Yet another Republican governor is killing jobs. This time, it’s John Kasich in Ohio.

A study out today shows his proposed two-year budget could mean a direct loss of 51,052 jobs in that state. The study by Innovation Ohio, shows that such job losses would be more than double than the 22,000 jobs created since Kasich took office. This blow to Ohio’s economy is in addition to the Kasich-backed bill passed by the Ohio Legislature gutting collective bargaining rights for public employees, a drastic move that limits workers’ ability to attain or maintain middle-class jobs.

Innovation Ohio Communications Director Dale Butland puts it this way:

School districts and local governments will, of course, do everything possible to avoid laying people off. But they’ve already made the easy cuts and pared their budgets dramatically. So when the Governor proposes to cut school funding by $3 billion and local government funding by 50 percent, firing workers or raising local taxes are the only realistic choices they have left. But attacking workers – whether through a job-killing budget or the unfair Senate Bill 5 – will not fix Ohio. It will only destroy the middle class. And that’s not what Gov. Kasich was elected to do.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker already has racked up quite a record as a job killer, after only a couple months in office. In Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott turned away federal high-speed rail project, costing the state much-needed jobs, his hand-picked department heads are being paid special salaries-unabashed cronyism costing the state’s taxpayers a bundle.

AFL-CIO Now Blog, Thurs Apr 7 2011
Byline: Tuyla Connell