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Ohio governor says presidential campaign is ‘beyond fiction’
Kasich visits Liberty for fitness center opening
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Gov. John Kasich stopped by Liberty’s E.J. Blott Elementary and W.S. Guy Middle schools for the ribbon cutting of a new “DON'T QUIT” fitness center via the National Governors’ Fitness Council.
liberty
Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, said he doesn’t want to talk about Donald Trump, his party’s presidential nominee, anymore, but he couldn’t help himself while finishing up questions from reporters during a Liberty schools event.
When a television reporter asked if Kasich, who sought the GOP presidential nomination himself this year, had envisioned the presidential campaign turning out as it did after the Republican National Convention, the governor said Monday, “What, are you kidding me? If they made a movie, people wouldn’t accept it in Hollywood because it’s beyond fiction.”
Reporters were told by Kasich’s staff before the news conference that bringing up Trump would end the questioning of the governor. Reporters waited until his staff called for a last question before asking three about the Republican presidential nominee.
When asked about a Sunday article in The New York Times that Trump legally could have avoided paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, Kasich initially said he hadn’t read it.
Pressed further, Kasich said, “I don’t have anything to say about Trump. I’ve said everything there is to say.”
In response to another reporter’s questions about voting, Kasich said, “Of course I’m going to vote in the election. As to what is going to happen [with voting for president], I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet.”
Kasich’s staff had given a no-Trump notice to The Vindicator when the governor was last in the Mahoning Valley on June 9 in Columbiana. Kasich answered the question, but his staff ended the news conference at that point, close to 15 minutes after he started fielding questions.
Kasich was in Liberty to help cut the ribbon on the “Don’t Quit!” Fitness Center for students at the school district’s E.J. Blott Elementary and W.S. Guy Middle schools. The district was among only three in the state to receive $100,000 each in funding for the centers from a private/public partnership through the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils. Donors include the Coca-Cola Co., Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and TuffStuff Fitness International.
In addition to physical fitness through exercise, Kasich urged students to stay off drugs.
Ohio is “probably the leader in the country in terms of the forward-looking things we’ve done on” the drug epidemic, Kasich said.
That includes mentoring programs, rehabilitation of drug addicts in prison, expanded Medicaid “so people can get the treatment that they want, and now we have protocol guidelines and accountability from the pharmacy board,” he said. “I think we’re managing it the right way.”
Kasich added: “Look, we lost almost a generation of people who looked at pain medication in sort of a casual way, including those who prescribe.” Also, he said, street drugs “have become even more deadly than they have been, so it’s a battle we’ll continue to fight. I think we’re making progress, but it’s a long, long battle to win the war.”
State Democratic legislators have urged Kasich to declare a state of emergency on the heroin crisis to free up $400 million from the state’s budget surplus to fight the epidemic.
When asked about it, Kasich said, “We have a state of emergency. In funding, we spend a lot of money on all of this.” He also said, “The resources we have committed to it are right. The rest is politics. You know it’s one political party trying to attack another.”
Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, told The Vindicator “it’s not playing politics at all.”
“People in areas I represent paint the picture much differently,” Schiavoni said. “We’re underfunding police, there’s not enough education in schools, and we’re not rehabilitating enough people. Whether you declare a state of emergency or don’t, the proper use of resources is needed. We need to talk, but you can’t just say to kids don’t do drugs and it’s bad. That’s not enough.”