John Kasich's Ohio Debate Gaffe: 'We Haven't Lost Jobs to China.'

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- There really is no doubt about it. Ohio jobs have moved overseas -- thousands to China. By one count, some 66,100 Ohio jobs had been shifted to China by 2007. And Republican John Kasich was dead wrong to claim in a gubernatorial debate against Ted Strickland last night that the jobs haven't disappeared. Kasich said, "We haven't lost jobs to China."

Workers who made Eljer plumbing fixtures in Salem, Ohio would be surprised to learn their manufacturing jobs didn't go to China.
People who made Etch A Sketch, the toy that draws on a screen using two knobs, and let's you erase it and start all over again, saw their life's work leave its small town Ohio home after 40 years. CBS News reported: "To save labor and production costs, Ohio Art Company is closing its Bryan, Ohio plant and moving production to China. The company announced its decision last month. Thirty workers are affected by the move - a lot for a town of 9,000 people. The Ohio employees made their last Etch A Sketches on Friday, three days before Christmas." The new plant that replaced the operation in Bryan, Ohio (in NW Ohio) is in Shenzen, China. By the way, Bryan is in Williams County, which nearly has the state's worst unemployment rate. Almost 14% of the county's workers are jobless.

And here's Malachi Mixon, chairman of Invacare Corp., near Cleveland. Kasich is on Invacare's board of directors. The company moved Ohio jobs to China, a fact that Mixon confirmed in a Jan. 31, 2008 inveterview with The Plain Dealer:

"Q: How difficult was the decision to move production to China?Invacare CEO Mixon: 'It wasn't difficult because it's about survival. [and] We realized we simply couldn't compete from America. You can take virtually any product made in Cleveland, make it in China, ship it back here and pay the freight for probably about 25 percent lower cost.' Invacare CEO Mixon said his Ohio labor costs were about $14 an hour; "And China, 50 cents."

UPDATE 3:09 PM -- Data published earlier this year by Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland think tank that is largely supported by labor, shows 10 companies in Ohio shifted production to China between May 2009 and May 2010. All told, there were 1,294 Ohio jobs lost. Kasich said there were none. Policy Matters Ohio gathered its data by analyzing records compiled by the U.S. Labor Department under the Trade Adjustment Act. Here's some of what the think tank said in its July report:

". . . by far, the largest number of Ohio jobs that have been shifted abroad and certified under the trade assistance program have been going to Mexico [4,668 jobs]. Each of the three largest certifications involving production shifts -- Ford Motor Co.'s Cleveland cast plant, Wal-Mart's eyeglass plant in Lockbourne and Avon's cosmetics plant in Springale (near Cincinnati) -- saw production go to Mexico. The vast bulk of the jobs shifted to Mexico, as with China, are manufacturing jobs."

CNBC's Larry Kudlow's Absurd Political Acrobatics: Kudlow Has Donated $31,827 To GOP Candidates

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Sham journalism has gotten a foothold in Ohio politics, and it arrived via national television. Cable TV economist Larry Kudlow -- who writes checks to Republican candidates -- interviewed the Ohio GOP's candidate for governor during his CNBC show Thursday. Their sit down now appears more about political theater than substantive business news, which is supposed to be CNBC's stock in trade. There were no sparring words. By today the interview has become a means for John Kasich to produce a political advertisement without spending any campaign cash -- the interview tape is on Kasich's official website. What's really shameful about the incident is that Kudlow has his money riding on the Republican party; he's actually a donor posing as a business journalist. It is not likely that he would frame his inteview with challenging questions, or fire anything tough squarely at his fellow Republican. Kudlow threw softballs at John Kasich, who posted the tape of his CNBC appearance on his campaign website late last night. Thus, the Kudlow interview had the tone of a political advertisement from the start -- and that is what it has become. Kasich delivered his stump speech -- he never strayed from being on message -- and Kudlow pretended it was news. Kudlow should have forcefully mentioned that he's an active Republican who has written checks for dozens of his political party's candidates. As recently as last May, Federal Election Commission records show Kudlow gave $1,000 to Connecticut's Christopher Shays, who used the money to pay off debts left over from his 2006 loss. Worse for Kudlow is that Shays in on the board of CIT, a financial giant that specializes in business loans. CIT filed for bankruptcy last year and is seen as part of the Wall Street mess.

Kudlow is a former Bear Stearns economist; Kasich is a former Lehman Bros. managing director. Newsmeat has a list of Kudlow's political donations over the years. The interview/ad is making the rounds of political websites in Ohio including Kasich for Ohio. Matt Naugle has a copy of the tape at RightOhio. There is a clip at American Conservative Values.

Plunderbund, a Democratic blog also has the tape and notes that Kasich's appearance echoes much of what Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has been saying about rebuilding the state's economy. Kudlow seems not to have noticed. The take at the Daily Bellwether is that Kudlow and CNBC owe equal time to Strickland. Kudlow is a Republican activist -- and there are Federal Election Commission records to prove it.