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Friday, June 12, 2009
Brown talks Dayton at the White House
Sen. Sherrod Brown went to the White House Friday, June 12, to meet with President Barack Obama.
The two had a “productive” meeting, according Brown, and discussed the Ohio economy, manufacturing and the state’s clean energy economy.
They also talked about Dayton, specifically NCR’s closing and DHL’s decision to pull jobs out of Wilmington. Brown said the two did not talk about Columbus, Ga.’s request for $5 million in stimulus money to offset its promise of more than $6 million in city money to attract NCR manufacturing jobs. However, Brown said the president asked him about DHL.
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Mike DeWine considers AG race - decision soon
Former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, the Cedarville Republican, is considering a return to politics as a candidate for Ohio attorney general in 2010.
“I’ve not made a final decision,” DeWine said in a telephone interview on Friday, June 12. “I’m certainly thinking about it.”
The interview came after DeWine on Thursday designated a treasurer - J. Hadden - for a state campaign fund, a fund DeWine will need to run for statewide office in 2010.
The filing did not say which office DeWine was seeking.
DeWine said the law and legal issues have “always been a real passion of mine.” His first elective office was Greene County prosecutor. Also, he served on the Judiciary Committee in Congress for a combined 20 years, first in the U.S. House and later in the Senate.
DeWine was interviewed on his way home from a humanitarian trip to Haiti. He had gone there with his wife Fran and their son Pat to dedicate a school in the name of the DeWines’ deceased daughter Becky.
He lost his bid for a third U.S. Senate term in 2006 to Democrat Sherrod Brown. In addition to his service as county prosecutor and in Congress, DeWine has served as lieutenant governor.
Delaware County Prosecutor David Yost already has announced he will run for the GOP nomination for attorney general in 2010. Democratic incumbent Richard Cordray is expected to seek re-election.
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Pledge of Allegiance policy slipped into state budget bill
The ACLU of Ohio is calling on lawmakers to remove a provision added to the state budget bill that would prohibit Ohio’s 613 public school districts from passing policies against reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in classrooms.
State Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, inserted an amendment in the budget bill after hearing that Oberlin city schools near Cleveland decided in May to stick with its no pledge policy.
Currently, school districts set their own policies on whether the pledge is recited.
If Cates’ amendment becomes law, districts would be barred from passing policies that would prevent teachers from requiring the pledge be recited in their classrooms. The legislation also would prohibit anyone reciting the pledge to alter it in any way, such as adding or removing words, according to the ACLU.
“This is a transparent attempt to force all school districts into mandating the pledge to be recited in all classrooms. Local school districts know their communities best and should be permitted to make decisions that they feel are consistent with those they represent,” ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link said in a press release.
“In addition, mandating that people may not alter the pledge in any way is a clear violation of their First Amendment rights. The Ohio General Assembly should not be in the business of dictating what people may or may not say and how they may choose to recite the pledge,” Link added.
In a landmark free speech decision in 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students could not be required to recite the pledge. The legislation would still allow individual students to choose not to recite the pledge.
“I hope they come to their senses or there’s just going to be a lot of expensive and unnecessary legal work coming forward,” Link said.
