Ohio Gov.
John Kasich...
2012
State
of the State Address February 8, 2012
Gov. John
Kasich held an historic State of the State address outside of the
Statehouse in
Columbus. The site of Tuesday’s night’s address was Steubenville, Ohio.
That
wasn’t the only thing “different” about his speech. According to
plunderbund.com “The AP’s Julie Carr Smyth described it as “a rambling,
unfocused address in the auditorium of an elementary school” and that
pretty
much sums it up.” and “this speech wasn’t scripted and he didn’t use a
teleprompter.” Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Kasich’s State of the State
address is
stirring, but vague.” The Columbus Dispatch: “Kasich touts broadband,
education.” According to NPR, Kasich focused on workforce training,
graduation
rates, colleges working with industry, and teachers.
There were
as many different views of Kasich’s speech as there were media in
attendance.
Links to just a few are below. Below that is Kasich’s speech in its
entirety.
Read it for yourself.
For Plunderbund.com,
click here
For the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, click here
For the
Columbus Dispatch, click here
For
National Public Radio, click here
SPEAKER
BATCHELDER: Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to call the House
and
Senate to order for the purpose of a joint convention. It is my further
privilege to introduce the president of the Ohio Senate, Tom Niehaus, a
learned
friend.
PRESIDENT
NIEHAUS: Good afternoon. The members of the House and Senate will
please
assemble and take their seats. Is there a quorum of the Senate present?
The
Chair recognizes President Pro Tempore Senator Faber.
SENATOR
FABER: Thank you, Mr. President. There is a quorum of the Senate
present.
PRESIDENT
NIEHAUS: Is there a quorum of the House present? The chair recognizes
the
Speaker Pro Tempore, Representative Blessing.
REPRESENTATIVE
BLESSING: There is a quorum of the House present.
PRESIDENT
NIEHAUS: A quorum of the 129th General Assembly being present, this
joint
convention will come to order. Please join me in welcoming Vernita
Prather, who
will be singing How Great Thou Art. Ms. Prather will be accompanied by
Michael
Hall on the piano.
(Song Sang,
Applause)
PRESIDENT
NIEHAUS: I invite everyone to please stand for the posting of the
colors by the
Army recruiting station and remain standing for the Pledge of
Allegiance.
(Pledge of
Allegiance)
PRESIDENT NIEHAUS:
You may be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, the governor of the great
State of
Ohio, Governor John Kasich.
(Applause)
GOVERNOR
KASICH: Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT
NIEHAUS: You may be seated. It is now my distinct honor and pleasure to
present
Governor John Kasich.
(Applause)
GOVERNOR
KASICH: Well, thank you, Mr. President, and Mr. Speaker. Thank you
members of
the General Assembly, my partners in moving Ohio forward. How about
that
cabinet?
Thanks for
coming over here today folks, and you know I love you for what you’re
doing,
making Ohio a stronger and better place. The students and teachers at
the Wells
Academy, they’re just fantastic, huh? They are just the best.
(Applause)
But they’re
a reflection of the people of Steubenville and I have to tell you no
one could
have ever received a better reception than I did coming into this great
town. I
love the people of Steubenville. We’ll be back many times because we’re
going
to make this town great. And your children at Wells Academy are a
reflection of
your excellence and I want to thank you for the generous reception that
you
gave me. And I also want to give a nice comment about my wife, Karen
Kasich.
Sweetie, stand, take a little wave, would you, okay?
(Applause)
I remember
that cartoon that said, “Kasich will still not reveal how he snagged
that hot
wife.”
(Audience
laughter)
You know, I
hope we all appreciate our spouses. They never get the glory. They
never get
the light. They’re the ones that are, you know, raising the kids,
taking care of
the home front. I think about Bob Sprague, who is with us today – five
children. You know, think about his wife letting him do this. It’s
unbelievable. So, let’s remember our spouses, because without them, we
can’t do
any of what we do.
(Applause)
You know,
as a governor, I promised that I was going to travel, like, all over
the place
and, you know, I hope you realize that I’ve kept my word. I’ve visited
many of
your towns many times. And in case you wonder about my travel schedule,
you can
read all about it in the newspapers about the number of times I use the
– I use
the state airplane. I mean, you can nail this down pretty well. And let
me –
I’ve got news for you, I’m going to continue to use it and I’m going to
continue to travel. I’m going to come to where you are.
A lot of
speculating, or some people are speculating, why would he come to
Steubenville?
First of all, I want to let you know I knew a year ago I wasn’t going
to be in
Columbus for this. I wanted to travel. I wanted to get out. I wanted to
see the
folks. That’s what it’s all about. You don’t stay far away from them.
You want
to touch them.
Why did I
come here? It’s not very complicated. I’m sort of a common sense,
straightforward guy about things. I came for two reasons, one is Wells
Academy.
I came to Wells because they’ve set a standard for the entire, rest of
the
state. I mean, they’re the number one school – performing school in
Ohio. And
if you were to guess where would that number one school be located, you
may not
get to Steubenville. But yet, here it is. And let me tell you a little
bit
about what they do, because it’s so important to understand the culture.
First and
foremost, the teachers and the administrators have adopted a principle.
I’ve
seen it at the Frederick Douglas Academy in the middle of Harlem. I
have seen
it in other fine charter schools around the state, in some of our
public
schools. You know what it gets down to, in the teachers’ minds and the
administrators’ minds, nothing stands in the way of kids being great.
Not
poverty, not broken homes. I mean, these obstacles, we want our parents
to be
involved, but the teachers here have a deep commitment to the child’s
future
and they’ll do everything they can to move it forward.
So, one
thing we have to do is ask all of our people in public education,
including our
parents, give these children a chance to realize their God-given
destiny, and
that is exactly what is happening here.
It’s
important to note that 60 percent of the children in this school are
economically disadvantaged. That’s 15 percent above the statewide
average, and
yet, they’re number one, and they’re number one because of that
commitment. You
know, they don’t spend a lot of money on administrators and overhead
and
buildings. In fact, this building they share with the high school. You
may have
heard about the high school here. They’re the home of the football
powerhouse,
the Big Red. Ever heard of them, huh?
(Applause)
Wells.
Wells spends its money where it really needs to go and it’s something
we can
all learn from. It directs its money to the classroom and the teachers
work
together like doctors do in an operating room. They use data to look at
the
struggles and the problems that children have and as a group, they fix
it. It
is very data driven. They know what works, then they apply it. They
stick to it
and they’re able to lift these kids. The administrators are right there
with
the teachers. I’ve always thought administrators need to teach in the
classroom. Well, here they’re there all the time. I had a chance today
to spend
a little bit of time with the superintendent and the principal and they
get it
and they fight to give the teachers the resources they need to get the
job
done.
And, you
know, here is the thing, at the end of the day, the students are doing
so well
it creates success. The one thing I’ve learned in life is when you have
success
it builds momentum for more success. And they have also successfully
implemented an early childhood education program. It’s something my
wife has
believed in. The whole time that we’ve been married, she talked to me
about it.
You know,
we got good news. Ohio just received a $70 million grant. We were the
fifth-best in the country and we’re going to be able to use that money
and
apply it to early education, making it work and making it better across
the
State of Ohio for the good of our children, and it’s fantastic news.
(Applause)
Secondly, I
came to Steubenville, because it’s where I grew up. Oh, I didn’t grow
up in
Steubenville, but when you come from an ethnic town along the river,
you’re all
family. Well, you may not know each other, you may not be related, but
you’re
all family.
You know,
some of you know my story. I’m privileged today to have my Uncle George
here.
Uncle George was one of eight kids. Uncle George, I so love Uncle
George. His
father was a coal miner. He died of complications from black lung.
Uncle George
came from a family of eight, eight children. Uncle George graduated
from high
school. My dad, who carried mail on his back for 29 years, graduated
from high
school and the two sisters graduated from high school. The other four
boys
never got it done, never graduated from high school. But it didn’t make
them
anything less than great, you know, because my Uncle Steve ended up
fighting in
Iwo Jima, becoming a war hero who we honored until the day that he was
put in
the ground. Uncle George went on to college, became a guidance
counselor. And
he was a guidance counselor, think about this, for 37 years.
How the
Lord works and how families work, and, you know, the bottom line is
when you
talk about Steubenville and you talk about the ethnics and you talk
about
people who have common sense and you talk about people who are
God-fearing, and
you think about people who can get knocked down and they never get
knocked out,
I mean, that was McKees Rocks. That’s where I come from, and that’s why
I came
here.
You know,
even this morning it became very emotional for me thinking about the
fact that
the Lord gave me the chance to come here and stand up here, not Johnny
Kasich,
but just another kid from an ethnic blue collar, hard-working town:
people who
play by the rules and get a chance to do something to lift people and
it’s why
I came to Steubenville.
And the
excitement that we’ve all felt has really confirmed the decision to
come here.
And everybody keeps asking me, “Where are you going to go next year?”
We’ll
have to deal with the legislature on that one.
(Audience
laughter)
Hey, look,
we cannot forget the untimely and tragic death of Lee West. A young man
killed
in a house fire, just happened last week. The school mourns, the town
mourns.
There is no great word for the West family, but it gives us a chance to
the
students that are here today from the high school, you know, invite
those kids
that sometimes you think of as the nerds or invite those kids who
sometimes get
ignored, hug them, make them feel special, because you never know
what’s going
to happen in the next day.
My mom and
dad were taken from me in a horrible car crash in 1987, but they didn’t
die in
vain. Their son became a better man. And, you know, maybe through the
death of
Lee, we can become better people. But you know what, visit the family,
hug
them, tell them what a great young man Lee West was. Don’t just stop
after a
week. You go and visit them. You will be doing a great service not only
to
them, but a great service to the Lord, as well.
You know, I
think it is so important because when I look at these things, it just
kind of
gets me so pumped up. How far we have come as Ohioans, you know, where
we were
and where we are now. And I know some of you have heard this before,
but many
of you have not. And it’s good to reflect back.
A year ago,
Ohio ranked 48th in job creation. We trailed only Michigan and
California in
lost jobs – Michigan, the home of the auto industry that was devastated
and
California, of course, filled by a bunch of wackadoodles.
(Audience
laughter)
So, the
fact of the matter is, who would have ever dreamt, who would have ever
dreamt
that we’d be the third worst? When I came to Ohio State in 1970, we
were the
Promised Land and somehow we drifted. We lost 600,000 in the last 10
years,
600,000 jobs gone, 400,000 jobs gone in the last four years, 400,000
families.
One third of our college students were leaving the state within three
years of
graduation. They’re finding their destiny somewhere else. Who can blame
them?
If there is nothing happening here, they’re going – and I don’t blame
them.
Ohio’s
credit outlook was negative. In fact, we thought there was a very good
chance,
Tim Keen and I believed, the budget director, that we’d get downgraded
and we
were nervous about it. And then think about it for a second, because we
glossed
over it, eight billion in the hole, eight billion in the hole, the
largest
deficit in the history of the State of Ohio. And people said there is
no way we
can deal with this.
Well, you
know, I want to compliment my partners in the legislature, my staff,
the
governor’s office. I tell you what we did. We just looked at the
problems
honestly. You know, see, when politics becomes the order of the day,
the power
of special interest groups become the order of the day, you really get
confused. But if you look at a problem and you see what it is and you
design a
solution, it’s amazing how far you can go.
And that’s
exactly what we did through this process. And whether we know it or
not, some
of it was really very strongly bipartisan. So, I know it’s not easy
sometimes
to look at a problem and strip out the politics and who you know and
what you
know and who helped you and who didn’t, but that’s our job. People
don’t elect
us to get a favor. They elect us because of what we represent,
principally.
That’s what it’s really all about.
And it’s
not easy when people attack you when you make people uncomfortable, but
why did
you do this if you’re not willing to do it? You’re short-changing your
family
if you’re not willing to stand up.
Think about
this, in six months we eliminated an eight billion dollar budget
shortfall
without a tax increase – eliminated it. We are now balanced. In fact,
we cut
taxes by $300 million. And when I came in, we had a rainy day fund that
had 89
cents, and I’m told that budget guru over there, Brian Perera, sent an
89 cent
check to double the amount of money we had in the rainy day fund. Try
$247
million in the rainy day fund today. It’s pretty staggering.
(Applause)
And we did
it the right way. Look, we were not going to hurt the mentally ill, the
disabled, the poor. Just weren’t going to do it. Somebody has got to
stand up
for them. Oh, they have a lobbyist, but we don’t see Him here. Best
lobbyist in
the world. We’ll all meet Him some day. So, you can’t step on these
folks. I
told John Martin and Tracy Plouck, we cannot push too hard for the
mental – on
the mentally ill or the disabled or the poor to take away from them.
That would
be sinful. It would be wrong.
And we knew
we couldn’t raise taxes. Folks, I just got to tell if you keep raising
taxes,
you don’t make it, because companies look around and they’re looking
for the
lowest cost to be able to make money. And if we continue to do it, we
would
just continue to hurt ourselves economically. So it’s not just a
philosophy or
some sort of an ideology. It’s what makes sense.
And, how
did we do it? You know, we did it with reforming and reshaping. I have
to tell
you, you can’t cut your way to prosperity. People think I’m this big
budget
cutter. I’d rather reform, reshape and make it work better. Come up
with a
better solution. Let’s talk a little bit about it.
How about
Medicaid? Medicaid has been out of control as a part of this state
budget
forever. Greg Moody – I don’t even know how we got the guy. Greg Moody
comes
in, he’s got great experience. He leaves his private sector job. He has
a
vision for how we can help it.
Now, for
how many years did you read the studies of the fact that we wanted Mom
and Dad
to stay in their home rather than going in a nursing home? For how many
years
did we say that home health care and the ability for Mom and Dad to be
healthier and happier and more independent ought to be accomplished and
we
can’t do it? But we did it, didn’t we, in this budget? Mom and Dad can
now stay
at home if they’re able to at about a fifth of the cost of being in a
nursing
home. Thank you for your work on that.
(Applause)
We’ve been
able to integrate mental and physical health. This is a big deal. If
you have
mental health issues, you’ve got physical health issues. And the
ability to
integrate them is what makes a big difference in the lives of those
people. And
we’re doing it. We also found out that 4 percent of the Medicaid
population
drives over 50 percent of the costs. So Moody came up with this program
to try
to guide them in the right way. Look, we all know that too often poor
people
get primary care in an emergency room. You can’t get primary care in an
emergency room. You got to get primary care from a primary care
physician. So
what we’re doing is creating this concept of the medical home. It’s an
ongoing
process. And, tell you what we do, we coordinate their care. We also
bring some
certainty and we eliminate the confusion that many sick people have,
because
they don’t know where they’re going.
So, if we
can coordinate their care and get them in the right setting, they’ll be
comfortable, they’ll be more healthy, the quality of medicine will
improve and,
you know what’s unbelievable? We’ll save money. And that is exactly
what we’re
doing.
And let me
also tell you we’re spending time now on this – low birth weight moms
is one
other example of being out in front. I promised it a year ago when I
was here.
We’re trying to do so many things at once. Well, what do we know? There
is a
couple up in Richland County, up in Mansfield, they figured out how to
deal
with the problem with women that have low birth weight babies. If we
can get to
them, and coordinate their care, and drive them to the doctor, and do
all the
things that are around it, we can cut the incidence of low birth weight
babies
by an enormous amount. Think of the savings, and think how happy the
mom is,
and think how great it is for the kid, for the baby. Well, that’s what
we’re
doing. We got a long way to go to completely mature these programs, but
we’re
doing it.
Let me also
tell you that we are working with the private sector. When Procter and
Gamble,
and General Electric, and the companies down in Cincinnati have gotten
together
on payment reform to have outcome-based medicine, think about this:
right now,
we pay people on the basis of how many in the door and how many out the
door.
That’s not how we should pay them. We should pay them on the basis of
their
outcome. We should pay them on the basis of the fact that if you keep
me
healthy and give me primary care, we’re going to pay you more money. It
will
improve the quality. It will improve satisfaction. It will reduce the
costs.
I’ve talked to Ms. Cafaro, who is here today, about helping us to
develop a
national program to work with the Administration. It’s the way we’ve
got to do
things. I think she’s got some ins down there. If she doesn’t, you know
we’ll
have to see if you can do that Capri, but we want to involve her in
this. We
want this to be bipartisan going forward.
Sentencing
reform. How long did we wait? For how long did we wait? I always like
to point
to my buddy Lynn Slaby, the prosecutor, who stood up and he said we’re
not
going to just play politics. Locking 12,000 people up next to hardened
criminals, rapists, murderers, drug dealers for less than a year, and
we think
we’re doing good? Gary Mohr. Where is Gary Mohr? This guy is the great
leader
in corrections reform.
Because of
your work in the legislature, and because of your constant insistence
on
improving this situation, we were able to pass sentencing reform where
now a
low-level offender can be put in a community setting where they can get
their
lives back; where they can have a second chance. Now, here is the
amazing thing
that you know when you talk about reforming prisons and giving people
an easier
time: it’s a great applause line at a Republican dinner, as you can
probably imagine,
but I’m not looking for those. What I’m looking for is giving people a
second
chance.
So you know
what we’re thinking about now? If you’ve been a violent offender and
you’re in
prison, you want to work your way out of that, we’ll give you a chance.
We’re
going to create a process whereby people can work their way back. If
you take
violence in the prison, we will lock you up for 1,000 years. Have no
doubt
about that. It’s a great achievement to have done sentencing reform in
this
last year.
Construction
reform. 124 years multiple primes. Think about this: you build a house
and
everybody is a multiple prime. Dave, can you imagine that? It drives up
the
cost sky high. Gordon Gee is with us today. Gordon Gee, Ohio’s best
politician,
is with us today. He is the president of Ohio State University. Gordon,
you got
to stand up and take a wave. Where the heck are you? There he is.
(Applause)
Gordon
said, “If we can go to a single prime contractor, we can cut the cost
of
building my new hospital by 25 percent.” For 124 years we did it. We
don’t do
it anymore. Now we’re down to a single prime, and who is going to
benefit? The
public, students, and families, through lower tuition, lower costs.
Thanks,
Gordon, for what you did and for the other presidents that were strong
enough
to do this.
Economic
development. 1962, 1963, Jim Rhodes created the Department of
Development. It
worked fine for a while, but it’s become slow, bureaucratic, outdated,
and
atrophied. I want to thank you. And, you know, Tom Sawyer is out here,
I just
called him the other day. As we move the contract through the
controlling
board, Tom was there when we first brought up JobsOhio. We had some
bipartisan
support. Not overwhelming obviously, but we thought if we could create
an entity
that could move at the speed of the market operation and not the speed
of the
statute. Because I saw a race between the statute and the glacier. And
the
glacier won.
(Audience
laughter)
In the 21st
century, you’ve got to move at the speed of the marketplace. And so we
created
JobsOhio. It’s beginning to bear fruit in our state already and I’m so
excited.
Mark, thanks for coming from California. Now he is an Ohio resident.
Who knows
what we’ll see next, right? It’s amazing.
Education
reform. Think about this: No mom and dad should have to have their kids
in a
school where they’re not safe and they’re not learning. It’s a civil
right.
(Applause)
This is not
an attack on the public school system or public school teachers. We
have to
honor the ones that are really out there just like we see here in Wells
Academy. But, when the schools aren’t working and they’re
underperforming, let
our children go. We went in this state from 13,000 vouchers to 30,000
families
who can have more choice and more freedom, to next year 60,000
vouchers. I
don’t know that that exists anywhere in America. And it’s going to give
our
poor people a chance.
(Applause)
We lifted
the cap on the number of charter schools. And let me make it clear: if
you’re
an underperforming charter school, we’ll be on you. We have to have
excellence
in every school, and just because it has a name, if it’s not working,
we’re
going to have to deal with it. I’ll ask the legislature to exercise
proper
oversight. And let me also — you can applaud for that. I know a lot of
people
are concerned about that.
(Applause)
If the
school continues to fail, parents and teachers have the power to take
the
school over themselves. I want to give a big shout out to Stan Heffner.
He is a
man who has decided that he is committed to the fact that we need to
let moms
and dads know, across this state, how their kids are doing. He has
published a
report that ranks the schools, and that’s how Wells got to be number
one. He is
traveling the state. We need moms and dads to know how their schools
are doing.
And let me
also say I’m very proud of the fact that we did teacher evaluation. We
had 19
meetings across the state; 1,400 e-mails from teachers. You know what
teachers
are worried about? They don’t mind being evaluated, but what they don’t
want is
to get the short end of the stick. They want to make sure there are
multiple
ways for them to be measured. We listened to them. It’s exactly what we
did. We
took this framework to the State Board of Education. As I mentioned to
Armond Budish
earlier today, the unions, the Administration, the members of the
Legislature,
we got the framework improved. Our schools across the state are,
frankly,
consistent with the Race to the Top, where I give Arne Duncan and the
President
great credit for what they’ve done there. We’re moving Ohio forward,
but we’ve
got a long way to go.
Where are
we today? I could give you 50 other things, but we’d go on forever
here. Where
are we today? Ohio is the number one job creator in the Midwest today,
as we
sit here. Number one.
(Applause)
We’re the
number nine job creator in America. From 48 to nine in one year.
Legislature,
people…
(Applause)
it’s about
time, because we’re a powerhouse here in Ohio. And you know what? Our
private
sector job growth, rather than losing the 400,000 jobs over the last
four
years, we created 43,500 new jobs. A net increase of 43,500 families
better
off.
Total
manufacturing jobs – it’s not just autos, believe me, and I’m going to
tell you
in a moment – 14,400 manufacturing jobs. God made some people to make
things.
It’s coming back to America, and it’s coming back to Ohio. JobsOhio and
our
economic team have produced – as a result of saving or creating new
jobs and
working with those companies that, on their own, decided to move
forward – $4.7
billion in payroll. That’s a lot of money getting spent. $4.7 billion
in
payroll…
(Applause)
$3.2
billion in new capital investment. That means they’re taking $3.2
billion and
putting it into our state. It’s just such incredible news. Think about
some of
the saves: Diebold, what a great save for Canton, Ohio. American
Greetings. And
hey, Wendy’s came home from Atlanta, Georgia. Wendy’s is back in
Columbus where
Wendy’s belongs.
(Applause)
And get
this one: You know that credit rating agency, Standard and Poors? You
remember
them? They downgraded the United States. They downgraded Spain. They
downgraded
France. They downgraded Italy. And they improved our credit rating all
at the
same time. We have gone from a negative watch to stable as a result of
the hard
work we’ve done. That sends a signal all across this country that Ohio
is open
for business.
(Applause)
Everybody
wants to say how partisan everything is. Baloney. That’s not true.
Okay, yeah,
it’s been partisan at times. Sometimes really partisan, and I get it. I
didn’t
fall off of a turnip truck over here.
But let’s
think about some of these things: The Common Sense Initiative – Mary
Taylor,
our Lieutenant Governor – this is a program where we’re just trying to
make
sense out of things so we’re not shutting businesses down because we’re
doing
dumb things in government.
Let me just
give you one story: you know there was this – the Ohio liquor law
required food
manufacturers to purchase alcohol in retail containers and retail
prices. One recipe
for a Merlot wine sauce called for 140,000 pounds of wine, which they
had to
purchase, sterilize and pour one bottle at a time. No sipping allowed.
We
worked with the Department of Commerce, the General Assembly, and
Custom
Culinary has announced its expansion. They will no longer have to do
that.
You see,
that’s just a common sense little thing. And yet, we were snuffing out
jobs and
hurting families because we didn’t have it together. Mary is trying to
do that.
We got – I think it was overwhelmingly bipartisan for the Common Sense
Initiative.
The
sentencing reform I’ve already mentioned.
Is Jennifer
Brunner here, by the way? Where is Jennifer? She here? She in here
somewhere?
Wave, Jennifer. We all love you, or most of us do.
(Applause)
I’ve asked
Jennifer to help us on collateral sanctions. Ladies and gentlemen – you
don’t
know this, the legislature does – do you know that if you have a felony
conviction, you serve your time and you come out of prison, do you know
that
you are prohibited from cutting hair or driving a truck? We can’t have
that.
We’re going to fix that, and I’ve asked Jennifer to help. Gary Mohr
convened a
meeting – and early morning – and Shirley Smith, who is hugging me –
that’s why
I believe in God.
(Audience
laughter)
I said to
those who are the hard core right wing, lock them up forever – can’t do
that. I
said to the left wing, get out of jail free card. We’re talking about
human
beings. We got to give people a chance here. You can’t be in a position
where
you paid your price and you want to get back. You can’t get a
commercial
driver’s license. That’s one of the most needed things in the area of
oil and
gas today; you’ve got to drive a truck
So, we’re
going to get this done. Right, Ross? We’re going to get this done, and
we’re
going to get some. Slaby, you got another assignment to do.
War on
Drugs: Bubp, Johnson and Burke. We closed all those pill mills down in
Scioto
County, didn’t we? Made a difference, didn’t it? (Applause)
And we’re
cracking down on these doctors that are just not doing their job and
abusing
their practice.
Highway
patrol, John Born, by the way, they’re a fired-up group again. John
Born is
involved, along with highway patrol, and being involved in drug
interdiction.
Ladies and gentlemen, the war on drugs is something we’ve got to pay
attention
to, because it is wrecking our communities.
(Applause)
We’re
working with the highway patrol to get that done. But again, another
bipartisan
effort. I was in the House when it passed unanimously. Went over to the
Senate,
flew through. Yeah, there are things we can do.
Teach for
America. Remember a year ago I said we ought to have Teach for America?
Bang.
Snap of a finger. We got Teach for America coming. So, we’re going to
have all
these young people. They’re all fired up. They want to help people.
They’re
going to get out into these schools and bring new life to our schools.
It’s
going to be fantastic to see the way that it works.
Let me also
say that – I don’t even know how to tell you this. We have 1,000 Ohio
children
– the average: 13 years of age – they’re in the slave trade business in
our
state. Theresa Fedor is – you know, she is on fire about this. One
thousand of
our children age 13. I can’t even – it’s hard for me to even think
about this.
My girls are 12. Could you imagine somebody snatching your daughter and
somebody forcing them into prostitution at 13 and 14 years of age? I
called
Colonel Charles the other day, I said, “You know we got a war on drugs?
We’ve
got to have a war on the slave trade business in Ohio.” I know we
started on
it, but we’ve got to stop this. We’ve got to snuff this out in our
state.
(Applause)
It is a
scourge.
(Applause)
Let me also
tell you if it wasn’t for bipartisan support I wouldn’t be standing in
Steubenville
today.
(Audience
laughter)
(Applause)
Okay, now
we get to a really cool part, I hope. You know, we got to be – look,
that’s
really remarkable. We’re alive again. We’re out of the ditch. We’re
growing.
We’re becoming. It’s happening in our state. It’s not me. It’s all of
us, and
it’s the people of the state. I’m just thrilled to be part of it.
That’s all I
ever wanted in this job, so it’s happening. But we’ve got cultural
changes that
we have to make and people who represent the status quo who are going
to fight
us for the next series of things that we have to get done. Remember
your
purpose in the legislature, but I also think it’s – I get all fired up
when I
read the stories of other people who are heroes. It gives me more
energy. I
remember reading Fear No Evil. Sharansky sat in the Soviet prison. It
was all
phonied up, trumped charges of being a traitor. They said, “Listen, if
you sign
this statement like Galileo did, renouncing what you did, we’ll let you
out of
the Gulag.” He thought to himself and he later wrote he said, “If they
use
Galileo against me, they’re going to use me against somebody else.” And
we
worry? John Adams, Navy SEAL. We worry about politics? The guy goes to
–
everyday puts his life on the line in there, in the service like so
many other
veterans in here. Let’s learn from people and get excited and
courageous.
So I’m
starting something new, and I hope it will always last. The Governor’s
Courage
Awards. Let me tell you, I wrote a book in 1997, 1998, and it was
called “Courage
is Contagious.” The first chapter was about two boys who died. One of
them
said, “You know that John Kasich? He is just a little boy in a
congressman’s
body.” I think you shine the light on people that do special things,
and today
we’re going to shine the light on three people.
The first
one I want to tell you about is Jo Anna Krohn. Jo Anna had a son – a
senior in
high school lost his life because of prescription drugs. She formed a
group
called SOLACE. Danny and Doctor Johnson and so many of the people, my
great
friend Tom Niehaus, they know about SOLACE. I remember coming up right
when I
was going to be sworn in, and these ladies were up there in their pink
shirts.
You made me cry because they said, “We want you to help us.” Jo Anna
Krohn
could have gone, faded away. I mean, 17, 18 year old kid gone. But she
stood up
and she made a purpose of what she needed to do – to rally, not only
her, but
all these women who are part of SOLACE.
These are
beautiful medals. It says, “A man of courage is also full of faith.” A
beautiful quote from Cicero. As you can see, it’s just a token, Jo
Anna, of how
we feel about what you’ve done, and the ladies from SOLACE. And maybe
in a way
we do this also in memory of your sweet son who didn’t die in vain.
Come and
receive this award.
(Award
presented)
(Applause)
I’ve just
talked to you about human trafficking. Adults use manipulation,
blackmail and
even forced to take our teenagers and make them prostitutes, slave
labor or
worse. One human trafficking survivor here in Ohio refused to sit down
and let
this crisis go unnoticed.
Theresa
Flores joins me here on the stage. Theresa was a teenager. She was
exploited,
blackmailed, trapped in a hell of abuse that she could not escape.
There wasn’t
anybody to help her. No support. No one to help her get free. Can you
imagine
that? Abused, drugged, beaten, raped. She didn’t give up, somehow. I
just don’t
know how she did it. Today she is a licensed social worker in Columbus
– a
licensed social worker in Columbus – and she helps liberate other women
trapped
by human trafficking. You know, her courage has helped her to turn her
experience around and make a difference in countless lives.
Theresa,
you come and get this medal.
(Award
presented)
(Applause)
We don’t
want to see those on eBay ladies.
(Audience
laughter)
I went to
Dayton for a ceremony honoring U.S. Army Specialist Jesse Snow. Lost
his life
in war. Jesse was in Afghanistan, and he crawled through enemy fire to
help his
comrades. He lost his weapon, Frank LaRose. He lost his weapon. He
secured
ammunition. Then he performed first aid. He used his body to shield
other
people; that’s how he died. Threw his body in front of others so they
might
live. This wasn’t some snap of the finger decision. He knew exactly
what he was
doing. He comes from a family that has tremendous patriotism and
service to the
country. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a ceremony quite like that,
Mr. Snow.
Your young brother, you loved your brother, didn’t you, young man?
Yeah, you
did. You loved your brother, Alex. We know he’s been honored with a
Silver
Star. He may get an additional medal before it’s all said and done.
They built
a beautiful monument to him when they finally buried him. It’s not
enough for
me, because I can give one more honor and one more medal to the Snow
family.
Mr. Snow, Alex, please come and get the medal.
(Award
presented)
(Applause)
I want all
the veterans that have served this country to stand now and be
recognized for
their great and heroic service. Ladies and gentlemen, join me in
saluting our
veterans.
(Applause)
Well, I
hope you’re inspired by them. I know you are. There are many great
things to do
for our state, and we have got to remember these people. I don’t want
to get on
– you know, if you’re going to be a preacher, you got to wear a collar
– but I
just want to tell you, I was a member of the legislature. It was very
interesting. Sometimes I fought with my own party. It happens. That’s
what Mom
told me to do. Stand up and fight for what you believe in. Eighteen
years in
Congress. Balanced budgets. Military reform. I learned a couple things.
Because
we have a lot of new members here, some that haven’t even stood for
election, I
think you got to steer clear of mindless partisanship.
I have
Theresa here today. If you took a hundred things, she and I wouldn’t
agree on
10. That is okay because I like her and she likes me. And she believes
my heart
is in the right place, and I know hers is. So, why don’t I search for
things
that I can do to make things better? Because I got to tell you
something, being
a good Republican or being a good Democrat, you’ve lost it. They don’t
give you
awards for being partisan. Oh, you’ve got to respect your philosophy
and you
have to carry it out, but you look at what’s happening in Washington.
Do we
want to be them? They can’t get out of their own way. The country is
losing
faith. So together, we’ve got to make sure that we move forward. That
we can
find things that we can work together on and not be nasty and mean and
name
callers but fight like crazy. Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan did. Then
they had
a drink. Tip had two.
(Audience
laughter)
But when I
left politics, I never looked back. Leave it all on the field, ladies
and
gentlemen.
Now, we
have to build on what we have accomplished. I’ve just got to tell you
our main
job. It’s just all about jobs. I mean, Rhodes was right: jobs, jobs and
jobs.
People have jobs. Moms and dads are strong. Kids are strong. Kids get
out of
poverty. Families are together. Marriages last.
And I’ve
got to tell you, you don’t achieve this by just snapping your fingers.
These
jobs don’t come here just on accident. It does not happen that way. We
have to
think about the strategic way we can work together. We have to leverage
our
assets and the strengths that we have.
I want to
say to all of you, I know the idea of a legislature is that you’ve got
to go to
Columbus and vote. You know Rosenberger is a perfect example of a guy
who votes
as an afterthought. His job is to work with every business in his
district to
bring hope to the people of Wilmington. We want all of you, I don’t
care who
you are, in this legislature, I don’t care who you are in this crowd,
if you
have an idea that you think can help create jobs and advance our
society and
our state, tell us. Don’t be shy. I don’t bite. Most times.
(Audience
laughter)
Every one
of these projects has to be customized. It takes time. We have to work
it out.
And it can’t be done overnight. We also can’t give away the store. Be
careful
not to give away the store. We’ve laid the foundation for growth. And
we have a
blueprint for different clusters in the state that we think can work.
So rather
than giving you – I can give you a laundry list of, you know, MBR and
all these
legislative things, but I want to talk to you about what I think is
realistic,
not what is blue sky and what Ohio can take hope and we can build upon,
and
let’s start with manufacturing.
Moms and
dads, stop telling your kids that they shouldn’t try to get a job in
manufacturing. Manufacturing is coming back. Encourage your people,
your kids.
If God made them to make things, let them make things.
(Applause)
It’s coming
back because of our workforce, because of our location, because of our
ability
to move things. It’s coming back to Ohio. But let me tell you, when my
uncles,
Uncle George, when Steve and Andy worked in the steel mill and they had
to work
around and lift and push, and it’s the brain increasingly now. You
can’t work
in an auto line, you can’t work in a steel mill if you don’t know how
to use a computer.
Technology is the order of the day and advancing manufacturing.
But let me
tell you about some of the recent things that have happened in this
state that
are good. Talk about autos to start, because Ohio does have a base
industry in
auto. No question about it.
Ford. Let
me tell you, when I went up to Detroit a year ago, Mark Kvamme and I
went up
there, they were shaking their finger at me. “You are not getting it
right in
Ohio,” shaking their finger. They shook their finger at me this year
and said,
“You are getting it right in Ohio now, okay”.
General
Motors put out a letter, they don’t put out a letter praising their
mom, let
alone some government, saying that things were getting better. Ford is
investing a billion dollars in the State of Ohio, and wasn’t it a great
day,
Gayle, when we were at Avon Lake? Those people were so happy. Ford is
going to
invest five or six billion dollars. Michigan number one, to be
expected. We’re
number two in America on Ford investment, a billion dollars. They moved
a bunch
of business, which I’ll talk about a little bit more, from Mexico to
Avon Lake.
From Mexico to Avon lake. Get it?
(Applause)
I’m writing
right now an op-ed piece with the CEO of General Motors talking about
Ohio and
manufacturing in America. They have a continued commitment to Toledo,
Defiance
and, of course, Lordstown. Chevy Cruze, baby. It’s selling. And it’s
working.
Chrysler, a
half a billion dollar investment in Toledo. 1,105 jobs. I met with
Sergio
Marchionne. I said, “Sergio, how many more can we get?”, because when
they do
something good, you push them for more. That’s just the way it has to
be. We’re
working with them now to train people. Jacob’s University in
Toledo–we’re going
to do work force training. When you are able to get sticky with them,
they
can’t get out of your grasp. We want to grab them and we want to hold
them and
we want to build what we have and not go through a breath-holding
exercise down
the road. This is the way to do it.
And Honda.
I had a vision last night: Batch in a super car…
(Audience
laughter)
Armond
Budish next in the seat next to him and Jerry Seinfeld in the back
seat. Okay?
Honda continues their major investment in Ohio and give them a lot of
credit.
They don’t ask for a dime. We’re going to help them to train their
workers.
It’s fantastic.
Let me also
say – is Jaime here from Republic Steel? I was told he was going to
come here.
Is he here? Well, his family which are big entrepreneurs, big business
people
in Mexico–think about this–they have made a huge investment in Lorain,
Ohio.
Who would have ever thought that that kind of an investment was going
to create
more jobs in Republic Steel in Lorain, Ohio, this year. It’s a Mexican
family
making an investment in the State of Ohio. It’s phenomenal.
(Applause)
V&M
Star Steel in Youngstown, advanced manufacturing. What are they doing?
It’s
energy. Republic Steel is auto and maybe energy. Hey, don’t forget the
human
investments from United States Steel right up there next to that plant
at
Republic Steel. They believe in Ohio.
Listen to
this, folks, I mean, I just don’t even – I can’t believe it. The
unemployment
rate in Youngstown has gone from 11.5 to 8.3 percent in the last year.
The
Mahoning Valley is alive again. And they deserve it.
(Applause)
Hamilton,
Ohio. ThyssenKrupp – big steel people. They were going to move their
shock
absorbers to Mexico. Not only are they not moving them because we got
down
there and worked with them–not only are they not moving to Mexico –
they are
moving people from Mexico to Hamilton, Ohio to make shock absorbers at
ThyssenKrupp.
Johnson
Controls up near Toledo – a whole new generation of battery making.
Something
we can put in our cars that’s good for the environment. Something that
goes
into our cars that will bring about a new generational change in the
way we
power our cars. Right up there in Toledo, Ohio.
And
Whirlpool, this is really cool. Whirlpool is moving a bunch of their
stuff from
Germany to Ohio. You know why? Market, location, workers. It all fits
together,
doesn’t it, when you’re on the ball and working aggressively with these
companies?
(Applause)
Let’s not
forget the Timken Company. They already made a couple million dollar
investment
in Ohio and they’re on the verge of another $225 million dollar
investment for
a new refiner and a jumbo caster in their steel plant. You can never
forget
Timken. They’re part of the backbone of our state.
So here is
the thing with manufacturing – we got the people, we know how to work,
we know
how to make things, we’ve got a legacy of it. Secondly, we’ve got
location. Now
let me tell you – it’s interesting – every company thinks about costs.
That’s
what we do and we work with them. I talk to CEOs until the sun goes
down. Here
is what’s working. The labor costs in China have risen. The labor costs
in
Mexico have risen and, unfortunately, the violence creates serious risk
and,
you know, what we have in Ohio, we’re close to markets.
So we have
to devise a strategy, and we’re in the process of devising a strategy
right
now, where we can have a lot of foreign trade efforts and that’s
foreign trade
to places like California and the State of Washington. Then maybe we
can even
look overseas, because here is the thing, all-in costs, access to the
market,
the ability to move things, the ability to make things, all in costs,
we’re
starting to win. And we’ve got to pick off these companies one by one
to bring
these manufacturing jobs back here to this state and it’s worth
mentioning:
Mexico to Avon Lake, Mexico to Republic Steel. Germany and Whirlpool in
Clyde,
Ohio. ThyssenKrupp, Mexico.
See, it’s
working. And it takes a lot of different things. It takes energy
changes.
Energy is a big cost driver for companies. You must lower your energy
costs and
we’ve got to promote our strength in advanced manufacturing, aerospace.
How did we
go all these years without
recognizing
the sheer brilliance and excellence of Wright Patterson Air Force Base?
Did you
know we’re flying, in a very limited way, unmanned vehicles down there?
Do you
know that unmanned vehicles are the future of aerospace? And down
there, Wright
Patterson Air Force Base, they have the sensors, the people, the
technology. We
just haven’t been able to get it all together. Wayne Struble and I, my
dear
friend and brilliant policy director, he is working – I’m helping him –
to get
the FAA to give us a wider opportunity to fly these unmanned vehicles
both at
Wright Patterson and in Springfield and Wilmington. This could change
the whole
face of Ohio.
Now, I
can’t count on Washington for anything. You know that. It’s like
Waiting for
Godot. Let’s take advantage of what we have down there to drive this
and we’re
working with the delegation and working with the Pentagon to see, along
with
the General Ashenhurst, to see if we can get this done and leverage our
experience, not just in flight, but also in manufacturing.
Now folks,
logistics. If you make things and you can’t move it, you might as well
not even
make it. We need to be the best in logistics. It’s becoming an industry
in the
State of Ohio now. It’s an industry in America. It’s the ability to
move things
and move them quickly, by land and by sea and by air. And we’re
starting to win
at this.
It was not
long ago Wagoner, Senator Wagoner, when we went up to North Baltimore.
I wasn’t
even sworn in yet. And we helped improve the infrastructure, using some
common
sense there, got some money so we could expand the infrastructure. The
North
Baltimore multi-modal is exploding and I’ll tell you why–because people
can
avoid Chicago with all their business and all the hassle there and they
can
come to North Baltimore, Ohio. That facility will be expanded and it
represents
the best in logistics advancement, Senator. And we need to work to
expand that
operation. I know Chrysler would like to ship more things through our
multi-modal. It means jobs.
TQL down in
Clermont County, 1,000 people working down there, young people, you
know, what
they do is they have no trucks. But they take virtual trucks and match
them
with loads and they ship things all over the country. A thousand people
down
there. I was told that the average pay is like $70,000. It was like
going to
Google or to PayPal or to, you know, the place where you buy all the
shoes
where all the people get excited. It’s young people excited.
And let me
also tell you BX Solutions in Toledo, we lost 700 jobs and turned
around a
couple weeks later because a great young man up there, created 550 new
ones,
but we have to do a better job with our infrastructure. Now, let me
just say
something to you: We didn’t take your highway money. I don’t want to be
misleading people anymore. Oh, yeah, you want a road, we’ll give you a
road.
It’s just not true. We are 1.6 to 2 billion dollars short. No one has
leveled
with you. We didn’t take the money and I didn’t put this thing out now
so I can
get the turnpike–that’s just phony. That is not what this is about.
It’s to
begin to tell the truth to people, so they can understand the situation
that we
are in. I have not made a decision yet about what I want to do with
this
turnpike because if we don’t get the money we’re not going to do it.
And we’re
in the process of studying it.
Maybe we
can have more public/private operations, and we got that in the
transportation
bill. We got this Brent Spence Bridge down there in Cincinnati. We
ought to be
involving the private sector and let them see the benefit of it being
engaged
with us, let them profit somewhat from it. Let’s get more of this
infrastructure done. You can’t shut down the Brent Spence Bridge. It’s
a major artery
in this country. Maybe we can figure out a way by getting a few pennies
together by letting companies be able to suddenly start to lease some
of these
rest stops where we can get some good food a lot of other good things
along
there if we can open that process up.
So, I am
not telling you exactly what we’re going to do but let me say this to
you; just
think about this for a second: we will never give up underlying control
of the
turnpike. But, if we can bond against that revenue or if we can lease
it and
take care of the maintenance and make sure that the people that live
there who
have largely been ignored over the last 40 years, the people who live
there get
a responsive — get responsive agreements from those that might take
this
turnpike over and if we can generate billions of dollars, we don’t want
to do
that? You got to be kidding me. So everybody slow down. Chill out a
little bit.
Let us complete the study. And let’s see where we are. But
infrastructure has
to be a critical part of the long-term growth of the State of Ohio and
whether
you agree with this or not, you agree with that principle and we have
to make
it work.
(Applause)
So we did
manufacturing. Logistics. Let’s try medicine for a while. Cleveland
Clinic,
University Hospital, Case Western, are you kidding me? The crown
jewels. Gordon
Gee’s Ohio State new hospital. By the way, he’s got a guy working up
there by
the name of Doctor Rezai – this guy is doing deep brain massage. And I
went up
– the cabinet saw it, but I was up there and there was a man and what
he does
is he puts a sensor imprint in the brain and pacemaker in the shoulder
and it
sends a signal to disrupt the bad signals that cause Parkinson’s in
people.
There was a man, they shut off the pacemaker, they put it back on. He
gave me a
carved piece of wood. It was like magic. John Glenn was with us the
other day
at that cabinet meeting. It’s incredible if we can encourage that and
then
commercialize it, as well.
But you
think of the University of Cincinnati, performance medicine in Dayton,
our
children’s hospitals, we got the best stuff in the whole world. And
what we got
as a result of it, think about this: Phillips, the great, great medical
company
moved their imaging R&D from San Jose, California, to
Cleveland. That’s better
than the Super Bowl for the Browns, okay? That’s a fantastic thing.
(Applause)
Okay, well,
maybe not better than the Super Bowl, but equal to a Super Bowl, okay?
(Audience
laughter)
Also
STERIS, a company that we helped create, moving some of their jobs from
Canada
down into Cleveland. You see, we’re working now to create a medical
corridor.
What we really want is these hospitals and great facilities to work
together
because if they work together, we can have clinical trials. We can go
out there
pushing medical devices. We work on it every day, but you got to change
the
culture of these institutions because they all think they’re Michael
Jordan.
And what we know is if we get them to work together, we can have an
awesome
result in all the fields of medicine today and bring tremendous
advancement to
us. Divided we fall, work together we win.
Financial
services – number two in the country in property and casualty. We just
got 800
jobs from AmTrust moving to New York City to Cleveland, Ohio. It’s just
fantastic
news for Cleveland. They want to change the very face of Cleveland.
We’ve got
Chase, Fifth/Third, a huge investment from Chase in Columbus, the
Huntington
Bank, PNC and our community banks. We also have created a course at
several of
the universities, community colleges to train kids in risk management
so we got
people that can work there. You can’t have an insurance company and
have no
employees. And we’re carrying this out and working with universities
and
community colleges to get it done.
Agriculture,
it’s our base. We are on the cusp of becoming a worldwide leader of
exporting
animals. Whoever thought that we would be able to say that we’re
exporting
non-bluetongue cows to Turkey. Thank you – where is Rosenberger? I mean
where
did you ever come up with that and Jim Zehringer. See, we can ship this
livestock all over the world. And we need to move into agribusinesses
and find
more markets. Let’s stop treating agriculture as a stepchild. It’s the
base and
foundation of our state it always has been.
(Applause)
Technology,
I mean, Janova cloud computing in New Albany. Businessweek says that
Cleveland
is the fastest growing market for technology jobs in America, and
Cincinnati is
third. We can begin to compete with the Silicon Valley, the triangle of
North
Carolina and with Boston because we have people that know what they’re
doing.
We just got to create the climate here so people are excited about
being in
Ohio.
And today I
want to tell you about the best technology resource that you’ve never
heard of.
It’s buried underground in Ohio. This will set us apart from every
other state
in America.
Let me tell
you what happened. There is this guy – let me see if I can find his
name in
here – there is this guy his name is Al Stutz, have you ever heard of
Al? He
ought to get one of those awards. Al is just like a regular guy. He
works in
the government. He figured out back years ago that when the telecom
companies
were cratering and the costs of the fiber were decreasing, Ohio ought
to buy
it. So, we went and bought all this fiber. It’s like this black fiber
which
means you can send stuff so fast. It’s high speed. It’s beyond high
speed
Internet. And I’m announcing today we’re going to increase the speed of
OARnet,
from 10 gigabytes per second to 100 gigabytes per second and what does
that
mean? It’s not Back to the Future with gigabytes. I mean, this really
means
something.
It means
that healthcare and research that these researchers no longer have to
rely on
overnight mail to share their massive files on hard drives, but can
e-mail them
instantly. This allows our research hospitals and universities to
compete more
successfully for the research grants that create breakthroughs in jobs.
The
multi-media space, it means that companies in the entertainment, design
and
graphics industry that must deliver huge amounts of data to customers
and
collaborators can be right here at home in Ohio. Our databases like
Lexis
Nexis, online retailers and banks who need files backed up for security
will
find Ohio a cheap, easy, fast place to work. You did it in 1987. We’re
exploding its power. It’s going to yield huge, huge benefits for the
people of
the State of Ohio. OARnet. You’ve heard it here first, believe in it,
it can
change the face of the entire State of Ohio. And I want to thank Al
Stutz and
the legislature that had the foresight to do this.
(Applause)
Okay. They
all thought I came here for energy. Baloney. I came here because of
what I told
you earlier – happens to be some good energy things going on. We had an
energy
summit many of you came to it. Two days long, 1100 people, experts from
all
over America. We need to have energy policy in Ohio. If America can’t
have a
policy that makes us energy independent, we’ll let Ohio create an
energy policy
that makes us independent.
(Applause)
We’ll start
with coal. We’re the Saudi Arabia of coal. Clean it and burn it. Clean
it,
Gordon, and burn it. Clean it, Battelle, and burn it. Use it.
Renewables – hey,
you can be for coal, you can be for gas, you know, you can be for wind,
you can
be for solar, you can be for geothermal. We need to be for our
renewables.
They’re starting to gain momentum. They’re starting to become more
economically
workable. But let’s, of course, not stuff something in that’s going to
drive up
costs for people, you know, that are unrealistic, but we need to
embrace
renewables in our state. You already have. I compliment you on that,
but there
is some additional things we can do, like capture waste heat. Do you
know when
you drove down here? Did you see the big cooling tower? How would you
like to
capture that and put it back into the company so they can lower their
costs to
generate power and at the same time clean the environment? We will have
a
proposal to do just that here in the State of Ohio. And conservation,
we all
have to do it.
Okay, let
me tell you this, though: natural gas, fracking. People are getting it
in the
state. We’ve been working on this for, well, before I was even sworn
in. You
cannot degrade the environment at the same time you’re producing this
industry.
It is not acceptable. And it’s not a false choice. The biggest
companies know
that you need to have tough environmental rules. They can’t be
complicated.
They can’t be over the top, but we need to have them because we can’t
have some
yahoo come into the state and damage this whole industry because
they’re
irresponsible.
So the
biggest companies understand that we need to take care of things like
high
pressure pipelines. We don’t want to have a high pressure pipeline
explosion in
our state. We have to take care of the gathering lines. We have to make
sure
that the well head is not going to contribute to contamination of the
groundwater. I mean, we have to do all of these things. But we cannot
let our
fears outweigh the potential.
I’m always concerned
about talking about the potential. Because the people in the Mahoning
Valley,
the people in Steubenville, the people in southern Ohio – how many
promises
have they heard that have only been shattered, okay? So let’s take our
time.
We’ve only had 36 wells drilled, but the good news is it looks pretty
good,
looks pretty good. Billions of dollars’ worth of investment in this
state –
that’s all good, as well. And we have much work to do.
Now,
everybody today’s talking about a cracker facility. Well, let me tell
you what
we’ve got. We have a company called MarkWest. Is Frank Semple here
today?
(Voice
interruption offstage)
GOVERNOR
KASICH: You know, I kind of enjoy all this. This was what it was like
when I
was growing up. Hey, Steubenville let them know what you think about
disruptions.
(Applause)
Tell them
what you think about it.
(Applause)
Well, let
me tell you, let me tell you about Frank Semple, who is here with us
today. He
is the CEO of MarkWest. He is locating three facilities in Ohio, two
processing
facilities and those are the facilities we use to separate the gases.
He is
also bringing a fractionater on the technology chain. The fractionater
is used
to take the liquids that are produced from the fracking and it can
separate
them into the propane and the ethane. This is really exciting and way
up the
food chain. He is investing in these three facilities in this state – a
half-a-billion dollars’ worth of investment – 700 jobs to build the
darn thing.
So start signing up, and at the same time, it’s going to yield hundreds
of
permanent jobs all in direct and indirect. Give Mr. Semple a round of
applause
for having faith in Ohio.
(Applause)
Thanks for
coming, Frank. Okay. Let me say. Let me tell you a couple a couple of
other
very essential things that we need to do in our state. You know, first
of all,
on the energy piece of this, on the energy piece of this, we’re going
to have
to work together collaboratively, and we have been. Democrats and
Republicans
understand the big picture here, but let me tell you a couple other
things we
need to do quickly. Workforce training. Everywhere you go, everywhere I
go,
what do they tell you, they tell you, “Well, we’ve got a lot of job
openings.
We have a lot of job openings, but we don’t have the skilled workers to
fill
it.” Okay?
(Voice
interruption offstage)
GOVERNOR
KASICH: We don’t want you to be.
(Audience
laughter)
You know we
have 80,000 unfilled jobs right now in Ohio, can you imagine that?
Okay. Let me
tell you what else we have. We have a workforce training program –
shame on us
– think about this, we have 77 different programs located in 13
different
agencies. Now 77 and 13 adds up to zero, because that means there is no
accountability whatsoever.
When it
comes to our limited accountability as to how these programs work, so
here is
what we need to do quickly, 1, and we need your help on this, companies
need to
forecast. They have to tell us what they need. What they do is they
complain
that they don’t have any workers, but they won’t tell us what workers
they
need, so we’ve gone to the business roundtable, the chambers of
commerce and we
are aggressively, and with the energy companies I told them, we don’t
want
foreigners working on our well heads, those are people from West
Virginia, Indiana,
Michigan and Oklahoma, okay? We want Ohioans on the well head.
(Applause)
You have to
help us to get them to forecast short term, intermediate term. How many
welders
do you need? How many technicians do you need? How many molders do you
need?
How many truck drivers do you need? How many computer experts do you
need? How
many engineers do you need? We don’t have enough engineers, enough
scientists,
enough mathematicians. We’ve got to tell kids and point them to where
those
jobs are. Get the companies to forecast. It’s a major program for us.
Secondly,
we need our community colleges to begin to educate people for these
jobs. Now
some of them are doing a pretty good job. Some of them aren’t doing a
very good
job. You know, we only have a 10 percent graduation rate nationwide for
community colleges. Community colleges should be like the emergency
vehicle
when there is a job. Put kids and students in there, including adults,
and get
them trained quickly so they can get the jobs that are available. So we
have to
match the community colleges with the business community and the
forecasting.
Sounds easy? Try it. We’ve been working on this for six months. This is
a huge
cultural change. And our universities, they’ve got to do a much better
job of
focusing kids on realistic job propositions. Do you know that we –
well, I
don’t want to get into necessarily the negative, but some of our
graduation
rates our four-year graduation rates, they’re just wrong.
I’ll give
you one. After four years, 14 percent graduation rate? We can’t have
that in
Ohio. We need to graduate more kids and get them degrees, whether it’s
a
technical degree, a community college degree, or a university degree,
because
the more degrees they have the more job security they have, the more
income they
get, and the healthier we are as a state. And we need to put this
together and
let nothing stand in our way.
(Applause)
Our
technical schools are doing pretty good, they serve as a model. They
work
closely with businesses, and I’m not saying that some of these business
schools
aren’t doing great. It has to be seamless. It has to be consistent. It
has to
be robust. Let me also tell you, in order to keep tabs of all this, I’m
going
to have this thing called the workforce training reform plan. I mean,
it sounds
like – I don’t even like to give them these names, but here is what it
is, this
guy Rich Frederick that works for me, he is reporting directly to me.
He is
going to change the whole thing. We’re going to do metrics, how the
community
colleges, the technical schools — by the way, let’s bring vocational
education
back strong in our K-through-12 education, bring it back.
(Applause)
And you
know, sort of like Paul Brown used to say, “Rich, if you can’t get it
done,
I’ll find somebody who can.” We will get this done. But we need your
help and
our door is open on any creative ideas you have.
Higher
education, we have a great system of universities, but we don’t have a
very
great university system. We have the best higher education in, I think,
the
world. I’ve asked Gordon Gee to do four or five things. We’re going to
have a
capital bill. In the past, each individual came and lobbied for
themselves. No
more. No more Bowling Green ahead of everybody else. What we’re going
to do is
Gordon – God bless Gordon. Think about this guy, I mean he is
University of
Colorado, he is Ohio State, he is Brown, he’s Vanderbilt, he is West
Virginia,
back at Ohio State. This is incredible. Incredible resume, Gordon, I
don’t know
if it’s great or because they wanted to get rid of you, but it’s pretty
darn
good.
(Audience
laughter)
Anyway, the
fact of the matter is I’ve asked him to get the university presidents
together
and they’re going to come with a capital bill for the first time in our
history
that doesn’t have universities just going for themselves. They’re
working
together. It is a change and a culture change.
Now, we are
also asking Gordon to increase graduation rates for all of our
universities. No
more 14 percent. It has to be tackled. We have to be patient but we
have to
demand this get done, because it is not fair to our families and our
students
to not get graduated. The emphasis should not be on enrollment. It
ought to be
on graduation.
(Applause)
Now let me
also say to you: I’ve told Gordon, you know, up there at the University
of
Akron, Kent State they got great advanced material programs. He said,
“I want
one of those.” I said, “You can’t have one Gordon.” We don’t want them
competing with one another. We want to be collaborating so we don’t
have
duplicative programs. It requires a big cultural change. We’re getting
there.
We’re also
saying that it’s not good enough to do research. If you don’t
commercialize and
create jobs, what’s the point? I can find you research on a top shelf
in a
building 140 years from now. Commercialize. Create jobs. Spinoff
companies. We
can get that done, but it’s going to take new and renewed focus and so,
you
know, whether it’s graduation, whether it is working together on this
issue of,
of the fixing of their buildings, whether it is targeting people,
getting the
universities to target people for jobs that exist, if we create a
university
system, it would unbelievable. It would be absolutely unbelievable and
we are
on the verge of being able to do it.
Finally
K-through-12, 67 percent of Ohioans think the system is great.
Graduation rates
in Ohio: 80 percent statewide. Where do the other 20 percent go? Urban
areas,
urban areas, it’s a 65 percent graduation rate. Thirty-five percent
don’t get
out of high school? It might have been okay back in the days of my
Uncle George
where you can go get a job in a steel mill. That doesn’t work like
that, a 35
percent dropout rate in our urban schools? Forty-one percent of, of the
kids
that are graduating from K-through-12 are taking remedial math and
English,
11th and 12th grade when they get to college. It drives up the cost of
college
and the kids in there are supposed to be going to college, they are
taking 11th
and 12th grade math. Guess what he does? He drops out. He’s got a
$25,000 debt.
This is not
sustainable. America has been falling behind and Ohio is stuck in the
middle
and we need to fix it. And I have to spend the next year building a
consensus
and I just talked to Armond today, you know, about this program that
Mayor
Jackson in, in Cleveland is talking about to reform public education.
I’m
counting on Cleveland to deliver the goods. I’m counting on Cleveland
to be
their best advocate. Oh, I’ll work with them. I’ll go door-to-door to
every one
of their offices. The mayor of Cleveland – business community, and
business
community and the mayor of Cleveland are really committed to very
comprehensive
and unbelievable reform, and we can evolve as Republicans and Democrats
in this
endeavor. We can change urban education in Ohio and change urban
education in
America. And that is worth fighting for and risking for.
(Applause)
So folks,
here is the way I look at things. We’ve got to study the Frederick
Douglas
Academy, the Wells Academy, the fine charter schools in Cleveland. We
need to
study them, find out what works, be data driven and do it. It doesn’t
mean we
shortchange our teachers. You know, if we’re not doing well, then let’s
help.
If they’re doing great, pay them. I sat in this classroom out here
waiting for
everything to settle down, you know, the things on the walls that
create a
bedrock foundation for our young children. My God, there is nothing
more
important than these teachers but they have to be of excellence – we’ll
help
them. It’s just the way it has to be.
Well folks,
if we can train, educate, forecast, use our locations, use our great
people,
use our resources, our assets, we’ll be number one in America. We’ll be
the
most powerful state in America. I have no doubt we have the scale, the
size and
everything that we need.
And the
reason why it’s all about jobs is not some political thing. Just think
about it
for a second. Imagine going home, Uncle George you remember, when they
come
home and say I lost my job today. Think about when somebody can go home
and
say, “I got a job today. Son, I got a job today.”
My wife
and, and some of the campaign people went to Wilmington during the
campaign. I
cried. Not ashamed to admit it. Going to a food pantry, 7-, 8-, 9,000
people
playing by the rules. And one day, it’s all pulled away from them. They
just –
they played by the rules. They’re hard working, God-fearing, it
happens. It’s a
shame. It’s part of what – the sorrow that we see in the world. We
visited that
food pantry. Sweetie, I know you’ll never forget it. I think Rachel Ray
even went
there and did part of her show about the tragedy, and they focus on
Wilmington
all the time.
Well, I
went down there the other day to announce the airport transport
services group,
AMES: 259 new jobs and they were gathered in the hangar there. And
there were
people in the crowd and they represented the commissioners and the
mayor and
the preachers and the mailmen and they were all there. And behind us,
on the
stage were the people who were working in their brand new shiny
uniforms. They
got to go home and say, “Son, I got a job today. It’s going to be
better.”
That’s what
it’s about. Let nothing stand in the way of building a prosperous Ohio,
a
richer Ohio, an Ohio free of poverty and unemployment. Oh, we’ll never
get to
all of that, but the closer we get to it, the better off we are. It is
such an
exciting time for all of us to work together, to do good. God bless our
country, and God bless Ohio.
Thank you
all very much. Thank you.
(Applause)
By the way
as I get ready to leave, I just wanted the school to know the flag’s
all yours.
God bless you. Thank you very much.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT
NIEHAUS: If you will please remain in your seats while the colors leave.
PRESIDENT
NIEHAUS: The chair recognizes President Pro-Tem, Senator Faber for a
motion.
SENATOR
FABER: Mr. President, I move the joint convention adjourn.
PRESIDENT
NIEHAUS: Without objection, the
joint convention is adjourned.
|