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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 > 09
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Martin Gottlieb: Washington, Columbus canceling each other out
It has long been said — to the point of cliche — that Washington and the rest of the country are two different worlds. But now, wow.
At the state and local government levels, the overriding fact about life today is that there is no money.
Want to do something? Forget it. There’s no money!!
Far from being able to do anything new, the government of Ohio is being forced to stop doing things. Programs are being slashed or eliminated. Employees are being cut.
Then, however, there’s Washington, where they’re starting to talk about another stimulus.
That is, having borrowed the better part of a trillion dollars to stimulate the economy last winter, the government is facing the possibility that that wasn’t enough, notwithstanding that most of it hasn’t been spent yet, because, after all, spending that much money that fast is hard.
So, quite literally, we have one level of government that can’t spend its money fast enough, atop several other levels that can’t meet their bills.
To put a finer point on it: We have one level that is trying to fix the economy by creating jobs for people who have lost their jobs. Meanwhile, the lower levels of government cut back on jobs — think about librarians, just as an example — and on spending in ways that will result in the private sector cutting back on jobs.
We have, in short, a world whose inventor must have been Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland. His Tweedledee and Tweedledum become Do and Undo, partners in governance.
The contrast between the financial situations of Do and Undo have been noted by others and, indeed, acted upon. The stimulus entails a lot of help for state and local governments. But even that action seems designed to mystify any Alice.
Take this trains thing. Passenger train service for Ohio is a great idea. We should have had trains all along, and if we can get some as a result of federal spending to stimulate the economy, that’s great, too. Some people who are out of work will be put to work, and they’ll pay state and local taxes, rather than looking for government help. And we save gas and have more travel options.
But, come on. Are we really going to build a train system from Cincinnati to Cleveland — with federal money — while we are cutting back on state money for foodbanks? While we’re slashing libraries and programs that are saviors for families who are dealing with mental illness? While we’re cutting the state program that helps older people stay out of nursing homes (a program which, by the way, saves public money in the long run)?
Like other presidents before him, Barack Obama is doing whatever he really, really wants. The stimulus was a starter. He’s pushing for expensive health-care reform. He’s moving troops into Afghanistan without really pulling any sizable number out of Iraq. He’s given the middle class a little tax cut.
All presidents do whatever they really want to do. Ronald Reagan did tax cuts and a defense build-up. George W. Bush did war, tax cuts and expansion of Medicare. They differ as to what they want, not as to whether they do it.
Their free hand derives from the magical power the feds have to borrow money. Some people think the magical power is printing money. But printing too much money is dangerous, leading to inflation. The real force at work is a great credit rating. Meanwhile, at the state and local levels, the failure to balance budgets somehow brings an end to life as we know it
OK. That’s the reality. Life is messy. Complicated.
But would it be too much to ask that somebody appoint somebody to try to make sure that the various levels of governments aren’t working at cross purposes?
As things stand, given events in Columbus, Gov. Ted Strickland might as well be trying to put a brake on the economy his president is trying to stimulate.
When the nation’s founders ensured that power was distributed among various levels of government — that the feds didn’t have it all — the idea was probably not to provide some latter-day Lewis Carroll with a book idea.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Economy, Martin Gottlieb, Ohio government, Transportation
Editorial: Columbus throws over the most vulnerable
The fact that Ohio’s politicians can’t pass a budget is a sad commentary on them. This is their job, after all.
The fact that nobody in a high position will even think about suspending an ongoing cut in the state income tax to help deal with the crisis is another sad commentary.
The fact that the governor has abandoned an old stand and put together a half-baked scheme for turning racetracks into virtual casinos is sad. The fact that his Republican opponents oppose that, yet won’t say what they would put in its place is sad.
Saddest of all, though, is how much of the burden for the politicians’ failures will be borne — is already being borne — by the most vulnerable people in Ohio, the ones made all the more vulnerable (and increased in number) by the economy.
In enacting interim budgets to keep the state operating during the political impasse, the governor and Legislature have generally held most state agencies harmless. They can’t cut debt service. They aren’t cutting higher education or K-12 education. They can’t touch much of Medicaid. That leaves a third or less of the budget.
To bring overall spending in line with reduced revenues, the interim budgets limit the agencies in that third to 70 percent of last year’s spending pace.
We’re talking about funding food pantries and other parts of the state’s safety net, the kinds of programs seeing new applicants because people are out of work. The Columbus Dispatch reports that already a Medicaid hot line offering guidance for consumers has been shut down. And the state is no longer processing applications for disability assistance.
Meanwhile, there is still the matter of what will happen when a real budget is passed. The public debate about the budget has taken the form of an argument about gambling. But even if the governor’s gambling initiative were OK’d, and even if it produced the amount of money he optimistically projects, the budget would still have to be cut by $2.4 billion.
The governor has made his proposals. Other politicians have hardly raised a peep about them, much less about deeper cuts that would be needed in the absence of new revenue.
The director of an association of food banks told the Legislature, as reported by Gongwer News Service, “Let me be clear, crystal clear: the loss of $7 million (as the governor proposes) means a loss of 35 million meals. … (His) proposal literally takes food out of the mouths and off the plates of hungry children, unemployed Ohioans, the elderly and disabled who depend on these critical lifelines to survive,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt.
Said an appointee to the Washington County Mental Health Addiction and Recovery Board, “What you are proposing will undoubtedly cause the death of many of our loved ones.”
The list of such cries goes on. Responsible people all over the state are talking about pending “catastrophe.” Parents are begging for continuation of jeopardized programs they say are keeping their children alive. Ten thousand slots in Passport, the program that keeps people out of nursing homes, are threatened.
There’s always some exaggeration in politics. But what’s being heard today is no mere spinfest, no mere strategy of insulted special-interest lobbyists. The alarms this time are not false.
Whatever one thinks of gambling and whatever promises the politicians might have made about taxes, the path the state is on now is just wrong.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Martin Gottlieb, Ohio government, Social Services
Editorial: Dayton hangs on to a keeper at airport
Dayton caught a break this week when Jacksonville, Fla., decided not to pick Iftikhar Ahmad as its new airport director.
On the job since 2006, Mr. Ahmad is a hot property. In just a short time, he’s put important improvements in motion, while at the same time ensuring that the airport stayed busy, even as many people were cutting out business and leisure travel.
He’s achieved that in large part by reducing enplanement costs from around $14 in 2006 to $4.50. That’s the fee that airlines pay per passenger to fly in and out of an airport. Cutting this cost can make flying out of Dayton cheaper than, say, Columbus or Cincinnati, because it’s an especially important consideration for low-cost carriers.
Mr. Ahmad took a pay cut to become Dayton’s airport director. He had been a vice president in Nashville, and, prior to that, an airport executive in Houston. Those who’ve watched him see an ambitious individual who wants to leave a mark.
He has gotten that opportunity in Dayton, but Jacksonville presented the chance to potentially double his $124,000 salary and to oversee four airports that are run by an authority. Instead of reporting to an assistant city manager, Mr. Ahmad’s boss would have been a board of directors. Airport administrators think they have more freedom and latitude under this arrangement, and they also can make more money.
Mr. Ahmad is driving changes that will be with Dayton for a long time: A new three-story parking garage has been started, a new control tower is being built, the inside of the terminal is getting a makeover with new shops and eateries in the works.
The goal is to create amenities associated with larger airports, without the hassle — hence Dayton’s slogan “Easy to and through.”
Mr. Ahmad has impressive marketing instincts and works with a sharp pencil. He’s needed these skills to survive in a climate that couldn’t have been worse for promoting Dayton and hustling to keep, and to get more, flights.
Recently, NCR’s Bill Nuti, when he was explaining why his company is moving to Georgia, noted that Atlanta has easy access to international flights. Even if he was just looking for excuses, Mr. Nuti was making the indisputable point that easy air travel catches the eyes of companies.
Dayton can’t compete with Atlanta on that score, which is why Mr. Ahmad has to be especially creative in appealing to airlines. His goal, he says, is to eventually bring enplanement costs down to zero, and possibly even pay airlines to fly to and from Dayton. Either situation, he says, would be unprecedented in the industry.
(Incidentally, Mr Ahmad isn’t buying Mr. Nuti’s point. He says traffic congestion into Atlanta’s airport cuts into any time savings for travelers; he also says that connections from Dayton to bigger airports, or even car trips to Columbus or Cincinnati for international flights, can be easier than getting in and out of the country’s busiest airport.)
Mr. Ahmad is not just making over Dayton’s airport; he’s also building his resume, which, by all rights, will get him considered in bigger places. Because those chances will inevitably come, he needs to be grooming a successor.
In the meantime, Dayton is giving him a great opportunity to show his talent, and Dayton is benefiting from the fact that he’s eager to prove he can take a hard job and make it look easy.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Editorials, Ellen Belcher, Transportation
