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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > August > 18
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Strickland rips Kasich for OSU gig
Democrat Ted Strickland ripped into his political opponent, Republican John Kasich, and Ohio State University on Wednesday, Aug. 18, for striking a deal that paid Kasich $50,000 a year and an aide $20,000 a year over seven years to make guest lectures and interact with students.
Strickland called it appalling and selfish, particularly since Kasich has advocated that universities cut costs and expect more out of teachers.
The annual payments worked out to about $4,000 per day spent on campus, according to a schedule provided by OSU.
“It says to me that John Kasich thinks he is a very special person, that the rules that apply to everyone else don’t apply to him. He ought to be ashamed of himself,” the governor said.
The Kasich campaign said Ohio State paid Kasich what the university officials thought he was worth and continued to ask him back. OSU officials said they received nothing but positive feedback on Kasich’s guest lectures and campus activities.
Strickland said Ohio State is culpable for the arrangement as well and he questioned why an aide was paid to assist Kasich with his campus duties.
“If he only showed up four days a month, what did the campus aide do? Look for a parking place?” Strickland said.
Kasich resigned as a presidential fellow at OSU in May 2009 when he announced his candidacy for governor.
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TweetAd Watch: ‘Jobs for Ohio’ ad
During the election season, we will take a look at some of the TV ads of the major candiates.
By Jack Torry Washington Bureau
THE AD: “Jobs for Ohio,’’ a 30-second TV commercial.
PRODUCER: American Crossroads, an independent organization whose founders include Karl Rove, onetime political aide to former President George W. Bush, and Ed Gillespie, former chairman of the Republican National Committee. The organization spent $500,000 to air the commercial across Ohio.
VIDEO: Opens with a graphic of a politician holding a megaphone and then the number of jobs Ohio has lost since 2007. Then we see pleasant photos of a casually dressed Rob Portman chatting with voters and workers, with at least two shots of him holding his blue-covered book of his plan to create jobs. We also see him munching a hamburger at an outdoor barbecue and chatting with young people as he briskly walks down a street in what appears to be a small town.
SCRIPT: A female and male announcer alternating: “Politicians talk and talk, while Ohio loses 400,000 jobs. But Rob Portman’s finding solutions in Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton, ideas in all 88 counties, all part of Portman’s plan to create jobs. The talkers gave us stimulus and debt. But Portman hears Ohio families; strengthens job creation. Rob Portman, listening, then leading. Vote Rob Portman. Now that’s change.’’
ANALYSIS: It would be difficult to find another commercial that has the appearance of being so carefully tested by polls and focus groups. It hits virtually every important theme - a politician listening to voters, an outsider not part of the Washington establishment, and a candidate talking about jobs.
Yet the commercial, while avoiding any direct attacks on Senate Democratic candidate Lee Fisher, is extremely misleading by omission. A person watching would assume that: (A) Portman has never held political office, (B) Does not wear a business suit and tie, and (C) Is just some guy who hangs out at barbecues.
In fact, Portman spent more than a decade as a Republican congressman from Cincinnati, and served for one year each as U.S. trade representative and budget director under former President George W. Bush. As a member of Congress, he voted for the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. He supported the 2001 tax cuts that many economists believe were a factor in transforming a $128 billion federal budget surplus in 2001 into a decade of major deficits.
As for the 400,000 jobs lost? Ohio lost 379,900 non-farm payrolls jobs from December 2006 - just before Fisher became lieutenant governor — until June of this year. But the state has been steadily losing jobs since 2000, under both Republican and Democratic governors. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ohio has had a net loss of 568,300 jobs from January of 2000 until June of this year.
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TweetOhio in “Dirty Dozen” because of lax anti-human trafficking effort
Ohio is one of the “Dirty Dozen” states because of failure to enact basic provisions to combat human trafficking and failure to address the issue - the sex and slave labor trade - as a specific crime.
The report from the Polaris Project was released on Wednesday, Aug. 18. Other “Dirty Dozen” states include: Hawaii; Massachusetts; South Dakota; West Virginia; Wyoming; Alaska; Arkansas; Colorado; South Carolina: Oregon and Virginia.
The report didn’t surprise state Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, a leader of Ohio efforts to crack down on human trafficking. Fedor said she hopes the Senate, when it returns later this year, will pass the Senate Bill 235, sponsored jointly by her and Sen. Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, which would make human trafficking a second degree felony.
“We are going to pass legislation out of the Senate that will address human trafficking as a stand-alone felony,” Fedor said.
In June the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission released a report that put a $4 million price tag on one need to address the problem - hiring 52 specially trained case managers.
The report estimated that at least 6,136 individuals are at risk of human trafficking in Ohio 1,861 of them “are believed to be trafficked into the sex or slave labor trade.”
Fedor’s office said that while Ohio does not have a specific anti-trafficking law, has a human trafficking “specification”, defined to cover only sex trafficking cases, not labor trafficking.
If a person is charged with two sex trafficking related felonies - such as abduction or compelling prostitution - this sentencing enhancement may be attached, which will mandate prison time of at least 12 months. It is complicated to use, her office said.
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TweetPortman invokes Obama campaign skills to raise money
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman is using Democratic President Barack Obama’s campaign visit to Ohio on Wednesday, Aug. 18, to raise money.
“There is no better campaigner - or motivator for national Democrats - than President Obama,” Portman said in an e-mail to supporters. “Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher has personally requested that the president help him raise money…”
National Democrats will be opening up their checkbooks for Fisher, Portman’s Democratic opponent in the Senate race, Portman wrote.
Portman, a former Cincinnati-area U.S. House member and budget director and U.S. trade representative for President George W. Bush, asks his supporters “to match the National Democrats dollar for dollar by making a special online contribution of at least $25 as we head into the last eleven weeks of this critical campaign.”
Obama is in Ohio to raise money for Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Ohio Democrats.
Portman already has a big cash advantage over Fisher. The latest campaign finance reports show Portman with nearly $8.9 million on hand, compared to nearly $1.3 million for Fisher.
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TweetBiden coming to Toledo to raise money for Strickland
If there’s any doubt that the White House places a high priority on Gov. Ted Strickland’s re-election, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are removing it.
Obama is in Columbus today, Aug. 18, to raise money for Strickland, locked in a tough re-election fight with Republican challenger John Kasich, and Biden is set to be in Toledo on Monday, Aug. 23, to raise more money for Strickland, Strickland’s campaign confirmed.
The Associated Press reported that on his Monday visit, Biden also is expected to visit a complex that includes a Chrysler Jeep Wrangler assembly plant and suppliers that manufacturer major components for the vehicle.
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TweetNew poll: Ohio “leans” GOP in governor’s race
With President Barack Obama in town to raise money for Gov. Ted Strickland and Ohio Democrats, the results from a new poll on Wednesday, Aug. 18, weren’t good for Strickland in his re-election campaign against Republican John Kasich.
The Rasmussen Reports poll showed Kasich leading, 48-40 percent among likely voters.
The results shifted the race from “Toss-Up” status to “leans Republican.”
In a poll taken on Aug. 2, Kasich, a former Columbus-area U.S. House member, narrowly led, 45-42 percent. The new poll was conducted on Monday, Aug. 16.
When “leaners” were included in the new poll, Kasich’s lead increased to 10 points, 52-42 percent. This is the first poll to include “leaners.”
“Leaners” are respondents who initially voice no choice for either candidate but when answering a followup question say they are “leaning” toward a candidate.
The new poll was taken with 750 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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