...National City Corp (a.k.a. NatCity), was a giant subprime lender and Kasich's third largest donor during his second term in Congress (1999-2000). As the Cleveland-based company imploded in 2008, it announced plans to cut 15 percent of its workforce (about 4,000 jobs) before being bought by PNC Bank with the help of several billion dollars in taxpayer assistance.
The PNC acquisition led to more cuts, as the Pittsburgh-based bank didn't need another headquarters in Cleveland. Kasich blames Strickland for those lost jobs, but the truth is more complicated. While in Congress, Kasich voted for "Foreclosure" Phil Gramm's Commodity Futures Modernization Act, a bill that helped make possible the explosion of "synthetic CDOs," credit default swaps, and the subprime mortgage market in general. (UBS, the giant Swiss bank that later hired Gramm, was Kasich's number-one donor in 2000.) Big banks like NatCity and UBS supported the CFMA because it allowed them to get more involved with the then-lucrative subprime mortgage market. By 2006, NatCity was almost entirely focused on subprime lending. By late 2008, one of Cleveland's oldest institutions was no more.
The point is that all this talk about "taking on special interests" is silly. In his ad, Kasich says "you can't be in a position where somebody's your buddy so that you give them something special." But unless campaigns are publicly funded (or funded by very small contributions from individuals), you can never know for sure that a donation isn't influencing a politician's decisions. If NatCity and UBS hadn't given Kasich all that money, he might still have voted for the CFMA. Or maybe he wouldn't have. We don't really know. What we do know is that donors aren't stupid. Unions give Strickland money because they think he'll do right by them and their members. And bankers and pharmaceutical companies give Kasich money because they believe he'll deliver for them....We can agree that Strickland's special interests are unions, teachers, college students, and regular men and women. That is okay with me. Kasich's special interest club includes bankers, those who created the subprime mess, and drug companies. It is clear to see that Strickland is more interested in people, and Kasich is more concerned with banks, corporations, and their millionaires.
*** With the casinos under construction in the state, Ohio's Republicans are trying to remove preferences for diversity and a demand for using Ohio companies. Are Ohio Republicans trying to kill jobs for Ohioans and Ohio businesses?????
Dispatch:
State legislators might miss a constitutionally required deadline to pass rules for Ohio's future casinos because of a dispute over diversity requirements for casino employees and contractors, the Legislative Black Caucus warned yesterday.
Last week, the House, which is controlled by Democrats, passed casino rules that require the gambling operators to submit plans every year that outline how they would ensure diversity in their work forces, construction crews and professional contractors. The Republican-led Senate did not include such a requirement.....
.....Senate Republicans have said they don't want to clutter the casino rules with extraneous provisions. In addition to omitting the diversity requirements, Senate Republicans also left out a Democrat-backed provision requiring casino operators to give preference to Ohio-based contractors...
Can you believe that....
...Senate Republicans have said they don't want to clutter the casino rules with extraneous provisions????
These Ohio Republicans in the State Senate don't want to promote diversity or give jobs to Ohio companies??????? Are they nuts? You might want to let the Republicans in the Ohio Senate hear from you by contacting them through the Ohio Republican Senate Caucus website.