California Conservative

This time last year, I hoped that Sen. McCain would pick John Kasich as his running mate. Now I’m thankful that he didn’t, partly because we were introduced to a conservative rock star named Sarah Palin, partly because Kasich is now running to unseat incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland in Ohio. During a campaign stop in Youngstown, OH, Kasich laid out his solutions for Ohio:

Ohio’s biggest problem is an economic environment that either drives people out of the state or doesn’t provide reasons to come here. The first thing that needs to be done, Kasich said, is lower the barriers to entry, beginning with stabilizing the budget, “which is in freefall,” he said, and reduce the tax burden once the economy regains stability and offer incentives for employers to create jobs in the state.

He said he would meet with the local business leaders to discuss building on the assets in Youngstown. “People here were born to make things,” he said. “Well, what is it that we can make that’s not going to be a commodity business? That can push us up the value chain? That can provide more high-paying jobs?”

If elected governor, Kasich said he would be “intimately involved” in bringing business to Ohio by following the model of another Republican governor of the state, James A. Rhodes. “I’m going to be the [unofficial] economic development director,” Kasich said. “I’m going to scour the country for opportunities because we just have to create jobs in our state. If we don’t, we’ll continue to spiral down.”

Ohio isfortunate to have John Kasich as their gubernatorial candidate. His credentials as a reformer, job creator and tax cutter are impressive to impeccable. The crowning achievement of his time as chairman of the House Budget Committee was his work in creating a budget surplus for five straight years, something that was thought to be impossible. Those surpluses were made possible by the Clinton-Kasich budget creating 22,000,000 new jobs in eight years.

Gov. Strickland was a good fit for Ohio as governor in 2006 because people considered him to be an ethical man. Now, though, he’s seen as incompetent at creating a prosperous economy for Ohioans. With the economy being the top issue this year, Gov. Strickland is looking more like the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Thank goodness that John Kasich is the right guy in the right place at the right time for Ohioans. Two years from now, Ohioans will be happy with their pick of John Kasich.

Technorati Tags: Ohio, John Kasich, Economy, Reforms, Job Growth, Surpluses, Tax Cuts, Fiscal Restraint, Conservatism, Ted Strickland, Democrats, Election 2010

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 6:49 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Conservatism, Economy, Election 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.