Meshel to Kasich: Show tax returns

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Harry Meshel, a longtime friend of Gov. Ted Strickland’s, has called on John Kasich, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, to release his income-tax returns.

Strickland, a Democrat, handed out copies of his tax returns from 2006 to 2009 to the media earlier this week and asked Kasich to do the same. Kasich allowed selected reporters to see his 2008 tax filing recently and his state-required financial disclosure form.

“The public deserves to know, if you’re running for governor, where did all of your wealth come from,” Meshel said Friday at a press conference in downtown Youngstown.

Meshel said Kasich is a former employee of the Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers, where he held a significant position.

Strickland appointed Meshel to a nine-year term as a Youngs-town State University trustee in May 2007. Meshel is a former Ohio Senate president and minority leader and a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Rob Nichols, Kasich’s spokesman, called Meshel’s request “laughable.”