3 former governors look to the future
Darrel Rowland
When Ohio’s three living elected former governors got together last week, you might have expected a lot of lamenting about the good old days in Ohio.
Not so. Despite an average age pushing 80, Republican Bob Taft and Democrats Richard F. Celeste and Ted Strickland all stressed the need for Ohio to press into the future.
“Change is inevitable … and change is accelerating. Political figures and business people have got to be ready for what’s coming,” Strickland said.
Taft said, “There’s a limit to what a governor can do, but certainly education is at the heart of what you can do — and workforce development. The biggest complaint of any employer today is they can’t find the employees they need to do the jobs that they have available.”
He said that the state needs more options for career paths: Half of career center students go to college, and they usually find in-demand jobs. But such opportunities currently are distributed very unequally across Ohio.
Celeste, former president of Colorado College, said, “We export talent every year. That’s the tragedy. I live in Colorado, and I meet Ohioans all the time.”
Columbus is leading the way at reversing that trend with a city that is more vibrant, and keeping more of its young people, he said.
“So part of it is how to design a quality-of-life with a sense of opportunity with some investment support — doesn’t have to be really big — but with a recognition that it’s going to be creative ideas, people willing to take risks.”
Celeste also cited a factor that few Ohioans likely consider: “Water will become the defining decision for more and more businesses around the world. And if I were to figure out a way as governor to designate us as the fresh-water capital of the planet … I’d be selling that. I think we’re one of the uniquely positioned places on the face of the earth that will be healthy and preferred 20 and 30 and 40 years from now.”
Taft noted that the ongoing challenge of keeping Lake Erie clean will prove a major issue for incoming Gov. Mike DeWine.
Ohio’s water advantage will become even more pronounced with climate change, Celeste said.
“That is a massive opportunity we can’t understand because we’re still thinking about the steel and auto industry,” he said.
Strickland said it’s time for politicians to come clean with Ohioans instead of exploiting economic issues for political advantage.
“I think we’ve got to start being really honest with people, and we need to start thinking about the future rather than recapture the past. I’ve engaged in that kind of rhetoric as a candidate, thinking maybe people weren’t ready for the truth. But my friends the coal miners in southeastern Ohio are never going to experience the kind of life that they and their fathers experienced.
“Ohio has all of these pluses — great institutions, higher education, research institutions, natural resources and so on. But it seems to be like there is too much effort trying to recapture the past rather than thinking about the future, what’s next.”
Some love from Kasich
Ohio’s current governor joined the former governors last week at the ceremony unveiling the exhibit of Ohio’s Constitutions at the Statehouse.
Outgoing Republican John Kasich had kind words for both Taft and Strickland, but singled out Celeste.
“I love Dick Celeste,” Kasich said, recounting a telephone call he received from the then-governor after Kasich’s parents were killed by a drunken driver in a 1987 crash.
Celeste implored Kasich, then a bachelor congressman, to spend Christmas with the Celeste clan at the governor’s residence. Kasich, who accepted the invitation, said he will never forget Celeste’s compassion.