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Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Popular blood donation and MRDD bills signed by Strickland
Gov. Ted Strickland signed into law on Tuesday July 7 two bills politically popular bills.
The first allows 16-year-olds to donate blood with parental consent. Previous law said 17- and 18-year-olds can donate blood without parental consent but younger kids may not donate blood at all. High school students account for 10 percent of all blood donations and the law change is expected to bring in 10,000 more units per year.
The second bill drops the words “mental retardation” from the official titles of state and county agency names. The state Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities will be renamed the Department of Developmental Disabilities.
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Brunner: “I am in this race to stay”
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who faces Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher in the Democratic primary to replace retiring Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, wants the world to know she has no plans to get out of the race.
In a blog post on her website, Brunner writes that she has been frequently prodded to give up her race for the U.S. Senate and instead run for re-election for Secretary of State.
One of the frequent topics is her fundraising - she has lagged far behind Fisher and further behind former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park. Portman has raised more than $1.5 million in the fundraising quarter that ended June 30. Neither Fisher nor Brunner has released their most recent numbers.
But she said she’s in it to stay.
“Public service for me has never been about the money. I know I must raise it. I always have, deliberately, steadily and having enough in the end to get the votes I need to win,” she wrote in a blog post on her site. “Because I grew up here, went to public school and state university here, lived much of this state’s history through my extended family’s stories and heritage, and because I believe in the future of Ohio, I am in this race, and I will not get out.”
Brunner also writes that she “vigorously” opposes “draconian cuts in state or federal funding that deprive the middle class of tools to achievement such as libraries.”
And she works to define herself as the fresh face in the race, describing Fisher as an insider.
“If this race for the U.S. Senate is about the trappings of insider politics, then I suspect Lee Fisher will be your man,” she writes. “But if Ohio’s Democratic faithful are willing to look toward a new way that is really nothing more than the old way of the Golden Rule, then Jennifer Brunner will be the first woman from Ohio to be both nominated and elected to the U.S. Senate.”
UPDATE: Here’s Fisher campaign manager Geri Prado’s take on the blog:
“Lee Fisher believes this campaign isn’t about him - it’s about Ohioans all across the state who are out or work, or worried about losing their job or their health care. If he gets the chance to serve in the Senate, he’ll continue what he’s always done in public life - fight for the hard working families of Ohio who are too often forgotten by politics-as-usual in Washington.”
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Senate GOP pitches new gambling idea
After picking apart Gov. Ted Strickland’s plan for slots at Ohio’s racetracks, Senate Republicans are pitching a constitutional amendment that would require voter approval in November. And the governor doesn’t like it at all.
Senate President Bill Harris outlined the new plan to Strickland in a two-page letter on Tuesday, July 7.
“The current VLT (video lottery terminal) proposal picks winners and losers and creates a gambling monopoly for a handful of predetermined property owners. We think that’s wrong,” Harris wrote. “A constitutional amendment could be constructed to ensure a fair, open, and competitive process for distributing licenses that would get the best deal for the taxpayers of Ohio.”
The Senate proposal is to competitively bid the 10-year licenses, starting at not less than $65 million per license. It does not specify where the slot machines would be placed.
“I don’t think it’s an answer to our budget problem,” Strickland said.
Lawmakers and Strickland are at a stalemate on how to close a $3.2 billion gap in the upcoming two-year state operating budget. Strickland proposed $2.4 billion in spending cuts plus adding VLTs at the racetracks to raise $933 million.
The state has been operating on weekly interim budgets since July 1 but the stopgap spending plans cost the state at least $13.7 million a week in lost fees and federal money, Strickland said.
Strickland said a small number of senators are blocking progress on the budget but declined to name them.
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Obama’s approval rating drops in Ohio
A new poll finds that President Barack Obama’s approval rating has dropped in Ohio to the lowest approval rating he’s had in the state since he was inaugurated.
Obama had a 49-44 percent approval rating in Ohio, down from 62-31 percent in a May 6 survey by Quinnipiac University, which regularly polls Ohio because it is a swing state.
Ohioans also disapproved of the way Obama is handling the economy by a 48 to 46 percent, down from a 57 to 36 percent margin May 6.
Sixty-six percent of Ohioans, meanwhile, are “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the way things are going in the state.
The poll also found Democrats Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner are virtually tied for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio.
