Kasich now embracing his weapons vote

Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s evolution on gun issues apparently continues.

During his campaigns for governor in 2010 and 2014, and his run for president in 2016, the Republican ran as far away as he could from his 1994 congressional vote to ban the production and sale of 19 models of semi-automatic guns dubbed “assault weapons.”

For example, Washington bureau chief Jack Torry points out, during Kasich’s presidential campaign, he called the ban “superfluous, and we don’t need laws that are superfluous. It didn’t have any impact.”

Despite the controversial vote, Kasich finally worked his way back into the good graces of the pro-gun-rights crowd. After signing a series of conceal-carry expansions in Ohio and repeatedly stressing the error of his 1994 decision, he won that group’s backing for his 2014 re-election.

When the super-PAC supporting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for president publicized a copy of a thankyou letter to Kasich from President Bill Clinton found during “oppo research” in Kasich’s archives at the Westerville Public Library, Kasich stressed how his vote 22 years earlier was a mistake.

But on Friday with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Kasich’s emphasis shifted 180 degrees, as he pointed with pride to his congressional action.

“I voted for the assault weapons ban in 1994,” Kasich pointed out. “When I ran for governor in 2010, I didn’t have any support from the NRA.”

Ohio swimming in sea of red tape

Here’s a fact you’re likely to hear many times this year: Ohio has 100,000 more regulations than the average state.

Senate President Larry Obhof dropped that little goodie on the Youngstown/ Warren Regional Chamber last week.

The Medina Republican has long contended that the state has too many regulations. So he signed up the Mercatus Center at George Mason University to perform a study.

“The results were pretty shocking,” Obhof said.

University researchers came up with some 246,000 Ohio regulations on individuals, employers, you name it. Obhof said he expects a formal presentation of the results in mid-March.

He added that he hopes lawmakers can cut that pile of red tape down to perhaps 220,000 or 230,000.

Senator off the hook for remarks on women

Late last month, Obhof said Sen. Matt Huffman might face disciplinary action for crude remarks about women at a going-away party for a veteran House staff member. The Lima Republican already had apologized at the time.

Turns out that’s good enough.

“This has been thoroughly reviewed, he was admonished by the president and publicly apologized. There will be nothing further,” said Obhof spokesman John Fortney. Allegations in Issue 2 dispute remain alive

Typically, even the most heated battle before the Ohio Elections Commission gets withdrawn shortly after Election Day.

So far, that’s not happened in a dispute over how major pharmaceutical companies financed a campaign that in November easily sank state Issue 2, a proposal aimed at lowering prescription drug costs in Ohio.

The Dispatch revealed that drugmakers made a few million dollars in contributions even in the year the issue was on the ballot. But that money was never disclosed publicly.

The supporters of Issue 2 filed an elections complaint, which Commission Executive Director Philip Richter says has been inactive but remains alive. He recommended the case be dismissed, but the bipartisan commission wanted to hold a hearing.

“While I initially anticipated that it might be dismissed after the election, I have to say I didn’t expect to be here in mid-February without hearing anything,” Richter remarked.