COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Gov. John Kasich has picked the
northeast Ohio city of Medina for this year’s State of the State
address, a location that honors a retiring Republican lawmaker and
allows the governor to deliver his election-year policy goals in the
backyard of his likely Democratic gubernatorial rival.
The speech will take place Feb. 24 at the Medina Performing Arts Center.
"Medina is one of Ohio’s great communities, and this is a great way to celebrate it," spokesman
Rob Nichols said in a statement.
The
city is home to Republican House Speaker Bill Batchelder, who will end
his 46-year career in public service this year because of term limits.
Kasich’s
likely Democratic rival Ed FitzGerald, of Cleveland, oversees
government in neighboring Cuyahoga County. Should FitzGerald win the
Democratic nomination, he’d face off against Kasich in November.
It
is the third consecutive year that Kasich has taken the speech away
from its traditional venue at the Ohio Statehouse. He began the practice
after his first address in 2011 was marred by pro-labor protests.
Demonstrators who chanted and heckled during the speech opposed a bill
that placed limits on public employee unions’ collective bargaining
powers. The bill later became law and was turned back by voters at the
ballot.
Kasich chose Steubenville as the venue for the speech the
following year, using the award-winning Wells Academy, named the best
school in the state, to tout education successes and the benefits of the
region’s burgeoning shale gas industry.
In 2013, he delivered the
speech in Lima, in northwest Ohio — home to another Republican
legislative leader, Senate President Keith Faber.
The state’s 132
lawmakers, Supreme Court justices, Cabinet officials and statewide
officeholders typically attend the State of the State speech, this year a
roughly two-hour car trip from Columbus. Justices, some statewide
officials and legislators couldn’t or chose not to make the trip the
past two years.
A few protested the travel time and cost
associated of holding the speech outside Columbus, a city conceived as
the state’s government center in 1812 for its central location. Kasich
has argued that changing the annual venue for the address allows Ohioans
in regions beyond the capital the chance to take part in a major
government event.
Before 2012, the Ohio General Assembly last went
outside Columbus to convene a joint session involving both senators and
representatives in 2003, when lawmakers traveled to the first state
capital, Chillicothe, to celebrate the state’s bicentennial. The time
before that was in the 1950s.
The state’s constitution requires
the governor to report to the General Assembly annually on the state of
the state. During the 19th century, this report was delivered to the
General Assembly in print form. Beginning about 1900 and following the
example of the president in Washington, Ohio governors started
delivering the report as a live address to lawmakers.
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Online:
Ohio Gov. John Kasich: http://www.governor.ohio.gov
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