CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Ohio Restaurant Association endorsed Mike DeWine for governor and Jon Husted for lieutenant governor on Tuesday.
“Mike DeWine is an advocate for Ohio’s business community and has demonstrated an appreciation for the unique challenges that face the restaurant community,” ORA president and CEO John Barker said in a release. “This has never been truer than over the past two years during the pandemic where he consistently reached out to listen and understand our industry’s complex issues.”
Those issues came to the forefront almost immediately because of coronavirus in March 2020. DeWine issued the shutdown order in March of that year to stem the pandemic. DeWine then had to weigh concerns among business people, restaurant owners, the public and others, seeking a balance between the need for the public’s safety vs. the need to maintain a healthy business climate.
Barker added DeWine and Husted “spent countless hours with the ORA and our restaurant, foodservice, and hospitality industry leaders,” and that the Governor’s Restaurant Advisory Group’s work led to restaurants reopening in Ohio in May 2020. That year, three dozen restaurant-industry folks, health commissioners and others served on that group, including several representing Northeast Ohio: Pierre Bejjani of Sky Mediterranean Lounge, Rick Doody of NCR Ventures, Dominic Gogol of Little Italy Tavern, Matt Lee of Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt, Gregg Levy of Red, the Steakhouse; Phillip Nabors of Mustard Seed Market and Café, Frank Sinito of Millennia Companies, and Vanessa Whiting, a Popeye’s multi-franchise owner.
The Ohio Restaurant Promise was crafted, with establishments pledging safe sanitation, hygiene guidelines and social-distancing practices. And the state provided a grant program with more than $200 million in Covid relief for affected operators.
Those and other steps “enabled Ohio to fare significantly better than other states that suffered from overreach on mandates and restrictions, which devastated their hospitality communities,” Barker said in the statement.
“It is critical to our members that Ohio’s leaders are balanced and pro-business, pro-economic growth, and pro-job creator, especially now as our economy continues to rebound and we position restaurants to thrive again. Because of this, DeWine and Husted have earned our endorsement in the 2022 election.”
The association has been in existence since 1920, promoting the state’s restaurant and foodservice industry.
The organization also endorsed DeWine and Husted in 2018. Primary Day is Tuesday, May 3. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.
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