By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor was right at home talking to the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce members, sharing their disdain for governmental red tape that bogs down businesses.
“I was with you, fighting the bureaucracy,” Taylor said, speaking of her time as a CPA prior to entering government.
That frustration led her to cross to the other side.
“I discovered what I really wanted to do was serve,” Taylor said during the mid-year chamber luncheon this past week. “I wanted to be a part of writing the laws.”
She started out small, running for a position in city government, then worked her way up to state representative, then state auditor, and finally to her current position as lieutenant governor under John Kasich.
In government, Taylor said, she has been able to fight for taxpayers, bringing about regulatory reform.
“The status quo is never acceptable for me. We hold every state governmental agency responsible for their regulatory impact on business,” she said. “If the answer is – ‘That’s what we did before’ – that is not acceptable.”
Taylor described her approach as a “common sense” strategy, to look at how regulations such as those protecting the environment were affecting businesses. State rules were reviewed with a special emphasis on looking at the impact on business, she said. That analysis led to 60 percent of the rules affecting businesses being rescinded or amended, Taylor said.
“We have to understand, what we do in government does affect business and job creation,” she said.
Consequently, Ohio’s unemployment is down and wages are rising faster than the national average, Taylor said.
“Everywhere we go, we are using common sense.”
As lieutenant governor, Taylor sees her other role as making a sales pitch for Ohio.
“My responsibility is to sell Ohio.” And that can be a tough job sometimes. “We don’t have a beach.”
If people examine Ohio’s work record, they often take a second look at the state. “Once you get here, what a wonderful place it is to live,” she said. “They are taking a serious look at us and making decisions to come to our state.”
But Ohio faces some challenges, like the opiate/heroin crisis, and infrastructure costs above and below ground, Taylor said.
“We have made progress, but there is more work to do,” she said of the opiate issue.
Roads, water and sewer work pose big expenses. “Those are billion dollar projects,” which most communities don’t have available.
Ohio has to keep working to be business friendly, Taylor said. “We need your feedback. We have to keep our foot on the gas.”
That means continuing to work on workforce development so workers have the skills to match the jobs.
“There are great jobs all over Ohio,” Taylor said, but workers need the training to fill them.
