Dem candidate for Lt. Gov. says 'more of the same' from Ramaswamy ticket

ELYRIA — Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor David Pepper said Monday that Ohio's state government is benefiting the "well off" at the expense of average Ohioans, and that Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would continue that practice if elected. The running mate of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, Pepper tried to make his case against Ramaswamy, a businessman and Pepper's fellow Cincinnati native, during a visit to Elyria's Ely Square. "We are already dealing with a statehouse that is corrupt, that spends most of its time giving away things to the most well off people in the state and country, and everyday people pay the cost of those policies," Pepper said. "Vivek Ramaswamy is proposing basically more of the same. The things he is throwing out there, the reckless policies he is throwing out there, and particularly how he will pay for them, are things that will continue to cost everyday Ohioans more." Pepper said if Ramaswamy enacts the tax policies his campaign has proposed, Ohio's sales tax would rise to 18 percent or higher. He said this would shift more tax burden from the state's highest earners to those with more moderate incomes. In a phone interview with The Chronicle-Telegram on Monday, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor and state Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said that tax cuts from the state during his time in the legislature have benefited all Ohioans and that those benefits were what would continue under Ramaswamy. "I would say his (Pepper's) remarks are completely baseless and sound like a guy who's probably bitter because he has failed statewide campaigns twice and is probably one of the worst state party chairs the Ohio Democratic Party has ever had," McColley said. "During my time in the Legislature we have given tax cuts to everybody. We have created economic policies for everybody. We have driven workforce development policy to provide training for people of all walks of life." Pepper ran unsuccessfully for Ohio attorney general in 2014 and auditor of state in 2010. He was the chair of the Ohio Democratic Party from 2015 until early 2021. As far as his accusations of corruption, Pepper said that Ohio's legislators in recent years have rewarded their political donors with taxpayer money, pointing specifically to the state's plan to provide $600 million in funding for a new stadium for the Cleveland Browns in Brook Park. "It has basically been state policy for 10 to 15 years to, again, (give) tax breaks at the top — things like the Browns' deal — underfund services that are popular like public schools and local government, and then without saying, but requiring it, local taxpayers have made up the difference," Pepper said. "... We (Pepper and Acton) are going to do the job of actually fulfilling state obligations and stopping the problem that local taxpayers are basically being asked to foot the bill for the state being irresponsible." Jimmy and Dee Haslam, the owners of the Browns, have donated millions of dollars in state and federal races since 2022. McColley said that the Republican-led state Legislature has increased public school funding over the past several years and that the increase has kept up with inflation over the past decade. While overall state funding for public schools has increased in recent years — from $10.5 billion in 2020 to $13.7 billion in 2026 — critics like the Ohio Education Association and Policy Matters Ohio have argued that by abandoning the bipartisan Fair School Funding Plan, the state has provided less than schools actually need to be properly funded. Currently, more Ohio school districts are projected to have a negative cash balance than at any time since the Great Recession. Locally, Elyria Schools officials have said that decreases in state funding received by the district were the leading cause in necessitating a $9 million budget reduction plan that was approved early this year. As for the deal regarding the Browns stadium, McColley said that the state did its due diligence on the project and that the money was provided because the Brook Park stadium would be a critical driver for the economic growth of the region, not because of who owned the team. "That plan in particular, we went to great lengths to make sure that the state was actually going to end up making money, getting its money back, in the form of tax revenues and whatnot," McColley said. "(We) probably went to greater lengths regarding that plan than we would for most economic development projects that you will see and hear about that are incentivized through JobsOhio or otherwise." Pepper said that the reason he came to Elyria on Monday — aside from his personal affinity for Ely Square — was because Lorain County serves as a microcosm for many of the issues facing the state as a whole. "I have seen enough elections to know that you have got to do well in Lorain County to win the election if you are a Democrat running," Pepper said. "So this is a really important part of the state, and I think a lot of communities here are experiencing a lot of what the state is experiencing; costs are too high, (you are) looking for what is our next vision economically. And so solving the problems that Lorain County faces, I think, is an important part of solving the bigger problem that Ohio faces." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.