Tag: Jim Renacci

Ohio Republican Party Frays, Leadership Falters As 2020 Election Heats Up

Jason M. Reynolds

  Is Jane Timken the leader the Ohio State Republican Party needs to help President Donald Trump win re-election when her party seems to be engaged in a civil war? The stakes are high in the Buckeye State. Trump and Biden are locked in a dead heat, according to a poll available here by RealClearPolitics. GOP insiders say the number of Republican-registered voters in the state has fallen from 2.2 million in June 2016 to 1.9 million last month. Meanwhile, Timken and Gov. Mike DeWine went on a state tour early this year to say how great things are, The Ohio Star reported. They touted the pre-pandemic economy, government spending and children’s programs while ignoring the governor’s red flag laws, his policy to allow dangerous refugees into the state and primary endorsements that the two have drawn heat on. Since then, DeWine and Timken have not addressed conservatives’ concerns over Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof’s late-night move to kill a vote on a bill to curb Dr. Amy Acton’s unrestrained powers in strangling the economy. Now, conservative-leaning county parties are showing their displeasure with state leadership by sending strongly worded letters to DeWine. It may be that letters are the…

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Rep. Vitale Wants Gov. DeWine to End the State’s Lockdown

Zachery Schmidt

  State Rep. Nino Vitale (R-Urbana) told Ohio Future Foundation (OFF) Chairman Jim Renacci that Ohio needs to end its lockdown. “I don’t think the government should be locking us down at all,” he said during OFF’s Facebook live forum Wednesday night. Vitale has been one of the most vocal House Republicans who has criticized Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton for shutting down almost all of Ohio’s economy. He, along with 32 other House Republicans, created a plan the “Open Ohio Responsibly Framework”  that recommended business start opening on Friday, which DeWine announced will happen. “Many businesses have already modified their operating protocols to safely function in this current environment. Businesses/organizations recognize if they do not make it safe for their employees and customers, they will not come back,” the plan states. We believe it is time to trust Ohioans. They have respectfully followed the guidelines and NOW is the time to responsibly open all businesses. Two weeks ago, Vitale also called on DeWine and Acton to ease restrictions to allow hospitals and doctors to perform elective surgeries. A major concern Vitale expressed to Renacci was what was going to happen to the healthcare…

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Former Ohio Congressman, Jim Renacci Joins Leahy to Discuss Ohio as a Battleground State for Election 2020

Julie Carr

During a live recording on Friday’s Battleground State Report – a one-hour radio show from Star News Digital Media in the early stages of national weekend syndication roll out – host Leahy was joined on the line by Jim Renacci former (R) U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 16th district in 2011-2019.

During the show, Renacci weighed in on how he saw Ohio moving in the direction for the 2020 Presidential election predicting at this time voters would again side with Trump. However, he did mention that politics is a 30-40 day cycle where things could change. Renacci added that the policies embedded in Ohio’s politics were not the President’s politics making things difficult for citizens by holding high taxes and heavy regulation on businesses.

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Jim Renacci Commentary: How John Kasich Failed Ohio

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Failed leadership in the past has caused Ohio to become one of the ‘most left’ states in America thanks to failing infrastructure, slow job creation and lethargic wage growth. The state simply isn’t competitive in the race to attract and retain businesses, and its showing. Since leaving Congress in January, I have been listening to Ohioans in cities and rural areas alike that feel angry, tired and frustrated. They want to know why our neighbors are winning and why Ohio is missing out on the Trump economy. I tell them all: we can thank John Kasich.

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Ohio’s Future Foundation Pushes Pro-Business Policies to Help All Residents Prosper

Beth Lear

  YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Former Congressman Jim Renacci and Ohio’s Future Foundation (OHFF) were hosted by the Mahoning County Republican Party Tuesday evening.  The GOP group held a social for OHFF in their meeting room in Youngstown. Rick Barron, the Mahoning County Leader, announced that, ‘Tom (Weyand – OHFF’s Outreach Director) asked me to head up OHFF in Mahoning County, and we turned two blue seats red!’  Republicans gained a State Representative and a State Senator in an area which, prior to President Trump, was overwhelmingly Democratic. Next spoke Executive Director Jeff Anthony.  Republicans, he shared, were the party most likely to support their plans of making Ohio prosperous again by changing laws that inhibit business growth.  ‘For thirty years politicians have been telling us what they will do.  We want to tell them what they need to do,’ he exclaimed. The program turned to John Fadol, their researcher, who took a ‘deep dive into policy’. He discussed House Bill 6, an energy bill to bailout the nuclear power plants, and House Bill 166, the state biennium budget. “House Bill 6 began as a placeholder bill, an empty 63 pages,” stated Fadol.  “However the bill has now been updated.” It…

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State Senator Says Cutting Tax Breaks for Small Businesses Would Be ‘a Mistake’ for Ohio

Anthony Gockowski

  State Sen. Lou Terhar (R-Cincinnati) said it would be “a mistake” for the Ohio Senate to support a decrease to the tax breaks small businesses receive in the state. “There are a range of issues with the House budget that concern us in the Senate. The first would be the cut of the small business tax, which we believe is a mistake,” Terhar said. “Once we take a position on how small businesses should be treated, we should stick with that position,” he added. Terhar said that if “you’re going to encourage small businesses” by giving them a tax cut “and then take that away,” it will make business owners wonder if they “really want to invest in Ohio.” Under the House’s version of the budget bill, Ohio’s Business Investment Income Deduction would be lowered to $100,000. As of now, small businesses don’t pay taxes on the first $250,000 of income, but that figure would drop down to $100,000 under House Bill 166. Terhar’s comments came during a recent forum on the state budget hosted by Ohio’s Future Foundation and its chairman, former Congressman Jim Renacci. “One of the concerns is we still do not have a state that’s…

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Conservatives Tackle ‘Stigmas’ Surrounding Vo-Ed in Ohio

Anthony Gockowski

  Ohio’s Future Foundation, chaired by former Congressman Jim Renacci, hosted a forum last week on the stigmas and misconceptions surrounding vocational education programs. The forum was hosted at Pioneer Career and Technology Center, whose superintendent said that skilled welders who graduate from the school can “easily make six figures just a few years out of high school.” “They’re hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead in just a few years,” said Greg Nickoli, who noted that graduates enter the workforce making $18 to $20 an hour. “One of the big misconceptions is that you’re going to go right in to work and it’s probably going to be a low-paying job. And I can tell you there’s nothing further from the truth,” he continued. “I would venture to say that most college graduates would jump at a chance to make $60,000 a year.” He also stressed that vo-ed graduates aren’t burdened with the debt that comes from a traditional four-year degree. That’s why Renacci and Ohio’s Future Foundation are spreading the word about vocational education opportunities in Ohio. “It’s something we believe needs to be prioritized in our state. We need to make sure that our high schools can continue to…

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Former Congressman Renacci Calls for Smarter Government Spending During Forum on Gas Tax

Anthony Gockowski

Ohio’s Future Foundation Chairman and former Congressman Jim Renacci hosted a forum on the gas tax Monday evening with Greg Lawson of The Buckeye Institute and Paul Lewis of the Eno Center for Transportation. Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) has been pushing for an 18-cent gas tax increase, which Monday night’s panelists think might be too high. Although a controversial subject, the panelists were in agreement on one thing: the state government needs to be smarter with how it spends its money. “I think the real opportunity is to focus on trying to make our transportation institutions more efficient and a lot of that has to do with investing smartly, not necessarily focusing on big, expansive projects, but more doing the things that voters are actually looking for, which is roads that are well maintained, buses that run on time—kind of the run-of-the-mill stuff that isn’t as exciting as a new highway or some kind of new big project, but it’s the thing that people care about everyday. It’s really kind of focusing on asset management and taking better care of what we have,” Lewis said. Lawson agreed with the sentiment, and encouraged politicians not to get “hung up” on the…

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