Taft strikes the right theme in State of the State: jobs, jobs, jobs

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft began his State of the State address Wednesday with two indisputable facts: These are turbulent times and the future prosperity of the state depends on preserving and creating good jobs.
Who could argue?
The state is struggling to make ends meet, as Washington continues to shift costs to the state. The Republican-controlled General Assembly moved to balance the budget by adopting an emergency sales tax increase, which is now under attack by the Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell. The General Assembly, which Taft praised for "rising to the challenge," spent as much time on the issue of carrying concealed weapons last year as on the economy and so far this year has paid more attention to its perceived need to defend the sanctity of marriage than to the need for jobs, improving education, holding the line on the runaway costs of higher education, or providing body armor for Ohio reservists assigned to duty in Iraq.
Yes, these are turbulent times.
Increasing competition
Meanwhile, the state continues to lose it traditional manufacturing jobs, there is increasing competition with other states (and, indeed, other nations) for high-tech jobs, the economy is recovering, but jobs lost during the recession aren't being replaced and an important segment of Ohio's economy, military jobs, are in jeopardy to the 2005 Base Realignment Closure Commission process.
Yes, preserving and creating jobs are the key to the future of the state and the Mahoning Valley.
Taft said his resolution for the new year was to work each day on programs that will create jobs, primarily by improving the climate for business in Ohio. Toward that end, he named a 13-member jobs cabinet that will be chaired by Ohio Development Director Bruce Johnson. It will include directors of the state departments of agriculture, commerce, transportation, natural resources, education and the state tax commissioner.
A Task Force to Save Defense Jobs will help support local campaigns to save military installations in Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Lima, Springfield and Youngstown.
Ambitious goal
The governor talked about the need to educate Ohio's work force to compete in the 21st century market. He said that when the state launches a campaign to lure a new enterprise to Ohio, it should be able to assure that new employer that willing, trained and educated workers will be ready to go to work. That's a valuable marketing tool, but the costs of training and educating a work force is high. The support of forward-thinking legislators from both parties will be needed.
Bipartisan support already exists for the effort to save defense jobs, including those at the Air Reserve Base at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport.
The governor should also received broad support for his pledge to target the state's capital improvement budget this year to projects that have job-creating potential.
There will be carping from conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats to various aspects of Taft's commitment to create jobs. The people of Ohio will have to depend on a coalition of legislators who have the best interests of the state's residents to work together.