Kasich Tells NBC 4 He Will Ask Strickland To Stop 3C Rail Spending Now
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Ohio Governor-elect John Kasich will ask Governor Ted Strickland to discontinue spending on the 3C passenger rail project with two months left in his term. Kasich said Friday he is writing a letter to Strickland asking that the Ohio Department of Transportation shut down its studies of the train project that would connect Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland.
In a one-on-one interview with NBC 4 government reporter Patrick Preston, Kasich discussed a range of issues, including his plan to create jobs, his intention to cut income taxes, and his desire to see Ohio’s school districts share services.
RAW INTERVIEW:
Kasich said his plan to privatize the Ohio Department of Development and create the non-profit JobsOhio to handle economic development will not be ready when he takes office in January.
Kasich also said he has begun meeting with business leaders in an effort to keep jobs in Ohio and add more opportunities.
Asked to define a job creation standard for voters to judge him on during his time in office, Kasich said he would not offer a specific number of jobs, but said he would “move the needle,“ later defining that as the addition of jobs.
“We need to become one of the lowest taxed states, we need to be one of the most positive regulatory environments,“ Kasich said. “A goal would be to not have that income tax. That’s a long-term goal, not something that happens tomorrow.“
On potential budget cuts, Kasich declined to go into detail, choosing instead to reiterate his earlier remarks that “all options are on the table.“
Kasich singled out local communities that receive state funding as needing to make changes, describing them as “fat and happy.“
Asked if state workers should worry about their job security given the looming state budget deficit projected to be as high as $8 billion, Kasich responded, “We want to make sure public employees have equity with private employees… make sure there’s equity in benefits, in pay, everybody has to share in this. We will start by not replacing people… It would be great if all this could be accomplished through buy-outs or attrition.“
On the idea of expanding gambling at horse-racing tracks to generate state tax revenue, Kasich said he was not sure how he would handle the issue, but added that the four Ohio casinos that voters approved last year are not paying enough in taxes.
“I do believe Ohio is not getting its fair share from the people with facilities in state. It’s something we will be looking very carefully at and revisiting,“ Kasich said, declining to offer details of his future plans.
Earlier in the week, Kasich told reporters he would push Ohio school districts to share services. Asked to define which services, Kasich responded, “How about administrators, transportation, food service, supplies, books, everything. Start thinking like a business. Start realizing you’re handling other peoples money and start thinking like its your own money.“
Kasich said it was wrong for teacher unions to portray him during the campaign as in favor of school consolidation, though, drawing a distinction between consolidation and sharing services. Kasich said he had not given consolidation sufficient thought to weigh in on the idea, but would explore it if it made sense. He added that teacher unions would have no access to him until they took out advertisements in the state’s major newspapers to apologize for their criticisms during the campaign.
Charter schools can expect to receive Kasich’s support, as he said he would work to continue Ohio’s school voucher program and provide more school choice for public and private charter schools. But Kasich was unwilling to commit to increasing state funding for charter schools.
On 3C passenger rail, Kasich said that Vice President Joe Biden called him on Thursday to ask if he intended to use the $400 million allocated to Ohio for the train project. Kasich said he would use the money to enhance freight rail operations. Told that that was not an option, Kasich said Ohio would not take the money.
Asked about union involvement in school construction projects, Kasich said, “we want to have our facilities built as inexpensively as possible so kids have most at least price. I am not at war with organized labor, but we have to take care of kids, build our universities, as cheaply as we can, K through 12 too.“
Kasich said negative campaigning influenced Ohio’s 49 percent voter turnout rate for the election, down from 56 percent in 2006 and 70 percent in 2008. Kasich also said he has no ambition to seek another office in 2012 and will fulfill his four-year term as governor.
