STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -
Governor John Kasich gave his second State of the State address on Tuesday. It was the first time the speech has been delivered outside Columbus.
The Governor took his message on the road to Steubenville in eastern Ohio.
The speech lasted more than an hour and a half, covering a lot of ground, everything from education and job creation to health care and manufacturing.
Kasich said taking the message on the road was his plan all along.
"I knew a year ago I wouldn't be in Columbus for this," he said. "I wanted to travel. I wanted to get out to see the folks, because that's what it's all about. You don't want to stay far away from them, you want to get out and touch them."
The governor chose Wells Academy in Steubenville, a top ranked elementary that's done a lot without a big budget.
"Sixty percent of children in this school are economically disadvantaged," Kasich said. "That's 15 percent above the statewide average, and yet they're number one, and they're number one because of commitment."
Job creation and the state's huge turnaround was a big part of the speech. The governor says Ohio is the number one job creator in the Midwest and number nine nationally.
"We went form number 48 to number 9 in one year!" Kasich said.
A number of northwest Ohio companies were mentioned, from GM and their plants in Toledo and Defiance to Whirlpool in Clyde, BX Solutions at Toledo Express, Johnson Controls, and, of course, the jobs coming to Jeep's Toledo Assembly Complex.
"Chrysler is investing half a billion dollars in Toledo, creating more than 1,100 jobs," Kasich said.
"I met with Sergio Marchionne, and I said, ‘Sergio, how many more can we get?' When they do something good you push them for more, and that's the way it has to be. We are working with Chrysler now to train people for those jobs. I've talked with Lloyd Jacobs at the University of Toledo about workforce training at the university, because when you're able to get sticky with them, they aren't able to get out of your grasp."
The governor called on lawmakers to steer clear of what he calls mindless partisanship, and he used Toledo-area House Representative Teresa Fedor and her work against human trafficking to prove his point.
"Teresa Fedor is on fire about this. There are 1,000 of our children in Ohio age 13 involved in this," Kasich said. "It's hard to even think about. My girls are age 12. Could you imagine someone snatching your daughter and forcing them into prostitution?"
Kasich also talked about leasing the turnpike and vowed Ohio will never give up control. But, he says leasing could earn the state billions of dollars, which he says could be vital to the state's success.
The governor also handed out three Ohio Courage Awards. One went to the family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan, another to a woman who lost her son to prescription pill abuse, and another to a woman who survived human trafficking.
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