DeWine says state will do even better if he’s elected

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Attorney General Mike DeWine, Republican gubernatorial nominee, says the state has moved in the right direction in the last eight years under GOP leadership and he’s prepared to do even better if elected Nov. 6.

DeWine met Wednesday with The Vindicator’s editorial board for about an hour answering questions about his campaign. Rich Cordray, the Democratic nominee, met Tuesday with the newspaper’s editorial board. The election is Nov. 6.

DeWine, attorney general the past eight years, said he’s running for governor “because I think I’m in a unique position – my experience, my background and the passion that I have – to move Ohio forward. We’ve come a long way in the last eight years. We need to take Ohio further.”

He added, “We have a good plan, a real plan, a real agenda to take Ohio forward. We have two big problems. One is the drug problem and the other is the skills gap. We have a plan for each. I don’t come with a magic wand to solve every problem overnight.”

DeWine said he “is someone who’s spent his lifetime working to solve problems” in a bipartisan manner.

“I’m going to [govern] by pulling legislators together [from] both parties,” he said. “I’m going to do it by pulling local elected officials from both parties and we will together take Ohio to the next level. We will together take Ohio to the place we want to be. My dream for Ohio, and what we will work at every single day, [is] for a state where every child has the opportunity to live the American dream.”

DeWine was elected attorney general in 2010 beating Cordray, who was the incumbent, by 1.2 percent. DeWine was re-elected in 2014.

DeWine has a lengthy career in government, dating back to 1976 when he was elected Greene County prosecutor. He is also a former state senator, U.S. House member, lieutenant governor and U.S. senator.

While DeWine opposes the Affordable Care Act, he said Cordray’s contention that he doesn’t support the coverage of pre-existing conditions is “absolutely false,” and “a totally bogus issue.”

DeWine said if the federal government takes away people’s coverage of pre-existing conditions, as governor he would step in and make sure they are covered.

Regarding President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican who supports his election bid, DeWine said he’s “not going to defend everything the president says or the president tweets. I’ll have a good relationship with the president” and that’s important for the state.

If elected governor, DeWine said one of his first visits would be to meet with General Motors executives to convince them to invest in the Lordstown complex.

“I would do everything in my power to protect Lordstown,” he said.

As for restoring cuts made by the state to the Local Government Fund during the Gov. John Kasich administration, DeWine said: “We will certainly try to restore funding. It’s not something I want to make a firm promise [about] because I’m very careful about what I promise. But this I can promise: township trustees, mayors, county commissioners and other local officials will have a friend in Mike DeWine.”