JobsOhio president Mark Kvamme recently told ONN's Jim Heath that there's plenty of success in Gov. John Kasich's first year in office.
"Obviously, we've turned the tide," said Kvamme.
Kvamme points to companies like American Greetings, Wendy's, and Bob Evans which have all have agreed to either stay in Ohio, or relocate to Ohio.
"We created through the retention and creation of jobs over $150 million in new tax revenue for the state," Kvamme said.
The news has been particularly strong on the automotive front:
Ford has committed $1 billion to upgrade its Ohio driveline manufacturing plants
Honda (which built its first overseas facilities in Ohio) is spending $400 million in improvements and will build the new Acura NSX hybrid sportscar in the state.
Chrysler is pouring $1.7 billion into its Toledo Jeep plants while adding 1,100 jobs
"I'd like to be the fly to state and not the fly over state, and a lot of people are taking notice of what's happening in Ohio," Kvamme said.
The Bureau of Labor said that Ohio added nearly 80,000 jobs in 2011, reported ONN's Jim Heath.
That follows a decade when Ohio had the second highest number of jobs lost. But the Kasich jobs record isn't perfect.
Cincinnati's loss of Chiquita Brands was a setback for southwest Ohio.
Kvamme said that the administration tried to convince Chiquita to stay, but in the end, they asked for too much.
"If it's not going to be a return on investment positive in the first couple years, it's not beneficial to the state," Kvamme said.
Dale Butland from Innovation Ohio, a liberal think-tank, said that Kasich's first year will not be remembered for jobs.
"If there's one thing he had a mandate to do when he was elected, it's to create jobs," said Butland.
Butland said that 2011 will most be remembered for the defeat of the controversial Senate Bill 5.
"Not only did he lose his single legislative achievement during the first year, which went down in flames at the polling booth, but his approval rating went into the toilet with it," Butland said.
While the Kasich team focused on jobs, their attempt at major collective bargaining reform backfired, resulting in a nearly year long struggle with organized labor.
Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown said that Senate Bill 5, and the debate over collective bargaining rights, divided Ohioans for most of Kasich's first year.
"Clearly, the negativity about Senate Bill 5 hurt Kasich's popularity in his first year in office," said Brown.
After protests at the statehouse, a statewide petition drive, and an expensive and extremely negative campaign, 61% of Ohio voters sent Kasich a message that he had gone too far.
"Mr. Kasich has to dig himself out of a hole. He's got plenty of time to do it, but Senate Bill 5 was responsible for a good deal of that digging," Brown said.
Democrats and union supporters said that they're not impressed with Kasich's first year.
From the start, the governor had warned his adversaries to get on his bus, or get run over by it.
"There's been a lot of talk about the bus. In the end, the person who mostly got run over by the bus is the governor himself," Butland said.
Brown said there's still time for Kasich to reconnect with a majority of Ohioans, but he offers this caution as the governor begins his second year.
"A better economy in 2014 makes people happier, and if they're happier they are more amenable to the status quo and the status quo is John Kasich," Brown said.
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