G. Will gives Ryan more credit than is due

By Martin Gottlieb | Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 01:02 PM

Let’s talk a little about George Will’s column on a Republican’s proposed “Roadmap for America’s Future, ” to use the label of its author, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.

It’s good that the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee is putting forth something. Credit Ryan with “ideas,” Fine.

Will loves the simplicity of the plan, as opposed to “the Democrats’ impenetrable labyrinth of health care legislation.” Thing is, though, simplicity is easy to achieve when you’re talking about a one-person project. It’s when you have to round up hundreds of congressional votes that things get complicated and ugly. (Meanwhile, some Ryan equivalents on the Democratic side would be happy to put forth a simple health care proposal: extend Medicare to everybody. The difficulty would come with the next political step.)

It must be noticed that the Republicans are eager to make clear that the party as a whole has not signed on to the Ryan plan. “It’s his,” said House party leader John Boehner.

Meanwhile, no non-partisan authority has “scored” the proposal, that is, run the numbers to see what they do to the deficit.

Democrats are having a great time tearing into the plan on all manner of charges, such as “partially privatizing Social Security,” cutting taxes for the rich, raising them on the middle class and letting Medicare die.

Let’s set the merits aside. The important point for the moment is that this is one guy. It’s not an occasion for either crediting “Republicans” with something or tarring them for something.

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Editorial: Bank of America should be thinking settlement

By the Dayton Daily News | Monday, February 8, 2010, 05:32 PM

Ohio has a big case pending against Bank of America. Two big state pension plans — for teachers and public employees — are claiming they lost about $85 million after the company bought Merrill Lynch during the financial market’s meltdown in 2008.

The charge is basically that Bank of America hid from its stockholders pertinent facts about Merrill Lynch, facts that sent Bank of America stock tumbling after the purchase. The facts in question were that Merrill Lynch had suffered huge losses and had paid huge executive bonuses.

Last week in New York, Bank of America settled a suit that was basically about the same charges.

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Editorial: Sinclair can be pricier, but still be cheap

By the Dayton Daily News | Monday, February 8, 2010, 12:00 AM

If Sinclair Community College were not in a financial bind today, that would be a much bigger problem than even its pressing money concerns.

The fear — panic is too strong a word, but it’s not far off — about the future is attributable to one thing: enrollment, which is exploding.

If students, young and old, weren’t — especially in this economy — flocking to Sinclair, that would be much more unnerving.

That would mean people had given up on bettering themselves or didn’t care to do so; or that they couldn’t afford the school; or that they weren’t satisfied with the courses and training Sinclair offers.

None of those things seems to be in play.

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Editorial: Dayton’s SCLC can’t be blase about allegations

By the Dayton Daily News | Sunday, February 7, 2010, 05:54 AM

The Dayton chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has to take seriously complaints against its board chairman, the Rev. Raleigh Trammell. So far, local board members have shown no interest in them.

Rev. Trammell, a fixture in the local civil rights community for decades, is being investigated by the national SCLC on suspicion that he misappropriated funds while serving as national chairman. He and the SCLC’s treasurer, Spiver Gordon, were suspended from their posts last month, then reinstated by a judge on Jan. 20.

The judge’s ruling was not on the merit of the allegations against Rev. Trammell. Rather, the decision was purely procedural.

The SCLC investigation is ongoing and over the past 10 days officials from the group shared information they’ve gathered with prosecutors in Georgia and Alabama, Mr. Gordon’s home state. They promised to do the same with law enforcement officials here.

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Ellen Belcher: Third Frontier’s bumps not all bad

By the Dayton Daily News | Sunday, February 7, 2010, 12:00 AM

Last week there was lots of jousting in the legislature about whether to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to continue the successful Third Frontier program.

Two points:

— The program was never really in jeopardy. Republicans and Democrats both are sold on the concept that, in order to grow jobs in a knowledge economy, they have to pony up money to universities and entrepreneurs, who then can leverage it to snare research grants and venture capital.

— The Republicans who were resisting and also complaining about how Gov. Ted Strickland has managed the Third Frontier got some of the bullets they were firing from Dayton — specifically the resignation a little over a year ago of Kettering’s Matthew O. Diggs Jr. from the Third Frontier Commission.

On Wednesday, lawmakers approved asking voters for permission to sell $700 million in Third Frontier bonds. The vote was 30-2 in the Republican-controlled Senate; 83-14 in the Democrat-controlled House.

There isn’t that kind of overwhelming consensus in Columbus these days about anything except that children should not play in the street.

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Editorial: Pressure, rewards good Obama combo

By the Dayton Daily News | Saturday, February 6, 2010, 06:00 AM

President Barack Obama has made one thing clear about his approach to schools — he prefers offering carrots over whacking them with a stick in pursuit of change. That approach could be in for a big test.

The president hinted at major changes to No Child Left Behind, the Bush-era federal education law, in the budget he released this week. His proposals, while still lacking details, mirror some of the good ideas that the administration has tried to entice schools to adopt during the past year.

But the president has a challenge — pushing new ideas while also keeping together the parts of No Child Left Behind that were revolutionary and truly improved schools.

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Editorial: WSU faculty too agitated about semester change

By the Dayton Daily News | Friday, February 5, 2010, 05:58 AM

The switch over from quarters to semesters at Wright State University suddenly isn’t going well. That’s embarrassing for WSU.

Of the four four-year Ohio universities being required to convert to semesters by the fall of 2012, Wright State is the only one embroiled in a big battle over teaching workload. The union representing professors is so unhappy with the administration’s proposal that it’s urging members to withdraw from a host of committees that are working to fashion courses and schedules to make the change seamless.

That tactic is wrong. The conversion is complex and will require tremendous cooperation among faculty, staff and administration. This is no time to pull up stakes and walk away.

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