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The
Columbus Dispatch...
Governor
boasts of state’s progress in
GOP radio speech
By
Jessica Wehrman
Sunday August 21, 2011 12:55 PM
WASHINGTON
— Gov. John Kasich
described Ohio as a success story in a time of economic uncertainty
yesterday
and urged the federal government to follow Ohio’s example as a state
that
eliminated budget shortfalls while cutting taxes.
“We
looked our problems square in the
eye and we didn’t blink … and Americans can learn from Ohio,” Kasich, a
former
congressman, said in the weekly Republican address to the nation.
He
cited the state’s privatization of
economic development, tax cuts and reforms to programs such as Medicaid
and
prisons as an example of how the state has worked to boost Ohio’s
economy, but
he stressed that the federal government’s work might undo Ohio’s
progress.
“Our
success ... will be thwarted if
Washington continues its spending spree and its punitive taxes on
success,” he
said in a message recorded Friday. “You know, if we’ve learned anything
from
the federal ‘stimulus,’ it’s that government can’t tax, spend and
regulate its
way to prosperity.”
Kasich,
who was tapped by House
Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, to give the address, also called
for both
houses of Congress to support a balanced-budget amendment, a key part
of the
GOP congressional agenda.
He
urged increased bipartisanship in
Congress.
“It’s
my hope President Obama will
listen to the people and partner with Republicans to get our economy
back to
creating jobs and producing growth,” he said. “And it’s just as
important that
Republicans not be stiff-necked about working across the aisle when
important
work must be done. It’s OK to compromise on policy, as long as you
don’t
compromise on your principles.”
Dale
Butland of Innovation Ohio, a
liberal policy-research group based in Columbus, said Kasich’s budget
hardly
qualifies as an example of “leaders working together.” The former aide
to Sen.
John Glenn said Ohio’s economy is still hurting, with jobless rates on
the
rise.
“I
think if they were going to put a
Republican governor forward, they could’ve done better than John
Kasich,” he
said. “Certainly there are lots of Republican governors who have an
approval
rating better than 33 percent.”
Read
it at the Columbus Dispatch
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