Dec. 30, 2011 6:27 a.m.
By George Nelson

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- As chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party, attorney David Betras was at the center of the hardest-fought and highest-pitched battle in Ohio, if not the country, in 2011.

The party chairman offered a defiant -- and strident -- voice of opposition to Senate Bill 5 and, later, the statewide referendum on the legislation, State Issue 2. Betras waged a highly public -- and sometimes personal -- battle with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and its president and CEO, Tom Humphries, and other supporters of the legislation.

For his efforts, The Ohio Democratic Party Betras recognized him last summer as Democrat of the Year.

The Business Journal chose five 2011 newsmakers for a year-end series of reports and asked these individuals to reflect on their experiences of the past year, any lessons they learned and how they might apply those lessons in the future.

Among the lessons Betras says he learned in 2011 are that Ohio voters, who overturned S.B. 5 with their overwhelming rejection of Issue 2, respect first responders, teachers and other public employees for the work they do, and that there is a "definite chasm" nationally and in Mahoning County between the wealthy and workers. "Our country had taken a downward spiral in a race to the bottom. Instead of bringing the world up to our standards we are permitting the world to drag us down," he said.

"Whether conservative, Republican, progressive or Democrat, we must all realize that we are all in this together and we must do what is best for our Valley," Betras continued. He also expressed amazement at how many people don't believe that Democrats value hard work, creativity and entrepreneurship. "We just don't believe that is the end all of everything American," he added.

The biggest lesson he learned, he said, is that the business community seems to want to be political "at a time when they should concentrate on job creation through paying fair wages and not taking our jobs overseas." He didn't expect the local business community to become as involved in partisan politics as it did in 2011, "truly a wrong course for them to travel."

The best strategy for business, Betras suggestd, is to put as much money as possible in the pockets of the middle class. "A business plan that just seeks tax cuts for individuals and corporations who ship jobs overseas, or who don't want to pay a fair share, just takes money out of the pockets of the individuals who fuel our economy," he said. "We need to have policies that are fair to all, not just to the lobbyists or the wealthy who have the time, energy and resources to shape policy designed to help a core group rather than the country as a whole," he said.

Betras said he was surprised that the "vitriol" that has gripped Washington would be embraced by so many in the Valley. Often seen as a polarizing figure, he says he wants to unite the community, not divide it. "I want us all to do well, not just a select few," he remarked. "I want an environment where the workers are not pitted against business and business doesn't look at the workers as their enemies."

Copyright 2011 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.

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