Ohioans must understand high-tech jobs are crucial

The Taft administration is trying to decide whether to resurrect the $500 million state bond issue that was narrowly defeated by the voters of Ohio last November. Here's a fact to help Gov. Bob Taft make up his mind: The loss of more than 100,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs in a one-year period starting in March 2002 clearly demonstrates that the state is experiencing a dramatic change in its economy, which means the old assumptions about the job base are no longer applicable.
Ohio's economic future depends on its becoming a major player in the global economy and being able to compete with other states that are growing their high-technology economies. The $500 million bond issue is vital in meeting those goals.
The money would not only give Ohio the ability to bring new products to the market, recruit world-class researchers, entrepreneurs and industrial fellows and support start-up companies to create more jobs, but would show the world that the state is ready, willing and able to play in the majors.
From where we sit, the governor doesn't have much choice: He must persuade the General Assembly to put the bond issue back on the statewide ballot.
That said, Taft and his circle of advisers should develop a campaign for passage that tears down the old barriers of manufacturing vs. farming, urban vs. rural, white collar vs. blue collar.
Last November, rural counties such as Coshocton in north-central Ohio and Guernsey County in southeastern Ohio were responsible for the issue's defeat. It went down statewide 51 percent to 49 percent, but the no vote exceeded 60 percent in some rural areas.
Challenge
As Brian Hick, the governor's former chief of staff and the campaign manager for the bond issue's passage, put it after the election, "I think we ... obviously had a challenge explaining how rural Ohio connected with this."
Indeed, in a recent conversation with Vindicator writers, the governor acknowledged that opposition from the Farm Bureau was a main reason the issue was rejected by rural residents.
In the urban areas, voters in Cuyahoga, Summit and Montgomery counties were unstinting in their support, but the expectation that the bond issue would do well in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, which are still feeling the effects of the closing of the steel mills more than 20 years ago, did not materialize.
It still isn't clear why the voters of the Mahoning Valley would not recognize the benefits the region would derive from the passage of the half-billion-dollar issue. It is no secret that the tri-county area lags the state and the nation in job creation.
The effect of this economic stagnation can be seen in the census data relating to young, single, college-educated people: From 1995 to 2000, there were 2,688 individuals in this category who moved out of the Valley and 1,150 who moved in. A brain drain to be sure.
The bond issue is the third and final element in Taft's $1.6 billion Third Frontier high-technology initiative that was launched in 2002. To date, the state has awarded grants of more than $500 million.
The recent announcement that Ford Motor Co. is cutting more than 1,000 jobs in Ohio should be a wake-up call for the people. The Taft administration must make it clear to the voters that time is running out for the state to become a key player in the high-tech arena.