Subject: RE: Kasich Press Call Excerpts
From: "Helmstetter, TJ" <[email-masked]>
To: "Price, Jenna" <[email-masked]>, RR2 <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 10:15:14 -0700

The updated number is 40 months, not 39 months as per kirstin
Other than that, this has all already been approved

From: Price, Jenna
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 1:13 PM
To: RR2
Subject: Kasich Press Call Excerpts

For Immediate Release
April 26, 2016

Contact: DNC Press – 202-863-8148

Democrats Host Media Call To Discuss Disastrous GOP Field and Kasich’s Hypocrisy in Indiana & Ohio
Following an unusual agreement between Ted Cruz and John Kasich to divide efforts to slow the momentum of Donald Trump, Kasich canceled all campaign events in Indiana. However, Kasich will still hold a private fundraiser today. While Kasich continues to neglect his responsibilities in his home state of Ohio, he refuses to reimburse the taxpayers for exorbitant security detail costs related to his campaign. In fact, he won’t even release the full amount the taxpayers are on the hook for. Today, Indiana Democratic Party Chair John Zody and Ohio Democratic Party Chair David A. Pepper hosted a media call to discuss the disastrous Republican field ahead of Indiana’s Republican primary election next week.

Below find excerpts from the call as prepared for delivery:

Ohio Democratic Party Chair David A. Pepper
…

While Kasich’s ineptitude on the campaign trail may be amusing to some, as Ohioans we don’t find it all that funny. It has been 195 days and counting that John Kasich has spent outside of Ohio, neglecting his job as Governor. Each day that Kasich is out of state, campaigning for president, it’s costing Ohio taxpayers -- to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Now we can’t be sure exactly how much the taxpayers have already chipped in for Kasich’s campaign. PolitiFact Ohio estimates it’s already reached nearly half a million dollars. When it’s all said and done it could cost many times more. And we’ll never know precisely because the Kasich administration refuses to reveal the amount. That’s right -- the taxpayers are footing the bill for Kasich’s campaign, but his administration refuses to tell us how many public dollars are being spent to support his presidential ambitions. Beyond taxpayers funds, while Kasich is away on the campaign trail, Ohio’s job growth has trailed the national average for 39 straight months. And there are more Ohio children living in poverty today than there were in the height of the recession in 2008.

Kasich could take a different route here. He could be transparent -- even Chris Christie was more forthcoming in New Jersey. Kasich is choosing to hide from Ohio taxpayers. He could have his campaign reimburse the state -- that’s what Scott Walker did in Wisconsin. Kasich is choosing to make Ohio taxpayers pay. We are calling on Kasich to stop stonewalling reporters’ requests for this information and then have his campaign pay back every single penny owed to the taxpayers.
…

All of this out of state campaigning and fundraising , what does Kasich have to show for? To secure the Republican nomination, he would have to win 162% of the remaining delegates. It’s mathematically impossible and irresponsible to his constituents in Ohio to continue. Kasich still needs 23 delegates to match Marco Rubio- and he dropped out over a month ago! There is zero reason why Kasich should still be in the race. It’s time for Kasich to do the right thing, be transparent about this spending and reimburse the taxpayers of Ohio. Overall, Kasich’s governorship has been a failure, and his policies have been a disaster for Ohio. Given the opportunity, Kasich would be a disaster for the rest of our country too.

Indiana Democratic Party Chair John Zody

Now I’m sure David can agree with me here when I say this – John Kasich is trying to pull a fast one on Hoosiers. First, Kasich and Ted Cruz announced they entered an unusual agreement to save their failing campaigns, by dividing their efforts in upcoming primaries, to prevent Trump from clinching more victories. Kasich decided to bail on the primary process, everyday Hoosiers, and campaigning in Indiana.  Less than 48 hours later, the agreement is already falling apart. Just yesterday, in reference to Indiana voters, Kasich said, “ They ought to vote for me. I’m not campaigning in Indiana and he’s not campaigning in these other states, that’s all. It’s not a big deal.” Tell that to the millions of Hoosiers who will vote in the Indiana primary next week. Their votes are equally deserving of Kasich’s attention.

To top it off, Kasich is still holding a closed-door fundraising event with insiders here in Indiana despite ceding the state to Trump and Cruz. In other words, Kasich is happy to ask for Hoosier dollars, just not Hoosier votes. Perhaps he's afraid Hoosiers will think his record as Ohio’s governor is eerily similar to our unpopular governor, Mike Pence. Like John Kasich’s record of worker wages stagnating in the state of Ohio, Mike Pence has allowed Indiana’s per capita income to fall to 38th in the nation. What’s worse, Pence even repealed the state’s common construction wage laws – forcing Hoosiers to work more for less.

So while John Kasich is trying to sell himself as a moderate for the Republican Party, the reality is that Kasich is just like Mike Pence and the other far-right conservative politicians who have prioritized their out-of-touch agendas at the expense of everyday families. But let’s be clear – this extreme right-wing field  of Trump, Cruz, and Kasich have been a long time in the making. They are the natural result of years of extreme ideology and dangerous, divisive rhetoric coming from Republicans.

Hoosiers have already suffered from the out-of-touch agenda of Mike Pence. They don’t need to hear from another empty suit politician like John Kasich and I guess they won’t. But as Cruz and Trump continue to spew their extremist, hateful rhetoric across the state, I am confident that more Hoosiers will wake up to what today’s Republican Party has become and realize how important it is that we elect a Democratic President, Governor, and Senator in Indiana.
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