Kasich needs to go big

If Ohio Gov. John Kasich wants to be more than an “also” in the Republican presidential sweepstakes, he will have to separate himself from the crowded field.

Kasich will formally toss his hat in the ring for the GOP nomination Tuesday, but he faces an uphill battle in grabbing the spotlight away from the likes of real-estate tycoon Donald Trump; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, son and brother of former presidents; and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has ingratiated himself with many Republican conservatives by cutting the public employee unions off at the knees.

Kasich has been testing his message of fiscal responsibility and good governance in New Hampshire, but what he has been saying isn’t vastly different from the slew of current and former governors who are bidding for the GOP nomination, including Chris Christie of New Jersey and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

The message: “I inherited a fiscal mess when I took office, but I’ve turned things around and now the state budget has a surplus.”

With a field of 16 candidates and counting, the challenge is to set oneself apart from the others, the way Trump has been doing with his headline-grabbing shenanigans. Everything the loud-mouth television personality and billionaire businessman says and does is designed to get his name in the newspapers and his face on television.

It’s a strategy that’s working, as evidenced by Trump’s leading or being in second in most opinion polls on the Republican primary.

TIPS FOR KASICH

So, what should Kasich do to stand out? He should build on his re-election landslide victory last year, especially his win in heavily Democratic Mahoning and Trumbull counties. To be sure, the turnout in the 2014 statewide election was lower than average.

Nonetheless, for the Republican governor to do so well in this Democratic stronghold is no minor political feat. It is worth remembering that in 2011, Kasich was beaten back by the public employees unions and their Democratic allies when he and the GOP-controlled General Assembly tried to dismantle the collective bargaining system.

So, what can he do to show that his support among non-Republican voters isn’t a fluke and that as the GOP nominee, he would be in the best position to carry his home state, which is viewed by many to be the one that decides the 2016 presidential election?

Kasich should go big in Youngstown, the center of the Democratic Party’s universe.

First, the governor should announce that he will not let Mill Creek Park, one of the oldest urban parks in the country, go to pot (yes, it’s a play on words.) The sewage that has polluted the lakes in the park came from the city’s sewer/storm water system overwhelmed by recent heavy rains.

Youngstown government has an agreement with the federal and state environmental protection agencies to take steps to prevent the wastewater from flowing into the lakes in the park. However, it will cost $48 million and the work won’t be completed by 2033.

A large plan to separate the sewer and storm sewer systems carries a price tag of more than $140 million.

With the population of the city of Youngstown dropping each year, and with most residents on fixed incomes, government has few options for financing the sewer project.

There could be low- interest money available and some small federal and state grants, but the question that does not have a clear answer is how will the loan be repaid?

Gov. Kasich holds the key. He should come to Youngstown soon after he formally enters the GOP presidential contest and announce that he is taking $140 million out of the $2 billion rainy day fund (budget surplus) and granting it to the city to deal with the problem of sewage creating an environmental crisis in Mill Creek Park.

By doing so, he not only would ingratiate himself with the residents of the Mahoning Valley, most of whom are Democrats, and would be a hero to the environmentalists who are suspicious of Republicans.

This type of big, bold move would guarantee him the national spotlight — and would separate Kasich from the rest of the Republican field.

But Ohio’s governor should not stop there. While in Youngstown he should discuss his decision to re-engineer the academically troubled Youngstown City School District.

Details of the Youngstown Plan, passed by the GOP- controlled General Assembly and signed into law Thursday by Kasich, are contained in the editorial on this page.

But while the changes have sent shock waves through the community, the governor can silence his critics by making the following announcement:

Recognizing that children from homes without responsible parental guidance or from homes where there is only one parent or guardian, the time has come to save the children.

The governor should announce that the state of Ohio will create a boarding school in Youngstown that will house at-risk children starting at an early age.

For the unfamiliar, a boarding school is not an orphanage, nor is it a school for scoundrels.

Instead, it could be described as a home away from home, governed by strict rules of behavior. Constant adult supervision would give the children from Youngstown’s inner city something they are not now receiving: A sense of being nurtured and of being safe.

In such a caring environment, the children will excel in school.

The state can contract with a private entity to run the school, but state government would be responsible for putting together the finances from the federal government and private foundations, such as the Gates Foundation.

This is about taking a fairly small number of children in Youngstown who are now in harm’s way at home and, therefore, failing to learn in school and giving them the same opportunities children in the suburbs receive. Accident of birth should not determine a child’s future.

Gov. Kasich has insisted that his preoccupation about the failing Youngstown school system is triggered by his deep concern about the children.

As a presidential candidate, his announcement of the creation of a boarding school in Youngstown under the auspices of the state of Ohio would separate him from the GOP pack — again.