{"id":2978,"date":"2011-02-12T04:37:45","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T09:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2011-02-14T04:41:53","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T09:41:53","slug":"new-state-senator-eager-to-help-deal-with-states-financial-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2011\/02\/12\/new-state-senator-eager-to-help-deal-with-states-financial-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"New state senator ready for budget work"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
New State Senator Cliff Hite reads off a list of contractors working on wind farm projects in Van Wert and Paulding counties. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a former Bryan High School football head coach, Cliff Hite may be forgiven if he has a shudder or two when driving by Eggerss Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept having all these haunting memories of getting destroyed by the Van Wert Cougars on a regular basis,\u201d Hite said of driving by the local football stadium on his way to Willow Bend Country Club Friday for a speaking engagement with county Republicans. He added that, in 13 years at Bryan, he beat Van Wert just one time.<\/p>\n

As Van Wert County\u2019s new state senator looking at ways to erase an $8 billion state budget deficit, Hite may yet look fondly back on those days when only the outcome of a football game was on the line.<\/p>\n

Strangely, Hite says he\u2019s looking forward to dealing with the state\u2019s financial problems. Noting that when he taught, he used to have a saying on his wall that noted, \u201cSometimes our greatest opportunities come from our most difficult problems,\u201d the new state senator added: \u201cI am telling you now this is the greatest opportunity we, as Republicans, have had in a very, very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hite appears to be looking forward to the experience.<\/p>\n

A two-term state representative before being appointed to fill former state senator Steve Buehrer\u2019s unexpired term, Hite is optimistic that the solutions the Ohio General Assembly comes up with in the next two years for the state\u2019s economic and financial woes, will pay off in the long run \u2013 but not without more pain.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201dEverybody\u2019s going to feel the pain,\u201d Hite told his fellow Republicans, \u201cand it\u2019s time for everybody (in the public sector) to feel the same pain that a lot of those in the private sector have felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Representative Lynn Wachtmann, who also attended the luncheon, agreed that it\u2019s going to get worse for state agencies before it gets better.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all of you who get money from the state, there really will be 10-15 percent cuts,\u201d the county\u2019s state representative said. \u201cThat\u2019s for real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wachtmann, a small businessman who operates a Culligan water distributorship and other companies, had little sympathy for those who will face budget cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuck it up, like we\u2019ve had to do in the private sector,\u201d Wachtmann told those who represent local government and agencies. \u201cCut your staff, make them work harder. That\u2019s what we\u2019re looking at today in the private sector, and it\u2019s time the public sector had to suck it up, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hite, who also coached \u201cBig Ben\u201d Roethlisberger at Findlay High School, said Van Wert County would see some positives, especially from the wind energy initiatives Iberdrola Renewables and other companies are doing in the county. He also took a little credit for his involvement as a state representative in crafting legislation in the General Assembly related to wind energy.<\/p>\n

Hite cited the fact that wind energy projects are using area workers and companies both local and around Ohio and into Indiana and read off a list of companies doing work for local wind energy initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about bringing some permanent jobs and construction jobs to the area,\u201d the state senator said, noting that a considerable amount of money would also come to the county in the form of lease contract payments to landowners, as well as more than $2 million a year in local tax revenues.<\/p>\n

Hite was also very complimentary of new Governor John Kasich, a fellow Republican, and efforts Kasich is making to deal with the state\u2019s financial problems, as well as the Republican leadership team in the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Hite, who was appointed to chair the Senate\u2019s Agriculture Committee, said he was also looking forward to dealing with problems in that area as well, but also urged local Republicans to provide input to legislators and state officials to help them deal with the tough problems they face over the next couple of years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor As a former Bryan High School football head coach, Cliff Hite may be forgiven if he has a shudder or two when driving by Eggerss Stadium. \u201cI kept having all these haunting memories of getting destroyed by the Van Wert Cougars on a regular basis,\u201d Hite said of driving by the local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 06:09:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}