COLUMBUS Taft isn't taking dim view of future

Taft has been tripped up by his own party.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Gov. Bob Taft isn't letting disappointments in his fifth year in office and disagreements with fellow Republican lawmakers interfere with his future goals.
Taft said his top priority remains improving the state's business climate and pushing economic development.
"That has to be the issue that I work on every day when I get up in the morning," he said.
Taft has never been afraid to tackle the less gripping side of state government, and his January salvo to fix the state's tax system proved it.
He laid out his dream in a single-spaced 20-page news release with 80 separate proposals, then watched while the business community howled and lawmakers ignored it. Taft got a little in the end, including an expansion of the sales tax to services such as dry cleaning and cable TV. And that was good for starters, he said.
Believes he was right
"It was the right proposal to make, to advance," Taft said in a year-end interview. "We obviously didn't get a lot of it, but it's not a dead issue. We're going to keep working on it."
His biggest disappointment was voters' narrow defeat of Issue 1 in November. The bond proposal would have allowed Ohio to borrow $500 million, the third portion of Taft's proposed $1.6 billion Third Frontier project to boost high-tech spending and move the state beyond its manufacturing roots.
"It's a hard thing to explain to voters in a 30-second commercial," said Nancy Martorano, a University of Dayton political scientist. Taft also had to battle a poor economy and skepticism over government.
"People are just not happy with current public officials, and anytime there's any effort to raise taxes or have the state borrow, voters have not at this point been inclined to vote for it," she said.
Democrats, in the minority in the House and Senate, question Taft's ability to push issues such as tax reform past his own Republican colleagues. They say Republican leaders call the shots, not the governor.
"He doesn't seem to have impact with his own members," said Senate Minority Leader Greg DiDonato of New Philadelphia.
Republicans' view
Republicans say Taft did his best given the economic hand he was dealt this year and that his communication with GOP lawmakers was fine.
"The governor has to look out for the whole state, legislators have to look out for their own little slice -- sometimes there's conflicts there," said Rep. Jim Trakas of Independence, the No. 5 House Republican. "It just goes with the territory."
Taft's priorities go beyond quick political payoffs, said Columbus political consultant Brian Hicks, the governor's recently departed chief of staff and the chief strategist behind many of Taft's proposals.
"There are times when office holders have to forgo short-term popular things for longer term, more beneficial proposals," Hicks said.
Tripped up
But as Taft learned this year, almost as soon as he made those proposals, some fellow Republican lawmakers tried to trip him up.
They continue to fight his decision to close the Lima Correctional Institution to save $25 million a year. They also forced him to veto a bill protecting mentally retarded and disabled Ohioans from abuse because lawmakers inserted a provision making it harder to close state institutions.
Taft, reminded of those roadblocks, declined to criticize lawmakers. Instead, the former county commissioner and House legislator said he appreciates their point of view even as he fights it.
"If I were in these legislators' shoes, I would understand where they're coming from -- they want to save the jobs for their community," Taft said.
But for his part, "I have to represent all of the people, all of the taxpayers, and we're trying to run a tight ship here," he said.