Representing a northern Ohio district, predominately an opposition electorate, Josh Mandel spoke around 11 o’clock on the first day of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Washington DC. He spoke of the many challenges he has faced. After being elected to a city council position, Mandel set about lowering the local property taxes and mobilizing a community in the process. The young, actively serving US Marine, took an intellectual – not a political – approach to lowering taxes at a grassroots level while keeping the city he served fiscally solvent. Now as an Ohio State Treasurer candidate, Mandel aims to bring his conservative fiscal policies to the greater Ohio government.
Ohio currently ranks 49th in overall economic performance, while Ohio’s business tax climate ranks 46th. If there was a campaign to reform a state’s tax code and to improve its business climate, Ohio would be the poster child of a basket case. The state’s Auditor predicts an $8 billion budget shortfall.