Fifth Anniversary Fact Sheet

THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF TED STRICKLAND’S CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR [MAY 9, 2005]
What Ted Strickland Promised Versus What Ted Strickland Delivered

On May 9, 2005, in his remarks to kick-off his campaign for governor, Ted Strickland said:

"Like many Ohioans, I see a state that has lost its way. The current Republican administration has failed to lead us, putting at risk the future of our state and the safety and strength of our families. I won’t stand by and let that happen."

• Under Ted Strickland, more Ohioans live in poverty. Since 2006, more than 28,000 Ohioans have fallen into poverty and more than 1.4 million Ohioans currently live in poverty. [Source: United States Census Bureau, "Poverty: 2007 and 2008 American Community Surveys," September 2009, www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/acsbr08-1.pdf.]

• Under Ted Strickland, more Ohioans have lost their jobs. Since December 2006, Ohio's unemployment rate has more than doubled from 5.4 to 11 percent and 427,300 Ohioans have lost their jobs. [Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers:series_id=LASST39000003; http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?sm+39]

• Under Ted Strickland, more than 20,000 Ohio businesses have disappeared. From 2006 to 2009 the number of businesses in Ohio declined by more than 20,000, from 251,591 in December, 2006 to 231,438 in June, 2009. [Source: Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, www.bwc.state.oh.us/downloads/blankpdf/AnnualReport.pdf, p41]

• Under Ted Strickland, Ohioans' income growth fell behind the nations'. From 2006 to 2008 Ohio's per-capita personal income growth was 23 percent less than the national average. The average American increased their income by $570 more than the average Ohioan under Ted Strickland. [Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Accounts, www.bea.gov/regional/reis/default.cfm?selTable=CA1-3&section=2 ]

• Under Ted Strickland, fewer Ohioans have health care insurance. From 2006 to 2008, the number of uninsured Ohio's increased from 1,138,000 to 1,309,000, an increase of 15 percent. [Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/historic/index.html.]

• Under Ted Strickland, fewer Ohio children have health insurance. From 2006 to 2008, the number of uninsured Ohio children increased from 157,000 to 161,000. [Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/historic/index.html.]

"In the months ahead, I look forward to laying out my vision for Ohio's future. It is a vision which will bring Ohioans together to help rebuild our state, strengthen our communities, and lead our nation once again."

• Under Ted Strickland, Ohio is a national leader in high taxes. Ohio has the 7th highest total tax burden. [Source: Tax Foundation, "State and Local Tax Burdens: All States, One Year, 1977-2008", http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/336.html].

• Under Ted Strickland, Ohio is a national leader in inhospitable climates for business. Ohio ranks 47th in state tax climates supportive of business growth. [Source: The Tax Foundation, State Business Tax Climate Index Rankings, 2006 - 2010, pp. 3, 5; www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp59.pdf.]

• Under Ted Strickland, Ohio is a national leader in bad economic performance. Ohio ranked 49th among states in economic performance. [Source: http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/tax/10rsps/rsps10-oh.pdf.]

• Under Ted Strickland, Ohio is a national leader in money spent on education bureaucracy instead of on students in the classroom. Ohio ranks 9th in the amount of money going to education bureaucracy and 47th in the amount of money going to the classroom. [Source: Greater Ohio Policy Center/Brookings Institute, "Restoring Prosperity," Executive Summary, p. vi, http://greaterohio.org/files/quick-downloads/restoring-prosperity-report.pdf]

"They have governed as if they are trying to get through the next week, the next month or the next year. They have had no vision."

• Ted Strickland had no vision for managing the state budget. His budget director issued inaccurate and overly-optimistic revenue projects three times and, according to the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Ohio is one of only 11 states that projected a budget gap for FY 2011 before it had even adopted a budget for the year. [Source:www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2009/06/ohio_faces_32_billion_shortfal.html; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "Recession Continues to Batter State Budget; State Responses Could Slow Recovery," Elizabeth McNichol and Nicholas Johnson, Feb. 25, 2010, www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=711 ]

• Ted Strickland had no vision for economic development. The Ohio Department of Development has had three directors in Ted Strickland's three years in office and, during one fateful seven-month-long period in which the department had no director, 59,223 more Ohioans lost their jobs, there were 137 mass layoffs with 21,687 jobs lost and NCR announced its departure from Dayton. [Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=LASST39000003 ; Tom Beyerlein and William Hershey, "Ohio's lament: NCR didn't invite us to play," Dayton Daily, 2 June 2009, http://www.daytondailynews.com/business/ohios-lament-ncr-didnt-invite-us-to-play-145365.html ; ODJFS 2009 WARN Notices; http://jfs.ohio.gov/warn/pdf/WARNNotices2009.pdf.]

"I will make a commitment to the people of Ohio that I will attempt to lead by example when it comes to restoring public trust in government."

• Between 2007 and 2009, 258 investigations were opened and 44 referrals were made to county prosecutors by the Ohio Inspector General's Office—a 35 percent increase in investigations and a 120 percent increase in referrals compared to the 2004-2006 time period. [Source: Ohio Inspector General's Office, Annual Report, 2009, p. 7, http://watchdog.ohio.gov/annualreport/2009annualreport.pdf.]

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