The Governor Gets a Reality Check

This week, the Governor's focus has been all LeBron and Chicken Shacks.

How much so? On Wednesday and Thursday the Governor's campaign spokeswoman, Lis Smith, tweeted 105 times. 87 of those tweets were in some shape or form about LeBron and Chicken Shacks.

I know. Weird, right?

But while the Governor's primary message manager is focused on the trivial, there is a real world out there.

Employees of NCR past and present gathered Thursday afternoon, June 24, at Old River Park to celebrate a company, its local legacy — and each other.

“It’s just a good day to renew old acquaintances,” said Patricia Wentz, who worked for NCR for five years.

The gathering of employees was a self-organized event that didn’t involve the company. NCR has moved headquarters functions to Duluth Ga., pulling most of the 1,300 jobs it had in Dayton to the Atlanta area. On July 1, the former headquarters building and its 115 acres will be transferred to control of the University of Dayton, which bought the property for $18 million late last year.

This get together is a stark reminder of Ted Strickland's failure as a Governor.

If you'll remember, the primary reasons for NCR's departure were the following:

NCR decided to create a single innovation hub for its worldwide headquarters in Georgia after extensive analysis of potential US locations, using independent data on the available workforce, infrastructure, financial incentives and government tax structures.

While the Governor can influence all of the above factors, he has particular power over the final two. As we all know, tax structures are all relative. If other states have a more competitive tax structure, they will be more attractive for businesses. And Georgia was more attractive.

Of course, it probably also would have helped if Strickland took the time to know the identity of NCR's CEO.

This all goes back to that all-too-telling survey of 641 CEOs that 3BP covered last month. The results showed that in the past five years Ohio has plummeted from 20th to 44th on the list of best states to do business.

Well, Governor. The buck stops with you.

And while your campaign may not want to acknowledge what really matters to voters, you may want to start.