Ohio Lt. Governor Mary Taylor used to be a Certified Public Accountant, so it wasn’t a stretch for her when Governor John Kasich asked her to head up the Common Sense Initiative (CSI). The goal of the CSI is to ease the regulatory burden on businesses by eliminating excessive rules.
“We’ve reviewed over 6700 rules that impact business …and we’re at about 56-percent historically have either been rescinded or amended because of the work of the CSI office,” said Lt. Gov. Taylor.
Taylor said this helps Ohio businesses succeed. She may be right as statistics from U.S. Department of Labor show Ohio’s Gross Domestic Product has been steadily increasing since it bottomed out in 2009 while unemployment has steadily declined since then.
Being in charge of the CSI, Taylor said has helped her enhance and further her leadership skills. With Governor John Kasich officially announcing his candidacy for President, Lt. Gov. Taylor says she’s ready to take over at the state house if needed.
“I look forward to the opportunity to continue to do the great work that I believe were doing in Columbus that’s better for the entire state,” said Taylor.
When asked if she’s planning on making a 2018 run for governor, Taylor said she’s “keeping her options open.”
If Kasich were to ascend the GOP ladder, Taylor would be the first woman in Ohio to hold the governor’s chair for more than just a few days. Back in 1998, then-Lt. Governor Nancy Hollister became governor for 11 days when then-Governor George Voinovich became one of Ohio’s U.S. senators and had to resign in order to take his senate seat.
Taylor would also be among a small group of women who are currently governors and well as the small group of women who have ever been governors. With Arizona Governor Jan Brewer retiring earlier this year, that leaves only six women, three Democrats and three Republicans, currently holding the office of Governor.
According to the National Women’s Political Caucus, the largest number of women to serve simultaneously as governors was nine in 2004 and again in 2007. And they report only 26 out of the 50 states have even had a woman governor.
The United States isn’t sizing up well on an international level either when it comes to women in leadership positions. According to the Inter-parliamentary Union of Geneva, the U.S. has dropped in ranking in worldwide female leadership from 69th in 2008 to 84th in 2014.
With women becoming more educated and more involved in business since the mid-20th century, it has been questioned why more women aren’t getting involved in politics, which is why there are fewer women running for office than men. Brookings Senior Fellow Jennifer Lawless analyzed data from a 2011 study and it showed “women are less likely to be encouraged to run and less likely to be considered as a potential candidate when a position opens up.” Lawless also said there is also a perception among women who could potentially run that they won’t do as well as a man even though there is no evidence to support that belief. In fact, Lawless said, women do just as well as men when running for political office.
So the question remains, is Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor’s tenuous attitude about being governor a lack of self-confidence and encouragement or just a polite gesture towards Gov. John Kasich by letting his political aspirations make headlines before she makes her own?
Depending on how Governor Kasich does in the GOP primaries, we may know the answer to that question sooner than later.