Ohio Senate considering pilot program to drug test welfare recipients

By Anthony Shoemaker | Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 07:29 PM

By Jackie Borchardt Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - A pilot program to test welfare recipients for drugs was added to the midterm budget bill by Senate Republicans on Tuesday and the full Senate is set to vote on the plan today.

The proposed two-year, three-county pilot would test participants in the Ohio Works First program, which provides cash benefits to Ohioans who earn no more than 50 percent of the federal poverty level for up to 36 months.

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Boehner: Raising debt ceiling without deep cuts is ‘irresponsible’

By Anthony Shoemaker | Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 05:37 PM

By Jack Torry Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - House Speaker John Boehner vowed not to agree to an increase in the debt ceiling this fall without deep cuts in federal spending, raising the possibility of a government shutdown after the November election.

In a speech Tuesday before an organization that champions balanced budgets, Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., adopted a tough line saying that the looming federal debt ceiling would be “an action-forcing event in a town that has become famous for inaction.’’

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EMILY’s List backs Neuhardt

By Laura Bischoff | Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 11:38 AM

Democrat Sharen Neuhardt, who is running for Congress against incumbent Republican Mike Turner, is being backed by EMILY’s List, which works to elect women who support abortion rights and is one of the largest political action committees in the nation.

It is the second time Neuhardt received backing from EMILY’s List. The group also endorsed Neuhardt in her unsuccessful race against Republican Steve Austria in 2008.

With congressional districts redrawn, Neuhardt is running to unseat Turner, who has been in Congress since 2002. The new 10th congressional district includes all of Montgomery and Greene counties and half of Fayette County.

In the first quarter of the year, Neuhardt raised twice as much money as Turner but still faces an uphill battle. As of March 31, Turner had $421,953 in his campaign account while Neuhardt had $186,709 on hand. And, the new district leans Republican with 54 percent of voters in the GOP and 46 percent identifying as Democrats.

Neuhardt, a Dayton native who lives near Yellow Springs, is a partner in the law firm Thompson Hine and served on the Board of Trustees for Planned Parenthood of the Miami Valley.

EMILY’s List says it has a network of more than one million members and raised more than $38.5 million in the last two-year election cycle. Since its founding in 1985, the group has worked to elect 87 pro-choice Democratic women to the U.S. House, 16 to the U.S. Senate, nine to governor’s offices, and hundreds to state and local offices.

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Ohio Republican Party hires new staff

By Laura Bischoff | Monday, May 14, 2012, 01:24 PM

The Ohio Republican Party hired Matt Borges as executive director and Izzy Santa as communications director and praised them as “a dynamic duo.”

Unmentioned in the press release is that Borges pleaded guilty in 2004 to a misdemeanor charge of improper use of a public office. Court documents at the time said he gave preferential treatment to certain brokers in the state treasurer’s office who made donations to then-state treasurer Joe Deters’ re-election campaign. Borges served as Deters’ chief of staff.

The case has been sealed and record expunged since then.

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett, said in a written release on Monday: “One of my top priorities as chairman has been to bring the best political talent from across the state and country, so we can elect more Republicans into office.”

Despite the black mark on his resume, Borges has managed a comeback. He most recently directed the Kasich-Taylor Inaugural Committee and ran state Auditor Dave Yost’s statewide campaign.

Santa most recently served as communications director for U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green.

Santa and Borges replace key staffers who left after a messy internal party fight over the chairmanship. Gov. John Kasich lodged a protracted yet successful campaign to force ORP chairman Kevin DeWine out.

DeWine stepped down and Republicans then brought back Bennett, the long-time party chairman.

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Ohio congressman wants Arlington memorial for newer conflicts

By Anthony Shoemaker | Saturday, May 12, 2012, 11:25 AM

By Jessica Wehrman and Jack Torry Staff Writer

WASHINGTON - Rep. Steve Stivers last week introduced a bill that would create a Tomb of Remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery for the interment of veterans’ remains from every military conflict moving forward.

Stivers, an Upper Arlington Republican, introduced the legislation after reading about the Dover Air Force Base mortuary sending veterans’ remains to the Prince George Landfill. The Washington Post in an article from Dec. 7, 2011 reported that “976 fragments from 274 military personnel were cremated, incinerated and taken to the landfill between 2004 and 2008.”

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VP Joe Biden returning to Ohio next week

By Anthony Shoemaker | Friday, May 11, 2012, 05:58 PM

Vice President Biden will take a two-day visit, May 16-17, to eastern Ohio next week with stops in Youngstown and Martins Ferry

In remarks at M7 Technologies, an advanced manufacturing facility in Youngstown, and Staffilino Chevrolet, a family-owned dealership in Martins Ferry in Belmont County, Biden is expected to talk about the economy.

The Obama-Biden ticket easily won Mahoning County in 2008. They barely won Belmont County by less than 1,000 votes.

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Biden coming to Ohio

By Laura Bischoff | Friday, May 11, 2012, 05:28 PM

Vice President Joe Biden will make campaign stops in Ohio next week to talk about efforts to strengthen manufacturing and the auto industry, the Obama campaign announced.

Biden will campaign at M7 Technologies in Youngstown and Staffilino Chevrolet in Martins Ferry on May 16 and 17.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama officially kicked off the 2012 re-election campaign with a rally in Columbus last week. Republican challenger Mitt Romney has made multiple campaign appearances in Ohio as well.

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Text of Dayton Mayor Gary Leitzell’s state of the city address

By Anthony Shoemaker | Thursday, May 10, 2012, 05:27 PM

Dayton Mayor Gary Leitzell is giving his State of the City address tonight at Belmont High School. Here’s a copy of the prepared remarks. Look for full coverage in Friday’s Dayton Daily News.

It’s good to be here with you tonight at Belmont High School.

This $31.9 million world class facility was dedicated in December 2011 and serves to remind us that the citizens of Dayton value education. In the year since my last State of the City speech, Dayton Public Schools has celebrated the on-time, on-budget completion of its decade-long $627 million construction program to build 26 new schools for Dayton’s students.

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DeWine to film industry: no smoking in kids films

By Laura Bischoff | Thursday, May 10, 2012, 04:26 PM

Movie makers should not show characters smoking cigarettes in films that are marketed to children, according to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and attorneys generals from 37 states and territories.

The attorneys generals fired off a letter to the chairman and chief executives of ten major motion picture studios, urging them to stop depicting smoking in films that are rated G, PG or PG-13.

Last year, the movies “Justin Bieber Never Say Never,” “Rango,” and “Hugo,” each depicted tobacco use, according to DeWine’s office.

“Each time the industry releases another movie that depicts smoking, it does so with the full knowledge it will bring harm to children who watch it,” the letter said. Smoking in movies is a negative influence on young people, the attorneys general argue.

They asked movie executives to adopt corporate policies to eliminate tobacco depictions in youth-rated movies, include anti-tobacco spots on future DVDs of films that depict smoking, and certify in movie credits that no payoffs were made in connection with any tobacco imagery that might be in the film.

DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said this is the first time Ohio has joined other attorneys general to make an anti-tobacco request of movie makers.

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Three new Senate campaign ads air Thursday, all negative

By Jackie Borchardt | Thursday, May 10, 2012, 02:38 PM

Both candidates for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat take punches in new political ads released Thursday.

Incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign released its second official ad, also its second negative ad. The 30-second ad notes Republican Josh Mandel missed 13 consecutive meetings of the investment board he chairs as state treasurer in favor of attending campaign fundraising events across the country and in the Bahamas.

Brown’s first ad hit Mandel for hiring friends and inexperienced people in the treasurer’s office, which contrasts with a campaign promise made in a 2010 voters’ guide. Both ads end, “Josh Mandel, a politician we can’t trust.”

The Brown campaign said the ad is in response to negative attacks against Brown by special interest groups. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released several new ads targeting Democratic incumbents including Brown.

The new ad pits a Brown quote that people like Obamacare the more they hear about it against three observations about the controversial law, posing the question, “How out of touch is Washington?”

“The $6.2 million in misleading negative attack ads against Sherrod Brown by Josh Mandel’s special interest friends can’t hide the fact that Josh Mandel’s record of missing every single meeting of the Board of Deposit during his first year in office, even to attend a fundraiser, is yet another sign that he’s just another politician who can’t be trusted,” said Sadie Weiner, campaign spokesperson.

Mandel spokesperson Travis Considine said the negative ad detracts from Brown’s congressional record and recent poll results that put Mandel within 6 percentage points of Brown.

“He knows his only path to victory is the low road,” Considine said. “His first negative ad clearly backfired on him, yet he has decided to double-down on another. He continues to face the same problem: almost everyone in Ohio knows him and less than half want to re-hire him.”

Considine said special interests are also on Brown’s side, mentioning positive League of Conservation voters ads and a new anti-Mandel ad by Majority PAC, which aims to keep the Senate in Democratic hands.

The ad aims to show Mandel breaking another campaign promise that he would complete his first full term and also mentions his Board of Deposit absences and cross-country fundraisers.

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