Sherrod Brown is taking credit for John Kasich's successes

Senator Sherrod Brown sent out an email today, telling everyone what he has been doing for Northeast Ohio in the last quarter. And boy, has he been busy! Brown has done some terrific work, including finding "ways to create jobs and strengthen our economy."

For example, he's fighting to protect a program for the Ohio National Guard and to save the US Postal Service. He also honored some Northeast Ohio veterans. And to top it all off, he helped create 400 new jobs at Republic Steel in Lorain and save 1,400 jobs at the Ford Plant in Avon Lake.

Wait...WHAT!?

Sherrod Brown is taking credit for Ohio jobs created and retained directly as a result of Governor Kasich's efforts.

As we told you in November, the Republic Steel expansion was a direct result of work done by Kasich and the team at JobsOhio. Oh, and remember this video of the Ford worker we showed you in December? Whose leadership did this UAW worker credit with saving the jobs at the Avon Lake plant?

Governor Kasich's leadership. As in not Sherrod Brown.

Brown tries to posit that he deserves the credit because his vote for the auto bailouts helped save the Ford jobs, even though...um...Ford didn't take a bailout. No, seriously, this is what he says:

With more than 792,000 Ohio jobs dependent upon the auto industry, Sen. Brown has been an outspoken advocate for Ohio’s auto industry.

While Ford did not require assistance through the auto restructuring, saving the auto industry prevented damage to the entire supply chain.

Bull. The Ford plant was saved because JobsOhio worked with Ford to insource existing truck production from Mexico to Ohio. So, what's his rationale for claiming he worked to bring the 400 new Republic Steel jobs?

Sen. Brown has been a strong supporter of Ohio’s steel industry. In Dec. 2009 and Sept. 2010, Brown testified before the International Trade Commission on behalf of Ohio steel workers in Lorain, Youngstown, and Warren. The ruling helped increase demand for domestic production.

That's quite a stretch, Senator. But even if it were true, Republic was considering expanding in other states or even in Mexico. It was the leadership and incentives offered by Governor Kasich's team that brought those jobs to Ohio.

This is shameful, Senator Brown. Not only do you take credit for jobs you had zero involvement with, you leave out the biggest part of the story, which is that these announcements were the results of work done by the Kasich administration.

Here is a link (3MB file) to the screen capture of Brown's entire email. I only get his Northeast Ohio edition. I assume he sends out different ones to the state's other regions. If anyone out there has them and would forward them to us, it would be appreciated. Our contact info is on the top right of the blog. I'm curious to see if Sherrod is taking credit for Governor Kasich's other new jobs successes, as well.

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