While they differ politically, at least three of the state legislators who represent the Mahoning Valley say they will work together to help the area.

“I’m sure we’ll all have the Mahoning Valley’s best interests at heart,” said state Rep. Michael J. O’Brien, D-Warren. “We’ll work on infrastructure and to help develop Lordstown for LG Chem and Lordstown Motors. I’m sure the entire Mahoning Valley delegation will work to assist with that.”

State Sen. Sandra O’Brien, R-Knox, who started her first four-year term,

said: “We’ll

be working on issues together that will help the region.”

State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, D-Youngstown, said she frequently contacts other members of the Valley’s legislative delegation to concentrate on issues that impact the area.

“We worked together on the capital budget appropriations and the academic distress commission issue in the Youngstown school system,” she said. “We have differences about politics, but we come together for the important issues in the area.”

CHANGE

Before the 2018 election, all six state legislators — four in the Ohio House and two in the Senate — who represented Mahoning and Trumbull counties were Democrats.

Now, four Republicans, including senators who don’t live in either Mahoning or Trumbull, and two Democrats make up the Valley’s legislative delegation.

In the 2018 election, Don Manning, R-New Middletown, was elected to represent the Ohio House 59th District in Mahoning County and Michael Rulli, R-Salem, won the Ohio Senate 33rd District race that includes all of Mahoning and Columbiana counties. After Manning’s death, Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, was appointed to succeed him and was elected this past November.

Also in the 2020 election, Sandra O’Brien, R-Knox, defeated incumbent Sean O’Brien, a Bazetta Democrat, in the Senate 32nd District — which includes all of Trumbull and Ashtabula counties and a part of Geauga County — and Mike Loychik, R-Cortland, beat incumbent Gil Blair, a Weathersfield Democrat, in the House 64th District in Trumbull County.

“It will be different, but I’m sure we’ll be able to work on the priorities of the Mahoning Valley regardless of the politics,” Michael J. O’Brien said.

He pointed out that the combined elected experience of the four Republicans is about half of what he has. O’Brien was first elected in the early 1980s to a Warren City Council seat and also has served as a Trumbull County commissioner and Warren mayor.

PRIORITIES

Both O’Briens said getting the former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital building in Warren demolished is among their top priorities this year.

“It’s been a travesty for too long,” Sandra O’Brien said. “It needs to come down. It will help with economic development. It’s a beautiful piece of land.”

As a Republican, the party that controls state government, O’Brien said the area “sent a member of the majority to serve them. That will go a long way toward helping us get things accomplished.”

Michael J. O’Brien, who started his fourth two-year term in the Ohio House, said he’s been working with Warren officials and those in the state Environmental Protection Agency to get Clean Ohio funds for the project.

“It will get done in two years. I’m very confident of that,” he said.

Demolition of the former hospital, closed in 1996, is estimated to cost $8 million with the removal of asbestos and other hazardous materials costing $2.2 million more. The abatement has to come first.

Among O’Brien’s other priorities is getting a bill he sponsored last session approved that would establish a fund to provide broadband internet service to areas of the state without it or with limited service. The House approved the bill in June, but the Senate never voted on it.

Sandra O’Brien said one of her goals is getting more state funding for her district.

“The farthest you are from the state capital, the less of your state dollars get returned to you,” she said. “We’re not getting our state dollars back. I will put a stop to that. I’m going to represent the voters. Our history of neglect bothers me. I’ll work real hard to bring that money back.”

Cutrona, Loychik and Rulli didn’t respond to numerous attempts to reach them.

FOURTH TERM

Lepore-Hagan said she has many things she wants to accomplish during her fourth two-year term in the House that didn’t get done during her first three terms.

She wants to repeal House Bill 70, known as the Youngstown Plan, that took away local control of three failing school districts — Youngstown, Lorain and East Cleveland — and put it in the hands of the state.

Lepore-Hagan also wants to find additional funding sources for the Campus of Care, the former Youngstown Developmental Center in Austintown, pass legislation for fair lending in land-installment contracts and work to get universal vote by mail approved.

“I’m going to continue to fight for things that matter for this community, for our kids, public education and women’s rights,” she said. “I’ll listen to medical experts and doctors and speak out for the environment.”

Lepore-Hagan said she was concerned by Republican dominance in state government, saying it leads to corruption and “weakens the system because there aren’t checks and balances. I’m going to always challenge the leadership of the majority party. They don’t look at the urban centers of our state and the issues that face them such as infant mortality, child poverty, hunger and education.”

dskolnick@tribtoday.com