Message from Governor Kasich's Office

The Kasich-Taylor Administration: We’re delivering…
Ohio is a much different place today than it was four years ago when Governor John R. Kasich and Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor first took office.  Back then Ohio:
·         Was nearly dead last—48th—in national job creation rankings;
·         Faced the largest budget shortfall in its history--$8 billion dollars;
·         Had spent all but 89 cents of its rainy-day fund; and,
·         Had an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent. 
Ohio is different now, very different…
Gov. Kasich and Lt. Gov. Taylor, together with the General Assembly, are creating the climate for Ohioans to thrive again:
·         248,000 new jobs;
·         $1.5 billion budget surplus and improved outlook with major credit rating agencies;
·         $3 billion in tax cuts;
·         Innovative new reforms to Medicaid; and,
·         Major new approaches to education, workforce training, mental health and efforts that lift up our fellow Ohioans who need a hand.
So how are we doing it?
By applying the same ideas and approach he used in 1998 as architect of the first federal balanced budget in a generation, Gov. Kasich and his team have shown Ohio and the rest of the nation that real, constructive change can happen, lives can be turned around, things can get better, confidence can be restored, and tomorrow can be better than today.  Here are a few of the ideas that are making this progress possible:
·   When faced with a tough decision, make it.  For far too long the tough problems facing Ohio were avoided when they should have been solved.  Gov. Kasich’s first mission was to make the tough choices required to fix Ohio’s $8 billion budget shortfall—without a tax increase.  Not only did this help get Ohio back on stable fiscal ground, but it also signaled to job creators that Ohio is once again a safe place to do business.  He went on to make tough decisions to reform Medicaid, cut taxes, reform education and higher education, all of which should have been done years ago and which is helping improve operations, performance and outcomes in those areas.  Right decisions aren’t always the easy ones, which is why it takes a leader to make them.

·   Swing for the fences every time—and follow through.  As the Kasich team dissected Ohio’s challenges and formulated solutions, every option was on the table, no detail was too small and every idea was considered no matter how big or controversial.

o Taxes too high? Cut them by $3 billion, including eliminating the Death Tax, cutting income taxes across the board, and creating the state’s first Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income Ohioans.

o The state-run economic development agency not delivering? Privatize it, staff it with experts from target industries, and fund it with a $1.6 billion privately funded franchise of the state wholesale liquor enterprise to create a massive job-creation war chest.

o Not enough workers? Strengthen training efforts for in-demand jobs, take on drugs so people can get clean and get hired; scrap outdated post-incarceration employment barriers for non-violent offenders; fix Medicaid so low-income Ohioans can get healthy and work; give Ohio’s large number of returning veterans education and professional licensing credit for relevant military service.

o A $1.6 billion highway budget deficit? Monetize the turnpike to get $3 billion so needed highway projects that were once up to 20 years away from completion can be started right now.

o Children being shuffled through school without the skills to succeed? Implement a Third-Grade Reading Guarantee that gives students the support they need to learn and grow.

o Not enough college graduates? Work with public university and college presidents to create a new funding system that pays schools based on how many students graduate or complete courses, instead of just how many students they enroll.

As Gov. Kasich said in his 2013 State of the State address, “Keep taking on the impossible tasks, keep tossing aside the status quo and keep shaking things up.  If we do, we’ll create the stronger, better Ohio that we all want.” (It’s worth noting that Gov. Kasich broke with tradition and took his State of the State addresses from the Statehouse to smaller communities across Ohio.)

·   Good ideas come from where you find them.  Much of Ohio’s success over the past four years has been achieved through partnerships between the Kasich Administration and a broad coalition of Ohioans—on both sides of the political aisle—who shared a commitment to doing things differently on such hard-to-fix issues as Medicaid, highway construction, welfare, and education. For a Republican, the governor has, perhaps, made allies out of people others might assume would be critics, but the governor hasn’t hesitated to reach out to those with good ideas for lifting up Ohio, regardless of their label, ideological pedigree or political brand.
·   Give taxpayers their money’s worth by running things well.  Though state government employment has shrunk to its lowest level in more than 30 years, Ohioans are receiving the higher levels of service they deserve.  Gov. Kasich is doing this by moving state agencies to embrace Lean Six Sigma operational improvement techniques and pursuing the Common Sense Initiative, led by Lt. Gov. Taylor, to help reduce paperwork and unneeded regulation.  By finding efficiencies and improving operational processes, the Kasich Administration is making government follow through on its promises to provide Ohioans the services they want and need and to do it in an efficient, high-quality way.  Democracy is important enough to be practiced competently.
·   Ohioans, not their government, create a better future.  As Gov. Kasich is fond of reminding us, legendary Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes preached, “You win with people.”  The people of Ohio are what make Ohio great, not its government.  Government’s job is to competently serve Ohioans by supporting their priorities and values.  The Kasich Administration has put this idea in practice by continuing to foster a climate in which Ohioans can unleash their fundamental work ethic, decency, creativity, and innovative spirit, and then getting out of the way so Ohioans can succeed. Gov. Kasich’s time as governor has been one of the best times for job creation of any Ohio governor in the past six gubernatorial terms.
Let’s keep going…
Ohio has come a long way in the past four years, which is helping to give us all confidence that by coming together we can craft the right solutions to taken on the challenges still ahead of us.
Chase Eikenbary Northwest Ohio Regional Liaison Office of Ohio Governor John R. Kasich
One Government Center, Suite 1520
Toledo, Ohio 43604 419-245-2445 Chase.Eikenbary@governor.ohio.gov www.governor.ohio.gov