It could be the most damaging “Dear John” letter of the 2016 presidential primary race.
A letter from former President Bill Clinton disclosed just days before the Ohio primary is causing Ohio Gov. John Kasich problems on the campaign trail.
Kasich tells GOP voters he can “get things done” by working with Democrats but also stresses he is a “defender of the 2nd Amendment.”
The letter from Clinton shows Kasich made a deal to restrict the Second Amendment rights of American “on one of the most critical votes on guns ever,” according to a report by Top Right News.
The issue at stake was the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.
“This is a letter Kasich does not want voters to see…and it could cost him dearly on Tuesday,” Top Right News reports.
In the May 5, 1994 letter, then-president Clinton applauded Kasich’s “courageous” vote on the bill written by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to keep the falsely named “assault weapons” out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, the conservative news site reports.
The full text of the letter is below:
“These weapons have contributed to violent crime and traumatized our nation’s communities for too long,” Clinton writes to Kasich. “By your vote today you have taken the first stop towards getting assault weapons off the streets and out of the hands of criminals.”
Kasich — then in the GOP leadership — was one of only 46 Republicans — mainly gun-hating Northeast RINOs — who backed the ban.
He had obviously met with Clinton personally to hammer out a “deal” with the Democrat president.
Clinton punctuated the letter with “I enjoyed our visit last night.”
Clinton crossed out “Representative” Kasich and replaced it with “John” in his own handwriting.
In the Senate, Republicans opposed the bill 36-7. Even with the Democrats in the majority, the bill barely passed the House 216-214, and was signed by Clinton.
“The law proved so unpopular with Americans that it almost singlehandedly cost the Democrats the Congress in the 1994 elections…handing Republicans the U.S. House for the first time since 1953,” Top Right News noted.
Kasich found himself on the wrong side of the issue and later claimed he regretted the vote. But his subsequent votes prove he remained an enemy of the Right to Bear Arms for many years to come:
“Now GOP primary voters — especially gun-owners — will have to ask themselves…is this the kind of “great deals with Democrats” they can expect from a President Kasich?” Top Right News asks.
As governor Kasich has received an “A” rating from the NRA, but as a congressman he received an “F” from the protector of citizens’ rights to bear arms.
A full report on Kasich’s mixed record as congressman and as governor can be found at TheRace.org.
