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September 2010
John Glenn to hop on Strickland’s campaign bus Friday
Former U.S. Sen. John Glenn on Friday will join Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland’s “Fight for Ohio” campaign bus tour, Strickland’s campaign announced.
Glenn, 89, the first American to orbit the earth, will make appearances in Columbus, Zanesville, St. Clairsville and Steubenville.
He will encourage supporters to “vote early and talk to voters about he stark choices they face in the November election,” a press release said.
The 9 a.m. event in Columbus is at the Linden Cafe, 1393 Cleveland Ave., with Glenn and Yvette McGee Brown, Strickland’s lieutenant governor running mate.
Strickland will join them at the other three events, the press release said.
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TweetRasmussen Reports poll: Kasich maintains lead over Strickland
Republican challenger John Kasich now holds an eight-point lead over Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland among likely voters in the Rasmussen Reports poll, 50-42 percent.
The results include “leaners.” Three percent prefer another candidate and 4 percent are undecided.
Release of the poll on Wednesday comes a day after some surveys showed the governor’s race tightening, with Kasich’s lead down to one or two points.
Two weeks ago in the Rasmussen Reports survey, Kasich led 50-43 percent, including leaners.
The new survey of 500 likely voters was conducted Monday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
In Rasmussen Reports surveys since December, Kasich has won support from 45 to 50 percent of likely voters, while Strickland has won support from 38 percent to 45 percent.
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TweetCBSNews/NY Times poll: Ohioans angry at Washington
More than three in four Ohio residents say they are either dissatisfied or angry at Washington, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll released on Tuesday.
In the poll, just 18 percent say they are satisfied and only three percent are enthusiastic.
Ohioans seems to be angrier than that the rest of the country.
Twenty nine percent say they are angry at Washington, nine points higher than the 20 percent of Americans overall who said they were angry at Washington in a CBS News/New York Times poll taken earlier this month. Forty seven percent in Ohio say they are dissatisfied in the new poll.
The CBS News/New York Times poll on Ohio will be released in full at 6:30 p.m.
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,114 adults in Ohio, interviewed by telephone September 23-27, 2010, including 973 registered voters, according to a CBS News report.
Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points, the report said.
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TweetUPDATED with new poll on Senate race: Fox News poll: Kasich leads Strickland, 45-43 percent
Republican challenger John Kasich edges Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, 45-43 percent among likely voters in a Fox News poll released Tuesday.
With the poll’s 3 percentage points margin of error, the results show a virtual dead heat.
In the U.S. Senate race in the Fox News poll, Republican Rob Portman has a big lead over Democrat Lee Fisher, 50-37 percent.
Kasich led 47-41 percent in a Sept. 18 Fox News poll and 48-43 percent in a Sept. 11 poll by the news organization.
For more on the Fox News poll, click here.
The Fox News poll was taken Saturday, Sept. 25, with 1,000 likely voters.
In a separate poll on the Senate race from Rasmussen Reports, Portman leads 51-42 percent among likely voters, the first time Portman has crossed the 50 percent mark in the Rasmussen Reports poll.
The Rasmussen Reports poll was taken Monday with 500 likely voters and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
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TweetPresident Obama rally set for Oct. 17 in Columbus
President Barack Obama will be in Columbus on Oct. 17 for a political rally aimed at getting out the vote for Democrats in the mid-term elections, a Democratic party official said on Tuesday.
The Ohio rally is one of several the president is doing around the country, starting with an event today at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Details of the Columbus event will be released later. It will mark Obama’s 11th trip to Ohio since taking office.
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TweetAnarchy! Oh my!!!
There’s much ado these days about the “angry voter”, the person who is sick of it all and ready to throw the bums out.
Now you may not run into that person at the gym, or at your kid’s soccer game or while lounging at RiverScape watching some music.
But according to the candidates running for the 36th Ohio House seat the way to find angry voters is to knock on doors.
During an interview on Monday Republican Michael Henne, Democrat Carl D. Fisher Jr. and independent Cheryl Watson all said they’ve all gotten an earful from angry voters while out campaigning.
Some are a tad more radical than others - as Fisher found on his travels: “I had one couple say, ‘We want anarchy.’”
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TweetUPDATED with DeWine reaction -Ohio Tea Party PAC endorses Constitution Party’s Owens in AG race
The Ohio Tea Party PAC has endorsed Robert Owens, the Constitution Party candidate, for attorney general, Chris Littleton, president of the Ohio Liberty Council and the Cincinnati Tea Party announced on Tuesday.
Owens is the first statewide candidate endorsed by the PAC in the general election, a press release said.
An endorsement requires 7/8ths majority support from voting members. Owens is running against Democratic incumbent Attorney General Richard Cordray and Republican Mike DeWine, the former U.S. senator from Cedarville.
The Ohio Tea Party PAC represents more than 50 member groups of the Ohio Liberty Council, liberty minded grass roots organizations including Tea Party Groups, 9/12 Projects and many more, the release said.
Not all groups voted but Owens received about 89 percent support from those who did, said Littleton.
“In contrast to the history of this office, we fully expect Mr. Owens to prosecute corruption and avoid frivolous lawsuits. This is still an office that serves the people of Ohio, not a personal agenda,” Littleton said in the release.
Several other races around the state are being evaluated for endorsement with announcements being made over the next two weeks, the release said.
John Hall, spokesman for DeWine’s campaign, issued this reaction in an e-mail:
“We are pleased to have received the endorsement of a wide range of groups including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, COAST, and Ohio Veterans United and look forward to working with tea party leaders in the future.”
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TweetO’Shaughnessy kicks off early voting in Dayton
As part of a statewide campaign by Democrats kicking off early voting Maryellen O’Shaughnessy will be in Dayton on Tuesday.
O’Shaughnessy, Franklin County Clerk of Courts, is challenging Republican State Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, and Libertarian Charles R. Earl in the race for secretary of state.
She will be at the Montgomery County Board of Elections, 451 W. Third St., Dayton at 8 a.m.
Voters can begin voting absentee ballots on Tuesday, either through the mail or in person at the board offices.
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TweetGov. Strickland, Dems plan early vote rally at Statehouse
Gov. Ted Strickland and other Democrats will celebrate the first day of early voting on Tuesday with a rally at the Statehouse, Strickland’s campaign announced.
The “pre-program” begins at 4:30 p.m. and the rally starts at 5 p.m., outside the east side of the Statehouse on S. Third Street in Columbus.
The rally comes as Strickland continues a campaign bus tour across the state that took him to Dayton on Sunday.
On Tuesday, the governor will be joined by Yvette McGee Brown, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, state Treasurer Kevin Boyce, Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Maryellen O’Shaughnessy and David Plouffe, former Obama for America campaign manager, Strickland’s campaign said.
Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern also is expected to attend.
Earlier Tuesday, Strickland’s bus tour was scheduled to stop for rallies in Cleveland and Akron.
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TweetNJ Governor Christie to join Kasich for roundtable, webcast
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will join John Kasich, Ohio’s Republican candidate for governor, for a round table discussion with community leaders on Tuesday at the JTM Food Group in Harrison in Hamilton County, Kasich’s campaign announced on Monday.
State Auditor Mary Taylor, Kasich’s lieutenant governor running mate, also is set to attend the discussion, the campaign said.
The event is set to start at 10:30 a.m. with a tour.
The discussion will be webcast live and those interested can join by clicking here at 11 a.m., the campaign said.
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TweetPolls have Strickland re-energized, making bold predictions
DAYTON — Emboldened by a recent poll that found Republican challenger John Kasich’s lead was shrinking in the race for Ohio’s next governor, Gov. Ted Strickland said his opponent’s momentum has “peaked” and vowed Sunday “I have a lot of fight left in me.”
Strickland seemed re-energized just after noon as he spoke to crowd of about 100 people from the steps of his tour bus outside Montgomery County’s Democratic headquarters just after noon.
After months of trailing in numerous polls, in one as many as 17 points, Strickland is within four points of Kasich for the governor’s office, according to a Dayton Daily News/Ohio Newspaper poll.
“Our own polling shows we are down two points,” Strickland said. “My prediction is by this time next week we will have moved ahead (in the polls).”
Strickland and Maryellen O’Shaugnessy, candidate for Secretary of State, are in the middle of a four-day campaign bus tour across Ohio to urge volunteers to organize and get voters to the polls when early voting begins Tuesday.
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TweetStrickland ties job losses to Kasich’s congressional votes
Gov. Ted Strickland’s re-election campaign hasn’t wavered from the message that his Republican opponent, John Kasich, cost Ohio jobs when he was a congressman by supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement and overseas trade deals, especially with China.
A Strickland TV ad, “Truth,” sticks to the theme with claims that have been posted on the campaign’s website:
“Kasich’s trade deals cost Ohio thousands of jobs — 49,000 jobs to Mexico, 91,000 to China.” The ad says voting for NAFTA, which took effect in 1994 and eliminated most trade barriers between Canada, Mexico and the United States, cost the state 49,000 jobs to Mexico. It says 91,000 Ohio jobs were lost to China because of Kasich’s vote in 2000 to normalize trade relations with China.
We wondered if the effect of the trade deals on jobs was so clear-cut — and if the numbers can be determined so specifically.
Calculating job losses and gains is not a simple matter of counting heads.
The ad’s estimate of job losses tied to NAFTA comes from a 2006 study by the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-union think tank that has long been critical of NAFTA. The study did not, however, claim to count actual job losses. Extrapolating from employment, census and trade data, it estimated how many jobs might have been supported by production that the study says was “displaced” by growing U.S. trade deficits with Canada and Mexico.
There are other complications.
The nonpartisan General Accounting Office said that job losses were overestimated, because some NAFTA imports displaced imports from other countries instead of production in the U.S. Both the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Research Service concluded that factors other than NAFTA caused the widening trade deficit with Mexico. And the Congressional Research Service found that none attributed changes in employment levels to NAFTA.
The estimate of jobs lost to China carries virtually identical problems.
Further clouding the estimate is the effect that other economic policies and forces have on the trade imbalance.
Kasich did vote for NAFTA in the House of Representatives in 1993 and for normalizing trade relations with China in 2000. Labeling them as “Kasich’s trade deals,” as does the ad, is a stretch, though.
So in the end, here’s what we’re left with:
• The ad makes claims about jobs lost, but relies on studies that didn’t actually count jobs that were lost.
• The estimates in those studies of what might have been displaced are affected by factors beyond NAFTA and trade with China, making it virtually impossible to measure the specific impact of either agreement on Ohio.
• The ad labels NAFTA and the Chinese trade bill as “Kasich’s deals,” although he was just one of many members of Congress to vote for them, and both received support from Democrats and Republicans.
We rate Strickland’s claim as False.
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TweetOhio candidates spending millions for TV ads
In Sunday’s newspaper, Dayton Daily News reporters Laura Bischoff and Lynn Hulsey along with reporters from the state’s largest newspapers are taking a look what statewide candidates are spending on TV ads this election season.
As the races for Governor and the U.S. Senate heat up, here’s a look at some of the latest ads.
Pick up a copy of Sunday’s Dayton Daily News for a breakdown on where the candidates are spending their money and how much.
Kasich’s latest ad, “Opportunity”…
Strickland’s latest ad, “Angry”…
Lee Fisher ad on Portman and jobs…
Portman ad on Fisher and jobs…
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TweetAFL-CIO flier hits Kasich and Portman
The AFL-CIO has released a political flier atttacking Republican candidates John Kasich and Rob Portman modeled on posters for of the new movie “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”
Entitled “Wall Street - All About the Money”, the flier attacks Kasich, a former congressman and Lehman Brothers managing director who is running for governor, and Portman, a former Congressman and U.S. trade representative who is running for U.S. Senate.
Under a photograph of the men the flier lists “outsourcing, layoffs, tax breaks for the rich, tax breaks for big corporations, NAFTA, CAFTA, pensions lost, pay cuts, budgets slashed, benefits lost, no collective bargaining, anti union, concessions, economic collapse.”
The union has endorsed Democrats Gov. Ted Strickland for re-election and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher for U.S. Senate.
For a look at the flier see:
AFL-CIO campaign ad showing Wall Street ties to Kasich, Portman
Kasich’s campaign responded with a news release from the Ohio Republican Party calling Strickland, “two-faced Ted” and saying he has “embraced the financial services industry throughout his term as governor.”
Portman spokeswoman Jessica Towhey called Fisher, a “Failed Job Czar” who walks “in lockstep with Washington Democrats.”
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TweetRoberts fundraiser scheduled
Democratic Third District Congressional candidate Joe Roberts will hold a fundraiser on Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. in Centerville.
Roberts is challenging U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville.
Roberts’ fundraiser will be at the home of Gary and Sandy Spencer, 8360 Paragon Rd., Centerville.
RSVP at nikole@robertsforohio.com
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TweetStrickland, Brown, O’Shaughnessy come to town
A rally for three statewide Democratic candidates will be held Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at Montgomery County Democratic Party Headquarters,131 S. Wilkinson St., Dayton.
Gov. Ted Strickland, running mate Yvette McGee Brown and secretary of state candidate Maryellen O’Shaughnessy will appear in Dayton as part of a bus tour across the state.
They will also appear in Hamilton, Middletown and Cincinnati.
The rally is open to the public.
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TweetCrystal Ball forecasts gloom for Ohio Dems
Political scientist Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball is forecasting gloom for Ohio Democrats.
On Thursday, Sabato, from the University of Virginia, changed his projection in the Ohio governor’s race from “toss-up” to “Leans R (Republican)”. Republican John Kasich is challenging Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland in the race.
In the Ohio U.S. Senate race, Sabato changed his projection from “Leans R” to “Likely R.” Republican Rob Portman is running against Democrat Lee Fisher.
“With the national and state economy in the dumps, incumbent Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland’s campaign seems to be headed that way as well,” wrote Sabato, citing polls that show Kasich ahead.
“What is happening in the Ohio governor’s battle is even more apparent in the U.S. Senate contest in the Buckeye State,” Sabato added.
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TweetGov. Strickland, Dems plan Saturday campaign bus tour
Gov. Ted Strickland and Yvette McGee Brown, his lieutenant governor running mate, plan to join other Democrats on Saturday to kick off the Democrats’ “Fight for Ohio” bus tour, Strickland’s campaign announced.
The bus will stop Saturday in Columbus, Chillicothe, Lucasville and Jackson, a press release said. A 9:30 a.m. Columbus rally is set to start the tour. The tour will continue Sunday.
Others on the tour include: Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, candidate for U.S. Senate; Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, candidate for secretary of state; David Pepper, candidate for auditor; Attorney General Richard Cordray and Treasurer Kevin Boyce.
Strickland is set to be at all Sunday stops except Jackson, the press release said.
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TweetRob Portman cites remarks from a “pro stimulus economist” as proof the stimulus failed
“Pro-Stimulus economist admits it is not working.” Rob Portman on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010, in a posting on Facebook
It’s no secret that Rob Portman isn’t a fan of the federal stimulus program Congress approved to jump start the economy.
The Republican, who is running against Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher for the U.S. Senate, has labeled it as a program that failed to create jobs in Ohio.
In a post Aug. 25 to his campaign Facebook page, which has more than 20,000 followers, Portman links to an article he says proves he’s right.
“Pro-Stimulus economist admits it is not working,” he says in the post.
We checked out the link on Portman’s page and found a story from The Hill, a Washington newspaper that covers Congress. In the article, Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, discusses the chances of a double-dip recession, which he rated as one in three. He previously had thought those chances to be just one in five.
Zandi, speaking to reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, cited weak consumer confidence, nervous businesses and investors, declining home sales and the European debt crisis as factors slowing U.S. economic recovery and prompting his prediction. If Congress and the White House compromise on the expiring Bush tax reductions, that would help boost confidence, he said.
What isn’t discussed at all is whether Zandi thinks the $787 billion stimulus package, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is working. The word “stimulus” appears just once in the story: “An economist who advised Democrats on the $787 billion stimulus has increased his prediction of the odds of the economy entering a double-dip recession.” Since the Christian Science Monitor hosted the breakfast at which Zandi spoke, we decided to check out its coverage of the event. The Monitor posted a handful of stories, with video, about the event. In one of them, Zandi is asked to respond to an assertion by House Minority Leader John Boehner about the stimulus program. Speaking at the City Club of Cleveland the day before, the Ohio Republican said that “all this stimulus spending has gotten us nowhere.” Zandi, who was an adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign was clear in his disagreement.
“We would be in a measurably worse place if not for the stimulus,” he said. “I don’t think it is any coincidence that the great recession ended at precisely the same time that the stimulus, and in this case when I say stimulus I am talking about the (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) … was providing its maximum benefit.”
The national unemployment rate at the time was about 9.5 percent. Without the stimulus, Zandi said, it would have been 11.5 percent.
Expectations for the stimulus may have been too high, he said. “But the stimulus did exactly what it was intended to do. It was to end the recession and jump-start a recovery and it did that.”
We checked in with the Portman campaign and asked about the Facebook post, mentioned that we didn’t see what they said was in The Hill article and mentioned that The Christian Science Monitor’s own coverage appeared contradictory. They told us it was important we look at the right article and sent us a link to the piece in The Hill.
At that point we started looking for the matches. We rate Portman’s claim in his Facebook post Pants on Fire.
What is PolitiFactOhio?
Several times a week, the Dayton Daily News will publish content from PolitiFactOhio to help you be more informed as a citizen and a voter.
PolitiFact Ohio is a partnership of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and PolitiFact.com.
PolitiFactOhio investigates comments from public figures and runs their claims through the “Truth-O-Meter.”
The comments are fact checked and then ranked as true, mostly true, half true, barely true and false. If someone has gone off the deep end, we will rank their statements as “pants on fire.”
Read past PolitiFactOhio stories, see how politicians rate in previous Truth-O-Meter rulings. PolitiFactOhio.com
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TweetOhio Chamber of Commerce endorses Kasich, Husted and DeWine
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee on Thursday endorsed Republican John Kasich for governor, breaking what chamber President and CEO Andrew Doehrel said was a precedent of only endorsing in state Supreme Court races.
The chamber’s PAC also endorsed Republican state Sen. Jon Husted of Kettering for secretary of state and former U.S. Sen. Mike, a Cedarville Republican, for attorney general.
Kasich is challenging Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland. Husted is running against Democrat Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, Franklin County Clerk of Courts and DeWine is trying to unseat Democratic Attorney General Richard Cordray.
“I am deeply honored and I am very humbled,” Kasich said. He said the chamber would be an integral part of his effort to foster a business climate that will create jobs and keep bright young people in the state.
Doehrel said that the state was facing and unprecedented economic challenge and the chamber acted to help Ohio’s economic well-being.
Strickland campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith issued this e-mail reaction:
“The choice facing Ohioans in this election could not be clearer. Congressman Kasich can fight for Wall Streeters and outsourcers, Ted will fight for Ohio.”
The chamber says it is the state’s largest and most diverse statewide business advocacy group with 4,000 business members.
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TweetHerman Cain to keynote Dayton Tea Party rally
Talk radio host Herman Cain, former head of Godfather’s Pizza, is scheduled to keynote the Dayton Tea Party’s Oct. 14 “Remember November” rally, the group announced on Thursday.
The rally is set for 6:30 - 8 p.m. at Courthouse Square in downtown Dayton.
“This is an amazing opportunity for the Dayton region to hear from a dynamic and articulate man who espouses conservative principles,” Rob Scott, Dayton Tea Party president and founder, said in an e-mail.
“Herman Cain is a rock star of the movement. Many view him as a possible candidate for president.”
Admission to the rally is free and tickets are not required, but participants are encouraged to bring canned or boxed food items to be donated to local food banks, the Dayton Tea Party said.
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TweetGov. Strickland, Kasich campaign clash on school funding
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland on Wednesday lashed out as his Republican challenger John Kasich, calling Kasich “irresponsible” and “reckless” for saying he would abandon Strickland’s “evidence-based model” for schools and school funding if elected governor.
Strickland, at a Columbus news conference, also said that Kasich’s approach would result in higher property taxes.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think Congressman Kasich knows what he’s talking about,” Strickland said. Strickland said school districts would not be required to satisfy mandates until money was available.
Kasich’s campaign spokesman Rob Nichols fired back in an e-mail:
“His (Strickland’s) so-called solution imposes on local schools more expensive new mandates including requirements for core teachers, specialized teachers, lead teachers, teacher aides, guidance counselors, family and community liaisons, wellness coordinators, building managers, and secretaries…
“An unfunded plan is no plan — it’s nothing but a dream, or in this case, a nightmare for Ohio schoolchildren.”
Strickland’s plan includes a formula for pricing out the elements of a quality education and paying for them. It is aimed at increasing the state’s share of paying for K-12 education. Increased state support, however, is supposed to be phased in over nearly a decade.
Strickland has said it would create a constitutional system.
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TweetUPDATED with Redfern response -Ohio Dem Chairman Redfern “F-word” outburst draws GOP rebuke
Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern is drawing criticism for his use of a variation of the F-word to describe the Tea Party during a union candidate endorsement meeting Monday in Clarington in Morgan County.
Click here for WTOV-TV’s account of what happened.
According to the TV station, Redfern was discussing health care and criticizing the Tea Party for saying health care is a privilege, not a right when this outburst came:
“If your kids are going to graduate from college, now he or she gets health care, your heath care, while he or she looks for a new job.
“It’s in the very base terms we win these arguments. Every time one of these (expletive deleted) says, excuse my language…”
Redfern said he thought the occasion was a private meeting with 45 steelworkers and that he used language “not uncommon for 45 steelworkers.”
He said that the reporter int the room was there for another story.
“It is what it is,” Redfern said of the incident.
While he declined to apologize, he said his approach to speaking to “the little sisters of the poor is a little different.”
“If I’m being recorded and know I’m being recorded, it’s something different,” Redfern said.
Redfern also criticized Tea Party members who he said had compared Democratic President Barack Obama to Hitler.
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland said he didn’t know specifics but called language such as that Redfern used “inappropriate.”
“We can be critical but we can also be respectful,” Strickland said.
Ohio Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine of Fairborn issued this statement:
“Ohio Democrats have clearly lost it before they’ve lost it.”
“No one likes trailing in the polls, but Ohioans deserve better than angry stump speeches full of name-calling and profanity. It’s certainly far from the politics of post-partisanship that the Democrats promised two years ago. Let’s show a little class.”
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TweetDayton Tea Party rally to feature “big name keynote speaker”
The Dayton Tea Party plans an Oct. 14 rally for Courthouse Square in downtown Dayton with a “big name keynote speaker”, Rob Scott, Dayton Tea Party president, said on Tuesday.
Scott said the name of the speaker and other rally details will be released on Thursday. The rally is from 6:30-8 p.m., Scott said.
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TweetVice President Biden stumps for Gov. Strickland in Dayton
By Lucas Sullivan
Vice President Joe Biden spoke just after lunch at a fundraiser for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland at the Engineers Club in downtown Dayton, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 20.
Biden greeted and took pictures with the area’s most loyal Democrats before telling the crowd Strickland’s re-election bid is “the most important governor’s race in the country.” A few hundred attended the event, paying from $125 to $5,000 to see or speak with the VPOTUS.
Strickland introduced Biden after speaking for about a minute. Strickland admitted his race was going to be “very close” and asked for those in audience to mobilize and reach apathetic voters. Strickland is down as many as 17 points in the latest polls, though there was no mention of that by Strickland or Biden.
Biden took the podium with Strickland seated to his left and Strickland’s running mate Yvette McGee-Brown to his right and spoke for nearly 40 minutes about the country’s economic problems and how Strickland’s Republican opponent, John Kasich, represented the same Republicans that put the country and economy into “a ditch.”
Biden said Democrats need to tell voters “Don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. The Republican Tea Party is the alternative.”
Biden mentioned Kasich’s ties to Wall Street through his tenure at Lehman Brothers and said “I like John,” but called most of Kasich’s plans misguided. Biden said President Obama has created 763,000 private sector jobs since taking office two years ago, “more than the previous administration did in eight years.”
Meanwhile, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine of Fairborn used a press release to “welcome” Biden to the state.
“Joe Biden is a visible reminder of why Ohioans are fed up with the failed policies and reckless spending of the Obama administration,” said DeWine.
“He’s been here three times since August, and the only thing Ohio has to show for it is 15,000 more people on the unemployment line.”
Back in Dayton, Biden hammered home Strickland’s ability to balance Ohio’s budget while still investing in public education.
Biden said he has campaigned for many candidates, but there is no one that has “more character” than Strickland and said the Ohio governor knows what it is like to struggle, referencing Strickland’s hardships on the farm growing up.
Biden said the country’s “most important” governor’s race was going to be a close one. He said Strickland’s ability to lead Ohio through the “greatest recession” in history shows his character and the governor has helped rescue a state from policies of the previous Republican administration.
Like he has done numerous times before, Biden referenced growing up in Scranton, Pa., and his father’s decision to move the family to Delaware in search of work and “the longest walk parents can make” is up a short flight of stairs to tell their children they’ve lost their job.
“Millions have been stripped of their dignity,” Biden said. “It’s time to restore their dignity.”
Biden said he gets that millions of Americans are upset and said they have a right to be. He said Republicans don’t value the middle class and said Republicans will cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, while middle class families struggle to pay their utility bills.”
Biden said the Republicans want to give those who make an average of $8.3 million a $360,000 tax break, which add to $700 billion in lost tax revenue.
“When the country’s in the ditch we want to take that $700 billion and reduce the deficit with it,” he said. “There’s no economic data to show they would invest the money otherwise.”
He rallied those in attendance by saying, “Reports of the demise of the Democratic Party are premature.” He was emphatic Democrats would hold majorities in both the House and Senate through the Nov. 3 election.
After speaking Biden and Strickland hopped on a plane to another campaign event near the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.
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TweetPassenger train study sparks disagreement
A study released on Monday sparked more disagreement about Ohio’s plans to develop passenger rail service linking Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.
Also Monday, Amanda Wurst, spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, a key booster of the Ohio rail plan, said the governor rejects state Sen. Shannon Jones’ request that the state delay signing planning contracts for the Ohio project until after the election.
Strickland supports the rail plan while Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich is opposed.
“Connecting the Midwest”, the report from the Ohio Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund, said that a completed Midwest high speed rail network - including connections in Ohio - over 10 years of construction would:
*Create more than 57,000 permanent jobs.
*Improve the environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
*Give Midwestern manufacturers of railroad equipment a boost.
“You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution,” said Jeff Griffin of PIRG. “Rail is part of the solution.”
However, Rob Nichols, spokesman for Kasich, said Kasich, if elected would end the rail project because of slow speed of the trains, questions about ridership and other problems.
If Kasich becomes governor, “this train will never leave the station,” said Nichols.
At a press conference unveiling the PIRG report, state Rep. Bob Hagan, D-Youngstown, said opposition to the project in the Republican-controlled Senate was “political,” inspired by Kasich’s opposition. It comes despite past GOP support for considering passenger rail, Hagan said.
“I don’t know if some of these senators and former senators have been sniffing coal dust or just have a terrible case of the ‘whatever’s-popular- nows’….,” Hagan said.
Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., said, however, that she has been a long-time critic of the plan and said it makes sense to delay signing contracts for a planning study until after the Nov. 2 election.
The Controlling Board has approved releasing $25 million for the study but contracts still are being “finalized,” Scott Varner, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation, said. The money would come from $400 million in federal funds awarded to the state for the rail project.
In an e-mail, Wurst said Strickland won’t delay.
“What Sen. Jones and Congressman Kasich seem to not understand is that if Ohio doesn’t use these resources to create Ohio rail jobs, we will lose these jobs - in the manufacturing, construction, retail and maintenance industries - to another state like Florida or Michigan,” Wurst said.
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TweetBrown to decide whether to use state insurance for disciplinary issue
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Eric Brown, appointed to the bench in April, is facing a pending disciplinary complaint over whether he violated judicial conduct rules when he personally called lawyers, asking them to attend a May 14 campaign fund-raiser.
Brown has not made a final decision yet on whether he will use a state insurance policy to cover his legal bills, his campaign spokesman Don Spicer said.
A state insurance policy covers judges’ legal expenses when they are facing disciplinary complaints or legal actions stemming from their official duties. The policy costs the state $741,000 a year and covers more than 800 judges across Ohio.
Republican Justices Judith Lanzinger and Maureen O’Connor represented themselves in disciplinary complaints filed in June by the Ohio Democratic Party, said O’Connor campaign spokeswoman Amy Sabath. Those complaints, which were filed after the complaint against Brown, were recently dismissed for lacking probable cause, the campaigns announced.
Spicer said Brown is the victim of a frivolous complaint lodged by the Ohio Republican Party in June but that he is unable to comment on the confidential matter until it is resolved.
Disciplinary complaints against lawyers and judges are confidential unless probable cause has been found. The complaint against Brown was filed with a three-judge panel but there has been no word on its current status.
O’Connor is running for chief justice against Brown, a Democrat who was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland.
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TweetKasich TV ad features wife, daughters to promote “Opportunity”
With his wife Karen and their twin daughters Emma and Reese in supporting roles, Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich on Monday unveiled a new TV ad, “Opportunity”, to promote Kasich’s plans for education.
Previous Kasich TV ads have focused on jobs and economic development. The new 30-second spot ties education into these issues but lacks specific proposals.
“We want to create an opportunity society right here in Ohio,” Kasich says to a group of people in a library setting, with his wife and their daughters in the group.
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland’s campaign criticized Kasich’s voting record in Congress on higher education grants and scholarships.
“Only one candidate in this race can be trusted to fight for education and that is Ted Strickland,” the governor’s campaign said.
Here’s the ad:
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TweetJohn Kasich TV ad calls Ohio one of highest taxed states
Quote: “You can’t raise taxes in Ohio. We are one of the highest taxed states in the country.” John Kasich on Aug. 22, in a television campaign ad
Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich amplified his tax message recently with the claim that Ohioans pay more taxes than people in most other states.
While he frequently makes the statement on the campaign trail, the claim is the stinger in a campaign television ad that began airing statewide in late August.
“You can’t raise taxes in Ohio. We are one of the highest taxed states in the country. … If you raise prices in the state you drive taxpayers away.”
Kasich made similar claims Sept. 14 during the first gubernatorial debate with Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, making the issue worth examining now.
The statement, Kasich says, refers to an individual’s tax burden — the sum of state and local taxes, such as property taxes and local sales taxes, that an individual pays. And he specifically uses a ranking by the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation.
The Tax Foundation ranks Ohio’s total tax burden seventh highest, according to its 2008 study, the most recent available. Among 50 states, seventh qualifies in our book as “one of the highest.”
But the ranking deserves more discussion because of an ongoing debate among tax experts about how to best evaluate or measure the total tax burden.
The Tax Foundation first combines state and local tax collections, and makes projections, or estimates, for the year the study is completed. The Tax Foundation also considers taxes Ohioans may pay in other states, and vice versa. It then divides the state’s total tax collections by total personal income.
Translated: The average Ohioan pays about 10.4 percent of his or her income to state and local taxes compared to the national average of 9.7 percent. Ohio takes a hit in the Tax Foundation study because of its relatively high income tax rate.
Other tax experts, including those at the Federation of Tax Administrators, agree that combining state and local taxes and dividing that by total personal income offers a reasonable way to look at the burden. But these experts stick with the raw U.S. Census data without making any adjustments or projections.
Ohio has the 16th highest total tax burden — all state and local taxes — as a percentage of personal income, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators’ crunching of U.S. Census numbers. That ranking moves Ohio from the top quarter of highest taxed states to the top third, giving the state a bit more cover.
The Ohio Tax Department likes to brag about another view of tax-burden numbers offered this year, also by the Federation of Tax Administrators, but one that only looks at state taxes.
By that measure, Ohio has the 33rd highest state tax burden as a percentage of personal income. That means only 17 other states collected a lower percentage of taxes than Ohio. But beware: This ranking looks only at the taxes imposed by the state — not those imposed by local authorities .
The problem for voters is that experts will be debating the issue long beyond the election, so PolitiFact Ohio wants to keep Kasich’s claim in the context of the governor’s race.
By citing the Tax Foundation study, Kasich is invoking several taxes the governor can’t easily influence — such as school levies passed by voters, or sales taxes boosted by county commissioners — to paint Ohio’s tax picture as bleak.
The claim also obscures improvements Ohio has made at the state level in reducing both business and personal income taxes since 2005, including a nearly 17 percent cut in personal income tax since then .
One thing about Kasich’s claim is clear: By one measure, it’s accurate. But how to best define tax burden is cloudier, and a look at other research shows that rankings can vary wildly depending on which taxes are included, which data sets are employed and which projections are applied.
For these reasons, we rate Kasich’s claim Half True.
What is PolitiFactOhio?
Several times a week, the Dayton Daily News will publish content from PolitiFactOhio to help you be more informed as a citizen and a voter.
PolitiFact Ohio is a partnership of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and PolitiFact.com.
PolitiFactOhio investigates comments from public figures and runs their claims through the “Truth-O-Meter.”
The comments are fact checked and then ranked as true, mostly true, half true, barely true and false. If someone has gone off the deep end, we will rank their statements as “pants on fire.”
Read past PolitiFactOhio stories, see how politicians rate in previous Truth-O-Meter rulings. PolitiFactOhio.com
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TweetKaren Kasich finishes Air Force Marathon
Karen Kasich, 46, wife of gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, finished the 14th annual Air Force Marathon on Saturday in four hours, 10 minutes and 10 seconds. That calculates to just over a nine-and-a-half minute per mile pace.
It was her second marathon.
Republican John Kasich is running against incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland for Ohio governor.
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TweetStrickland campaign memos: governor’s race still close
The news this week from the Quinnipiac University poll was horrible for Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland but his campaign says there’s more to the story and that the governor’s race still is nip-and-tuck.
Internal campaign documents obtained by the Dayton Daily News on Friday showed that a Strickland campaign tracking poll from Sept. 7-10 showed Republican John Kasich leading, 48-44 percent and a second tracking poll from Sept. 12-14 showed Kasich ahead, 48-45 percent.
This was in sharp contrast to the Quinnipiac poll that showed Kasich leading by 17 points, 54-37 percent.
A memo from pollster Diane Feldman also said that Strickland leads Kasich by 13 points “on putting the middle class first, while Kasich leads on putting the wealthy first, and Strickland leads on being honest and trustworthy, and caring about people.”
However, the memo also shows that “the only positive trait where Kasich leads is an important one - that he will create jobs.”
“Voters who have heard about companies in their area expanding in the last six months support Strickland by 58 to 36 percent; those who have not heard of new or expanding industries in their area give Kasich a majority,” says the memo.
A memo from Strickland campaign manager Aaron Pickrell also highlights other public polls that show a closer race, including one from Fox News, usually bashed by Democrats, which had Kasich winning, 48-43 percent.
The average of public polls on the RealClearPolitics Web site gives Kasich a 10.8 percent lead.
Kasich’s campaign declined comment on the memos.
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TweetPortman holds 20-point lead over Fisher, poll says
In the race for U.S. Senate, Republican Rob Portman holds a whopping 20-point lead over Democrat Lee Fisher, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Friday.
The poll also shows that President Barack Obama has a 60 percent disapproval rating among Ohio’s likely voters.
It is the first Quinnipiac survey of likely voters in this election cycle instead of registered voters.
Portman, a former Congressman and George W. Bush cabinet member, leads 55-30 among independent voters and 91-2 among Republicans and trails Fisher 81-13 among Democrats. Among likely voters who choose a candidate, 18 percent said they might change their mind. But among those who say they’d pick Fisher, 26 percent might change their mind, compared with 13 percent of Portman’s backers.
“It’s difficult to find any good news for Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher in these numbers. Likely voters in Ohio, as is the case nationally, are angry at the status quo and with Democrats controlling Congress and the White House. Fisher is taking it on the chin from those who are trying to send a message to the White House,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
On top of that, 33 percent of likely voters say they don’t know enough about Fisher to have an opinion, even though Fisher has been in Ohio politics for decades. He is a former attorney general and candidate for governor.
“For someone who has been around for some time, Fisher has somehow failed to catch the public’s attention,” said Brown.
Brown added that Obama is unpopular with voters this year.
“With the president such a heavy weight around the neck of Democratic candidates, it will be hard for one to win such a high-profile office this year in Ohio,” Brown said.
The poll surveyed 730 Ohio likely voters from Sept. 9-14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 points.
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TweetSarah Palin’s PAC needs “freedom fighter” from Vandalia to change her occupation
By Cornelius Frolik Staff Writer
VANDALIA — Sarah Palin’s political action committee filed a contribution report that failed to properly list the name and occupation of a donor from Vandalia, according to Salon.com.
In an Aug. 11 letter, the Federal Election Commission said the PAC is required by federal law to identify all people who contribute more than $200 by listing their name, mailing address, occupation and employer’s name.
Some of the entries of contributions from Palin’s PAC contained inadequate information, according to the commission.
One entry, a $211 donation from Vandalia resident Gina Burson, had her occupation listed as “freedom fighter” and her employer as “EveryONE,” according to Salon.
The PAC had until Tuesday to respond to the election commission, otherwise they could face an audit or enforcement action.
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TweetKasich leads Strickland 54-37 percent in Quinnipiac poll
Republican challenger John Kasich leads Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland 54-37 percent among likely voters in a Quinnipiac University Poll released Thursday.
The results include “leaners” - those who are “leaning” toward support of either candidate.
Here’s your chance to pick a candidate in the governor’s race:
Much of the lead is due to Kasich’s strong support from independent voters who give the Republican a 55-32 percent edge.
Kasich does better among Republicans - 91-4 percent - than Strickland does among Democrats - 84-8 percent.
Also, voters overwhelming say Kasich would be better than Strickland - 55-32 percent - at rebuilding Ohioans struggling economy, beset by big job losses and continuing high unemployment.
The lead is the largest for Kasich in a number of recent polls, including a Rasmussen Reports survey released Wednesday that found Kasich leading 50-43 among likely voters, including “leaners.”
“There are almost seven weeks until election day, but Gov. Ted Strickland has his work cut out for him,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
“One reason for the size of Kasich’s lead is that Republicans and anti-Obama independents and Democrats seem more enthusiastic about voting this year.”
Brown said the results can’t be compared to earlier Quinnipiac surveys of registered voters because this one focuses on “likely voters” - those determine likely to vote in the election based on a series of questions.
Brown said that Kasich’s lead reflects the national anti-incumbent mood.
“Ohio, which is the most important swing state in the country come presidential elections, is also a good marker for the off-year balloting,” he said.
“If Kasich were to lead a Republican sweep in Ohio, it would be a good indicator that the Republican landslide many are predicting nationally might come to fruition.”
Other key results:
*A big majority, 85 percent, of likely voters who choose a candidate, say their mind is made up.
*Likely voters disapprove of the job Strickland is doing, 59-34 percent.
*52 percent of likely voters view Strickland unfavorably, compared to 36 percent who view him favorably.
The poll was conducted Thursday, Sept. 9, through Tuesday, Sept. 14 - the date of the first Strickland-Kasich debate - with 730 likely Ohio voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
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TweetPoll: Kasich, Portman continue to lead for governor, U.S. Senate
Republican challenger John Kasich continues to lead Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland among likely voters in the governor’s race while Republican Rob Portman retains his edge over Democrat Lee Fisher in the race for U.S. Senate.
A Rasmussen Reports poll released on Wednesday shows Kasich leading, 50-43 percent when leaners are included.
This is a slight improvement for Strickland compared to an Aug. 30 survey that showed him trailing 52-40 percent, with leaners included.
The poll was taken Monday before Tuesday’s Strickland-Kasich debate.
In the new Senate poll, Portman leads 49-41 percent when leaners are included, marking Portman’s highest level of support to date against Fisher.
In the survey two weeks ago, Portman led 47-41 percent when leaners were included.
“Leaners” are those who haven’t made a hard choice but lean toward one candidate or the other.
The new poll also finds:
*50 percent view Kasich, a former Columbus-area U.S. House member and investment banker, favorably while 37 percent view him unfavorably.
*39 percent view Strickland favorably, compared to 55 who view him unfavorably.
*Voters put more trust in Democrats than Republicans to handle the economy, 48-41 percent.
*51 percent think repeal of the national health care overhaul would be good for the economy.
The poll was taken on Monday by automated calls with 750 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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TweetDems in Dayton and across state observe anniversary of Lehman Brothers collapse
Democrats in Dayton and across the state today plan separate events to observe the second anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Wall Street firm where Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich was a managing director.
“The officials will use this occasion to point out how the policies supported by former Congressman and Lehman managing director, John Kasich, and his GOP allies benefited Wall Street while undercutting Ohio families,” a press release said.
There will be about 10 events, according to the Ohio Democratic Party, including one in Columbus with Democratic Attorney General Richard Cordray, running for re-election against former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine of Cedarville.
The Dayton event is at 1 p.m. at Tech Town, corner of E. Monument Ave. and Webster St., a press release said.
State Sen. Fred Strahorn, D-Dayton, Dayton City Commissioners Dean Lovelace, Nan Whaley and Matt Joseph are scheduled to be at the event, along with Tipp City Mayor Dee Gillis and Trotwood Mayor Joyce Sutton Cameron.
The collapse of Lehman Brothers has been called a key factor in the national economic meltdown. Kasich has said he was not a key player in Lehman Brothers but worked mostly in a two-person office in Columbus.
He has, however, cited his experience working with businesses while at Lehman Brothers as evidence of his ability to help create jobs and improve Ohio’s economy.
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TweetRoberts phone disconnected
Seven weeks before Election Day a call to Democratic Congressional candidate Joe Roberts’ Dayton campaign headquarters found the phone disconnected.
Campaign manager Kris Jackson said on Tuesday that the 502 Wayne Ave. headquarters is up and running but the disconnection message is because the phones are being switched over. Jackson said calls were supposed to be forwarded to his cell phone while the office phone is disconnected. He said the phone should be working by Wednesday.
Roberts, a Kettering political consultant, is challenging U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville for the Third District Congressional seat.
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TweetBennett and Wilhelm to work at University of Akron
The University of Akron’s Bliss Institute of Applied Politics is adding two heavy hitters to its line up: former Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett and former Clinton campaign manager David Wilhelm.
Bennett will be a visiting lecturer in the fall 2010 semester and Wilhelm will do so in winter 2011. Bennett and Wilhelm will give lectures, hold small group meetings, consult faculty and attend public events.
They will be compensated $50,000 each, using Bliss Institute endowment funds, said Bliss Institute Director John Green. Each will be on campus at least six full days per semester, he said.
“We will actually be getting a lot more contact hours than we’ve had with guest speakers on campus,” Green said. He noted that Colin Powell was recently paid $120,000 as a guest speaker at the university.
Republican John Kasich was paid $50,000 a year as a presidential fellow at Ohio State University for seven years and his long-time staffer was paid $20,000 as a campus aide. Gov. Ted Strickland has been highly critical of the arrangement.
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TweetWatch the debate with fellow fans
Montgomery County Republicans and Democrats will hold “watch parties” for Tuesday’s debate between Gov. Ted Strickland, and former U.S. Rep. John Kasich.
Strickland supporters will meet in the community room of Park Layne Apartments, 531 Belmonte Park North, Dayton. That even begins with a 5:30 p.m., when volunteers will call people and urge them to vote on Nov 2.
A second watch party begins at 5 p.m.at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall, 6550 Poe Ave., Dayton.
Kasich supporters will meet at 8 p.m. at the Montgomery County Republican Party headquarters, 8534 Yankee Rd., Washington Twp.
The one-hour debate is at 8 p.m. at Columbus Center of Science and Industry will be broadcast live on WHIO-TV Channel 7 and the Ohio News Network. It is sponsored by the Dayton Daily News and other members of the Ohio Newspaper Organization.
A second debate will be held Oct. 7.
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TweetDems to file IRS complaint over Kasich group
The Ohio Democratic Party will file a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service alleging that New Century Project Issues Forum, a non-profit policy group established by Republican John Kasich in 2005, did not deserve tax exempt status.
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said there is little evidence to support the claim that New Century Project Issues Forum was a social welfare organization and that it qualified for tax exempt status.
Shortly before Kasich left Congress, he established the New Century Project PAC and the New Century Project 527 group. Those political operations, however, evolved into the issues forum, which advocated for lower taxes, school choice and other conservative political ideas.
The three entities employed Don Thibaut, Ben Kanzeg and Tod Bowen, who had worked for Kasich for years and who are now working to get Kasich elected Ohio governor. Funding came from Kasich’s wealthy political supporters from across the nation.
“This is fundamentally an issue of honesty,” Redfern said. “If Congressman Kasich created these political slush funds that skirted the law for years to keep his political ambitions alive, how can we trust him to run Ohio’s government legally and ethically?”
The Kasich campaign spokesman Rob Nichols responded, “Ohio Citizen Action looked at this nearly a year ago and agreed there was nothing to these attacks. This is just more of what we’ve seen for almost a year from Ted Strickland. He can’t say anything good about himself so his only option is to try to smear and attack John Kasich. What we need are solid ideas to begin creating jobs and that’s what John Kasich continues to offer.”
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TweetMontgomery County sends absentee applications
Absentee ballot applications were mailed to all Montgomery County active, registered voters today, Sept. 13.
The applications were sent along with notification to voters of where they should vote. This is the first General Election since the board completed the largest ever consolidation of polling places, a money-saving move approved last year.
Early voting begins Sept. 28. Ballot applications will be accepted until noon, October 30. Ballots may be dropped off at the board office until 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 2. Mailed ballots from inside the U.S. must be postmarked no later than Nov. 1 and those mailed from overseas must be postmarked by Nov. 2. Both must be received within 10 days after the election.
For more information call the board at 225-5656 or visit www.mcohio.org/boe.
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TweetFisher, Portman clash on trade, job losses during Dayton session
Democrat Lee Fisher and Republican Rob Portman clashed on issues including trade, Ohio’s job losses and the new federal health care plan as they brought their campaign for the U.S. Senate to a meeting of the Dayton Daily News editorial board.
Disagreement on trade policies sparked several heated exchanges in a session that lasted more than an hour and a half on Monday, Sept. 13. Fisher is Ohio’s lieutenant governor. Portman is a former Cincinnati-area U.S. House member who served as budget director and U.S. trade representative for President George W. Bush.
Portman cast Fisher, Ohio’s lieutenant governor, as a protectionist who embraced policies that are “going to kill jobs.”
Fisher said trade must be “fair and balanced.”
He said that “my attitude is that every single trade agreement ought to be renegotiated.”
Asked about that statement, he amended it to say each agreement “should be reassessed …and then determined whether or not it should be renegotiated.”
Portman countered that trade agreements are constantly being reassessed.
Fisher lashed out at claims from Portman and Republicans that Fisher and Gov. Ted Strickland are responsible for the 382,000 Ohio jobs has lost since they took office in 2007.
“That is not only nonsense, it’s offensive,” said Fisher. The job losses are due to a national and global recession and Strickland-Fisher policies have worked to retain and create jobs, he said.
Portman said that under the Strickland-Fisher administration, Ohio has “fallen behind” and cited NCR’s 2009 decision to move its headquarters from Dayton to Georgia. Fisher said intense bipartisan efforts to keep NCR involving him and state Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, didn’t’ succeed.
Fisher said he supported the health care overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama, but added there was room for improvement. Portman called the health care overhaul “a huge missed opportunity” and said major changes are needed.
They also clashed on the $787 billion federal stimulus plan. Portman said it’s been ineffective while Fisher said it has been “absolutely indispensable” in limiting damage from the economic downturn in Ohio.
They are running to replace Republican U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, who is retiring.
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TweetSecretary of state candidate overstates number of lawsuits inherited from Ken Blackwell over 2004 presidential election
Quote: “It’s factually correct to say” that Jennifer Brunner inherited at least 18 lawsuits when she came into the office that were a result of Ken Blackwell’s “mismanagement of the 2004 election.” Maryellen O’Shaughnessy on Aug. 16 in a radio interview
Maryellen O’Shaughnessy was spot on when she said recently Ohio secretaries of state are judged on their handling of presidential elections.
O’Shaughnessy, a Democrat running for secretary of state this November, then slammed Republican Ken Blackwell for mishandling the 2004 presidential election when he held the office. Republican state Sen. Jon Husted, of Kettering, is O’Shaughnessy’s opponent this year.
“It’s factually correct to say that Ken Blackwell had at least 18 lawsuits that were even carried over that Jennifer Brunner inherited when she came into the office as a result of his mismanagement of the 2004 election,” O’Shaughnessy said in an Aug. 16 interview with WPKO/WBLL in Bellefontaine after a speech to local Democrats.
Brunner, a Democrat, was elected in November 2006 to succeed Blackwell after he lost a gubernatorial bid that year. O’Shaughnessy told the radio station that, if elected, she would maintain the stability Brunner brought to the office.
O’Shaughnessy’s comments put her on a long list of Democrats to criticize Blackwell. We wanted to check out her claim and asked her campaign for information about the lawsuits. A spokeswoman pointed to a letter Brunner wrote The Columbus Dispatch and a separate news story that appeared in The Daily Record, of Wooster.
In a letter to the Dispatch published Feb. 18, 2007, Brunner said 21 lawsuits were pending when she took office. She did not say how many were related to the 2004 presidential election. The Daily Record story, published April 5, 2007, also said 21 lawsuits were pending when Brunner took office. The story made no mention of the 2004 presidential election.
The portion of O’Shaughnessy’s statement that said Brunner inherited “at least 18 lawsuits” seemed solid. But there was no proof, within the evidence O’Shaughnessy’s office provided - that those lawsuits were related to the 2004 presidential election.
We checked with Brunner’s office, which provided a comprehensive list of all cases that Brunner inherited from Blackwell. It is not specific to the 2004 presidential election, Brunner spokesman Patrick Gallaway said. The list, last updated in January, shows Brunner inherited 18 cases when she took office, including one settled during Blackwell’s term with unpaid fees.
Court documents showed 10 of the 18 cases are related to Blackwell’s administration of the 2004 presidential election. The others dealt with a myriad of issues, including campaign finance law and the use of electronic voting machines.
To their credit, the O’Shaughnessy campaign acknowledged she was incorrect after we shared the records from Brunner’s office with them.
“She misspoke about the ones that relate to 2004,” spokeswoman Heidi Hubmann said. O’Shaughnessy clearly jumped to an inaccurate conclusion about Blackwell’s job performance in the radio interview. Her sources of information, two newspaper articles from 2007, do not support the meat of her claim - that Blackwell’s mismanagement of the 2004 election led to at least 18 lawsuits that landed in Brunner’s lap. Brunner’s records show that’s not true.
We rate the statement False.
What is PolitiFactOhio?
Several times a week, the Dayton Daily News will publish content from PolitiFactOhio to help you be more informed as a citizen and a voter.
PolitiFact Ohio is a partnership of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and PolitiFact.com.
PolitiFactOhio investigates comments from public figures and runs their claims through the “Truth-O-Meter.”
The comments are fact checked and then ranked as true, mostly true, half true, barely true and false. If someone has gone off the deep end, we will rank their statements as “pants on fire.”
Read past PolitiFactOhio stories, see how politicians rate in previous Truth-O-Meter rulings. PolitiFactOhio.com
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TweetStrickland running mate Yvette McGee Brown says Ohio has fewest state employees since Reagan administration
Quote:
Ohio today has the “fewest number of state employees since the Reagan administration.” -Yvette McGee Brown on Aug. 4 in a speech at a candidates forum.
For much of this gubernatorial campaign, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland has been defending his record against charges from Republican challenger John Kasich that he has done too little to stem job losses in Ohio and responding to accusations that he still oversees a bloated state government.
Strickland’s running mate, Yvette McGee Brown, in her own campaign speeches has echoed the governor’s. Recently she tackled a charge by Republicans that Ohio still has too many employees on the state payroll by evoking the name of one of the GOP’s favorite sons.
Ohio today has the “fewest number of state employees since the Reagan administration,” McGee Brown said in an Aug. 4 speech at a candidates forum in Columbus.
Clearly, recent well-chronicled state layoffs and hiring freezes almost assure Ohio has fewer state employees than when Strickland took office in 2007. But could it be fewer than in the 1980s when Reagan was president, as Brown contends?
The Strickland campaign is looking to reverse long-held Republican opinion that Democrats favor higher taxes and bigger government.
The higher taxes issue will loom for whomever is Ohio’s next governor, given that the state faces up to an $8 billion budget deficit in the next operating budget with seemingly few options other than raising personal income taxes.
But the big government question is something Strickland has dealt with since 2009 when the last biennial budget was set and the administration laid off state workers, froze hiring in some areas and otherwise shrunk government by attrition.
Now McGee Brown has gone a step further by stating that under Strickland, Ohio now has the fewest state employees since Reagan, who was president from 1981 through 1989.
Strickland’s campaign communications team offered uneven explanations for where McGee Brown got her information. It first stated it came from a state data chart that officials could not find until, PolitiFact began inquiring three weeks after McGee Brown’s speech. It then said the information was in an October 2009 news release from the Strickland administration that the campaign never produced.
But the Ohio Department of Administrative Services bailed them out. It discovered annual employee data in a trends report that contained information dating back to 1983 and updated to include recent years.
The report shows that as of December 2009, Ohio had 58,622 employees, the lowest number since 1983 when the state had 60,292 workers. That 28-year stretch includes a period from 1991 through 2006 when Ohio’s governors were Republicans and the state had more than 65,000 employees.
We rate McGee Brown’s statement as True.
What is PolitiFactOhio?
Several times a week, the Dayton Daily News will publish content from PolitiFactOhio to help you be more informed as a citizen and a voter.
PolitiFact Ohio is a partnership of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and PolitiFact.com.
PolitiFactOhio investigates comments from public figures and runs their claims through the “Truth-O-Meter.”
The comments are fact checked and then ranked as true, mostly true, half true, barely true and false. If someone has gone off the deep end, we will rank their statements as “pants on fire.”
Read past PolitiFactOhio stories, see how politicians rate in previous Truth-O-Meter rulings. PolitiFactOhio.com
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TweetBrown, union say China violated World Trade Organization rules
By Steve Bennish Staff Writer
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said he’s siding with the United Steelworkers in a petition they filed Thursday Sept. 9 accusing China of violating World Trade Organization rules by subsidizing exports of clean energy equipment.
“Next week will be the tenth anniversary of Congress passing permanent normal trade relations with China, paving the way for China’s membership in the World Trade Organization,” Brown said. “ Back then, advocates in both parties said WTO membership would ensure China played by the rules. If only that were the case. Since receiving PNTR status and the benefits of WTO membership, China has fought off fair competition while building market share on wind and solar products and technologies.”
Brown said the situation is costing Ohio jobs and revenue.
“There is nothing normal or fair about the way China trades. If we are going to compete in the global clean energy manufacturing industry, we need strong trade enforcement. Every day we delay enforcing trade rules, China spends $51 million a day to speed past us in the race to lead the world in clean energy manufacturing, while elbowing competition out of the way through unfair subsidies and discriminatory tactics.”
Brown said he urges “the Administration to work without delay alongside workers and businesses to challenge China’s trade practices at the WTO. Clean energy represents the future of manufacturing. Acting now means that we won’t displace America’s dependence on foreign oil for a dependence on Chinese-made clean energy technology.”
Brown said that with more than 70 percent of the components of clean energy systems produced outside the U.S., he’s “fighting to bolster domestic production of clean energy components and to make Ohio the Silicon Valley of Clean Energy Manufacturing.”
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TweetClinton to rally for Strickland outside debate
As crews and candidates prepare for the first gubernatorial debate between Republican John Kasich and Democrat Ted Strickland on Tuesday, Sept. 14, former President Bill Clinton will be just outside the debate venue rallying Strickland supporters.
Clinton is scheduled to hold a 5 p.m. campaign fundraiser for Strickland in downtown Columbus and then scoot over to Genoa Park, just outside COSI, at 5:30 p.m. for a pre-debate rally.
The hour-long debate starts at 8 p.m. and will be televised live on WBNS-TV and the Ohio News Network.
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TweetUPDATED with Strickland response - GOP rebukes Strickland on union rally “rant”
Ohio Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine and the Republican Governors Association have rebuked Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland for a Strickland outburst at a union rally and called for an apology.
Strickland said on Friday, Sept. 10, that there will be no apology and there is no need for one.
At the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic the governor said the GOP “has been taken over by the zealots, extremists, by the radicals, by the reckless..
“And they don’t seem to like Ohio very much and, quite frankly, they act as if they don’t like America very much.”
Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine of Fairborn used a press release to scold Strickland, who’s running for re-election against Republican John Kasich, a former U.S. House member from the Columbus area.
“I realize the governor is probably very frustrated by the fact that he’s losing, but it’s pretty sad to see him resort to the angry, divisive tactics that have defined his campaign this year.
“This time he’s gone too far, and he owes a lot of Ohioans an apology.”
RGA spokesman Chris Schrimpf used a press release to call it Strickland’s “Howard Dean moment,” a reference to Dean’s scream after losing Iowa’s Democratic caucuses in 2004.
Strickland cited former President Harry Truman in responding.
“Let me quote Harry Truman. Harry Truman said, ‘I don’t give them hell, I just tell them the truth and they think it’s hell.’
“And all I’m doing is telling the truth and I have no apologies to make whatsoever.”
Strickland said that Kasich repeatedly has praised Florida and Nevada as better places than Ohio for business and that state Auditor Mary Taylor, Kasich’s lieutenant governor running mate, even has said that as a CPA she advised successful business people to leave Ohio.
“That sounds as if they don’t like Ohio very much and so all I’m doing is telling the truth,” Strickland said.
Kasich and Taylor also have said they want to change Ohio’s tax and regulatory systems to make them more appealing to business.
The Ohio GOP and the RGA both posted an excerpt from the speech on YouTube.
Here’s the video:
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TweetVoters don’t buy Obama, Palin, Tea Party endorsements
If some Democratic candidates shun President Barack Obama and some Republican candidates stiff arm Sarah Palin and the Tea Party, there may be a reason.
A Harris Interactive poll released on Tuesday, Sept. 9, found that if a candidate running for office was endorsed by Obama, 45 percent of Americans would be less likely to vote for that candidate and 42 percentsay they would be more likely.
More than half of U.S. adults - 56 percent - say they would be less likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, while three in ten - 30 percent - would be more likely to do so.
As for the Tea Party’s support, two in five Americans - 41 percent - say they would be less likely to vote for their endorsed candidate, one-third - 34 percent - would be more likely and one-quarter (26%) are not at all sure.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,775 adults surveyed online between August 9 and 16, 2010 by Harris Interactive.
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TweetHusted withdraws from debate
Ohio Secretary of State candidate Maryellen O’Shaughnessy is claiming her Republican opponent, state Sen. Jon Husted, is “running scared” because he will not debate her in Cleveland.
On Sunday a Columbus Dispatch poll showed O’Shaughnessy, a Democrat and Franklin County clerk of courts, is within striking distance of Husted. Husted, R-Kettering, is supported by 42 percent of those polled and O’Shaughnessy is supported by 39 percent, according to the poll.
“He thought he would walk away with this race, but Maryellen has shown she is a fighter and is on track to win the election in November,” said O’Shaughnessy Campaign Manager Kyle McDermott.
Husted spokesman Ryan Frazee said Husted in October will participate in a debate and a forum, and is doing at least nine joint appearances with O’Shaughnessy. He said Husted originally agreed to do the City Club of Cleveland debate but canceled on August 30.
“Unfortunately, we can’t do every one,” said Frazee,
O’Shaughnessy will appear at the City Club on Sept. 29, said spokeswoman Heidi Hubmann.
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TweetObama to rally Ohio voters in October
President Barack Obama will return to Ohio on Oct. 17 for a campaign rally, a Democratic National Committee official said on Thursday, Sept. 9.
The president will headline a series of ‘Moving America Forward’ rallies leading up to Nov. 2 to talk to voters about what’s at stake in the mid-term elections.
Where in Ohio he’ll appear was not announced. The president will also hold campaign rallies in Madison, Wisc., Philadelphia and Las Vegas.
Obama has been to Ohio 10 times since he was elected, including a trip to Parma on Wednesday, Sept. 8.
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TweetUPDATED with ticket information -President Clinton coming to Cincinnati to campaign, raise money for Lee Fisher
Former President Bill Clinton will be in Cincinnati on Sunday, Sept. 12, to campaign and raise money for Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the Democratic candidate for U.S. senator against Republican Rob Portman, Fisher’s campaign announced on Thursday.
The rally will be at 6 p.m. at Memorial Hall and will be free and open to the public, Holly Shulman, Fisher campaign spokesman, said.
Tickets will be required, said Shulman.
Clinton and Fisher will be going into Portman-friendly territory. Portman was a Cincinnati-area U.S. House member and also served as U.S. trade representative and budget director for President George W. Bush.
Memorial Hall is at 1225 Elm St. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
While tickets are required, they do not guarantee admission, the campaign said.
Those interested can pick up tickets at the locations and hours listed below or RSVP online at www.fisherforohio.com for an electronic ticket, the campaign said.
Tickets can be picked up on Friday, September 10, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday, September 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at these sites:
Bond Hill Democratic Campaign Headquarters Jordan’s Crossing, 7030 Reading Road, Cincinnati, OH 45237
Woodlawn Democratic Campaign Headquarters 10036 Springfield Pike, Cincinnati, OH 45215
Northside Democratic Campaign Headquarters
4044 Hamilton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45223
Pleasant Ridge Democratic Campaign Headquarters 6109 Webbland Place, Cincinnati, OH 45213
Westwood Democratic Campaign Headquarters
3502 Boudinot Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45211
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TweetNational AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka to speak at Ohio labor convention
National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland will speak Tuesday, Sept. 14, on the opening day of the the Ohio AFL-CIO’s Convention in Columbus.
Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola will give opening remarks, a press release said.
Strickland will speak on the same day as his first governor’s debate with Republican John Kasich. Former President Bill Clinton also is scheduled to be in Ohio on Tuesday to campaign and raise money for Strickland.
It is the 27th biennial convention of the Ohio AFL-CIO, with the theme “Fighting for Ohio’s Future.”
The speeches are at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Columbus Convention Center, the release said.
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TweetKasich unveils job training plan; Strickland responds
John Kasich, the Republican candidate for governor, on Thursday, Sept. 9, unveiled a job training plan that would, among other things, create a new training voucher by using revenue from casino license fees to help workers “get the training they need before crises or job losses occur.”
Click here to read about the plan.
Kasich’s campaign Web site had a complicated chart of what it said was Ohio’s existing job training system and said “it’s no wonder” that more companies don’t use the program.
“Creating a coordinated strategy and making it easier for businesses to get the training they need is part of John Kasich’s plan to get Ohio’s economy moving again,” the campaign said.
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland countered in a press release that “I’ve already done what Congressman Kasich talks about. In the face of the global economic recession, my administration made unprecedented investments in workforce training and higher education.”
Kasich’s plan calls for:
*Creating a new training voucher.
*Setting policy and writing budgets once, “not 50 times.”
*Creating easy-to-access systems for businesses.
*Setting high standards and expecting results.
*Pushing Washington for reform.
Strickland said that he has “consolidated job training programs to make them more business-friendly and placed them under departments that can best connect workers with businesses.”
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TweetPoll: Voters disapprove Obama performance but support Afghanistan strategy
American voters continue to disapprove of President Barack Obama’s overall performance but a majority supports the president’s handling of Afghanistan.
However, in a Quinnipiac University Poll, released on Thursday, Sept. 9, voters also disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy, 56-39 percent.
In other key poll results, voters:
*Disapproved of Obama’s job performance with 47 percent disapproving and 44 percent approving, about the same as his record low percent disapproval rating on July 21 with 48 percent disapproving and 44 percent approving.
*Approved 49-40 percent Obama’s handling of Afghanistan and 53-40 percent his handling of commander-in-chief duties.
*Said 58-33 percent that eliminating the threat of terrorists operating from Afghanistan is a goal for which American troops should fight and possibly die.
*Said 59-26 percent that Afghanistan would not be another Vietnam.
*Said 32-22 percent that the economy is getting worse, not better, about the same as the results in July, but worse than the 32-24 percent who thought in May that the economy was getting better.
*By a 42-37 percent spread said they would vote for a Republican rather than a Democrat in the November congressional elections, compared to a 43-38 lead for the GOP in the July 21 Quinnipiac University poll.
Here’s your chance to judge the president’s performance:
“The good news for President Barack Obama is that his standing with the American people hasn’t deteriorated further,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
“The bad news is that he remains at his record low levels and the November elections are right around the corner.”
The poll was taken with 1,905 registered voters from Aug. 31 to Tuesday, Sept. 7 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
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TweetOops! President Obama puts Fisher in Illinois, returns him to Ohio
President Barack Obama introduces lots of people from lots of places so maybe it’s understandable that he goofs once in a while.
Today, Sept. 8, Obama, Parma, introduced Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher as the “soon-to-be junior senator from the great state of Illinois..” and then caught himself and said Ohio. Fisher is running against Republican Rob Portman, who’s also from Ohio.
Here’s a video clip:
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TweetFormer President Clinton to campaign for Strickland
Former President Bill Clinton will campaign and raise funds for Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in Cleveland and Columbus next Tuesday, Sept. 14, Lis Smith, Strickland’s campaign spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Clinton will do a fundraiser and rally in each city, said Smith.
The rallies and fundraisers come on the same day as Strickland’s first televised TV debate with Republican John Kasich, the GOP candidate for governor.
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TweetAd Watch: Fisher TV ad hits Portman on trade
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: “Economic Plan,” a 30-second TV commercial aired in cable and some broadcast outlets across Ohio.
PRODUCER: AKPD Media for Senate Democratic candidate Lee Fisher.
VIDEO: Opens with a photo of Rob Portman’s blue booklet on creating jobs, which dissolves into a red map of China. The viewer sees images of Chinese workers hard at work, Portman shaking hands with former President George W. Bush, the interior of an empty factory, another photo of Portman standing next to Bush, and one of Portman shaking hands with a senior Chinese official with a Chinese flag in the background.
SCRIPT: Male announcer: “Congressman Rob Portman knows how to grow the economy - in China. He voted for billions in tax breaks for companies that export jobs. On his watch as Bush’s trade czar, our deficit with China exploded, sending 100,000 Ohio jobs overseas.
As Bush’s budget chief, Portman oversaw a spending spree that doubled the deficit. Outsourcing. Bad trade deals. Soaring deficits. Congressman Portman. A real economic plan. But not for Ohio.” Then Fisher says, “I’m Lee Fisher and I approve this message.”
ANALYSIS: Fisher’s message? Rob Portman is the Grim Reaper, determined to destroy Ohio’s economy while making China richer. It is a clear effort to win the support of union members in Ohio, many of whom believe international trade has cost jobs. Some of the points made in the ad are accurate. As a Republican congressman from Cincinnati, Portman in 2000 supported former President Bill Clinton’s call for permanent normal trade relations with China.
Portman was close to Bush, serving a year as trade representative and a year as budget director. As trade rep, Portman helped win congressional approval in 2005 of a free-trade agreement with six Central American nations.
But the commercial also relies on a selective use of statistics that are misleading. It claims the federal deficit doubled while Portman was budget director. He was director from May 2006 through June 2007 as the annual deficit fell from $248 billion to $163 billion. He drafted the 2008 fiscal year budget, which covered the federal spending year from Oct. 1, 2007, through Sept. 30, 2008.
The second claim of 100,000 jobs disappearing while Portman was trade representative from May 2005 to May 2006 is an even greater reach. That figure comes from a 2008 study by the Economic Policy Institute of Washington, a non-profit organization that gets about 29 percent of its financing from labor unions.
Earlier: Ad Watch: ‘Jobs for Ohio’ ad
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TweetSchool levies to be discussed
CENTERVILLE - A discussion of school levies will be hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Greater Dayton Area on Tuesday, Sept. 14.
The panel discussion is open to the public and will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Little Theatre at Centerville High School, 500 E. Franklin St., Centerville.
The panel will include Roger Harden, assistant director of finance and programs for Gov. Ted Strickland, Barbara Shaner, assistant director of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, Xenia Schools Treasurer Rosalie Townsend, Kettering Schools Superintendent Jim Schoenlein, and Centerville School Board member John Doll. The host will be Jim Uphoff, league program director.
For information call Susan Hesselgesser at the league office 228-4041 or email susan@lwvdayton.org.
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TweetOhio House Dems target Dayton, Springfield GOP-held districts
Ohio House Democratic leaders said on Tuesday, Sept. 7, that House Democrats have targeted Dayton-area and Springfield-area districts as of their strategy to keep or expand their 53-46 House majority.
The Dayton-area district is the 36th that includes part of Dayton and Huber Heights and other parts of Montgomery County. The seat currently is held by Republican Seth Morgan, who’s not seeking re-election because he ran for the GOP nomination for auditor and lost.
The Springfield-area district is the 72nd, based in Clark County and including Springfield. Republican Rep. Ross McGregor is seeking re-election.
House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, said at a news conference that despite what appears to be shaping up as a Republican year, Democrats have the right message - job creation - , a financial advantage, superior candidates and a good “ground game,” going door-to-door for votes.
“I don’t know what else they would say,” McGregor countered. “All the messages I’m getting from the folks I’m talking to is they’re tired of what going on, they want to see a change. They’re voting Republican.”
McGregor is running against Democrat Gregory Krouse of Springfield, a teacher.
In the 36th District, Democrat Carl Fisher of Huber Heights is running against Republican Michael Henne of Clayton.
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TweetState bar ranks supreme court candidates
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Brown, a Democrat, earned a “recommended” ranking while his opponent Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican, was ranked “highly recommended” by the Ohio State Bar Association.
Justice Judith Lanzinger, a Republican, and her opponent, Judge Mary Jane Trapp, a Democrat, were both ranked “highly recommended.”
The bar association ranked the candidates based on legal knowledge and ability, professional experience, judicial competence, integrity and diligence, community service, health and personal responsibility.
The bar association’s Commission on Judicial Candidates reviewed candidate material and conducted interviews with lawyers, judges and the candidates.
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TweetObama to discuss economy in Cleveland-area on Wednesday
President Barack Obama will speak on the economy at Cuyahoga Community College’s west campus in Parma, a Cleveland suburb, on Wednesday, the White House announced on Tuesday, Sept. 7.
The event is for invited guests only. It will be Obama’s 10th visit to Ohio since taking office and comes with Obama trying to rally support for fellow Democrats in the Nov. 2 mid-term election.
Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher will join Obama, the governor’s office said.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who is not on the ballot this year, also will join Obama, a press release said.
According to published reports, Obama is expected to discuss asking Congress to permanently extend the research and development tax credit.
His Cleveland-area appearance comes after a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee in which the president called on Congress to approve major improvements to roads, rail lines and runways and create a government-run bank to finance transportation projects.
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TweetKasich launches fourth statewide TV ad
Republican John Kasich has launched his fourth statewide TV ad in the race for governor against Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland.
The ad, unveiled on Monday, Sept. 6, shows Kasich talking to workers in a Cleveland-area factory about the importance of jobs and discusses his involvement with ParkOhio, a Cleveland-based company that wanted to strengthen itself financially.
The 30-second ad discusses Kasich’s “private sector experience” but does not mention that he was a managing director of Lehman Brothers.
“If you can help people get a job and keep a job, you make their families stronger, you make the community stronger, you make your state stronger,” Kasich says in the ad.
Strickland campaign spokesman Lis Smith blasted Kasich and the ad in a press release:
“While Ted has worked every day to create good jobs here in Ohio by slashing regulations on small businesses, cutting taxes, and investing in growing industries, the only jobs Congressman Kasich helped create have been in China and Mexico.”
ParkOhio is a leading provider of supply management services and operates a number of manufacturers of highly engineered products such as pipe threading systems, rubber products, aluminum products, and forged and machined products, a press release said.
Here’s the ad:
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TweetPoll: Ohio voters don’t want Boehner for House Speaker
They wouldn’t actually get to vote on it, but Ohio likely voters don’t think much of the idea of U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-West Chester, becoming Speaker of the U.S. House if Republicans win control of the House in the Nov. 2 election, according to a poll released on Friday, Sept. 3.
The poll from Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, N.C. found that just 28 percent of Boehner’s home state voters want him to become Speaker if the GOP takes over the House, with 44 percent preferring “someone else.”
Republican voters back Boehner for Speaker, but just by a 54-15 spread. Democrats, who don’t want a Republican majority to start with, oppose Boehner, 73-6 percent,while independents oppose him, 41-22 percent.
Boehner currently is House Minority Leader and is expected to be chosen Speaker if Republicans take over the House from the Democrats as several analysts now are predicting.
The poll also found that Republicans lead Democrats, 47-41 percent on a generic ballot for U.S. House seats.
However, just 29 percent of Ohio voters approve of the direction of the GOP while 55 percent disapprove.
That suggests that the generic preference for the GOP is a vote for change, not affirmation of GOP policies or a mandate, an analysis of the poll said.
The poll was taken by automated phone calls from Friday, Aug. 27 to Sunday, Aug. 29 with 474 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent
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TweetStrickland to join VP Biden in Toledo on Labor Day
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland plans to join Vice President Joe Biden in Toledo on Labor Day, Sept. 6, for the annual Labor Day parade and other “festivities,” Strickland’s campaign announced.
Strickland’s campaign said the governor would be at the parade festival at 9 a.m.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is expected to be in Milwaukee for Labor Day festivities as the campaigns for the Nov. 2 election shift into high gear.
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Tweet“Crystal Ball” forecasts bad news for Fisher, Dems
Political scientist Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” historically has been a good predictor and that could be bad news for Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and other Democrats, both in Ohio and across the country.
Sabato, from the University of Virginia, on Thursday, Sept. 2, moved the Ohio U.S. Senate race from “toss-up” to “lean Republican.” The Republican candidate is former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman of the Cincinnati-area who’s running against Fisher.
Jennifer Duffy, senior editor for the Cook Political Report, also moved the Ohio U.S. Senate race from “toss-up” to “lean Republican.” Portman’s lead has been widening in recent polls. The average of his lead in recent polls is 6.7 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.
Sabato also forecast that Republicans would pick up from eight to nine U.S. Senate seats, short of the 10 the GOP needs to take over the Senate.
However, Sabato forecast that Republicans would add 47 U.S. House seats, more than the 40 they need to take over the House. As many as six Ohio U.S. House seats now held by Democrats - none in the Dayton area - are in play and could be among those picked up by Republicans.
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Tweet“Revolt Spending Tour” headed to Dayton on Friday; Rep. Seth Morgan, Tea Party leader to speak
The National Revolt Spending Tour, with support from the Dayton Tea Party, will stop at Courthouse Square in Dayton on Friday, Sept. 3, from 5:30-6 p.m.
“Our nation is on the brink of fiscal suicide,” Rob Scott, founder and president of the Dayton Tea Party, said in a press release. “The tour is raising awareness and advocating government to reign in out-of-control spending.”
Scott and state Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, will speak.
The tour is a “broad coalition of taxpayers, business owners, women, families and policy organizations focused on breaking the cycle of spending dependency in Washington, D.C.,” the press release said.
Scott is to hold a press availability at 4:30 p.m., a separate release said.
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TweetMorgan leads anti-tax effort
Ohio Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, is the honorary chairman of a group attempting to get on the statewide ballot a repeal of Ohio’s estate tax.
The Ohio Prosperity Initiative will hold a reception Sept. 7 at the Spread Eagle Tavern, 10150 Historic Plymouth St., Hanoverton.
Attendees are asked to contributed as much as $2,500 at the 5:30 to 7 p.m. event. For information call Phil Greenberg 614-220-0801 or email him at phil@endohioestatetax.com
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TweetDems file complaint against Fox News
Fox News Network broke Ohio election law when Republican John Kasich appeared on The O’Reilly Factor and was allowed to plug for campaign donations, a complaint by the Democratic Governors Association alleges.
The DGA filed a seven-page complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission on Thursday, Sept. 2. The Democrats are taking issue with a Kasich appearance on Aug. 18 in which he asked Fox viewers to contribute to his campaign and the news network put up a graphic that said “John Kasich (R), KasichforOhio.com.”
The DGA said the move amounted to a prohibited in-kind contribution to Kasich and the network failed to include a proper disclaimer that it was a political advertisement for Kasich.
Three days after his appearance, Kasich told supporters at a rally in Hamilton County that he raised more than $21,000 off the solicitation, according to the complaint.
A Fox News spokesperson said the network’s legal department had not yet received the complaint and therefore could not comment.
Fox News’ parent company, News Corp., gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association in June. The RGA has been funding pro-Kasich, anti-Strickland political ads in Ohio.
Additionally, News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch and his wife contributed $20,000 to Kasich’s campaign.
Kasich campaign spokesman Rob Nichols declined to comment on the DGA complaint.
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TweetAnother poll shows Portman leading Fisher for U.S. Senate
Republican Rob Portman has an eight-point lead, 45-38 percent, over Democrat Lee Fisher among likely voters in a Public Policy Polling survey released on Thursday, Sept. 2.
The results show a change from a June PPP poll that had Fisher, the lieutenant governor, leading, 40-38 percent. Other recent polls also have shown Portman ahead.
Portman is a former Cincinnati-area U.S. House member who served as budget director and U.S. trade representative under President George W. Bush.
Many voters still don’t know much about the candidates, according to the survey. Overall, 44 percent don’t know enough about Fisher to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of him and 43 percent say the same about Portman.
PPP surveyed 475 likely voters by automated calls from Friday, Aug. 27, to Sunday, Aug. 29, and the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.
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TweetUPDATED with Sen. Sherrod Brown appearance in Dayton: Gov. Strickland, brother Roger to rally in Springfield, Dayton
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and his brother Roger will kick off Labor Day weekend campaigning with rallies in Springfield and Dayton on Thursday, Sept. 2, Strickland’s campaign announced.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, will join them in Dayton, the campaign said. The rallies are open to the public.
The Springfield rally will be at 3 p.m. at UAW Local 402 Recreation Park, 4945 Derr Road, a press release said.
The Dayton rally will be at 5:15 p.m., 2719 Armstrong, Teamsters Local 957, the campaign said.
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TweetVP Biden to be in Toledo on Labor Day
Vice President Joe Biden will participate in Labor Day “festivities” in Toledo on Monday, Sept. 6, the White House announced on Wednesday.
It will be Democrat Biden’s second trip to Toledo in less than a month. He was there on Aug. 23.
Biden is scheduled to be in Dayton on Sept. 20 for a fundraiser for Gov. Ted Strickland.
Details of Biden’s Labor Day trip will be released later, the White House said.
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TweetSecond poll shows Kasich leading Strickland - by 10 points
A second poll released on Wednesday, Sept. 1, shows Republican challenger John Kasich leading incumbent Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, who’s seeking re-election.
The survey from Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, N.C., finds Kasich leading, 50-40 percent, among likely voters. A PPP poll in June had Kasich up, 43-41 percent, a virtual tie.
A Rasmussen Reports poll, also released on Wednesday, showed Kasich, a former Columbus-area U.S. House member, up by 8 points, 47-39 percent.
The new PPP poll also finds Strickland’s job approval rating low - 34 percent approve and 52 percent disapprove.
“Republicans are united around John Kasich and independents are likely to go strongly toward him as well,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said in a press release.
“To win, Ted Strickland has the Herculean task of bringing disloyal Democrats back to the fold and getting more of his party faithful out to the polls than plan to vote now.”
The poll was taken by automated calls from Friday, Aug. 27 to Sunday, Aug. 29, with 475 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
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TweetU.S. Senate candidate mourns dad’s death
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman’s father, William C. Portman, died of natural causes on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
The Portman family described Bill Portman as a hero and inspiration.
Portman, 88, was a father of three and grandfather of nine. A Dartmouth College graduate and a World War II veteran, Mr. Portman started his own equipment business in 1960 with five employees; the company now has 300 workers in three states. He was active in the greater Cincinnati community, including the chamber of commerce and United Way.
The family said in a written statement: “He was larger than life to us growing up. He was a hard worker who started his own business, building it from the ground up. But he always kept our family first. He was a caring, attentive husband and father who passed down to us the core values of honesty, integrity, faith, respect for others, and community service. He also shared with us his love of the outdoors and hunting and fishing. It was some of those moments out of doors we shared as a family together that we value most. Bill Portman lived a life to be proud of and was a model for all of us.”
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TweetPoll: Kasich leads Strickland, 47-39 percent, for governor
Republican challenger John Kasich leads Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, 47-39 percent, among likely voters, in a Rasmussen Reports poll released on Wednesday, Sept. 1.
Seven percent prefer another candidate and 7 percent are undecided.
When “leaners” - those who lean toward either candidate- are included, Kasich’s lead grows to 12 points, 52-40 percent.
The results are about the same as those in a poll two weeks ago when Kasich led, 48-40 percent.
Since December, Kasich’s support in the polls has ranged from 45 to 49 percent while support for Strickland has ranged from 38 to 45 percent.
The statewide telephone survey, done by automated calling, was taken Monday, Aug. 30, with 750 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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