Ohio Democratic Party Statement in Response to Governor Kasich's End-of-Year Press Conference
Dec 19, 2011
COLUMBUS – Today, Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Seth Bringman issued the following statement in response to Governor John Kasich’s end-of-year news conference:
“On Election Night, voters were asked if they supported the direction in which John Kasich was taking our state, and they answered with a resounding ‘no.’ From his attacks on workers’ rights to voting rights to women’s rights, John Kasich has not stood with Ohio’s middle class in the past year. And rather than bringing our state together to solve problems, John Kasich has alienated and vilified Ohioans who disagree with him. Unless Governor Kasich reaches across the aisle and stops attacking Ohio’s workers, he will spend the next three years as a lame duck.”
Highlights of Governor Kasich’s first year in office include:
• Sending 16,000 infrastructure jobs to other states. [Examiner, 11/6/10]
• Running his administration in secret. [Columbus Dispatch, 1/5/11]
• Giving huge salary increases to his political cronies. [Innovation Ohio, 9/28/11]
• Compiling a non-diverse cabinet that doesn’t reflect Ohio. [Plain Dealer, 1/13/11]
• Unconstitutionally appointing an out-of-state Development Director. [Plunderbund, 3/18/11]
• Turning over economic development to a board that operates in secret. [Morning Journal, 2/9/11]
• Saying that those who want transparency are “hurting our kids.” [Plain Dealer, 12/16/10]
• Telling an African American State Senator, “I don’t need your people.” [Politico, 1/28/11]
• Threatening to run people over with a bus if they didn’t agree with him. [Plunderbund, 1/22/11]
• Calling a police officer an “idiot.” [Columbus Dispatch, 2/16/11]
• Charging taxpayers for security upgrades to his home. [Columbus Dispatch, 1/2/11]
• Becoming the most unpopular governor in America. [Huffington Post, 9/30/11]
• Increasing state government spending by $5 billion. [Executive Budget FY2012-13, submitted 3/20/11]
• Cutting $3 billion from education. [ibid]
• Imposing back-door tax increases. [ibid]
• Cutting funds for local services like fire departments by 50 percent. [ibid]
• Wasting taxpayer money on excessive flights in his two taxpayer-funded planes. [Dayton Daily News, 5/16/11]
• Supported anti-choice legislation. [Reuters, 7/20/11]
• Signing a voter suppression bill into law that makes elections less fair and less accessible. [Columbus Dispatch, 9/28/11]
• Taking credit for auto industry success even though he did not support recovery efforts. [Chronicle Telegram, 12/7/11]
• Operating in secret as a member of the Apportionment Board. [Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting, 12/16/11]
• Signing into law an unfair, undemocratic and gerrymandered Congressional map. [Associated Press, 9/22/11]
And most importantly:
Championing an anti-middle class collective bargaining law that was overturned by 62 percent of voters.
