“Today a company in my state said they wouldn’t locate a business in my state because I’m not for the Export-Import Bank,” he said. “What is that about? You think you’re going to tell me what I can do? You can’t tell me what to do on that!”
Kasich was referring to a Wall Street Journal report that General Electric had decided not to locate its headquarters in Ohio because of Ohio lawmakers' opposition. Kasich and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, are among those who oppose the re-authorization of the bank, which expired in July.
Kasich was speaking to a larger point — that it’s hard to balance the budget without cutting things that people want — but it was clear that the report had chafed the second-term governor, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the White House.
“Hopefully the report is wrong,” he told a group of reporters later Saturday. “I don’t know. But that would not be a smart way to make a business decision about where you’re going to locate.”
Some Ohio Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio support reauthorizing the small federal agency that aims to help U.S. companies expand business overseas.
Kasich has been clear in his criticism of the agency, saying it picks winners and losers, and said Saturday that he believed the agency was “not necessary anymore.”
General Electric has invested about $300 million in Ohio during the past three years, largely on new offices and new equipment, according to Rick Kennedy, a spokesman for GE Aviation in Cincinnati, a subsidiary of General Electric.
Kennedy said Friday that "it is unconscionable that anyone in the state of Ohio could not see the value of the Ex-Im bank." He declined to comment on whether General Electric rejected locating its headquarters in Cincinnati because of Kasich's position on the bank.
Still, he said opposition to the bank, whose charter expired in July, “has been a highly troublesome for us.” He said the company is the largest exporter in the state of Ohio. More 60 percent of GE’s revenue come from international customers, many of whom need financing to buy American products.
While he said Friday that GE Aviation has worked with Kasich, “on this, we are absolutely disappointed that he cannot see our position. It’s going to affect jobs in Ohio.”
Kasich allies dismiss the idea that Kasich’s opposition to the bank caused the company to locate elsewhere, pointing out that among the states GE is continuing to consider for its headquarters is Georgia, whose delegation is also split on the bank.
Johnna Reeder, CEO of REDI Cincinnati, an economic development organization in the state, said the company never appeared to seriously consider Ohio for its headquarters. The company, she said, currently has about 9,000 employees in the Cincinnati region.
“We never made it past the initial phase of providing proposal information,” she said. “We definitely did not make it into the funnel of final sites for GE.”
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