The Ohio media descends on the northeast Ohio city of Medina tonight as Governor John Kasich gives his fourth State of the State address. Gov. John Kasich has been asked about what might be in his State of the State speech for weeks. At an Associated Press event in January, Kasich admitted he didnât know what heâd say. But he did say that it was likely that he might preview some things that heâs working on for his budget update know as the mid-biennium review.
Taxes, economic development, education, job training â I mean, thereâs so many things yet to do. Maybe some initiatives that are around poverty.
For the last few months, Kasich has been talking about how Ohio has added 175,000 private sector jobs since he took office and how the state has a billion and a half dollars in its rainy-day savings account compared to the 89 cents in it in 2010. And heâll also likely mention efforts to combat drug addiction and could touch on human trafficking, two causes heâs very concerned about. But Kasich said he couldnât be more specific about the content of the speech, because he wouldnât write it until a few days beforehand. But heâs likely thought about it for months. Jon Allison was chief of staff for two-term Republican governor Bob Taft, and says the State of the State address in the year the governor is running for re-election is a different kind of speech. âYou certainly want to do a victory lap and make the case for your successes during the first part of your term, but you also want to try to set the narrative for your priorities with the legislature and kind of set the general narrative for the re-election campaign. Itâs a big speech," Allison says. And while both the Republican majority and the Democratic minority will have official response press conferences, Kasichâs likely Democratic opponent will also have a few reactions â heâs already shared a few thoughts. Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald spoke with reporters Friday, just before launching his âReal State of the Stateâ? tour across Ohio this weekend. He and his running mate Sharen Neuhardt stopped in Cleveland, Medina, Youngstown, Columbus, Toledo and Lima, among other cities. Tonight, heâll be watching Kasichâs speech from in his hometown of Lakewood, 25 miles from the Medina Performing Arts Center.
We have a different view of how Ohio is doing and what the priorities of the state should be.
One example, FitzGerald says, are the two bills Kasich signed Friday, which shorten the early voting period and allow only the Secretary of State to send out unsolicited absentee ballot applications if the legislature sets aside the money. âTo me itâs another example of misplaced priorities. Thereâs over 400,000 people out of work in Ohio. Weâre 45th in the country in job creation recently. Thatâs what the focus should be on.â? FitzGeraldâs State of the County address was a week ago. Last year, he and Kasich delivered their big annual speeches on the same day. Kasich says of tonightâs speech â quoting here â hopefully it will not a real long talk. Last yearâs speech in Lima was his shortest State of the State, at 62 minutes. His longest was his first road State of the State in 2012 in Steubenville, he talked for nearly 83 minutes.