DeWine says Cordray is ‘anti-jobs’

By MARC KOVAC

mkovac@dixcom.com

COLUMBUS

The Republican nominee for attorney general called Democratic incumbent Richard Cordray “anti-jobs” and “anti-new ideas” for his criticism earlier this week of a proposal to privatize the Ohio Department of Development.

Former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, speaking to reporters on a conference call Friday morning, said it was premature for Cordray to takes sides on the issue, given that the legislative details of Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich’s plan haven’t been hashed out.

“Kasich’s proposal is just that, a proposal,” DeWine said, adding, “The general assembly would have to pass a law that enabled Kasich’s plan to operate. Cordray is claiming, I guess, that this new idea won’t work even before he knows how it will operate.”

Last week Kasich, who hopes to unseat Gov. Ted Strickland in November, announced he would like to establish a nonprofit board made up of business executives to coordinate the state’s economic development activities.

Earlier this week, Cordray said the setup would undermine oversight of the state’s economic- development efforts, as a private nonprofit would not be bound by the state’s public-records and meetings laws.

“At a time when we need to be focusing all of our efforts on job creation, the Kasich proposal is advocating for job-creation efforts in Ohio to take place behind closed doors with diminished transparency and accountability,” he said.

But DeWine said the law establishing Kasich’s proposed JobsOhio nonprofit could be written to ensure public scrutiny.

“The Legislature, working with the attorney general, could certainly craft legislation that made it very transparent and that made our ability for the public and the news media to gain access to what was going on,” he said.