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Townhall...
Leadership from Gov.
Kasich
By Linda Chavez
Once in a blue moon, you find a politician willing to do the right
thing even if it means his popularity will plummet. Recently elected
Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, has announced a new budget for his
cash-strapped state, and voters are none too happy. Polls show his
approval rating at 40 percent, less than three months after he assumed
office.
Ohio’s budget is more than $8 billion in the red, thanks to a poor
economy, overspending by Kasich’s predecessor, and an unfriendly
business environment that has pushed jobs out of state. Ohio has lost
400,000 jobs in the last four years alone. And, like other states that
received money from the 2009 federal stimulus, that money saved mostly
public-sector jobs -- and on a temporary basis only. Now, school
districts and other state and local agencies propped up by federal
dollars will have to make do on their own.
But what is different about Kasich’s approach is that he’s doing more
than cutting spending -- he’s out trying to sell his plan to a
skeptical public. He could have simply released his budget, held a
press conference, and then got down to the work of twisting
legislators’ arms. Instead, he took his plan on the road, holding a big
public forum in which voters could ask questions in person or on
Twitter. And he did it in his characteristic hard-charging, upbeat
style. He’s shown that he’s willing to lead on this issue.
Kasich’s budget includes both cuts in spending and innovative reform
that may make those cuts less painful and more effective. On education,
for example, he’s capping increases in college tuition at 3.5 percent,
a modest hike, but he’s also insisting college professors teach one
extra class every other year to keep costs down.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average college
teacher spends 12 to 16 hours per week in the classroom, plus another
three to six hours in the office to meet with students. According to a
2008-2009 survey by the American Association of University Professors,
the average salary for full-time faculty was $79,439 -- and most
teachers have three months off in the summer.
Of course, Kasich has also taken on public-employee unions in his
state. He wants to drop the requirement that government pay so-called
prevailing wages for school construction and other jobs, a euphemism
for paying union scale for jobs where actual wages would be lower if
set by market factors. And he opposes binding arbitration, which often
forces untenable pay increases and higher benefits for government
employers when they reach an impasse in collective bargaining.
His budget also includes a $1.1 billion hike in public-employee pension
contributions over the next two years, forcing public-sector workers to
contribute an additional 2 percent to their pensions. Most state and
local employees would be forced to make contributions equal to their
employers’ for the pensions. But these 2 percent hikes would also apply
to local police and fire, as well as state troopers, who currently
receive up to 26.5 percent from their employers toward their pensions.
Kasich’s budget would also privatize some low-security prisons and sell
off five state prison facilities. And he favors rethinking laws that
send men to state prison for not paying child support or for certain
non-violent drug offenses.
“Why do I want to put somebody that doesn’t pay child support in a
state prison ... instead of putting them somewhere and forcing them on
a work detail or home confinement or county jail, in a place where the
public is safe and yet we can get our costs?” he said recently.
He’d also like to sell off management of the state’s lottery and lease
the state’s liquor sales operation. Frankly, state lotteries are a
disgraceful exploitation of the poor and the ignorant, who waste
billions per year they could put toward savings or paying down their
own debt.
Kasich’s task over the next several months won’t be easy. He has to
convince voters that cuts now will mean higher job growth in the
future. But he’s a natural salesman -- and if he spends the time to
educate and talk to voters, I’m betting those poll numbers will turn
around. And most importantly, so will the economy of Ohio, which will
be the final test of Kasich’s leadership. It’s the kind of leadership
we could use in Washington.
Read it at Townhall
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