The Columbus Dispatch will not say it but I will. John Kasich is lying and he is getting caught.
Read the entire article and comments here
KASICH VS. STRICKLAND
'Facts' cited in debate will bear watching
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Tonight's debate between Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland and Republican John Kasich could keep the fact-checkers busy, if last week's first-time meeting of the candidates is any indication.
Although Strickland didn't appear to make any glaring misstatements during a two-hour appearance with Kasich before the Dispatch editorial board Friday, Kasich cited several "facts" that were either wrong or misleading.
They included mistaking Steubenville for Youngstown in criticism of school funding, using budget figures in a questionable way and assigning untrue motives for an Ohio company's move to Indiana.
Kasich, who has signed a pledge not to raise taxes, also told the newspaper that he doesn't think eliminating tax "loopholes" would violate that pledge. The leader of the organization behind the pledge said yesterday that that would be true only if Kasich cuts other taxes to offset the increase in revenue.
During his interview with The Dispatch, Kasich argued that the state's regulatory climate is hurting job growth, citing as an example Continental Structural Plastics' forced move from northwestern Ohio to Indiana.
"Up in North Baltimore, you had the (state Environmental Protection Agency) put the heat on the company," Kasich said. "You know where they are now? They're in Indiana."
Kasich also cited the company in a news release this summer touting a plan for regulatory reform. But the company's CEO, Bruce Landino, told The Dispatch yesterday that operational costs - not the Ohio EPA - were behind the decision.
"It has nothing to do with regulatory issues or the political climate or anything else," Landino said. "It's just not making any money in that location."
The Kasich campaign said its statement was based on newspaper coverage.
During his interview, Kasich also criticized Strickland's handling of state finances by saying state spending "is going to grow by almost 11 percent" in the fiscal year that started July1, citing a Legislative Service Commission analysis.
When state leaders and the media refer to the state budget, they typically talk about the general-revenue fund, currently about $50billion over two years. It contains nearly all state tax revenue, and it is the part of the budget that leaders most worry about keeping balanced.
But Kasich is pointing to the larger "all-funds" budget. It includes the general-revenue fund, plus pass-through money for state and local governments and a variety of mostly federal funds and state fees that are restricted to specific purposes.
Critics question the use of the all-funds number for a variety of reasons: overly generous estimates; some double-counted spending; and money that isn't even state spending, such as $3.1 billion in tax refunds or $4.4 billion in local taxes distributed on behalf of counties and school districts.
The budget "was balanced with $2 billion in spending cuts without raising taxes. Only Congressman Kasich, using Wall Street math, could turn $2 billion in spending cuts into an 11 percent increase," said Amanda Wurst, Strickland's spokeswoman.
However, with the addition of billions in federal stimulus money, Ohio is spending much more than usual outside the general-revenue fund, particularly for Medicaid and K-12 education. Republicans including the Kasich campaign have argued that this means the general-revenue fund does not paint the full budget picture.
But Kasich is not doing a straight comparison to get his 11 percent figure. He is comparing actual spending in 2010 to estimates for 2011, which means that savings in the first half of the two-year budget cycle actually are considered bad because on paper it looks like there will be a large increase in the second year to get to the combined amount budgeted for both years.
Choosing which years to measure also makes a difference. If Kasich had compared the all-funds budget for the 2010 budget year to the one for 2009, he would have found a spending decrease.
Budget experts say actual spending in the all-funds budget almost always ends up lower than estimates - the 2010 figure was reduced by $3.3 billion from the initial budget, creating a spending cut from 2009. The 2011 number will not be adjusted until after July 2011.
The Kasich campaign argued that the use of the all-funds number is an appropriate picture of anticipated total spending.
"Ted Strickland has driven Ohio's finances off a cliff and into an estimated $8billion budget hole next year," Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said.
Kasich also said during his editorial board interview, "We estimate that during the governor's term, about 9,000 people retired (and) there were 4,000 hired back," referring to state workers.
Asked to justify those figures, Nichols said they were based on discussions with people inside state government who said the normal attrition rate of state workers is 4 percent, or about 2,400 workers a year.
The state doesn't track how many workers retire. It does produce a monthly total of state employees that shows the state had 51,763 full-time workers in August. That's down 5,046 workers when compared with the same month in 2006, before Strickland took office, to account for seasonal workers.
Kasich critics also noted that although Kasich has signed a pledge sponsored by Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform "to oppose and veto any and all attempts to increase taxes," he told The Dispatch that he doesn't think eliminating a tax loophole is a tax increase or violates the pledge.
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, told The Dispatch yesterday that any move to close tax loopholes would be a tax increase and a violation of the pledge without offsetting tax cuts of equal value.
"The pledge is no net tax increases," Norquist said. "As long as you have offsetting cuts somewhere else, that's OK. As long as it's not a dirty trick to raise taxes."
Nichols said Kasich understands the pledge and won't violate it because "he is not going to raise the tax burden on Ohioans."
But offsetting the closed loopholes with tax cuts would not generate additional revenue for the state, which is why eliminating loopholes has been mentioned as a way to help close an expected budget shortfall of up to $8 billion next year.
Dispatch Senior Editor Joe Hallett contributed to this story.
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