Josh Mandel R

Jobs and the economy are important enough for Josh Mandel in his campaign for the U.S. Senate that he has it in his web’s domain name.

“There are three main issues I’m focusing on — jobs, jobs and jobs,” Mandel said. “I feel so strongly about that we changed the www in our web site to jobs. I believe the focus of leaders at the local, state and federal level should be about economic growth and putting people back to work.”

Mandel is currently the Treasurer of Ohio, having been elected in 2010. He is a Marine Corps veteran who served two tours in Iraq before returning home and getting into politics. The Republican candidate was elected city councilman in his hometown of Lyndhurst in 2003, then elected to two terms as state representative from the 17th Ohio House District.

As treasurer, he’s earned the highest possible ranking from Standard & Poor’s, and feels his principles of fiscal conservatism and common-sense decision making will help him in the U.S. Senate.

“I believe Ohio’s economic backbone depends on four main covets — manufacturing, agriculture, energy and small business. While we have so many other important businesses, if we have a strong environment for manufacturing jobs, energy jobs, agricultural jobs and small business jobs, we’ll be strong as a state,” he said.

One way to have a strong economic environment in Ohio is figuring out the tax code.

“One thing we need to simplify is the tax code. It’s way to complicated for small businesses and families in general,” Mandel said. “When large, multinational corporations can file a 50,000-page tax return and pay zero taxes, it’s a broken system.

Another is simplifying government and letting the people who really know how to run the business to do their thing.

“I’m a strong believer in the free enterprise system. What I hear from farmers around the state is they’re not looking for handouts, what they’re looking for is the government to get out of the way. The best way to grow agriculture jobs is to just get Washington out of the way,” Mandel said.

While economic opportunity in Ohio is a high priority for Mandel, he also believes health care is another place government needs to keep its hands off.

“While I think it makes sense to allow coverage for pre-existing conditions and for kids to stay on their parent’s insurance until age 26, by and large, I think the government takeover of health care is a bad piece of legislation,” Mandel said. “That’s because it’s a job killer for our state and a Medicare reduction for seniors. It cuts over $700 billion from Medicare spending at a time when senior citizens really need that help.”

Mandel also believes that his ability to work across party lines will benefit all of Ohio.

“I believe one of the main problems we have in Columbus, and even worse in Washington, is that there’s too many politicians who care more about the D or the R next to their name than about doing the right thing,” Mandel said. “We need more leaders in public office who are willing to do the right thing first for their constituents. I look at my constituents as my boss. I’ll make decisions on what’s best for my boss — the constituents.”