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You know, Ohio Education Association representing 120,000 educators who are united in their mission to create the excellent public schools.

Every child deserves more at o h e talk.

two Republican backed bills to fight fraud and publicly funded childcare centers, with the sponsor of one saying the state isn't doing enough to catch it.

And a conversation with a northwest Ohio automotive engineer challenging Vivek Ramaswamy for the Republican nomination for governor.

That's this weekend.

The state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

Two pairs of Republican lawmakers unveiled a pair of bills they said would fight fraud and publicly funded childcare centers.

But the sponsors of the second bill said the state isn't doing enough to catch fraud.

The dueling bills come as videos were posted on social media in recent weeks, showing conservative commentators trying to gain access to Somali run daycares in the Columbus area to confront unfounded allegations of fraud, similar to that uncovered starting in 2021.

In Minnesota, one of the bills put forward Thursday would require publicly funded childcare to install cameras and record video, and the Department of Children and Youth wants to have real time access to those cameras for remote inspections.

The bill would stop payments if fraud is suspected and give the attorney general more prosecution power.

Representative Josh Williams also said there will be safeguards in place for the cameras and video, but if parents don't like that, they shouldn't take the subsidies.

Governor Mike DeWine said on January 5th that there's no evidence of widespread fraud in child care centers in Ohio, and reiterated information he'd shared on December 31st.

The DCI had done more than 10,000 inspections last year, resulting in 38 child care facilities shut down.

DeWine said that same day that the state received 124 tips from the public, resulting in 12 child care's closed and 61 programs ordered to pay back the state for overpayments.

Williams suggested those tips were received in recent weeks following the confrontations of social media influencers, and they resulted in a higher percentage of fraud found than the state's efforts, he said.

That's further showing the need for his bill.

This ensures that fraud is not quietly handled internally like we've seen and not forgotten or swept under the rug, because the Department or the administration does not want to have a black eye or appear to demonize a particular community or group.

DeWine spokesman said Williams may be mistaken in how he's interpreting that data.

That bill goes further than one introduce the day before.

It makes it clear that Ohio pays child cares on attendance, not enrollment, which is the way it's done now.

It would also give the Ohio Attorney General authority to investigate child care fraud, and would make it easier to quickly stop payments to suspect child care facilities, Representative Phil Plummer said.

Ohio is a solid system now, but then more can be done to prove that child care money is being used for child care.

You know, it's $1 billion budget.

Almost half of it's coming from the federal government.

So we can't gaslight this and say, Ohio's terrible because Ohio's not terrible.

And I wouldn't put my reputation on the line standing up here saying, this department's doing a good job.

There is fraud.

We're addressing this.

We're going to hold a cat who stole our money accountable, hopefully convict them criminally.

But this is under control in Ohio.

a reminder that this is an election year.

Plummer will face Representative Rodney Creech in the Republican primary in May to replace Senator Steve Huffman, who is term limited.

Williams is among the candidates in the May Republican primary, today's longtime Toledo area congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, this fall that field grew on Thursday as Madison, she and resigned as the deputy director of U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or Ice, to join the race.

The governor's race may be the marquee one on the November ballot.

Former Ohio Department of Health Director Doctor Amy Acton appears to have the Democratic nomination for that job, but Republican Vivek Ramaswamy may have a challenger in the May primary.

An automotive designer and racing team owner from northwest Ohio who is running to the right of Ramaswamy.

I talked with him this week, Well, I'm Casey Perch.

I grew up in Tiffin, Ohio, third generation Buckeye, a lot of family going back generations, either military or entrepreneurs.

So we look around and we see what we want to be better in our community world.

And I don't see an option that I felt was good enough.

So I thought I should give it a go.

And you're running against the baker.

I'm a swami who has lined up the big endorsements already.

President Trump, the Ohio Republican Party, governor Mike DeWine, both Republican U.S.

Senators John Houston and Bernie Marino.

How do you compete with that and take that on?

By simply my track record for people saying that I genuinely care about the people first and foremost.

And, what's the come in to do the work to make that happen?

And frankly, I think the contrast in my life and what I've done with building the educational, nonprofit, educational programs, mentoring the best young engineers and getting them jobs, building the high efficiency diesel Omega car you may have seen on Tucker Carlson, or even my watch company to bring manufacturing back shows that I have a track record of caring, and that's something that I want to bring forward.

And I don't see that with our current pick.

What are the main issues or issue that you'll be focusing on with regard to Ohio?

Of course.

One, the data centers, that's, profoundly disturbing to me.

It's something that we're seeing hundreds of these coming in that effectively are coming in under the cover of night, so to speak, with NDA forms.

Everybody's becoming very surprised from what I see in here.

They have massive tax abatements for 10 to 15 years.

Also, they sap so much electricity that of a small town that our electricity bills will end up skyrocketing, effectively making the people subsidize the cost of the energy for them.

Beyond that, they have hardly any maintenance jobs.

And when you consider these are multibillion dollar projects and the tiny amount of money by comparison, it comes back into a community.

Even when you look past the potential environmental problems with fresh water, because they require ridiculous sums of fresh water to cool.

Be at the Ohio River, Lake Erie, our, streams, and most importantly, our aquifers as well.

They're a net loss to Ohio.

Now, that's just one thing of many, but that just shows to me that leadership was not thinking enough of the future for everybody ahead.

And it seems to me that we are being taken advantage of and sold out for tech bros and billionaires.

So the idea of making Ohio the Silicon Valley of the Midwest, that's not something that you'd want to continue.

I think saying it's the Silicon Valley of the Midwest is just campaign rhetoric.

So people don't realize that they're being sold out before it happens.

You know, I'm not somebody that puts the brake on industry and, innovation and moving forward, quite the opposite.

I want to further innovation and building, as you've seen, with building the mega car and such, but it has to be something that gives power to the people, to where we can build genuine, worthwhile industry.

That's a net gain for everybody in the state.

When I look at the data centers and how it's being done, not only is it in net negative for the state and the people, it appears to me this is a stopgap measure because we didn't have the foresight on a national level to be building the power dense generation, to be able to place these things elsewhere.

Instead, they're being put into our beautiful state, which, frankly, Ohio, if you look at a map and really look at it, I think it's the heart of America.

We're at the center of it.

We're at the Great Lakes.

We're at the crossroads of America.

We have people that want to innovate.

We have some of the best schools here.

Heck, we had John Glenn, Neil Armstrong in the Wright brothers.

So I just I don't like seeing these be pushed in as a stopgap when I think we need foresight, and leadership that thinks in terms of generations even beyond any terms they might be in office.

But of course, looking at the short term, how that we can make people's lives better in general, your campaign slogan is Saving Ohio.

Well, Saving Ohio from what I mean, you're running as a Republican.

Republicans have dominated Ohio politics for the last three decades or so.

Are you saying Ohio needs to be saved from Republicans?

I think the key word here is establishment quagmire, bureaucracy.

You know, I think it has nothing to do with a Partizan issue.

We have massively, wildly powerful billionaires nowadays.

We see that and we see the effects of it.

Now, is your opponent one of those?

Yeah, of course he is.

And his track record shows that he cares more about his own self-interest in the billionaire elite versus the people.

Because, you know, this is a person with respect, no mudslinging.

But he didn't go to higher education in Ohio.

I'm a third generation Buckeye.

He went to Harvard and Yale and got a Soros family scholarship.

That's that doesn't feel very Ohio.

Despite his mass wealth and everything he's done, he has no business is in Ohio.

And also, despite his massive wealth and nearly doubling in the last year alone, when all he's doing is running for office, and he didn't even do Doge like we thought was going to be helpful for the country.

He's increase his net worth nearly double, and has done zero philanthropy here.

And when I look at that, just in terms of a person on a personal level, but also professionally, that hurts and frankly infuriates me because I spent the last 11 years of my life mentoring the best young engineering students here, not getting paid.

They didn't have to be part of it, getting them unbelievable jobs everywhere from Lockheed Martin to Tesla in Palo Alto to GM, Ford Marathon and a host of other specialized things.

And I know for the fact that we have the best and brightest here, but what has my opponent done?

And just one other small detail.

H-1b visas, sure, a federal issue, but something brought up.

So when my opponent says that we need H-1b visas, which largely come from India, about 70, 72%, the rest being largely from China, and says that we don't have the smart enough or we don't have the technical, logically advanced people here enough, but we need to bring those people in.

Absolutely untrue.

I've been mentoring them with no help from the state or anything for the last 11 years where he's not been, and all that does is destroy the job market because corporations will have a short term profit with cheaper labor while creating lots of competition.

It's unfair to our native young people that went to school here, went in debt, got good grades, they want to work, and then when they finally get there, if they get a job now, the job market is destroyed because corporations and big companies can just pay foreign labor cheaper amounts.

So a federal issue, yes, but in looking after the people of our state and caring about them and their futures, first and foremost, that's not acceptable.

Some of those who've been your most vocal supporters, at least online, are those who support the move to abolish property taxes.

You've talked about that a lot.

If that gets to the ballot, it passes this fall.

And if you're a governor, you're going to have to deal with that.

So how do you replace around $22 billion in property taxes that are collected to fund schools, law enforcement, libraries, all the things that property taxes pay for what I did?

Well, first of all, I look forward to deal with that, because if I do, that means we're going the right direction.

So that's what I signed up for.

The first thing about that is beyond just how to do it is what does that do?

It puts the power back to the people rather than the bureaucracy, because to fund things one, it's going to force accountability and fiscal responsibility from the government to if there's going to be new measures to vote on taxes, the people are going to have to vote on it.

That brings the power back.

Now, I understand your concern, and that's very valid.

Some are in the area of 67% of that goes to the schools.

I believe in 2024, there's about $16.2 billion.

I hope you forgive me, but there are many numbers floating.

Yes there are.

I've heard everything from 16.7 and higher, but yes, indeed, some are there and I just have to throw this in as a sidebar so that the car that I built over a hundred miles a gallon, all that jazz, if somebody asked me what the duration of the camshaft lobes are and the lift right now I got, I, I, I don't remember I'll look it up for you, but it doesn't mean I don't know how the car works.

Anyway, another issue relating to the school funding is because the the majority of that funding actually goes to the schools, and the schools are receiving a majority of their funding from it.

There's issues with that even being constitutional with the Ohio Constitution.

So even at first blush, that doesn't sit well.

I have to point something else out in terms of looking at the government from about 2010 and 2011, our spending in Ohio was more than doubled.

You know, we're approaching $100 billion.

Yet in that amount of time, our population has grown, what, 3%?

That's massive.

And then when people see things, the likelihood of massive waste, fraud and abuse, for instance, with the Somali daycare we solved, this is Minnesota, of course, but to the tune of just billions upon billions of dollars that alone pay for it.

So waste, fraud and abuse is not going to pay for the loss of that kind of property tax levy.

You're in government.

Are you sure?

I think there's a lot of it.

You think that there is enough to cover $22 billion in local property taxes?

Yeah, I pay attention to government.

There's enough to pay for that.

But we can do it on our own anyway.

And that's something that's going to go to the ballot.

It's going to put the power back to the people, and it's going to force the government to be fiscally responsible and accountable.

You, have said you don't like marijuana.

You oppose abortion, both of which are issues that Ohio voters have said they support.

Would you want to see changes in state law that would basically conflict with what Ohio voters have said on those issues of marijuana and abortion?

Well, again, I defer to what is in the best interest of the people.

Fortunately, I have an incredible team with me that share the same good values.

Now, with regard to abortion, I don't like it in any way.

I think it's the one most horrific things there is.

And I think, gosh, since, Roe versus Wade, well, let me put it this way.

The amount of people that have died in abortion clinics far outweighs the worst atrocities.

And in war of the last century.

But voters still have supported I understand that, I understand that, it's not something I like, and it's something that if it's going to exist at all, it should be incredibly rare.

So you wouldn't support changes in laws to that would conflict with what Ohio voters have said on either of these issues.

In general, I don't support abortion.

I'm very pro-life in general with that.

And frankly, with regard to that, there's a lot of other dark things that come with the nature of abortion, that, are not good for society either.

Marijuana.

That's a little bit of a separate issue.

Going to, seek the wisdom of some others with regard to that.

Of course, with people now, I don't like it.

I'm not for it.

I'm not in favor of anybody I know doing.

I think it's a distraction for people having, well balanced and productive lives and being really happy.

But, that's something I'm going to defer to the, the council there on.

I got to ask you, you've gone after Rama Swami for his heritage.

You've called for people of Somali descent and Haitians in Ohio and elsewhere to be deported.

You've mentioned here that you oppose H-1b visas.

You've said you would accelerate Ice operations in Ohio.

You've been accused of being a Holocaust denier.

Are you are you a white nationalist?

Well, I'm white, and, being a nationalist means that you care about your country before others.

So by very definition, those things are accurate.

So I have a question.

Why would you even ask that question?

I think you can tell I'm white.

I think you can tell I care about America for another country.

I'm wondering if you identify yourself as a white nationalist.

No, I identify myself simply as a Buckeye.

I'll say a nationalist because I'm very proud of America and this is my only home.

The reason I'm here fighting for this is because we have nowhere to go.

Vivek, with regard to his Indian heritage.

Now, I'm not knocking his Indian heritage, but he's very Indian.

He was born to Indian nationals and ended up becoming American because of paperwork.

You've called him an anchor baby?

Well, by definition, that's what he is.

And is that.

Is that a problem?

Is that does that make him unqualified to be governor?

Well, that only comes into play when he insults Americans.

And our heritage.

My grandfather means a great deal to me, and he was my mentor, especially as it relates to our civic duty in our government.

He landed on the beach Easter Sunday, 1945, and Okinawa got out with the brands that are being shot.

So all the atrocities of that had to fight.

His younger brother fought through Vietnam, the Cold War and flu.

For there.

How your National Guard, their father was in both world wars and fought for America.

Their granddaddy was in the Calvary and blew the boot.

UGA, which we still have.

My parents worked for decades.

We never went on vacation to build a business and do that.

We are part of this land.

We are Americans that go back, so we simply take it personally.

When someone whose parents are foreign nationals, condescends and looks down our nose and tells us what an American should be when he does it and doubles down time and time again, insulting our pop culture and our ways.

That alone, in my opinion, makes him unfit to lead.

You're probably going to need moderate votes from Ohioans even to win the primary, much less to win the general.

How do you appeal to moderate voters if if these are your positions?

Well, the positions I'm mentioning mean something to everyone.

And I will remind you, for the last 11 years with Genius Garage, I have mentored college students.

That I picked them because of what's in their head, in their heart.

But they come from every background.

They're male, they're female, they're white, they're black.

They're Asian, even Indian descent, and some of them even different sexualities.

But it's not my business.

It's not what it's about.

It's about helping people that are Ohioans.

And I've done that because I felt it was the right thing to do.

And I thought the American educational system was doing a very poor job, and it did a poor job for me, and I wanted to make the difference.

And so when you consider the progressive left that you're supposed to care about people, help them to your own to use your resources to do that.

Well, that's what I've been doing for over a decade with, respectfully, no support from the left or the right and my Omega car.

I care deeply about the environment, and even though I like things like muscle cars and race cars and IT trucks, if you love them, doesn't mean that I don't want to produce something that people can afford.

And it's good for the environment.

And with the data centers.

Yeah, I'm deeply concerned about our water and our environment.

I'm a sportsman.

I've spent countless hours standing in the stream fishing and conservation so respectfully.

I simply love the people of Ohio.

That's all of them, including people who look different than you and have a different face.

I've been helping them.

I just think Vivek is unfit to lead, based upon the fact that his track record shows shares he doesn't care about anybody but himself, certainly not Ohio.

And he's condescending to all Americans, period.

It would take a lot of money to really be competitive in this race.

Fake Ramaswamy has set fundraising records and has not even put some of his own money into his campaign.

That we don't know how much he's spent yet.

Are you prepared to go up against the kind of money that he can bring to this race, when there's a very strong chance that you might not prevail easily?

He's not the only billionaire in the world, for one thing.

And there are people that don't share the ideals of him.

They don't believe in his leadership based upon what he's doing.

They're concerned with him up there.

He's already faltering, respectfully, high as a red state, but he's already trailing the Democrat, Amy Acton, who resigned as health director.

That's not looking too good.

So there's people concerned that, frankly, he's going to mess up the Senate because of it.

Now, I've been a Republican since I was a senior in high school when I first registered.

My grandfather was one of those good conservative values.

So I would remind people that the fact didn't even become a Republican until like 20, 23 or 24, so he could vote for himself.

So where's his good conservative values to leave the Republican Party in regard to money?

One last item.

He has the endorsement from President Trump, and he got a tweet to prove it.

Well, on my wall at home, I have something from Donald J. Trump with a signature that says Lifetime Achievement Award in Education, which I got for thousands of hours of volunteer service mentoring our bright young engineers here in Ohio.

Because I care, and I've got a national pin with the presidential crest on him.

Now, what we've got is technically an endorsement, but mine is too.

And the difference is I earned by helping the people of Ohio.

And for that, got history of political deal making.

If you do not win the nomination, what do you plan to do in terms of the election?

Do you plan to still campaign against Ramaswamy?

Well, no, I can't run as an independent.

My run is simply over in that regard.

And I've thought about this.

And the thing is simple.

I have no interest in being a career politician.

My interest is building a nonprofit, fixing education.

That's what I've been doing.

Building innovation, building industry, building businesses.

Because that's matters.

So I'll probably go back to my normal life and maybe run again another time.

But someone had asked me who would I vote for?

And while I don't like this, and maybe my grandfather wouldn't smile upon me in some ways from from above because of civic duty, I think he would still understand.

I'm not going to vote for either, because respectfully, for whatever reason, the GOP has ended up with such an absolutely terrible candidate that frankly, I am absolutely risking my life, my livelihood, and my family's lives right now just being here.

And I'm not doing that because I want to be famous.

I can go play with cars on YouTube if I want to.

I'm not doing because I want to do deals.

I just want Ohio to have a future.

I want people to be able to afford a home.

I want them to be able to afford to have a family, be healthy and know that they're going to have a tomorrow.

And right now, I don't feel that we have that put is running.

Make him.

Georgetown was with him for the interview and the event they attended afterward.

Georgetown came in eighth in the Pac 11 person Republican primary for Ohio's second congressional district in 2024.

She's a former chair of a moms for Liberty chapter in Ohio, and in 2021, led an anti-mask and anti-vaccine group, but says she brings balanced Christian values and leadership to his ticket.

And that is it for this week, my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Media, thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at State news.org or find us online by searching the State of Ohio Show.

Stay in the know by registering for Ohio State House alerts through this QR code, or by texting state news to this number.

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is most important.

In 20 years, I will be an elementary teacher teaching, reading, math, science, and history.

I will help my students to be smart.

I will teach my students to be their best selves.

Doctor King doctor King's dream was able to come alive because he was being true to himself.

I want my students to know that they are important to our community.

I will I will teach my students Doctor King's ideas to make sure his legacy continues on in the future.

Even now, in 2026, we still face challenges.

Racism continues to hurt people and violence divides our communities.

This is the exact opposite of what Doctor King stood up for.

And I am tired.

Yes, at 12 I'm tired of when I went missing in our country.

Doctor King faced so many struggles during his fight for justice.

His house was bombed.

He was stabbed.

He was even arrested.

Multiple times.

But he never gave up.

He showed us the power of standing up for what is right, no matter how difficult the journey may be.

His courage and determination remind us that we can't stop working toward a better world.

Are your eyes on the prize?

Is your heart fired up?

Are you resolved in the locked in with full being the status of your cup?

When I think of injustice, racism and hate, I keep coming back to the same mental take.

How do we make progress in the face of defeat?

How do we bring change when everything is telling us to retreat?

Let's keep our eyes on the prize.

Let's not forget what was done.

Let's read and remember all of the atrocities that we have overcome.

Support for the Statehouse News Bureau comes from Medical Mutual, dedicated to the health and well-being of Ohioans, offering health insurance plans, as well as dental, vision and wellness programs to help people achieve their goals and remain healthy.

More at Med mutual.com.

The law offices of Porter, right, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Porter, right, is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at Porter.

Right.

Com Porter Wright inspired every day.

You know, Ohio Education Association representing 120,000 educators who are united in their mission to create the excellent public schools.

Every child deserves more at o h e talk.