The money is being spent on an ad campaign for Jobs Ohio, the economic development agency Gov. Kasich developed after he took office two years ago. The campaign is called Thrive in Ohio, and boasts Ohio has created more jobs than any state in the country. It’s appearing in papers and on Web sites and on air. 

The campaign mention the role of President Obama’s auto bailout in stimulating Ohio’s recovery, and that’s one of the criticism’s Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald has. 

In a letter to Kasich he released to the press, FitzGerald also said the campaign appears to be “meant to bolster your personal job approval numbers,” and he questioned the costs and the timing.

 The letter also noted that Jobs Ohio is exempt from most disclosure of how it spends its money.

 Kasich's spokesman Rob Nichols released a response to the Huffington Post from Kristi Tanner, the chief operating officer of Jobs Ohio. She likened the campaign to ones she worked on under former Govs. Strickland, Taft and Voinovich and to ones other states do.