Monday, October 25, 2010

Kasich Chickens Out


* John Kasich did not appear on NPR this afternoon.

Starting today, there will be a series of "mini-Political Junkie" segments on NPR's Talk of the Nation on most days between now and the Nov. 2 elections.....

Today, at 2:40 p.m. Eastern:  Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat seeking his second term, and Republican challenger John Kasich, a former congressman.
UPDATE:  With about 15 minutes before we went on the air, Kasich canceled; his campaign said they did not want to field questions, but from the beginning the Talk of the Nation staff made it clear that there would be questions from listeners.  The segment was only Strickland, which you can listen to here:




It figures.  Kasich did not want to take questions from callers. Kasich is afraid of random questions from the public and must feel more comfortable hanging out with the Fox News right wing propaganda machine.

As Gov. Strickland said in today's interview, Kasich got a $400,000 bonus. Strickland said that because of the President's leadership and Democrats, the auto industry was saved.

Strickland said that when he became governor, Ohio only had 4 wind turbines that provided electricity, but now there are 500.


*  Head for the hills!  Newt Gingrich, the multiply married and divorced former Republican leader who bounced 22 checks when he was in the House of Representatives, is coming to Ohio to campaign for John "I work on Wall Street" Kasich.

Those of us who have money in the Ohio pension funds want to know what happened to the nearly $500 million that Kasich lost for us at Lehman Brothers.  Kasich used his contacts in Ohio to get the investments for Lehman.  Why hasn't Kasich properly answered questions about why Lehman was offering toxic assets for investments?  How many other pension funds lost money with Lehman? 
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*  *  * Steve Stivers, Republican candidate and former bank lobbyist, said the stimulus plan did not work, BUT he applied for and got stimulus money for an organization with which he is associated.

Here is the latest from Brad Bauman of the Kilroy campaign-

".......Stivers sits on the board of an organization that received stimulus funds and created jobs right here in central Ohio.

“In 2009, I served on the Board of Directors for IMPACT community action, with Steve Stivers who is both Treasurer of the organization as well as Chair of the Finance Committee,” said State Representative Carlton Weddington. “Steve Stivers, didn’t just KNOW about the grant, he helped approve it, and helped steer it. Stivers can talk all he wants about his opposition to the Stimulus, or how its not working…its not true. He’s lying.”

In 2009, IMPACT Community Action received a grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which directly led to the creation of 42 new full-time jobs with benefits weatherizing houses in central Ohio. Those jobs were made permanent through a public-private partnership. Stivers, as Treasurer and Finance Chair of the organization had a hand in procuring and disbursing this grant money....."
 
I think that Stivers can appropriately be called a liar.