- When John Kasich talks about getting rid of special interests, is he talking about removing the influence of lobbyists from insurance, banking, the right wing Chamber of Commerce, mining, charter school owners, and oil companies? No. Kasich seems to dislike and fear public school teachers and issues involving education. In an effort to take away the power of the little old school teacher, Kasich wants to sell off the public schools, stop funding public education, and give everything over to his pals in the charter school companies.
There are some key differences between Kasich and Gov. Ted Strickland. Strickland has always been a supporter of public school children, teachers, higher education, etc. Unfortunately, Kasich's support of education has been less evident.
OEA has this on Kasich's education record:
...Kasich voted against Ohio’s public schools, educators and students.
In Congress, John Kasich was no friend of public schools. He consistently voted against smaller class sizes and against repairing or improving school buildings. He proposed budgets that would have cut funding to Head Start and eliminated the U.S. Department of Education...
(U.S. House of Representatives, 1995–1999; Columbus Dispatch, 3/17/93; Washington Post, 5/11/95)
...Kasich voted against student loans and higher education.
Kasich failed to stand up for Ohio’s students when he voted against making student loans affordable and accessible, against grants and scholarships for financially disadvantaged students, and against tax breaks on college tuition.
(U.S. House of Representatives, 1995–2000)
John Kasich was Managing Director of Investment Banking at Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers from 2001 through 2008. While Kasich was Managing Director, Lehman Brothers invested heavily in risky sub-prime mortgages that led to their collapse. Lehman Brothers’ failure sent our financial system into free-fall, causing millions of Ohioans to lose their jobs, their retirement savings and their homes. Kasich made over $600,000 in salary and bonuses in 2008, while Ohio’s public pension funds lost $480 million in investments managed by Lehman Brothers...
John Kasich, Jon Husted, and the rest of the Republicans, want to sell off public schools to the owners of charter school corporation who have so generously donated to GOP candidates. Will the Republicans sell off the public school assets to charter school owners to pay back and reward their campaign donors?
* >>> The New York Times has more about those candidates who have proposed the repeal of the 17th Amendment. Steve Stivers, a former bank lobbyist and current Republican congressional candidate, is mentioned in the article:
...Steve Stivers, the Republican candidate in an Ohio Congressional race, said he wanted to repeal the amendment, until his Democratic opponent, Representative Mary Jo Kilroy, made an issue of it, after which he seemed to back off....
Note the use of the words, "...he seemed to back off..." It doesn't say he definitely was against it. Does that mean that, if elected, Stivers might still try to repeal the 17th Amendment????
* The Murray Energy PAC (THE mining company that had the deaths with the mining collapse in West Virginia), just l-o-v-e-s Ohio Republicans!!!! A quick search of the campaign finance section of the Ohio Secretary of State's website, shows that Murray Energy PAC, continues to contribute to individual Ohio County Republican Parties, Mike DeWine, John Kasich, Jon Husted, Josh Mandel, Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee, etc. I guess we can assume that the Ohio Republicans vote in a manner that the Murray Energy PAC appreciates.
***** The desperate Republicans have a website, America Speaking Out, that encourages people to give them ideas. The ideas written by GOP sheeple are hilarious. This is an example of how out of touch the Republicans have become in the 21st century. The GOP cannot attract young people, women, African-Americans, Latinos, immigrants, the highly-educated, American workers, etc. The GOP stands for Grouchy Old (white) People. (Yes, I know that I might be considered an old person at 59.) I'd never consider myself grouchy, or a fan of Palin, Boehner, Limbaugh, McCain, DeWine, Kasich, Husted, Yost, and the rest of the backward-thinking, Republicans.
Are Republicans unable to think and be creative? Apparently.