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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > March > 24
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
House gives final OK to sale of former Twin Valley hospital
The House gave final legislative approval, 98-0, on Wednesday, March 24, to legislation approving the sale of the former Twin Valley state psychiatric hospital in Dayton to Amamata LLC, a private Columbus-area health care company.
Approval of the sale was added in the Senate as an amendment to House Bill 313, legislation that permits counties to organize land banks to acquire abandoned properties and make plans for reusing them.
The Senate gave its approval to the amended version of House Bill 313 and sent it back to the House for the 98-0 concurrence vote.
Gov. Ted Strickland will sign the bill, said Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman.
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TweetOhio House OKs texting-while-driving ban
The Ohio House on Wednesday, March 24, approved legislation that bans text messaging while driving.
The vote was 86-12. The bill now goes to the Senate. House Bill 415 makes texting while driving a primary offense - a motorist can be stopped for this activity alone - and sets a maximum penalty of a $150 fine. It provides a six-month grace period during which only warnings would be issued.
Twenty states, the District of Columbia and Guam already ban text messaging for all drivers, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Fifteen states, Washington, D.C. and Guam have primary enforcement.
Rep. Barbara Sears, R-Sylvania, spoke against the bill. She said the real problem is distracted driving which includes shaving, putting on makeup and many other activities besides texting. Police should be encouraged to enforce existing laws against distracted driving, Sears said.
“I think we need to keep our eye on what the real issue is, teaching ourselves to be more attentive when we drive,” Sears said.
Rep. John Domenick, D-Smithfield, said he was tired of waiting to pass the bill. There are plenty of other distracting activities, including “scratching yourself.” The issue, he said, was “texting.”
“It’s time to save lives,” Domenick said.
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TweetLand bank bill clears Senate
The Ohio Senate voted 31-1 on Wednesday, March 24, for a bill that allows more counties to set up land banks, a tool used for redeveloping blighted properties.
Sponsored by state Representatives Roland Winburn, D-Dayton, and Peter Ujvagi, D-Toledo, the bill allows counties with populations of 60,000 or more to establish a County Land Reutilization Corporation. About 40 Ohio counties will qualify but they won’t be required to establish land banks.
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TweetPoll: Portman has slight edge in U.S. Senate race
Republican Rob Portman has a slight edge over both Democratic candidates- Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher - among voters in the U.S. Senate race in a poll released on Wednesday, March 24.
The major finding from the poll from Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, N.C., however, was that voters don’t know much about any of the major candidates in the race to replace Republican U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, who is retiring.
About two-thirds - 66 percent - don’t know enough about Portman, a former Cincinnati-area U.S. House member and budget director and U.S. trade representative for President George W. Bush, to have an opinion about him..
Sixty two percent said the same thing for Brunner and 55 percent weren’t sure what to think of Fisher.
In the matchups, Portman leads Brunner, 38-37 percent, a virtual tie, and is ahead of Fisher, 41-36 percent.
A key to the race may be how voters feel about Democratic President Barack Obama and that’s not good for Democrats. Fifty-three percent disapprove of the president’s job performance while just 40 percent give Obama good marks.
“None of the candidates in Ohio is really standing out right now,” Dean Debnam, Public Policy Polling president, said in a press release.
“But if Barack Obama’s numbers in the state remain this low it’s not likely to elect a Democratic senator this year. His popularity could be the deciding factor in the race.”
The poll was taken Saturday, March 20, and Sunday, March 21, with 630 voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percent.
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TweetNew poll: Voters favor Tea Party - barely
More American voters - 28 percent - favor the Tea Party than have an unfavorable opinion - 23 percent -, but nearly half - 49 percent - don’t know enough about the movement to take a position.
That’s a key finding of a national Quinnipiac University Poll released on Wednesday, March 24.
The poll also found that if Tea Party candidates are on the ballot in congressional races, Democrats would benefit. Voters overall said by a 44-39 percent margin that they will vote for a Republican over a Democratic candidate for Congress.
However, if a Tea Party candidate is on the ballot, the Democrat would get 36 percent while the Republican would get 25 percent and the Tea Party candidate, 15 percent, the poll found.
“The Tea Party movement could be a Republican dream or a Republican nightmare,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
“Members could be a boon to the GOP if they are energized enough to support Republican candidates. But if the Tea Party were to run its own candidates for office, any votes its candidates received would to a very great extent be coming from the GOP column.”
The Tea Party movement has been active both nationally and in Ohio, most recently helping lead the opposition to the overhaul of the health care system just signed into law by President Barack Obama.
Other key findings in the poll:
*74 percent of those in the Tea Party are Republicans or independent voters leaning Republican.
*16 percent in the Tea Party are Democrats or independents leaning Democratic.
*5 percent are solidly independent.
*55 percent in the movement are women; 45 percent are men.
*88 percent are white.
*77 percent voted for Sen. John McCain for president in 2008; 15 percent voted for Obama.
Brown said that the poll paints a picture of the Tea Party as a movement that takes in a broad swath of the American middle class, but right now is a minority group. The numbers in the Tea Party equate to about the size of the African-American electorate overall, said Brown.
The poll surveyed 1,907 voters from March 16 - Sunday, March 21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
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