Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sky King???

* Gov. John Kasich may have left his Wall Street job to become governor, but he still enjoys some high-flying perks of the rich life.  With state funded planes at his disposal, Kasich has used the planes as though they were taxis.

Dispatch:

...However, as governor, Kasich flew on state aircraft 46 times from Jan. 10 through August of this year at a cost to taxpayers of $60,320.50, according to the latest-available records provided to The Dispatch. In all of last year, Strickland used the state’s planes 17 times at a cost of $27.188.22....

...The state planes are also available to Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who has flown on four separate occasions this year. While the total cost of those flights was not immediately available, records and Kasich’s office confirmed that Taylor was either picked up or dropped off at the Akron-Canton Airport for three of the trips. That airport is about 6 miles from her home in Uniontown....

Let me remind you that the above mentioned report on Kasich's flying only pertains to those flight up to August.  He has continued to fly in the months since.

Kasich is flying on our tax money.  It is a luxury to fly into an Ohio city for a meeting, but it is not a necessity. Taylor should not be using state planes at all.  With Kasich's budget  cutbacks for schools, care for the elderly, programs for the homeless and poor, there is no need for the Governor of Ohio to be using an expensive means of travel when others are going without food, shelter, and jobs.  The only people that seem to be making out are the corporations that are getting Kasich's corporate welfare and the staff members who work with Kasich and do political work on state time.  Where are the jobs?