John Kasich had a few things to say in Stark County, Ohio. Although he gave no specifics on how he would get jobs to the area (probably because he doesn't have a plan- only rhetoric), he did show that he is targeting public schools, especially Youngstown.
Cantonrep:
....He said until he saw how much estimated revenue the state would have, he could not commit to how much state funding Ohio should give to local schools. But Kasich said the state should stop imposing requirements on school districts without giving them money to implement them. And he added that he would seek consolidation of school services and to have school districts such as Youngstown’s end what he called ineffective spending of money outside the classroom on administration and overhead.
“Youngstown doesn’t need more money now,” he said. “It needs to shift the money where it’s going to effectively help the teachers and the students.”
Kasich is completely ignorant about education. It has been proven that he used out of date information on schools. Is he basing his plan for schools based on those statistics from 2004 and 2005? Other than denying money to districts, how would Kasich raise scores?
> > YahooNews has these comments from Gov. Strickland from a recent debate with Kasich:
....Strickland said he froze — not raised — income taxes at current rates and said the move allowed $800 million to be spent on education....
....Strickland, 69, said Kasich's proposal to eliminate the state income tax over an unspecified period would devastate the state, hurting public schools and making higher education less affordable....
......"I don't know what you would have had the president and our Democratic friends do, but the fact is that 8.5 million jobs were lost, Congressman, during the Bush administration," he said. "We have taken firm action to stabilize this economy, the free fall has been stopped, and all you and your friends want to do is just criticize and say no, no, no."
The truth is, Gov. Strickland made cuts, but saved public education. Kasich wants to do something else, like maybe cut education and give bonus money to those CEO's on his Development Department's special hand-picked group. Kasich doesn't seem to have any real firm plans on how to fix things in Ohio. He just knows how to criticize and attack schools, students, and teachers.
Are these Kasich's plans for Ohio?
- no plans for education: take money from public schools give money to charter schools; gut and cut programs at state colleges.
- no plans on how to help unemployed, but retrain the employed.
- punish people and programs in large cities and Democratically controlled regions.
- reward his rich friends and bring in lobbyists to fill jobs.
- privatize libraries; sell off state parks; sell off public highways.
- hire his own lobbyist pals and members of his "posse."
- make David Brennan of White Hat Management the head of the Dept. of Education.
- cut the state income tax, thereby raising county and city taxes.
* Did you know that the KOCHPAC has contributed quite a bit of money to Republican candidate and anti-environmentalist, Steve Stivers, a former bank lobbyist?
According to the FEC, Steve Stivers has received $7,000 from the KOCHPAC in 2010.
The Koch brothers have been exposed as anti-environmentalists. (See the New Yorker for the ugly details.)
Greenpeace has the dirty details on how Koch and their KOCH PAC are funding anti-environmental activities, groups, and candidates.
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>>>> Has your Republican candidate received foreign contributions from the Chamber of Commerce?
Think Progress has been documenting the sell off our country to foreign companies by the Chamber of Commerce by collecting over $800,000 from more than 80 foreign companies:
Last week, ThinkProgress published an exclusive story about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s foreign fundraising operation. We noted the Chamber raises money from foreign-owned businesses for its 501(c)(6) entity, the same account that finances its unprecedented $75 million dollar partisan attack ad campaign. While the Chamber is notoriously secretive, the thrust of our story involved the disclosure of fundraising documents U.S. Chamber staffers had been distributing to solicit foreign (even state-owned) companies to donate directly to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6)....
....Here’s how the Chamber’s unusual foreign fundraising operation works. According to this internal Chamber staff chart obtained by ThinkProgress, the Chamber has an international division devoted to promoting free trade and related policy issues. U.S. Chamber staffers, based here in Washington, D.C. with offices in the Chamber’s building at 1615 H Street, create bilateral “Business Councils” fundraising programs to solicit money from foreign corporations in Korea, Egypt, Brazil, Bahrain, India, and other places. For instance, the Chamber’s US-Egypt Business Council directs potential members to wire their checks to the US Chamber of Commerce. The application also notes that checks should be marked “ATTN: Leila Vossoughi.” Vossaoughi is a regular staffer at the Chamber. Promotions to join the Chamber have included promises that foreign firms obtain “access to the US Chamber of Commerce and everything that it does” and pledges to help the foreign firms promote free trade policies in America. All of the staffers who manage the Business Councils work directly for the Chamber. These Business Councils are nothing like the Chamber’s AmChams, which are foreign affiliates of the Chamber composed of American and foreign businesses abroad. Business Councils are based in the Chamber and even hosted on the U.S. Chamber’s website domain. Bylaws from the US-Bahrain Business Council confirm that the money the U.S. Chamber raises from these applications — which welcome foreign-owned businesses — goes into the Chamber’s 501(c)(6)....
What has the Chamber promised their foreign contributors? Access! As the excerpt above states -
...Promotions to join the Chamber have included promises that foreign firms obtain “access to the US Chamber of Commerce and everything that it does” and pledges to help the foreign firms promote free trade policies in America....
Is the Chamber making promises to foreign companies and foreign governments to get money for Republicans and open up more opportunities for free trade and outsourcing? Once again the Chamber of Commerce and the GOP have turned their backs to the American workers.
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* Surprise. The Ohio Consumer's Counsel has determined that consumers are owed money.
You might want to know that AEP is making huge profits in Ohio.
Dispatch:
A new analysis from a consumer advocate says American Electric Power has made excessive profit and owes central Ohio customers a refund of up to $156 million.....
...."It's quite clear that customers have paid higher rates than is justified," said Ohio Consumers' Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander in a statement.
AEP, the Columbus-based utility, posted a 21 percent profit in its Columbus Southern Power subsidiary last year, according to company reports....