Ohio governor doesn't like pink licenses

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COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 18 (UPI) -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich said his recent comments about doing away with the state's pink driver's licenses were made "sort of tongue in cheek."

Kasich said Tuesday during a speech at the "Dayton's Legislation Day in Columbus" event he is planning to "eliminate the pink driver's license," The Columbus Dispatch reported Wednesday.

"I just got mine the other day, and it's going," the governor said.

Kasich said after the speech his comments were "sort of tongue in cheek."

"I just got my ... license the other day, and everybody says, 'Can you change it from pink?'" Kasich said. "And then I looked at it and I went, 'Whoa.' So I think we're thinking about whether we can have a better color.

"I have the authority apparently to do it, so we'll see. We're thinking about it," Kasich said.

The licenses, which feature a dark salmon background and light pink coloring elsewhere on the card, were phased in during former Gov. Ted Strickland's administration in 2009.