Issue 1 would provide funds for high-tech jobs program

By MARC KOVAC

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

Ohio voters will decide next month whether to allow the state to borrow $700 million to continue a much-praised high-tech jobs initiative.

Issue 1 provides additional funding for the Third Frontier program, which was created about eight years ago to enable the state to invest public monies into bio-medical, aerospace and other technology-intensive businesses.

The current 10-year, $1.6 billion program is set to expire in about two years, and lawmakers decided to seek additional funding now to ensure funds are available in coming years.

Backers say Third Frontier already has created 48,000 jobs, generated nearly $7 billion in economic activity and helped hundreds of businesses to expand. In statements of support for the issue, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Ron Amstutz, from Wooster, and Republican Sen. Kirk Schuring, from Canton, wrote: “Independent evaluations of the Third Frontier confirm that the program works and has proven itself. Especially in these troubled times, we need proven, accountable jobs programs that produce results and produce the jobs that Ohioans need and want.”

Issue 1 has wide support across the state, receiving more than 150 endorsements and backing from Gov. Ted Strickland and Statehouse Republicans and Democrats.

“Supporters of Issue 1 come from all parts of Ohio and represent every sector of our economy,” Jo Ann Davidson, co-chairwoman of United for Jobs and Ohio’s Future, said in a prepared statement released to the media. “The growing list of endorsements for Issue 1 shows that once people understand how effective the Ohio Third Frontier has been at creating jobs, building new companies and expanding existing businesses, they want to ensure the program’s benefits continue to grow and reach even more Ohioans.”

Not all lawmakers are supporting the bond issue, however. Opponents say it will mean more state debt that the state can’t afford.

And Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, a Republican from Napoleon in northwestern Ohio, has called Issue 1 a boondoggle and corporate welfare.

“This [Third Frontier] money isn’t free,” he said during House deliberations earlier this year. “The last time I checked, the trees outside here had not started to grow money. This money comes from other business owners, other people who may choose to invest in companies on their own. ... We dry up money elsewhere by taking money away from one group of Ohioans and giving it to another.”