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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > July > 06 > Entry
Editorial: Governor, lawmakers failing Ohio
Gov. Ted Strickland and Ohio lawmakers have become spectacles.
Last week the Ohio Senate held hearings to ask legitimate questions about how the process of adding 17,500 slot machines at Ohio’s seven horse race tracks would really work and how the governor’s people concluded that gamblers would feed the state almost $1 billion in the next two years.
Notwithstanding all the emphatic assurances that the money really will materialize, that bad things won’t happen if the tracks set up temporary gambling facilities in their parking lots, and that the Ohio Lottery Commission can run de facto casinos, the governor’s plan is absurd.
The Senate’s motive behind the hearing — to expose the uncertainties and risks associated with slots — was partly pure. But the Republicans running that show also are playing games.
While they’re all too happy to punch holes in the slots proposal, they refuse to say how the state should go about raising or cutting $1 billion. They want the easy and politically cheap way out.
On the other side of the Statehouse, House Democrats were bringing out people who work in social services to tell how vulnerable Ohioans would be hurt if the state balances the budget with more cuts. The problems they spoke of are real.
But the Democrats are wrong that slots are the ticket out of this mess.
The stereo effect that was created by the competing testimony was a loud reminder that both Democrats and Republicans are not serious about getting the state through a historic economic slump.
Rather, they are focused solely and selfishly on trying to score political points with voters who don’t want to pay more in taxes, but who also are going to be mad if their prison guard son-in-law is laid off, or their daughter’s tuition goes up, or their aunt doesn’t get the help she needs to stay out of a nursing home.
In December, the tax department estimated that state income-tax revenue would drop 9 percent in this fiscal year as compared with last year. That projection — if it proves true — will represent the largest such drop in the history of the tax. But by April, receipts were 15 percent lower than the year before.
We’re headed nowhere good, and unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership.
Considering that so much of what the state does is obligatory — keeping the schools running, locking up prisoners and matching the federal money that ensures that poor people have Medicaid benefits — there’s not much room to make still more cuts.
The immediate hole that has to be filled amounts to 6 percent of the state budget, but that comes on the heels of three earlier rounds of cuts. We have hit bone and raw nerves.
The governor, Senate President Bill Harris and House Speaker Armond Budish are the people who must come to an agreement. They are the individuals letting you down and putting Ohio on a path that says to all that the state can’t manage its affairs.
Enough of the arguing. These men need to do the jobs they sought.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment | Categories: Economy, Editorials, Education, Ellen Belcher, Ohio government
Comments
By Joe
July 6, 2009 12:37 AM | Link to this
If people have $1 Billion to drop in slot machines, then this economy isn’t as bad as everyone says…. That money should be spent in already existing businesses to prop them up.By max
July 6, 2009 7:06 AM | Link to this
“propping” things up is part of what has gotten us here. While i don’t know what the answer may be, I am not comfortable with everyone relying on “the government” to “fix” everything.By Lou
July 6, 2009 9:20 AM | Link to this
We have such a poorly run government. We need new blood. Slot machines are not the answer. Stable businesses are the answer. We are going to also have to address the poor situation. Why aren’t we just providing simple dormatory type solutions instead of trying to provide the lifestyle of the working man? Thousands live in nursing homes and dormatories… why not the poor. We would save so much money. The same with education. TV and internet education would save so much…with testing centers. Does this administration ever think outside the box? Probably, not, they need our tax dollars. While I’m at it, where are the Dayton Tea Party articles… it was a big event!By wake up
July 6, 2009 12:32 PM | Link to this
hey folks…wake up and smell the coffee. Ohioans already spend millions of dollars gambling. Just ask Indiana and West Virginia because that is where the money is going. This proposal is simply trying to keep that money in the state. On top of that, it is aimed at keeping an almost billion dollar industry in Ohio—the equine industry. Without it, the equine industry will continue to leave the state to bording state and result in thousands of more lost jobs. Pass the slots before you lose out even more than what you already have. I’m not a huge fan of Ted, but he knows there is no not a better answer. Keep Ohio money in Ohio, periodBy Tax Me Already
July 6, 2009 5:20 PM | Link to this
TAX ME! I am the owner of three residential houses and I say double my property tax before you take away my police, prisons, fire departments, public libraries, , flu shots, Ohio Natinal Guard, benefits for persons with special needs, and close 32 prisons. The cuts Ted has proposed will cost Ohio 1,000’s of jobs further lowing the state’s income tax revenue. Who will come to our aid in case of emergency or natural disaster? Raise my taxes.By Jim
July 6, 2009 7:02 PM | Link to this
wake up……excellent post. You are dead on accurate and it’s good to see not everyone is blind to what slots at the racetracks could do for the state and the equine industry. I really wish those who are so against slots in Ohio would go visit Hoosier Park or Indiana Live and see how they operate with their own eyes, and walk through the parking lot and count how many Ohio plates are there.By John
July 7, 2009 4:04 AM | Link to this
If you are increasing job’s and saving 16,000 job’s and adding all that tax money we are now sending to bordering state’s WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PASS THE BILLBy Bill
July 7, 2009 8:58 AM | Link to this
In the name of protecting their rich friends from paying their fair share to operate the State Republicans have lead this State to ruin for the last 20 years. Even when ordered by the court.By fleabyte
July 7, 2009 12:05 PM | Link to this
I can’t believe the push on gambling AGAIN, never mind that it’s been soundly rejected by voters numerous times. How is it once again the special interests manage to slip it through anyway? Who’s your Daddy Strickland? Does no one remember the LOTTERY was going to support public schools! How’s that workin for ya? Pointing to neighbor states as siphoning money out of Ohio? Yeah, those states are rolling in the dough, aren’t they. Good grief people, WAKE UP!By bobs
July 7, 2009 12:06 PM | Link to this
Lets see, Teddy Flip-Flop has: Spent the rainy day fund. Tried to balance budget with the stimulus money that ultimately was not there. Now, after (cough, cough) meeting with different Casino management that was on the ballot last year is NOW in favor of bringing in gambling in Ohio. I have no problem with gambling in Ohio, but in cant be signed into law after being turned down several times by the voters. Teddy, it needs to done by YOU. Do not have the legislation bail YOU out. If this fails, I could see Teddy Flip-Flop playing the PowerBall as his next option. Can anyone seriously tell me that this is how a governer should be running our state?By Ggg
July 7, 2009 5:58 PM | Link to this
cut workmans compensation bureaucracy 50%, then companies will start looking to Ohio for a place to do business. Close 10 Universities, 80% of manufacturing jobs in ohio, support 50% of the state economy. 20% of their jobs are for college educated employees. Quit spending 80% on education. Match taxes to jobs.By Ggg
July 7, 2009 5:59 PM | Link to this
cut workmans compensation bureaucracy 50%, then companies will start looking to Ohio for a place to do business. Close 10 Universities, 80% of manufacturing jobs in ohio, support 50% of the state economy. 20% of their jobs are for college educated employees. Quit spending 80% on education. Match taxes to jobs.By davidss2
July 7, 2009 10:19 PM | Link to this
Make Ohio a right-to-work state and you’ll have jobs coming here. Democrats need to quit patronizing the Unions.By joe_mamma
July 8, 2009 8:20 AM | Link to this
Columbus is so concerned about their precious budget and protecting their government employees. How about worrying about private sector jobs? Casinos bring good jobs to the areas that they spring up.By You're Kidding. Right?
July 8, 2009 6:04 PM | Link to this
Lou: I’m all about thinking outside of the box and seeking ways of using new technologies and resources to save money. However, the poor have been living in dormitories since the beginning of the welfare system in the 1920’s. Are you not familiar with “The Projects?” Drive past DeSoto Bass and tell me how dormitory style it looks. A 4 room unit with cinder block walls and rolled linolium floors is not what I consider providing working man lifestyles to the poor. By the way, everyone that is poor is not receiving govt. assistance. Have you heard of the working poor? TV and internet education would only work if you could ensure that the instructor at home (parent) is intelligent enough to teach the material or that the older student is intelligent enough to decipher the info. Going back to the poor, some of them may not have a computer with internet because they can’t afford it.Don’t metion the library for internet access, the Gov. is trying to close all of them and besides you can only stay online for 1 hour at the libraries. Either way it goes something needs to be done in Ohio and across the nation. We are all losing in this game.By Me Too
July 8, 2009 6:19 PM | Link to this
Tax Me Already: I agree with you 100%. I would much rather be taxed to keep the services that many of us have taken for granted. No one wants to pay taxes but at the same time they don’t realize some of the programs and services that they directly benefit from by the tax dollars. Can you imagine how expensive it would be to hire private security to protect yourself or to have to purchase every book that you needed info from? Without tax dollars none of us could independently afford to support all that taxes dollars pay for. Not even the wealthy.