Where are you, John Kasich?

1/25/2018
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    Gov. John Kasich has spent more time making national television appearances than tending to the needs of Ohio.

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

  • Ohio Lt. Gov Mary Taylor says she has not spoken to Gov. John Kasich in a year.
    Ohio Lt. Gov Mary Taylor says she has not spoken to Gov. John Kasich in a year.

    Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor made two amazing statements this month about her boss, Gov. John Kasich.

    In a campaign endorsement interview, Ms. Taylor said that Mr. Kasich had endorsed her Republican primary rival, Attorney General Mike DeWine, which he hasn’t. Mr. Kasich has endorsed her. Ms. Taylor also said she has not spoken to the governor in more than a year.

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    Mr. Kasich’s staff disputed the second remark, claiming that Mr. Kasich and his lieutenant governor speak regularly. One of two things is true here: Either Mr. Kasich really has not spoken with his lieutenant governor for a year or Ms. Taylor is so eager to distance herself from the governor, she wants everyone to think they have not spoken in a year.

    And Mr. DeWine’s running mate, Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, was happy and eager to correct the mistake: He and Mr. DeWine are not burdened with the shadow of Mr. Kasich’s support.

    A Republican lieutenant governor wishing away the endorsement from the sitting governor she hopes to succeed would be amusing if it was not rooted in a sad truth: John Kasich has abandoned Ohio.

    If Mr. Kasich has not been around in Columbus to chat with Ms. Taylor, where is he?

    The Columbus Dispatch tallied 62 national TV appearances in 2017 for Mr. Kasich. That compares to just 54 live, in-person appearances he made here in Ohio where he is still, nominally, the governor.

    News talk-show junkies can often spot the governor on Meet the Press, State of the Union, or PBS Newshour, among other programs. Lately he has been arguing the finer points of immigration policy and America’s North Korea strategy.

    Several things you can be sure you will not catch Mr. Kasich talking about are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent demand that Ohio authorities revisit the science behind their decision to not declare Lake Erie impaired.

    Ohioans also will not hear the governor talking about the opioid crisis, which is worse in Ohio than most states.

    And viewers also surely will not hear him discuss what parents of ECOT students should do since the state’s largest online charter school was forced to close this month.

    The national issues Mr. Kasich has taken upon himself to analyze for American TV audiences are of interest in Ohio. But Ohio did not elect Mr. Kasich to serve as our ambassador to news talk shows.

    Ohio has real challenges. Its governor has real work to do. It’s time for Mr. Kasich to show up in Columbus and do his job.

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