percent of the vote in Mahoning County, 47 percent in Trumbull and almost 59 percent in Columbiana (he received 48 percent there in 1998).
Is the governor's showing in the Mahoning Valley that important to him? Consider his comment in September when he visited Youngstown: "Even though I get only 37 percent of the vote here, I give you 100 percent of my effort."
As Tuesday's results in the governor's race show, the residents of the Mahoning Valley are grateful. Had Taft not helped bring the next generation of General Motors' compact cars to Lordstown, Mahoning and Trumbull counties would have given his challenger, native son Tim Hagan, the former Cuyahoga County commissioner, a significant vote.
Strong ties
The governor has established strong ties between the Valley and his administration. And these are the ties that we now hope will result in the second Taft administration completing some of the projects that were started in the first four years and launching new job-creation initiatives.
As we pointed out in our endorsement editorial of the governor, one of the most important projects for this region is the business incubator in downtown Youngstown. The governor has arranged for a $1 million down payment for a market-ready office building that would be constructed adjacent to the existing incubator which has been helping at least a dozen high-tech companies get their business legs. Once those companies graduate, there is a strong possibility of the Valley losing them to Cleveland or Pittsburgh unless they are able to rent space in a building that is designed to meet their needs.
Taft has pledged to secure additional funding for the new building in the upcoming biennium capital budget. The project is important for the growth of technology-related companies and meets a goal of the governor's Third Frontier high-tech initiative.
Statewide, Taft scored a landslide victory over Hagan and his political coattails allowed other Republican candidates to coast to victory Tuesday. He should use that strong vote of confidence to set the agenda for the state that addresses the anticipated $4 billion general fund budget deficit in the next biennium, focuses on the funding crisis in primary, secondary and higher education, and develops a plan for expanding the job market in Ohio.