EXCLUSIVE: Kasich’s New Health Director Alters Resume To Include “Healthcare” Experience

John Kasich recently appointed Richard Hodges, his turnpike director, to head the Ohio Department of Health.  As we pointed out yesterday, Ohio law requires appointees to this position to either be a medical doctor or to have had “significant experience in the public health profession.”    Hodges is not a doctor and, according to every bio we could find, including his own LinkedIn page, nothing in his employment background provides any indication that he has had any experience whatsoever in a “public health profession.”

Then, suddenly, out of the blue, Third Base Politics “” a copy of Hodges resume this afternoon that happened to contain a new position not listed on any of his other resumes:   “Director of Planning and Marketing” for the Fulton County Health Center, a small hospital in Wauseon, Ohio.  His time at this newly added job overlaps with his time as a state representative and his time serving as Executive Vice President of the Mechanical Contractors Assoc.  It’s unclear where this resume came from, who provided it, or when it was created.

And then… magically… this same position appeared on Hodges LinkedIn profile today.   (Yes, we have screenshots.)    Hodges also altered his profile on LinkedIn to include the word  “healthcare” on the Specialties section of his profile:

Original LinkedIn Profile

New LinkedIn Profile

Hodges still has no LinkedIn recommendations for his new found “healthcare” specialty, but he does have seven recommendations for “event planning,”  two for “advertising,” and sixteen for “public relations.”

Hodges graduated from  Oberlin College with a Bachelor of Arts in Government in 1986.  He also has a Masters in Public and Non-Profit Administration from the University of Toledo.   Again, not really “public health” related.

Nothing against Hodges personally, but it’s still tough to see how adding some new experience to your resume about heading up the marketing department of a small hospital in a tiny Ohio town gets you any closer to “significant experience in the public health profession” than before.

We stand by our original assertion: Hodges is unqualified for the job as director of the Ohio Department of Health.  And John Kasich’s appointment of Hodges is illegal under current Ohio law.