In last months of his successful campaign, Gov.-elect John Kasich — in a statement that almost all politicians would deem risky due to fear of inflaming the Big Green lobby — told the Dayton Daily News that he would seriously consider a repeal of Ohio’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard. These mandates for utilities to generate minimum percentages of their power generation from expensive renewable sources drive up electricity rates for everyone.

Kasich, in an interview also attended by (defeated incumbent Gov. Ted) Strickland last week in Dayton, said he disagreed with the mandate “if it drives up costs to consumers. It will drive up utility bills because we don’t have it ready and have to buy it somewhere else. I don’t like that and you can’t mandate invention.”

Asked whether he’d seek to roll back the mandate as governor, Kasich said: “If I were to determine that it was unrealistic and would drive up prices.”

Today I’ve got a piece in the Cincinnati Enquirer that encourages Kasich, now that he’s won, to push for the AEPS repeal and its associated job destruction and Big Green subsidies. He’s already shown some bravery by refusing federal funds for other environmentalist sacred cows.