Redfern blasts Kasich on State of the State

Ohio Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern THE BLADE/SEAN WORK Enlarge | Photo Reprints

COLUMBUS — Both Republican Gov. John Kasich and Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern generally 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 President Obama on the national level, in part 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 schools 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 like 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 out 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.