Democrats criticize Kasich policies

COLUMBUS -- Both Republican Gov. John Kasich and Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern agree that the "state of the state" is improving with a lot more work to do. But they disagree on who deserves the credit for any gains.

"It doesn't take courage to go to the best performing school in the state," Mr. Redfern said Monday. "It takes courage to go to the worst. It doesn't take courage to stand up and take credit for the American automobile industry when you had nothing to do with it. What takes [courage] is pointing at the other guy and saying 'Mitt Romney was wrong when he said we should let Detroit go bankrupt…'

"It doesn't take courage to accept all of the credit," he said. "It takes courage to take some of the blame."

A lot of the credit, he said, should instead go to President Obama on the national level, in part because of the bailout of Chrysler and General Motors, and Mr. Kasich's Democratic predecessor, Gov. Ted Strickland.

Mr. Redfern doesn't plan to be in the audience at Wells Academy, the top-performing public elementary school in the state in terms of test scores, when Mr. Kasich takes the unprecedented step Tuesday of delivering his annual State of the State speech in the struggling and heavily Democratic steel town of Steubenville on the Ohio River.

In that school auditorium some 150 miles to the northeast of the Statehouse, Mr. Kasich will be armed with statistics that show Ohio's unemployment rate dropping, its budget stabilized but still tight, and its longer-term economic outlook boosted by a series of big investments in the state by major automakers such as Chrysler in Toledo.

"I'm not going tit for tat with everything he said," Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said. "Most of it is just silly. If the chairman wants to come to the State of the State, he should just ask for a ticket instead of throwing a temper tantrum."

Mr. Redfern, however, argued that Mr. Kasich should accept some of the blame for what still ails Ohio.

"Mitt Romney and his Republican rivals believe that our tax system should invest in big corporations and the wealthiest Americans," he said. "John Kasich's budget imposes backdoor tax increases by passing the burden down to the local level.

"Because of Gov. Kasich's budget, local officials will need to raise taxes or take drastic measures like laying off police and firefighters," Mr. Redfern said.

Mr. Kasich will use his speech to talk about what he considers to be his successes of the year just completed as well as spell out where he wants to take the state next. Any new policies that involve money may have received a boost Monday when his administration released robust preliminary tax revenue collection figures for the month of January.

After a weaker-than-expected December, January's numbers came in 3.8 percent ahead of projections, leaving the state running 1.4 percent, or $147 million, ahead of expectations for the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

The State of the State roadshow began Monday as Mr. Kasich visited historic Roscoe Village in Coshocton, about 40 miles west of Steubenville. The city's Democratic mayor and the city's state senator and representative, all Democrats, co-hosted an evening reception.

Members of Mr. Kasich's cabinet were expected to fan out Tuesday morning to venues across the region prior to the 1 p.m. speech.

Meanwhile, local union workers plan to gather near the school before the governor's speech to protest Mr. Kasich on budget cuts to local governments and school districts and his policies on organized labor, the environment, privatization, and education.

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.