Kasich feels ‘pretty good’ about 1st year

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Gov. John Kasich on Monday touted the state’s improved employment picture since he took office a year ago and said he will push for tough regulations on oil and natural-gas drilling in his second year.

The first-term Republican also reflected on the voters’ rejection of a contentious collective bargaining law he backed and urged support for prior to last month’s election. Voters rejected the new law 62 percent to 38 percent in November.

“The people spoke,” Kasich said. “And when people speak in great numbers, in great unanimity, you listen to them.”

Kasich addressed members of the media in a roughly two-hour, wide-ranging review of his first year in office.

“There’s things I wish would’ve been done a little bit differently, obviously,” said Kasich, whose second year in office begins next month. But “I feel pretty good about things.”

The collective bargaining measure cleared the Republican-controlled Legislature in the spring. It sparked protests outside the Statehouse and led to a bitter ballot campaign that cost supporters and opponents almost $41 million in combined spending. The law would have restricted the bargaining abilities of more than 350,000 teachers, police, firefighters and other unionized public employees around the state.

Kasich and other backers had promoted the overhaul as a means for city officials, school superintendents and others to better control their costs and keep workers on the job during a time of tight budgets.

On Monday, the governor said he looked forward to hearing from communities about how they plan to move forward now that the law has been defeated. He said raising taxes at the local level was not the answer.

“Cities are going to have to come to me and say what they want,” he said.

Kasich spoke mainly about what he saw as accomplishments from his first year, which he said included a revised state sentencing law and a crackdown on illegal prescriptions that closed 12 pain clinics. He noted that the state is running ahead in revenues and attributed economic boosts to balancing a budget without raising taxes in the face of an $8 billion shortfall.

Lawmakers approved Ohio’s two-year budget in June. The nearly $56 billion spending plan privatizes up to five state prisons, overhauls Medicaid, eliminates Ohio’s estate tax in 2013, bans most abortions in public hospitals and ties teachers’ pay more closely to student achievement. The budget measure also kept in place an $800 million cut in the personal income tax that went into effect in January.

“I don’t think anybody’s seen anything like it,” Kasich said of changes this year. “And I’m not sure that we’re ever going to see anything like it in the future because it is really amazing.”