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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > June > 24
Thursday, June 24, 2010
VP Biden to campaign, raise bucks for Fisher
Vice President Joe Biden will campaign and hold a fundraiser for Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, on Wednesday, June 30, in Cleveland, Fisher’s campaign announced on Thursday, June 24.
“We’re excited to have Vice President Biden’s support and to be able to work with him to create good-paying jobs in Ohio and rebuild our middle class,” Fisher said in a press release.
Fisher is running against Republican Rob Portman, a former U.S. House member from the Cincinnati area and top aide to President George W. Bush.
Portman’s campaign gave the news a cool reception.
“After sitting idly by while Ohio lost 400,000 jobs in the last three years, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher now welcomes to Ohio a key figure in Washington’s dangerous tax-and-spend agenda that is destroying the state’s chances for real economic recovery,” Jessica Towhey, Portman’s spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
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Dem Chairman Redfern files complaints against GOP Supreme Court candidates
Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern has filed complaints against two Republican Ohio Supreme Court justices on the Nov. 2 ballot - Maureen O’Connor and Judith Lanzinger -, Redfern announced on Thursday, June 24.
Redfern’s complaint follows a complaint that Ohio Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine filed earlier against Democratic Chief Justice Eric Brown.
Redfern’s complaints allege that the two Republicans violated a rule prohibiting political endorsements by judges. O’Connor is running for chief justice against Brown and Lanzinger is running for re-election against Democrat Mary Jane Trapp, a state appeals court judge.
Jason Mauk, executive director of the Ohio Republican Party, in an e-mail dismissed Redfern’s complaints as “a silly public relations stunt designed to create a distraction from the far more serious accusations facing the chief justice.”
All complaints were filed with the high court’s Disciplinary Counsel.
DeWine’s complaints alleged that Brown violated two sections of the Code of Judicial Conduct regarding fund-raising.
Before the complaint was filed, Don Spicer, Brown’s campaign consultant, said Brown did not violate judicial ethics because he was only encouraging attendance at a fundraiser, not directly asking for contributions.
Redfern’s letter quotes O’Connor at an Ashtabula County dinner in February as saying:
“We are not allowed, as members of the judiciary, to endorse one another or any other campaign, so I cannot tell you how much I would endorse Justice Lanzinger if I could.”
The letter quotes Lanzinger at a June 19 GOP event in Columbus as saying:
“We cannot endorse anyone…..But I can tell you that, you know, all of the Lanzingers are going to be voting for Maureen O’Connor. That’s all I can say about that.”
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Cleveland think tank proposes budget-balancing plan
The Center for Community Solutions, a Cleveland-based public policy research and advocacy group, on Thursday, June 24, unveiled a three-pronged plan for resolving Ohio’s looming budget crisis, including a potential $8 billion shortfall.
“Thinking the Unthinkable - Finding Common Ground for Resolving Ohio’s Fiscal Crisis” proposes to solve the problem with equal one-third shares of:
*New tax revenue
*Reductions in tax expenditures or tax breaks
*Spending reductions
Release of the report comes as a bipartisan six-member state legislative commission studying the looming budget crisis prepares to hold its first meeting on Tuesday, June 29 in Columbus.
John Begala, the group’s executive director and author of the study said in a press release that the report “seeks an analytical tone, and unapologetically strays into a call for moderation in addressing a fiscal crisis of the first order.”
Begala urged “the spirit of collaboration in common cause critical to overcoming the customarily contentious interest group politics in Columbus…to both pursue new ideas and make concessions from cherished programs and special benefits provided under current tax law.”
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Mike DeWine sets ice cream social for Sunday
Republican Mike DeWine, the former U.S. senator from Cedarville, and his wife Fran will hold the family’s annual ice cream social on Sunday, June 27, as DeWine campaigns for attorney general against Democratic incumbent Richard Cordray.
The ice cream social is at their home, 2587 Conley Road, from 1-5 p.m. and is open to the press and public, a press release said.
“When Mike first ran for (Greene County) Prosecutor, we tried to think of a campaign event where people could bring their children and families. We wanted to bring everyone together for a day of old-fashioned fun,” Fran DeWine said in a press release.
Other Republican candidates expected to attend include: state Sen. Jon Husted of Kettering, running for secretary of state; Delaware County Prosecutor Dave Yost, running for state auditor and Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judith Lanzinger, running for re-election.
DeWine and the other candidates are expected to speak at 3 p.m., the release said.
For more information, contact John Hall, 614-218-9759 or john@mikedewine.com, the release said.
