Ohio’s offered a $400 million incentive package to Sears Holding Company, now headquartered near Chicago. Governor John Kasich says for Illinois to lose Sears to Ohio would be – quoting him – really, really tough.
“But it shows you the state of play in Illinois. They’ve boosted all their taxes, they’re not a very job friendly environment.”
But when asked if he was hopeful about getting the retailer, Kasich responded:
“No, I’m steady about it. It’s sort of like all the, all us football fans feel about the opening game of the season. We’re steady. We’ll see what happens.”
He was even more direct a few moments later.
“If I were betting, I’d bet they’re not coming to Ohio. But that doesn’t mean we’re not looking at this every which way to Sunday.”
The $400 million incentive Ohio has offered to Sears is reportedly four times the offer Illinois has made to keep the company there.