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May 2009
Congressman Turner slams paper after story on $1,435 camera purchase
By Jessica Wehrman Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — The Wall Street Journal’s Saturday edition raised questions about a $1,435 digital camera purchased by U.S. Rep. Mike Turner’s office for official purposes.
The example was part of a larger story on how U.S. House members spend their office allowances, and found other lawmakers using their office accounts for everything from leasing Lexus sedans to purchasing $22 cell phone holders. The expenditures are all legal, but described by the newspaper as “eye-catching.” The newspaper did the investigation after British lawmakers have come under increasing scrutiny for how they use taxpayer money.
Turner, R-Centerville, released a statement calling the report “misleading and factually incorrect.”
“The camera the Journal references is not for the personal use of Congressman Turner, but for official use,” the statement said. Turner also took exception to the Journal’s claim that the camera was “expensed,” saying that the camera was purchased through the U.S. House of Representatives system and is government property.
“The camera is no different than other equipment purchased through the U.S. House for the congressional office and is part of the effort to expand our web and internet-based communications, which includes video, computer and camera equipment,” the statement read.
U.S. House offices receive a government allowance of $1.3 million to $1.9 million a year, while Senate offices get anywhere from $2.9 million to $4.5 million. The Journal reported that some members don’t spend their full allocation. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, for example, had $228,000 left in his account at the end of 2008.
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TweetSenate GOP cuts state budget by $659 million; charter schools gain
Ohio Senate Republicans have slashed $659 million from the $54 billion state budget approved earlier by the House and in the process eliminated or reworked much of Gov. Ted Strickland’s plan to overhaul schools and school funding.
The Senate GOP plan for House Bill 1, unveiled on Friday, May 29, also helps charter schools. The House budget cut their funding by 15 percent. The Senate GOP version keeps spending for charters at the existing level for the next two years, said Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester. Republicans control the Senate 21-12
Charter school backers rejoiced.
“The Senate’s restoration of funding for Ohio’s charter schools provides a lifeline to more than 80,000 public school students and their families,” Bill Sims, Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools president, said in a press release. “It also annuls the constitutional questions raised by House bill provisions which would have cut funding for Ohio’s public charter schools by as much as $160 million in 2010.”
The Republican-controlled Senate expects to vote on the budget next Wednesday or Thursday, setting the stage for a conference committee with the Democratic-controlled House to come up with a compromise plan. The budget must be approved and signed by Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, before July 1, start of the new fiscal year.
Because of continuing state revenue shortfalls, more spending cuts are expected in the conference committee.
“We want to work with the governor. We want to work with the House,” Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said.
Besides increasing money for charter schools, the Senate GOP version guarantees all Ohio school districts a .25 percent increase in the first year of the new budget and a .5 percent increase the second year. Fast-growing school districts, those growing by more than 2 percent per year, would receive a 2 percent spending increase each year.
The Senate GOP came up with the $659 million reduction by:
*Cutting $417 million from state agencies.
*Ordering $42 million in cost-containment for Medicaid.
*Using savings of $200 million from a Strickland executive order.
The spending cuts include $96 million to eliminate a business internship program aimed at keeping bright young workers in the state.
The Senate plan eliminates 34 proposed fee increases and 139 project earmarks. “If it was earmarked, it’s gone,” Faber said.
“It was not an easy decision,” said Finance Committee Chairman John Carey, R-Wellston.
Funding for Strickland’s so-called “evidence-based model” for schools was phased in over 10 years in the House budget. The Senate eliminated the 10-year phase in. The Senate said Strickland’s plan was “fundamentally flawed because it centered on school staffing needs rather than student needs.”
The Senate GOP plan eliminated requirements for districts to provide nurses, tutors, counselors and reduced student-teacher ratios. It also eliminated the requirement for all-day kindergarten for all districts but expanded the number of districts serving poor students that would get state funding for all-day kindergarten.
The Senate had to make the cuts in the wake of revised revenue projections announced on May 5, shortly after the Senate got the proposed new two-year budget from the House. The projections revealed a $912 million shortfall for the budget year ending June 30. The shortfall for this year will carry over into the new two-year budget.
Except for increases to K-12 education and higher education, the Senate Repbublicans either kept spending for all other agencies at current levels or reduced them.
K-12 spending would increase $128 million in the first year of the new budget and an additional $156 million the second year, said Cates.
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TweetBond trader must pay record fine
The Ohio Elections Commission on Thursday May 28 imposed a record $125,000 in fines against bond trader Montford Will, his wife and two step-children for illegally funneling $121,000 in campaign contributions to Republicans and Democrats across the state but did not refer the case for prosecution.
The fines are more than twice the amount recommended by Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien and Will’s attorney, Ritchey Hollenbaugh.
Hollenbaugh said the $125,000 in fines were not reasonable, given the circumstances, but that the financial penalty was still preferable over criminal prosecution.
O’Brien told the Elections Commission that campaign committees that do not properly dispose of the illegal contributions, for example by giving them to charity, he would consider seeking forefeiture actions against them.
Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and Franklin County Treasurer Ed Leonard returned $10,000 and $3,000, respectively, to Will’s step-daughter Lindsey Kuty after the Dayton Daily News reported in October that Kuty contribution may have been improper.
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TweetIraq War vet announces run for state treasurer
Republican Josh Mandel, a state representative from Lyndhurst, announced his candidacy for state treasurer Thursday, May 28, in a six-minute online video posted to his web site.
Mandel, 31, said in the video, “I’m running for treasurer because we need a treasurer who is going to protect the people’s dollars now and also for future generations.”
His senior year at Ohio State University, Mandel decided to join the Marine Corps Reserve. He served as an intelligence specialist and did two deployments in Iraq, most recently in 2007.
After serving on the Lyndhurst City Council, Mandel was elected to the Ohio House in 2006 where he was quickly marked as a rising GOP star and a prolific fund-raiser.
Mandel will square off for state treasurer against Democrat Kevin Boyce, a former Columbus City Councilman who was appointed treasurer earlier this year by Gov. Ted Strickland when Richard Cordray left the treasurer’s office to become attorney general.
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TweetPortman to join Morgan for fundraiser
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman will join state Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, for a fundraiser on June 10.
The event - to raise money for Morgan - is from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the home of Butler Twp. Trustee Joe Ellis, 2201 Kershner Road.
Portman is running to replace U.S. Sen. George Voinovich after the 2010 election.
The suggested donation to attend the event is $250. If you’re interested in attending, click here
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TweetUD in line for $3 million state grant
The Third Frontier Commission awarded a $3 million grant to the University of Dayton to establish an unmanned aerial vehicle technology center. UD is collaborating with the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as well as seven companies, including Defense Research Associates, L-3 Communications Nova Engineering and UltraCell Corp.
The grant is contingent on approval by the state Controlling Board.
The Third Frontier Commission recommended $24 million in grants through the Wright Projects Program which helps Ohio universities and research institutions make upgrades needed to do technology commercialization projects.
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TweetStrickland makes “final” release of school data to Rep. Morgan
Gov. Ted Strickland has made a fifth and the governor’s office says “final” release of information to Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, in response to Morgan’s request for information on Strickland’s “evidence-based” model for school reform.
Strickland’s office announced the release on Tuesday, May 26 and referred to Rep. Morgan’s “overly-broad public records request.”
Morgan said he was reviewing the material. He said the latest release came after he sent Strickland’s office a letter on May 19 complaining that he hadn’t received any additional material after an Ohio Supreme Court ruling in the case. Morgan had gone to the Supreme Court in an effort to get the material.
The new release contained over 10,0000 pages of e-mail and e-mail attachments, as well as 216 pages of electronic copies of scholarly works cited in the previously-released bibliography, and five books that have been set aside for Rep. Morgan’s inspection, Strickland’s office said.
Altogether, more than 20,000 pages of materials have been released to Morgan or made available to him to review, the governor’s office said.
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TweetBrown and Voino on Supreme Court pick
Judge and U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s next step will be to go before the U.S. Senate for confirmation.
Here’s what our two senators think of her:
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said he plans to treat her fairly and review her “impartiality, integrity, legal expertise and judicial temperament.”
“It is the Senate’s role to exercise the constitutional power to advise and consent, and I look forward to fair and rigorous hearings to that end,” he said.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, was a little more glowing: “Judge Sotomayor will be a tough, fair, and thoughtful addition to our nation’s highest court,” he said in a statement. “She has been nominated to our courts in the past by both Republican and Democratic presidents and confirmed each time by strong bipartisan majorities. I hope we will proceed with the same bipartisan approach to this nomination.”
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TweetCoughlin to Ohio GOP: “Butt out” - let voters decide
State Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls, apparently isn’t ready to concede the GOP nomination for governor in 2010 to former U.S. Rep. John Kasich of suburban Columbus.
Kasich is scheduled to formally launch his campaign on Monday, June 1. Coughlin announced earlier this year that he’s seeking the nomination.
In a letter on Monday, May 26, to Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine, Coughlin said the state party had promoted Kasich’s announcement and asked the GOP to step back.
“…we are the party of free markets. We are the party that trusts the people,” Coughlin said in the letter to DeWine.
“Let the horses run. Let the Ohio’s Republican voters decide for themselves which vision for our state they prefer. Let the voters decide our nominee. It’s their election.”
Asked if the Ohio GOP had any reaction, John McClelland, party spokesman, said in an e-mail:
“Not really.”
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TweetOhio Dems get new mouthpiece
The Ohio Democratic Party has a new spokesman.
Seth Bringman, 27, a native of Woodville in Sandusky County, is the new communications director, the party announced on Friday, May 22.
“I’m absolutely happy to be back in Ohio,” said Bringman.
Most recently he’s worked on campaigns of Al Franken in Minnesota, the Democratic candidate in the controversial Senate race that’s still officially undecided, and U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy of New York.
He also was deputy communications director last year for Kentucky Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford, the Democrat who lost to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Bringman is a graduate of Miami University, the one in Ohio. Miami University in Oxford has been a university longer than Florida- home of the other Miami University - has been a state, said Bringman.
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TweetKasich to announce
Republican John Kasich is inviting supporters to an announcement June 1 in his hometown of Westerville in suburban Columbus.
Kasich is expected to formally announce his plan to run against Democrat Ted Strickland for governor in 2010.
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TweetSen. Cates goes to bat for 2013 All-Star Game in Cincinnati
State Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, wants the Cincinnati Reds to host the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Cates today, May 21, introduced a resolution in the Ohio Senate urging MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to select the Reds to host the game. Click here to see the resolution.
The resolution took effect without a vote of the full Senate, said Maggie Ostrowski, spokeswoman for Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland.
The resolution had bipartisan support with Sen. Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati, and Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, joining Cates as cosponsors.
“As the first professional baseball team in 1869, the Reds have played an important role in the evolution and growth of Major League Baseball in this country, and Cincinnati continues to be recognized as one of the premier baseball cities in North America, with some of the most devoted fans in the game,” Cates said in a prepared statement.
“I cannot think of a more deserving franchise, city and fan base to host one of baseball’s biggest events.”
The Reds last hosted the game in 1988 when the team still played at Riverfront Stadium. They now play at the Great American Ball Park on Joe Nuxhall Way in downtown Cincinnati, said Cates.
Cates said the game not only would showcase Cincinnati but provide an economic boost.
“The All-Star Game would provide a tremendous economic boost to Cincinnati and the surrounding region, drawing thousands of baseball fans from across the country to area hotels, restaurants and other businesses,” Cates said.
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TweetHouse OKs foreclosure moratorium
After more than two hours of sometimes heated debate, the House on Wednesday, May 20, approved a six-month moratorium on mortgage foreclosures.
“I think it’s time for us to quit sitting around….The next foreclosure could be your next door neighbor,” said Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, a supporter.
To qualify for the moratorium, a borrower would have to make payments each month equal to half of the monthly payment in effect when the foreclosure action was filed.
The bill also requires a $750 filing fee and an accompanying appraisal accompany the filing for a residential foreclosure action.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
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TweetIt’s mortgage week: Brown at the White House, Ohio House to vote
Sen. Sherrod Brown will be heading to the White House later today, Wednesday, May 20, to attend the bill-signing ceremonies for two bills aimed at preventing foreclosures. Neat timing: In Columbus this week, the Ohio House is preparing to vote on a bill that would impose a 6-month moratorium on foreclosures.
Brown’s invited to the White House because he chairs the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy. He’ll watch President Obama sign the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act,” which will lower fees for participation in a voluntary program that allows at-risk homeowners to refinance into more affordable mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration. That bill will also expand the ability of the FHA and United States Department of Agriculture to modify loans to make them more affordable. Finally, it will increase the number of fair housing field employees that help homeowner avoid foreclosure.
He’ll also watch Obama sign the “Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act,” which will expand the criminal code to cover previously unregulated mortgage lending business.
Ohio ranks 10th in the country for number of home foreclosures. There are more than 92,000 foreclosure properties in Ohio, with 47,365 new foreclosures this year in the state, according to Brown’s office.
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TweetIt’s official: Auditor Taylor running for re-election
Republican Mary Taylor made it official on Wednesday, May 20: she’s seeking re-election as state auditor in 2010.
On the Democratic side, Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper last week announced his candidacy for auditor.
Taylor, the only Republican statewide executive officeholder, said at a news conference that she had considered seeking the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by fellow Republican George Voinovich.
However, Taylor, the first Certified Public Accountant to serve as auditor, said she decided she could best serve the state by continuing as Ohio’s “independent watchdog of taxpayers’ dollars.”
She said GOP leaders did not pressure her to stay out of the U.S. Senate race. Former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman of suburban Cincinnati is the favorite of many party leaders for the nomination but Cleveland-area auto dealer Tom Ganley also is seeking the GOP nomination.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher are vying for the Democratic nomination.
Taylor supporters last week said she had decided to seek re-election and the state party endorsed that effort.
The race is closely watched because the auditor will sit on the five-member Apportionment Board that will draw new state legislative districts based on the 2010 census.
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TweetBrown amendment on tobacco mints included in Senate bill
A bill that would give the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco products now includes an amendment by Sen. Sherrod Brown aimed at cracking down on “tobacco candy” being marketed in Ohio and two other states.
Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced a provision that would require the new Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee to immediately study the public health effects of “tobacco candy” and report to the Food and Drug Administration on its findings.
Their recommendations would be hoped to give the FDA the necessary information to act promptly on the public health impact of the products, particularly risks pertaining to children.
R.J. Reynolds has been marketing “Camel Orbs” in Columbus, Portland, Ore. and in Indiana. The “Orbs,” are sold in containers resembling cell phones and are smokeless and dissolvable.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to include the measure in its bill today and is expected to finish work on the bill in the next few days. The overall bill could be on the Senate floor within weeks.
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TweetHorsemen rally for slots at Statehouse
State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, fired up backers of slot machines for Ohio racetracks on Tuesday, May 19, at a Statehouse rally with this call to Gov. Ted Strickland:
“Governor, get off your moral high horse and get on a thoroughbred. Get behind that sulky on a good Ohio harness -bred.”
Strickland, contacted later, wasn’t moved by Seitz:
“I do not believe this is the right way to deal with our budget or try to fund education.”
The rally was in support of a proposal by the Ohio State Racing Commission to put 14,000 slot machines at the state’s seven racetracks to help save the struggling racing industry and provide hundreds of millions of dollars for Ohio schools.
Neither Strickland nor legislative leaders have endorsed the plan.
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TweetVoinovich is big in Latvia
Here’s Sen. George Voinovich accepting the Order of the Three Stars from Latvian President Valdis Zatlers last week. The award is Latvia’s highest state honor, and Zatlers gave it to Voinovich for his “outstanding civil merit” in the service of Latvia, according to a release.
More specifically: Voinovich played a role in the expansion of North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s membership for Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. He was also a member of the U.S. delegation to the November 2002 NATO summit in Prague where membership was formally extended to these seven countries.
Voinovich is a former member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, where he conducted oversight of U.S. foreign policy in the Balkans and former Captive Nations in Eastern Europe.
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TweetHusted: State suffers “overall failure of leadership”
Without mentioning Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland by name, Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, said in Ohio “at this point in time, I think, there has been an overall failure of leadership.”
Husted, speaking on Tuesday, May 19, at “Dayton’s Legislative Day in Columbus”, was referring to efforts by Strickland and the legislature to come up with a new state budget during the current economic downturn.
Strickland, who spoke after Husted but did not hear his remarks, said later that he did not agree that there had been a lack of leadership.
The Democratic-controlled House has passed a budget and the Republican-controlled Senate now is working on its version. The budget proposed by Strickland and passed by the House is billions of dollars out of balance and so far tough decisions have been avoided, Husted, a former House speaker, said.
“We have to stop cowering away from these tough decisions,” Husted said. So far, he added, the Senate has not made the tough decisions either.
The event was sponsored by the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Dayton Development Coalition. Husted is director of Workforce Education and Employer Services for the Dayton chamber’s Education and Public Improvement Foundation.
Back-to-back speeches by Husted and Strickland gave the audience of about 100 sharply contrasting views about what’s been going on in Columbus.
Strickland touted his plan to overhaul education and school funding through his “evidence-based” model as “transformative” and what is needed to prepare Ohio students for the jobs of the 21st century. He said the House improved on his plan in the budget it passed.
Husted, however, said the plan actually would cut K-12 spending in the next two years while promising lots of spending over the next 10 years “that is in no way sustainable.” The version approved by the Senate will be “dramatically changed,” Husted said.
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TweetThe Democrats are apparently displeased with GM and Chrysler
First, Sen. Sherrod Brown sent out an angry statement reacting to reports that GM was considering exporting cars from China.
Now, a handful of other Democrats in the Ohio delegation - as well as Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who’s running for the U.S. Senate - are piping in.
In the U.S. House, Reps. Betty Sutton, D-Copley Twp., Tim Ryan, D-Niles and John Boccieri, D-Alliance, wrote a letter to the CEOs of GM and Chrysler complaining about a GM plan calling for a 98 percent increase in the number of vehicles imported from Mexico, Japan and China and Chrysler’s decision to close plants around the nation.
“The decision to lay off American workers while expanding opportunities abroad is extremely disturbing to those of us who have worked hard to save these vital manufacturing jobs,” the trio wrote along with U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan of Missouri in a joint statement. “United Auto Workers have made extraordinary concessions to help these companies stay afloat. These are dedicated, hardworking Americans, not simply a bottom line.”
Brunner, meanwhile, also sent out a statement criticizing the automakers’ decision.
“When America’s taxpayers are footing the bill to the tune of billions to keep these car giants afloat, they deserve to know how and why the money is being spent. While cuts may be inevitable in the process, decisions to manufacture cars overseas and sell them in the U.S., while cutting jobs at dealerships who sell them, may be just short of ludicrous to American taxpayers,” Brunner said.
She said GM should be using stimulus money to invest in fuel-efficient car manufacturing in the United States.
Brunner faces Democrat Lee Fisher in the May 2010 Democrat primary for U.S. Senate. She hopes to replace retiring U.S. Sen. George Voinovich. Former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman is the lone Republican in that race.
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TweetState budget shortfall now put at $912 million
With less than a month and a half to go in this fiscal year, Gov. Ted Strickland and legislative leaders have to figure out how to fill a $912 million hole in the state budget.
The budget office on Monday, May 18, released the updated estimate on the shortfall. Two weeks ago, budget and tax officials said the shortfall would be between $600 million and more than $900 million for the year ending June 30.
Strickland has come up with about $150 million to fill the new hole through savings achieved by an executive order and delaying debt payments.
The $948 million “rainy day” fund “continues to be one possible solution to end the fiscal year in balance,” Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman said in an e-mail. Strickland, however, will work in a “collaborative way” with legislators to reach a decision, she said.
The new projection comes with the Senate now considering the proposed budget for the next two years. Strickland had planned to used the “rainy day” fund money in that budget.
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TweetDayton wins $1 million state cleanup grant
The city of Dayton will receive a $1,004,430 Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund grant for environmental cleanup activities at the Monument Avenue Gateway project site.
The grant was awarded at the Clean Ohio Council meeting on Monday, May 18.
The city plans to demolish on-site structures and clean up the property to make it a “shovel-ready” site for future redevelopment opportunities within the proposed Ballpark District Riverfront Development, a proposed mixed-use urban entertainment district, according to the state Development Department.
The property was the site of the Duro Pump Company from 1940-1977. General Motors operated a process wastewater treatment facility there from 1981-1996, according to the department.
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TweetFormer aide to AG Dann enters “not guilty” plea
Tony Gutierrez, a close friend and top aide to Democrat Marc Dann when Dann was attorney general, entered a “not guilty” plea on Monday, May 18, to six felony and four misdemeanor charges.
Gutierrez was expected to post bail and be released, said Jeff Blake, assistant Franklin County prosecutor. The case is expected to be assigned to a judge in a week or so but it’s not possible to say when a trial would start, said Blake.
Gutierrez, from the Youngstown area, entered his plea before Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Timothy Horton shortly after 11 a.m.
Gutierrez did not speak with reporters and earlier in Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien’s office said “no comment” when asked about the case.
The charges allege that Gutierrez ran his private construction company on state time, filed fraudulent workers’ compensation paperwork and illegally converted campaign money for personal use.
They are the first criminal charges from a year-long investigation of the Dann administration by the Ohio Ethics Commission, state Inspector General Tom Charles, the Ohio Highway Patrol and other authorities.
If convicted on all charges, Gutierrez faces up to eight years in prison and $20,000 in fines.
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TweetAuditor Taylor to seek re-election, not U.S. Senate seat
State Auditor Mary Taylor well seek re-election next year and not run for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. George Voinovich, according to Greg Gantt, Montgomery County GOP chairman.
The state Republican Central Committee on Friday, May 15, endorsed Taylor for re-election.
Gantt said he was informed of Taylor’s decision earlier in the week and was pleased.
Taylor, however, would not confirm her decision, but issued this statement:
“I appreciate the endorsement of the Ohio Republican State Central Committee and Executive Committee. I will make an official announcement of my intentions for 2010 later next week.”
State GOP offficials, however, had wanted to avoid a primary and were pleased.
“Mary Taylor has done an outstanding job as our state auditor for the last two years, keeping the governor accountable, which is what she’s supposed to do,” said John McClelland, Ohio GOP spokesman.
News of Taylor’s decision followed the announcement on Tuesday, May 12, from Democratic Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper that he’s running for auditor next year.
Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern wasn’t impressed with Taylor’s decision.
“I think if you ask 10 Ohioans who Mary Taylor is, nine wouldn’t know and the tenth wouldn’t return your phone call,” said Redfern. He said the winner in the auditor’s race will be the candidate who works hardest at jobs such as meeting the voters and Pepper “is that kind of candidate.”
The auditor is on the five-member Apportionment Board that will draw new state legislative districts after the 2010 census.
Taylor’s decision avoids a battle with former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman of the Cincinnati area for the GOP Senate nomination. Cleveland-area auto dealer Tom Ganley also has said he plans to seek the nomination.
On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher are seeking the nomination.
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TweetKaptur wants to know why Dayton got more stimulus love than Toledo
You don’t often hear lawmakers publicly state their jealousy of Dayton. But in March, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo was positively green with Dayton envy.
Here’s Kaptur, a Democrat, in a hearing earlier this year of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, talking about economic stimulus dollars:
“Beyond that, I wanted to give you a sense of how recovery dollars had come down to us in Toledo versus Dayton, two cities of similar size, both highly — high rates of unemployment, over 15 percent. Dayton got $20 million through the transit money. Toledo got $8 million. We love Dayton. The reason Dayton got $20 million through the transit money is because they have some kind of fixed guideway system from 25 years ago or something.
“We don’t have anything like that, but we have two universities — well, two campuses of a university — that want to interconnect. And we have a plan in place to do that. For some reason, our Transit Authority didn’t get anything. I just think that somehow in the recovery dollars in the transit, if we’re really serious about this, maybe a discussion there could help.”
We smell a rivalry….
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TweetBrown furious about reports that GM will export from China
An Associated Press report that General MOtors may begin to export vehicles from China starting in 2011 has Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, furious, particularly because the company has accepted U.S. taxpayer dollars in an effort to stay afloat.
“What’s good for GM is no longer good for America,” Brown said in a statement Thursday, May 14. “This idea is a slap in the face to American auto workers and American taxpayers. If officials at General Motors think that U.S. taxpayers will finance cars made in China while American plants are closing, they’re either tone deaf or short-sighted.
Brown said there is “no excuse” for GM to use taxpayer funds for Chinese imports - “not when there are American workers ready to build these cars and idled U.S. auto plants prepared to produce them.”
“These funds are meant to help rebuild our nation’s middle class, not dismantle it by shipping more jobs overseas. GM must commit to using them to maintain jobs and production at home.”
An AP report said GM plans to begin exports of vehicles made in China to the United States within two years, with the goal of bringing sales to more than 50,000 by 2014. A spokeswoman for GM in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports, which were said to be based on a company recovery plan given to U.S. lawmakers.
The company is currently surviving largely because of $15.4 billion worth of loans from the U.S. government.
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TweetVoino, Brown sewer bill passes committee
Sens. George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown’s bill aimed at giving $1.8 billion over five years to communities who want to get rid of their outdated combined sewer overflow systems passed through a Senate committee Thursday, May 14, putting the bill one step closer to Senate passage.
The bill aims to take some of the heat off communities required update their sewers by federal environmental standards who can’t afford the costly upgrades. Their bill, a grant program, would provide a 75-25 cost share for municipalities to use for planning, design, and construction of treatment works to control combined and sanitary sewer overflows.
Eighty-six Ohio communities, including Springfield, have combined sewage systems, which can put human waste in storm water drains during excessive rain. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater and storm water are released through combined sewer each year in the United States. The EPA estimates that communities across the nation have about $50 billion in need for combined sewer renovations.
Voinovich is an Ohio Republican. Brown is an Ohio Democrat. The bill now must be approved by the U.S. Senate, as well as the House of Representatives, before going to President Obama.
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TweetObama pokes fun at Boehner
It’s Wednesday, and we’re just now getting to the funniest Dayton-related humor out of last weekend’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner: President Barack Obama’s shout-out to House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester.
Here’s Obama’s quote direct from the White House transcript:
“In the next hundred days, our bipartisan outreach will be so successful that even John Boehner will consider becoming a Democrat. After all, we have a lot in common. He is a person of color. Although not a color that appears in the natural world. What’s up, John? “
Boehner, R-West Chester, an avid golfer, is notorious on Capitol Hill for his deep tan, though we prefer to point out his penchant for poking fun at reporters’ wardrobes.
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TweetHouse OKs bill to combat dating violence
Legislation to require all Ohio school districts to adopt policies to prevent and combat teen dating violence passed the House 62-35 on Wednesday, May 13.
“If it just saves the life of one young woman or one young man it’s well worth it,” said Rep. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, a supporter.
Opponents, however, called House Bill 19 an unfunded mandate that usurped local control of schools.
“The heavy hand of state government does not belong here,” said Rep. Nan Baker, R-Westlake.
The bill was named in honor of Tina Croucher of Monroe in Butler County who was 18 in 1982 when an ex-boyfriend shot her to death as she slept. Her parents were in the House gallery for the vote.
The bill would require districts to include dating violence prevention education for students in grades 7-12 within the health education curriculum.
It also would require the state board of education to develop a model dating violence prevent policy and standards for dating violence prevention studies.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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TweetISUS students join Statehouse charter school rally
To shouts of “we love our school,” charter school backers rallied outside the Statehouse on Wednesday, May 13, to urge more state support for their schools.
Rally organizers estimated the crowd at 4,000 and one of the biggest contingents - 200 - came from Dayton’s ISUS Trade and Tech Prep High School, a dropout recovery school.
“We need more money and we need the money to be equal to our fellow high schools,” said ISUS student Jerad Redic, 21, who’s studying construction.
“I’m here because we need to keep charter schools open,” said Alandria Worthy, 17, who’s studying health care at ISUS and wants to be a pediatrician.
Michelle Clayton, 40, came from Middletown with her three children - Talmon, 10, Victoria, 9 and Nicole, 8 - all students of the Ohio Virtual Academy, an online school. She had home schooled her children earlier.
“This is the best of both worlds,” Clayton said of combining home schooling with the academy’s curriculum.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, promised the crowd that charter schools would get better treatment in the GOP-controlled Senate than they did in Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed budget and the version passed by the Democratic-controlled House. The budget now is before the Senate.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, told the crowd to tell Strickland and lawmakers not to “play politics” with the students’ future.
Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, who took his fight to get information on Strickland’s school plan to the Ohio Supreme Court, said that if charter schools don’t get fair treatment in the budget “I think he (Strickland) might find himself in the Supreme Court again.”
Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman, said the governor had changed how charter schools are funded to be based on what the schools are doing. She said she didn’t know if Strickland heard the pleas from the rally that were directed at his corner office in the Statehouse.
More than 80,000 students attend charter schools in Ohio.
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TweetBuilding trades’ labor group backs casino ballot proposal
The Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Trades Council, representing about 8,000 union construction workers, has endorsed a ballot proposal to permit casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.
“Regardless of one’s view of gambling, it is a fact that Ohio residents are currently exporting jobs and tax revenue associated with it to neighboring states,” council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Pasquale Manzi said in a letter released on Wednesday, May 13.
Backers of the casino plan have until July 1 to submit petitions with signatures from 402,275 voters to get the proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot. Key backers of the plan are Penn National Gaming, Inc. and Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The council represents workers from unions in Franklin, Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Licking, Madison, Marion, PIckaway and Union counties.
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TweetTo cash in, Ohio must update codes
Ohio needs to adopt new building codes if it wants access to a $25 billion pot of federal stimulus money for energy efficiency projects, according to Environment Ohio.
The group is pushing Ohio officials to follow the lead of other states and adopt the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code for commercial and residential buildings.
Environment Ohio released a report Wednesday May 13 that says 40 percent of American energy use goes toward powering buildings and much is wasted through poor insulation, leaky windows and inefficient lighting, heating and cooling. All this contributes to global warming because fossil fuels are burned to generate most of the power used in Ohio, the report said.
Ohio could be in line to receive $96.1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s state energy program but the state needs to update its building codes, Environment Ohio said.
Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander said energy efficiency is good for consumers.
“By adopting higher building code standards, utility costs and energy use can be minimized,” Migden-Ostrander said. “If Ohioans are able to use less energy because more existing and new homes are made more energy efficient, hundreds of dollars per year could be saved in utility costs. With more stringent building codes, Ohio can defer and hopefully avoid the need to build costly power plants at the expense of residential consumers.”
Environment Ohio said other states, including Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and West Virginia, are moving to adopt the most up-to-date building codes so that they can get federal stimulus money.
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TweetDemocrat Pepper enters race for state auditor
With Gov. Ted Strickland’s blessing, Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper on Tuesday, May 12, launched his campaign for state auditor in 2010.
“I believe to do this job well and properly Ohioans deserve an auditor who is independent,” Pepper, 37, said at the Ohio Democratic Party headquarters in Columbus.
Without mentioning her name, he said that Republican incumbent auditor Mary Taylor has criticized Democrat Strickland’s budget proposals without offering ideas of her own and also has been critical of federal stimulus dollars coming into Ohio.
“It’s no secret the current auditor refused to even support Ohio or its governments receiving stimulus funds,” Pepper said.
Chris Abbruzzese, spokesman for Taylor, said that “the auditor has never advocated rejecting the stimulus money and now that it’s here she feels it should be used responsibly to bring ongoing spending in line with ongoing revenue,”
Strickland said he approached Pepper several months ago about running for auditor and was pleased that Pepper took him up on the offer. Strickland pledged to do “everything I can” to help Pepper win.
The auditor is one of five members of the Apportionment Board that will draw new state legislative districts after the 2010 census. Incumbent Taylor still is mulling whether to run for re-election or seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
Pepper’s father John, former Procter & Gamble chairman and CEO, and mother Francie, attended the announcement as did Strickland. Also on hand were Treasurer Kevin Boyce and retired federal Judge Nathaniel Jones of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Pepper was a law clerk for Jones.
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TweetPepper expected to run statewide
Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper is expected to announce he’ll run for statewide office in 2010 at a press conference Tuesday, May 12, at Ohio Democratic Party headquarters in Columbus.
Gov. Ted Strickland, who has been looking for someone to join his 2010 ticket as lieutenant governor, will also speak at the press conference.
Party Chairman Chris Redfern declined to say whether Pepper is Strickland’s pick for lieutenant governor candidate.
Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher is running for U.S. Senate in 2010 and faces a primary against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and state Rep. Tyrone Yates.
Pepper served on the Cincinnati City Council beginning in 2002 and was elected to the Hamilton County Commission in 2006.
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TweetStrickland comes up with $150 million in savings
With the clock ticking toward June 30 and the end of this fiscal year, Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration has come up with about $150 million in savings to help fill a budget hole that could be bigger than $900 million.
Budget director Pari Sabety said on Monday, May 11, that savings from a Strickland executive order will account for about $98 million of the savings. The rest - about $52.8 million - will come from delaying some state debt payments.
The savings could help reduce the amount of money the state will have to use from the $948 million “rainy day” fund to close this year’s budget hole, said Sabety. The “rainy day” fund money was supposed to be used for the next two-year budget.
The executive order Strickland issued April 22 ordered state agencies to reduce spending for contracts, stop purchasing of supplies and make other cuts.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Public Facilities Commission voted 5-1 on Monday on the plan to free up the $52.8 million by delaying debt payments.
Tim Keen, Republican Auditor Mary Taylor’s representative, cast the only “no” vote.
The commission in February had voted to free up $400 million for the next two-year budget by delaying debt payments. The $52.8 million for this fiscal year was added to that on Monday.
Restructuring the debt to come up with cash now will cost the state about $100.6 million through 2021, according to a state analysis.
Sabety and Tax Commissioner Richard Levin last week revealed that there’s a hole in this year’s budget that could range from about $600 million to more than $900 million, largely due to plummeting revenue from personal income tax returns. Sabety said she should know more precisely the size of the hole by the start of June.
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TweetStrickland won’t fly solo on spending cuts
Gov. Ted Strickland won’t fly solo when it comes to identifying cuts to balance the state budget in the wake of plummeting tax revenues.
“I’m not willing to do that because that’s the kind of decision that we need to make together. As I told Sen. (Bill) Harris, I accept my responsibility to work with the Senate and the House so that together we can make decisions and find solutions and so that’s my position,” the Democratic governor said on Friday, May 8.
He also dodged a question on whether he should have briefed House Democratic leaders after he learned on April 28 that income tax revenues were falling sharply. The House approved a two-year budget on April 29 that included more money that Strickland had proposed.
“We can spend the next several days and weeks and even months arguing and laying the blame or we can come together and work in common purpose and try to solve a serious problem and do what’s right for our state….,” Strickland said.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Bill Batchelder, R-Medina, continued the GOP criticism of Strickland and the House over the budget.
“While it’s unfortunate for House Democrats that the governor allegedly chose to withhold information, there were clear signs that revenues would continue to decline,” Batchelder said in a press release.
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TweetDeRolphs urge support for Strickland school plan
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan was the headliner but it was a father-son team from Perry County who gave Gov. Ted Strickland what he wanted.
Dale DeRolph and his son Nathan, whose lawsuit led to four Ohio Supreme Court decisions declaring Ohio’s school funding system unconstitutional, urged a crowd of 500 gathered outside at Ohio State University on Friday, May 8, to support Strickland’s plan for schools and school funding.
“Let’s put politics aside and do what’s right for the children of Ohio once and for all,” Nathan DeRolph told the crowd. He was 15 when the lawsuit was filed in 1991 and is 33 now. While some improvements have been made, much remains to be done, he said.
At a press briefing following his speech, Duncan said he wasn’t in Ohio to endorse Strickland’s plan. At the briefing and in his speech he urged the state to apply for some of the $5 billion in competitive grants from the Obama administration for education reform.
Johnnie Kimberlin, a member of the Jefferson Township Local School Board, was among the first to arrive at the rally, and said Strickland’s plan sounded “very encouraging.”
The crowd also included opponents such as Amy Price of suburban Columbus who said funding reductions to the charter school her two sons attend would force the school to close. One son is autistic and the other has autism-related problems,she said.
Strickland’s plan calls for all-day kindergarten and longer school days and and school years and over time is supposed to pay a greater percentage of the cost of education.
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TweetOhioans back gambling, medical marijuana and death penalty
Ohioans are ready for some social change, but they aren’t quite ready to shed their traditional Midwestern views on everything, a new poll indicates.
They want casinos and medical marijuana, but don’t want to abolish the death penalty, allow 18-year-olds to buy booze, or legalize men marrying men and women marrying women.
The Ohio Poll, released Friday May 8, asked 818 Ohioans a series of questions about social change.
The results: 73 percent favor allowing doctors to prescribe medical marijuana, 60 percent favor casino gambling, 70 percent oppose doing away with the death penalty, 78 percent oppose a lower drinking age, 61 percent oppose legalizing marijuana and 57 percent oppose legalizing gay marriage.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent and was conducted April 16 to April 27. The Ohio Poll is conducted by the University of Cincinnati.
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TweetAustria introduces bill to bar Guantanamo detainees from Buckeye state
U.S. Rep. Steve Austria does not want former prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba sent to Ohio - and he’s introduced a bill to keep it from happening.
Austria, R-Beavercreek, introduced a bill Thursday, May 7, to keep enemy combatants currently housed at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from being transferred to prisons in Ohio. The bill also bars the use of federal dollars to build facilities in Ohio to house enemy combatants from Guantanamo.
Austria’s bill - cosponsored by U.S. Reps. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, Jim Jordan, R-Urbana and Pat Tiberi, R-Columbus - comes after a handful of lawmakers from other states, including Minnesota and California, introduced similar bills to keep Guantanamo prisoners from being sent to their state.
Austria said he and other members of Congress are worried that President Obama, who promised during the presidential campaign to close Guantanamo, hasn’t crafted a plan for where to send the approximately 245 detainees currently located there.
Obama earlier this year issued an executive order to close the Guantanamo detention center. On Monday, the House Appropriations Committee turned down Obama’s request for about $80 million to move prisoners from Guantanamo because he had yet to release a plan for where he intended to send them.
“I don’t believe Congress should approve the administration’s request for funds until they have a clear plan in place of how they’ll be relocated and where they’ll be relocated that ensures the safety of all Americans,” he said.
This bill is Austria’s first standalone bill since he came to Congress in January, although he has also attached an amendment supporting greater military pay raises to an earlier bill.
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TweetAP: Joe the Plumber makes negative comments about gays
This comes from the Associated Press about an Ohioan who made big news during last year’s presidential campaign:
Samuel Wurzelbacher, the Toledo man hailed as “Joe the Plumber” by Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign last year, said he believes gays are “queer” and said he won’t allow them near his children.
Nevertheless, Wurzelbacher said the decision about whether to allow same-sex couples to marry should be left to states.
“People don’t understand the dictionary — it’s called queer,” Wurzelbacher told Christianity Today in an interview published this week. “Queer means strange and unusual. It’s not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we’re supposed to do — what man and woman are for.”
He added, “I’ve had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they’re people, and they’re going to do their thing.”
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights organization based in Washington, dismissed Wurzelbacher’s comments.
“It would matter if Joe the Plumber mattered,” Solmonese said. “One thing among many things we learned in the 2008 campaign is that he doesn’t.”
Wurzelbacher, regarded as a folk hero to many conservatives after challenging then-Democratic nominee Barack Obama about his tax policies, said neither political party was sufficiently Christian.
“They use God as a punch line,” Wurzelbacher said of Republicans. “They use God to invoke sympathy or invoke righteousness, but they don’t stay the course.”
Wurzelbacher said he considered McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the GOP’s emerging stars. But he said the party would have a difficult time recasting its image to appeal to younger voters.
“You got the RNC talking about repackaging principles and values to make them hip and cool to the younger generation,” Wurzelbacher said. “You can’t repackage them. They are what they are. You can’t make what they are.”
Since the election, Wurzelbacher has spoken at conservative rallies around the country and traveled to Israel as a rookie reporter to cover the Gaza conflict.
Wurzelbacher told the magazine he might consider running for office someday. “Not right now,” Wurzelbacher said. “God hasn’t said, ‘Joe, I want you to run.’ I feel (it’s) more important to just encourage people to get involved, one way or another. If I can inspire some leaders, that would be great.”
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TweetCrticics: Strickland school plan “separate and unequal”
Invoking the language of the civil rights era, charter school advocates on Thursday, May 7, unveiled a print and radio ad campaign blasting Gov. Ted Strickland’s school funding plan as “separate and unequal.”
“This is not the time to reignite the battle over separate or unequal education for Ohio students,” Tracie F. Craft, the Dayton-based state director of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, said at a news conference.
Craft said Strickland’s plan hurts black students because it cuts funding for charter schools that are disproportionately black.
State Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, lashed back. Luckie said the House-passed version of Strickland’s plan adds money to charter schools that perform well but reduces funding for those that don’t.
Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said in an e-mail that “rhetoric like this tends to perpetuate the toxic environment that has plagued our education discussion in Ohio for too long, pitting community schools against traditional public schools.” Strickland “supports charter and public schools that are providing a high-quality education to Ohio’s young people,” she added.
The print ad will run in the Columbus Dispatch on Friday and radio ads will run in Columbus, Cleveland and Akron, said Sue Westendorf, former state school board president and now executive director of My School, My Choice, a charter school group. She declined to say how much the ad campaign costs.
The ads come as Strickland and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan prepare for a rally on Friday at Ohio State University in support of Strickland’s school plan.
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TweetSpace endorses Fisher for US Senate
U.S. Rep. Zack Space, D-Dover, endorsed Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher in the race for U.S. Senate. Space, who had considered running for Senate, also announced that he would seek re-election to the House of Representatives.
Fisher is facing Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and state Rep. Tyrone Yates in a Democratic primary for the 2010 U.S. Senate race.
“I have a high degree of respect and admiration for Jennifer Brunner. I think she’s done an excellent job as secretary of state. My endorsement of Lee is meant to be no reflection on her whatsoever,” Space said. “Lee has simply proven his commitment to the people of southeastern Ohio through his hard work on as the director of the Department of Development. I’ve seen his successes time and time again.”
Fisher, who served 10 years in the general assembly and one term as attorney general, lost the governor’s race to Republican Bob Taft in 1998 and was elected lieutenant governor in 2006 on the ticket with Democrat Ted Strickland. He served as development director under Strickland until he announced his candidacy for Senate.
Fisher has outpaced Brunner five to one on the fund-raising front.
Brunner, an elections lawyer and former Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge, was elected statewide for the first time in 2006.
On the GOP side, former Congressman and former White House budget director Rob Portman is considered a front-runner in the Senate race. State Auditor Mary Taylor, a Republican, is expected to announce soon whether she’ll join the race.
U.S. Sen. George Voinovich announced he would not seek re-election in 2010.
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Tweet$1 billion in Ohio biz loans in the pipeline
Columbus-based Huntington Bancshares Inc. is teaming with the state of Ohio to loan a total of $1 billion over three years to small and medium size businesses in an effort to attract and retain jobs.
Huntington is already the nation’s third largest lender in the federal Small Business Loan program.
The bank plans to work with the state Department of Development and state Treasurer Kevin Boyce to pair the loans with state programs when needed. For example, if a business needed $500,000 for an expansion but a state program could only loan $350,000, Huntington would fill the gap, according to Huntington President and Chief Executive Steve Steinour.
Gov. Ted Strickland applauded the new program, saying that access to credit is key to business retention and expansion.
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TweetOhio ranks 3rd in US for hunger among young kids
A new national study ranks Ohio third in the nation when it comes to the percentage of children under 5 who are likely “food insecure” because they don’t have consistent access to enough nutritious food.
The study found that 23.8 percent of Ohio children under 5, more than 170,000, are on the brink of hunger. Only Louisiana and North Carolina ranked higher on the hungry kids scale.
Ohio ranks 16th in the nation when it comes to food insecurity for children under 18.
“In any given week, 207,000 different Ohioans receive emergency food assistance,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks. “Hunger continues to be at the center of the lives of large numbers of Ohioans, with nearly one in three Ohioans lives in a household that doesn’t earn enough to pay for housing, food, health care and other necessities.”
The report, Child Food Insecurity in the United States: 2005 - 2007, found that 3.5 million American children, ages five and under, are food insecure.
Hamler-Fugitt said although the new data is cause for concern, what is even more alarming is that the data predates the current recession, which already is causing dramatic increases in demand at the state’s food pantries and soup kitchens.
“Without question, the current economy is causing unprecedented strain on the emergency food network,” she said.
The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks represents 12 foodbanks and 3,000 member charities including food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, which serve more than 1.8 million Ohioans and distribute more than 97 million pounds of groceries annually.
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TweetTenants get foreclosure protection in House bill
The Ohio House has approved legislation aimed at protecting tenants when their landlords face foreclosure.
“Displacing families who pay their rent is bad for communities,” Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview Heights, a chief co-sponsor, said before the House voted 53-42 for House Bill 9 on Wednesday, May 6.
Rep. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, voted “no.” She said the bill might have the unintended consequence of discouraging investors who don’t want to become landlords from buying properties that have been foreclosed on.
The bill would require:
*Landlords of residential properties to give renters written notice of a foreclosure action.
*Landlords facing foreclosure to give renters 21-day notice of a sheriff’s sale of the property.
*That a rental agreement for a residential property sold under a foreclosure action be converted to a month-to-month agreement.
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TweetBill sparked by mom’s slaying gets committee OK
Legislation prompted by the shooting death of Jenny Nelson in her Harrison Township home in January won approval by the House Insurance Committee on Wednesday, May 6.
“It makes sense. It absolutely makes sense,” said Rep. Robert Hackett, R-London, whose district includes parts of Greene and Clark counties.
House Bill 50 would strike a car owner’s home address from the owner’s vehicle registration form.
Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer, who earlier testified in favor of the bill, said that Charlie Myers got Nelson’s address from the registration form in the car he stole while Nelson and her husband attended a concert in Columbus. Myers is awaiting trial on murder charges.
Plummer has said that Nelson tied up Nelson, assaulted her 4-year-old son and was stabbed in the back when Nelson broke free. Myers grabbed a gun he brought and shot Nelson, according to Plummer. Myers than kidnapped the son and dropped him off at a rest stop along Interstate 70 in Madison County, according to the sheriff.
Hackett said the bill is aimed at protecting the public and that concern outweighs the closing off of information on the registration form. Plummer has said that removing the address from the form wouldn’t hurt law enforcement. Officials still would be able to get motorists’ addresses by running license plate information through a computer data base, Plummer has said.
What do you think?
Next stop for the bill would be a vote by the full House.
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TweetOhioans see more economic trouble ahead
Ohioans are feeling decidedly doom-and-gloom about the economic future, a new Ohio Poll released Wednesday May 6 shows.
Forty-six percent of Ohioans believe that the next generation of workers — those who are kids today — will be worse off economically than current workers are and 57 percent say the previous generation was economically better off, the poll said.
Additionally, 30 percent of Ohioans report that their household has experienced a lay off or job loss in the last 12 months.
“The impact of this recession is really hitting deep in Ohio households,” said Eric Rademacher of the Ohio Poll. That’s led to a negative view about how the next generation will fare. “Part of this pessimism comes from a recessionary period that has been hitting Ohioans for a long time now. Government officials have called attention to it but a lot of Ohioans have been dealing with this recession in their pocketbooks for a long time now.”
Even those with jobs are uneasy. Among currently employed Ohioans, one-third say it’s likely that their pension benefits will be cut, 30 percent say it’s likely they’ll be asked to take a pay cut, 29 percent say it’s likely that their health benefits will be reduced or cut, 22 percent expect their company will temporarily shut down and 19 percent say they expect to be laid off.
The Ohio Poll, conducted by the University of Cincinnati, surveyed 818 adult Ohioans between April 16 and April 27. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent.
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TweetStrickland approval rating at 57 percent
Despite a lousy economy and state budget woes, 57 percent of Ohio voters approve of the job Gov. Ted Strickland is doing and he is well-positioned to be re-elected in 2010, according to a poll released Wednesday, May 6 by Quinnipiac University.
In hypothetical match-ups for the governor’s race, voters say they’d pick Strickland over former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine 48 percent to 36 percent, and over former Congressman John Kasich 51 percent to 32 percent, according to the poll, which was conducted April 28 to May 4.
Voters are split 43 percent to 43 percent over whether they approve of Strickland’s handling of the economy.
And the poll indicates Strickland has some work yet to do to sell his education reform plan to the public. Thirty-one percent of voters said Strickland’s education plan will improve education in Ohio, 19 percent said it treats all school districts equally, and 74 percent expect to pay more taxes if the plan takes effect, the poll said.
Democrats are in a good position to win the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican George Voinovich in 2010, the poll showed.
Democrats Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner have declared their candidacies while Republican Rob Portman is a favorite on the GOP side, though state Auditor Mary Taylor is considering jumping into the race.
In hypothetical primary line-ups, Fisher would beat Brunner 20 percent to 16 percent. In hypothetical general election line-ups, Fisher would beat Portman 42-31 and would beat Taylor 41-29 while Brunner would beat Portman 40-32 and would beat Taylor 38-29.
The telephone poll surveyed 1,079 registered Ohio voters between April 28 and May 4 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
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TweetMedia hype over swine flu is overblown, voter say
Two-thirds of Ohio voters say the media’s reaction to the swine flu is “overblown” and 59 percent say the government’s response to the health threat was justified, according to a new poll released Wednesday, May 6, by Quinnipiac University.
Despite the media coverage, 72 percent of Ohio voters say they’re either not worried at all or not too worried that they or someone in their family will catch swine flu, the poll found.
“Ohio voters don’t seem all that worried about the flu scare at this point,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “They think the government has acted appropriately, but they think the media coverage has been over the top. Interestingly, women are more likely to be worried than men.”
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Tweet“Whistleblower” bill gets Senate OK
The Ohio Senate has approved legislation aimed at making it easier for “whistleblowers” to expose fraud in government.
The vote was 32-0 on Senate Bill 7 on Tuesday, May 5.
It requires State Auditor Mary Taylor to set up a fraud-reporting system for residents and public employees to anonymously report fraud and misuse of public funds. It also extends whistleblower protections against retaliatory firings or other disciplinary action taken against state employees who report the fraud.
Taylor also ready has a fraud reporting system including a hotline - 1-866-FRAUD-OH - but the new legislation would strengthen the system by putting it into law, her office said in a press release.
“This important legislation will enhance our efforts to hold state and local government accountable for how it spends tax dollars,” Taylor said in a press release.
The bill now goes to the House.
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TweetSenate Republicans ready to cut size of state government
Senate Republicans are likely to make deep cuts in the two-year state budget proposal put forth by Gov. Ted Strickland and then expanded by House Democrats.
The Strickland administration announced Tuesday, May 5, that the current state budget may be as much as $900 million short and that revenue forecasts for the fiscal years 2010-2011 budget will have to be adjusted. The economic downturn has resulted in lower than expected income tax and sales tax revenues.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said, “We are at a fork in the road and neither path is easy. It’s either a tax increase or significantly cutting the size of state government moving forward. From the Senate’s perspective, there is really only one option. In this economic climate, we cannot afford to make state government more expensive and thereby sentence Ohioans, who are already struggling, to (pay) higher taxes.”
He added, “There has been a lot of talk around Capitol Square about the need to make difficult decisions. The Senate is now in the position to make them.”
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TweetState budget gap could top $900 million
With less than two months to go in the current fiscal year, state officials now project a budget gap ranging from $600 million to more than $900 million. The current fiscal year ends June 30.
Pari Sabety, state budget director, said on Tuesday, May 5, that this could require using the state’s $942 million “rainy day fund” to plug the hole, money that has been counted on to balance the next two-year state budget. The decision will have to be made by Gov. Ted Strickland in collaboration with the legislature, said Sabety.
Lower than expected state personal income tax receipts for April were a major factor in the gloomy projection, said Richard Levin, state tax commissioner. Personal income tax revenue accounts for more than 45 percent of the state’s general fund receipts, according to the budget office.
Net income tax revenue for April fell 22 percent short of projections, Levin said. The new forecast comes just four months after state officials in December revised this year’s revenue estimates downward.
“Our most pessimistic scenarios that gave us our forecast last December weren’t pessimistic enough,” said Sabety.
In December, officials had forecast state income tax revenue would drop 9.4 percent compared to the previous year, the largest such drop in the tax’s history. With the April numbers, however, income tax receipts are 15.3 percent below the last fiscal year’s pace.
Sabety said projected state agency expenditures for the rest of the fiscal year total about $3.8 billion, but $3.5 billion of that is for debt service, subsidies to local governments, tax relief and similar costs.
The gloomy news comes with the proposed state budget for the next two years now before the Senate. The House approved a $54 billion version of the budget April 29, before the new information about April returns was available.
April is an important month for personal income tax receipts. Annual returns for 2008 were due and refunds were paid out. Also, the first quarter of estimated payments for 2009 were due as well as the monthly receipts withheld by employers.
House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, said in a press release that “the
“The troubling news about Ohio’s revenue shortfall is another grim reminder about the very serious pain Ohioans are feeling during this economic crisis.”
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TweetBoehner’s web ad and the reaction to it
House Minority Leader John Boehner and Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich. put out a web ad last week criticizing the Obama administration for adopting policies that they argue do not make America safer.
Here’s the ad:
So what did one fellow Republican think of the ad?
Not much.
Here’s former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., weighing in:
What do you think of the ad?
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TweetSchool funding? - Ohioans don’t know much about it
Nearly two-thirds of Ohio adults don’t know whether the state Supreme Court has ruled the school funding system constitutional or unconstitutional, according to a poll released Monday, May 4. In fact, the high court has ruled the system unconstitutional four times since 1997.
The poll was released by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a pro-charter school group, and “Catalyst Ohio” education magazine.
The survey cost $50,000, said Terry Ryan, vice president for Ohio programs and policy for the Fordham Institute.
Also in the poll, only 22 percent believed that if Ohio spent more money on its public schools that the money actually would get to the classroom.
The poll found that 88 percent of Ohioans said it’s important to “even out” education funding. However, when asked if they’d be willing to pay more in taxes to equalize spending across districts, 55 percent said no.
“The public does not want to invest if their investment is not going to pay off,” said Steve Farkas, president of the FDR Group, the company that conducted the survey.
For full poll results, click here.
The survey was taken from April 1- April 9 and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.
The results come with the Ohio Senate considering Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed school funding plan as part of the state budget. The House passed the budget and its version of the funding plan last week.
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TweetKasich forms committee for governor campaign
Former Congressman John Kasich, the Columbus-area Republican and Fox News commentator, is getting ready to officially jump into the 2010 race for governor.
On Friday, May 1, Kasich, 56, filed paperwork with Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to set up a governor’s campaign committee.
“This will allow us to build the common sense solutions we need to help Ohio’s hurting families,” Kasich said in an e-mail to supporters. “I look forward to the hard work we have ahead and I hope I can count on you to bring Ohio back.”
Kasich said to “stay tuned” for a formal announcmenent soon and urged visits to www.KasichforOhio.com.
State Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls, also is running for governor. On the Democratic side, Gov. Ted Strickland is expected to seek re-election.
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