Voters Guide
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In their words
Gay marriage
Kasich: “My position there is not designed to be angry towards anybody else who doesn’t share my view. But we passed a constitutional amendment that declares that marriage is between a man and a woman. Until that changes, the laws in Ohio will reflect that. I just happen to believe all my lifetime that marriage is between a man and a woman.”
FitzGerald: “To me it is a fundamental question of civil rights and equality and I think that is the direction history is moving,” FitzGerald said. “I think Ohio should be on the right side of history.”
Ohio’s economy
FitzGerald: “The rest of the country has added back all the jobs lost during the recession, but Ohio is at least 100,000 jobs short of where we were before the recession.”
Kasich: “We are definitely on the upswing. There is no question about it.”
ONLINE VOTERS GUIDE
Learn more about the candidates for Ohio governor, Republican John Kasich, Democrat Ed FitzGerald and Green Party candidate Anita Rios in our voters guide at vote.daytondailynews.com
Taxes
Kasich: Pushing income tax cuts to spur growth.
FitzGerald: Opposes tax cuts that he says favor the wealthy.
Jobs
Kasich: Created JobsOhio and says it is working well.
FitzGerald: Would keep JobsOhio but add transparency.
Abortion
Kasich: Opposes abortion in all cases except when the mother's life is in danger or rape or incest.
FitzGerald: Favors abortion rights
Gay Marriage
Kasich: Opposes
FitzGerald: Favors
Ohioans hoping to watch Republican Gov. John Kasich debate issues with Democrat Ed FitzGerald — as governor candidates have done each election since 1978 — have been disappointed this year.
Kasich chose not to debate a challenger whose personal screw ups and low poll numbers have dominated media coverage.
But make no mistake: Ohio faces serious issues and the governor will have a big say in how much you are taxed, who is covered by Medicaid, how much you pay for college and whether the state should embrace gay marriage, medical marijuana and abortion rights.
In the absence of a public debate, the Dayton Daily News sat down with both major party candidates to get their views on the economic, political and social issues facing the state.
Kasich and FitzGerald agree on some issues, such as support for capital punishment, but there is little common ground in other areas, giving Ohioans a clear choice on Nov. 4.
Jobs & Economy
Kasich and FitzGerald can’t even agree on the fundamental facts of how Ohio’s economic recovery is going. FitzGerald notes that Ohio isn’t adding jobs as fast as other states and ranks among the worst in the country for recovery from the Great Recession, which began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009.
“The rest of the country has added back all the jobs lost during the recession, but Ohio is at least 100,000 jobs short of where we were before the recession,” FitzGerald said.
Kasich says Ohio moved to 8th nationwide, up from 48th, in job creation, since he took office in January 2011.
“We are definitely on the upswing. There is no question about it,” the governor said.
Kasich wants to further reduce Ohio’s income tax rates as a way to spur economic growth .
FitzGerald is critical of the tax reforms under the Kasich administration, saying they disproportionately help the wealthy and hurt the middle class. FitzGerald favors a progressive tax system and said the state’s income tax cuts translated to tax hikes by local governments and schools coping with the loss of state funding.
Kasich shifted economic development duties to JobsOhio, a newly created private, non-profit that does not adhere to the same ethics and public records laws as state government does. FitzGerald is not calling for a major overhaul of JobsOhio, acknowledging that even if he were to pull an upset and win the governor’s seat, the General Assembly will likely remain in GOP control. But he said he would push for more transparency measures and a stronger focus on small business development.
Kasich notes that JobsOhio has landed big projects for southwest Ohio, including bringing the proposed Fuyao Glass Industry Group windshield manufacturing plant to the former General Motors plant in Moraine.
Health Care
Kasich was one of several Republican governors who expanded Medicaid eligibility under the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Kasich said he’ll fight to renew the expanded Medicaid program next year but he doesn’t see that as connected to the ACA.
The governor’s remarks led to a national media storm last week when The Associated Press quoted him saying that an Obamacare repeal was “not gonna happen.” Kasich and his media team backpedaled and explained that the governor wants Obamacare repealed but would like to see a way to save Medicaid expansion.
Ohio Medicaid is a state and federally funded health care program for more than 2 million disabled and low-income Ohioans. Under the expansion, 400,000 more people are eligible and the federal government is currently covering 100 percent of the expansion costs instead of the typical 65 percent share it pays for Ohio Medicaid.
FitzGerald too supports continued expansion of Medicaid.
Social Issues
FitzGerald, a former FBI agent and former local prosecutor, favors legalizing marijuana for medical use and opposes restrictions on abortion. He opposes Ohio’s gay marriage ban and said gays should have equal rights to marry and in the workplace and housing.
“To me it is a fundamental question of civil rights and equality and I think that is the direction history is moving,” FitzGerald said. “I think Ohio should be on the right side of history.”
FitzGerald said abortion is a decision to be made by a woman and her doctor. Under Kasich, he said, Ohio’s abortion restrictions are among the most “extreme” in the nation.
Kasich opposes legalizing marijuana, saying, “We are not going to do that if I have anything to say about it because we already have a big problem in this state with drugs, whether it’s prescription drug abuse or the growing problem with heroin.”
Although polls show half of Ohio voters now favor legalizing same-sex marriage, Kasich said, “My position doesn’t change on the basis of a poll. My position there is not designed to be angry towards anybody else who doesn’t share my view. But we passed a constitutional amendment that declares that marriage is between a man and a woman. Until that changes, the laws in Ohio will reflect that. I just happen to believe all my lifetime that marriage is between a man and a woman.”
Education
Kasich is a long-time supporter of “school choice” — using public money for tuition vouchers and charter schools. He quadrupled the number of vouchers to 60,000 and expanded the use of charter schools for high school dropouts ages 22 and older. Roughly 115,000 kids attend 325 charter schools. In the 2012-13 school year, 88 percent of charter schools received a C or worse, according to the Ohio Department of Education scores.
Kasich said his administration is cracking down on poor performing charter school sponsors. “We are not going to tolerate low performing charter schools in any way, shape or form,” he said.
FitzGerald said it is time to stop spending public money on failing charter schools and the for-profit corporations behind them who make political contributions to Kasich and other Republicans.
“They’re buying the lack of oversight that we are seeing,” FitzGerald said.
Both support “Common Core” education standards, though Kasich skirts the use of the term, which has become a political flash point among conservative Republicans. “I do support higher standards and I support local control,” he said.
FitzGerald says schools were hobbled by having to implement new standards at the same time the state cut school funding. He also opposes over-reliance on standardized testing that he says makes schools more like “a testing center instead of a school.”
Both candidates say they recognize the need to make college more affordable for Ohio families. The Project on Student Debt reports that on average, students at four-year institutions in Ohio end up with $29,037 in debt.
FitzGerald said he would like to see the state help families manage their debt, support federal legislation to make it easier to refinance student loans, and expand college savings accounts by putting seed money into the bank for every kindergartner, as Cuyahoga County now does.
Kasich said steps already taken will help ease the burden: construction reforms helped lower the cost of building on public campuses; credits transfer more easily from community colleges to four-year institutions; and high school students have the opportunity to take college classes and then enter a university with credits in hand.
Labor unions
Early in his first term, Kasich pushed for and signed a controversial bill that would have gutted collective bargaining rights for public employees. Ohio voters rejected the law in a referendum vote in November 2011. Kasich’s initial support, plus what happened in neighboring Indiana and Michigan, has union activists concerned that Kasich might sign a “Right to Work” bill if he is re-elected. Right to work bills prohibit union contracts from requiring that employees join or pay dues or fees to a union as a condition of employment.
Kasich does not offer a yes or no answer when asked if he would sign a right to work bill. His answer: “My view on this is we have a very good relationship between labor and management. And that relationship between labor and management is really, really important. And there is no reason to even discuss that issue because things are good. They’re calm.”
FitzGerald said Kasich “gets very cute with his language” in dodging questions and predicts that he will indeed sign a Right to Work bill if the legislature approves one, just as he agreed to take away bargaining rights for public employees.
“Most union activists realize that efforts to de-unionize one part of the workforce is a strategy for taking away bargaining rights for all workers,” FitzGerald said.
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