STRATEGIC MEMORANDUM
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Brad Woodhouse, President, Correct The Record
DATE: July 21, 2015
SUBJECT: John Kasich’s Plan for America: Gut Workers’ Rights; Gut Social Security
Today, John Kasich will announce his campaign for president and unveil his plan for America. Want a sneak peek? You only need to look at his record in Ohio. As Governor, he worked to sharply undermine workers’ rights, he profited by mixing private financial dealings with state business, and he adopted every far-right conservative position on the books—anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice, anti-environment, anti-gun safety, you name it.
What’s more, he’s already getting ready to gut social security if he’s elected president.
Kasich plans to run on the same extreme conservative agenda as other Republicans, but Kasich’s failed record in Ohio uniquely disqualifies him from the presidency. Bottom line, America’s workers – many of whom are still recovering from economic hardship – cannot afford John Kasich’s economic policies which have failed Ohio.
JOHN KASICH’S PLAN FOR AMERICA: GUT WORKERS’ RIGHTS; GUT SOCIAL SECURITY
KEY ISSUES
BAD FOR WORKERS: As Governor, John Kasich has taken extreme anti-worker positions that have been rejected by voters of his state.
- Kasich pushed through “restrictive” legislation that would have “significantly curtailed” workers’ collective bargaining rights in Ohio.
- When the measure was rejected by a 20-point margin at the ballot box, Kasich was labeled “his party’s poster boy for conservative overreach.” One analyst called it, “a major black eye for the governor.”
- The anti-middle class crusade is nothing new for Kasich. He also sought to refuse federal unemployment benefits for Ohioans, arguing it made “no sense” to accept federal dollars to expand aid for out-of-work people.
WRONG ON SOCIAL SECURITY: Kasich supports a George W. Bush-style Social Security privatization scheme. Doesn’t he know there’s already one Bush in the race?
- This month, Kasich argued that programs like Social Security and Medicare “are going to have to be innovated” in the future—reminding the audience that he supported a doomed Bush administration initiative to privatize a portion of Social Security.
- The privatization plan was opposed by a clear majority of Americans in 2005—and if it had been passed into law, beneficiaries “would have lost a lot of money” in the 2008 financial crisis.
- What makes Kasich think that such a clearly bad idea should be brought back to life in 2015?
SHADY BUSINESS DEALS: John Kasich has a history of mixing private financial dealings with state business, and profiting at the expense of Ohioans.
- Kasich sat on the board of Invacare—which reaped big profits while Ohio jobs were shipped overseas.
- Kasich’s JobsOhio program’s board was made up of political allies with “direct financial ties” to companies that benefited from the program’s tax credits.
- Kasich approved more than $600,000 in tax credits for a company that backed him politically and for which he had previously served as a board member.
- Between retiring from Congress in 2001 and becoming governor in 2011, Kasich went to work for Lehman Brothers, profiting by selling financial products until the firm cratered in 2008 after helping to trigger a global financial crisis.
CONSERVATIVE AGENDA: John Kasich supports the same, tired conservative economic and social agenda that has repeatedly failed Ohioans and the American people.
On Economic Issues:
- Kasich opposes raising the minimum wage.
- Kasich removed protections for Ohio state employees that prohibited job discrimination based on gender identity.
- Kasich claimed that rescuing the American auto industry was throwing “good money after bad.”
On Social Issues:
- Kasich opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions.
- Kasich signed into law a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest.
- Kasich signed into law a bill that enacted “stringent” abortion restrictions, including mandatory ultrasounds.
- Kasich signed into law legislation defunding contraception services at Ohio family planning centers.
On Gun Control:
- Kasich pledged to oppose attempts to strengthen gun laws while governor.
- Kasich signed legislation weakening gun control laws immediately after the school shooting in Newtown, CT.
On Climate Change:
- John Kasich said he was not “laying awake at night worrying” about climate change.