Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) So Eager To Cut Spending He’d Leave Prison Guard Towers Empty
In his lust to cut state spending, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) proposed a plan that could leave guard towers unmanned at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison located near two schools and a residential neighborhood in Lucasville. The plan would close six of the prison’s eight towers, resulting in savings of a measly $2.1 million. The proposal was met with resistance from local union officials and state Rep. Terry Johnson (R), who recalled the 1993 riot that left one guard and 10 inmates dead inside the facility:Is Gov. John Kasich (R) one crazy Republican. Not really. In the sense that this is the way conservatives think. They get to be seen making budget cuts which seem like they are saving money, only the problems those cuts create ultimately cost tax payers even more because of the problems they cause and the mess - like possible prison riots - that have to be cleaned up. Kasich, like your average conservative does not believe in thinking, he believes in reacting. That has never amounted to much in the way of good governance, but since conservative hate good government, by and for the people, creating more problems makes perfect sense in what passes for Republican thinking.
“The people guarding the prison are my friends and neighbors,” Johnson said. “Their welfare and that of their families are my highest priority. The public owes them an enormous debt of gratitude for the difficult job they do so well. This potential tower closure presents a grave concern for me. If keeping those towers open will help ensure a single time that one guard gets home safely to his or her family when they might otherwise have been harmed then I am for keeping the towers open.” [...]
“I was here in 1993 with the (Ohio) National Guard and saw the disastrous consequences of a full-scale riot firsthand,” Johnson said. “That was a terrible time and lives were lost. We need to ensure that never happens again.”
Given his short time in office, Kasich is already remarkably unpopular with Ohio voters. Endangering prison guards, school children and families in the name of saving money probably isn’t the way to bring those poll numbers back up.
