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March 2011
Ohio Dems name new press secretary
Justin Barasky, a native of Cuyahoga County, is the Ohio Democratic Party’s new press secretary, the party announced Thursday.
Barasky, 29, a graduate of Solon High School and Ohio University, is returning to Ohio after working last year as rapid response director for the successful re-election campaign of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Barasky also has worked for other Democrats, including former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
“It’s really nice to be back home,” said Barasky.
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TweetPoll: Voters split on nuclear power plants, favor drilling in Gulf of Mexico
American voters are split on building new nuclear power plants but don’t want them in their own towns and cities, according to a national Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.
With gasoline prices continuing to rise, the poll also found support for new offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
Here are key poll findings:
*Forty eight percent support building new nuclear plants, while 45 percent are opposed.
*Fifty eight percent oppose building new nuclear plants in their towns and cities while 38 percent support this.
*Sixty seven percent support new offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, while 28 percent are opposed.
*Fifty six percent oppose releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while 38 percent support this.
*By a 67-29 percent spread, voters support allowing women “to serve in ground units that engage in close combat.
Live interviewers used land lines and cell phones to talk with 2,069 registered voters from across the country from March 22 through Monday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
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TweetCommittee OKs texting-while-driving ban
A House committee on Wednesday unanimously approved a ban on texting while driving, in a rare show of bipartisanship on an issue that has been divisive in the past.
“This is a good way to do business,” said Rep. Nancy Garland, D-Columbus, joint sponsor of the bill. She was in the committee room for the vote on House Bill 99
House Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina, will give “thoughtful consideration” to the bill, although he has not promised a vote by the full House.
Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, chairman of the Transportation, Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, said he was pleased with the unanimous support for the bill.
If the bill is enacted, Ohio would join 30 states and the District of Columbia in banning texting for all drivers.
A violation would be a minor misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $150. It would be a primary offense, meaning that a motorist could be stopped for this activity alone.
It would include a six-month grace period during which only warnings would be issued.
The House last year when the Democrats were in control passed similar legislation but it died in the GOP-controlled Senate. Republicans control both the House and Senate now.
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TweetConservatives urge Mandel to run for U.S. Senate against Sen. Brown
A statewide coalition of fiscal and social conservatives Wednesday released a statement urging Treasurer Josh Mandel to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012 against Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown.
The coalition includes: Rob Scott, president and founder of the Dayton Tea Party; Chris Littleton, president and co-founder of the Ohio Liberty Council, which includes Tea Party groups; Lori Viars, a member of the Warren County Republican Party board of directors; former Republican state Rep. Seth Morgan of Huber Heights and Phil Burress, of Cincinnati-based Citizens for Community Values.
Morgan said the group also was interested in other conservatives such as U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, but that Mandel, 33, a Marine veteran and former Cleveland-area state legislator, so far has showed the most willingness to take on the challenge to run against Brown.
“Josh Mandel is a great mixture of conservative leadership, patriotic values, and political power. If Josh is willing to take on this challenge, Ohioans need look no further,” Morgan said in a prepared statement.
The signers signed in their individual capacities only, the statement said.
Seth Unger, a spokesman for Mandel, said the treasurer has received an “enormous amount of encouragement” from conservatives and business leaders but that his focus right now is on “doing a great job running the state treasurer’s office.”
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TweetHouse Committee approves “Heartbeat” bill
A House committee on Wednesday narrowly approved the “Heartbeat” bill on a 12-11 vote, the minimum number needed for passage.
The legislation would outlaw abortions once a beating heart can be detected.
The vote by the Health and Aging Committee means the bill could be taken up by the full House but Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina, said Tuesday that “I don’t have any plans for it” and that he wanted to talk with experts about the bill.
Two Republicans - Reps. Mike Duffey of Worthington and Richard Hollington of suburban Cleveland - joined all nine Democrats in opposition.
From the Dayton-Springfield area, Rep. Robert Hackett, R-London, voted “yes.”
Gov. John Kasich, an abortion opponent, said Wednesday he has not taken a position on the bill.
Janet Folger Porter, president of Faith2Action, a pro-life group that strongly advocated for the bill, said that she was “very pleased.” It would move the state closer to providing safety for the “beating hearts” of children, she said.
Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, however, lashed out at the committee, saying the bill did not even include an exception for victims of rape.
“I honestly think the women of Ohio should be outraged,” said Copeland.
The bill would make an exception for an abortion to preserve the life of a pregnant woman.
The bill has divided abortion opponents, with the Ohio Right to Life Society declining to support it. If it is ruled unconstitutional, it could cause problems for other laws restricting abortions, Mike Gonidakis, the society’s executive director has said.
Porter, the Faith2Action president, told the committee Wednesday before the vote that the time to act is now and that seven other states were waiting to follow Ohio’s lead.
“If we were afraid of a court challenge, we wouldn’t pass anything,” Porter said.
The bill would be the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the country, according to supporters.
Dr. Alan Murnane, a Columbus-area physician who supports the bill, has said a heartbeat can be detected at five weeks of pregnancy.
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TweetPoll: Voters down on Obama, his Libya policies
American voters disapprove of how President Barack Obama is handling his job and are down on his policy in Libya, a national Quinnpiac University poll released Wednesday finds.
Here are key poll findings:
*Forty eight percent disapprove and 42 percent approve the Democratic president’s performance while 50 percent say he doesn’t deserve to be elected, compared to 41 percent who say he does, both all-time lows.
*47 percent disapprove U.S. involvement in Libya, while 41 percent approve in the survey completed Monday as Obama addressed the nation about Libya.
*Fifty eight percent say Obama has not clearly stated U.S. goals for Libya, while 29 percent say he has.
*Voters split on whether protecting Libyan civilians is a goal worth having U.S. troops “fight and possibly die”, with 46 percent saying yes and 45 percent saying no.
The poll was taken March 22 through Monday, March 28 with 2,069 registered voters across the county by live interviewers on land lines and cell phones. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
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TweetFormer Gov. Strickland to keynote Montgomery County Dems’ “Frolic for Funds”
Former Gov. Ted Strickland will be the keynote speaker at the Montgomery County Democratic Party’s annual “Frolic for Funds” from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, March 31 at the Dayton Convention Center.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown, the high court’s only Democrat, also will be on the program. Strickland, defeated for re-election last November, also spoke last year.
“We’re very glad he’s coming back,” Mark Owens, Montgomery County Democratic chairman, said.
In a press release, Owens called Strickland a “true champion for the middle class.” The formal program will start at 7 p.m., the release said.
Tickets cost $125 each for the county party’s largest fundraiser, said Owens.
To order tickets, call 937-222-4007.
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TweetWednesday committee vote set for “Heartbeat” bill
The House Health Committee, after a week’s delay, will vote Wednesday on the “Heartbeat” bill, legislation to outlaw abortion once a beating heart can be detected, Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, the committee chairman, said Tuesday.
“Right now I’m optimistic we can get the bill through the legislature,” Wachtmann said at a Statehouse press conference attended by about 30 supporters of the bill, including some from the Dayton area.
House Bill 125 has divided abortion opponents, with the Ohio Right to Life Society not supporting it.
“The Ohio Right to Life Society does not support the bill at this time,” Mike Gonidakis, society executive director, said. “It’s the right idea at the wrong time.”
Gonidakis said that if the bill becomes law and is ruled unconstitutional the ruling could have negative effects on other anti-abortion laws.
Speakers at the press conference said it’s time to move ahead on the legislation.
“It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing,” said Diane Horvath, a board member from the Warren County Right to Life Society.
Dr. Alan Murnane, a Columbus-area physician, who has spoken in support of the bill has said that the heartbeat can be detected at five weeks.
Backers say that if passed the law would be the nation’s most restrictive on abortions.
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TweetUPDATED - ‘Kill the bill’ chant rings out in Statehouse - Bargaining bill opponents start planning for referendum
Several hundred protesters marched outside the hearing room where a committee was considering Senate Bill 5 and chanted “kill the bill.”
Leslie Nettling, 59, an intermediate school teacher at Carlisle Local Schools in Warren County, joined in the chanting.
“I think it ultimately does not do anything good for kids,” Nettling, who was on spring break, said. She said the bill would discourage “good, bright, talented” young people from entering teaching.
Even as protesters gathered at the Statehouse Tuesday to demonstrate against Senate Bill 5, legislation restricting public employees’ collective bargaining, they already were planning ahead to a signature campaign to put the issue before voters, probably this November.
“I think the people want to be heard,” said Dayton labor leader Thomas Ritchie Sr., AFSCME Ohio Council 8 Field Services director.
Jeff Moore, president of Fire Fighters Local 3518 in West Chester, said that even in conservative Butler County he expects to find support for overturning the bill once it becomes law.
“We’re everybody’s neighbors,” said Moore. “We’re everybody’s friends.”
The crowd this time, estimated at about 450, was down from the thousands who had protested earlier when the Senate was considering the bill.
The Tuesday protest came as the House Commerce and Labor Committee prepared to vote on an amended version of the bill passed earlier by the Senate. The full House could vote as early as Wednesday.
To get the issue before the voters, opponents of the bill will have to collect more than 231,000 signatures from registered voters.
Opponents say the bill deprives workers of their rights, but supporters say it is needed to achieve balance between employers and workers and to give governments the ability to make it through tough economic times.
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TweetDayton Tea Party sets “Tax Day” rally
The Dayton Tea Party will hold its third “Tax Day” rally on Monday, April 18, at Courthouse Square in downtown Dayton, the group announced Tuesday.
The rally will be from 6:30-8 p.m., a press release said.
“We have an exciting program planned. As always, our events are family friendly and seek to educate,” Rob Scott, Dayton Tea Party president, said in a press release.
The event is free and open to the public, said the release. Speakers will be announced during the next two weeks, the release said.
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TweetBargaining bill opponents to rally at Statehouse - again
Opponents of Senate Bill 5, legislation to restrict public employee collective bargaining, plan a rally on Tuesday to protest the bill which now is before the House Commerce and Labor Committee.
The really is set for following the committee vote on the bill, a press release said. The committee meets at 9 a.m. The Senate earlier approved the bill.
Firefighters, police officers, nurses, teachers, other public employees, faith leaders and others are expected at the rally, the release said. Previous rallies by opponents have drawn thousands of protesters to the Statehouse.
The Tuesday rally also will include music and “political theater,” the release said.
Supporters of the bill say its needed to restore balance in negotiations between public employers and unions and to give governments and school boards the tools they need to make it through tough economic times.
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TweetLocal Tea Party groups to hear constituitonal law expert
The Vandalia Liberty Group and the Clayton Englewood Liberty Group, parts of the Dayton Tea Party, on Monday will hear from Maurice Thompson, executive director of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law.
The meeting, free and open to the public, is at 7 p.m. at the First Grace Brethren Church, 2624 Stonequarry Road, in Vandalia.
Thompson and his organization advocate for limited constitutional government and against taxes and government regulations and spending.
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TweetPoll: Ohio voters split on President Obama, warm to Sen. Brown
Ohio voters are split on President Barack Obama and his job performance but appear to be warming up to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, as both Democrats prepare for re-election in 2012.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, here are highlights on Obama, Brown and Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, who took office in January:
*Forty-five percent say Obama deserves a second term, while 46 percent say the president doesn’t.
*Forty-seven percent approve of Obama’s performance, while 48 percent disapprove, down slightly from January when 49 percent approved and 46 percent disapproved.
*Voters favor Obama over an unnamed Republican challenger next year, 41-34 percent.
*Overall, 73 percent of voters like Obama personally, but only 44 percent favor his policies.
*Voters approve Brown’s job performance, 43-27 percent, while 30 percent don’t know or didn’t answer.
*By 45-30 percent spread, voters say Brown deserves a second term.
*Voters favor Brown for re-election over an unnamed GOP challenger, 45-29 percent.
*Thirty percent approve of Portman, while 25 percent disapprove and 45 percent are undecided. In January, 34 percent approved, 16 percent disapproved and 51 percent were undecided.
For Obama, the results indicate one thing about him and Ohio, Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
“The small lead over an unnamed Republican and the split verdict on whether he deserves a second term indicate that, as has been the case in most presidential elections over recent decades, Ohio will be closely contested.”
The poll was taken March 15 through Monday, March 21, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
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TweetUPDATED -House passes voter photo ID bill - Speaker Batchelder calls press conference on “misrepresentations” - Dems blast voter photo ID bill as “poll tax”
The House passed legislation requiring voters to show a photo ID when casting ballots in person, 57-38, on Wednesday after more than two hours of heated debate.
One Republican, Rep. Kirk Schuring of Canton, joined Democrats in opposing the bill. All the “yes” votes came from Republicans.
With the Republican-controlled Ohio House on Wednesday set to vote - and probably pass - legislation requiring voters to show a photo ID when casting ballots in person, Democrats blasted the proposal as a “poll tax.”
House Bill 159 would discriminate against college students, the poor, minorities, the elderly and others less likely to have photo IDs, House Minority Leader Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, said at a press conference just hours before the scheduled 1:30 p.m. House session.
After the House session started at 1:30 p.m., House Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina, announced that he would hold a press conference after the session to “resolve misrepresentations of the bill.” The bill still was on the agenda.
The bill’s joint sponsors, Reps. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, and Rep. Bob Mecklenborg, R-Green Twp., also were to be at the press conference, a press advisory said.
Reps. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, and Roland Winburn, D-Harrison Twp., the only two Dayton-area Democratic house members, joined Budish at the Democrats’ press conference.
Luckie, who is black, said it brought up memories of his grandparents’ days when blacks who wanted to vote were thwarted by complicated poll tests.
The bill “solves a problem that does not exist,” said Budish.
Supporters have said it would prevent Ohioans from trying to vote more than once. Representatives from Indiana and Georgia, which already have similar requirements, testified Tuesday at a committee hearing that there had been few problems with voters being disenfranchised.
The bill would require voters to use photo IDs to cast ballots in person on Election Day or when voting absentee in-person during early voting.
Now, Ohioans must show a photo ID or a document such as a current utility bill, paycheck of government document with their names and addresses.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, the state’s chief elections officer, has not taken a position on the bill.
Under the bill, the registrar of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles would be required to set up a system to provide free photo IDs to those who could document that they couldn’t afford to pay for them.
Also, under the bill, acceptable photo IDs would include: Ohio driver’s license; Ohio identification card; U.S. military identification card and U.S. passport.
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TweetUPDATED with Gov. Kasich spokesman - Poll: Voters frown on Kasich, his budget plan and collective bargaining curbs
Republican Gov. John Kasich is getting off to a rocky start with Ohio voters who don’t think much of the governor’s budget proposal and also frown on the curbs to public employee collective bargaining that Kasich supports.
These are key findings in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
Here are snapshots of the results:
*Forty six percent disapproved Kasich’s handling of the job, while 30 percent approved.
*Fifty three percent said Kasich’s proposed budget is unfair to them; 36 percent said it’s fair.
*Half those surveyed were asked about legislation that limited “collective bargaining” and 48 percent were opposed, compared to 41 percent in support.
*The other half were asked about a bill to limit “collective bargaining rights” and 54 percent were opposed, while 35 percent were in support.
Rob Nichols, Kasich’s spokesman, had this reaction to the poll:
“We’ve never commented on public polls. The governor’s drive to restore Ohio has never been about politics but about helping to create jobs and restore our state.”
Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release:
“Although there is almost nothing in these numbers that Kasich can point to as evidence of his popularity or that of his proposals, he can take solace from the fact that he has almost four years to turn around public opinion.”
In the poll, women were harder on Kasich, who took office in January, than men. Women disapproved his performance, 48-25 percent, while men disapproved his performance, 44-37 percent.
By a 55-37 percent spread, they said Kasich should not have promised to fill a projected $8 billion budget deficit by only cutting spending and not raising taxes. By a 64-2e percent spread, they said he wouldn’t keep his no-tax pledge, even though his budget plan has no tax hikes.
Still, when asked whether to balance the budget with cuts alone or by coupling them with tax hikes, voters by a 65-27 percent spread backed not raising taxes at all.
Voters also disapproved, 46-39 percent, Kasich’s plan to sell five state prisons to private firms to save money. The poll was taken March 15 to Monday, March 21, with 1,384 registered voters by live interviewers over land lines and cell phones and had a margin of error of plus of minus 2.6 percentage points.
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TweetPoll: Voters still like Tressel, split over Boehner and Portman
Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, despite his recent NCAA violations and five-game suspension at the start of next season, appears to be fairly popular, according to a Public Policy Polling survey released this week.
Overall, voters seem to think more of the coach than widely-known politicians including U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Cleveland, a former presidential candidate.
In the survey, released Monday, 43 percent had a favorable opinion of Tressel, 17 percent had an unfavorable opinion and 41 percent weren’t sure.
Among voters who said they were fans, 58 percent had a favorable opinion, compared to 13 percent unfavorable.
It was the first time in the poll for Tressel but college basketball coaches in two similarly successful programs did better among their fan bases, with Mike Krzyzewski of Duke getting a 77-8 favorable-unfavorable rating and North Carolina’s Roy Williams getting a 64/3 favorable-unfavorable rating, according to PPP, based in Raleigh, N.C.
Voters were split over Boehner’s job performance, with 37 percent approving and 38 percent disapproving and 25 percent not sure.
Voters appeared to still be getting used to Portman, in his first term. Twenty-five percent approved his performance, 22 percent disapproved and 53 percent didn’t have an opinion.
For Kucinich, 40 percent had an unfavorable opinion, while 27 percent viewed him favorably. Thirty-three percent weren’t sure.
The poll was taken March 10 - March 13 with 559 voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percent.
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TweetSchool choice backers rally at the Statehouse
Starlett Harrod of Oxford in Butler County had a simple, straightforward reason for joining more than 1,000 supporters of school choice who rallied outside Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday:
“They’re our children.”
Harrod, who home schools her children, said parents should have a choice in how their children are educated, an opinion echoed by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, Secretary of State Jon Husted and other speakers.
Jordan used the biblical story of David’s conquest of Goliath the giant to woo the receptive crowd. The opponents of school choice seem formidable but David took another approach to Goliath, said Jordan:
“He’s so big I can’t miss him.”
Husted told those in the crowd that their movement was “about freedom.”
The rally came with the school choice movement on the upswing, backed by Republican Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-controlled legislature.
Kasich’s two-year budget proposal calls for increasing from 14,000 to 30,000 in the first year and 50,000 in the second year the number of vouchers available to students enrolled in public schools in districts rated in academic watch or academic emergency for two of the last three years and for removing the limit on charter schools.
Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, whose parents paid for him to attend Catholic schools, said that he is concerned that the broad expansion of school choice would dilute the quality of all school programs - public, charter schools and vouchers.
“We have almost three systems and all of them are underfunded,” said Luckie.
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TweetOhio GOP names Darren Bearson as executive director
Darren Bearson, a veteran political strategist, has joined the staff of the Ohio Republican Party as executive director, Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine, of Fairborn, announced on Tuesday.
Bearson served as a regional political director for the Republican National Committee in the 2010 midterm elections, overseeing statewide voter turnout programs and infrastructure plans in eight states, according to a press release.
Before joining the RNC, he was executive director of the Minnesota Republican Party, the release said.
“Darren is one of the most talented and widely respected operatives in the nation and we are incredibly fortunate to bring him to Ohio,” DeWine said in the release.
“…We have a lot at stake in the 2012 presidential election and I look forward to working alongside Darren as we build a strong, well-funded party operation in Ohio that will lead us to victory.”
Jason Mauk, former Ohio GOP executive director, now is communications director for the Republican majority in the Ohio Senate.
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TweetLegislation would require photo ID to vote
Legislation to require photo identification for voters who cast their ballots on election day or cast absentee ballots in person is expected to come up for a House committee vote on Tuesday.
Under current voter ID requirements, there have been instances of people voting more than once, said Rep. Lou Blessing, R-Cincinnati, joint sponsor of House Bill 159. Blessing also is House speaker pro tem, the House’s number two leadership post.
“Anybody and everybody will be able to get an ID that doesn’t have one at no cost,” Blessing said.
Ellis Jacobs, senior attorney for the nonprofit Advocates for Basic Legal Equality in Dayton, said, however, that the bill would make it harder for people to vote.
“It creates an obstacle course for the 11 percent of the public that doesn’t have an ID,” said Jacobs.
Under current law, a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document showing the voter’s name and address may be used as well as photo ID to vote on election day or to cast an absentee ballot in person.
House Bill 159 would continue to allow forms of ID other than photo ID to be used for those casting absentee ballots by mail.
Photo IDs acceptable under the bill would be:
*Ohio driver’s license
*Ohio identification card
*U.S. military identification card
*U.S. passport
The bill would require the Registrar of Motor Vehicles and deputy registrars to set up a system to provide a state ID card free if an applicant produces evidence that he can’t afford the fees for such a document.
Secretary of State Jon Husted, the state’s top elections officer, has not taken a position on the bill but is working with the committee chairman to find the “right balance between voter access and elections accuracy,” said Matt McClellan, spokesman for Husted.
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TweetKasich’s pension proposal throws OPERS, STRS out of compliance
Gov. John Kasich’s plan to shift more pension costs to public workers would throw the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System out of compliance with a state law that the pension fund can pay all its liabilities over a 30-year window.
Kasich’s budget proposal includes making public employees contribute 12 percent of their wages toward their pensions, up from 10 percent, and then reducing the amount that state and local governments have to pay by 2 percentage points.
But OPERS officials said, “The change to a 12/12 contribution rate and the potential loss of statewide public-sector jobs would actuarially increase the OPERS amortization period to a minimum of 36.5 years, assuming all of the proposed OPERS plan design changes are enacted.”
STRS estimates that the change to 12/12 would bump its funding period to 45.6 years.
The OPERS and STRS boards approved changes to shore up their fiscal positions. The pension reform bill is expected to be approved around the same time as Kasich’s budget bill at the end of June.
OPERS includes 537,000 workers, retirees and beneficiaries while STRS includes 317,000.
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TweetFaith leaders to speak out against collective bargaining limits
A coalition of faith leaders has scheduled a Columbus press conference for Tuesday, March 22, to speak out against Senate Bill 5, legislation limiting collective bargaining rights for public employees.
More than 100 faith leaders have signed a statement “calling for lawmakers to oppose Senate Bill 5 and come up with solutions to create unity in Ohio,” a press release said.
The statement will be released at the press conference, said Andy Richards, spokesman for the Ohio AFL-CIO.
Supporters, including Gov. John Kasich, say the legislation is needed to give state and local governments the flexibility they need to serve taxpayers best during tough economic times and to strike a balance between public employees and the governments that employ them.
Opponents say the bill goes too far in taking away bargaining rights that have provided a stable working relationship between public employees - including teachers, police and firefighters - and local governments and school boards since the collective bargaining law was passed in 1983.
The House now is considering the legislation, which earlier was passed in the Senate, 17-16.
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TweetU.S. Rep. Jordan, state Sen. Faber to speak at school choice rally
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and state Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, are among the speakers scheduled to speak a school choice rally on Tuesday, March 22 on the west lawn of the Statehouse in Columbus.
The rally comes just after Gov. John Kasich’s introduction of a proposed two-year state budget that would permit more vouchers and charter schools throughout the state.
The rally is set for 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
After the rally, participants are to meet with legislators to advocate for school choice options.
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TweetFormer Rep. Morgan joins Americans for Prosperity
Former state Rep. Seth Morgan, a Huber Heights Republican, has joined Americans for Prosperity, a national grassroots group advocating limited government and free market policies, Morgan said Saturday.
It’s a part-time position as Ohio Director of Policy and he will continue to work in the private sector as a Certified Public Accountant and as president of MLA Management Systems, Inc., Morgan said.
“The heart of American politics is not about Republican or Democrat or which ‘team’ one belongs to. Rather it is about helping individuals learn to love the liberty they’ve been given and the policies that best preserve that liberty,” Morgan, also a former Huber Heights city council member, said in a prepared statement.
“AFP is playing an important role in that effort in Ohio and for that I’m grateful to be assisting in their efforts.”
Morgan served one term in the Ohio House and lost a race for the Republican nomination for state auditor in 2010.
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TweetCongressman Jordan to appear on Fox News Sunday
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, is scheduled to appear with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace at 9 a.m. on WRGT Channel 8 and again at 2 p.m. on the Fox News Channel. Jordan, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, will discuss spending cuts and the next steps toward a budget solution.
Dayton Daily News Washington correspondent Jack Torry will have a story about Jordan in this Sunday’s edition of the paper. Jordan represents a large section of northwestern Ohio including Champaign, Shelby, Logan and Auglaize counties.
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TweetHope Taft doesn’t need your money
If you get an e-mail from former Ohio First Lady Hope Taft asking for money to get home from England, you can rest easy and hold on to your cash, according to the Better Business Bureau in Dayton.
She’s just fine and not stranded in England, but she is the victim of a common email scam, according to a news release issued Friday by the bureau. A local resident sent a copy of an email from a person claiming to be Taft, the wife of former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft. The email claims she was robbed of her money and passport and needed money to get back to the U.S.
“This is not the first time I’ve been contacted by colleagues that their address books have been compromised,” said John North, BBB president and chief executive. “Scanners use hijacked contact lists to send bogus e-mails, playing on emotions, posing as someone they’re not, sharing frantic sob stories, asking for aid and money is needed to solve the problems.”
The bureau recommended several tips to protect yourself from email scams:
- Confirm identities by asking for details. Ask questions only the alleged sender would know.
- Verify information before sending money. Call the alleged sender or his or her family and friends to confirm the story.
- Beware if you're asked to wire money. Scammers prefer wire transfers because they're fast and easy. But, money is hard to recover once it's wired.
- Protect your personal information. Never give out credit card or bank account numbers unless you're confident with whom you're speaking.
- Consider closing your e-mail account and contacting those in your address book to let them know about the bogus e-mails if your e-mail address has been compromised.
- Change your passwords monthly using a variety of characters, numbers and capitalization.
- Be sure to have the latest updates for antivirus programs and firewalls.
For more information about email scams visit www.bbb.org or call 222-5825.
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TweetOhio jobless rate dips to 9.2 percent
Ohio’s unemployment rate in February was 9.2 percent, down from 9.3 percent in January, according to data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Ohio’s jobless rate is still above the national average of 8.9 percent.
Roughly 542,000 Ohioans were out of work last month, down from 624,000 in February 2010 when the jobless rate was 10.6 percent.
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TweetPoll: Sen. Brown re-election chances improve, even against Drew Carey
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s re-election hopes took a turn for the better in a new Public Policy Polling survey released Wednesday, with Brown, a Democrat, leading potential Republican challengers by 15 to 19 points.
The poll even tested comedian and Cleveland native Drew Carey against Brown in a possible 2012 matchup and the Democrat led, 49-34 percent.
PPP, based in Raleigh, N.C., found Brown leading Republican Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, 49-30 percent, after barely edging Taylor, 40-38 in an earlier survey.
Brown also led U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, 49-30 percent in the new poll, a bigger lead than the 43-35 percent edge Brown had earlier.
Republican State Treasurer Josh Mandel, who is emerging as a possible candidate to take on Brown in 2012, also lagged. Brown led, 48-32 percent.
Brown also topped Secretary of State Jon Husted, 49-34 percent.
Against Cleveland-area U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette, Brown led 48-30 percent.
PPP polled 559 Ohio voters from Thursday, March 10 to Sunday, March 13 and the margin of error was plus or minus 4.1 percent.
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TweetGovernor unveils plan to plug $8 billion budget hole
Gov. John Kasich Tuesday unveiled a proposed $55.5 billion, two-year general fund budget that he says closes an $8 billion shortfall through cuts, government restructuring and other measures but without tax hikes.
*Support for local governments
Kasich’s budget calls for cutting support for local government by about a third from funding in the current two-year budget.
The current budget provides about $1.3 billion, while the proposed budget would provide about $865 million over two years.
The LGF is Dayton’s second largest source of income behind income tax. Both Dayton and Montgomery County received about $13 million in LGF money in 2010.
Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan has called a 3:30 p.m. press conference to discuss the impact of the cuts, which could include an income tax increase proposal put before voters in November.
*K-12 schools and higher education
Taxpayers and students at state colleges and universities will likely see more tax requests and higher tuition over the next two years as education spending from kindergarten to college will see cuts, although the reductions are not as deep as some feared.
Kasich said education spending will rise slightly over the next two years, but when federal stimulus dollars the state used to maintain relatively flat funding the past two years is included both K-12 and higher education will see a double digit cut.
Local schools will see an 11.5 percent reduction next fiscal year and 4.9 percent in 2013; in total K-12 spending will fall from $11.5 billion in 2011 to $9.7 billion in 2013.
Colleges and universities will see a slightly smaller reduction losing 10.5 percent of its funding in 2012. Higher education spending will see a slight bump in 2013, but overall spending will drop from $2.5 billion in 2011 to $2.3 billion in 2013.
For K-12 education, school choice and incentives to share services are two of the few programs to receive a funding boost, while early learning, gifted education, and the reimbursement for the loss of tangible property tax are all reduced.
State college students will have reduced access to some state grants for tuition, but without federal stimulus dollars the state subsidy for instruction, the largest portion of funding provided by the state to schools, will fall by $245 million, or 13 percent. The budget retains the 3.5 percent cap on tuition hikes that has been in place the last two years.
*Medicaid
Medicaid has become known as a budgetary Pac-Man, consuming 30 percent of all state government spending and threatening to crowd out other priorities.
Gov. John Kasich’s budget doesn’t push the “game over” button on the Medicaid program’s growth; the state’s total Medicaid spending would grow 5.5 percent in fiscal 2012 to $18.8 billion, according to Kasich’s budget.
But Medicaid spokesman Eric Poklar claims the budget overall would achieve $1.44 billion in savings and cuts against Medicaid’s current trend lines.
The budget would:
• create significant new growth opportunities for CareSource, Ohio’s largest Medicaid managed care provider;
• restructure payments for hospital and nursing home care to Medicaid enrollees
• rebalance long-term care by shifting more care away from nursing homes and into home and community-based settings.
*The Arts
The Dayton area’s major nonprofit arts organizations can cope with a nearly 20 percent cut to Ohio Arts Council funding under Gov. John Kasich’s new two-year budget, but smaller groups could be facing job and programming cuts, according to area arts officials.
Kasich’s budget proposal announced Tuesday calls for $5.3 million in state funding to OAC for fiscal year 2012, which is a 19.5 percent decrease from $6.5 million in fiscal year 2011.
“We are pleased that the governor has seen the value of the arts in Ohio and that funding to the Ohio Arts Council, albeit at 80 percent of the current level, will continue,” said Ken Neufeld, president and chief executive of the Victoria Theatre Association and the Arts Center Foundation. The association received a $87,595 operating support grant from OAC for fiscal 2011.
Neufeld had feared the OAC budget would be “zeroed,” he said.
Proposals are pending in several states to eliminate their arts councils, said Paul Helfrich, president of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra received $48,083 in OAC grants for fiscal 2011.
“Over the years, Ohio Arts Council funding has essentially served as an economic development tool in our communities,” supporting job creation and downtown revitalization efforts, said Julie S. Henahan, OAC executive director.
The Dayton Art Institute doesn’t anticipate the need to cut programs because it has diverse revenue sources and also factored reduced arts funding into its current budget, said Janice Driesbach, the museum’s director and chief executive.
“However, reduced funding does impact our vibrancy,” Driesbach said. DAI received a $46,827 operating support grant from the arts council for fiscal 2011.
The 20 percent cut will have a greater impact on organizations with smaller budgets, such as Cityfolk, which received two operating support grants totalling $21,988 for fiscal 2011.
Cityfolk may have to look at cutting staff, programming or concerts because of both OAC and National Endowment for the Arts funding cuts, said Kathleen Alter, executive director.
“I think we are going to see nonprofits that have to get leaner and it’s very unfortunate, because the last thing we need is any more jobs to go away right now,” Alter said.
Kasich’s budget didn’t call for any changes to the Ohio Film Office, which offers film tax credits to encourage motion picture production in Ohio. In the last two years, production companies have spent $78.3 million making movies, television programs or commercials in Ohio, according to state officials.
The new budget includes film tax credits of $10 million each in fiscal 2012 and 2013, said Amir Eylon, director of Ohio’s Division of Tourism, which houses the state’s film office. “That means that the motion picture tax credit continues and we are going to be able to compete for additional productions,” Eylon said.
*Prisons
His proposal also calls for selling five prisons to private operators to raise $200 million and for closing four prison camps.
“Together we will embrace a new direction and together we will take a better, higher path that lifts the hopes and opportunities of every Ohioan from every walk of life and from every corner of our great state,” Kasich said in a press release.
The budget calls for general fund spending of $26.9 billion the first year, a 5.1 percent increase from the current year, and for $28.6 billion the second year, a 6.3 percent increase.
The Department of Jobs and Family Services, which includes Medicaid, gets the biggest chunk, $12.9 billion the first year and $14.3 billion the second. The largest single item is Medicaid, $11.8 billion the first year and $13.2 billion, the second.
The budget is for the two-year period, starting July 1, 2011. The Ohio House first will consider the budget and after approving it send it to the Senate for consideration.
Dayton Daily News reporters Chris Magan, Ben Sutherly, Dave Larsen, Jeremy Kelly, Lucas Sullivan and Margo Kissell contributed to this post. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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TweetKasich to hold televised show tonight on state budget
Gov. John Kasich and members of his cabinet will take to the airwaves tonight at 6 p.m. in a town hall meeting on the state budget proposal released earlier today.
The broadcast will air on C-SPAN and at www.OhioChannel.org.
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TweetPoll: Voters down on Kasich, would repeal collective bargaining overhaul
A Public Policy Polling poll released Tuesday found that if Ohio voters had it to do over, they’d pick Democrat Ted Strickland over Republican John Kasich for governor.
According to the poll, Strickland would win a re-do election, 55-40 percent. Kasich knocked incumbent Strickland out of office in November, 49-47 percent.
The poll also found that if Senate Bill 5 - legislation to limit collective bargaining rights for public workers - becomes law, that voters would back repealing it at the ballot box.
The poll found that 54 percent would vote to repeal the law, while 31 percent would vote to keep it.
Results of the poll come on the same day Kasich is to unveil his first state budget proposal.
It also comes a day after an Ohio Poll, sponsored by the University of Cincinnati, found that 40 percent of Ohio adults approved Kasich’s job performance, while 47 percent disapproved.
In the PPP poll, 54 percent of voters disapproved of Kasich’s performance, while 35 percent approved.
Also, 63 percent said public employees should have a right to collective bargaining rights for wages,benefits and working environment rules, while 29 percent said they should not.
“Voters in Ohio are feeling significant buyers’ remorse about the November election results already,” Dean Debnam, PPP president, said in a press release.
“Of course the reality is if Democrats had turned out Kasich never would have been elected. The voters who stayed home have mostly themselves to blame.”
The poll surveyed 559 Ohio voters from Thursday, March 10 to Sunday, March 13 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percent.
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TweetUPDATE: Kasich to allow cameras and audio recorders in press conference on state budget
UPDATE: Gov. John Kasich’s administration quickly stepped back from an attempt to ban TV cameras and broadcast audio recording equipment from a press conference on his state budget plan.
The ban drew immediate protests from the Statehouse press corps, the ACLU of Ohio and Ohio Democratic Party.
Kasich press secretary Rob Nichols announced late Monday afternoon that, indeed, reporters would be allowed to videotape, photograph and record the governor’s 1 p.m. press conference. Earlier in the day they were told they could bring pens and notebooks and small recorders only for accuracy purposes.
The press conference will be the first look at the closely guarded details of how Kasich plans to fund K-12 education, colleges and universities, the prison system, Ohio Medicaid and other state and local government services.
Kasich is expected to hold a televised ‘town hall’ meeting at 6 p.m. on the budget plan.
Kasich has discounted the importance of transparency laws in government. Initially, he planned to be sworn in at his private home, out of the media eye; he has said open records laws dissuade good candidates from applying for government jobs; and he reorganized the state’s job development functions to be run by a private, non-profit organization that will not be subject to the same open meetings and public records laws.
March 13-19 is Sunshine Week, which is a national initiative to promote discussion on the importance of open government and freedom of information.
ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link denounced Kasich’s now defunct plan to ban cameras and recorders, saying, “Gov. Kasich has decided to celebrate Sunshine Week by shrouding his budget announcement in unprecedented secrecy. The public deserves better.”
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TweetKasich blocks media cameras to budget briefing
Gov. John Kasich’s team is banning TV cameras and broadcast radio recording equipment from a press conference on his state budget plan.
The governor and his senior staff are expected to detail the two-year operating budget proposal at a 1 p.m. press conference but reporters will only be allowed to bring in pens and notebooks. Small audio recorders will be allowed but only for purposes of accuracy - not broadcast, the Kasich communications team told the media.
It will be the first look at the closely guarded details of how Kasich plans to fund K-12 education, colleges and universities, the prison system, Ohio Medicaid and other state and local government services.
Kasich is expected to hold a televised ‘town hall’ meeting at 6 p.m. on the budget plan.
A balanced budget must be adopted by June 30.
Kasich has discounted the importance of transparency laws in government. Initially, he planned to be sworn in at his private home, out of the media eye; he has said open records laws dissuade good candidates from applying for government jobs; and he reorganized the state’s job development functions to be run by a private, non-profit organization that will not be subject to the same open meetings and public records laws.
March 13-19 is Sunshine Week, which is a national initiative to promote discussion on the importance of open government and freedom of information.
“Ohio’s biennial budget promises to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation to come from Gov. Kasich’s administration over the next two years. Every resident has a stake in understanding and thoroughly vetting these policies. By limiting the press’ access, he has effectively shut the door on the public’s right to know,” said ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link. “Gov. Kasich has decided to celebrate Sunshine Week by shrouding his budget announcement in unprecedented secrecy. The public deserves better.”
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TweetKasich’s approval rating stands at 40 percent
Forty-percent of Ohioans approve of Gov. John Kasich’s job performance and 53 percent of adults would like to see the state budget balanced with a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, according to The Ohio Poll released Monday.
Kasich, a Republican former Fox News commentator and Lehman Brothers investment banker who became governor in January, is due to release his first budget proposal on Tuesday.
Kasich has promised to balance the two-year operating budget with significant reforms, spending cuts and no tax increases.
Kasich’s approval rating is below the levels enjoyed by the last three governors when they were in their nascent administrations. The Ohio Poll registered 68 percent approval for Democrat Ted Strickland in May 2007, 49 percent approval for Republican Bob Taft in March 1999 and 61 percent approval for Republican George Voinovich in February 1991.
Democrat Richard Celeste’s approval rating in April 1983 stood at 32 percent, the poll said. At the time, Ohio’s unemployment rate was 13.5 percent.
The state’s unemployment rate, as of January 2011, is 9.4 percent.
The Ohio Poll found that 53 percent of adults want the budget balanced through spending cuts and tax increases, 35 percent favor solely spending cuts, six percent favor solely tax increases and six percent had no opinion.
One-third of those who favor spending cuts named “funding for local government” as the area they would most like to see spending reduced, 15 percent said prisons and public safety, and 13 percent said colleges and universities. Only 5 percent named libraries as an area to cut.
The survey also showed Kasich as stronger approval ratings among Republicans — 65 percent — than among Democrats — 25 percent. Among independents, Kasich has a 30 percent approval rating, the poll found.
The telephone survey, conducted between March 1 and March 9, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent. A random sample of 908 adults were interviewed.
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TweetBill calls for elimination of death penalty
Two Democrats in the Ohio House are pushing a new bill that would repeal the state’s death penalty statute that has been on the books since 1981.
Anti-death penalty advocates said 60 percent of Ohio counties do not have any inmates on the state’s death row and five counties account for half of the prisoners sentenced to death.
“Life is precious, regardless of your circumstances,” said Melinda Elkins Dawson, whose mother was raped and murdered and her niece raped and beaten by Earl Mann. Dawson’s now ex-husband, Clarence Elkins, spent eight years behind bars for the crimes before DNA evidence proved Mann was the true rapist and killer.
Dawson, who now lives in Preble County, said she has never believed in the death penalty, in part because it drags out appeals and delays closure for the victim’s family. She added that some members of her family disagree with her and wanted Mann to face the death penalty.
Dawson as well as the Ohio Catholic Conference came out in support of the bill, which is supported by state Reps. Ted Celeste, D-Columbus and Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood.
Illinois just abolished its death penalty law and a handful of high profile Ohio officials have recently called on the Buckeye State to do the same, Celeste noted.
Gov. John Kasich, who just began a four-year term, has said that he supports the death penalty for the worst of the worst. As a state lawmaker, he voted in favor of the statute in 1981.
The Innocence Project, a legal clinic that helps inmates prove their innocence through DNA evidence, has helped exonerate 267 prisoners across the nation, including 17 who had been sentenced to death.
Dale Johnston, formerly of Xenia, urged Ohio officials to follow Illinois’ lead and recognize that there is no way to design a perfect death penalty system.
Johnston spent five years on Ohio’s death row for the 1982 murders of his teen stepdaughter and her fiance. The Ohio Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1988 because prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence from Johnston’s defense team.
Twenty-six years after the crimes, Chester McKnight pleaded guilty to the murders while a second man, Kenneth Linscott, pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse.
Ohio executed two men this year and has seven more scheduled between now and October. There are 157 inmates on Ohio’s death row.
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TweetUPDATED with Democratic reaction - Secretary of State Husted to rent Kettering home, establish residency in Franklin County
Secretary of State Jon Husted said Monday that he plans to rent his home in Kettering and establish his legal residence in Franklin County.
Husted, 43, a Republican, said that he still plans to return to the Dayton area to live when his public service ends.
“My heart’s still in Dayton. It’s the place I feel at home. The people there are the ones who helped make my public service career possible. All that I’m today, I owe to the people of Dayton and the Dayton area,” said Husted, a University of Dayton graduate.
For personal and professional reasons, now was the time to make the change in residency, he said. As a statewide elected official, he goes to work every day in Columbus, Husted said.
In recent years, Husted has spent much of his time living in suburban Columbus with his wife and family but maintained his legal residence in Kettering while serving as Speaker of the Ohio House and in the Ohio Senate.
He was elected secretary of state last year.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2009 that Husted was a Montgomery County resident for voting purposes, reversing a decision by then Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat.
Before Brunner’s tie-breaking decision, the Montgomery County Board of Elections had deadlocked 2-2 along party lines on Husted’s residency.
Husted said that maintaining his residency in Montgomery County was “absolutely right” while he served in the legislature.
Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern, who had been critical of Husted, said, “I wish Jon well.”
Redfern said the decision should allow Husted to spend more time making sure voters get the opportunity to cast ballots in November without continuing concerns about where Husted lives.
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TweetBob Evans corporte HQ to move but stay in Ohio
Bob Evans Farms, Inc., announced on Thursday that a generous aid package from the state of Ohio helped seal a deal to keep the restaurant and food giant’s corporate headquarters in its home state.
Bob Evans Farms, a publicly-traded company with $1.7 billion in annual sales and 44,000 employees, will move its headquarters from the south side of Columbus to New Albany, an upscale suburb just east of Columbus.
Bob Evans Chairman and Chief Executive Steve Davis said the company outgrew its current headquarters and had considered relocating to land it owns in Texas.
Davis and Gov. John Kasich declined to disclose details of the aid package.
Kasich said only that the deal would be ‘return on investment-positive’ for the state.
He said aggressive action by the state led to three recent big wins: ‘The Avengers’ movie will be shot in Cleveland, American Greetings will remain in the Cleveland area, and Bob Evans will stay in Columbus.
Kasich said while he doesn’t like corporate welfare, he doesn’t “want to be meek and mild and let these opportunities get out the door.”
After the announcement, Davis and Kasich whisked off to a Bob Evans restaurant where presumably, the governor ordered his usual: chicken and noodles with a side of green beans.
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TweetGov. Kasich calls town hall meeting on state budget
Gov. John Kasich will hold a town hall meeting on Ohio’s budget challenges next Tuesday, March 15, the same day he sends his proposed budget to the General Assembly, the governor’ s office announced Wednesday.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. in the Capitol Theatre in the Riffe Center in downtown Columbus.
The event will be open to the public, but tickets will be required and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at www.governor.ohio.gov/OhioTownHallMeeting.aspx.
Tickets also will be provided to legislators and state cabinet agencies. The meeting will be broadcast live on the internet and via satellite to Ohio television stations, Kasich’s office said.
Kasich will take questions in the theater and from the online audience. The state faces an $8 billion funding gap that Kasich must address in his budget proposal.
“I’ll lay out the problems before us and the cabinet and I will walk through the solutions we propose,” Kasich said in the press release. “Then I’m going to take questions for as long as I can until they start to turn out the lights on me.:
Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor also will speak.
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TweetKasich: ‘Dayton is going to be great again’
By Christopher Magan and Margo Rutledge Kissell Staff Writers
UPDATED AT 1:34 P.M.: In his first State of the State address Republican Gov. John Kasich went city by city, noting Ohio’s assets including Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where he said there were untold research and other opportunities.
He called for an “enterprise zone” outside the base’s gates. “Dayton is going to be great again,” Kasich said.
Kasich outlined the state’s economic woes. He said the state’s “best and brightest” were going other places to realize their dreams. Ohio is “under siege” by other states and countries that are luring away the state’s jobs and “job creators.
We cannot afford to let that continue,” Kasich said. The state needs to be innovative to control costs and attract jobs for the future. We are putting a budget together to transform our state,” he said. “You ain’t seen nothing yet. We are going to transform this state.”
The governor thanked the legislature for passage of JobsOhio, a public-private partnership aimed at reenergizing the state’s economic development efforts that he called one of his most important initiatives.
“We’ve got to have people who can talk the talk,” he said.
Kasich said he wants to get the state back to a “growth agenda.” He foreshadowed his budget to be released next week, saying it will include “restructuring” of government to provide better services at a lower cost. The governor highlighted proposals coming to reform nursing home care, prison sentencing, mental health and Medicaid and schools.
“More dollars in the classroom will instead of bureaucracy will improve our schools,” Kasich said. “We are going to have a significant reform agenda.”
Kasich spoke passionately about education. He said he will screen the documentary “Waiting for Superman,” which is critical of the U.S. troubled education system in Columbus. “It will get you angry, it will get you frustrated, it will make you cry and get you to stand up for our kids when you have an opportunity,” Kasich said. “We better commit ourselves to this and get this fixed.”
Kasich said he was committed to battling prescription drug addiction in the state. “The cavalry has arrived,” he said. “The legislature will not let you stand alone.”
This is the first time in recent memory that an Ohio governor’s State of the State speech has been targeted by accompanying protests. Kasich has supported a host of bold ideas for fixing the state’s economy — including restricting union bargaining rights for 350,000 police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses and other public sector workers. When he mentioned his support for Senate Bill 5 Kasich was booed by people in the chamber.
Democrats and labor groups are rallying outside the Statehouse throughout Kasich’s speech which started at noon. Hundreds of opponents of a collective bargaining bill marched down the sidewalks toward a Statehouse lawn an hour before the speech, with some chanting “kill the bill” and wearing firefighter and police uniforms.
Earlier, about 30 members of tea party groups gathered nearby to show support for the legislation and for Kasich and lawmakers who support it. Tuesday marked the fourth week of protests surrounding the bill, due to come before a House committee later in the day.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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TweetUPDATED with protesters chanting during Gov. Kasich speech - International fire fighters president rouses Statehouse protesters
Harold A. Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, roused an already fired-up crowd of union members and supporters at a Statehouse rally Tuesday, calling on them to keep up the fight against Senate Bill 5, legislation to restrict public employee collective bargaining.
“They want to take away your right to provide safety in your community away,” Schaitberger told a crowd estimated at 2,400 on the west Statehouse lawn. The crowd was not as large at the 8,500 who turned out last week to protest the bill, but was vocal, chanting “kill the bill.”
The crowd inside and outside the Statehouse later was estimated at 3,200.
They rallied just before Republican Gov. John Kasich, a supporter of Senate Bill 5, started his state-of-the-state speech.
Hundreds of protesters were in the Statehouse Atrium and Rotunda as Kasich spoke and chanted “kill the bill” and “shame on you.”
Firefighters - active and retired - from across the state were a big part of the crowd outside.
Dave Wright, a Dayton firefighter, said he expects the bill, which already passed the Senate, to also pass the House and then be signed by Kasich. Opponents will mount a campaign to put it on the ballot, Wright said.
“We’re going to let the people decide,” he said.
Earlier, supporters of the bill held a press conference outside the Statehouse.
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TweetBackers of bill to restrict collective bargaining speak out
Andrew Staroska, 20, a Sinclair Community College student from Miami County, joined supporters of Senate Bill 5, legislation to restrict public employee collective bargaining, at a Tuesday Statehouse press conference.
“It’s a good middle ground,” said Staroska, of Springcreek Township, who said his relatives are union members.
The event was organized by FreedomWorks, the Washington, D.C.-based limited government advocacy group chaired by former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey of Texas.
The bill is especially important to members of his generation who need to get government spending under control to have a better future, said Staroska.
Current efforts haven’t worked, he said.
“It’s like trying to put a band-aid over an amputated wound,” said Staroba.
Adriana Inman and Doug Dragoo, both members of the Fairfield Tea Party in Butler County, also were among the more than 40 Senate Bill 5 supporters at the press conference.
The press conference came before Tuesday’s State of the State speech at noon by Republican Gov. John Kasich and before an 11 a.m. rally scheduled by opponents of Senate Bill 5.
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TweetDems outline priorities for middle class
Ohio House Democrats outlined a 10-point “Compact with the Middle Class” on Monday and promised to fight against GOP proposals that they say are aimed at stripping away workers’ rights.
The Democrats pledged to work toward creating good paying jobs, protecting worker rights, keeping college tuition affordable, ensuring quality education for preschool through high school students, preserving affordable health care, protecting consumers, fighting against cuts to local government services, preserving veteran services, protecting the environment, and delivering quality care for elder and disabled Ohioans.
House Minority Leader Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, said Gov. John Kasich is pursuing an “extreme, partisan and divisive agenda” by trying to privatize state assets, roll back collective bargaining and cutting state funding for education and other services.
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TweetKasich eschews Teleprompter
Unlike Ohio governors before him, when Republican John Kasich delivers his State of the State address on Tuesday afternoon before a packed House chambers, he won’t use a device that scrolls his pre-written speech in front of him.
“I am definitely not using a Teleprompter. That is one thing that is guaranteed,” Kasich said.
The former FoxNews commentator and paid speaker said he won’t be using a scripted text either. And late last week, he said he still wasn’t sure what he would be saying.
“I’ve been speaking for a long time and I don’t normally have a time clock that tells me when I have to do something. I do it when I sort of feel it, feel what I want to say. It could come, literally, at the last few minutes,” Kasich said.
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TweetGov. Kasich signs “Common Sense Initiative”; aimed at helping small businesses
Gov. John Kasich on Friday signed into law what supporters call the “Common Sense Initiative,” Senate Bill 2, aimed at easing unnecessary regulations on small businesses.
“Ohio’s open for business and it’s all about creating jobs,” Kasich, surrounded by business leaders and lawmakers, said at a Statehouse bill signing ceremony.
Small businesses create most new jobs and the state must not hinder them.
“The twin enemies that I’m fighting are joblessness and poverty,” said Kasich. “Entrepreneurship, job creation is the key to restoring hope.”
Kasich said the new law and the previous creation of JobsOhio, a public private partnership to replace the Development Department in job creation efforts, are all part of his effort to move the state ahead.
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TweetSen. Brown compares anti-union governors to Hitler, Stalin
By Jack Torry Washington Bureau
As he waded into the searing controversy of governors in Ohio and Wisconsin trying to curtail the power of public employee unions to bargain, Sen. Sherrod Brown argued that tyrants such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin eliminated unions.
In a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, Brown, D-Ohio, said that as he looked at “some of the worst governments that we’ve ever had, do you know one of the first things they did? They went after unions. Hitler didn’t want unions, Stalin didn’t want unions, (former Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak didn’t want independent unions.’’
See the video here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/SenateSession4685/start/11742/stop/11929
Brown then added, “I’m not comparing what’s happened to the workers in Madison or in Columbus to Hitler and Stalin. But I am saying that history teaches us that unions are a very positive force in society that creates a middle class and that protects our freedom.’’
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TweetNational poll: Voters like President Obama, but not his politics
Nearly three out of four American voters- 74 percent- say they like Democratic President Barack Obama, but a narrow majority disapproves of the president’s policies, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.
Voters were given four choices and responded this way:
41 percent like him personally and like his policies.
33 percent like him personally but don’t like his policies.
1 percent likes his policies, but not him personally.
19 percent don’t like the president or his policies.
They were split on his performance as president - with 46 percent approving and 46 percent disapproving.
They were nearly split on whether he deserves a second term - with 45 percent saying yes and 47 percent saying no.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats in Congress fare well. Voters disapprove 57-33 percent of the job Democrats in Congress are doing an disapprove 54-34 percent of the job Republicans are doing.
“President Obama is a charmer,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
“The American people like him a great deal, but they aren’t nearly as sold on his policies… The question over the next two years will be whether personality or policies will prevail.”
The poll was taken Feb. 21 through Monday, Feb. 28 by live interviewers over land lines and cell phones with 1,887 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
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TweetU.S. Supreme Court rules for protesters at military funerals; does not change Ohio law
By Jack Torry
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court today ruled that protesters have the right to picket near military funerals, but the justices made clear state and local governments can limit how close picketers get to the cemetery itself.
In a controversial 8-1 ruling, the justices ruled that the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech permitted members of a conservative church to gather near the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq, singing hymns and grasping signs such as “God hates fags.’’
By doing so, the justices tossed out a $5 million in damages that a federal court had awarded to Albert Snyder, whose son Matthew, a Marine, had been killed in 2006. Matthew, who was not gay, had been buried at a Catholic church in Maryland.
“Simply put, the church members had the right to be where they were,’’ Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the court’s opinion. “Given that (the church’s) speech was at a public place on a matter of public concern, that speech is entitled to ‘special protection’ under the First Amendment.’’
Roberts wrote that “speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and - as it did here - inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker.’’
Joining Roberts to form the majority were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Stephen H. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Anthony Kennedy.
But the ruling was extremely narrow and involved only the financial damages in the case. Roberts made clear that the ruling did not impact most of the laws in 44 states - including Ohio - that restrict how close protesters can get to a funeral site.
“To the extent these laws are content neutral, they raise very different questions from the tort verdict at issue in this case,’’ Roberts wrote.
In a separate opinion, Breyer wrote that “a state can sometimes regulate picketing, even picketing on matters of public concern,’’ adding that the court’s ruling “does not hold or imply that the state is always powerless to provide private individuals with necessary protections.’’
The protesters, members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, were about 1,000 feet from the burial site. Albert Snyder could only see the top of the protesters’ signs as he was driven to the funeral.
In a sole dissent, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that “our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case.’’
Alito pointed out that Snyder was not a public figure and only wanted to “bury his son in peace.’’ Instead, Alito wrote that the court’s majority protected the rights of the protesters to “brutalize’’ Snyder.
“In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims,’’ Alito wrote.
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TweetUPDATED with opponent reaction - “Heartbeat” bill to limit abortions gets first hearing; committee hears heartbeats
Backers of the “Heartbeat Bill” to limit abortions on Wednesday used an ultrasound projector so members of a House committee could hear heartbeats of unborn babies carried by two women - one 15 weeks pregnant and the other nine weeks present.
House Bill 125 would require a doctor to check if an unborn baby a woman is carrying has a heartbeat before performing an abortion.
If a heartbeat is detected, an abortion would be prohibited, except to preserve the life or health of the mother, said Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, sponsor of the bill.
“When enacted, this bill will be the nation’s strongest pro-life bill,” Wachtmann, also chairman of the Health Committee which is hearing the bill.
Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, which opposes the bill, called the ultrasound demonstration a “stunt.”
“They’re more interested in that than they are in women’s health,” Copeland said.
Wachtmann applauded the unusual presentation.
“I think it kind of hits you in the head about what’s going on in the mother’s womb,” Wachtmann said. “It’s a bit of an eye opener.”
Hearings could take from four to six weeks, Wachtmann said, before a committee vote to send the bill to the House floor.
The heartbeat demonstration was provided by Ducia Hamm, executive director of the Ashland Care Center in Ashland, Ohio. Two women, Heather Raubenolt, 15 weeks pregnant, and Erin Glockner, nine weeks pregnant, were connected separately to a monitor and the movements of their unborn babies was projected on a screen and the heartbeats played over a speaker.
While the bill has 49 cosponsors, the Ohio Right to Life Society does not support it because it believes there is no scenario under which a court would uphold it.
However, Walter M. Weber, senior litigation counsel for the American Center of Law and Justice, told the committee he believes the bill would be constitutional.
TweetCollective bargaining bill passes Senate, heads to House
COLUMBUS — The Ohio Senate on Wednesday voted 17-16 in favor of a bill that would severely restrict collective bargaining rights for 360,000 teachers, cops, firefighters, prison guards and other public workers across the state.
Proponents say it has the potential to save billions of dollars and give management the flexibility to deliver services in the face of dwindling resources. Opponents say it will turn collective bargaining into “collective begging” and take away workers’ basic rights that have been state law since 1983.
The vote brought boos and shouts of “Shame on you!” and “We will never forget!” from members of the audience.
State Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., the bill’s primary sponsor, said the reforms are needed because government costs are growing beyond taxpayers’ ability or wiliness to sustain them.
“I understand that change is hard but sometimes change is the only option because the status quo has failed us,” she said. As the delivered her floor speech, two plain clothes state troopers and the Senate sergeant at arms watched her back in a chamber packed with teachers, firefighters, police officers and other union workers opposed to the bill.
The bill now moves to the GOP-controlled House where it is expected to pass. Gov. John Kasich also supports the legislation.
The 644-page bill calls for restricting collective bargaining to wages and conditions of employment, outlawing strikes for all public employees, requiring workers to pay at least 15 percent of health care premiums, and instituting a merit pay system and a method for laying off workers using criteria other than seniority.
When labor and management reach an impasse, it’ll be up to the elected body — a school board or city council — to make the final call on what labor agreements will look like.
Jones called it the “most appropriate solution” since elected bodies are accountable to voters.
State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, called it a “heads I win, tails you lose” proposition.
Jay McDonald of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police said that system “insures that no employer has any motive to bargain in good faith.”
Ohio Federation of Teachers President Sue Taylor said teachers’ voices will be diminished in how schools are run and subject them to arbitrary and capricious decisions and favoritism.
“This is devastating to all of us,” she said.
How the vote broke down:
Voting against the bill were all 10 Democrats in the Senate, plus six Republicans: Bill Seitz, Jim Hughes, Scott Oelslager, Tim Grendell, Tom Patton and Gayle Manning.
All senators representing the Miami Valley voted in favor of the bill: Shannon Jones, Bill Beagle, Keith Faber, Tom Niehaus, Gary Cates, and Peggy Lehner.
Yes (17):
Bacon, Beagle, Cates, Daniels, Faber, Gillmor, Hite, Jones, Jordan, LaRose, Lehner, Obhof, Schaffer, Stewart, Wagoner, Widener, Niehaus
No (16):
Brown, Cafaro, Grendell, Hughes, Kearney, Manning, Oelslager, Patton, Sawyer, Schiavoni, Seitz, Skindell, Smith, Tavares, Turner, Wilson
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TweetPoll: Voters split on federal government shutdown, collective bargaining
A national Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday showed voters split on a possible federal government shutdown and divided almost as closely over whether collective bargaining for public employees should be limited.
In the poll, 46 percent said it would get a good thing for the federal government to shut down over disagreement in Washington over federal spending and 44 percent said it would be a bad thing.
The results on the collective bargaining question came as the Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee in Columbus prepared to vote on a bill that would ban strikes by public employees and impose other limits.
On the issue, 45 percent said collective bargaining should be limited for public employees and 42 percent opposed limits on collective bargaining. However, 63 percent said government workers should pay more for benefits and retirement programs, while 31 percent said they shouldn’t.
On a related question, 47 percent said efforts by governors to limit collective bargaining rights are motivated by a desire to reduce government costs while 41 percent said the motive is to weaken unions.
The poll found a wide partisan gap on the collective bargaining issue, Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute, said in a press release.
By big margins, Republicans said workers were overpaid and should pay more for benefits. Democrats, meanwhile, said the workers are paid about right or too little. Independent voters were in the middle.
If there’s a federal government shutdown, 47 percent said they’d blame Republicans while 38 percent would blame Democratic President Barack Obama.
Neither Obama nor members of Congress should be paid if there’s a shutdown, said 78 percent.
The poll was taken by live interviewers by land lines and cell phones with 1,887 registered voters across the country from Feb. 21 to Monday, Feb. 28 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
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TweetSen. Jones offers omnibus amendment to collective bargaining bill
While thousands of protesters outside the Statehouse denounced the bill, Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., on Tuesday introduced an omnibus amendment to Senate Bill 5, legislation restricting collective bargaining rights for public employees across the state. Supporters say it could save the state more than $1 billion.
The amendment reflects changes announced last week by Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, according to a press release.
It would restore limited collective bargaining rights for state employees - wages only - , prohibit strikes for all public employees and establish a procedure for resolving contract disputes, the release said.
“We’ve heard from more than 100 witnesses during more than 22 hours of witness testimony on this bill,” Jones said in the release.
“These amendments address many of the concerns shared both during the committee process and through our discussions with key stakeholders.
“We’re staying focused on reducing the cost of government and making Ohio competitive, and the first place to start is with our own budgets.
“This bill gives power back to the taxpayer and restores flexibility to the management of their hard-earned dollars. I look forward to passing these critical reforms so we can get Ohio back on a path of fiscal stability, economic growth and job creation.”
Jones made the presentation at the meeting of the Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee which could vote the bill out Wednesday and send it to the full Senate for a Thursday vote.
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TweetUPDATED: Dayton sewer worker fires up protesters - 8,500 protest against SB 5 in Columbus - biggest turnout so far
Thousands of protesters waved signs and chanted “kill the bill” on Tuesday outside the Statehouse in the biggest turnout so far against Senate Bill 5. The legislation would restrict collective bargaining rights for public employees across the state, but supporters say it could save the state more than $1 billion.
Dayton sewer worker Leo Geiger fired up the crowd by denouncing the bill as “political payback,” which supporters have denied. If lawmakers and Gov. John Kasich don’t do all in their power to kill the bill, “we will do everything in our power” to end their power, Geiger said.
“These people, they have to listen to us,” said Geiger, a member of AFSCME Local 101.
Greg Dodd, spokesman for the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board, estimated the crowd inside and outside the Statehouse at 8,500 by 12:45 p.m. after an earlier estimate of 7,500.
He said the crowd size could grow as protests continue throughout the day. The Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee held a hearing on the bill at 1 p.m.
Crowd estimates for earlier demonstrations against the bill were 5,200 and 3,000, said Dodd.
Supporters of the bill have pointed to a new analysis by the state Office of Collective Bargaining that said state and local governments would have saved an estimated $1.3 billion in 2010 on health insurance and automatic pay increases if the limits imposed by Senate Bill 5 were in effect.
“Kill the bill, kill the bill,” demonstrators, who were peaceful, chanted Tuesday.
Among them was Rudy Fichtenbaum, a professor of economics at Wright State University, whose protest coincided with the celebration of his 57th birthday.
“I think it’s a fundamental human right to be able to collectively bargain,” Fichtenbaum said.
Kendra Covington, a firefighter from Sugarcreek Township in Greene County, said it’s important to her to keep binding arbitration to settle labor disputes for safety forces.
“I don’t like the idea of getting rid of collective bargaining,” she said.
Jeff Mims of Dayton, now a member of the state board of education, said he had been on both sides of negotiations as a union president and local school board president. Collective bargaining has worked, said Mims.
It allows all voices to be heard, he said.
Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., sponsor of the bill, has said it is needed to give local governments the flexibility they need to make it through tough financial times.
A vote by the full Senate is expected later this week.
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TweetOhio Catholic bishops oppose elimination of collective bargaining
As opponents and supporters of a plan to restrict public employee collective bargaining on Tuesday geared up for another day of protests and debate, the Catholic bishops of Ohio have entered the fray with a statement in support of the process.
“The Catholic bishops of Ohio encourage leaders in government, labor and business to pursue changes that promote the common good without the elimination of collective bargaining,” said a Monday statement from the Catholic Conference of Ohio.
“We urge continued good faith in ongoing negotiations. Civility, open communication, mutual cooperation and peaceful witness should characterize legislative actions and public discourse.”
Meanwhile, a new New York Times/CBS New poll found that 60 percent of American adults oppose taking away some collective bargaining rights of public employee unions, while 33 percent favor this.
The poll also found that 56 percent of adults oppose cutting pay or benefits of public employees to reduce state budget deficits, while 37 percent favor this methods.
The telephone poll was taken Feb. 24 through Sunday, Feb. 27 with 984 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee Tuesday is to hold another hearing on Senate Bill 5, which limits public employee collective bargaining, while opponents of the bill planned to demonstrate outside the Statehouse.
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