League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund
Hamilton County, OH November 2, 2010 Election
	Connie Pillich Answers Questions Candidate for State Representative; District 28

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What are your Qualifications for Office? (50 word limit)

As a veteran, I understand service, sacrifice, and duty. As an attorney, I understand how the law can help people and how it can hurt people. As a business owner, I understand making a living and treating employees fairly. As a mom, I understand the challenges families face.

2. What plans do you have to address your top three priorities? (100 word limit)

VETERANS:

Permit veterans to terminate a housing lease without penalty when deploying. Provide unemployment benefits to military spouses. Include military experience in some state licensure credits. Ease the transition for military children as they transfer schools.

JOBS:

Target investment and tax incentives to industries that will stay long-term and create the biggest return on investment. Create an educated workforce, build reliable infrastructure, and keep the tax structure and policies that make Ohio the best business climate in the Midwest.

KEEP CHILDREN HEALTHY & SAFE:

If we keep children healthy and safe today, we will have a brighter tomorrow.

3. Ohio is facing a huge budget deficit for the FYs ending in 2012 and 2013. What specific revenue increases would you support and what cuts would you make to balance the budget? (150 word limit)

Everything is on the table. The most important thing we can do: continue to grow our economy. Also, give tax and other incentives for high tech investment, technical jobs, new markets, film, and other industries that will stay long-term and have a solid return on investment. Provide incentives for creating new jobs. Support our key industries such as aerospace, aviation, agriculture, and alternative energy. Continue to fund education and the reforms in HB 1. Retain the business tax structure and policies that now make Ohio the best place for business in the Midwest and 4th nationally. Tie every agency budget request to a performance audit, to identify and remove inefficiencies and waste. Modify pension contribution rules. Conduct cost/benefit analyses on every service. Reform criminal sentencing. Review double dipping. Combine services. Cut legislator's pay. Do not raise income taxes.

4. What should be done to ensure that all community schools and nonpublic schools that accept state financial support (including vouchers) are accountable to the public? (150 word limit)

Lack of accountability in community and private schools that receive state financial support is unacceptable. Any school that receives state aid should release financial documents reflecting the monies received and items on which it is spent as well as the name, occupation, and contact information for each member of its board. Moreover, each school should also reveal its sources of funding and detail any direct or indirect lobbying of and donations to legislators by the school, administration, members of the board, or parent company. Each school should meet the same academic standards as our public schools. The public should have the right to remove the funding for any school that is not performing adequately or handling money in an appropriate manner.

5. What would you propose, if anything, to change Ohio’s tax structure? (150 word limit)

In 2005, Ohio's legislature made some dramatic tax reforms: it eliminated the corporate franchise tax, eliminated the tangible personal property tax (TPPT) on inventory and equipment, created the commercial activity tax, and began a four-year schedule to reduce individual income taxes by 21%. We have implemented the first 16.9% of that tax cut. Let's maintain these changes.

The tax changes, along with red tape elimination, a dedicated Department of Development, and the new online Ohio Business Gateway have repositioned Ohio as a great place to do business.

The portion of TPPT that funded local schools will be phased-out by 2018. Unfortunately, many public schools will be seriously affected by this. E.g., Princeton will lose 25% of its annual revenue. Lockland: 18.8%. Reading: 11.7%. It's too much to cut and too much to levy on taxpayers. I introduced HB 516 to modify that phase-out and save funding for these school....

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. Word limits apply for each question. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 4, 2010 09:11
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