Latta speaks about 5th District concerns

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

U.S. Representative Bob Latta generally has plenty to do on weekend trips from Washington, D.C., back to Ohio’s Fifth Congressional District.

Monday was a typical day for Latta, who has served the district as its representative since being appointed to the seat in 2007 following the death of then-U.S. Representative Paul Gillmor. Latta first toured a school in Fort Jennings, then talked to people at an Ottoville manufacturing facility before coming to Van Wert County to attend local Republicans’ Lincoln Day Dinner at Elks Lodge 1197.

That’s a pretty normal day for the congressman when he’s in his district — the largest by area in Ohio. Latta said he has been keeping track the last 6½ years, noting he has attended more than 1,000 meetings of various kinds during that time, including one-on-one constituent meetings and tours of various facilities in the district.

The congressman noted that his tours of businesses in his district has shown him the paradigm has definitely shifted when it comes to companies’ concerns.

“If you go back eight or nine years, during the recession, what I really heard the most from employers and companies was two things: taxes and regulation,” Latta noted. “But the number one issue that everyone has today is very simple: they can’t find enough people.”

The congressman said that, with 50,000 manufacturing jobs in his district, the largest manufacturing district in the state, it’s an issue he has been concerned about for some time.

Latta also noted that he has toured each of the four career centers in his district — Vantage, Four County, Millstream, and Penta — and can’t say enough about the job they are doing to train high school students and retrain adult workers who need new skillsets for the good-paying jobs that companies have available.

The problem is exacerbated, though, by the fact that, while the U.S. has approximately 6 million adults without jobs, there are currently more than 7 million open positions.

Finding those workers and training them for the positions available, Latta said, is now the No. 1 priority for him and fellow legislators, as well as educators and companies in the various states.

In part, the Career Education Opportunity (CEO) program started at Van Wert High School, but now in all three county schools, was developed to make students more aware of local employment opportunities and reduce the number of graduates who go away to college, but often don’t finish a degree program and earn a degree.

The problem with that scenario is that, while many of those students then take other jobs because they need to pay off student loans and other school expenses, they often remain in bigger cities and college towns, rather than return to Van Wert County, where jobs are plentiful and the cost of living among the lowest in the state.

Latta also talked about immigration concerns and talked about challenges to the Republican party when asked to speak at the Lincoln Day Dinner. Latta talked about the importance of conservative judges in Ohio, particularly justices for the Ohio Supreme Court, while also restating Republicans’ concerns about immigration and border security.