ProgressOhio

Kay Hagan (D-NC) joins Arlen Specter as yet another Senator who had been openly skeptical of including a public option in the health care reform bill and has now come to embrace it.

In the latest proposal from the Senate's HELP committee, the public option has been rebranded the Community Health Insurance Option. Here are Sen. Hagan's remarks from yesterday about the plan:

"My colleagues and I on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee have been working on a plan to reform the health care system in this country. We have crafted a plan that will stabilize health care costs and includes a Community Health Insurance Option, which I support. It is a backstop option for people without access to affordable coverage. Health care providers will not be required to participate, payment rates will be set in a competitive fashion, and the community health insurance option will compete on a level playing field with private health insurance plans in the gateway."

The public option is a critical part of any serious effort to reform health care and is one of Health Care for America Now's reform principles. 

Gov. Ted Strickland stepped things up this afternoon calling for the Statehouse to stay in Columbus until the budget is resolved.

Gov. Strickland also acknowledged that he expects political attacks come campaign season over his decision to recommend racetrack video gamblingover further budget cuts.

Senate President Bill Harris will hold hearings tomorrow on the Gov. Strickland's plan to allow video gambling at racetracks.

Harris has many questions: How did the administration arrive at the $933 million estimate? What will happen to school funding if those revenues are not realized? Would the state and the schools realize more money if the licenses were competitively bid? Is the Lottery Commission adequately prepared to take on these new responsibilities, especially if the change occurs immediately?

[...] The hearings could represent a breakthrough on the slots impasse. Some members of Harris' caucus want such gambling at the tracks, and it's possible that Harris would allow them to be included in the budget if he is satisfied that all questions have been answered.

Check out the end of the article for some fun down-dressing of top Republican slot proponent Sen. Bill Seitz by Harris. Seitz said slots had the support of about half the Republican caucus, which should give it enough votes for passage without extensive horse-trading.

Two reproductive right decisions were issued by the Ohio Supreme Court earlier this morning. In one, Planned Parenthood of SW Ohio was barred from being forced to hand over confidential medical records as part of a lawsuit.

In the other, the court ruled 4-3 that state law requires RU-486 be dispensed consistent with national FDA guidelines.

More on these later.

Accompanying a none-too-revelatory article (politicians, particularly Republicans, are moral hypocrites) by NYT "visual Op-Ed columnist" Charles Blow, is an intriguing chart. It shows that states that voted for McCain are far more likely to have more teenager mothers, online porn subscriptions & divorces, per capita than those who voted for Obama.

Ohio shakes out in the bottom half of the divorce and pregnancy numbers and has the fourth lowest porn subscription rate (don't tell Phil Burress).

Not a moral hyprocrisy, but worth mentioning, is that 26 of the 31 states that voted for Bush in 2004 receive more federal money than they pay in taxes. Meanwhile, 2/3rds of the states that voted for Kerry pay more than they receive.

Talking Points Memo points out the hypocrisy of Senators like Richard Shelby, saying the public option would destroy competition. Shelby represents Alabama, where a single insurer controls 83% of the market. 

This stat comes from a study released by ProgressOhio partner Health Care for America Now. The report finds that the market for health care insurance in the country is profoundly uncompetitive.

94% of the country lives in what the Justice Department defines as a "highly concentrated" marketplace (two firms control over 80% of the market). 

The result? In the past six years insurance premiums are up 87% on average, while corporate profits at the 10 largest insurance companies jumped 428% from 2000 to 2007. The CEOs at these companies earned an average of $11.9 million a year.

A request for an antitrust investigation has been placed with the Justice Department.

Stay classy, John.

When asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night, Boehner told The Hill, "Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t."

Google has an auto-complete feature where it offers you suggestions as to what you might be looking for based on what you've typed so far.

The most common search term for every major paper in Ohio? Obituaries.

Hopefully, all of our papers will stay healthy for a long time to come, but if they don't, is there a logical altenate outlet for obituaries? If Google is any indication death notices are a popular, if often overlooked service. Can neighborhood papers fill the void? Will a dominant commercial internet site sprout up, even though running ads directly off of an obituary would be tacky? Or is this yet another newspaper service that craigslist or a similarly non-commercial entity might take up?

Related: just how widely distributed are Ohio's newspapers? As of the end of the March, The Plain Dealer was the nation's 18th largest paper with a Sunday circulation of 291,630. The Columbus Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer came in near the bottom of the top 50, with circulation numbers of 195,510 and 188,956, respectively. The Blade, Dayton Daily News and Akron Beacon Journal all have very similar circulation numbers, ranging from 110,728 to 106,747.

Late this afternoon Waxman-Markey/ACES/"the climate change bill" passed the House by 7 votes. Ohio's John Boehner (R) broke ground by being perhaps the first in House history to psuedo-filibuster a bill.

Ohio Reps voting yes:

Boccieri, Driehaus, Fudge, Kaptur, Kilroy, Ryan, Space, Sutton

Voting no:

Austria, Boehner, Jordan, Kucinich, LaTourette, Schmidt, Tiberi, Turner, Latta, Wilson

Probably the biggest surprise on this list, for those not following this bill closely, is Dennis Kucinich's no vote. He strongly opposed the concessions made in committee, which have watered the bill down substantially.

In unrelated news, the Department of Energy awarded Ohio the first $38.4 million of an expected $96 million in grants for clean energy and energy efficiency projects.

From the Dispatch:

• $35 million will be used to help develop renewable energy sources in Ohio. Some of this may be used to help businesses that manufacture components for use in renewable energy.

• $30 million will go for loans that will be available to private companies that want to invest in renewable-energy projects.

• $15 million will be used for grants to help manufacturers became more energy efficient and reduce the emission of pollutants.

• $8 million will cover grants to improve the energy efficiency of commercial and residential buildings.

ProgressOhio members participated in yesterday's DC rally organized by Health Care for America Now. There are tons of national stories out, but the Plain Dealer's Sabrina Eaton was one of several journalist who provided Ohio-centric coverage of the event:

"It is unacceptable for a person to choose between food and medicine," Leondra Barrett, a single mom from Columbus, told the group. "It is unacceptable that people are literally dying of lack of adequate health care because they do not have insurance."

SEIU has a great slideshow available with pictures of the event.

Look for more to come after some of our members recoup from the long bus ride back.

Up for some lengthy, thoughtful reading? The Brennan Center's blog has a three-part look [1, 2, 3] at the redistricting contest sponsored by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and six partner groups.

Overall, the author has high praise for the concept and execution of the contest, saying that it "showed that it's possible to build a process for selecting public servants that actually serves the public".

The Springfield News-Sun website has a less intimidating but also well-informed review of the contest.

Yesterday's Dayton Daily News editorial offered a fair take on Jon Husted's "tantrum" during his scheduled meeting with Dayton school Superintendent Kurt Stanic and unannounced attendee, Dayton school board President Jeffrey Mims:

Sen. Husted’s temper tantrum was out of line and disrespectful to Mr. Mims. Regardless of the history between them, Mr. Husted has a responsibility to be cordial to Dayton’s school board president and attend to business that affects the Dayton region and Ohio taxpayers.

[...]It’s fair to ask why Mr. Mims, knowing full well that he and Sen. Husted aren’t exactly chummy and having been told Sen. Husted did not want him in the meeting, would insist on being present. But that doesn’t excuse Sen. Husted from putting personal grudges ahead of the people’s business.

No one is suggesting that Jeffrey Mims be appointed protocol officer, but as the paper points out, if Husted really thought Mims behavior was so improper as to trump dealing with the "people's business", there were other ways he could have handled the situation.

Watch it. Apologies for the background noise, it was recorded after yesterday's press conference in the bustling, cavernous Statehouse basement.

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Much like an earlier video that prompted a Youngstown judge to take the unprecedented step of issuing a TRO that ordered the liars to stop lying, this one contains a string of whoppers from circulators eager to get people to sign.

One says the petition is about the environment (it’s not). Another says it would not change the state’s constitution (it would). One even says that Athens, Ohio, is in line for a casino.

Ohio law makes it a fifth-degree felony to misrepresent the contents of a ballot proposal for the purpose of inducing someone to sign a petition.

To get on the November ballot, pro-casino forces must collect valid signatures from 402,275 registered voters.

Ohio Senate President Bill Harris stated that Republicans are likely going to reject the Governor's plan to authorize video gambling at racetracks in the budget. 

With the proposed budget cuts already drawing outrage, the removal of expanded racetrack gambling would cause the state nearly an extra billion dollars worth of cuts.

Harris did outline a number of hoops Strickland could jump through if he wants gambling to pass, but he'd strictly be going it alone.

A church in Connecticut put a 20 minute video up on YouTube documenting the "exorcism" of a teenager's "homosexual demons."

The target of exorcism says he is 16. Gay advocates have turned the case over to child services.

A Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's report [pdf] documented the harassment LGBT kids experience in Ohio's schools. 

Among the findings:

• 87% of LGBT students were verbally harassed, 48% were physically harassed and 24% were physically assaulted in the past year because of their sexual orientation. 
• 65% of LGBT students who were harassed or assaulted in school never reported it to school staff. Only 30% of students who did said that reporting resulted in effective intervention by school staff.
• 31% of LGBT students had missed at least one entire day of school for this reason.

Frequent Supreme Court litigant and former Gordon Gee employer, Massey Energy saw 31 people - including Kill Bill star Daryl Hannah and NASA climatologist James Hansen - arrested at one of their mountain top removal sites.

Coal reporting superstar Ken Ward, Jr. has the details and a video.

Gathering at the Statehouse today were top labor leaders* from across the state. They announced their opposition to a proposal to significantly decrease the state’s contributions to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System for two years.

One major problem with that approach is that it is hard to catch back up once you get behind with retirement contributions. One need not look too far to see this in action at the state-level. Illinois currently has $54 billion dollars in unfunded pension liabilities. This is twice what Ohio spends every year running the entire state.

Illinois recognized their problem back in 1995 and created a 50 year plan to get caught up. However, 14 years later, their pension problem is worse than ever. As AFSCME Council 8 President John Lyall said, "Cuts that were once temporary almost always become permanent." Throw that in with the miracle that is compound interest and state-level pension problems can become intractable.

Another criticism gaining traction is whether this plan is even legal:

If this precedent is not illegal, it should be. No governor or legislature should be permitted to mortgage the state's future in this manner. [...]

Borrowing from PERS to help fix a budget dilemma is the height of fiscal irresponsibility. If the state cannot afford its pension obligations, the responsible course is to statutorily change the benefit levels promised to state employees.

Like most states, Ohio faces a budget mess of historic proportions. No one envies the choices that Strickland and legislative leaders must make. With general revenue funds at 2002 levels, substantial cuts in state programs are unavoidable.

*In attendence: Ohio AFL-CIO, the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, AFSCME Ohio Council 8, the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, AFSCME Retiree Chapter 1184, the Ohio Education Association, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Service Employees International Union District 1199, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the Ohio Public Employee Retirees.

A poll out yesterday found that an incredible 86% of Latinos have an unfavorable view of the Republican Party. This number is substantially lower than it was before Sonia Sotomayor was nominated to serve on the Supreme Court. The explanation for this is quite apparent to anyone who has been paying attention to right-wing commentary on Sotomayor:

• Rush Limbaugh compared her to David Duke and along with Newt Gingrich has called her a "racist" several times.
• RNC Chief Michael Steele said, "God help you if you’re a white male coming before her bench."
• Tom Tancredo referred to La Raza as "a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses."
• G. Gordon Liddy used the euphamism "illegal alien" for the Spanish language.

Some Senate Republicans such as John Cornyn have spoken out against these attacks, others like Mitch McConnell have refused to take a stand.

While one would hope Senator George Voinovich would at least refute the words of the three Republican leaders (Limbaugh, Gingrich and Steele) who have smeared Latinos as a whole while trying to torpedo Sotormayor's nomination.

It would appear he has not, based on a quicksearch and this release put out by Jennifer Brunner's camp:

U.S. Senate Candidate Jennifer Brunner called on Republicans to halt their smear campaign against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. “It is time to tell Republican Senators to stop the attacks on Sonia Sotomayor.  I am asking Senator Voinovich not to condone obstructionist tactics that are based on gender inequality and underhanded politics,” said Brunner.

Voinovich is scheduled to meet with Sotomayor soon and he should take the opportunity to follow Brunner's advice. If not for reasons of propriety, then at least for his party's future, Voinovich should make it clear that groundless race-baiting is not acceptable.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is up for reappointment in a few months and Bloomberg takes a look at whether he will stay or go.

Online betting pools place Bernanke's odds in the 60% range. Sherrod Brown weighed in with this:

“His record has not been perfect, but it’s been pretty good,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat on the Banking Committee, which will vet the nomination. On whether to keep Bernanke, “I leave that to the president,” he said. 

Bernanke, a Republican, has seen his reputation amongst the left go up and down even before the most recent crisis. This May 2008 article from the New York Times provides a broader look at Bernanke and his critics, pre-melt down:

Among Democrats, Mr. Bernanke, a Republican, had previously been criticized by such party luminaries as the two former Clinton administration Treasury secretaries, Robert E. Rubin and Lawrence E. Summers, who worried that he was downplaying the dangers of a recession. But that view has changed.

...“They say that crisis makes the man,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York and the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee. “He’s made believers out of people who were just not sure about him before.”