Strickland paints Kasich as "radical" and "reckless"
10/18/2010COLUMBUS — Gov. Ted Strickland Monday said he would fear for the future of Ohio if his Republican challenger, John Kasich, should be elected on Nov. 2.
Fresh from a rally the night before with President Barack Obama that drew 35,000 people to the Ohio State University campus, the Democratic governor used words like “reckless,'' “radical,'' and “extreme'' to describe Mr. Kasich's policies.
“To suggest that we could eliminate our state's income tax while at the same time signing a pledge that he would never, under any circumstances as far as I can tell…, support increased revenue from other sources is as irresponsible as anything I've ever known a political candidate to do,'' he said.
“He's much more extreme than Ken Blackwell ever was,'' Mr. Strickland said, referring to his conservative Republican opponent of 2006.
On the campaign trail in Tiffin, Mr. Kasich shot back, “All I can tell you is we've got a guy here who's raised taxes, grown government, has not fixed workers' compensation, has not been in a position to help small business. People just have to decide if they‘re better off now than four years ago."
Mr. Strickland visited a pair of small businesses in Columbus and the Dayton suburbs yesterday to make the case that his “business-friendly'' policies, including his championing of business tax reform started by Republicans, have helped position the state for an economic comeback.
He visited Marcy Adhesives, a Columbus maker of adhesive that can be removed without residue for windshields, solar panels, and other glass products, and later Webcore Technologies in Miamisburg, which makes lightweight, high strength, fiber-reinforced material for manufacturing of wind turbines, bridge decks, and other products.
“I think Ohio has great strengths,'' Mr. Strickland said. “I think our tax climate is, in fact, very competitive, perhaps the very best in the Midwest. I embraced a tax reform that was passed by a Republican governor and a Republican legislature, and my opponent likes to trash it. He tells tall tales about Ohio being non-competitive and a very high-tax state.''