Subject: Questions for Kasich this afternoon
From: DNC Press <[email-masked]>
To: DNC Press <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2015 18:11:45 +0000

FYI -- This afternoon, John Kasich will make an announcement that his JobsOhio agency has struck a deal with the CEO of a Thai chemical company. As you report that news, you should take a look at the bigger picture surrounding JobsOhio, the quasi-public nonprofit corporation Kasich created - with the first bill he signed as governor - to take over for the Ohio Department of Development. JobsOhio has spent millions but has created more questions than jobs.

JobsOhio has been largely ineffective at creating jobs but has awarded large raises to JobsOhio executives and spent exorbitant money on rent and travel.

*        JobsOhio has trumpeted jobs created or saved in one particular location, while the same company was laying off workers in the state.

*        One of the first companies to receive assistance through JobsOhio, Rittal Corp., decided<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/public/2013/08/22/Tax-credit-JobsOhio-move.html> to shift and expand its headquarters from western Ohio to suburban Chicago two years later, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

*        The Youngstown Vindicator detailed<http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/sep/29/nonprofit-fails-to-save-jobs-in-the-vall/> how JobsOhio had recommended a $4.5 million job creation tax credit to Verizon to keep the company in Ohio. However, the subsidy didn't stop Verizon from shutting down its Boardman call center and letting go 370 Mahoning Valley workers.

*        The Columbus Dispatch reported<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/07/31/state-helps-company-leave-city.html> that TimberTech received an eight-year, 50 percent tax credit from the state and "an undisclosed grant from JobsOhio" to create jobs in Wilmington. Two months later, TimberTech shut down its factory in Columbus.

*        Kasich ally John Minor, the president of JobsOhio, saw his salary grow $82,000<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/06/jobsohio-adds-payroll-in-its-office.html> in 2014 to more than $306,000. JobsOhio's spending on salary and benefits increased<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/06/jobsohio-adds-payroll-in-its-office.html> 82 percent from 2012-2013 to 2013-2014. In addition to Minor, JobsOhio employs two "senior managing directors" who each make more than $240,000.

Reporters have uncovered conflicts of interest at JobsOhio.

*        The Columbus Dispatch revealed<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/06/jobsohio-adds-payroll-in-its-office.html> that JobsOhio "grew from 37 to 61 employees while adding senior, highly paid executives and granting a hefty pay raise to its president and chief investment officer." This news prompted the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial board to call the pay hikes "wretched excess<http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/jobsohio_payroll_appears_exces.html>."

*        JobsOhio's board of directors is rife with potential conflicts of interest. According to a report<http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/board-has-ties-to-firms-that-got-help/nY8QF/> by the Dayton Daily News, six of the board members "have direct financial ties to companies that have received tax credits and other assistance from state government or JobsOhio since Gov. John Kasich took office in 2011."

*        Kasich personally received<http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20130815/News/308159793> compensation from a company that benefited from the largesse of JobsOhio. In 2001, Kasich joined the board of Worthington Industries and received compensation from Worthington from 2007 through 2011. JobsOhio has helped Worthington receive tax breaks worth more than $619,000, according to an AP report<http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20130815/News/308159793/?Start=1>. As the deals were being brokered, Worthington's CEO gave $100,000 to the Ohio Republican Party.

*        Kasich picked his friend (and donor) Mark Kvamme, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist to lead JobsOhio. Kvamme left JobsOhio in 2012, but just before his resignation took effect, Kvamme lobbied<http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/11/gordon_gee_wanted_to_seek_dona.html> Ohio State University to invest in a new venture capital firm he was creating. Despite concerns from their own investment advisers, OSU ponied up $50 million for Kvamme's firm.

*        Kvamme has provided a personal jet<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/05/12/gov-john-kasich-fundraising-in-california.html> for Kasich to crisscross the country for his presidential bid.

JobsOhio is not transparent, its implementation has been widely criticized by Ohio's press corps, and Kasich's administration has fought auditing efforts.

*        The legislation creating JobsOhio made sure to keep the new entity exempt from public records and open meetings laws<http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/01/gov_kasichs_new_economic_devel.html>. The state auditor, a fellow Republican, had to issue a subpoena in an attempt to get records from JobsOhio. In response, Kasich had statehouse Republicans pass legislation removing JobsOhio from the auditor's purview.<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/06/05/bill-signed-to-close-jobsohios-books.html>

*        The Cincinnati Beat noted<http://citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-28424-gov_kasich%E2%80%99s_bias_toward_secrecy.html> that "JobsOhio is so mired in secrecy that it's extremely difficult to verify its deliberations. It's practically impossible to get a clear picture of what's going on in the agency."

*        The Toledo Blade's editorial board wrote<http://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2011/02/01/More-light-on-JobsOhio.html>, "the secrecy with which the governor would enable the nonprofit corporation, JobsOhio, to administer more than $1 billion for business incentives is too high a price to pay for its asserted - not proven - efficiency."

*        Ohio's state auditor, a Republican, said<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/03/07/kasich-yost-in-showdown-over-jobsohio.html> that JobsOhio leaders "are not cooperating with our attempts to audit them" and that Kasich's administration was trying to insert an amendment into a budget bill to prevent him from conducting an audit. The auditor is now barred<http://www.toledoblade.com/Economy/2013/10/29/Many-jobs-state-says-it-creates-don-t-exist.html> from inspecting most of JobsOhio records because of legislation passed by the Republican-led General Assembly. Even Republican state treasurer Josh Mandel agrees<http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/01/treasurer_josh_mandel_says_job.html> that JobsOhio expenses should be public.