Governor John Kasich has been spending copious amounts of tax-payer dollars on his excessive use of his state airplane, while asking hard-working Ohioans to tighten their belts. WKYC-Cleveland highlights the issue in the following clip:

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern held a conference call in advance of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s visit to Screen Machine Industries in Pataskala. The Chairman’s remarks are highlighted in the following audio clip:

After enduring the painful, first six months of the Kasich administration, Ohioans continue to sour on their controversial and out-of-touch governor. This morning, newspapers from across the state took notice of a new Quinnipiac Poll detailing abysmal approval numbers for Governor Kasich and his policies.

The Plain Dealer summed up Kasich’s plummeting poll numbers:

The Republican leader's job approval numbers have dipped again with just 35 percent of voters surveyed for a Quinnipiac Poll released this morning supporting Kasich. That's down from 38 percent in May. Meanwhile, 50 percent of voters said they disapproved of the job Kasich is doing, which is a slight increase since May and since the governor reached his crowning achievement in office thus far, orchestrating a new state operating budget in the face of a steep deficit.

As for the future of Senate Bill 5, The Toledo Blade notes that Kasich’s crowning achievement does not fare much better:

The same poll shows that even some of those who approve of the governor's performance are prepared to reject his signature law restricting the collective bargaining power of government employees at the ballot on Nov. 8. Fifty-six percent of voters say it should be repealed, up 2 percentage points since May.

Given his sinking popularity, The Columbus Dispatch observes that the political stakes for Kasich continue to rise:

"Gov. John Kasich is sinking lower in the eyes of Ohio voters, dropping from an 11-point approval deficit two months ago to a 15-point deficit today," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a statement.

"Kasich has until 2014 when he presumably will face the voters, to turn his political fortunes around, but the timeline for the vote on SB 5, which is obviously a referendum on the governor's agenda, is much shorter," said Brown. "A loss on SB 5 would be a no confidence vote on the governor from the voters of Ohio."

As for why Kasich’s numbers are steadily slipping, The Dayton Daily News points to Kasich’s failure to improve the economy:

The economy has remained sluggish and unemployment relatively high through Kasich’s first seven months as governor and that could be a reason for the low approval rating, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnpiac University Polling Institute.

By now, everyone has heard that News Corp, the parent company of Fox News, hacked into the phone records of families of September 11 victims, among other egregious actions. This is the same News Corp that employed John Kasich and shamelessly promoted his candidacy for governor.

From News Corp paying John Kasich $265,000 in 2008 to host a right-wing “news” show to News Corp donating $1 million to the Republican Governors Association to help elect Kasich, the Kasich-News Corp relationship is illustrious and profitable. And to top it all off, News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch contributed $10,000 to John Kasich’s campaign. Murdoch even said that he and Kasich have a strong “friendship!”

We’ll go ahead and say it: No public official in America has benefited more personally and politically from News Corp than John Kasich.

We need to send a strong message to John Kasich: Disgraced right-wing media moguls might support you, but the people of Ohio do not. Will you make a small contribution of $10, $25 or $50 to help us raise $10,000 to match Rupert Murdoch’s contribution to John Kasich?

There are a few people in American life and politics who make all of us strive to be better individuals. One shining example of that kind of American hero is Ohio’s own Senator John Glenn.

Today, Senator Glenn celebrates his 90th birthday, and we are all reminded of the many ways he has made our country and our state better. Born in Cambridge, Ohio, on July 18, 1921, Senator Glenn enlisted and became a Marine pilot after graduating from Muskingum College. He flew a total of 149 missions during the World War II and the Korean conflict, and in 1959, NASA selected him as one of the first seven astronauts in the U.S. space program.

On February 20, 1962, atop an Atlas rocket, he rode into space and piloted the Friendship 7 spacecraft around the globe three times, becoming the first American to orbit the earth and making his home state of Ohio mighty proud. Glenn became a hero, defining for many what the American spirit of greatness could be.

John Glenn soon turned his interests to public affairs. Encouraged by Robert Kennedy to seek public office, Glenn ran for the United States Senate and was elected in 1974. Senator Glenn was the chief author of the 1978 Nonproliferation Act, served as chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, and sat on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, as well as the Special Committee on Aging. Never far from the center of Democratic politics, he was a contender for the vice presidential nomination three times and ran in the Democratic primary as a presidential candidate in 1984.

Following his service in the U.S. Senate, NASA invited him to rejoin the space program he had helped to create, and on October 29, 1998, he became the oldest person in history to venture into space. Since then, John and Annie Glenn founded the John Glenn Institute for Public Service at The Ohio State University. Through its programs, the Institute seeks to improve the quality of public service and encourage young people to pursue careers in government.

Please join us in wishing Senator John Glenn, American hero, a very happy 90th birthday. Click here to send your personal message..

State Sen. Karen Gillmor inexplicably voted for Senate Bill 5 even though she thought it was a bad bill. Now, Gillmor is about to resign her seat in the Ohio Senate to begin her new position on the Ohio Industrial Commission. Is this just a simple coincidence? We don’t think so, and neither does the News-Messenger:

Karen Gillmor will resign her seat in the Ohio Senate to sit on the Ohio Industrial Commission.

Nearly 1.3 million Ohioans signed petitions to repeal Senate Bill 5.

These two events might not be a coincidence.

The bill — which bans public employee strikes and limits collective bargaining for 350,000 public employees, including firefighters, teachers and police officers — passed 17-16 in the Ohio Senate, where it was introduced by Ohio Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro. It passed the state house and was signed into law by Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Gillmor, R-Tiffin, had misgivings about the bill, even going so far as to say it was "not government at its finest," but voted to pass it anyway.

"It's going to happen anyway," she said. "The train has left the station; the train is coming down the track."

It is worth repeating at this point that the bill passed the senate by one vote…

You can read the rest of the article by clicking here.

Have you heard? Karl Rove is already in Ohio. Last Friday, George Bush's political strategist slithered back into the state with his special-interest, corporate dollars to attack Senator Sherrod Brown on television.

The laughable irony of George Bush's primary henchman giving Ohioans a lesson in spending and deficits is inescapable. But that won't stop Republicans because they are on the defense — they know Sherrod Brown has fought for the middle class in Ohio and his potential opponents' campaigns are faltering.

Have Republicans no shame? After taking our country into a recession, turning the Clinton balanced budget into a massive deficit, and then playing politics with the country's debt ceiling, they've brought special-interest corporate money into our backyard to spin a yarn on TV.

We at the Ohio Democratic Party would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Fourth of July as we celebrate the 235th anniversary of our nation's independence. We cherish today and everyday our freedom and the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that we enjoy as Americans.

Ohio residents have successfully blocked SB5 by submitting petitions containing 1,298,301 signatures (the most ever collected in Ohio) against the legislation. By doing so, the law can not go into effect until voted on as a referendum by the people this upcoming November. MSNBC's The Ed Show highlighted the issue in the following clip:

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Following months of extraordinary hard-work and dedication on the part of volunteers across the state, thousands of middle class Ohioans marched through the streets of downtown Columbus Wednesday to deliver nearly 1.3 million signatures to put the anti-collective bargaining law, Senate Bill 5, on the ballot in November.

Dubbed the People’s Parade, an energetic crowd of Democrats, Republicans, teachers, firefighters and law-enforcement officers marched to the secretary of state’s office in solidarity against Senate Bill 5 and in support of Ohio’s middle class families.

The Columbus Dispatch said this about the historic signature count:

The exact signature total – 1,298,301, or an amount equal to nearly 1 out of 6 of Ohio's 8 million registered voters – obliterated the previous state record of 812,978 set in 2008 on a proposed casino for Clinton County.

Meanwhile, The Cleveland Plain Dealer had this to say about the palatable opposition against Senate Bill 5:

SB 5 opponents say the law is anything but reasonable. They've declared it an attack by extreme politicians on working families.

Donnamarie Polak, a fifth-grade teacher from the Youngstown area, said some of her fellow teachers hadn't followed politics until Republicans pursued the collective bargaining law overhaul.

"This woke a lot of people up," Polak said. "They know they're definitely going to vote for the repeal."