Kasich, J Gov

=calls out djt ukraine impeach-ish 10/20/19180 on agwmight challenge trump 2020kasich 2010  hanging in, got home state, trumped; sxsw coy on trump flank 2020, AGW?!4 horsemen of alec Koch-alyspe:snyder, walker, gone 2018, brownback previously implodedtrend: dewine AG run for gov 2018, wins  even when rust belt flip to dems (not Ohio, kasich terms out, gear up for 2010)<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/11/25/john-kasich-2020/2108618002/">https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/11/25/john-kasich-2020/2108618002/</a><a href="https://www.edf.org/media/kasich-climate-change-danger-our-economy-and-our-future">https://www.edf.org/media/kasich-climate-change-danger-our-economy-and-our-future</a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/he-gets-to-decide-trump-escalates-his-fight-against-climate-science-ahead-of-2020/2019/02/28">
</a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/he-gets-to-decide-trump-escalates-his-fight-against-climate-science-ahead-of-2020/2019/02/28">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/he-gets-to-decide-trump-escalates-his-fight-against-climate-science-ahead-of-2020/2019/02/28</a><p data-elm-loc="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">From the earliest days of his administration, President Trump has been at war with his own government over climate change.<p data-elm-loc="2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">He upbraided his first economic adviser by telling him that he didn’t care that American executives backed the Paris climate agreement because “my voters don’t live on Park Avenue.” He has told aides that he thinks the Earth’s climate will begin cooling again, so there is no need to act forcefully before then.<p data-elm-loc="3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">And he was enraged by a recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/11/23/major-trump-administration-climate-report-says-damages-are-intensifying-across-country/?utm_term=.765c90c0b4e6" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">National Climate Assessment</a> released by more than a dozen federal agencies showing climate effects are “intensifying across the country” and that only aggressive action will avoid “substantial damages” in the future. The report spurred the White House to <a href="https://wapo.st/2NrqvN5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">make plans for an internal working group</a> to counter the scientific consensus that climate change represents a major threat to the United States and the globe.<p data-elm-loc="4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">For a president who has yet to receive an extensive scientific briefing on climate change, the topic amounts to a political litmus test ahead of the 2020 elections. Rather than accept the conclusions espoused by elites and loathed by many of his voters, Trump has opted to question the premise that global warming represents a major problem or, at times, if it even exists. And now through its new working group, his National Security Council is working to muster ammunition for his arguments.<p data-elm-loc="5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Meade Krosby, a senior scientist at the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, said the initiative showed a disconnect with reality. The world has already warmed more than 1 degree Celsius since preindustrial levels, and a recent U.N. scientific report concluded the world will have to cut its carbon output 45 percent by 2030 to avert some of the most catastrophic consequences of climate change.<p data-elm-loc="6" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“The idea that what we really need is to revisit the basic science of climate change when we are already feeling its impacts is absurd,” she said. “There is no meaningful scientific disagreement on the facts.”<p data-elm-loc="8" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“I don’t have a problem with people having different points of view. It’s the president that gets elected,” said Milloy, who previously ran a group that received funding from the oil industry. “In the end, it’s the president’s agenda, and he gets to decide.”But Steven Milloy, a climate change skeptic who served on Trump’s transition team at the Environmental Protection Agency and questioned humans’ contribution to climate change, said Trump is simply keeping his promise to millions of voters who backed him in 2016 after he campaigned on the energy policies he is now pursuing.<p data-elm-loc="10" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">The White House’s push against climate science has exposed a modest rift within the Republican Party, as some are edging toward a more centrist position. And it has provided a potential political opportunity for Democrats, who have been grappling with their own intraparty fight over how ambitious to be when it comes to cutting carbon.<p data-elm-loc="11" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced this week that all 47 senators in the Democratic caucus had signed on to a resolution saying that climate change is real, caused by humans and that Congress needs to take immediate action on it.<p data-elm-loc="12" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">On Tuesday<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">, former Ohio governor John Kasich (R), who ran against Trump in 2016, said recent federal reports have settled the debate over climate science.<p data-elm-loc="14" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Trump sees the climate debate as a war of political messaging, according to several current and former administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly. Convinced that the scientific literature on climate change is funded and directed by liberals, he has said on repeated occasions that he expects the climate to change back to colder average temperatures. It amounts to an endorsement of the “global cooling” forecast some researchers made in the 1970s.“The government is giving us reports saying this is [a] problem,” Kasich said at a<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvu_bQWy_0E&feature=youtu.be" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);"> University of British Columbia lecture</a>. “And the Defense Department and America’s preparing for climate change, global warming and the implications of it all. So there are very little questions anymore.”<p data-elm-loc="16" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">When Trump and his aides discussed whether to remain in the Paris climate agreement two years ago, he emphasized the impact low-carbon policies could have on average Americans. Under the accord, the United States pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions between 26 and 28 percent by 2025.<p data-elm-loc="17" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">While Trump occasionally asks aides for their opinions on climate change, he has been unwavering in his denial that human activity bears the brunt of the blame.<p data-elm-loc="18" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“When you talk to him about it, he’s openly skeptical,” George David Banks, who served as special assistant to the president for international energy and environment during the start of Trump’s term, said in an interview. “The reason he’s skeptical is he sees it as being detrimental to U.S. manufacturing.”<p data-elm-loc="19" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">White House officials did not respond to requests for comment.<p data-elm-loc="20" class="interstitial-link " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[<a href="https://wapo.st/2Fw1QFf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">In the wake of devastating wildfires, Trump presses to expand logging</a>]<p data-elm-loc="21" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Deputies who have sought to make the case for climate action to Trump have not fared well. During a meeting just weeks before the president announced that the United States would exit the Paris agreement, then-National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn noted that several major chief executives had published a joint letter urging him to stay within the deal.<p data-elm-loc="22" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“Gary, my voters don’t live on Park Avenue,” Trump responded, according to one participant who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting. “They don’t care about the same things you care about.”<p data-elm-loc="23" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Since Trump announced a withdrawal from the Paris deal in 2017, climate change has rarely come up as a priority inside the White House, according to current and former officials. “He knows his voters see it as bunk,” a White House official said.<p data-elm-loc="24" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Trump’s views have been largely consistent for the better part of a decade, as he has railed against renewable energy and claimed that environmentalism puts U.S. industry at a disadvantage.<p data-elm-loc="25" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Trump’s rejection of climate science stretches back to at least 2010. Shortly after signing a letter calling for U.S. action to combat climate change, Trump changed course and began calling the whole concept “a con,” voicing many of the same arguments he uses today.<p data-elm-loc="26" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">In a February 2010 interview on Fox News, Trump noted the “freezing” temperatures at the time, and claimed that the United States was “scrubbing” its coal while China, Japan and India pursued dirtier energy, putting American companies “at a competitive disadvantage.”<p data-elm-loc="27" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“It’s probably getting a little bit warmer,” Trump said. “And then, in a number of years or decades, it will get a little bit cooler.”<p data-elm-loc="28" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">In 2012, he tweeted that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing noncompetitive.” And in the years leading up to his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump continued to opine about global warming, seizing on cold snaps to argue that the science showing rising temperatures and sea levels amounted to a “hoax.”<p data-elm-loc="29" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">The anti-science views espoused by Trump allow him to cast aside inconvenient facts and shape an argument that aligns with his political goals and his other long-held views, said Tim O’Brien, author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”<p data-elm-loc="30" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“It’s performance art,” he said. “I don’t think he authentically believes climate change was authored in Beijing. He just knows that it dovetails neatly with his anti-China, anti-free-trade, anti-climate-change mantra. And he can put that to political use.”<p data-elm-loc="31" class="interstitial-link " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[<a href="https://wapo.st/2HSETz3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">Trump to nominate former oil lobbyist as Interior secretary</a>]<p data-elm-loc="32" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Trump has already begun targeting his potential 2020 opponents over their environmental positions. The president also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2019/01/22/the-energy-202-another-winter-another-trump-call-for-good-old-fashioned-global-warming/5c4640ac1b326b29c3778c59/?utm_term=.bad99e7cabaf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">touted January’s frigid temperatures</a> in much of the United States but ignored his government’s announcement two weeks later that <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2841/2018-fourth-warmest-year-in-continued-warming-trend-according-to-nasa-noaa/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record</a>.<p data-elm-loc="33" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for President, talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures,” Trump tweeted after the Democratic senator from Minnesota <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-amy-klobuchar-touting-herself-as-a-bridge-builder-announces-her-democratic-presidential-bid/2019/02/10/4d9c39de-152b-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html?utm_term=.762e1a8e89a5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">made her announcement in a snowstorm</a>.<p data-elm-loc="34" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Some federal officials in top scientific posts offer a more nuanced view on climate change, but they choose their words carefully.<p data-elm-loc="35" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“Certainly, the climate is changing; it has been changing. It’s a combination of natural variability and human influence,” Kelvin Droegemeier, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in an interview last week. “Over the past 70 years or so, human influence has played a significant role.”<p data-elm-loc="36" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">In 2013, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report saying global warming is “unequivocal” and that it is “extremely likely” that humans are the “dominant” cause of climate change over the past century.<p data-elm-loc="37" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Trump’s own military leaders and intelligence heads have said in public reports that climate change poses a national security threat to the United States.<p data-elm-loc="38" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">But as president, Trump’s views on environmental science have drifted further from the mainstream even as he has had access to top scientists and data.<p data-elm-loc="39" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">In a November <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-on-climate-change-people-like-myself-we-have-very-high-levels-of-intelligence-but-were-not-necessarily-such-believers/2018/11/27/722f0184-f27e-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html?utm_term=.e0ad7ff1ac9a" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">interview</a> with The Washington Post, Trump claimed that dirty air from Asia “blows over” toward the United States. He also rejected calls for climate action by claiming that U.S. air and water is already “record clean.” He claimed that California’s wildfires in 2018 were caused by improper forest management, and then he suggested “raking” forestland.<p data-elm-loc="40" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Democrats are convinced that Trump’s position on climate change could be a liability for congressional Republicans, most of whom have raised questions about climate science and worked to reverse Obama-era regulations aimed at curbing carbon emissions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recently said he would force a vote on House Democrats’ Green New Deal, a measure that would spend trillions to wean the U.S. off fossil fuels.<p data-elm-loc="41" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">The NSC is pressing ahead with its plan to convene federal researchers to decide how the White House might reassess the government’s climate findings, and it has asked agencies to find outside experts who endorse the idea.<p data-elm-loc="42" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">Kasich, who on Tuesday called on lawmakers to impose either a tax on carbon or a nationwide cap on emissions, said that eventually voters would pressure his party to act.<p data-elm-loc="43" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw);">“Do you know why politicians will finally get off the dime?” Kasich said. “Because they’ll have no choice.”1/17...Since the November election, the incoming <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Trump administration</a> has threatened to cut back federal funding for clean energy and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">climate change</a> initiatives, pull out of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Paris climate agreement</a> and drop the Clean Power Plan (currently stalled in the Supreme Court).But a handful of midwestern states are refusing to abandon their growing clean energy and efficiency industries, which support roughly <a href="http://www.cleanjobsmidwest.com/state/illinois/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">113,900 jobs</a> in Illinois, <a href="http://www.cleanjobsmidwest.com/state/michigan/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">87,600 jobs</a> in Michigan and <a href="http://www.cleanjobsmidwest.com/state/ohio/" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">100,800 jobs</a> in Ohio. Soon after the Prairie State passed its promising energy bill, Michigan enacted two of its own. And in late December, when a bill that threatened to kill Ohio's renewable dreams appeared on Gov. John Kasich's desk, he gave it the ol' Hell-naw <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/kasich-veto-renewable-energy-freeze-2167410117.html" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">veto</a>.k controls state gop http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/ohios-top-republican-political-operatives-refuse-help-trumps-campaign-report
==<a href="http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/news/local/records-political-ties-of-private-prisons-raise-co/nNpdc/">http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/news/local/records-political-ties-of-private-prisons-raise-co/nNpdc/</a>....
Activists have called on investors to

divest themselves of corporate corrections stock because of corporate

efforts to influence incarceration policies.MTC and GEO Group

officials declined to be interviewed for this story, but CCA spokesman

Steve Owen said such concerns are “unfounded. We’re not in the business

of public policy. We don’t grow our business by impacting crime and

sentencing laws. We grow our business by providing safe, secure

facilities.”CCA, the largest corrections company with record

revenues of $1.7 billion in 2010, was also the first modern industry

player. It was politically well-connected from the start, cofounded in

1983 by then-Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Tom Beasley. It now

confines more than 75,000 male, female and juvenile inmates in 66

prisons serving 19 states, the District of Columbia, the Federal Bureau

of Prisons, the U.S. Marshal’s Service and Immigration and Customs

Enforcement.Owen said the company helps governments save money by

using economies of scale in the purchasing of goods and services, and

in negotiating with providers for employee benefits. He said the company

offers competitive pay, based on the standards of the prisons’ host

communities. That translates to lower pay for guards than that offered

to unionized state employees.“We’ve been able to deliver on the

value proposition,” Owen said. “Marry that with the oversight and

accountability of government, (and you get) the best of both worlds.“At

the end of the day, from a business standpoint, if we’re not operating

safe and secure facilities, there’s no reason for government to partner

with us.”Political connectionsPrivatization foes say there

are other reasons that politicians engage corrections companies:

Campaign contributions, lobbying and other personal connections.Soon

after Ohio dipped its toe into the private prison waters, money started

flowing into campaign coffers, campaign finance records show. Since

2001, when it began running Ohio’s two private prisons, MTC has

contributed a total of $103,000 to legislative and state candidate and

political parties. In just the last two years, MTC donated $42,000.In

December, CCA and GEO — the other two dominant players in the private

prison industry — each contributed $10,000, the maximum allowed by law,

to Kasich’s transition fund that pays for inaugural parties and other

expenses.Each of the three vendors hired well-connected Columbus

lobbyists to advance their interests. In CCA’s corner is Donald

Thibaut, who served as Kasich’s chief of staff in Congress for nearly 20

years. GEO contracted with Doug Preisse and Bob Klaffky, who both

served as political advisors to the Kasich campaign. MTC hired Dan

Jones, who went on a Florida fishing trip with then House Speaker Jon

Husted in the midst of the 2006 budget negotiations.After being

elected governor last year, Kasich hired former CCA employee Gary Mohr

as his corrections director and announced plans to privatize the five

prisons. Mohr handed oversight of the deal to his chief of staff to

avoid a conflict of interest.MTC also hired former Ohio

Corrections Director Terry Collins as a paid consultant. CCA announced

in June it hired newly retired Federal Bureau of Prisons director Harley

G. Lappin as its chief corrections officer and executive vice

president.According to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks campaign

giving and lobbying influence, CCA and GEO have contributed a combined

$20.9 million to federal candidates in the last decade. CCA and GEO

spent a combined $19.6 million to lobby federal officials since 2000.

Since 2002, GEO and CCA contributed $1 million to the Democratic

Governors Association and $1.8 million to the Republican Governors

Association, according to OpenSecrets.State Rep. Mike Foley,

D-Cleveland, said Ohio’s privatizations are “giveaways to corporate

America, friends of John Kasich. It raises real questions about pay to

play and basically buying influence to obtain state resources.”Ohio

Corrections officials deny political motivations, saying the

privatization plan is one means of solving the state’s budget crisis.

LoParo said the selection process is being done by an adminstration team

in “a very transparent, very professional manner, far removed from the

political process.”Next steps...
2 charter fails?also pioneer in PIC
 https://dianeravitch.net/2012/11/24/checker-finn-opposes-the-for-profit-model-in-education/edison fail ohio also ECOT (kasich?)see below:  Meanwhile, it turns out that then-Ohio charter school chief David Hansen, who drafted the grant application, also rigged charter school sponsor evaluations to improve their ratings. Hansen resigned July 18, two days after submitting the grant request to the feds and several days after admitting he broke the law by excluding failing grades for some charter schools in the evaluations.Hansen's wife, Beth Hansen, is Ohio Governor John Kasich's former chief of staff and the manager of Kasich's newly surging presidential campaign. long term biggest energy $<a href="http://desmogblog.com/2016/02/17/fossil-fuel-industry-spending-millions-2016-presidential-candidates">http://desmogblog.com/2016/02/17/fossil-fuel-industry-spending-millions-2016-presidential-candidates</a>
=<a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/08/21/john_kasich_and_education_reformers_dirty_secret_how_his_joke_betrayed_their_contempt_for_teachers/">2</a>010 fundersThat's not to mention the convicted felon, the business leader who was the main financier of Bob Ney's defense fund before the former Heath congressman went to federal prison, or the cowboy-hat-wearing industrialist who supports a mysterious out-of-state entity now delinquent in paying a record $5.2 million election fine in Ohio.They are among an esoteric baker's dozen of individuals and families who have led the way in bankrolling Ohio political campaigns during the past decade. Together, those 13 deep-pocketed donors poured more than $25 million into state races since 2000.Despite limits placed on campaign contributions in the mid-1990s, Ohioans just witnessed the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in state history. In fact, every statewide nonjudicial race this year broke spending records, some of which had stood for 20 years.When he signed legislation capping donations to candidates, parties and political-action committees in May 1995, Gov. George V. Voinovich said, "I'm confident there'll be a substantial reduction in the amount of money spent on campaigns." Others readily agreed.Instead, the price tag for statewide campaigns in the past decade leaped almost 73 percent from the total for the 1990s, most of which had no limits on political contributions, according to a Dispatchcomputer analysis of more than 4.3 million state campaign-finance records involving more than $1.7 billion in transactions.(For purposes of this comparison, an 11-year period, 1990-2000, was used for the "1990s" so that three statewide election years were included, the same as in the 10-year period 2001-10. The Dispatchresearch did not take into account money from outside groups that have poured millions of independent expenditures into state campaigns, and it does not include the multiple millions more provide to federal campaigns from Ohio.)Voinovich, who is retiring after 12 years in the U.S. Senate following his two terms as governor, confirmed this year the suspicions of many critics that such extravagantly funded campaigns have created an atmosphere in which big donors receive special access to elected officials."Truthfully, it has an impact on you," he said. "Somebody who has a big fundraiser in Ohio and says they want to come in to see you, and, you know, you see those individuals. There's no question that they've got an advantage as a result of doing it."Outgoing Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, whose office enforces Ohio campaign-finance laws, said, "No matter how well-intentioned a candidate is, if they're taking large amounts from donors who are not giving for ideological purposes, there will be tacitly that pressure that they need to give access to those donors, if not actively work to please them."The quest for cash was virtually unending in this year's record-breaking race for governor. Together, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and successful GOP challenger John Kasich staged 276 fundraisers in the 300 days leading up to this year's Nov. 2 election, their campaign-finance filings show.Strickland held 166 campaign fundraisers in the first 10 months of 2010, generating more than $5.2million. That's an average of more than one fundraiser every other day, seven days a week, in locations across Ohio and from Los Angeles to New York."It's not a pleasant task, but it's a necessary task if you are serious about winning an election," Strickland said. "You can put your name on a ballot, not raise money, and you're not to going to win."In the same period, Kasich had 110 fundraisers - more than one every three days - generating nearly $4.2 million."Until the media agree to begin working for free and start giving away free advertising, there will always be a need for campaigns to raise money," Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said.Strickland garnered more than $450,000 on Oct. 17 when President Barack Obama hosted a fundraiser at the Renaissance Hotel in Columbus. While Kasich's money events were fewer in number, they were more lucrative because of a series of "headliners."An appearance by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in Cincinnati brought in about $680,000; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Columbus, $630,000; talk-show host Sean Hannity in Cleveland, $600,000; and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Columbus, $453,000."They know that fundraising in terms of their job as a candidate is their primary responsibility, because no one raises money like a candidate," said Brian K. Hicks, chief of staff for Gov. Bob Taft. "They have to be focused on it virtually every minute of every day."The Taft campaign still holds the Ohio record by far for a single fundraiser, generating almost $2million in May 2002 at a Columbus Hyatt Regency event featuring President George W. Bush. That was more than his challenger, Democrat Tim Hagan, raised during his entire campaign.But what motivates people to fork over large amounts of cash to a political candidate?David Brennan and William Lager operate scores of charter schools whose funding - not to mention their very existence - depends on the legislature and governor. The Wayne Boich family, primary bankrollers of Ney's defense fund, operates coal mines that are subject to government regulation on several levels. ==<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/comment/36416#comment-36416">http://www.prwatch.org/comment/36416#comment-36416</a>
Ohio state education officials are now admitting that Ohio has <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/02/04/charter-school-federal-grant.html" target="_blank">almost ten times as many failing charter schools as the state initially claimed</a>.

This revelation comes as Ohio tries to hang onto a $71 million

federal charter school grant in the wake of scandals over misleading the

grant application reviewers and breaking state law by altering charter

school performance statistics. That was the largest grant award by the

U.S. Department of Education last year.

Ohio newspapers and the Center for Media and Democracy reported last

October that the Ohio Department of Education's claims about the

excellence of the state's charter-school system were intentionally

misleading.

In the state's July 2015 grant application, education officials

reported that in the 2012-13 school year Ohio had no "poor performing"

charters, even though about a third of the schools didn't meet any of

the standards on state report cards and 60 percent earned D's or F's on a

measure of how students perform on state tests.

The grant application also said an automatic-closure law would shut

down any failing charter schools without disclosing that the law will

not be in effect for several years.

Meanwhile, it turns out that then-Ohio charter school chief David

Hansen, who drafted the grant application, also rigged charter school

sponsor evaluations to improve their ratings. Hansen resigned July 18,

two days after submitting the grant request to the feds and several days

after admitting he broke the law by excluding failing grades for some

charter schools in the evaluations.

Hansen's wife, Beth Hansen, is Ohio Governor John Kasich's former

chief of staff and the manager of Kasich's newly surging presidential

campaign. She left her government post for the campaign in the midst of

the scandal as the pre-primary season was beginning. Kasich has not been

asked about the charter school failures in the national debates.

In the latest news, Ohio's Department of Education now says there

were actually 57 poor-performing charter schools in the state in the

2013-14 school year, not six.

Its July grant application claimed there were only six.

Conversely, the state said there were 93 "high-performing charter schools" in July and now it says there are just 59.

These performance statistics are for 290 brick-and-mortar charter

schools and still do not include online charters (which Hansen

omitted).

These numbers were included in a January 29 letter to the federal

regulators who put a hold on Ohio's charter-school grant amid the

concerns. The 20-page letter is signed by interim state superintendent

Lonny J. Rivera, and was the state's third response to questions from

federal regulators since the review was opened.

Part of the reason Ohio won the

grant in the first place was a glowing endorsement from the National

Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA)—an organization that

had previously referred to the charter system in Ohio as "broken."

But NACSA rethought that assessment as it signed a $40,000-a-year

agreement with the Ohio Department of Education to lend assistance to

the state's charter school authorizers. The deal was brokered by former

NACSA senior executive and lobbyist Hansen before he resigned as head of

the Ohio Office of Quality School Choice.

During his time as NACSA's top lobbyist, Hansen represented the organization at meetings of the <a href="http://www.ALECexposed.org" target="blank">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC), touting "high quality" charters. That's the post he took after he left the "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Buckeye_Institute_for_Public_Policy_Solutions" target="blank">Buckeye Institute</a>" and before Kasich put him in charge of charters for the state of Ohio.

Hansen previously led the Buckeye Institute, an Ohio "think tank" that is part of the controversial "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:State_Policy_Network" target="_blank">State Policy Network</a>"

(SPN). SPN special interest groups amplify ALEC's lobbying agenda,

which includes numerous bills to siphon money from traditional public

schools to charters and for-profit enterprises. It should be no surprise

that a virtual school corporation, <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/01/13009/k12-inc-tries-pivot-virtual-school-failures" target="_blank">K12</a>,

sits on ALEC's corporate board and has co-chaired its education task

force where corporate lobbyists and special interest groups vote as

equals with state legislators on bills, behind closed doors at posh

resorts with fancy private parties. Before Hansen became Kasich's point

person on charters, NACSA sent Hansen to ALEC to advance its charter

school agenda there.

Cleveland's Plain Dealer reported last June that <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/06/ohio_ignores_online_school_fs_as_it_evaluates_charter_school_overseers.html" target="_blank">Hansen intentionally left F grades for online charter schools out of academic evaluations</a>

of charter school oversight agencies. Those F grades for schools run by

major Republican donors would have dragged down the rating of the

oversight agencies.

One of the largest such agencies in the state is the Ohio Council of

Community Schools, which collects about $1.5 million in sponsor fees a

year from students attending Ohio Virtual Academy and the Ohio Distance

and Electronic Learning Academy (OHDLA), an online school run by a

company owned by David Brennan, a big Republican campaign donor in Ohio.

Ohio has hoped to use the $71 million in federal aid to give grants

of up to $700,000 to applicants seeking to open new charter schools.

That's nearly a million dollar giveaway per charter to experiments,

which have often failed, while traditional public schools are facing

budget cuts that hurt school children and their learning environment.

But, as CMD revealed in its "<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/charter-school-black-hole" target="_blank">Charter School Black Hole</a>"

report last October, out of the 88 Ohio charter schools created by

planning and implementation grants under the Charter School Program

between 2008 and 2013, at least 15 closed within a few years and another

seven never opened at all. These charters received more than $4 million

in federal taxpayer money.

Despite this track record and despite the false and deceptive claims

the state made in its application for more federal tax dollars for

charters , Ohio landed the biggest one-year grant in the 2015

competition for federal funding, $32.6 million, with more planned in the

coming years.

Since 2004, Ohio has been granted more than $195 million in American

tax dollars by the U.S. Department of Education under the Charter School

Program for State Educational Agencies (CSP-SEA). That's part of the

more than $3.7 billion CMD has documented that the federal government

has spent fueling the charter school industry over the past few decades.<a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/08/21/john_kasich_and_education_reformers_dirty_secret_how_his_joke_betrayed_their_contempt_for_teachers/">
</a><a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/08/21/john_kasich_and_education_reformers_dirty_secret_how_his_joke_betrayed_their_contempt_for_teachers/">http://www.salon.com/2015/08/21/john_kasich_and_education_reformers_dirty_secret_how_his_joke_betrayed_their_contempt_for_teachers/</a>
Among Democratic observers of the GOP presidential primary, John Kasich, the former Lehman Brothers executive and current governor of Ohio, is seen as the relatively sane one. And it’s not an entirely unjustifiable characterization. He gets all the credit in the world for overcoming conservative foes and expanding Medicaid, for example; and his stance on same-sex marriage, while still wrong, is admirably humane.

Still, as a not-very-funny joke about teachers that Kasich made in New Hampshire earlier this week shows, his ability to transcend the conservative movement’s default approach of sneering callousness has its limits. And for all his passionate defenses of Christian charity, the man is much more comfortable playing the role of benevolent patriarch than seeing the less-powerful organize themselves to demand they be given what they’re owed.

The joke in question, which was delivered during a Campbell Brown-hosted candidates’ forum on education, was about teachers’ lounges. Kasich is against them, largely because they cause teachers to “sit together and worry about ‘Woe is us.’” Kasich doesn’t like the idea of workers communicating with each other, apparently. Perhaps he thinks the strategy that successfully repealed his anti-union bill in 2011 was hatched during lunch block and over lukewarm cups of bad coffee.

Whatever the cause of his animosity for teachers’ lounges in particular, Kasich’s lack of faith in teachers in general was shared by his co-participants in the forum. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for one, was all too happy to repeat a zinger that previously earned him some attention, telling Campbell that he had “no problem with saying that the teachers’ unions deserve a political punch in the face, which they do.” He also described the prospect of teachers’ unions being destroyed completely as “nirvana.”

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, meanwhile, didn’t threaten bodily harm against unionized teachers, which was nice of her. But she did argue that the Department of Education should be audited, though how that would help children get a better education was unclear. “When Washington spends more money,” Fiorina declared, “the quality of the education does not improve.” The same was true, she said, of “spending money on mandated programs either at the state or the federal level.”

The idea that “choice,” rather than funding, was the secret to educational improvement abounded. And that makes perfect sense if we remember that Brown, the forum’s moderator, is a prominent friend of charter schools and foe of teachers’ unions. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal certainly knew his audience. “One of the things that I’d like to see,” he said, “is universal choice.” That means replacing unionized public schools with anti-union charters, as Jindal has done for nearly every student in New Orleans.

There were other candidates there, too (Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, specifically) but they said little that differed from the anti-teacher platitudes and applause lines offered by the rest. Fundamentally, everyone seemed to agree that whatever problems existed in American public education — and all agreed that the system was in “crisis” — could be laid at teachers’ feet. Why they’d reached this conclusion, however, was less clear.

Which brings us back to Kasich, and his seemingly off-the-cuff joke about teachers’ lounges. Kasich and his supporters would no doubt urge us not to read too much into the comment; but there’s a grain of truth in every joke, as they say, and I think this case is no different. In this instance, the little bit of revealed truth pertains not to teachers themselves but rather to the way Kasich — who, remember, is supposed to be the normal one — views them. He seems to think they’re a bunch of whiners.

If teachers didn’t have a chance to sit around and commiserate, how would that improve educational outcomes? It’s hard to imagine. Unless, that is, you think that the reason public schools in the U.S. are underperforming is because public school teachers are underperforming; and unless, that is, you think the reason public school teachers are underperforming is because they’re lazy and entitled. By this logic, the unions have transformed from safety-nets into hammocks — and it’s the kids who pay.

In other contexts, the right would describe this scenario as one in which labor needs to be “disciplined.” And if that sounds to you like a defense of a de facto caste system, that’s because it is. For Kasich and other conservatives, teachers serve a valuable role — but only as long as they keep quiet and know their place. The moment they step outside of their prescribed lane, they became the root of any and all systemic problems. Kasich is the reasonable Republican, all right. But only if you do exactly what he tells you.


8/12Over the past two years we’ve seen a very partisan form of state government in Ohio. Governor John Kasich promoted and signed legislation that directly attacked organized labor (SB-5, <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/03/gov_john_kasich_signs_senate_b.html" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">a collective bargaining overhaul</a>) which became the centerpiece of the Ohio Republican Party agenda last year and an issue championed by the GOP Governor. Kasich has been pursuing a specific agenda along with other highly placed state appointed and elected officials. The governor and at least two top Ohio state officials share alumnus status with the developer of that agenda – ALEC.Kasich pushed for <a href="http://www.afscmeinfocenter.org/privatizationupdate/2012/05/kasich-administration-advanced-privatization-in-ohio-in-2011.htm" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">privatized education</a> – K-12 through  <a href="http://www.plunderbund.com/2010/12/08/john-kasich-im-going-to-cut-higher-education-and-worker-training-for-the-unemployed/" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">college</a> – accomplished through cuts to education spending, signed legislation allowing <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/ohio-fracking-rules-signed_n_1589578.html" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">fracking</a>, and slashed funding for the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel (OCC) <a href="http://www.plunderbund.com/2012/07/10/aep-wants-to-charge-customers-for-storm-damage-and-kasich-cut-funding-to-the-agency-that-could-fight-it/" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">which has interfered with Duke Energy’s attempts to pass along storm damage repairs to their customers</a>.Kasich appointed former Representative Todd Snitchler (R) to the position of <a href="http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Portals/0/pdf/news/02102011Chairman.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio</a> (PUCO) in 2011. One of Snitchler’s first acts was to approve rate increases proposed by <a href="http://www.puco.ohio.gov/puco/index.cfm/consumer-information/consumer-topics/duke-energy-ohioe28098s-electric-security-plan/?mobileFormat=false" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Duke Energy</a> and <a href="http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20120809/NEWS01/208090343/PUCO-approves-AEP-price-increase-expected-6-7-percent" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">American Electric Power</a> (AEP). Snitchler touted consumers would see smaller energy bills under the plans. Within 60 days of approval, <a href="http://www.plugsmart.com/puco-revokes-aep-rate-plan/" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">PUCO and Snitchler repealed the approval</a> after schools, residents and businesses saw <a href="http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/content/blogs/the-daily-briefing/2012/02/2-22-12-schools-aep.html" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">rate increases of as much as 50%</a> by both Duke and AEP.More recently a furor has arisen over early voting hours, voter ID fraud and “election reform,” with Kasich signing a reform bill that overturned last year’s bill actually providing election reform. The net was that it would restrict early voting in Ohio.Ohio’s current Secretary of State Jon Husted served six terms as a member of the Ohio House and one year in the State Senate before being elected as secretary in 2010. He has been at the center of a maelstrom of controversy over allowing some Republic counties to extend early voting hours while restricting Democratic counties to shorter hours. Last week he suspended two election board officials who voted to keep weekend early voting – only to reinstate those member this week.All of the issues mentioned above are parts of an agenda advanced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Nationally they have pursued a suppression of minority voters through voter ID “model legislation,” support for state legislation to allow fracking, unlimited drilling, and opposing renewable energy initiatives.What most Ohio voters and consumers are unaware of is that Kasich, Husted and Snitchler are all ALEC Alumni:<img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/inarticles/bc09651c-8776-5d40-a4d3-fade8a828c44.JPG" alt="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; vertical-align: middle; border: 0px;" />From DailyKos:<img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/inarticles/528c6827-8531-52be-ae39-ac6d42b1df9f.JPG" alt="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; vertical-align: middle; border: 0px;" />And this: <img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/inarticles/d1e8f871-cfd5-55ad-b27f-276f1759fd86.JPG" alt="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; vertical-align: middle; border: 0px;" />Together these three public officials have been continuously advancing ALEC’s free-market, pro corporate agenda in Ohio. Voters in Ohio should be made aware of the affiliations of their top elected and appointed government officials.The ongoing attempts to suppress the votes of what ALEC, Kasich, Husted and others perceive as predominantly Democratic voters is a national pursuit in this election cycle. With Ohio in the national spotlight due to the ongoing controversy as they attempt to make it difficult for Democratic voters to actually vote, Ohio should be pointed to as an example of how the GOP through ALEC has been able to advance a nationwide conservative agenda.Unfortunately, Wisconsin also has a similar “Trifecta” pursuing the same agenda.  = world’s biggest and most profitable fossil fuel companies are receiving huge and rising subsidies from U.S. taxpayers, a practice slammed as absurd by a presidential candidate given the threat of climate change.
A Guardian investigation of three specific projects, run by Shell, ExxonMobil and Marathon Petroleum, has revealed that the subsidizes were all granted by politicians who received significant campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.
The Guardian has found that:
A proposed Shell petrochemical refinery in Pennsylvania is in line for $1.6bn (£1bn) in state subsidy, according to a deal struck in 2012 when the company made an annual profit of $26.8bn.ExxonMobil’s upgrades to its Baton Rouge refinery in Louisiana are benefitting from $119m of state subsidy, with the support starting in 2011, when the company made a $41bn profit.A jobs subsidy scheme worth $78m to Marathon Petroleum in Ohio began in 2011, when the company made $2.4bn in profit.“At a time when scientists tell us we need to reduce carbon pollution to prevent catastrophic climate change, it is absurd to provide massive taxpayer subsidies that pad fossil-fuel companies’ already enormous profits,” said senator Bernie Sanders, who announced on 30 April he is running for president.
Sanders, with representative Keith Ellison, recently proposed an End Polluter Welfare Act, which they say would cut $135bn of US subsidies for fossil fuel companies over the next decade. “Between 2010 and 2014, the oil, coal, gas, utility, and natural resource extraction industries spent $1.8bn on lobbying, much of it in defense of these giveaways,” according to Sanders and Ellison.
In April, the president of the World Bank called for the subsidies to be scrapped immediately as poorer nations were feeling “the boot of climate change on their neck”. Globally in 2013, the most recent figures available,the coal, oil and gas industries benefited from subsidies of $550bn, four times those given to renewable energy.“Subsidies to fossil fuel companies are completely inappropriate in this day and age,” said Stephen Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International, an NGO that analyses the costs of fossil fuels. OCI found in 2014 that US taxpayers were subsidizing fossil fuel exploration and production alone by $21bn a year. In 2009, President Barack Obama called on the G20 to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies but since then UN federal subsidies have risen by 45%.“Climate science is clear that the vast majority of existing reserves will have to stay in the ground,” Kretzmann said. “Yet our government spends many tens of billions of our tax dollars – every year – making it more profitable for the fossil fuel industry to produce more.”Tax credits, defined as a subsidy by the World Trade Organization, are a key route of support for the fossil fuel industry. Using the subsidy tracker tool created by the Good Jobs First group, the Guardian examined some of the biggest subsidies for specific projects.Shell’s proposed $4bn plant in Pennsylvania is set to benefit from tax credits of $66m a year for 25 years. Shell has bought the site and has 10 supply contracts in place lasting up to 20 years, including from fracking companies extracting shale gas in the Marcellus shale field. The deal was struck by the then Republican governor, Tom Corbett, who received over $1m in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. According to Guardian analysis of data compiled by Common Cause Pennsylvania, Shell have spent $1.2m on lobbying in Pennsylvania since 2011.A Shell spokesman said: “Shell supports and endorses incentive programs provided by state and local authorities that improve the business climate for capital investment, economic expansion and job growth. Shell would not have access to these incentive programs without the support and approval from the representative state and local jurisdictions.”ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge refinery is the second-largest in the US. Since 2011, it has been benefitting from exemptions from industrial taxes, worth $118.9m over 10 years, according to the Good Jobs First database. The Republican governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal has expressed his pride in attracting investment from ExxonMobil. In state election campaigns between 2003 and 2013, he received 231 contributions from oil and gas companies and executives totaling $1,019,777, according to a list compiled by environmental groups.A spokesman for ExxonMobil said: “ExxonMobil will not respond to Guardian inquiries because of its lack of objectivity on climate change reporting demonstrated by its campaign against companies that provide energy necessary for modern life, including newspapers.”The Guardian is running a campaign asking the world’s biggest health charities, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, to sell their fossil fuel investments on the basis that it is misguided to invest in companies dedicated to finding more oil, gas and coal when current reserves are already several times greater than can be safely burned. Many philanthropic organizations have already divested from fossil fuels, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund whose wealth derives from Standard Oil, which went on to become ExxonMobil.In Ohio, Marathon Petroleum is benefitting from a 15-year tax credit for retaining 1,650 jobs and a 10-year tax credit for creating 100 new jobs. The subsidy is worth $78.5m, according to the Good Jobs First database. “I think Marathon always wanted to be here,” Republican governor John Kasich said in 2011. “All we’re doing is helping them.” In 2011,Kasich was named as the top recipient of oil and gas donations in Ohio, having received $213, 519. The same year Kasich appointed Marathon Petroleum’s CEO to the board of Jobs Ohio, a semi-private group “in charge of the economic growth in the state of Ohio”.A spokesman for Marathon Petroleum said: “The tax credit recognizes the enormous contribution we make to the Ohio economy through the taxes we pay and the well-paying jobs we maintain. We have more than doubled the 100 new jobs we committed to create.” The spokesman said the company paid billions of dollars in income and other taxes every year across the US.“Big oil, gas, and coal have huge influence on politicians and governments and they get that influence the old fashioned way – they buy it,” said Kretzmann. “Through campaign finance, lobbying, advertising and superpac spending, the industry has many ways to influence candidates and government officials seeking re-election.”He said fossil fuel subsidies were endemic in the US: “Every single well, pipeline, refinery, coal and gas plant in the country is heavily subsidized. Big Fossil’s lobbyists have done their jobs well for the last century.”Ben Schreiber, at Friends of the Earth US, said. “There is a vibrant discussion about the best way to keep fossil fuels in the ground – from carbon taxation to divestment – but ending state and federal corporate welfare for polluters is one of the easiest places to start.”
Schreiber also defended subsidies for renewable energy: “Fossil fuels are a mature technology while renewable energy is nascent and still developing. It makes sense to subsidize technologies that are going to help solve climate change, but not to do the same for those that are causing the problem.”Damian Carrington is the head of environment at the Guardian.Harry Davies is Special Projects Researcher at the Guardian.Another ALEC dream item is the repeal of renewable energy standards.

Their dreams came true in Ohio this past July when Governor John Kasich <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/13/ohio-gov-john-kasich-renewable-energy-freeze/">signed SB 310</a>,

making Ohio the first state in the country to walk backwards on clean,

sustainable energy. Meanwhile utility companies are appealing to the

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to let them <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/12/03/bail-out-big-coal/">stick Ohio energy consumers</a> with the cost of upgrading and keeping in service obsolete <a href="http://ecowatch.com/news/energy-news/coal-mining-pollution/">coal-fueled</a>

plants, probably not a coincidence. Ohio was the first successful

attempt to sabotage the rapid growth of the wind and solar sectors and

shore up the fading coal industry. The bill has been cropping up other

state legislatures so activists across the country should keep an eye

out for it.
6/14<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26.4px; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=36082e1ad8&e=c2e8fdabfa" style="text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.2em; outline: none;">Ohio Gov. John Kasich Signs Nation’s First Renewable Energy Freeze</a></h2>It took two weeks, but now it's official—Ohio is the nation’s first state to roll back renewable energy standards ...<h1 class="title" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; letter-spacing: -1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ohio Gov. Kasich Agrees to Sign Bill Revamping Green-Energy Requirements</h1><div id="node-32328" class="node node-type-cew_manual_feed_item clear-block" style="padding-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="meta" style="padding-bottom: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; background-image: url(" http="http" insideclimatenews.org="insideclimatenews.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" solve="solve" images="images" dot-bottom.png="dot-bottom.png" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x"><div id="authoredBy" style="width: 343.969px; float: left;"><div style="width: 185.203px; float: right; text-align: right;">May 29, 2014</div><div style="clear: both;"><div class="content"><div class="field field-type-text field-field-source"><div class="field-label" style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item odd">(Columbus Dispatch (sub. req'd))</div></div></div>Gov. John Kasich plans to sign a controversial pullback on renewable-energy rules that passed the Ohio House yesterday. "After a lot of hard work, we've got a solid plan to examine the progress Ohio has made while also holding onto that progress," Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said in a statement.<div class="field-field-news-source-url"><div class="field-item" style="width: 529.1875px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2014/05/28/green-energy-bill-revamp-passes-ohio-house.html" title="Read original story" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Read original story</a></div></div></div></div><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/content/ohio-gov-kasich-agrees-sign-bill-revamping-green-energy-requirements">http://insideclimatenews.org/content/ohio-gov-kasich-agrees-sign-bill-revamping-green-energy-requirements</a>
=huffpo Ohio state Rep. Debbie Phillips (D) is seeking public records regarding the resignation of a top environmental official who <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/george-elmaraghy-ohio-epa_n_3780897.html" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;">told staffers</a> last week that the administration of Republican Gov. John Kasich had forced him out of office at the behest of coal interests in the state.<a href="http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/Phillipsletter.pdf" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;">Phillips's letter</a>, sent Thursday, requests correspondence between Kasich's office, the Ohio EPA and coal industry officials regarding George Elmaraghy, the head of the Division of Surface Water in the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, who announced his resignation on Aug. 19. Elmaraghy indicated in an email obtained by The Huffington Post that coal interests had put pressure on the governor's office to oust him in response to their complaints about the permitting process."To ensure that the public’s interests in safe drinking water, clean air, and good, honest government are the primary goals of this administration, a full account of the events surrounding the dismissal of Mr. Elmaraghy is necessary," Phillips wrote.In response to a request for comment on the inquiry <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/public/2013/08/29/Lawmaker-demands-information-on-water-chiefs-resignation.html" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;">from the Columbus Dispatch</a>, Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols went after Phillips:<blockquote style="list-style: none; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 15px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(240, 240, 240);">"You’d be hard-pressed to find a job creator that she hasn’t opposed, vilified or protested at some point," Nichols wrote in an emailed statement. “If she had her way, we’d all be living on a collective farm cooking organic quinoa over a dung fire. So, I think we’ll take her views in context."</blockquote>Kasich's office did not respond to the paper's request for comment about the Elmaraghy situation. --hufpoWASHINGTON -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has forced out the head of a

key division of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in response to

pressure from the coal industry, according to an email obtained by The

Huffington Post.

George Elmaraghy, the chief of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/SurfaceWater.aspx%E2%80%9D">division of surface water</a>

at OEPA, told staff in the email that the governor’s office and the

director of the agency had asked him to resign, effective Sept. 13,

In the letter, Elmaraghy cited "considerable pressure from the

coal companies over the last year" demanding that his staff "accommodate

the industry’s needs by issuing permits that may have a negative impact

on Ohio's streams and wetlands and violate state and federal laws."

Elmaraghy <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/%E2%80%9Dhttp://epn.osu.edu/sites/default/files/george_elmaraghy_bio.pdf%E2%80%9D">has worked at the Ohio EPA</a>

for more than 30 years. He took over as head of the surface water

office, which oversees many of the permits coal companies need to mine

and dispose of waste, in 2005.

The coal industry has targeted both Ohio's environmental regulators

and the federal government over enforcement of clean water standards.

Robert Murray, the president of Ohio-based Murray Energy -- the largest

privately owned coal company in America -- railed against the Ohio EPA

in a hearing before a committee in the state legislature last week.

Murray also criticized what he called a "coordinated effort to

accomplish the total destruction of the United States coal industry" in a

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/%E2%80%9Dhttp://dailycaller.com/2013/08/13/obama-admin-seeks-the-total-destruction-of-coal-country-says-coal-exec/%E2%80%9D">speech at Ohio University</a> on Aug. 12.

"George wouldn’t say he was asked to resign because of their history

with the coal companies unless that was absolutely the case," said Jed

Thorp, who worked at the OEPA from 2007 to 2012. Thorp, who is now the

manager of the Sierra Club's Ohio chapter, described Elmaraghy as a "by

the book" kind of guy with more than three decades of experience at the

agency. “He wasn’t doing anything radical,” Thorp said.

An aide to Kasich referred questions to the Ohio EPA.

”Ohio EPA will not discuss personnel matters, but we will defend the

integrity of the permitting process,” an OEPA spokesman said in an

email. “There are several checks and balances built into the regulatory

process. Permits we issue must withstand scrutiny not only from U.S.

EPA, but must stand up on appeal to the Environmental Review Appeals

Commission and other courts. Those third parties ultimately determine if

any action under appeal was issued lawfully and reasonably.”

Elmaraghy's full email is below.

From: Elmaraghy, George

Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 8:08 AM

To: EPA All

Subject: Thank you

As you know, there has been considerable pressure from the coal

companies over the last year for the division staff to accommodate the

industry’s needs by issuing permits that may have a negative impact on

Ohio’s streams and wetlands and violate state and federal laws. The

division staff acted appropriately in trying to implement the law and

made every reasonable effort to accommodate the industry’s needs. In

doing so, we always acted under the direction of the Governor’s Office,

Ohio EPA Director and Chief Counsel.

Because of the industry’s interpretation of the federal Clean Water

Act and state water pollution control laws, DSW staff worked under

difficult conditions but you have done your jobs honorably. Now, due to

this situation, the Governor’s Office and the Director have asked me to

resign my position as Chief of the DSW at the Ohio EPA, effective

September 13, 2013.

Our division went through similar situations in the past and the

division staff was able to overcome these difficulties and accomplish

our water quality goals in the end. For example, in the last several

years, we have:

1. initiated new programs such as near shore monitoring for Lake Erie,

2. initiated the inland lakes monitoring program,

3. created the Surface Water Improvement Fund grant program,

4. instituted the eDMR (electronic discharge monitoring reports),

5. started dredging the Ashtabula River with the intent to delist it soon,

6. removed several dams and restored riverbanks along several major rivers,

7. reached agreement with the majority of communities with combined

sewer overflow to control the discharge of raw sewage into Ohio’s

lakes and rivers.

8. improved compliance rates and eliminated permit backlog.

As a result, we have been able to bring the majority of Ohio’s large

rivers into attainment with water quality standards. You can take pride

in knowing that Ohio’s Surface Water program is the envy of other

states. I know you will continue our mission to provide clean water for

Ohio’s communities and businesses and protect & improve the state’s

greatest resource, our water.

I will always greatly appreciate your help and support while I was

division chief, and I urge all of you to maintain the high standards of

integrity that have always marked our Division.</blockquote>===

10 worst

4. John Kasich, Ohio

Governor Kasich took a big hit when voters decisively overturned his signature piece of legislation, an anti-public-union bill even nastier than Scott Walker's, by 313,000 more votes than the governor himself had gotten the year before. And now there are <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/155668/will_brewing_corruption_scandals_in_ohio_have_an_impact_on_november%27s_election/">investigations underway</a> into whether he's misused his power to consolidate control over his state's Republican party.

But what else has Kasich been up to?

He also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/john-kasich-ohio-election-law_n_1519415.html">backed down</a> on a contentious voter suppression law that would have narrowed early voting and made it harder for voters to get absentee ballots, signing a repeal of the law in an attempt to prevent it becoming a ballot measure that could drive progressive voters in November.

But Kasich's managed to sign several restrictive anti-abortion laws, including one that would <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/12/21/governor-signs-anti-abortion-bill.html">ban abortion coverage by state healthcare plans</a> that Obama's healthcare reform law requires. The insurance plans don't exist yet, but it was apparently very important to make sure they don't cover abortion—and the ACLU calls the move unconstitutional. Kasich also, last summer, signed a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/ohio-late-term-abortion-b_n_906068.html">late-term abortion ban</a> into law.

And he's looking forward to a new law that would allow fracking in Ohio—one that might be the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/936740/is_ohio_about_to_enact_the_worst_fracking_law_yet/">nation's worst. </a><a href="http://ecowatch.org/2012/ohio-passes-one-of-the-worst-fracking-laws-in-the-u-s/">EcoWatch</a> said of the law, “SB 315 will allow health and safety loopholes. It requires the gas industry to pay less than almost any other state in the country, exposing our communities to the worst excesses of the fracking industry. Doctors will be prevented from talking openly about the sickness they see in their patients, and the gas industry will keep profits flowing out of our communities.”

==

surprising?

Republican Gov. John Kasich plans to introduce a new energy policy next week that would place a new tax on hydraulic fracturing to reduce personal income taxes for the state's residents. Many Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail oppose any new taxes or the elimination of tax breaks for oil and gas companies.

Kasich has also placed a moratorium on the deep injection of drilling wastes for disposal within five miles of a well site, a process that is being studied for possible links to an unusual series of earthquakes in Ohio. The process is separate from fracking – which is the pumping of water, chemicals and sand underground to open fissures in rock to allow oil and gas to flow to the surface – but it is expected to grow as fracking in neighboring states sends more waste into Ohio.

In addition, the state's Republican attorney general, Mike DeWine, has called for steeper fines on the growing industry and for drillers to disclose the chemicals they're injecting, actions that would bring Ohio in line with the toughest regulations in the nation.

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/fracking-ohio-kasich-energy-policy-n_1323388.html?ir=Green">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/fracking-ohio-kasich-energy-policy-n_1323388.html?ir=Green</a>

===

gutted public transportation

http://governor.ohio.gov/

afp backs http://www.americansforprosperity.org/031611-stand-ohio-governor-john-kasich

<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="">John Kasich</h1>

<div id="siteSub" style="">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div>

<table class="infobox vcard" style="width: 22em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><th>Religion</th><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christianity</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

John Richard Kasich (pronounced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English">/ˈkeɪsɨk/</a>; born May 13, 1952<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-westervillelibrary.org-1">[2]</a>) is the 69th and current <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Ohio" title="Governor of Ohio" class="mw-redirect">Governor of Ohio</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-governor-2">[3]</a> A member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republican Party</a>, he previously served as a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives">United States House of Representatives</a>, representing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio%27s_12th_congressional_district" title="Ohio's 12th congressional district">Ohio's 12th congressional district</a> from 1983 to 2001.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-congress-3">[4]</a> He was a commentator on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_Channel" title="Fox News Channel">Fox News Channel</a>, hosting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartland_with_John_Kasich" title="Heartland with John Kasich">Heartland with John Kasich</a>, from 2001 to 2007.

In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_gubernatorial_election,2010" title="Ohio gubernatorial election, 2010">2010 Ohio gubernatorial election</a>, Kasich narrowly defeated <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party%28United_States%29" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democratic</a> incumbent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Strickland" title="Ted Strickland">Ted Strickland</a>, receiving 49% of the vote.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-election-4">[5]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Early_life.2C_education.2C_and_career">1 Early life, education, and career</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Ohio_Senate">2 Ohio Senate</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#U.S._House_of_Representatives">3 U.S. House of Representatives</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Election">3.1 Election</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Actions">3.2 Actions</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Budget_chairman">3.3 Budget chairman</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Post-Congress_political_involvement">4 Post-Congress political involvement</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Governor_of_Ohio">5 Governor of Ohio</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#2010_gubernatorial_campaign">5.1 2010 gubernatorial campaign</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-10"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Violation_of_campaign_finance_allegations">5.1.1 Violation of campaign finance allegations</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Actions_2">5.2 Actions</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-12"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Low_approval">5.2.1 Low approval</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Gubernatorial_positions">5.3 Gubernatorial positions</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-14"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Education_funding">5.3.1 Education funding</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-15"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Casino_and_VLT_placements">5.3.2 Casino and VLT placements</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-16"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#High_speed_rail">5.3.3 High speed rail</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-17"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Collective_bargaining_opportunities">5.3.4 Collective bargaining opportunities</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-18"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Teacher.27s_Unions">5.3.5 Teacher's Unions</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-19"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Significant_Salary_Increases_for_His_Top_Staff">5.3.6 Significant Salary Increases for His Top Staff</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Private_sector">6 Private sector</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-21"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#Personal_life">7 Personal life</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-23"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#References">9 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-24"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#External_links">10 External links</a></li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Early life, education, and career">edit</a>] Early life, education, and career</h2>

Kasich was born in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKees_Rocks" title="McKees Rocks">McKees Rocks</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania" title="Pennsylvania">Pennsylvania</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-congress-3">[4]</a> where his father worked as a mail carrier.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-campaign-5">[6]</a> After attending public schools in McKees Rocks, he enrolled at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_University" title="Ohio State University">Ohio State University</a>, where he joined the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Sigma_Phi" title="Alpha Sigma Phi">Alpha Sigma Phi</a> fraternity.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-alpha-6">[7]</a> He earned a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts" title="Bachelor of Arts">Bachelor of Arts</a> degree in political science from Ohio State in 1974.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-pvs-7">[8]</a>

He originally worked as a researcher for the Ohio Legislative Service Commission.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-bischoff-8">[9]</a> From 1975 to 1978, he served as an administrative assistant to then-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Senate" title="Ohio Senate">state Senator</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buz_Lukens" title="Buz Lukens">Buz Lukens</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-fox-9">[10]</a>

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Ohio Senate">edit</a>] Ohio Senate</h2>

In 1978, Kasich was elected to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Senate" title="Ohio Senate">Ohio Senate</a>, representing the 15th district, after defeating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democratic</a> incumbent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O%27Shaughnessy" title="Robert O'Shaughnessy">Robert O'Shaughnessy</a> with 56% of the vote.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-wews-10">[11]</a> At age 26, he was the youngest person ever elected to the Ohio Senate.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-enquirer-11">[12]</a> One of his first acts as a state senator was to refuse a pay raise.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-blade-12">[13]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-vindicator-13">[14]</a>

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: U.S. House of Representatives">edit</a>] U.S. House of Representatives</h2>

<h3>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Election">edit</a>] Election</h3>

He was elected to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives">United States House of Representatives</a> in 1982, defeating incumbent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Shamansky" title="Bob Shamansky">Bob Shamansky</a>. Kasich was reelected eight times, serving from 1983 to 2001.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-14">[15]</a>

<h3>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Actions">edit</a>] Actions</h3>

Kasich voted in favor of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement" title="North American Free Trade Agreement">North American Free Trade Agreement</a> (NAFTA).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-15">[16]</a>

In 1994, Kasich was one of the Republican leaders to support a last-minute deal with President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" title="Bill Clinton">Bill Clinton</a> to pass the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban" title="Federal Assault Weapons Ban">Federal Assault Weapons Ban</a>. After a series of meetings with Clinton's Chief of Staff, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Panetta" title="Leon Panetta">Leon Panetta</a>, who was also a long-time friend of Kasich, the assault weapons ban was passed when 42 Republicans crossed party lines and voted with the Democrats to ban assault weapons.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-16">[17]</a>

Kasich is considered a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_conservative" title="Fiscal conservative" class="mw-redirect">fiscal conservative</a>, taking aim at programs supported by Republicans and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Democratic_Party" title="U.S. Democratic Party" class="mw-redirect">Democrats</a>, teaming up with Rep. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Dellums" title="Ron Dellums">Ron Dellums</a> to cut spending on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-2_Bomber" title="B-2 Bomber" class="mw-redirect">B-2 Bomber</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader" title="Ralph Nader">Ralph Nader</a> in seeking to reduce corporate tax loopholes.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-nytimes-17">[18]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-18">[19]</a>

During the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.presidential_election,1996" title="U.S. presidential election, 1996" class="mw-redirect">1996 presidential campaign</a>, Republican nominee <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dole" title="Bob Dole">Bob Dole</a> was reported to have considered Kasich as a vice presidential running mate but instead selected <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kemp" title="Jack Kemp">Jack Kemp</a>, a former congressman and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Housing_and_Urban_Development" title="United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development">HUD Secretary</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-19">[20]</a> During his 1996 re-election campaign Kasich's Democratic opponent in his House race, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cynthia_Ruccia&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Cynthia Ruccia (page does not exist)">Cynthia Ruccia</a>, made comments apparently questioning Kasich's sexuality in an attempt to damage him with conservative voters. Ruccia raised the question of the propriety of bachelor Kasich sharing a Washington townhouse with his male chief-of-staff for several years while the staffer drew a large government salary. He won the 1996 election anyway.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-20">[21]</a>

In 1993, he became the Ranking Republican on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._House_Committee_on_the_Budget" title="U.S. House Committee on the Budget" class="mw-redirect">House Budget Committee</a> where he authored an alternative to Clinton's deficit reduction plan that he presented as relying on spending reductions rather than tax increases. Later that year, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Penny" title="Tim Penny">Penny</a>-Kasich Plan, which proposed $103 billion in cuts to federal spending over 5 years, including a politically risky reduction of Medicare payments for recipients who earn $75,000 or more in adjusted gross income, failed by only six votes.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-21">[22]</a>

Kasich also served as chair of the congressional committee on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_reform" title="Welfare reform">welfare reform</a>. In 1994, Kasich was called in by Republicans who supported Clinton's Omnibus Crime Bill of 1994 to assist in helping to reduce the overall cost. His support of the bill helped it pass the House, but provisions that outlawed some firearms did not win him fans among gun rights supporters. Many of his constituents were upset that he promised to oppose gun control during his previous election, then voted in favor of it.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-22">[23]</a>

In 1999 Kasich voted for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barr#War_on_drugs" title="Bob Barr">Barr Amendment</a>, which prohibited medical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis" title="Cannabis">cannabis</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia" title="District of Columbia" class="mw-redirect">District of Columbia</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-23">[24]</a>

<h3>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Budget chairman">edit</a>] Budget chairman</h3>

<div class="thumbcaption"> Budget Committee Chairman</div>

</div>

In 1995, when Republicans gained the majority in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" title="United States Congress">United States Congress</a>, Kasich was selected to become Chairman of the House Budget Committee. As Chairman, Kasich worked towards balancing the Federal Budget, and was the chief architect of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_Budget_Act_of_1997" title="Balanced Budget Act of 1997">Balanced Budget Act of 1997</a>. As Chairman of the Budget Committee, Kasich claimed credit for the only U.S. Budget Surplus since 1969.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-whouse-24">[25]</a>

In 1995, when Kasich assumed the position of Budget Chairman, the U.S. Federal Budget had a deficit of roughly -$163 billion, and upon the conclusion of his tenure as Budget Chairman, the U.S. Federal Budget had a surplus of over $236 billion.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-whouse-24">[25]</a> Kasich claimed credit for the surplus in a budget that the GOP-controlled Congress passed into law.

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Post-Congress political involvement">edit</a>] Post-Congress political involvement</h2>

Kasich did not seek reelection for the House for the 2000 election, but instead formed an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratory_committee" title="Exploratory committee">exploratory committee</a> to run for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States">President</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-25">[26]</a>

He formerly hosted <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartland_with_John_Kasich" title="Heartland with John Kasich">Heartland with John Kasich</a> on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_Channel" title="Fox News Channel">Fox News Channel</a> and also guest hosted <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_O%27Reilly_Factor" title="The O'Reilly Factor">The O'Reilly Factor</a>, filling in for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_O%27Reilly%28commentator%29" title="Bill O'Reilly (commentator)" class="mw-redirect">Bill O'Reilly</a> as needed. Kasich frequently appeared as a guest host and analyst on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannity%26_Colmes" title="Hannity & Colmes">Hannity & Colmes</a> and now <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannity" title="Hannity">Hannity</a>.

Kasich served on the board of directors for several corporations, including Invacare Corporation and Chicago-based Norvax Inc.

Republicans tried to recruit Kasich for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Ohio" title="Governor of Ohio" class="mw-redirect">Governor of Ohio</a> in 2006; however Kasich declined to enter the race.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-26">[27]</a>

Kasich "always had an independent streak", said his friend, Curt Steiner, former chief of staff to former Ohio Governor and U.S. Senator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Voinovich" title="George Voinovich">George Voinovich</a>. "He's a solid Republican, but he's always had his own views. [He's] a biological <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Democratic_Party" title="U.S. Democratic Party" class="mw-redirect">Democrat</a>" [... his parents were Democrats]. "He came from an average background. He's in touch with people. He's not a Beltway thinker."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-enquirer.com-27">[28]</a>

In early 2007, Kasich was reportedly considering making a serious run for Governor of Ohio in 2010, seeking the Republican nomination to unseat incumbent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Strickland" title="Ted Strickland">Ted Strickland</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-Governor-28">[29]</a> In March 2008, Kasich said that Ohio's state income tax should be "phased out." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-29">[30]</a>

In 2008, Kasich was named the Honorary Chairman of Recharge Ohio; an organization with the stated purpose of electing leaders who would "get our state back on track."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-Recharge-30">[31]</a> Kasich said that he hoped that through Recharge Ohio, he could "provide the framework necessary to allow Ohio to become a leader in economic and educational success."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-Rechargeflyer-31">[32]</a>

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Governor of Ohio">edit</a>] Governor of Ohio</h2>

<h3>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: 2010 gubernatorial campaign">edit</a>] 2010 gubernatorial campaign</h3>

<div class="rellink relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_gubernatorial_election,_2010" title="Ohio gubernatorial election, 2010">Ohio gubernatorial election, 2010</a></div>

On May 1, 2009, Kasich filed papers to run for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Ohio" title="Governor of Ohio" class="mw-redirect">Governor of Ohio</a> against incumbent Democratic Governor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Strickland" title="Ted Strickland">Ted Strickland</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-32">[33]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-33">[34]</a> He formally announced his candidacy on June 1, 2009.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-KasichGovernor-34">[35]</a> On January 15, 2010 Kasich announced current <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_Auditor" title="Ohio State Auditor">Ohio State Auditor</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Taylor_%28Ohio_politician%29" title="Mary Taylor (Ohio politician)">Mary Taylor</a> as his running mate.

On May 4, 2010, he won the Republican nomination for governor, having run unopposed. On November 2, 2010 he defeated incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland to win the governorship.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-35">[36]</a>

<h4>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Violation of campaign finance allegations">edit</a>] Violation of campaign finance allegations</h4>

John Kasich's former employer, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corp." title="News Corp." class="mw-redirect">News Corp.</a>, was accused in 2010 of making improper campaign solicitations for Kasich's campaign. The company hired attorneys to defend themself in an Ohio Elections Commission investigation.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-36">[37]</a>

<h3>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Actions">edit</a>] Actions</h3>

John Kasich, was sworn in at midnight on January 10, 2011 in a private ceremony at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Statehouse" title="Ohio Statehouse">Ohio Statehouse</a> in Columbus. It was followed by a ceremonial inauguration at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Theatre%28Columbus,Ohio%29" title="Ohio Theatre (Columbus, Ohio)">Ohio Theatre</a> at noon on the same day.<a href="http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2011/01/09/story-columbus-kasich-inauguration-preview.html?sid=102" class="external autonumber" rel="nofollow">[4]</a>

Kasich has opted to stay in the family home outside of the city rather than move into the Governor's Mansion which many have already questioned as a "fiscally conservative" move given the amount, and secrecy of such, of security expenditure needed to make his family's home secure.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-37">[38]</a>

Despite offering two cabinet positions to black candidates, including one position to Franklin County Auditor, Clarence E. Mingo, II, Kasich has received criticism with the appointment of his all white cabinet, the first Ohio Governor to not appoint at least one minority since 1962. Also of note, of the 22 only five are women. Kasich's defiant response to the lack of diversity in his cabinet, "I don't look at things from the standpoint of any of these sort of metrics that people tend to focus on, race or age, or any of those things. It's not the way I look at things... I want the best possible team I can get."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-38">[39]</a>

Gov. Kasich made a comment in front of the Environmental Protection Agency on January 21, 2011 where he insulted a Columbus Police Officer for a traffic violation he received in 2008 and later plead guilty in court for.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-Ticket-39">[40]</a>

<h4>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Low approval">edit</a>] Low approval</h4>

Polls within Kasich's first few months in office (March 2011) reveal a 40% approval rating, the worst rating for a first term Governor since Dick Celeste in 1983. In comparison, previous first term Governors polled: Strickland - 68%, Voinovich - 51% and Taft - 48%.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-40">[41]</a>

<h3>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Gubernatorial positions">edit</a>] Gubernatorial positions</h3>

<h4>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Education funding">edit</a>] Education funding</h4>

Kasich is an opponent of the Evidence Based Model Program of his predecessor, Governor Strickland, and has stated that he plans to end it under his tenure. However, he has not been specific on what his plans are in how to replace the current educational system.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-41">[42]</a>

<h4>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Casino and VLT placements">edit</a>] Casino and VLT placements</h4>

Kasich has been undecided on the potential placement of slot machines at racetracks, although he claims to be considering the revenue option. He will be the first Governor to actually oversee operating casinos in Ohio. Kasich has in the past taken a historically Republican approach to gambling, that is cautious about social impacts. Some have stated that one of Kasich's earliest Executive Orders may allow video lottery terminals at racetracks.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-42">[43]</a>

<h4>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: High speed rail">edit</a>] High speed rail</h4>

Throughout his gubernatorial campaign, Kasich opposed the Ohio high-speed rail project, and stated that if elected, the program would be disbanded. Upon winning election, Kasich has fought to keep the $400 million federal grant that was to be used for the project to use for other infrastructure projects. However, in a letter from Secretary of Transportation <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Lahood" title="Ray Lahood" class="mw-redirect">Ray Lahood</a>, who served with Kasich in Congress, it was stated that the money was specifically allocated only for a high speed rail system, and could not be used for anything else. On December 3, 2010, in a meeting with President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama" title="Barack Obama">Barack Obama</a>, Kasich once again lobbied for the ability to use the money for another project.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-43">[44]</a> With the federal grant to be used specifically for high speed rail, this resulted in $400 million being redirected from Ohio towards high speed rail projects in other states such as California and Florida.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-44">[45]</a>

<h4>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Collective bargaining opportunities">edit</a>] Collective bargaining opportunities</h4>

While Kasich's predecessor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Strickland" title="Ted Strickland">Ted Strickland</a> signed an executive order allowing for collective bargaining opportunities for in-house child care workers, Kasich stated he would not continue the subsidies.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-45">[46]</a>

<h4>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Teacher's Unions">edit</a>] Teacher's Unions</h4>

During a speech before Ashtabula County Republicans in March 2009, Kasich talked about the need to "break the back of organized labor in the schools," according to the Ashtabula Star Beacon.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-46">[47]</a> Ohio's teachers' unions supported Democrat Ted Strickland, and after Kasich's gubernatorial victory, he said, “I am waiting for the teachers’ unions to take out full-page ads in all the major newspapers, apologizing for what they had to say about me during this campaign."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-47">[48]</a>

Elsewhere, he said he was willing to work with "unions that make things." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-48">[49]</a>

<h4>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Significant Salary Increases for His Top Staff">edit</a>] Significant Salary Increases for His Top Staff</h4>

Salaries for Kasich's top staff will be significantly higher than was paid under governor Strickland <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-49">[50]</a> and are even higher than similar positions on President Obama's staff. For example, his chief of staff will earn $170,000 and a "special assistant" is receiving $145,000 of the taxpayers' money - about 3 times the average teacher's annual salary. The governor is paying high salaries to attract "good people who can help him guide the state through these difficult times," according to Kasich spokesman Scott Milburn in a January 13, 2011 Columbus Dispatch article.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-50">[51]</a>

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Private sector">edit</a>] Private sector</h2>

In 2001, Kasich joined <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehman_Brothers" title="Lehman Brothers">Lehman Brothers</a>' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_banking" title="Investment banking">investment banking</a> division in Columbus as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managing_director" title="Managing director" class="mw-redirect">managing director</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-51">[52]</a> He remained at the company until its bankruptcy filing and subsequent breakup in September 2008. For his work in 2007-2008, Lehman Brothers paid Kasich $182,692 for his 2008 salary, a $432,000 performance bonus for 2007, and $2,250 in other benefits.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-52">[53]</a>

Kasich has authored three books. Courage is Contagious was published in 1998 and made the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_bestseller_list" title="New York Times bestseller list" class="mw-redirect">New York Times bestseller list</a>. His second book, Stand for Something: The Battle for America's Soul was published in 2006. Kasich's most recent book, Every Other Monday, was also a New York Times bestseller.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-53">[54]</a>

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Personal life">edit</a>] Personal life</h2>

Kasich was raised as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church" title="Catholic Church">Roman Catholic</a>, but converted to a more <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelicalism" title="Evangelicalism">evangelical</a> form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christianity</a> after his parents were both killed in an automobile crash in 1987.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-nytimes-17">[18]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-cbn-54">[55]</a> However, he does not identify himself with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_right" title="Christian right">Christian right</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-nytimes-17">[18]</a>

Kasich is of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_American" title="Croatian American">Croatian</a> descent.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-55">[56]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-56">[57]</a>

Kasich amicably divorced his first wife, Mary Lee Griffith, who helped campaign for him after the divorce during the 1990s. He is currently married to his second wife, Karen. Their daughters attend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worthington,_Ohio" title="Worthington, Ohio">Worthington</a> Christian schools.

Kasich was pulled over for a traffic violation on January 11, 2008 for violating public safety, repeatedly calling the police officer who ticketed him "an idiot" even after Kasich pleaded guilty to the violation. Upon discovery of the comments, police officer and other public workers were infuriated.

"Police officers in Ohio already do difficult and dangerous work, so it doesn't help when the governor calls an officer doing his job and protecting the public an 'idiot,'" said Ohio Fraternal Order of Police president Jay McDonald.

The Ohio Democratic Party unearthed video of Kasich's comments and put it on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube" title="YouTube">YouTube</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_note-YouTube-Kasich-Idiot-57">[58]</a> Democrats and the Fraternal Order of Police have noted that Kasich is backing Senate Bill 5, a proposal that would end collective bargaining in Ohio, which would directly impact police officers and other government organized labor workers.

<ul>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Results,U.S.Representative_from_Ohio,_12th_District" title="Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 12th District" class="mw-redirect">Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 12th District</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Representatives_from_Ohio" title="List of United States Representatives from Ohio">List of United States Representatives from Ohio</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_gubernatorial_election,_2010" title="Ohio gubernatorial election, 2010">Ohio gubernatorial election, 2010</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: References">edit</a>] References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2011/01/09/story-columbus-kasich-inauguration-preview.html?sid=102" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Kasich To Be Sworn In As Ohio's Next Governor, WBNS-10TV, Central Ohio News</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-westervillelibrary.org-1">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-westervillelibrary.org_1-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-westervillelibrary.org_1-1">b</a> <a href="http://www.westervillelibrary.org/kasich/bio/" class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.westervillelibrary.org/kasich/bio/</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-governor-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-governor_2-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.governor.ohio.gov/About/GovernorJohnRKasich.aspx" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Governor John R. Kasich Biography"</a>. Governor of Ohio.</li>

<li id="cite_note-congress-3">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-congress_3-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-congress_3-1">b</a> Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000016" class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000016</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-election-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-election_4-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/elections/electResultsMain/2010results/20101102governor.aspx" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Governor and Lieutenant Governor: November 2, 2010"</a>. Ohio Secretary of State.</li>

<li id="cite_note-campaign-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-campaign_5-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.kasichforohio.com/site/c.hpIJKWOCJqG/b.5280651/k.EB86/Biography.htm" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"BIOGRAPHY"</a>. John Kasich for Governor of Ohio.</li>

<li id="cite_note-alpha-6"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-alpha_6-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.alphasigmaphi.org/index.php/20101103395/News/Brother-Kasich-Elected-Ohio-Governor.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Brother Kasich Elected Ohio Governor"</a>. Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, Inc..</li>

<li id="cite_note-pvs-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-pvs_7-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=27017" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Governor John R. Kasich (OH)"</a>. Project Vote Smart.</li>

<li id="cite_note-bischoff-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-bischoff_8-0">^</a> Bischoff, Laura (2010-07-31). <a href="http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/election/minister-former-psychologist-strickland-faces-millionaire-kasich-839221.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Minister, former psychologist Strickland faces millionaire Kasich"</a>. Dayton Daily News.</li>

<li id="cite_note-fox-9"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-fox_9-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,33194,00.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"John Kasich's Bio"</a>. Fox News Channel.</li>

<li id="cite_note-wews-10"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-wews_10-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/statehouse-oath-a-step-back-in-time-for-kasich" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Statehouse oath a step back in time for Kasich"</a>. News Net 5. 2011-01-09.</li>

<li id="cite_note-enquirer-11"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-enquirer_11-0">^</a> Wilkinson, Howard (1999-02-16). ""Little guy" starts White House run". Cincinnati Enquirer.</li>

<li id="cite_note-blade-12"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-blade_12-0">^</a> Shutt, Dave (1978-12-21). "Most Ohio Legislators To Take $5,000 Raise". Toledo Blade.</li>

<li id="cite_note-vindicator-13"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-vindicator_13-0">^</a> "19 Won't Take Full Pay Hike". Youngstown Vindicator. 1978-12-22.</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-14">^</a> Straub, Bill (1998-07-04). <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20040918034811/http://www.cincypost.com/news/1998/kasich070498.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Kasich is a maverick with youth on his side"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post" title="The Cincinnati Post">The Cincinnati Post</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.W.Scripps_Company" title="E. W. Scripps Company">E. W. Scripps Company</a>). Archived from <a href="http://www.cincypost.com/news/1998/kasich070498.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">the original</a> on 2004-09-18.</li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-15">^</a> <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1993/roll575.xml" class="external text" rel="nofollow">FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 575: HR 3450: NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT</a> (November 17, 1993)</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-16">^</a> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19940824&id=WDsKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c0sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5059,4666529" class="external text" rel="nofollow">The Victoria Advocate - Google News Archive Search</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-nytimes-17">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-nytimes_17-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-nytimes_17-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-nytimes_17-2">c</a> Apple, Jr., R.W. (1998-04-26). <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900EFD8113CF935A15757C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"A Republican With Rough Edges"</a>. The New York Times.</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-18">^</a> <a href="http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/entertainment/article/0,1626,ECP_738_4729770,00.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Kasich looks at nation, GOP and finds both in trouble, Erich Pianin, Washington Post, Kasich looks at nation, GOP and finds both in trouble 5/28/06</a>[<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/entertainment/article/0,1626,ECP_738_4729770,00.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">dead link</a>]</li>

<li id="cite_note-19"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-19">^</a> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9604/16/veep/index.shtml" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Bill Schneider, "The Last Cookie On The Plate", CNN.com, 04/16/96</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-20"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-20">^</a> Karen Tumulty,<a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985297-1,00.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"The Baiting Game"</a>, Time Magazine, October 4, 1996</li>

<li id="cite_note-21"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-21">^</a>[<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979537,00.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Richard Lacayo, Time Magazine, "Remember the Deficit?" dead link</a>]</li>

<li id="cite_note-22"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-22">^</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080110012911/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n17_v46/ai_15844122" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"It oughta be a crime, Omnibus Crime Bill of 1994", National Review, 09/12/1994</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-23"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-23">^</a> <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/John_Kasich.htm" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"John Kasich on Drugs"</a>, On The Issues. Accessed March 22, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-whouse-24">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-whouse_24-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-whouse_24-1">b</a> <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/pdf/hist.pdf" class="external text" rel="nofollow">U.S. Budget Historical Tables</a>[<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/pdf/hist.pdf" class="external text" rel="nofollow">dead link</a>]</li>

<li id="cite_note-25"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-25">^</a> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/15/president.2000/kasich.announce" class="external text" rel="nofollow">CNN.com, Kasich forms exploratory committee to run for president, 02/15/99</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-26"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-26">^</a> <a href="http://www.columbusdispatch.com/topstory.php?story=dispatch/2005/07/15/20050715-A1-02.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Joe Hallett and Jonathan Riskind, Columbus Disptach, GOP voices urge Kasich to enter race for governor, 07/15/05</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-enquirer.com-27"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-enquirer.com_27-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.enquirer.com/columns/bronson/1998/10/101198pb.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Looking for another boomer president</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-Governor-28"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-Governor_28-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2007/02/20/20070220-D1-05.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Joe Hallett, Ohio GOP happy as Kasich dips toe in water, Columbus Dispatch, 2/20/2007</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-29"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-29">^</a> <a href="http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/03/27/kasich.ART_ART_03-27-08_A1_9F9OP95.html?sid=101" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Joe Hallett, Kasich gets set to run in 2010, 3/27/08</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-Recharge-30"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-Recharge_30-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.rechargeohio.com" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Recharge Ohio</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-Rechargeflyer-31"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-Rechargeflyer_31-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.rechargeohio.net/Recharge%20Ohio%20Summer%202008.pdf" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Recharge Ohio newsletter</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-32"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-32">^</a> <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0509/Kasich_running_for_Ohio_governorship.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Kasich to run for Ohio governorship</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-33"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-33">^</a> <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/05/01/kasich.html?sid=101" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Kasich names treasurer for 2010 campaign against Strickland</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-KasichGovernor-34"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-KasichGovernor_34-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hOTtRKC8d7-vhcyhICOZAP6t_VywD98I6PVG0" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Ex-US Rep formally announces run for Ohio governor</a>[<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hOTtRKC8d7-vhcyhICOZAP6t_VywD98I6PVG0" class="external text" rel="nofollow">dead link</a>]</li>

<li id="cite_note-35"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-35">^</a> <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/call-post-all-ohio-edition/mi_8089/is_20101110/governors-mansion-red-john-kasich/ai_n56453309/" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Governor's Mansion goes red as John Kasich wins</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-36"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-36">^</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/03/fox-news-lawyers-up-respo_n_791754.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Fox News Lawyers Up, Responds To Allegations Of Campaign Finance Law Violations"</a>, Sam Stein. Huffington Post. December 3, 2010</li>

<li id="cite_note-37"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-37">^</a> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110323/us_ac/8128080_is_ohio_gov_john_kasich_living_on_the_taxpayers_dime_1" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Is Ohio Gov. John Kasich Living on the Taxpayers' Dime?</a>, Yahoo News, March 23, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-38"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-38">^</a> <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/morris/index.ssf/2011/01/the_race_of_gov_kasich_all_whi.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">The race of Gov. John Kasich's all-white Cabinet only matters if he fails to create jobs: Phillip Morris | cleveland.com</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-Ticket-39"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-Ticket_39-0">^</a> Preston, Patrick. <a href="http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2011/feb/16/17/governor-cop-who-gave-him-ticket-hes-idiot-ar-398037/" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Gov. Kasich On Cop Who Gave Him A Ticket: 'He's An Idiot!'"</a>. nbc4i.com. Retrieved 16 February 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-41"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-41">^</a> <a href="http://www.gongwer-oh.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=792210201&newsedition_id=7922102&locid=2" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Gongwer News Service - Ohio</a> (subscription required)</li>

<li id="cite_note-42"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-42">^</a> <a href="http://www.gongwer-oh.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=792210203&newsedition_id=7922102&locid=2" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Gongwer News Service, Ohio</a> (subscription required)</li>

<li id="cite_note-43"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-43">^</a> <a href="http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/kasich-pitches-his-400m-rail-plan-to-obama-1019293.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Kasich pitches his $400M rail plan to Obama</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-45"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-45">^</a> <a href="http://www.gongwer-oh.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm?article_ID=792340202&newsedition_id=7923402&locid=2" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Gongwer News Service</a> (subscription required)</li>

<li id="cite_note-46"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-46">^</a> <a href="http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/insight/stories/2010/09/26/copy/division.html?adsec=politics&sid=101" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Points of division: Jobs dominate, but 'hot button' issues remain important in governor's race | Columbus Dispatch Politics</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-47"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-47">^</a> <a href="http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-news/kasich-touts-reform-but-few-details-makes-districts-anxious-in-columbus-1003129.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Kasich touts reform, but few details makes districts anxious in Columbus</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-48"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-48">^</a> <a href="http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/11/23/copy/unions-that-make-things-will-get-chance-to-help.html?sid=101" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Unions that 'make things' will get chance to help | Columbus Dispatch Politics</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-49"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-49">^</a> <a href="http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/01/06/governors-office-salaries-going-way-up-under-kasich/" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Governor’s Office Salaries Going WAY Up Under Kasich" | Plunderbund.com, January 6, 2011</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-51"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-51">^</a> <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E6DB1E3AF932A25752C0A9679C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fK%2fKasich%2c%20John%20R%2e" class="external text" rel="nofollow">New York Times, Lehman Hires Kasich 1/11/01</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-52"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-52">^</a> <a href="http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/04/03/copy/kasich-discloses-pay-seeks-to-quiet-critics.html?adsec=politics&sid=101" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Kasich discloses pay, seeks to quiet critics|Columbus Dispatch Politics</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-53"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-53">^</a> <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Every-Other-Monday/John-Kasich/9781439148273" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Every Other Monday by John Kasich</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-cbn-54"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-cbn_54-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/vod/MMA229v1_WS" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Rep. Kasich: A Portrait of Faith, Friendship"</a>. CBN TV.</li>

<li id="cite_note-55"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-55">^</a> <a href="http://www.vjesnik.hr/pdf/2000%5C05%5C26%5C09A9.PDF" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"vjesnik"</a> (in Croatian). www.vjesnik.hr.</li>

<li id="cite_note-56"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-56">^</a> <a href="http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/hrvat-john-kasich-pobijedio-baracka-obamu-billa-clintona-clanak-210927" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Večernji list"</a> (in Croatian). www.vecernji.hr.</li>

<li id="cite_note-YouTube-Kasich-Idiot-57"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich#cite_ref-YouTube-Kasich-Idiot_57-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0_Qe4zNrE" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Kasich, Ohio's governor, thinks cops that do their jobs are idiots</a></li>

</ol>

</div>

<h2>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Kasich&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: External links">edit</a>] External links</h2>

<table class="metadata mbox-small plainlinks" style=" border: 1px solid #aaa; background-color: #f9f9f9;"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><img src="/47fbc605-3f1e-5223-9c62-445a815c4774.png"/></td><td class="mbox-text">Wikimedia Commons has media related to: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:John_Kasich" class="extiw" title="commons:Category:John Kasich">John Kasich</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://governor.ohio.gov/" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Governor of Ohio, John Kasich</a> Official site of the Governor of Ohio</li>

<li><a href="http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=27017" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Biography</a>, <a href="http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=27017" class="external text" rel="nofollow">interest group ratings</a>, <a href="http://www.votesmart.org/speech.php?can_id=27017" class="external text" rel="nofollow">public statements</a>, <a href="http://www.votesmart.org/official_veto.php?can_id=27017" class="external text" rel="nofollow">vetoes</a> and <a href="http://www.votesmart.org/finance.php?can_id=27017" class="external text" rel="nofollow">campaign finances</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Vote_Smart" title="Project Vote Smart">Project Vote Smart</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/uniquecandidate.phtml?uc=139664" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Campaign contributions</a> at FollowTheMoney.org</li>

<li><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/john_r_kasich" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Collected news and commentary</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/John_Kasich/" class="external text" rel="nofollow">John Kasich</a> at WhoRunsGov at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post" title="The Washington Post">The Washington Post</a></li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dt>U.S. Representative (1983–2001)</dt>

</dl>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000016" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Biography</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biographical_Directory_of_the_United_States_Congress" title="Biographical Directory of the United States Congress">Biographical Directory of the United States Congress</a></li>

<li><a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/K000016" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Voting record</a> maintained by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post" title="The Washington Post">The Washington Post</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?CID=N00009778" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Financial information</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Responsive_Politics" title="Center for Responsive Politics">OpenSecrets.org</a></li>

<li><a href="http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/can_detail/H2OH12027" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Campaign finance reports and data</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission" title="Federal Election Commission">Federal Election Commission</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.c-spanvideo.org/person/1620" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Appearances</a> on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-SPAN" title="C-SPAN">C-SPAN</a> programs</li>

</ul>

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trithout

Ohio law requires private companies to report contributions to electioneering groups and five big Ohio businesses have reported giving a total of $235,000 to Building a Better Ohio. The source of the rest of the funding for the RGA's and Building a Better Ohio's campaigning remain a mystery. By examining records from the campaign to elect Governor Kasich, however, it's possible to shine a light on the silent defenders of his controversial legislation.

RGA and ALEC

Kasich is an alumnus of ALEC, a group that brings together state legislators and corporate leaders from companies like Bayer, Pfizer, Wal-Mart, Exxon-Mobile and Koch Industries to draft model bills for state legislators seeking to advance a conservative, pro-business agenda. The Center for Media and Democracy recently <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org" target="blank">exposed</a> 800 ALEC model bills, revealing an effort to weaken unions, cut environmental regulations and privatize state services. Kasich and Republican legislators that supported Senate Bill 5 received $563,000 in campaign contributions from ALEC corporations in 2010, according to watchdog group <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=7743229" target="blank">Common Cause</a>, but that number is much bigger when factoring in the RGA.

Consider the Coca-Cola Company and Wal-Mart. Both are ALEC members with a record of opposing unions. During the 2010 election, Coca-Cola donated $7,000 directly to Kasich's campaign and $10,000 to his transition fund, but the company contributed $75,000 to the RGA. Wal-Mart didn't give Kasich's campaign any money, but donated $90,000 to the RGA. According to electioneering records, the RGA used the contributions to pay Strategic Perceptions and Target Enterprises, two media placement companies, for services and <a href="http://strategicperceptioninc.com/rga%28oh%29_1.php" target="_blank">attack ads</a> against Democratic incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland.

Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart joined dozens of other private companies from far beyond Ohio in contributing a total of $5 million to a media campaign attacking Strickland and supporting Kasich, according to campaign records. Nearly $950,000 came from more than two dozen private health care companies, ranging from pharmaceutical firms to companies offering hospice services to "employee health assistance" companies. Many of the donations ranged from $10,000 to $50,000, but ALEC member Pfizer gave $75,000 and Endo Pharmaceuticals gave $90,000.

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