As the primary rolls into Ohio where Gov. John Kasich might finally be able to overcome Donald Trump, the traditional media is taking a closer look at his tenure back home—and that great recovery he's always boasting about.
Ohio has indeed gained several hundred thousand jobs since Mr. Kasich took office, and he turned an imposing budget gap into a surplus while also cutting income taxes, all accomplishments that back up his boasts.
But a closer review of his record shows the reality is more complicated. Other states recovered from the recession more quickly than Ohio did. He closed the budget shortfall in part by cutting aid to local governments, forcing some of them to raise their own taxes or cut services. And increasing sales taxes helped make the income tax cuts possible. “Ohio was in intensive care, and Governor Kasich came in and really stabilized the patient,” said Rea S. Hederman Jr., the executive vice president of the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, a right-leaning group. “But we’re still a sick state, economically speaking.”
On Tuesday, voters in Toledo will be asked to approve an increase to the city’s income tax, and the mayor of Cleveland has also called for an income tax increase. An analysis by The Plain Dealer of Cleveland last week found that more than 70 cities and villages had lost at least $1 million a year because of Mr. Kasich’s actions on budgeting and taxes, including the local funding cuts and eliminating Ohio’s estate tax.
Parma, a Cleveland suburb of 80,000, has lost more than $3.7 million, according to the analysis. To make its budget work, Parma closed swimming pools, held off buying police cars and instituted a $12-per-month garbage fee, said its mayor, Timothy J. DeGeeter, a Democrat. Lorain, which has 64,000 residents and was found by the analysis to have lost more than $2.9 million, raised its income tax and has left positions unfilled.
Kasich might have balanced the state's budget, but he did it by passing the pain down to the local level.
He likes to claim that he brought jobs back to Ohio, but during his term private sector jobs grew by just 9.3 percent, which puts the state at 22nd in the country for job creation. What's more, Ohio is behind three neighboring states—Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky—in job creation. It's the kind of smoke and mirrors so typical of Republicans on the economy. Slash social services to the core, give out some corporate tax breaks, tout mediocre progress as great, and call yourself a genius.
When you add that to his deplorable record on choice and women's health, it becomes pretty clear that Kasich is no moderate. He might be a nicer guy than Ted Cruz or Donald Trump, but he's still an extremist.