2018 OH Governor's race: on Government Reform


Mike DeWine: Opposed McCain-Feingold bill limiting political donations

Q: Campaign Finance: Limit political donations from corporations & unions?

Richard Cordray (D): Yes. Supported McCain-Feingold bill. Also supports public financing of campaigns.

Mike DeWine (R): No. Voted against McCain-Feingold.

Source: CampusElect.org Issue Guide on 2018 Ohio Governor race Oct 9, 2018

Mike DeWine: Supports purging voter rolls

Q: Support stricter voting rules such major voter purges, even if they prevent some people from voting?

Richard Cordray (D): No. "The right to vote is vital to our democracy." Make it "more accessible to Ohioans," don't take it away."

Mike DeWine (R): Yes. Applauds US Supreme Court decision upholding Ohio's strict method for purging voter rolls.

Source: CampusElect.org Issue Guide on 2018 Ohio Governor race Oct 9, 2018

Richard Cordray: Limit political donations from corporations & unions

Q: Campaign Finance: Limit political donations from corporations & unions?

Richard Cordray (D): Yes. Supported McCain-Feingold bill. Also supports public financing of campaigns.

Mike DeWine (R): No. Voted against McCain-Feingold.

Source: CampusElect.org Issue Guide on 2018 Ohio Governor race Oct 9, 2018

Richard Cordray: The right to vote is vital to our democracy

Q: Support stricter voting rules such major voter purges, even if they prevent some people from voting?

Richard Cordray (D): No. "The right to vote is vital to our democracy." Make it "more accessible to Ohioans," don't take it away."

Mike DeWine (R): Yes. Applauds US Supreme Court decision upholding Ohio's strict method for purging voter rolls.

Source: CampusElect.org Issue Guide on 2018 Ohio Governor race Oct 9, 2018

Jon Husted: States should police elections, not Feds

Ohio's elections chief said he would provide the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity looking into voter fraud with only the voter information that is public. "Confidential info won't be provided," Husted tweeted.

Husted said he ordered detailed reviews of credible allegations of voter fraud & voter suppression after the last 3 federal elections. The investigations were conducted by Ohio's 88 bipartisan county boards of elections. None found significant instances of voter fraud or abuse

Source: US News & World Report on 2018 Ohio gubernatorial race May 23, 2017

Jim Renacci: End campaign contributions that lead to government contracts

Renacci said as governor he will focus on jobs, regulatory reform and ending political corruption in Columbus, including allowing officeholders from awarding government contracts to campaign contributors. "I don't believe that politicians should get campaign contributions and then turn around and give them government contracts. There are a number of situations where I've learned that is occurring in the state. That needs to stop," he said.
Source: Dayton Daily News on 2018 Ohio gubernatorial race Feb 4, 2017

John Kasich: A handful of billionaires should not decide who is president

John Kasich was asked how he planned to curb the influence of money in politics in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. "Every time we change the laws, we have laws that we think are worse than laws that we had," Kasich said. "I don't know what I believe the answer is, but I will tell you if I win I will think the system works pretty well. And if I don't win, I'm going to blame it on the system," he joked.

[After that] the closest he came to broaching the subject of campaign finance reform was when he declared that "sometimes I think these laws can work, but unfortunately I think they work mostly on the margin." Got it? Neither do we.

Kasich took a different tack last month when he said that "a handful of billionaires should not decide who is president." But, even then, he was unsure of a solution to the problem.

Kasich has an unlimited-money super PAC. Earlier this year, it announced raising more than $11 million from 166 reportable contributions.

Source: Huffington Post on 2018 Ohio Gubernatorial race Aug 12, 2015

John Kasich: Deal with fundraising influencing voting decisions

When campaigning in New Hampshire, John Kasich was asked about money in politics and corporate personhood as defined in Citizens United. Kasich agreed that something needs to be done so that billionaires don't get to pick who gets elected:

Q: "What would you do to end corruption of our government by big money, and more specifically, would you support and work for a constitutional amendment clarifying that the constitution applies to natural persons only?"

A: "I'd like to say a couple things about campaign finance laws. First of all it is a bad system when billionaires can be the ones to pick a president, I don't like that. And here is the beauty of New Hampshire: they could spend all the money in the world but money don't buy you love in New Hampshire. So I'm concerned about it, and I will have something to say about it at an appropriate time, but I want to think it through. I think there is an element of fundraising influencing decisions. It's an issue & it will be dealt with."

Source: AFSC.org press release on 2018 Ohio Gubernatorial race Jul 23, 2015

  • The above quotations are from 2018 Ohio Gubernatorial race: debates and news coverage.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Government Reform.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by John Kasich on Government Reform.
  • Click here for more quotes by Mike DeWine on Government Reform.
Candidates and political leaders on Government Reform:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R)
Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R)
Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Jan 13, 2019