An inauspicious beginning

An inauspicious beginning

It should trouble Ohioans that one of the first things Gov.-elect John Kasich did after being elected was to try to work around Ohio public records law in putting together his new administration.

Breaking with the healthy precedent set by Gov. Ted Strickland four years ago when Strickland conducted a completely open online job application process, Kasich has outsourced the work to a nongovernment web site. Those seeking one of the nearly 5,000 jobs Kasich will get to fill can file their applications through FixOhioNow.com, a website Kasich created during the gubernatorial campaign.

Kasich spokesman Scott Milburn said the governor-elect is trying to attract the best possible applicants, presumably by relieving them from the get-go of any discomfort they might feel in applying for a public job.

It’s a different game

Running government more like a business is an attractive catch phrase, but it ignores the fact that government is unlike a business in many ways. If Kasich owned the business called Ohio, he could do as he pleased in soliciting job applications and conducting interviews. But he doesn’t own it. It is owned by the people of Ohio — even the people who didn’t support or vote for him. He is but its caretaker.

There are state laws that define public records and how they are to be maintained. Even if farming out the job of assembling public records technically made such records private, doing so would send the wrong message by a candidate who preached the merits of government transparency while soliciting votes just a month ago.

Kasich may say he is simply attempting to fill the jobs with the best possible employees, but he is doing so by circumventing state law. That is too high a price to pay.