Governor John Kasich spoke at Ross County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner.
Introduced by Congressman Steve Stivers as the Congressman who balanced the national budget for the only time in Stivers' life, Governor Kasich chatted amiably about his successes in the first year of his governorship.
Kasich said "we came in, and the state was dying," but after including "killing the death tax," Kasich said even without raising taxes "we ended up with a balanced budget."
He said the credit agencies were threatening a downgrade of Ohio's rating, but after getting out of an "eight billion dollar hole," they backed off. And, Kasich said, the Rainy Day Fund jumped to 240 million dollars...from a low of 89 cents.
One of only two Lincoln Day dinners where he spoke, Ohio's Republican governor said "we don't play politics. We strip the politics out."
Kasich said his prisons director - from Ross County - told the governor "no" at first because he did not want to deal with the mess, but has worked to keep new offenders from being taught worse by hardened criminals.
As for the Ohio EPA, he said "you don't want no regulations - you want to have regulations that make sense." Kasich said an attack on coal is an attack on the midwest, and that "if you have coal...dig it, clean it, and burn it." In a similar vein, he said if the federal government can't have a good energy policy, Ohio can.
And Kasich mentioned his education system reform, pointing out that kids "first learn to read, so later they can read to learn."
The party fund raiser also awarded Cheryl Looney for restarting the Republican Womens' efforts, including a scholarship...and Chillicothe Mayor Jack Everson, for being the first Republican mayor in 27 years.
Kevin Coleman regularly reports on Chillicothe & Circleville councils
