Specifics on budget needed

COLUMBUS

Will one of the candidates for Ohio’s top office please — please! — elevate their campaign rhetoric above the nonsense they’ve been spewing to date?

Pretty please?

Because all of this “400,000 jobs” stuff from Republican John Kasich’s supporters and “Lehman Bros.” stuff from Democrat incumbent Ted Strickland’s campaign really isn’t telling any voter anything substantive about their plans, if elected or re-elected.

Strickland promised a “major campaign address” earlier this month, then spent a half hour or so ridiculing his opponent’s congressional record and desire to cut taxes.

Kasich MIA

Kasich, meanwhile, has been MIA, seemingly spending more time in Fox television studios and touting his new book than telling Ohioans exactly what he plans to do if elected Ohio’s chief executive.

The ads so far, from both sides, have been equally lame.

So, please, let’s move on and get into some actual details, like what they plan to do to fill a projected $4 billion-$8 billion hole in the next biennial budget.

On that front, Kasich has signed a pledge not to raise taxes. Strickland has said he does not want to raise taxes, that such a move would be a bad idea given the current economic climate, but that he isn’t ruling anything out going into the next budget cycle.

Neither have offered anything more concrete. Strickland’s budget director wouldn’t even venture a range on the budget gap during recent testimony before the Ohio Budget Planning and Management Commission.

And here’s Strickland’s response to Statehouse reporters on his plans: “What I have said is I will look at the budget in the most comprehensive way, I will determine priorities, I will look at the resources that we have available to us, resources that I’m able to find elsewhere, any federal assistance that may be forthcoming, I will do all of that.”

Asked for a timetable for the release of specifics, the governor responded, “I will put forth a budget when I’m required to put forth a budget” — i.e. long after Nov. 2.

On the plus side, both campaigns are working on a schedule of debates, so Ohioans should have a few opportunities to see Strickland and Kasich face off on the issues.

If we’re lucky, they’ll use the occasions to outline some of their specific plans if elected/re-elected governor.

In the meantime, enough with the shallow campaign rhetoric.

I’m begging here.

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.