Free Republic

More annoyance from the left– this time coming out of Columbus, OH in protest of Gov. John Kasich’s budget. Seriously, what are these people trying to accomplish? Via the Columbus Dispatch: Echoing its “flash mob” protest last week at a Bob Evans restaurant, ProgressOhio struck again today at Huntington Bank’s 41 S. High St. headquarters. The Columbus-based liberal advocacy group organized the protest, in which about 50 people gathered outside the bank to sing a politically-charged parody of Hang On Sloopy.

An impassioned Labor Secretary Hilda Solis rallied Democratic party members Saturday to tell voters "elections do matter" as she gave a detailed – and political – response to the Wisconsin union fight. Solis delivered her remarks before the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, in the same hotel where conservative activists held their annual convention two weeks ago. But the message was decidedly different, as Solis accused Republicans of turning back the clock on workers' rights. The Labor Secretary told the crowd cuts in benefits isn't the issue in the dispute playing out in Wisconsin and other states. "We know, we...

Labor: If unions were formed to protect workers from employer abuse, right-to-work laws were created to protect taxpayers and workers from union abuse. States with such laws enjoy higher growth and purchasing power. With Wisconsin still under siege by the "angry mobs" of bused-in union workers, the Ohio of GOP Gov. John Kasich is the next target of those opposed to restricting the collective bargaining rights of public-sector unions that have bankrupted state after state. Ohio's SB5 also aims to address a similar Buckeye budget deficit in the billions and the anchor of state-funded union pension obligations. Bills in the...

More than 1,000 workers were at the Ohio Statehouse on Thursday to protest Senate Bill 5. If approved, the bill would overhaul collective bargaining, 10TV's Danielle Elias reported. Supporters of the bill spoke on Tuesday. Thursday's testimony before the senate committee was from those opposing the bill. Firefighters, police officers, corrections workers and educators from around Ohio showed up to protest a bill they call a "union buster." If the bill passes, collective bargaining by unions, which became law in 1983, could come to an end. "We work hard to help the community," said Mark Harrington, who opposes the bill....

Gov. Rick Scott of Florida on Wednesday rejected plans for a high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando, in the process turning down $2 billion in federal funds and a key piece of President Obama’s goal of building a national high-speed rail network. Florida is the third state with a newly elected Republican governor to turn down a portion of the administration’s high-speed rail project, joining John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

Ohio may yet get on track with President Obama's newly announced $53 billion initiative to build a nationwide high speed rail network. A bipartisan group of northern Ohio Congress members met Thursday with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss building a high speed rail line along Lake Erie that would link Cleveland with Chicago, Detroit, Toledo and Buffalo, and also include routes to Youngstown and Pittsburgh. Building a line along the lake is a top tier part of Obama's rail program. Bainbridge Township GOP Rep. Steve LaTourette said he plans to work with Republicans and Democrats from Ohio, New York,...

Did anyone catch the last 10 minutes of Your World today? Normally Neil Cavuto is the host, but there was sub-host and a guy dressed as Santa Claus was the final guest. He was pretty well disguised but, judging by his voice, I'd say it was John Kasich. I suppose if Kasich is filling in for O'Reilly at 8 tonight, as he usually does around the holidays, we'll know for sure it was him. Otherwise, I doubt there's any real reason for Kasich to be in NYC right now.

In last months of his successful campaign, Gov.-elect John Kasich — in a statement that almost all politicians would deem risky due to fear of inflaming the Big Green lobby — told the Dayton Daily News that he would seriously consider a repeal of Ohio’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard. These mandates for utilities to generate minimum percentages of their power generation from expensive renewable sources drive up electricity rates for everyone. Paul Chesser has a piece in the Cincinnati Enquirer that encourages Kasich, now that he’s won, to push for the AEPS repeal and its associated job destruction and Big...

Kasich beats incumbent rat Strickland. Republicans are sweeping statewide offices.

A month ago, Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial hopeful, John Kasich, seemed to have nothing to worry about. His opponent, incumbent governor Ted Strickland, was running an unfocused, attack-of-the-week-style campaign. Kasich’s lead in the polls stretched into the high teens, and his relentlessly cheery, ruthlessly policy-oriented campaign looked almost as disciplined and well-run as the Rob Portman campaign for Ohio’s open Senate seat. Flash forward to now. Kasich’s lead has shrunk. At best, he leads Governor Strickland by eight or nine points. Kasich is not exactly in dire straits — only two recent polls show Strickland earning 45 percent of the vote...

The party that controls the Ohio governor's mansion can have an impact on presidential elections, so the race is seeing a jolt of high-profile endorsements as the candidates try to place blame over the state's job losses. The Ohio governor's race is shaping up as a bellwether for the 2012 presidential election and a high-stakes referendum on which party can be trusted on the economy in a state that has lost 400,000 jobs in the last three years. Just note the top-gun politicians stumping for embattled Gov. Ted Strickland (D) or the international press corps trailing both his campaign and...

Eileen Lazear says she can't afford much, but she wants to do what she can to help elect Ohio's next governor. That's why Lazear, a retired Upper Arlington resident, has given Republican nominee John Kasich a $25 contribution each month for the past year and plans to continue doing so until the Nov. 2 election. "It's all I can afford, but I want to do it because I believe we need a better government," Lazear said. Kasich's campaign points to contributions from voters such as Lazear as evidence that there is a difference in gras-roots support in his race with...

It is hard to find anyone who doesn't like John Kasich.  The ebullient former congressman from the Columbus Ohio area spent nearly twenty years making a mark in the House of Representatives as an expert of the budget, ran a principled campaign for the GOP nomination for president in 2000 to underscore his concerns on federal spending (prophets are never heeded in time) and then had a great run as a Fox News Channel host and commentator.   Last year Kasich decided to try and help his beloved Buckeye State and launched a run for governor against Ted Strickland, the affable but hapless...

Sarah Palin’s political action committee has been selective and strategic in its donations to candidates over the past six months, but if money is any indication of where her heart lies, her political loyalties can be traced to Ohio. While SarahPAC has devoted just 5 percent of its total expenditures over that period to fellow GOP colleagues, four of the 17 candidates Palin contributed to hail from Ohio — the state where she held by far the most presidential campaign events in 2008, according to The Washington Post’s candidate tracker. The former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee gave...

John Kasich is a good man. I appeared on his show Heartland several times when it aired on Fox News. He also interviewed me once when he was filling in for Bill on the O’Reilly Factor. But now that he is running for governor of Ohio he may have a far more serious job in the near future. If elected, he will have to root out terrorist activity that is taking hold in the Buckeye State – activity that is being funded by Ohio taxpayers. If Kasich is elected, his efforts to fight terror will get little assistance from the...

John Kasich announced his run for Ohio Governor Monday, looking to unseat Taxin’ “Ted” Strickland. John Kasich is a great man and can clearly turn around Ohio and bring us back to prosperity. He supports phasing out the income tax, lowering deficits, cutting pet project spending, eliminating the estate and death taxes, promoting personal responsibility, and creating an atmosphere that is welcoming to entrepreneurship and business. Under Ted Strickland, Ohio has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, with the jobless rate reaching 10.2%. Buckeye Institute found that Strickland’s use of the stimulus money could cost Ohio an additional 91,000 jobs....

Former Ohio Republican Rep. John Kasich on Monday formally announced his 2010 campaign for the governorship, setting up a possible contest with Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland. Kasich disclosed his candidacy in his hometown of Westerville, a Columbus suburb that he represented in the House (1983-2001). His announcement was expected; Kasich last month formed a campaign committee to begin raising money for the governor's race.

Pittsburgh native and former Ohio congressman John Kasich will be announcing his bid to take on Democratic Governor Ted Strickland for the Buckeye state's executive office in 2010. Look for the announcement to appear around the same time on his Web site Kasich hails from the McKees Rocks suburb of Pittsburgh that also gave Pennsylvania the late Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll and cable news junkies frequent appearances of Oxi-Clean spokesperson, Billy Mays (Hi, Billy Mays here!). A former nine-term congressman, presidential candidate and host of his own Fox News Show appropriately called "Heartland with John Kasich," Kasich, 57, filed...

It's getting to be that time again: The 2010 elections are right around the corner, and they're going to get pretty interesting in some of the most heavily contested states and congressional districts next year. In Ohio, Republican John Kasich, a former longtime congressman and also commentator for FOX News Channel, plans to file papers today for a bid for governor, according to a well-placed source. Republicans wanted Kasich to run in 2006, he demurred, but has been planting the seeds for 2010 since them - in March 2008, he suggested that Ohio's income tax should be "phased out.'' He...