Crescent-News.com - Kasich visits NW Ohio

By TODD HELBERG

Republican John Kasich is confident he can win Ohio's gubernatorial race in November, but you'd expect that from a candidate facing an incumbent with lukewarm poll numbers.

You'd also not be surprised to hear that from a former mover and shaker in Washington who once chaired the U.S. House of Representatives' budget committee and helped shepherd a federal surplus.

That accomplishment might be unfathomable now, but the former nine-term U.S. congressman believes that if he can work such magic in Washington he can convince enough elected officials in Columbus to make the difficult decisions that will make Ohio's government run more efficiently.

Kasich made that clear while visiting The Crescent-News for nearly an hour Wednesday afternoon, just before he attended campaign events at Kettenring Country Club and the Defiance Eagles Aerie. Earlier Wednesday, he held a luncheon in Napoleon and journeyed to Montpelier, a day after making stops in Van Wert, Grover Hill and Ottawa.

The energy implicit in that itinerary was on display as Kasich, 57, fielded a variety of questions from this writer, Crescent-News staff writer Jack Palmer and Crescent-News general manager Steve VanDemark.

While it may take a lot of energy to make state government less costly and able to live within its means, Kasich believes the solution is not that mysterious.

"We don't have to think about cutting all these programs," said Kasich. "You make them work better. You make them more efficient and more effective."

As an example, he points to public education.

A Brookings Institution study, Kasich noted, found that Ohio is ninth in the country "in putting money into administration, overhead and bureaucrats" and "47th in terms of putting money in the classroom."

"That's a sin and a scandal that we should have known about years ago," he said. "How could that have ever happened? Everything's on the table for me, but initially we need to have to look at how we change that."

One way, he added, is to share more services among government entities.

"We will force them to do that," said Kasich, first elected to the Ohio Senate in 1978 before winning the first of nine elections for the U.S. House in 1982. "Whether they like it or not, they're going to have to work with other governmental entities and maybe even some private entities to bring about efficiencies here."

There may be more daunting tasks if he is elected in November, such as the next two-year state budget which commences on July 1, 2011.

Some believe the process will be even more difficult than in 2009 because the current biennial budget relied on one-time revenue sources, such as $4 billion in federal stimulus money.

Asked if he could cover a projected deficit that large quickly without one-time money, he says: "Oh yeah, I know we can close the hole. I believe we can not only close the hole, but we can pass a package. Yes, but again we're to a point we have all these sacred cows. We're not going to have sacred cows."

Not even Medicaid, which consumes a large share of the state budget?

"Medicaid is a very inefficiently run program right now," he said. "When we get into the fall I'll be able to spell out a lot more about what exactly I mean by that. That program can deliver much better services at lower costs."

Few will argue that point, but some might question whether Kasich can summon enough political support for drastic action in Columbus.

"There will be a lot of them (state legislators) who will think about being elected, and they won't want to do this," said Kasich. "So what? ... I think most people will support a significant change package, but there will be some that don't. So every speech I go ... I'll tell them tonight, get ready to drive to Columbus, bring a placard, get ready to stand on the lawn."

Kasich believes the way state government functions will go a long way in determining how Ohio's economy performs. And, he uses Indiana as an example.

According to Kasich, Indiana has improved its business environment under Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels to the point where it's drawing off some Ohio companies.

"Indiana moved quickly with a guy that understands business, and they have dramatically improved the environment over there," he said. "There's no reason we should be lagging."

The key there and here, says Kasich, is creating a business-friendly approach that relies on less regulation.

"The environment (in Ohio) is anti-business, and we have to make it pro-small business," he said. "Taxes are too high, regulations are too onerous, workers comp doesn't work, there are too many lawsuits. It's a whole host of things that have to be attacked in a comprehensive way, including balancing the budget."

His pro-business stance is not surprising: Kasich has spent nearly a decade in the private sector since deciding not to seek a 10th term for a Columbus-area U.S. House seat.

"I decided to go out in the private sector, and I did a very good job out there," he claimed. "And, this experience is invaluable in fixing this state."

How long would it take to turn Ohio around?

"A big chunk of this will move quickly, " explained Kasich. "I can't put a timetable on it now, we're too far out. You don't let these things lay around. You have the immediate problem. You have a patient in the ditch, the ambulance has arrived, you got to get the patient out of the ditch, in the ambulance, to the hospital and stabilize them."

The confidence Kasich exudes about fixing Ohio's economy isn't surprising. In the late 1990s he served as the U.S. House's budget committee chairman, helping craft a federal spending plan in 1998 that produced the first surplus since 1969.

"When I took over in 1995, the projected deficit was $3 trillion and when I left in 2000 the projected surplus was $5 trillion," he recalled. "I've never turned water into wine, but when you can get 218 votes through the United States House of Representatives to balance a budget and through the United States Senate and get it signed into law and actually have it happen, it isn't a hope and a prayer," he said. "I've done it. There's nothing confusing about it. You build a team, you point to the goal. What we have here is we have a burning platform. When you have a burning platform you have an opportunity to do things that you wouldn't do if things were just hunky-dory, but they're not in this state."

However, he says any positive changes must be accompanied by a change in the fiscal culture.

"In Ohio, we just can't change the numbers, we've got to figure out how to change the culture," he said. "And, that requires time and a consistent and steady program."

1.	Posted by scaypgrayce March 22, 2010
	I was a Capitol Hill staffer - Senate and House - in the 1990s, during then-Chairman Kasich's tenure. I admired his work ethic and commitment to fiscal prudence. That said, he should not, more than a decade later, claim that he helped create the federal surplus that was later squandered by his fellow Republicans at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Chairman Kasich worked very hard against the Clinton administration's 1993 deficit-reduction package, which passed both houses without a single Republican vote and which laid the groundwork for the eventual retiring of the deficit and the short-lived budget surplus. It also helped trigger the largest sustained economic expansion in our history. Some of his remarks back then regarding Dems' approach to economic recovery and expansion included: 5/27/93: Your (the Dems') economic program is a job killer. 7/28/93: This plan will not work. If it was to work, then I'd have to become a Democrat . . . We have a stagnant economy and there is nothing down the road that makes it look like we're going to have the kind of economic growth that puts people to work. 8/3/93: Come next year... we're going to find out whether we have higher deficits, we're going to find out whether we have a slower economy, we're going to find out what's going to happen to interest rates, and it's our bet that this is a job killer. 8/5/93: Do you know what? This is your (Dems') package. We will come back here next year and try to help you when this puts the economy in the gutter. Mr. Kasich can point to various merits in his Congressional work, but he should go easy on taking credit for a successful economic program he worked hard to derail.