Kasich in D.C.: Says public officials have to 'solve problems'

Jack Torry in our Washington Bureau covered a speech today by Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Here's Jack's report:

Speaking today in Washington to the chief executive officers of some of the nation’s largest companies, Gov. John Kasich said that public officials cannot “live by fear or some ideological basis,” but said they “have to solve problems.”

In an appearance before the Business Roundtable, an organization made up of some of the leading chief executive officers of major companies across the country, Kasich talked about expanding Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of people in Ohio while erasing an $8 billion deficit he inherited when he took office in 2011.

President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Janet Yellen also spoke before the group. But while Obama’s speech was televised, Kasich’s speech was not with Amanda DeBard, a spokeswoman for the organization, saying its policy "is that all meetings are off the record.”

“It was a great opportunity to talk about our state with really some of the greatest business leaders,” Kasich said after the speech. Among those attending were Jamie Dimon, president and chief executive officer of JP Morgan Chase; Nick Akins, chairman and CEO of American Electric Power, and George Barrett, chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health.