Ohio’s financial woes were the word around the campfire yesterday when state Sen. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, moseyed onto Ohio State’s campus.

“The budget is the number one bill that we work on in the General Assembly,” Jordan said.

The state’s proposed budget is $48 billion, and the House’s version includes legalizing racetrack gambling.

“I am continuing to fight against the legalization of this gambling,” Jordan said, “and I hope that it will not reach the ballot.”

Jordan has fought against gambling in the past. As a member of the Senate’s Ways & Means and Economic Development committee, he stopped the legalization of video lottery tournaments to racetracks during the Senate’s last session.

During the last session, testimony against bringing video lottery tournaments to racetracks included experts discussing the crime and violence associated with gambling and emotional testimony about the negative effects gambling can have on individuals and families.

Jordan said he encourages his colleagues to look at ways to help Ohio’s families.

“The strength of that institution ultimately determines the strength of the entire society,” he said. “Families and taxpayers are typically forced to cut their budgets, while government spending grows.”

The House also proposed increasing taxation on Ohioans as part of its budget.

“Raising taxes would just not be good for the economic situation of the state,” Jordan said. “Ohio is in the top 10 states in local and state tax burden, but the gross income is considerably lower than in other states.”

He said an increase in taxes could be avoided by keeping the same budget levels and reducing spending.

Instead of reducing spending, however, Jordan said Ohio has generally chosen to raise taxes in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

“In the ’90s, profit increased tremendously, and so did spending,” Jordan said. “Now it’s hard to scale back, but it’s better than the alternative.”

Ohio needs to find a long-term budget solution for Ohio, rather than the short-term solution of raising taxes, he said.

In his speech, Jordan also spoke about the importance of education in Ohio.

“An investment in education is an investment in the state,” he said.

Jordan said he encourages smaller budget cuts in education because he has found that people are generally interested in education and its improvement.

Jordan has been active in the approval of school voucher programs, because he sees this as a way to increase competition between schools in disadvantaged areas, in turn, improving graduation rates.

“I want to give a choice to low-income urban parents, in order to give youth a chance to escape from low-wealth, disadvantaged school districts,” he said.

The students attending the speech also participated in discussion and debate with Jordan concerning these topics.

Before he became involved with Ohio’s government, Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State. He served for three terms in Ohio’s House from 1994 to 2000.