TOLEDO – Gov. John Kasich senses another political fight brewing over one of his proposals – his
intention to lease the Ohio Turnpike.

If yesterday’s events in Toledo were any indication, Kasich’s instincts are correct.

Kasich and Toledo Mayor Mike Bell held a news conference near the University of Toledo to
champion the Republican governor’s proposal to lease the 241-mile turnpike as a way to replace
dwindling federal funds for sorely needed transportation projects.

About 30 minutes later on the same property, a Toledo-area state representative and local union
official blasted Kasich and his turnpike plans.

The recently enacted state budget authorizes a lease of the turnpike through a
request-for-proposals process that must be OK’d by the General Assembly.

“The governor, in how he’s trying to approach this, is totally on the right track,” said Bell,
an unlikely political ally for Kasich.

Bell, a Democrat who won his office as a political independent in 2009, also has supported
Senate Bill 5 – the Kasich-backed law that curbs collective bargaining for public employees.

“He’s coming up with a creative way to actually help out northwest Ohio,” Bell said. “To take
money and pump it back into our area and other areas throughout the state, you’ve got to have the
ability to use the assets that you have.”

State Rep. Michael Ashford, D-Toledo, and George Tucker, executive director of the Toledo
AFL-CIO, cast Kasich’s intention to privatize the turnpike as a bad deal for the state, a job
killer and likely to gouge drivers with higher tolls.

Ashford focused on statements Kasich previously has made in which he hinted the state could get
$3 billion for leasing its turnpike, arguing that Indiana received about $3.8 billion for leasing
its 157-mile toll road in 2006 for 75 years.

“If you’re going to privatize it, then get a good deal,” Tucker said.

Ashford also warned that tolls on a privatized Ohio Turnpike would double within five years -
apparently

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