The 2014 Ohio gubernatorial race is already heating up as Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald (D) officially kicked off his campaign against Governor John Kasich (R) last Wednesday.
A former FBI Special Agent and Mayor of Lakewood, FitzGerald lists job creation, the protection of the middle class, and a fight against political corruption as some of the primary issues on his statewide platform. As displayed on his campaign’s website – edfitzgeraldforohio.com – “From our factory floors to our school rooms, Ed stands firm with Ohio’s workers.”
Gov. Kasich’s term, on the other hand, has been largely anti-labor from the very beginning. He signed the controversial Senate Bill 5 meant to limit collective bargaining rights of Ohio’s 400,000 public workers less than three months after he assumed office; SB 5 was then overwhelmingly repealed by Ohio voters in the 2011 general election.
During his campaign announcement speech in Cleveland, FitzGerald said he looked forward to an economy “based on local businesses that pay real wages that you can raise a family on, instead of big corporate giveaways.
“We can be a state that respects all its workers, public sector and private sector, union and non-union alike, instead of demonizing them,” FitzGerald continued. “We can be that kind of state.”
ACT Ohio is looking forward to hearing FitzGerald’s plans for revitalizing Ohio’s economy through the utilization of the qualified contractors and skilled craftsmen that make up the state’s construction trades.
