Ex-Lehman Brothers Bankster Ripped Off Ohio Taxpayers

In recent weeks, the national media has poked fun at John Kasich for chomping through Italian subs and pasta in the Bronx and eating pizza in Queens — with a knife and fork.

Back home, Ohio Democrats talked about something else: the governor’s out-of-state travel, and what it costs taxpayers in the only state he has won.  

The Ohio Democratic Party posted a graphic on its Facebook page on April 8, 2016, to bolster its complaint. Kasich’s "costly campaign," the image says, entails 177 days spent out of state and a tab of $350,000 to taxpayers.

How did they calculate the days and dollars? We decided to look into it.

The party’s communications director, Kirstin Alvanitakis, pointed us to a March 26Columbus Dispatch story reporting that Kasich has been out of state at least 177 days as he pursued the presidency. The Dispatch tally includes days he spent exploring the bid before his official announcement July 21, 2015.

An Associated Press story contains the $350,000 figure. By law, a special unit within the state department of public safety is assigned to protect the governor, and nine state troopers guard him 24/7. So when he goes to Mike’s Deli, so do they.

State funds from the public safety department’s non-highway program, which includes the governor’s security detail, is likely paying for rental cars, hotel rooms, flights, fuel, per diems and overtime while Kasich criss-crosses the country chasing delegates.

But the Dispatch story describes how cagey state agencies are being with these specifics. Information that was public in the years before Kasich’s run is now shielded. On payroll records, the governor’s detail was previously listed as the "executive protection unit." Officials told the Dispatch that that designation that has been dropped to shield the troopers’ identities.

"To ensure safety and security, we do not discuss any of the resources used as part of the executive security detail," is the response repeated by agency spokespersons and the governor’s campaign staff alike.

The Associated Press used another tool to approximate the cost: an interactive, searchable "checkbook" of state spending hosted on the website of Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, part of his nationally recognized transparency initiative.

We used the Ohio Checkbook to drill down into the data, which has been updated since the AP checked. Isolating the travel costs of the non-highway program, which is currently showing expenditures from July 1, 2015, through Feb. 2, 2016, the total now comes to $403,638.

Patriots, if one is going to run for office that person, especially a professional politician like Kasich, should have funds to run and money in hand before stealing from taxpayers. I hope the Ohio House and Senate fixes this problem so it doesn't happen in the future.

Kasich, pay back the money you stole from Ohio taxpayers!

Per the reader's comment: the reader made the assumption that everyone in Ohio voted for bankster Kasich; if one looks at the home page on my blog you will notice I support and I voted for Trump in the Ohio primary. By the way, in my opinion, Kasich and the Ohio GOP rigged the Ohio primary ballot by mixing a winner take all ballot with a proportional ballot.