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Ups and downs
Gov. John Kasich’s approval numbers rose dramatically as the economy improved, but in recent months he has had some major disagreements with key members of his party.
Feb. 18, 2011: Kasich signs a bill creating JobsOhio, a private economic development non-profit.
March 31, 2011: Kasich signs into law Senate Bill 5, which reduces the collective bargaining rights of Ohio’s public unions.
June 30, 2011: Kasich signs his first budget bill, which eliminates the estate tax, overhauls Medicaid, sells a prison to a private company and preserves a $800 million tax cut.
July 20, 2011: Kasich’s approval rating is 35 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
Nov. 8, 2011: Voters overwhelmingly reject Senate Bill 5 by a 63-37 margin.
June 2012: Kasich signs bills containing reforms he suggested as part of the first “mid-biennium budget review:” reforms to Medicaid and state agencies, education reforms featuring the third-grade reading guarantee and energy regulations.
Aug. 15, 2012: A Public Policy Polling survey shows Ohioans are evenly split over Kasich, with 41 percent approving and 41 percent disapproving.
January 2013: Ohio’s unemployment rate at 7 percent, down from 9.4 percent when Kasich took office.
February 2013: Kasich unveils his 2013-2014 budget, which includes tax swap proposal, tax hike on natural gas and oil companies, overhaul of public education formulas and expansion of Medicaid.
Feb. 28, 2013: Kasich’s approval rating in Quinnipiac poll hits all-time high of 53 percent.
March 6, 2013: Republican Ohio Auditor Dave Yost issues a court order for JobsOhio’s financial records as he spars with Kasich over the non-profit’s transparency.
April 9, 2013: In their own budget bill, House Republicans strip out most of Kasich’s major proposals, including Medicaid and sales tax expansions.
After appearing in lockstep with the GOP-controlled legislature throughout much of his term, Republican Gov. John Kasich recently has run afoul of some key party allies over the cornerstones of his budget: taxes, health care and schools.
What it means going forward is hotly debated, but this much is certain: the legislature is no longer looking to Kasich as its conservative beacon.
“I think they’ve been sleeping in different bedrooms for a couple of months now,” said former Huber Heights Republican state lawmaker Seth Morgan.
Republicans in the Ohio House last week stripped the centerpieces of Kasich’s proposal from the budget: a wide-ranging overhaul of Ohio’s sales tax in exchange for an income tax cut, which drew fire from business groups; a tax hike on the oil and gas industry, which angered that traditionally Republican industry group; and an expansion of Medicaid eligibility, which is widely unpopular among his party’s conservative wing.
Lawmakers were also underwhelmed by Kasich’s school funding formula, replacing it with their own.
So does this mean Kasich and his party are on the skids?
Not necessarily. Political scientists and other observers say disagreements between legislators and the governor are a normal part of the legislative process. But the emerging differences between Kasich and elements of his party stand in stark contrast to his first two years in office, and Democrats and some conservative critics say they’re a sign of Kasich’s eroding control.
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, an expected Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2014, said Kasich should have vetted his ideas more thoroughly before rolling them out.
“This is the legislative equivalent of the Titanic,” FitzGerald said. “It’s a colossal failure of getting your program through. It’s not that I think the legislature isn’t going to be politically supportive of him…but it certainly shows they don’t defer to him, and I think it was a real failure to not know what it takes to get a legislative program through.”
Kasich’s initiatives have also drawn resistance from fellow Republican officeholders. Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has publicly opposed Medicaid expansion, while Ohio Auditor Dave Yost clashed with Kasich last month over access to financial records for JobsOhio, a private economic development nonprofit that Kasich considers to be a hallmark of his tenure.
Speaking to reporters last week, Kasich didn’t seem too bothered by the rejection of his budget priorities. He said when people look back on his term, they will remember other reforms, such as balancing the budget, cutting taxes and overhauling the Cleveland public schools.
“Sometimes change takes longer on some items and you have to be persistent and you have to be pleasant about it,” Kasich said. “All in all, there are things I would have changed, but this is the legislative process and it is not a stagnant process.”
Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, admitted his colleagues have varying opinions about Medicaid expansion, but said they have a “very healthy working relationship” with the governor. “We have worked on some good solutions and the state is headed in the right direction under Gov. Kasich,” said Wachtmann, who has served in the General Assembly for 29 years.
Wachtmann said not all Republicans are of one mind and, as a result, legislative leaders and statewide officeholders are willing to stand up for what they believe is right.
“We should be worried when one party controls everything and you never hear a peep and everything is all cozy,” Wachtmann said.
In backing an expansion of Medicaid, Kasich seemed to champion an issue that is widely backed by Democrats. More than 2,500 protesters gathered outside the Statehouse Thursday and directed their chants toward the offices of Republican Speaker of the House William Batchelder and Republican Senate President Keith Faber. Backers of the proposal, which is tied to the national health care law, say it would expand services to 275,000 Ohioans.
Kasich argues that his so-called fracking tax, which would raise the severance tax on natural resources taken from Oil soil, is modest compared to other states, including North Dakota, where there is such a boom they have “man camps,” he notes.
But while they oppose the tax increase, industry leaders have also complained about a lack of input with the governor’s office.
The Ohio Oil & Gas Association donated $16,375 to Kasich’s 2010 campaign, according to state campaign finance records, and Executive Vice President Tom Stewart also contributed to Kasich’s campaign.
But Stewart said his organization has a very different relationship with the governor now, adding that there has been little communication between his colleagues and Kasich through the whole process.
“They do not engage in open dialogue with people who are opposed to their policy,” he said of the governor’s office.
Stewart said Kasich also failed to fully vet his sales tax and Medicaid expansion proposals with House Republicans.
“I believe John Kasich when he says he has compassion for people when it comes with their medical care,” Stewart said. “But he hit a wall with that issue with people who have wider concerns. He should have worked that out first.”
John C. Green, a University of Akron political science professor, said the budget setback is part of the normal push and pull between the executive and legislative branches.
“I suspect the governor was disappointed in the results because so many parts of his budget proposals were removed from the budget document. But this is literally the first inning of the game,” he said. “It’s not the end game.”
Green said Kasich’s big-ticket proposals sailed through the last legislature with fairly minor tweaks because Republicans had just regained control of the governor’s office and the Ohio House, creating a unified Republican front.
“When Kasich was elected, replacing (former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland) and facing a fiscal problem, everyone agreed that was a big problem,” Green said. “That was a different circumstance than we have right now.”
Mark Caleb Smith, a political scientist at Cedarville University, agreed that opposition from the General Assembly is not unusual. But Smith said it is surprising that the legislature would throw up such staunch opposition on Kasich’s key initiatives in light of the governor’s looming re-election campaign.
“I think it does show his vulnerability that the state legislature is being publicly critical and publicly dismissive of his positions,” Smith said.
The lack of broad public support weakens Kasich’s ability to stand down the General Assembly, Smith said. “I think the legislature has more leverage, and they’re using it.”
Rob Scott, chairman of the Montgomery County Party GOP, said he and his fellow Republicans will still stand behind Kasich in 2014.
“You’re always going to have inherent issues between the legislative and executive branches where there are difference in philosophy,” Scott said, “and that’s what you’re witnessing — different priorities.”
Staff writer Laura A. Bischoff contributed to this story.
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