JOHN KASICH:
"This whole area of Ohio needs fixed.... in fact; all of Ohio needs fixed".
That's Kasich's point time and again - that the state is troubled, and that he knows how to change that.
Speaking at the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce candidates forum, Kasich was the big fish amongst two dozen County Commission, state legislature and third party-congressional candidates.
Kasich played to the groups' desire for improved opportunities, saying `more' business is good for 'all' business, but underscoring that he feels Ohio has done much - to drive away potential growth.
KASICH:
"We are not being viewed as a positive place to locate a business. Why? - Our taxes are too high, our regulations are too strangling, too much paperwork, not enough co-operation, not a business attitude, we're not training workers... and we're not educating our kids."
But Kasich offered little detail about how he would accomplish changing the image - or the reality.
And while Republicans generally hammer Democrats' for failing to create jobs, Kasich's big push was for Ohio NOT to focus on reducing unemployment, but instead, promising to slow its pace.
KASICH:
"We're gonna retrain workers by putting more money into training workers who are currently working. Right now they're not the emphasis, its people who don't have a job. Well, we need to help them, but we need to keep people working, so that they don't end up being unemployed."
Where retraining money would be found with the upcoming state budget already in the red - he did NOT explain.
Kasich also spoke Tuesday in Chagrin Falls, Akron, and Brecksville, with a scheduled stop in Canton, Wednesday morning.
