By Nicarlyle Hanchard / The Jambar
With four weeks left until the election Nov. 3, David Pepper, Dr. Amy Acton’s running mate for lieutenant governor, held a virtual press briefing to discuss the Acton-Pepper campaign.
Citing corruption within the Ohio Statehouse and the arrest of a former speaker of the house, Pepper said the issues at stake in this election are high.
“What has happened in this corrupt system, the results for a great state are just not what they should be,” Pepper said. “We are seeing outcomes across the board way below where they should be for a great state.”
Within a local context, young people leaving the Mahoning Valley for better opportunities has been cause for concern. At the state level, Pepper said not enough is being done to retain young people and young professionals, an issue the Acton-Pepper campaign seeks to address.
“Young people aren’t going to be here if it’s too expensive,” Pepper said. “If you can’t buy a home ’til you’re 40, if you can’t afford other things that people want in life — we have to deal with the cost of living and … all those other things”
In addition to the cost of living, Pepper said he thinks Ohio must become competitive and attractive to retain young people. He said leaders must be proactive in doing so.
“We need to be really competitive when it comes to the good jobs that young people want and are looking for,” Pepper said. “I think Ohio has a lot of work to do here — around workforce development, job attraction, the kind of jobs that young people are seeking, talented young people are seeking.”
Pepper also spoke about the suggested consolidation of certain Ohio universities as part of the governor plan from Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican gubernatorial candidate.
Referencing Acton’s experience as a working student who attended Youngstown State University, Pepper said Acton understands what it means to have a local option for tertiary education.
“She understands the value of having a higher ed option close to home, so you can work your way through and still afford and get that degree,” Pepper said.
On the topic of data centers, Pepper said an elected Acton-Pepper team would place a conditional waiting period on the construction of the centers.
“Months ago, we were the first to do this. We laid out what we call a conditional moratorium on data centers,” Pepper said. “We put into that proposal real safe guards to protect against all the things that communities have been crying out about. The first is cost should never be pushed over to residents or other businesses or the community.”
In May, 21 WFMJ reported that Ben Kyle, Hubbard mayor, signed a nondisclosure agreement concerning the construction of a data center in the area. Though he did not cite this instant as an example, Pepper said that is not an appropriate way to go about these discussions.
“A citizen will go to a town hall meeting and say, ‘Hey, what’s this project coming into my community,’” Pepper said. “They’re told by their own public officials, ‘Sorry we signed an NDA, we can’t talk to you about it.’ That’s not how government is supposed to work.”
Prior to the briefing, The Jambar reached out to Ramaswamy’s team for comment. At the time of print, The Jambar did not receive a response.