Confused about all the noise on Ohio’s auto industry? Watch this Video
Romney, Kasich Lie About Auto Rescue
News Release
For Immediate Release: October 10, 2012
Contact: Dale Butland, 614-783-5833
ROMNEY, KASICH LIE ABOUT AUTO RESCUE IO; Auto Czar Rattner Say Jobs & China Claims are “Cynical Deceptions”
COLUMBUS — Steven Rattner joined Innovation Ohio today at a Columbus news conference to “blow the whistle on the Romney campaign’s cynical attempt to mislead Ohio voters about the auto rescue.” Rattner was Lead Advisor to President Obama during the 2009 rescue of the auto industry. Innovation Ohio is a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus. Rattner and IO cited numerous instances in which the Romney campaign and its GOP allies – including Ohio Gov. John Kasich – have attempted to mislead Ohio voters, including:- At an October 25 campaign rally in Defiance, Romney claimed that “Jeep is thinking of moving all production to China.” The company emphatically denied the charge the same day, saying “Jeep has no intention of shifting production out of North America” and criticizing Romney’s claim in unusually blunt language as “a leap that would be difficult even for circus acrobats” and lamenting “unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments.” In fact, Jeep intends to restart production in China by hiring additional workers, not moving U.S. jobs there. It’s akin to Honda or Toyota opening plants here to build cars for the American market.
- Despite the company’s rebuke, on October 27 the Romney campaign began airing a television ad misleadingly saying that “Obama … sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China.” The ad also contains three additional distortions:
- It states that Obama “took the auto companies through bankruptcy” — conveniently omitting that was Romney’s plan as well;
- It says that the conservative-leaning Detroit News “endorsed Romney” — conveniently omitting that the endorsement criticized his position on the auto rescue, while praising Obama’s “extraordinary leadership” on the issue.
- It states that Romney has a “plan to help the auto industry” — when neither he nor his campaign has ever announced or spelled out such a plan.
- As a result, the ad has been rated false by numerous media fact-checkers, including the Tampa Tribune’s “Politifact” which rated it “Pants On Fire.”
- On October 28, in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Gov. Kasich that Ohio is only “up a total of 400 auto jobs when you count the companies and suppliers.” In fact, Innovation Ohio has shown that the industry has created over 17,300 Ohio jobs since the rescue. And according to the Kasich Administration’s own Department of Development, 34% of private investment in 2011 – including 11 of 29 investments over $50 million — were in the auto industry. These deals accounted for 18% of all private sector job announcements reported by the Department.
- On October 30, the Romney campaign tripled down on its deceit with a radio ad which not only repeats the debunked claim about Chrysler shipping American jobs to China, but claims that GM is planning to do so too. The ad also falsely blames President Obama for GM “cutting 15,000 American jobs.” In truth, these losses occurred prior to the President’s rescue plan in the summer of 2009. Since then, more than 152,000 American auto jobs have been created.
Just in Time for Halloween: Jeep Ad Meant to Scare – But Claim is Fantasy
Innovation Ohio is on the op-ed page of The Plain Dealer today sharing our research – and the truth – about the positive jobs effect of the auto rescue for Ohio. But, just like Whack-a-Mole, one more lie about Ohio’s auto industry pops up as soon the record is corrected on the previous one.
Why fudge the facts on auto jobs and the importance of the industry to Ohio? Our state is at the center of the political universe until Election Day. Pundits from one end of the country to the other believe the presidential vote in Ohio will determine the outcome of the race. The Romney campaign has rightly identified President Barack Obama’s support of the auto rescue as a huge advantage for the president in the state. Since the rescue was fully implemented – mid-2009 – more than 17,000 auto jobs have been added in Ohio. Gov. Mitt Romney was publicly against the auto rescue – he’s trying mightily not to have to pay the political price for that position.
[Read more…]
Is JobsOhio gathering jobs or empty promises?
Somebody in Columbus has some ‘splainin to do when it comes to Ohio jobs, JobsOhio and the Kasich Administration’s real development record.
First, there’s this thorny issue of talking down the Ohio economy in order to benefit Gov. John Kasich’s candidate, Mitt Romney. Kasich and Co. know like most of the rest of us just how important Ohio’s auto industry is to our state economy. Yet he continues to tell anyone who will listen that the industry is down 500 jobs when asked about President Barack Obama’s auto rescue. We have shown that over 17,000 jobs have been created in Ohio’s auto industry since mid-2009 – when the rescue package was in full effect. The president’s policy was needed and it’s been effective.
Next there’s the issue of JobsOhio. The concept – privatizing much of the Ohio Dept. of Development’s activities – was rolled out in Kasich’s first months as governor to much fanfare. The Silicon Valley wunderkind who was brought in to make it all happen is already gone and the quasi-private corporation – JobsOhio – created by Kasich has been locked in a legal limbo since nearly day one of its creation. Yet, Kasich, ever the salesman, tells Ohioans that JobsOhio is turning the state into the land of milk and honey.
As we demonstrated this time last year, much of the JobsOhio record – as described by the governor – is dubious. What Columbus is currently calling jobs created or retained are often simply commitments from companies who may or may not ever follow through on what they tell the state. The latest case in point is Diebold, Inc.
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VIDEO: Explainer on Our 2012 Levies Project
If you haven’t checked out the great work being done by our policy staff on our November 2012 School Levies page, check it out. We believe that the Kasich cuts to education in Ohio, which totaled $1.8 billion in the last state budget, are just coming home to roost in a local school district near you. Check out some of the individual levy profiles to see how much and how deep many districts have already cut budgets before going to the voters. First watch this two minute video of IO President Janetta King putting our work into context:
Kasich cuts to local govs also spur levies this fall
We’ve been working to highlight how the Kasich Administration’s $1.8 billion in Ohio public education cuts have lead many school districts around the state to the November ballot seeking new or additional local tax dollars. The same thing is happening for some local governments in Ohio as well.
[Read more…]
Kasich Budget Cuts = More School Levies
News Release
For Immediate Release: October 10, 2012
Contact: Dale Butland, 614-783-5833
KASICH BUDGET CUTS = MORE SCHOOL LEVIES IO SAYS 83% OF OHIO COUNTIES ASKING FOR “NEW MONEY”
Columbus — Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, today released an analysis which finds that 62 of Ohio’s 88 counties (83%) will have school levies requesting “new money” on the November, 2012 ballot. All told, 194 school levies will be on the fall ballot, 124 of which are requests for new money. The rest are renewals of existing levies. The analysis found that the number of new money requests is the highest since November, 2008 when just over 40% were passed by the voters. The passage rates of new money requests have been falling in recent years, with just 22% passing in November 2010 and 28% passing in November, 2011. New money requests have become more prolific since Gov. Kasich and his legislative allies cut $1.8 billion from school districts in the state’s current two year budget. [Read more…]Medicaid Expansion in 2014 No Brainer for Ohio
About a month ago, IO issued a call to the Kasich Administration to take advantage of the Medicaid expansion authorized for state governments under the Affordable Care Act. Today, the Akron Beacon Journal adds mightily to the argument for our state to participate in an editorial. It reads in part:
When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, it altered one major provision in the law. Instead of a virtual mandate, the court gave state governments flexibility in deciding whether to expand Medicaid coverage to uninsured citizens with annual incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The encouraging indication is that Gov. John Kasich plans to have a decision for Ohio sometime during the coming year. A commitment to expand Medicaid should not be difficult to make. The federal contribution to an expanded Medicaid program begins Jan. 1, 2014, and it is not insignificant. For the first three years, Washington will pay 100 percent of the cost for the newly eligible. The federal share will be scaled down over the next three years and thereafter to 90 percent. In effect, states that expand from the beginning gain the full benefit of the generous federal match. That is an incentive in itself to get in at the start.The Beacon Journal goes on to lay out the case based on the overwhelming benefits to Ohio families and our economy. Read it and pass it on to your friends and family. To add to the argument for expansion, let’s also take a look back at what we said on July 30. In short, Medicaid expansion has been shown to save lives:
Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, today cited a new study in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine which suggested that expanding Medicaid eligibility as called for in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could prevent 3,400 Ohio deaths per year. The think tank also called on Gov. Kasich to support Medicaid expansion, saying that “being pro-life should include more than just being anti-abortion.” According to the study, published July 25th, Harvard University School of Public Health researchers found that for every 176 adults covered under expanded Medicaid, one death per year would be prevented. The study compared three states (Arizona, New York and Maine) that have already expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income citizens with four neighboring states that had not. Deaths in the three expansion states dropped by 6% per year, while deaths in non-expansion states went up. Read the report here. According to the Kasich administration’s Office of Health Transformation, 597,500 adults would qualify for Medicaid in 2014 if the program is expanded according to ACA guidelines. Using the study’s formula of one death prevented for every 176 adults covered, expanded Medicaid coverage in Ohio would yield 3,395 fewer deaths per year than would occur without it.