art credit: redstate
Once again, Ohio Governor John
Kasich used his veto power to kill yet
another bill favored by conservatives in his state. On Tuesday, he killed a
bill that would have made renewable energy benchmarks voluntary, rather than
mandatory, for the next two years.
Kasich defended his action,
saying, “Ohio workers cannot afford to take a step backward from the economic
gains that we have made in recent years, however, and arbitrarily limiting
Ohio’s energy generation options amounts to self-inflicted damage to both our
state’s near and long-term economic competitiveness.” Of course, how suspending
mandatory benchmarks imposed on electric companies would limit the companies’
“energy generation options," as opposed to doing exactly the opposite,
Kasich did not explain.
Not surprisingly, the
Environmentalist Lobby cheered Kasich, who ran for president this year as a
Republican. The Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon
Society, and Ohio Consumers’ Counsel all praised the veto. The “benchmarks,” as
they are called, were created by legislation in 2008, requiring electric
companies to gradually obtain more energy from “renewable sources,” rather than
being allowed simply to make a free market decision to buy the least expensive
electricity.
Senator Bill Seitz
(R-Cincinatti), however, was not pleased. “It is apparent that Gov. Kasich
cares more about appeasing his coastal elite friends in the renewable energy
business than he does about the millions of Ohioans who decisively rejected
this ideology when they voted for President-elect Trump,” Seitz said in a press
release. “We can only hope that President Trump and his amazing cabinet of free
market capitalists will save us from this regulatory overreach of Al Gore-style
policies that take unnecessary money out of ratepayers’ pockets.”
Seitz said he would move to
totally repeal the mandates in the next legislative session.
Kasich made it clear by his
veto that he does not trust the free market to sort out which type of energy
source is best for Ohio consumers. This veto is a confirmation for many more
conservative Republicans that Kasich is simply not a conservative.
Ohio legislators can return to
Columbus to override this veto, if they wish. . .
During the Republican
presidential contest, Kasich defended the implementation of controversial
Common Core standards in his state, and attacked fellow Republican candidates
who opposed them — fellow governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Bobby
Jindal of Louisiana, as well as former Governor Mike Huckabee, and U.S.
Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. At the time, Donald Trump was
not mentioned, although Trump also opposed Common Core, seen by conservative
opponents as an attempt to nationalize public education.
There have been numerous other
deviations from conservative principles by Kasich, including his backing of the
expansion of Medicaid in Ohio under ObamaCare. When Kasich was in Congress, he
was one of only 42 Republicans who voted for President Bill Clinton’s ban on
assault rifles. He also favors granting U.S. citizenship to illegal aliens.
Clearly, Republican primary
voters made a good decision to reject John Kasich for the Republican nomination
for president.
And
another item on the 2017 New Year’s Wish List to Columbus lawmakers: Pass the
Ohio Health Care Compact.
# # #
