After a poll last week showed the Governor tied with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald, John Kasich’s campaign released their second ad in a week, once again zealously stressing his working class roots and his leadership in job “growth.” In reality, the Governor has done little to allow Ohio’s middle class families to achieve the same success he has.
Here’s how the Governor shifted new burdens on the middle class and struggling Ohioans, not lifted them up:
Advertisement: “Both of my parents always taught me that those people who are hurting are people that we need to help. We can’t look the other way.”
FACT: Governor Kasich Refused to Meet with 1,000 Laid Off Ormet Workers: “Kasich has not met with company officials or the steelworkers who lost their jobs, despite requests from both sides and a petition with 10,000 signatures asking him to get involved.” [Columbus Dispatch, 2/16/ 2014]
FACT: Kasich Made it More Difficult for Poor Women to Get Healthcare: “One provision shoehorned into the budget pushes Planned Parenthood to the back of the line for state money for preventative health grants, behind local public health departments that often don’t have the same expertise or experience in providing breast and cervical screenings and reproductive care. This will make it harder for women, especially poorer women, to receive basic health services.” [The Plain Dealer, 7/13/13]
Advertisement: “Well, my father was a postman and he told me, Johnny, you stand on your own two feet. You go out there and change the world.”
FACT: Kasich Supported Privatizing U.S. Postal Service: “The latest challenge to the agency’s mail monopoly came two days after Republicans, many of them eager to privatize government functions, took charge of Congress. Gene A. Del Polito, executive director of the Advertising Mail Marketing Association, said that the timing was not accidental. ‘This will probably accelerate the discussion on the future of the Postal Service, which is exactly what we intend to do,’ he said. Del Polito said Rep. John R.Kasich (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Budget Committee, has told the mailers ‘point blank that we aregoing to privatize’ the Postal Service. ‘That’s on their agenda, not during their first 100 days, but they are going to do it.'” [Washington Post, 1/7/1995]
FACT: Kasich Led the Charge to Lay Off 51,000 Public Employees Through SB 5: “If Senate Bill 5 is not repealed, about 51,000 public employees across the state could lose their jobs.” [The Washington Independent, 9/28/2011]
Advertisement: “I learned a lot from my mother from the standpoint of it’s okay to shake it up and tell it like it is.”
FACT: Kasich Stated that “My Wife Makes All the Minor Decisions:” “And then there’s this Kasich quote from last year, which does not exactly inspire hope: ’My wife makes all the minor decisions about where we live, what we eat, where we go, where we vacation and what we do on a daily basis… So, she’s in charge of the family and she’s done a fantastic job.’” [New York Magazine, 9/13/12]
FACT: Kasich Stated “It’s Not Easy To Be A Spouse Of An Elected Official … You Know, They’re At Home, Doing The Laundry And Doing So Many Things:” “‘You know, Jane Portman, Karen Kasich, and Janna Ryan, they operate an awful lot of the time in the shadows,’ he said in the video below… It’s not easy to be a spouse of an elected official … You know, they’re at home, doing the laundry and doing so many things while we’re up here on the stage getting a little bit of applause, right? They don’t often share in it. And it is hard for the spouse to hear the criticism and to put up with the travel schedule and to have to be at home taking care of the kids.’” [New York Magazine, 9/13/12]
Advertisement: “So I’ve always had a sort of underdog mentality about things because — you know, because you have power or because you have wealth, so what?”
FACT: Kasich Cut Half Billion in Education to Fund Tax Cuts to Wealthy & Shifted $1.34 Billion in Levies to Tax Payer: “As a direct result of the $1.8 billion in school funding cuts approved by Gov. Kasich and the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature, local taxpayers have been asked to approve 393 school levies representing $1.34 billion in new operating money since May, 2011. Levies representing $492 million in new operating funds have passed.” [Innovation Ohio, 4/25/13]
Advertisement: “I mean, economic growth and prosperity shouldn’t be limited to a few.”
FACT: Family Poverty Rate Hasn’t Budged Under Kasich: “According to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, the family poverty rate for Ohio held steady at 12 percent in 2011 and 2012 — the most recent data available.” [Columbus Dispatch, 2/23/2014]
FACT: After Recession Ohio’s Top One Percent Saw Income Growth of 15%, 99 Percent Fell .4%: “In the wake of the Great Recession from 2009-11, the top 1 percent in Ohio saw income growth of nearly 15 percent, seventh highest in the nation, while incomes for the other 99 percent fell 0.4 percent.”[Columbus Dispatch, 4/19/2014]
Advertisement: “When I came in, we were down 350,000 jobs and now we’re up almost of a quarter of a million and I think we’re just scratching the surface.”
FACT: Ohio Only Gained 600 Jobs Last Month, Didn’t Even Make Up for the 2,300 Jobs Lost in February: Ohio only regained 600 of the 2,300 jobs it lost in February, and lost 3,500 lost jobs in manufacturing. Trade, transportation and utilities also lost 4,900 jobs and local government jobs decreased by another 3,500. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4/18/2014]
FACT: Small and Mid-Size Businesses Not Hiring: “Ohio’s small and medium-size businesses are feeling more confident these days — but not enough to start adding employees, according to a report by PNC Bank. The Pittsburgh-based bank’s spring survey, released this morning, found that 48 percent of business owners expect sales to increase and 37 percent say profits will go up in the next six months.” [Dispatch, 4/3/2014]
FACT: JobsOhio Admits Job Growth is “Slower-than-Desired:” “The head of JobsOhio acknowledged that the state’s private economic development corporation had seen slower-than-desired growth in new jobs last year but said deals in the pipeline it has not yet completed will boost the numbers for 2014 ‘Some of our numbers were slightly down,’ JobsOhio president John Minorsaid in a meeting with Business Courier staffers.” [Cincinnati Business Courier, 3/28/2014]
Advertisement: “My job is to lift people, to serve this state, and to make it stronger and bett. Give hope to people and improve their lives.”
FACT: Conservative Business Publication Called Kasich Policies Tax Shifting, Not Tax Cutting: “The reality is, the governor is a tax shifter. He is adept at transferring the burden of taxation from one party to another while giving the appearance of reducing taxes. Shifting the load is how he can balance a state budget that grows year after year even as he beats the drum for lower individual income tax rates.” [Crain’s Cleveland Business, 3/16/2014]
FACT: Kasich Called a Traffic Cop an “Idiot” For Pulling Him Over And Then Later Bragged About It in Public Speech: The Columbus Dispatch reported on February 17, 2011 that, “it became public that Gov. John Kasich had recently described a Columbus police officer as an ‘idiot’ for giving him a traffic ticket in 2008.” [Columbus Dispatch, 2/17/11] [Video HERE]
FACT: Kasich “Scoffed” at Firefighter Lay-Offs & Reduced Emergency Response Times: “Gov.John Kasich on Monday scoffed at the idea that cuts in state money have caused crises in budgets for police, firefighters and road repair in towns, counties and townships..’Are they spending less? You sure?’ Kasich said. ‘I’ve not heard of any placeshere where, my goodness, we couldn’t put a fire out. If I saw that, I’d be concerned.'” [Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/25/2014]