Tower to Ted Strickland - You have permission to crash and burn.

That headline? Totally stolen from a friend on twitter.

But so funny.

Anyways, here's the story.

The Governor's plane is housed at Don Scott Field.

Apparently that's 14 minutes too far away for Ted Strickland.

Instead, at the cost of taxpayer dollars, the Governor has forced the plane to make the five minute trip to Port Columbus so the Governor can get to his plane a little faster.

How many times has he forced the trip in the past three months? More than two dozen times, according to the Other Paper.

Now let's cut to the chase here. 14 minutes doesn't mean jack when it comes to the Governor's schedule. He can make phone calls or read up on memos that he would make in his office.

Plain and simple, this is Strickland abusing the privilege of being Governor. Is it a huge deal? No. But it does wash away Strickland's claims of being an average Ohioan. Instead, he's an aristocrat - a member of the political elite who maintains a clear sense of entitlement, just like so many other politicians.

Kasich's campaign spokesman hits the nail on the head with this quote:

“More than 426,000 Ohioans have lost their jobs on Ted Strickland’s watch and won’t wake up tomorrow to go to work,” said Nichols. “But because he likes hitting the snooze button, he makes a small army of people fire up his plane, get it ready and then fly it from one airport to another so he won’t have to drive an extra 15 minutes to the airport.”

What amazes me is the number of flights he's taking. Over 24 in just three months? Seriously? Is that a good use of taxpayer dollars? And it isn't even paying off!

Businesses are still leaving Ohio. So are jobs. And so are young people.

If you're going to so lavishly exploit the office of Governor, Mr. Strickland, at least don't suck at it.