Gov. Kasich told employees at the state environmental protection agency that they need to treat the public well, and offered this example of a time he says he was treated poorly by a public sector worker.
“You ever been stopped by a policeman who was an idiot? I had this idiot pull me over on 315....”
Kasich goes on to talk about getting a ticket for not slowing down for a trooper stopped on the berm of the highway in 2008. The head of the Fraternal Order of Police in Ohio says these comments from the governor aren’t helpful. And Jay McDonald also says they come as a bit of a shock.
“I am surprised. Typically, we have had support from governors - far-reaching support. You know, I really just think it was an unfortunate choice, a disappointing choice of words that describe somebody that’s just out there trying to protect the public and to try work hard for his family and my members are very, very upset.”
McDonald says he wants to arrange a meeting between the governor and the officer who wrote the ticket. And McDonald says he’s more concerned about Kasich’s support of the elimination of collective bargaining and punishment of public workers who strike. Kasich’s spokesman Rob Nichols responded in a statement that the governor respects law enforcement and regrets his poor choice of words, but Nichols says the point was – quoting here - “to stress that public employees must provide better, more responsive service to taxpayers”.