News-Messenger - Kasich Visits Port Clinton on Campaign Stop

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By Sheri Trusty

Several dozen people met at the Ottawa County GOP headquarters Saturday morning to meet Gov. John Kasich. The event was part of a two-day, eight-city campaign tour across northwest Ohio.

Several people arrived early to enjoy breakfast and meet other Republican candidates that will be running for office in November. By the time the governor arrived to make a short speech, he faced an energetic, standing-room-only crowd.

Kasich touched on many subjects during his remarks, beginning with a brief overview of the success of his last four years as governor. He said when he was elected, Ohio had lost 350,000 jobs and was $8 billion in debt.

"When I came in, it was really a mess. I came in at exactly the right time. You can't get much lower," Kasich joked. "We're running a surplus of $1.5 billion. On top of that, we've been cutting taxes, because you want to run a society from the bottom up, not the top down."

Many in attendance were excited about the chance to meet the governor, and show their support for his re-election.

"I came because I want to meet the best governor in the United States. He stands for the principles that I believe in," said John Davenport, of Port Clinton. "He listens -- that's one of the things I like about him. And he's not a demagogue. He quietly goes about his job."

Diane Salvador of Catawba said she supports Kasich because of the positive economic changes he has brought to the state.

"He's bringing jobs to Ohio, and he's turning the economy around," Salvador said. "Unless we get the economy turned around, we can't get anything else turned around. That's the starting point."

Kasich asked for a show of hands from small business owners in the crowd and then addressed estate taxes.

"We killed the death tax," he said. "We want you to be able to pass those businesses to your family. We don't think anybody should have to visit the undertaker and the tax guy on the same day."

Kasich spoke of changes to educational policies in the state and expressed pride in the Third Grade Reading Guarantee program.

"We made a lot of changes in education. You learn to read by third grade, so that later you can read to learn," he said. "We're bringing vocational education down to the seventh grade. My plumber makes more than most of the lawyers I know."

Kasich encouraged the crowd to become personally involved in fixing problems in their communities. He talked about the difficulties faced by the mentally ill, the drug addicted and the severely disabled, and he said he believes those people face fixable problems, if they can receive help.

"We have no right to ignore those that live in our shadows," he said. "Life is really about what we can do to live it to the fullest and lift everybody up."

Richard and Kathy Kracer, of Danbury, came to the event to meet the governor and to show support for the local Republican candidates.

"I like Kasich's common sense approach," Kathy said. "He's just a good guy, and there's trust in him. Whereas, in the opponent, who knows? With FitzGerald -- with his driver's license and the girl in the car -- he doesn't sound like a quality guy."

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