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Kasich state plane use off to fast pace

Governor defends his air travel costs, citing scheduling needs.

Laura Bischoff/File Photo The Ohio Department of Transportation uses this 10-seat King Air to transport the governor and other state officials.

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau Updated 6:38 PM Saturday, April 16, 2011

COLUMBUS — Gov. John Kasich’s entourage for a 144-mile trip from Columbus to Cleveland last month was so large his office used two state-owned planes to transport the group, costing taxpayers $2,199.50.

In his first 81 days in office, the Republican Kasich used the Hawker-Beechcraft King Air planes for 16 in-state trips and four out-of-state treks at a total cost of $31,400. By comparison, former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland spent $31,849 on plane travel during his first 13 months in office.

“There is no doubt about it: I can’t get to all these places if I’m not able to fly,” Kasich said on Friday. “And look, it is a tough budget, but it’s also critical that we don’t lose companies and that we can communicate across the state.” He added, “I understand that the plane is always going to be a sensitive subject but I only use it when we have to use it, when I think the schedule demands it and we’ve got to be in multiple places at the same time.”

The trip to Cleveland and back came the day after Kasich unveiled his budget proposal that calls for cutting aid to schools and local government, selling five state prisons, privatizing Ohio’s liquor sales and requiring public workers to pay more toward their pensions. Kasich said scheduling conflicts led to the need for the second plane to Cleveland.

A Dayton Daily News examination of the governor’s travel found he used the planes to fly to Portsmouth, where he comforted parents who lost their children to prescription drug overdoses; to Canton and Cincinnati, where he held press conferences to announce staff appointments; to Toledo, Youngstown and Akron, where he spoke to chambers of commerce or Rotary Clubs; and to Washington, D.C., where he dined at the White House with other governors.

Sometimes the plane travel generated other expenses. For example, Kasich’s executive protection crew often drives a state vehicle to the destination airport to meet the governor. After Kasich made an off-the-cuff remark to his personal aide about the lack of umbrellas in the pouring rain on the tarmac, Ohio Department of Transportation staff spent $424.80 at Dick’s Sporting Goods for 20 umbrellas to be stashed on the passenger planes — a purchase they are now reconsidering.

“I’ve told them to take all of them back,” Kasich said.

So far, the governor made only one overnight trip at state expense. He spent $377.52 for hotel and meals on the Feb. 27 trip to the nation’s capital, while the two pilots each spent $197.90, Kasich’s personal aide spent $548.86, and a Highway Patrol lieutenant spent $568.65 on lodging, meals and a rental car. The governor’s policy director and press secretary did not bill the state.

“I think we ought to sell the damn planes,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said. “The governor loves privatization. He ought to drive down to Port Columbus Airport and fly coach like the rest of us.”

Kasich press secretary Rob Nichols said the plane helps the governor do his job better by cutting down on travel time.

“The lesson of the loss of NCR and its 1,600 jobs is that keeping — and growing — jobs and companies in Ohio requires a governor with the initiative to get out of the Statehouse, go meet face-to-face with leaders across the state to see what they need to be successful and then work to help them hire more Ohioans. If the trade-off for that degree of personal engagement and the jobs it seeks to create for our communities is some sniping that the governor gets around the state too much, we’re comfortable with it.”

Judging by his first three months in office, Kasich is a more frequent flyer than his two most recent predecessors, the Democrat Strickland and the Republican Bob Taft.

In Strickland’s first 13 months in office, he made 23 trips at a cost of $31,849 and in his last year in office he made 17 trips at a cost of $27,188. (Data for interim years were not available.) Taft made 132 trips in the state planes in his last two years in office at a cost of $147,279.

On a daily rate, Ohio is spending $387.65 for Kasich’s state-plane use compared with $201.75 for Taft and $77.58 for Strickland.

Use of state aircraft often comes under scrutiny.

On the campaign trail last year, a Columbus weekly newspaper quoted Nichols criticizing Strickland for routinely having the planes pick him up at Port Columbus Airport, which was closer to the governor’s residence than Ohio State University’s Don Scott Field on the north side of Columbus, where the aircraft are kept.

The Other Paper quoted Nichols saying: “More than 426,000 Ohioans have lost their jobs on Ted Strickland’s watch and won’t wake up tomorrow to go to work. But because he likes hitting the snooze button, he makes a small army of people fire up his plane, get it ready and then fly it from one airport to another so he won’t have to drive an extra 15 minutes to the airport ... . Putting aside the wasted money and extra wear and tear, could the guy do something more arrogant? ... Frankly, there needs to be a closer review of whether the plane’s cost can even still be justified at all.”

A review during the Strickland administration led ODOT to sell off six of 11 aircraft. Nichols says now that he is not sure whether a further review is needed.

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