Kasich on CNN: Ohio Gov. John Kasich appeared via satellite on “State of the Union” on Sunday morning to field questions on the Trump administration and more. You can read the whole transcript here, but here’s a summary of what he said.
Kasich on NATO: Anchor Jim Sciutto asked Kasich, who was in Munich, Germany for an international security conference, what European leaders were saying about new President Donald Trump.
Kasich responded in part: “The president’s people have all said it, but, frankly, he needs to be heard in a more clear… a more passionate way, because… I have been meeting with all these folks from all over the world. They say: ‘We’re just not sure.'”
Kasich on the media: “While I don’t always agree with the reporting of the press, they are vital. They are really such an important part of democracy.”
Kasich on ‘disarray’ in Trump White House: “When you’re the governor of a state and you’re an executive, you assemble your team, and then you need to get your sea legs. And I made mistakes early on as governor. In fact, my wife once told me: ‘John, you’re the father of Ohio. Act like it.’
“And the fact of the matter is that words matter. I think the administration needs to understand that loose words, frankly, cause great concern.”
Kasich on Russian election meddling: “Look, if our intelligence community thinks we need to get to the bottom of this, I happen to believe that perhaps a joint House-Senate Intelligence Committee investigation ought to get to the bottom of Russian hacking.”
Kasich on Medicaid expansion: Kasich said he’d heard that congressional Republicans, as part of their plan to repeal Obamacare, are discussing scaling back federal funding that paid to expand access to Medicaid coverage. (One of those Republicans is Columbus-area U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi, a Kasich political protegee, according to the Columbus Dispatch.)
On that plan, Kasich said: “That is a very, very bad idea, because we cannot turn our back on the most vulnerable.”
Kasich was among the Republican governors — Mike Pence, then Indiana governor, now Trump’s vice-president, was another — who accepted Medicaid expansion, a component of the federal healthcare law.
In other news…
Dennis! for guv? Dennis Kucinich, the former congressman, Cleveland mayor, and two-time Democratic presidential candidate, “is the subject of increasing chatter among party insiders” as a possible 2018 gubernatorial candidate, writes cleveland.com’s Henry J. Gomez.
State Rep. Martin J. Sweeney, a former Cleveland councilman and longtime Kucinich ally, told Gomez there’s been a “light buzz about Dennis.”
Kucinich himself said: “”I’ll certainly get back to you if I have anything to say which would be worth your time.”
Political police blotter: Former Columbus City Councilwoman Michelle J. Mills pleaded guilty to a first-degree misdemeanor ethics violation and was fined $250 on Friday “for not properly disclosing the value of a trip she took with other elected officials and a lobbyist to a 2014 Ohio State football game in Indianapolis,” writes the Columbus Dispatch’s Rick Rouan.
Mills resigned from council in August 2015 as details emerged about the trip amidst a probe of Democratic lobbyist John Rafael. Among others who went to the game were now-Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, who “immediately paid $250 and reported the expense as ‘travel’ on his campaign finance report.”
A tale of two cities: A Friday Los Angeles Times report took a sweeping look at two cities — Warren, Ohio and Juarez Mexico — bound by their joint connection to Delphi Automotive, a parts manufacturer.
The story focuses on Chris Wade, a former Delphi worker who took a buyout 10 years ago as part of the company’s ongoing outsourcing of jobs from the U.S. to China and Mexico, and Berta Alicia Lopez, a Juarez resident who now works for Delphi making $1 an hour.
“The two workers live 1,800 miles and a border apart and have never met,” reads the story, written by Kate Linthicum. “But their stories embody the massive economic shift that has accompanied the rise of free trade.”
Possible school-voucher expansion: State Rep. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, has proposed combining and expanding Ohio’s complicated K-12 education tuition voucher program “to offer more money to more middle class and suburban students under a bill that will be announced next week,” writes The Plain Dealer’s Patrick O’Donnell.
“The bill … would combine three existing voucher programs – one with strict income requirements, one for students in ‘failing’ schools and one for only Cleveland residents -into a single program. The new plan would offer state subsidies to families to help pay private school tuition regardless of where in Ohio they live, regardless of the rating of their local public school and with relaxed income restrictions.”
Annie Glenn speaks: The 97-year-old widow of John Glenn, the American aeronautical hero and longtime Ohio senator, spoke recently with Julie Carr Smyth of the Associated Press during her first public appearance since her late husband’s memorial service.
“Oh, gosh. It’s just awful, because we’ve known each other since we were 2 years old, and he and I, we were both on the same side, he was always helping me, with the kids and everything,” she said. “I really miss him terribly. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
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