Unemployment affects everybody. When job growth falters, even the folks with good careers experience slower wage growth, greater risk of job loss, and less assurance of being re-employed. Ohio has broken an all-time record by going nine years with job growth below the national average. Officially, our unemployment rate has risen to over 7%, and this doesn't even count the thousands of people who have exhausted their unemployment insurance or those who are working for less than a living wage.

As your state representative, the economy will be my top priority. Jobs will drive Ohio's recovery from the national economic skowdow and I will work to re-start the economic engine that made us a leader in jobs and income during the early 1990s.

We must rebuild Ohio industry. Though traditional factory jobs may be gone for good, our talented labor force can be put to work in the production and installation of "green technologies" - materials and devices that boost energy efficiency and cut pollution. I strongly support the plans of Governor Strickland to do just that.

His bipartisan Building Ohio Jobs stimulus package targets investments in industries ready to grow now. This proposal projects 57,000 new jobs in short order, and more with investments in internships and co-ops for college students. Details include the use of tax-exempt bonds as well as unused existing funds, thereby not increasing state spending. I am confident that the programs in this package will create jobs but that is not enough.

Third Frontier renewal will be key. The first years of of Third Frontier created over 44,000 jobs and gave a return of $10 to every $1 spent. It's on the May ballot for renewal and will give us new jobs into the future.

We must also fix our schools. Ohio needs a highly-educated workforce to perform the jobs of the future and to attract businesses to Ohio. My education plan (also at this web site) will give employers a reason to come to Ohio. We must use available federal dollars for vocational, technical, and on-the-job training -- dollars that the previous state government has left un-spent.

The national economic slowdown - and the impact we felt in Ohio because of it - has not dulled my vision for Ohio's future. I will work with the Governor and across the aisle as your State Representative to see this vision realized.

We must also focus on early childhood education. As a former pre-school teacher, I know how important it is to stimulate the mind at an early age. We must make early education available for all.

The current budget, despite the worst economic climate in decades, has held college tuitions at current levels for the first year of the biennium and allows for a maximum increase of 3.5% for the second year.

Ohio needs a highly-educated, innovative workforce to perform the jobs of the future. We are losing our talented youth to other states. With them we lose the human resources for a modern economy, and the tax revenue that keeps the government working for you.

As your State Representative, I will encourage greater accessibility and affordability so that more Ohioans can pursue higher education.

The "Seniors to Sophomores Program" fulfills both of these missions by giving every qualifying 12th grade student a choice of spending their senior year at their home high school or on the campus of one of Ohio's universities, community colleges, or technical institutions. These students would then receive their high school diplomas and enter college as a sophomore. Most importantly, tuition for that senior year on a college campus will be FREE!!

I applaud Governor Strickland for beginning this conversation on education and working to find a cure. He needs members in the legislature that will work with him to see this vision realized.

It's no secret that there is a health care crisis in this country. More than a million Ohioans have inadequate health insurance or none at all. Those who do have coverage, are divided among hundreds of insurance plans. The resulting red tape increases costs for doctors and raises your health bill. With Ohioans split into so many health plans, it often takes just a few large claims to raise premiums for everyone in a group.

As your state representative, I will work to give all Ohioans access to full health coverage, through a unified public insurance plan that would be open to every resident. By reducing duplication, this plan would lower the cost of health care. And by making preventive care affordable, this plan will help prevent costly late-stage illness. We must also do more to encourage young people to become doctors. We are facing a shortage of primary care physicians and specialists that could become critical.

Some want to control health costs by curtailing service, and making fewer choices available to the consumer. I will attack the major problem -- an inefficient payment  system -- not the doctor/patient relationship. You should be free to choose your health care provider, and providers must be free to prescribe treatments based on their training, experience and patients' needs.

Education is on the minds of all of us as we look at the problems of school funding, the over reliance on property taxes and the lack of compliance by the Republican legislature with four Supreme Court rulings on the issue. However I would like to talk about a related issue, one that is near and dear to my heart.

As a former pre-school teacher, I know the importance of getting a child on the right track early. More and more states are looking at universal early childhood or pre-K education. Why?

Three reasons…

• Educational equity - research shows that early education provides children with skills necessary for later school success. Studies in states that have pre-K found that children had clear gains in early language, literacy and mathematical development.

• Economic returns - A major study released by the business backed Committee for Economic Development indicated that every dollar invested in preschool is expected to yield $2 to $4 in future benefits to society, including savings to states from less crime and lower remedial educational costs down the road

• Easing financial burdens on parents - Enables working class parents to provide quality care for their children

A number of states have initiated pre-K programs. Illinois recently passed the first law in the nation that establishes the goal of universally-available public preschool for all 3 and 4 year olds – 190,000 publicly-funded slots by 2010.

As your state representative, I will work to ensure that our youngest citizens get a good start. We can’t afford not to! It’s good for the kids, it’s good for the parents and it’s good for Ohio!

I am proud to have sponsored HB 7 that says that if you use state money to construct a new building, it has to be built to certain green standards. These starndards were worked out by a group that ranged from the Sierra Club to the Ohio Chemical Technology Council. It has passed the House and has had its first hearing in the Senate.

We must preserve the wonderful natural resources that we so enjoy in Ohio - our lakes and rivers, our forests and wetlands, fresh air and clean air.

Today, protecting and preserving the environment means more than limiting pollutants and fining offenders. Today, investment in green industries has the potential to create thousands of new, high-paying jobs. Today, we lag behind other countries in terms of alternative and renewable energies: geothermal, wind, solar and more have the potential to not only create jobs but protect and preserve the environment for our children and our grandchildren.

I fully support the Clean Ohio Fund. The Clean Ohio Fund has been in existence since 2000, when voters across Ohio passed a similar initiative that created the Fund to clean up contaminated industrial sites, commonly referred to as brownfields, and preserve our limited and precious green spaces so that future generations can continue, as I have, to enjoy Ohio's great outdoors.

Our state parks are also a part of the great outdoors and a treasure that Ohio must protect. Therefore, I oppose legislation to open these parks to oil and gas drilling and instead support the full utilization of existing wells and private leases before destroying a single acre of our state parks.

I also support Governor Strickland's Building Ohio Jobs stimulus package which will invest $84 million in renewable and advanced energy research and production. The stimulus package also includes $66 million for clean coal technology research, which will allow Ohio to continue to utilize our most abundant natural resource in a way that reduces and ultimately eliminates its impact on our environment.

Saying you want to protect the environment is easy, but taking steps to make these protections a reality is hard work. I will work with private, public, and community partners to implement environmental policies that protect Ohio's children, families, and seniors. As your State Representative, I will continue to work to protect Ohio's environment and the health of its citizens, while bringing the green jobs and industry to our state that will provide Ohioans the economic tomorrow they deserve.