"It's not easy to be the spouse of an elected official," Ohio Governor John Kasich said at a rally for Mitt Romney in Cincinnati on Wednesday. "You know, they're at home doing the laundry and doing so many things while we're up here on stage getting a little bit of applause." His comment set off a flurry of outrage .
But few have pointed out that for many years of Kasich's political career, his wife worked outside of the home.
According to a 2010 article in The Columbus Dispatch, for nearly twenty years, until around 2002, Karen Kasich worked in marketing and public relations, serving most notably as vice president of public relations at Gerbig, Snell and Weisheimer, a healthcare advertising agency. The Kasichs began dating in 1989 and married in 1997, meaning that for much of the Governor's political life (which began when he became a member of the Ohio Senate in 1978), Karen Kasich was working outside of the home.
Though she ended her almost two-decades-long professional career two years after giving birth to the couple's twin daughters, she continues to stay highly involved in public life. Her official website states that she "is honored to have an opportunity to increase awareness on topics that are near and dear to her heart: children's wellness and women's heart health" and to this end she works with both The Partnership at Drugfree.org and Ohio Valley's Go Red For Women Council. She's run the Columbus and the Air Force marathons, she helped coach the girls' soccer team, and she met her husband when she helped assemble the Ohio State University football guide and included a picture of the then-Representative.
Governor Kasich was not criticizing stay-at-home mothers, but rather trying to acknowledge the work they put in and the credit they deserve. However, both inside the house and out, his wife has done much more than laundry.