Ohio Democratic Party chairman requests governor's records

In response to recent news reports alleging a level of coordination between Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s official office and partisan efforts to attack health care and support Republican nominee Mitt Romney, Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern submitted the following public records request.

“Recent news reports have alleged Gov. John Kasich’s official office to have an alarming level of coordination with Republican efforts to elect Mitt Romney to the presidency, and attack the Affordable Care Act. Today, I requested additional documentation from Gov. Kasich in an effort to better understand the level of involvement he has allowed Mitt Romney and other partisans to hold in the Ohio governor’s office. It is my hope that in the interest of dispelling the appearance of these improprieties, he will satisfy this request quickly.”

Chairman Redfern’s open records request is as follows:

The Honorable John R. Kasich
Office of the Governor of Ohio
Sandra Callas
Legal Assistant/Extradition Coordinator
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Re: Public Records Request

Attention Ms. Callas:

Please accept this open records request in response to recent news reports alleging Governor Kasich may be using his official position, at the expense of Ohio citizens, to coordinate with and support Mitt Romney’s campaign for President and Republican efforts to attack health care. Please note that I have attached articles supporting these allegations to this request.

This request is pursuant to Ohio Revised Code § 149.43, respectfully requesting all communications, whether in hard copy or stored electronically, between the Ohio Governor’s office and (a number of) offices/organizations/individuals concerning the 2012 presidential campaign, Ohio’s economy, Florida’s economy, materials for circulation, talking points, memos, scheduling requests, and materials marked “internal.”

Please also provide all communications, whether in hard copy or stored electronically, regarding the Affordable Care Act, between the governor’s office and the following offices/organizations/individuals (a listing of 24).

Please produce the requested records within a reasonable period of time. We anticipate that many of these records will be easy for your office to produce, and request that you produce them on a rolling basis as you are able to copy or otherwise reproduce them. We do not wish to wait until you have gathered all of the requested records before you produce them. Please let me know when you anticipate producing records. If possible, we would like to receive these materials electronically (but please do not exclude any information that would otherwise be unavailable in an electronic format).

If there is any information that will be excluded or any materials that will be redacted (other than Social Security numbers) pertaining to our request, we want to know those categories and under what privacy law or other provisions they are withheld or redacted.

Should any portion of this request be denied, in part or in whole, the law requires written justification for its denial, along with a citation of the appropriate Open Records Act exemption that applies for each record, or portion thereof, that is withheld or redacted.

Sincerely, 
Chris Redfern
Chairman
Ohio Democratic Party

Gov. Kasich's press secretary, Rob Nichols told The Toledo Blade the public information request was "typical silly politics from Chris Redfern" that "come[s] close to admitting what everyone else already knows — that Obamacare is very problematic for Ohio and poses $27 billion in additional Medicaid costs to our state over the next six years.

"He also seems to have forgotten that Ohio is a plaintiff in the lawsuit seeking to overturn Obamacare. Had he remembered, he would have understood our interest in following the court proceedings and our anticipation of the court's decision on Thursday," Mr. Nichols said.