Bob Taft

Robert Alphonso Taft III (born January 8, 1942) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 67th governor of Ohio from 1999 to 2007.

A member of the Taft political dynasty and Republican Party, Taft previously served in the Ohio House of Representatives, then as Hamilton County commissioner, and as Ohio Secretary of State under governor George Voinovich.

Taft was born in Boston and raised in Cincinnati.

Taft was born in 1942 in Boston, to U.S. Senator Robert Taft Jr.. and Blanca Duncan Noel.

Bob's paternal grandfather was U.S. Senate Majority Leader Robert Alphonso Taft Sr.; his patrilineal great-grandfather was U.S. President and Chief Justice of the United States William Howard Taft; and his patrilineal great-great-grandfather was Attorney General and Secretary of War Alphonso Taft.

He was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended the Cincinnati Country Day School through the ninth grade and graduated from The Taft School.

At Yale University, he was a member of the Yale Political Union, and graduated with a B.A. in government in 1963.

From 1963 to 1965, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching in Tanzania.

He later attended the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, receiving an M.A. in government in 1967.

In 1976, he received his Juris Doctor from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

His first public office was representing the 65th district in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1977 to 1981.

Taft was elected as a Republican to the Ohio House of Representatives and served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1977 to 1981, and then was Hamilton County commissioner from 1981 to 1990.

He then served as commissioner for Hamilton County from 1981 to 1990.

Taft ran for lieutenant governor in 1986 but was unsuccessful.

He ran for Lieutenant Governor of Ohio on the ticket with Jim Rhodes in 1986, but was unsuccessful.

After that, he was elected Secretary of State of Ohio in 1990 and was reelected in 1994.

In 1990, he was elected Ohio Secretary of State, defeating incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown.

It was reported that a deal was made in 1990 that the state Republican Party would clear the field for Voinovich and in trade, they would clear it for Taft in 1998, but both men denied any deal taking place.

He was re-elected in 1994, defeating Democratic candidate Dan Brady.

He had been preparing for his run since 1995, raising money and securing the endorsement of term-limited incumbent George Voinovich.

In December 1996, Taft announced he would run for Governor of Ohio, becoming the first candidate to enter the race.

Taft won the 1998 Ohio gubernatorial election with 50 percent of the vote and became governor in January 1999.

Taft won the May 5, 1998 primary to become the Republican nominee.

He then defeated Democrat Lee Fisher, the former Ohio Attorney General, in the November 3 general election with 50 percent of the vote.

He was sworn in for his first term on January 11, 1999.

In his first term, he had high approval ratings and was easily reelected in 2002, defeating his opponent by over 600,000 votes.

In January 2002, it was reported that the governor had raised nearly 6 million dollars for his reelection campaign.

Taft had high approval ratings going into the election (near 70 percent according to some polls), and experts predicted he would easily win.

In the November 5 general election, Taft defeated Democrat Tim Hagan by nearly 20 points, 57-38 percent.

He was sworn in for his second term on January 13, 2003.

Between 2003 and 2008 it dispersed $681 million, resulting in a $6.6 billion economic impact return and 41,300 jobs.

During Taft's tenure, Ohio was awarded the Governor's Cup twice, in 2003 and 2006.

The award, selected by Site Selection Magazine, is given to the state that attracts the most business developments over $1 million, creates over 50 jobs, or constructs over 20,000 new square feet of business area during the course of a year.

The honor is deemed as being considered the best state in the country for business development, attraction, and capital investment.

In August 2005, as a result of the Coingate scandal, Taft was indicted with four misdemeanors related to him receiving undisclosed gifts and accepting illegal campaign contributions, making him the first Ohio governor charged with a crime while in office.

He pleaded no contest to the charges and was fined $4,000.

Despite his fallout from the conviction, Taft continued to serve as governor until his second term expired in January 2007.

After leaving office, Taft worked for the University of Dayton, beginning August 15, 2007.

The Third Frontier program, started under the Taft administration, as of 2009 was considered an enormous success in modernizing Ohio's 21st century economy.

The program focuses on issuing funding for research, development, and commercialization projects to the biomedical, alternative energy, and the advanced propulsion industries and institutions, among others.