COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ahead of November’s General Election, Ohio’s gubernatorial candidates, incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine and former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, participated in a forum on Friday hosted by the Ohio Association of Regional Councils.

Each candidate answered questions regarding their stance on important policies that affect Ohioans, such as water and transportation infrastructure, broadband, brownfields and Ohio’s gas tax.

While both DeWine and Whaley regard infrastructure as a critical component of Ohio’s economic growth, the two candidates view them in different ways. 

During the forum, DeWine said Ohio’s infrastructure is the reason he did not cut Ohio’s gas tax when so many families struggled to pay for fuel when prices skyrocketed. 

“So it wasn’t easy to take the position that I did, but I thought it was important,” DeWine said. “And I thought it was important because my position is… that we should not do that.

​”I think that would give us a temporary little relief, but in six months or nine months, I think Ohioans would’ve looked up and said ‘What in the world was the governor thinking about? What was the legislature thinking about? Now we’ve got roads we can’t fix.’”

Meanwhile, Whaley offered a different solution. 

“I’ve come out in favor of doing a six-month pause on the 38-and-a-half cents a gallon and backfilling it with the Rainy Day Fund,” Whaley said.​

Not only is transportation infrastructure a concern for Ohio, but water infrastructure as well. 

DeWine said more than $100 million is used per year to help fix unclean water in the state. In the forum, he said farming is a major cause of phosphates getting into Ohio’s water. According to DeWine, a large portion of that money is given to farmers to help them adapt their methods and slowly transition to farming practices that are not as harmful to the water.

During Whaley’s portion of the forum, she used her time as the mayor of Dayton as an example of dealing with water infrastructure issues. Whaley said although there are efforts to limit the amount of phosphates that enter the water, right now the weight still falls on taxpayers.

She said while she was mayor, parts of the city were asked to pay for removal of phosphates from surrounding water and she said that cost ultimately fell on the people. Whaley said the people polluting the water are the ones who need to be held accountable. 

The gubernatorial candidates did not debate or respond to each other’s positions on policy during Friday’s forum. DeWine spoke to attendees in the morning and Whaley made an appearance the same afternoon. 

Both candidates were asked when voters may see a debate between the two opponents.

Whaley said she is ready whenever DeWine is. Meanwhile, DeWine said he is out every single day talking with the people of the State of Ohio and there has been no governor that has had more press conferences or answered more questions asked by the news media.