New! Improved! Strickland's Frontier 3.1

Here’s an economic stimulus proposal from Ohio’s governor: Let’s issue $1.7 billion in bonds to develop high-tech and biomedical industries, shore up the state’s infrastructure and fund other public works. Sound familiar? It should.

One of the highlights from Gov. Ted Strickland’s State of the State speech Wednesday, the plan bears more than a passing resemblance to the 2005 Issue 1 proposal, which went to fund the Third Frontier high-tech initiative of Strickland’s predecessor, Bob Taft.

Taft’s $1.85 billion issue included money for roads, bridges and sewers as well as for cutting-edge technology firms. Strickland’s $1.7 billion issue would include money for bridge and road replacement, as well as for cutting-edge bioproduct and energy firms. Taft’s 2005 ballot issue was called “Jobs for Ohio.” Strickland is calling his proposal “Building Ohio Jobs.”

Notice a trend here? The libertarian Buckeye Institute does, and it doesn’t like it. “Bonds are not free,” Buckeye President David Hansen said. “Future generations of Ohioans will be stuck with an ever-increasing mountain of state debt, payable with interest.” Hansen was talking about Strickland’s plan, but he could have been talking about Taft’s. In fact, his colleague Douglas Oliver made essentially the same argument in 2005: “Ohio doesn’t need any more Third Frontier debt.” But hey, it sure worked for Taft. It’s bound to work for Strickland, right?

So call it the Fourth Frontier. Or maybe Frontier 3.1.