Kasich is a Bizarre Guy

Too Cool for the Governorship
by Max J

John Kasich is strange. Jon Stewart did a great routine about the Ohio Governor in March. But in watching Kasich everyday, he seems exceedingly arrogant and completely self centered. He speaks without a written script, which is a huge problem. His inauguration speech was full of messianic references.

"I am a servant of the Lord. I am a servant of the Lord.
[APPLAUSE]

He has opened doors all of my life. The Lord has. He has pushed me over the mountain this time. I don't know why, but I have no doubt that he has. I've spent a large amount of my life trying to figure out how he works.

I got a message one day driving up—over by the Hoover Reservoir. It wasn't a telegram. It wasn't a phone call. It wasn't a voice. But it was clear. 'Stop trying to figure it out, I'm not going to tell you.' "

This was a little unnerving that the Governor takes office by saying that his election had divine intervention. What was God's problem with the minister Governor Ted Strickland? It seems strange that God would get involved in the election in Ohio. What happens if Kasich does not get re-elected? Will that mean that God had second thoughts?

Then in his state of the state address, he distorted a conversation with the Cleveland Mayor over the movement of the mental health hospital out of the County along with all the jobs. He really needs to stick to a script, because he sounds so fake otherwise. We are lowering the boom on Cleveland, but at least while I was doing it, I went sledding at the stadium...so don't be mad at me.

"And she went up to see the mayor. You know, I know Frank Jackson and I at some point are going to have some big blow-up, but I’ve got to tell you, he’s a terrific man. He’s got a great heart. He’s an executive. I’ve taken my kids to see him. I want him to go sled riding down there in Cleveland stadium. He didn’t have the guts for that one, but that’s okay. (Laughter) But Tracy had to go see the mayor. And I had to call the mayor and say, 'Mayor, I can’t do the building because I’ve got to put the
mentally ill first.' The mayor said, 'I understand,' but there’s other things that we do for Cleveland because we want to rebuild it. So in this case, we reduce operating expenses, we save money on capital improvements and the people who are mentally ill are better taken care of."

Also, it needs to be noted that the Mayor denied that this was the tenor of the conversation. The Mayor may have politely said, "I understand," but he certainly did not agree. This speech made it sound like the Mayor knelt down and kissed Kasich's ring. This left a false impression, and discounts the near universal condemnation by leaders from northeast Ohio. This was a stab in the back from Ohio leaders who had promised a new hospital. This was the governor lying in the state of the state address.

Kasich is just a strange guy who seems to protect his rich friends and is out to punish his enemies. He is proposing that his budget chief be allowed to privatize any department that he wants, and will not even acknowledge staff that worked for the previous administration. Kasich is delaying the additional jobs created by the casino because he does not like the constitutional amendment passed by voters. It is no wonder that Ohioans want a do-over in the November 2010 election.

Ohio is Open for Business?

Ohio Governor Declares His Support of Business

by Max
After meeting with automakers and asking for more auto business for Ohio, new Ohio Governor, John Kasich declared that "Ohio's open for business." What does this mean exactly? Does this mean that we need to reduce corporate taxes in order to compete with Alabama? It is likely that this will mean that we need to reduce the individual income tax in order to attract CEOs with their obscene salaries. But the big issue, in which Kasich campaigned on, was to reduce government regulations that stifle business. Here are some examples of ways that Kasich could reduce the development and expansion of businesses in Ohio.

• Strip away regulations of mines so that we could experience the tragedy that took place at Massey Energy mines here in Ohio and the loss of 29 miners deep inside the earth.
  
• Eliminate funds for government expertise to even be able to understand complicated drill mechanisms such as those in the Deep Water Horizon. Ohio too could join the other communities that have experienced a man made disaster by reducing government regulations.
• We could allow insurance companies to do whatever they want and charge whatever they want.
  
• Ohio could have the fun of cleaning up a coal ash dump like at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee without proper government oversight. We may be able to add jobs cleaning up 1.1 billion gallons of sludge like they did in Roane County after government did protect the citizens against improper fly ash dumping.
  
• We can get rid of the regulations of payday lenders, and allow companies to exploit low income residents in need of small loans.
  
• We can eliminate regulations on the banking industry and financial services like Kasich's old firm the bankrupt Lehman Brothers. We could continue to allow Ohioans to be exploited by the sharks with lawyers who rob them of their houses.
  
• Maybe we can go through another Savings and Loan fiasco with government not watching out for fair lending practices.
  
• We could allow corporations unlimited access to influence our elections without transparency and without limits.
  
• We could turn our attention away from the regulation of vehicles so that they are unsafe or we could turn our roads or bridges over to private corporations to maximize profits while minimizing maintenance.
  
• We could reduce regulations on public utilities in the hopes of reducing red tape and improving competition or causing another Love Canal or Davis Besse reactor head hole.
• We could turn our public education over to corporations so that we could drop out of the top 10 states with the best education system in America.
  

I am not comforted that Ohio is open for business. I want someone watching corporations to avoid all the abuse we have seen just over the last decade by corporations. Kasich's friends on Wall Street almost took down our economy with their disregard for rules and their lust for money. I have no confidence that he will be our watchdog in Columbus. How many government regulations will he cut to bring in businesses? How many people will die or have their housing taken for the greater good of bringing jobs to Ohio? How many taxpayers will be harmed because Ohio is open for business?

NPR Has Another Issue

by Max Johnson

Yesterday, corporate candidate John Kasich canceled his appearance on the vanilla Talk of the Nation show on NPR because he did not want to take calls from the listeners. There is no doubt that this make him look cowardly, but that is not news. There is also no doubt that he did not want to be confronted over the fantasy world he wants to lead the state of Ohio into if he wins. This is a world in which you can cut taxes, not cut programs, and the state will prosper. But another question is what does this say about NPR? They are certainly not known as confrontational and they do not shout down their guests. As a listener and a fan, we all appreciate this ability to have a civilized conversation.

But what does it say about Neal Conan and Ken Rudin that Kasich was afraid of listeners, but not afraid of them? My concern is that they are not asking the tough questions. I understand being fair and balanced in the real sense of the word (not the propaganda fair of Fox News). Are they allowing politicians to get away with spin in the desire to not challenge these ideas? Are they not holding these guys feet to the fire and instead talking about polls, scandals, and missteps? Do they allow the political get in the way of the science of government? I rarely hear anyone challenge some of the basic concepts of the tea party movement or the Corporate party? Here are some questions for your next segment:

• What happened to the Teddy Roosevelt environmentalism in the once honorable Republican party? (You can take out the once honorable if you want to be fair).
  
• Why are you running for an office that you repeatedly disparage and scorn? If the election is a job interview, would you hire someone who said such horrible things about the corporation that they were seeking a job with?
  
• What have you learned from the massive expansion in government that took place from 2001 to 2008 (No child left behind, prescription drug plan, the wars, homeland security, and the TARP bailout)?
  
• What specifically will you eliminate to get the budget back in balance?
  
• Can you point to a time in our history that tax cuts for the rich have actually brought more dollars to government? The last two times this was tried with W and Reagan, it resulted in huge deficits, and it turned out that it was in fact "Voodoo Economics.

I have more if you need them, give me a call, Ken.

More on Endorsements

by MAX JOHNSON

All three major daily Newspapers endorsed John Kasich for Governor of Ohio. Do the readers of those papers actually believe that Kasich will be the best candidate for Columbus, Cleveland or even Cincinnati? Have we heard any plan that would benefit the major cities? Shouldn't these papers speak on behalf of the readers in making endorsements? He has proposed cutting expenses and canceling the high speed rail project. How is that good for the three big cities? What state funded government program is not necessary to Cleveland? Is it elementary education? Colleges and Universities? Foreclosure assistance? Law enforcement? Health care for seniors or the disabled? I don't understand how Kasich canceling the train will help Columbus? I have not heard anything from Kasich about a plan to bring jobs to Cincinnati?

I just cannot understand how these papers could endorse the Lehman Brothers candidate. I don't understand how these guys are even close in the polls. What is Kasich going to bring to Ohio and especially the heart of Ohio: our cities? Higher pollution, larger numbers of students in the classroom, and an attack on the federal government's health care plan seems to be the policy of the candidate for the Corporate Party. We will see greater tension between the federal regulators and the state government, and we will see a mess of a state budget. There will be more mentally ill people and drug addicted people turned away from treatment, and fewer resources going to the cities and counties to pay for law enforcement, jails, and parks. Someone needs to explain what Kasich stands for, and not what he stands against?

Plain Dealer Endorsements???

by Max Johnson

What a horrible editorial today endorsing John Kasich by the Plain Dealer. It is amazing that the PD would set aside the citizens of the state to support the business side of their operations. The Corporate Party has been in power for nearly two decades in Ohio, which is the time that the state has been in decline. The Plain Dealer endorsed Taft after his useless first term, so it is not surprising that they would side with their own business interests. How could they endorse an untested candidate who has proposed causing havoc with the state budget? How can they endorse the guy who worked as the point person of the beast that caused so much harm for homeowners in Ohio? Have they no shame?

There is no doubt that Stickland could have been bolder and not recklessly championed no new taxes. This is so stupid. It is like saying, "Please give me praise for not using all my weapons that I had at my disposal during the defense of Alamo." He has not been bold to push through simple things like a foreclosure moratorium, pay day lending reform, or an innovative jobs program for the unemployed. Being timid in a time of Corporate domination of the State House is not a reason to select a destructive candidate for the job. Strickland has not railed against the opposition and talked about the historical harm caused by the party of big business.

I thought that with Brent Larkin gone, Greater Cleveland would get some editorials that support the residents in Mt. Pleasant and tenants living in Lakewood and not just the businesses in the state. Kasich has not told us anything about how he will bring in more jobs except the failed trickle down theory. He has not said how he will balance the state budget with a huge hole the Corporate party has dug. Kasich has not explained how he is going to make education work in this state. It is almost like the Plain Dealer is saying vote for the unknown guy because we hope that he will give the Ohio economy a jump start.

The Ohio Nightmare

by Max Johnson

I just don't understand Ohio voters at all. I keep pressing refresh on Nate Silver's NY Times blog hoping that it will change the polling for Ohio Senate and Governors Race. How could the polls have the two worst possible candidates in the lead for election in these critical offices for Ohio? The big picture here is that the Ohio Republican party has been in power for most of the last 25 years, and where are we? Voters gave one of the worst Governors ever, Bob Taft, two terms in office. The Republicans have won basically on the pledge to cut taxes. In good times and bad, their only platform is to cut taxes. It is a winning strategy to get elected, but a losing strategy to govern a state. This is like telling your bank that you will balance the budget of your business only by reducing expenses. "I will not even consider working to create additional resources for my business. Any price increases or new product offering is off the table." See how long your banker would tolerate this recklessness and keep extending credit to you.

They are the party of "no." They have done nothing when they were in power and now they want their old jobs back. I understand throwing the bums out, but do not understand putting back the guys who got us in trouble. They have isolated us on the international stage, and have preached fiscal responsibility without acting responsibility. I never get the sense that the Republican elected officials have ideas for solving problems, but are great at marketing. This is the party of Abramoff and Gingrich who were run out of Washington for mismanagement and scandal. This is a small tent party that has alienated its traditional base in Hispanics with no answer to immigration issues except building fences and law enforcement. They preach small government, but don't mind if government gets involved in the sex life of our soldiers and wants government involved in deciding who can marry and what pain relief doctors can prescribe. The Republican party is the party of hypocrisy and slogans.

In Ohio, John Kasich is the Republican nominee for governor. This is a man who was employed at the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers. He made millions off of the misery of Ohioans. This was a company that was up to its eyeballs in subprime lending. This is a company that destroyed many neighborhoods in Ohio, and Kasich was their point man in Ohio. Kasich stands for Wall Street and Wall Street caused the near depression that we witnessed. He picked a woman as his running mate who shipped jobs to Florida. He has advocated destroying the Ohio budget by eliminating income taxes. As a commentator on Fox News, he adopted extreme positions to get face time, and the guy does not have a compromise bone in his body. We have a huge debt in Ohio, and we need all options on the table. I just can't imagine a worse candidate for office.

Rob Portman has a lead over the weaker Democratic candidate Lee Fisher. Ms. Brunner would have energized more Democratic voters, but Fisher is more of a main stream candidate who can attract independents. What do we actually know about Rob Portman? What are his signature positions that he is running on besides not agreeing with Obama? I think that all we need to know is that he served in the Bush administration. He was a loyal soldier in the administration that took us to a useless war, began torturing people, allowed a city to drown, and gave corporations a free ride. Portman was in charge of two areas of the administration that could only be considered a failure. The US trade deficit went from a negative $390 billion to $670 billion during the decade of the Bush administration, and Portman was the US Trade Representative. Bush and Portman excelled at not paying for the Iraq war or prescription drugs, or no child left behind or the 2001 tax cuts while Portman was at the Office of Management and Budget. This is really all I know of Portman, but that alone would seem to make him unelectable. Not in Ohio. This is a nightmare. How can this happen?