“I’m shocked by the speech given by Governor Strickland yesterday. It was a mostly personal diatribe attacking John Kasich’s character and integrity. I have worked cordially with Governor Strickland on legislation and found him to be a friendly and courteous man. I did notice that this speech was read from a teleprompter, which appears to provide a personality transplant along with the script.
Ohio is in deep trouble, and we do not need a campaign conducted by character assassination. We need a constructive campaign focused on issues that are important to all Ohioans. What is the plan to attract businesses, industries and jobs? Why have we lost more than 200,000 jobs in this administration, and how are we going to get them back?
When the governor announced his candidacy five short years ago, unemployment was 5.5 percent. Today, unemployment is 11 percent. We need to talk about jobs and not try to drench each other in contumacy. Let’s move Ohio ahead with new ideas and concepts of government, not diatribe.
Chairman Kevin DeWine:
"Ted Strickland used to be a candidate full of promises and optimism. Four years later, the only thing he has to offer is attack ads and negative campaign speeches. It's no surprise that a governor who lost 430,000 jobs would want to shift the attention away from his record, but Ohioans know better.
As much as the governor wants to make this election about his opponent, it's about four years of Ted Strickland's failed leadership, broken promises and incompetent management. Gov. Strickland promised to turn around Ohio's economy, and by every measure this state is worse-off today than it was when he took office. No amount of scorched earth campaigning can change that."
