Kasich and Murdock:Million dollar transaction among pals

IF YOU HAVE ANY doubt about where John Kasich's million-dollar loyalties lie today, would the name Rupert Murdoch help you in your decision? As it is being widely reported, the masterful megamedia owner of News Corp., whose holdings include Fox News, has found a way to inject $1 million into the Kasich campaign for governor in Ohio. He did so with a convenient channel passing through the Republican Governors Association. From there it was a simple conversion to Kasich's political ads.

Kasich, who is forever glib about his work-room lifestyle, will doubtless pass it off as nothing more than a casual over-the-back fence relationship with Murdock. He's done the same for questions involving his handsomely paid work for Lehman Brothers, the bankrupt Wall Streeters. It should be obvious that in politics, Kasich is not a cheap date.

If these ties to the vast powers of the corporate world don't inspire confidence in Kasich's glowing vision of Ohio's future, you obviously haven't followed Fox's equally inspirational takeover of the Republican Party. (But wait: A Kasich spokesman told the Columbus Dispatch that his candidate didn't really solicit the contribution. I feel much better about it now.)

Murdoch obviously had an eye for Kasich's talent when the candidate showed up from time to time as a substitute commentator for Bill O'Reilly, the Fox News marquee conservative.

Murdoch has also contributed a million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been bashing any Democrat to the left of Herbert Hoover. He said he just wanted the Chamber to know tha he was trying to be a good member. But according to a report in the blog Politico, he confessed that he thought the contributi0n "would not become public knowledge."

How fair and imbalanced!