ProgressOhio

Last month, over 150 reporters came to cover a 600 person Tea Party event. Last week, 113 politicians showed up for a 100 person Tea Party rally in West Chester. Why? Because, fed by Fox and friends, our nation’s politics are as polarized and dogmatic as ever. While majorities pay lip service to bipartisianship, we are fascinated by purity on both sides of the aisle.

When you get to the top not because of the quality of your ideas or your record of service, but your driven snow levels of purity, hypocrisy is unavoidable. In the case of many Tea Partiers, Scott Brown prompted their first encounter with situational purity (a phrase I borrowed from a sharp Statehouse observer). Suddenly, supporting a pro-choice, pro-universal health care (for Massachusetts only, mind you) centerfold was all the rage.

Inevitably, now that he is in the national spotlight, Brown will step on a landmine or two as he navigates trying to effectively represent his constituents while servicing the far right rhetoric that got him there. I suggest he call Pat Tiberi who just found out what sort of problems Tea Party pandering can get you into. It was revealed recently that although Tiberi was publicly railing against stimulus funds, he secretly fighting to bring home the pork for his district. In one article, Tiberi was recognized for his “refusal to participate” in earmarking and his spokesman commented:

"[Tiberi] feels there needs to be reform in the earmarking process. There needs to be more transparency and a more streamlined process when selecting earmarks. He felt like he couldn't help solve the problem by being part of the problem."

There is no right answer as to when a litmus test is appropriate or whether considering the body of a politician’s record is more appropriate. Are Tea Partiers committed to purity on all issues or will they settle for a candidate with a D grade from the Chamber of Commerce? What about liberals? Will ideological perfection remain the enemy of good governance?

For instance, what makes the litmus test of Jennifer Garrison’s positions on choice and DOMA different than, say, Ted Strickland or Richard Cordray’s views on guns or the death penalty?

Recently, Ohio Right to Life fought the Ohio House Speaker over whether to honor on the House floor a teenager who won the “politically sensitive” group’s essay contest. Would those very same free speech purists fight for Equality Ohio if they had a gay teenage essay contest winner recognized on the floor of the Senate?

Mike DeWine is hated by the Tea parties for joining the Gang of 12. (Although in reality, it is liberals who should be enraged for preserving a process that has stuck us with the filibuster and justices like Sam Alito.) In fact, DeWine is so reviled by the far-right, Tea Partiers sought out Delaware County Prosecutor David Yost to run against him in the Attorney General primary.

These days the Tea Party and Yost have a rockier relationship, thanks to the Ohio Republican Party which cleared the field for the hated Mike DeWine by luring Yost into an Auditor’s race against current-Tea Party pin-up Seth (Who?) Morgan.

But let’s turn the clock back to March 2009, when Yost spoke on the Statehouse steps at a Tea Party rally.

What we found is that absolute purity is a tough standard to live up to.

See for yourself:

While Tea Party Yost gets incensed at the thought of government spending increasing by 66% in a decade, Prosecutor Yost had no problem increasing his own government office’s budget by 65% in his first year in the office.

He didn’t stop there. Yost has been the Delaware County Prosecutor since 2003 and, in 6 years, his office’s budget grew to 2.5x Times the size it was under his predecessor. Or as Tea Party Yost might put it, “Over 10 times the rate of your paycheck going up, my office’s spending went up.”

Should the Delaware County Prosecutor be spending almost a million dollars a year more than in 2002? I can't say, but it’s hard imagining the man standing on the Statehouse steps making that case.

What it really comes down to for these want-to-be Tea Partiers is that government is too large – unless it’s their street that needs fixed, their child that needs health insurance, their district that needs earmarks or their office that needs to expand. Then it can’t be big enough. The real problems start when you try to explain that on the steps of the Statehouse.

[Links: The Delaware County Prosecutor office budget from the year before Yost took office, his first year in office after and last year.]

"This morning many Ohioans woke up without health care coverage just like they did yesterday -- and they'd never heard of either candidate in Massachusetts."

"The undeniable fact is that whether you are in Massachusetts or Ohio, if you are under-insured or uninsured or face rising premiums as an individual or business you want something done. Politico's can argue all they want about what it means and who to blame. But doing nothing, only leads to more pain. It isn't a realistic option."

The selection of Yvette McGee Brown is an interesting pick.

It's safe. The downside is her relatively unknown status outside social service communities and Central Ohio. The upside is varied.

Yes, as a female, African-American leader with a rather spotless record in the judiciary she solves a few of the obvious mechanical choices:

·         She contrasts with Mary Taylor, the pick of GOP John Kasich.

·         She puts racial diversity on the ticket.

But it is the tactical choices that make the pick interesting.

Strickland has had rumblings in the social service community -- hard hit by state budget cuts – and in the progressive community. McGee Brown appeals to both with a strong background in the social service sector, statewide connections and an approachable reputation.

The pick also comes with some Fundraising cache.

McGee Brown has long been an effective advocate politically and in the non-profit world with broad corporate friendships and support. Mr. Kasich, seemingly has his Ohio fundraising base in the boardrooms of Central Ohio – in fact he serves on the Worthington Industries Board. McGee Brown brings that same kind of entrée, creating an interesting tactical fundraising competition among the titans in Columbus.

And don’t forget, it was Lee Fisher, the outgoing Lt. Governor who set the standard for the role of Fundraiser in Chief back in 2006. McGee Brown certainly brings a similar role to the table of the Strickland campaign.

Finally, in a close race, Central Ohio becomes the battleground – and that is Kasich’s base. If McGee Brown both motivates the Columbus base and appeals to the masses – she won handily in her contested judicial races in a Franklin County with much redder hues than there are now – that creates a numbers problem for Kasich’s own base.

McGee Brown has been highly sought after by a number of previous Democratic recruiters -- more than once her name surfaced in discussions about both past Attorney General races and Ohio Supreme Court races.

Ironically, outside of Columbus, McGee Brown's diversity isn't an automatic pass – established women's groups and urban communities have been burned before and will need to build trust in a new face.

So while the obvious is that this pick is about racial and gender diversity, in reality it seems more a pick about the fundraising role Fisher created so successfully, the tactical issues involving Strickland’s opponents base and Franklin County’s role in the upcoming race. Oh... and the name "Brown" sure doesn't hurt either.

The rest of 2010 will come down to the rate of turnout of Obama surge voters and the motivation and mood of economically distressed voters next fall.

And McGee Brown certainly does no harm to those sectors. With work, she can help with both groups.

“There are those who choose not to speak about African-Americans or the working class.

We can no longer be in denial that certain sectors of our population, including the African-American community, are feeling the recession to a greater extent.”

- Rep. Maxine Waters

Last year began with tears of joy.

First the tears in Grant Park as a man of color won the White House, followed by the tears by those millions winding their way to the Inauguration.

A barrier was gone. A man’s skin no longer was his measure.

But as skin matters not for our nation’s highest office, the skin of our leaders should not overshadow the growing problems of a population in crisis.

The year of joy in the body politic ended disproportionately in tears of economic distress for many college-educated African Americans.

Ohio’s African American population is not only hard hit by the recession, there are some disturbing trends that fly in the face of past economic theory:

• Cleveland, which is Ohio’s largest minority center, has the 13th highest literacy rate in the nation, but as recently as 2007 was ranked 2nd in poverty. Ohio had six cities last year among the nation’s poorest. (Cincinnati ranked 8th and Columbus, with a growing immigration population, was 22nd.) More than a few African American leaders have questioned if this has more to do with literacy standards given other education demographics in the state.
• Real wages in African American households have substantially diminished in the past two years.
• The unemployment rate among college-educated African Americans is nearly twice as high as that of similarly educated whites.
• The underemployment rate for African Americans and Hispanics remains substantially higher than those in other labor demographics.
• The sub-prime loan foreclosure crisis has ravaged a once rising middle class African American sector disproportionately in racially segregated areas (Cleveland and Cincinnati among those studied) affecting
  • Property values in urban and urban and inner-ring suburban areas
  • Less access to lending – housing or business – disproportionately affecting African American households.
  • Devaluing the major middle class asset/savings of African American households through homeownership.

While there is real and justified pride in Barack Obama’s historic election to the White House, political and community leaders need to understand the problem doesn’t stem from racial politics, per se, but sociological politics.

Home ownership is generally thought of as the dividing line between middle class prosperity and poverty. Homes are the single greatest asset for middle class Americans. However in this recession, they’re equally likely to be a liability, a holding cell or grave yard for middle class wealth. Both high and low salary positions retain more stability in a recession, which has only amplified this problem.

One reason that recent middle class African American gains have been wiped out, is they did not have a strong foundation in generational wealth to withstand this market tsunami – the quaking housing market, followed by waves of unemployment.

And it is not just a black problem. Plenty of first generation white middle class homeowners got wrapped in the same economic cellophane, just at lower rates than Black America. Solving this problem, aids non-blacks as well.

The question is, will the polls that put Barack Obama in the White House allow him to reach out his hand to America’s black community? For in the complicated prism of race in America today, America’s first Black President is forced to walk tepidly in comparison to Bill Clinton or George W. Bush.

Today’s more subtle racism, is a cauldron of open-minded bigotry – where helping a disproportionately damaged population – lends itself to the whispers and innuendo of racial economics.

But this is America’s problem, regardless of who is in the White House. Fortunately, there are plenty of ideas to solve the dilemma.

Whether it is George W. Bush’s “too big to fail” Wall Street Bailout fraught with Reagan-era economic theory or last January’s Wall Street-centric stimulus that bypassed Main Street, there is growing recognition in Washington, DC that 2010 demands a 2010 solution.

While conservatives are stuck on Wall Street and moderates fuss over Main Street – the rest of us are one street over on Oak Street are quaking in our workboots.

Where is Oak Street? One block over from the main drag, where rows of middle-American, single-family homes are sandwiched by strip malls and ballfields, festooned with the local high school’s colors. In good times, retail politics on Oak Street can be as simple as promising to fix the potholes. But we aren’t living in good times.

Most of the homes on Oak Street don’t house ideologues – or even partisans. They’re disappointed and angry people looking for someone to offer up a solution for their family’s economic problems.

Union and non-union households have watched an endless cycle – NAFTA begets manufacturing loss, which begets job loss, which begets salary retrenchment, which begets foreclosures and stock losses. At the end of every cycle, the right then calls for ever-increasing Wall Street deregulation, which finally culminated in last year’s collapse. Meanwhile, at every stop, government costs continue to rise and America’s wallets get fat with credit cards because recovery never reaches our jean pockets.

The bottom line is when workers collectively earn less, the economy corrects itself by contracting – and rather than focus on the original retrenchment in worker income and assets – government is focused on Wall Street and Main Street programs that never get to Oak Street.

American workers fear our unprecedented job insecurity and the shrinking paychecks that have accompanied it. Give workers a fair shot at staying in their homes, avoiding default on personal credit and get established in their current or new jobs. Oak Street’s recovery will then become on to Main Street’s and Wall Street’s.

Right smack in the middle of all of this is Ohio’s Congressional delegation, which is rising in importance in the one thing that matters most (at least in elections) – jobs.

Whether it is John Boehner channeling his inner-Warren Harding and digging free market trenches in the Wall Street tradition; or Betty Sutton who is co-chair of the House leadership’s job outreach; or Marcy Kaptur who is co-chair of a jobs caucus outside of leadership; or George Voinovich, with his lame duck challenge to his own leadership over handling of the deficit; or Sherrod Brown, who is filling the vacuum created in the Senate by the loss of Ted Kennedy and President Obama’s appointment choices. Ohio’s delegation is quickly becoming a force on both sides of the Hill.

It’s time for a new economic paradigm for Oak Street:

It’s been a long time coming, but Ohio quietly made great strides in post-NAFTA job creation Thursday when Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray assumed authority of job development accountability.

The novel idea of Corporations being accountable for the state assistance and equipment, Ohio taxpayer’s give them to create jobs.

Under Republicans and Democrats the system just never worked. Ohio’s Department of Development working with local governments would dole out millions of dollars for long-term job development with lax enforcement.

ProgressOhio addressed the issue in June of 2007: SHADOWS ON HIGH: HAVE YOU GIVEN TO FORD … LATELY?.

The problem seemed to be the inherent conflict between the Department of Developments mission and pressure to create jobs and deal with companies in a friendly manner, while trying to enforce the very contracts they were creating.

By bifurcating the enforcement of these contracts, the Ohio Attorney General’s office has more latitude to look at compliance with the public’s money. "My office is moving forward with a program to monitor the state's awards made for economic development," Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said. "Our goal, as defined by statute, is to ensure that tax dollars are being used as intended in these awards. Promises were made by businesses and organizations to create and save jobs in Ohio and those promises must be kept."

Cordray’s office is reviewing economic development awards received by more than 3,000 entities between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2009. To read the letter, click here.  Companies receiving state funds are asked to complete an online report within 30 days and the Attorney General's Office will analyze the data received.  To view the report, visit www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/EDAP.

Cordray received this authority through HB 420 which passed 94-0 in the Ohio House in May of 2008 and was passed by the Ohio Senate and signed into law in late 2008. The Bill received wide bi-partisan support as well as support from diverse groups including Americans for Prosperity and ProgressOhio.

Enforcing clawback provisions that will protect Ohio jobs and workers and is crosses ideological and party lines and has been long overdue.

There are some certainties about recent Ohio autumns.

Ohio’s budget is in peril. Jim Tressel loses to USC and USC then loses to a lesser opponent the next week. The Browns have a meaningless quarterback battle and the Bengals struggle to mute “Ochocinco.”

And like corporate Sumo wrestlers bent on spending consultant money, Ohio has another casino issue on the ballot.

In the past, ProgressOhio’s Board has stood on the sidelines, content to watch the behemoth corporate giants flail away at each other, like runaway Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloons, banging up against New York streetlights.

But, for our Board, this year’s annual “sumo-walletfest” is different.

There are many reasons to vote “no” on Issue 3, a plan to allow full-blown casinos in four Ohio cities.

Here are three of the bigger ones:

1. In its first three years of legalized casino gambling, Atlantic City went from 50th in the country in per capita crime to first. Casinos bring more crime, which requires more police, which costs the taxpayers more money.
2. Today, the going rate for a casino license in America is between $300 million and $500 million – but Issue 3 would give away these lucrative Ohio monopolies for just $50 million. If casinos are going to increase our costs, shouldn’t they at least pay their own way?
3. Even if Issue 3 does bring some of the promised jobs and economic development, its fatal flaws include a loophole that would allow casinos to pay no taxes on wagers made in cash and another loophole that could ban charities from hosting “casino nights.’’

It seems like yesterday that ProgressOhio started - yet it also seems like a world away.

Quietly, these past few days while members were focused on Health Care, Clean Energy, Job Discrimination for the LGBT community and PayDay Lending reform tweaks, we slipped into our fourth year.

2006 was the seed. 2008 we planted deep roots, and, together, in the last year we’ve begun to bloom.

Thanks to you we’ve grown to almost 360,000 unique members, who have helped us achieve the following:

• We’ve partnered and provided services for over 278 non-profit and neighborhood issue groups

• You’ve contacted your local, state, and federal representatives using our tools over 450,000 times

• Together, we generated over 2 million GOTV emails

• You've generated over 20.5 million page views on ProgressOhio.org

• You’ve generated 13,000 door knocks

• We’ve had over 1,500 earned media articles for ourselves and pro bono partners

As we’ve grown, so has your activism. For example, over 3,650 of you showed at town hall meetings on health care throughout Ohio last August in the three Cs, Zanesville, Akron/Canton, Youngstown and Toledo.

Often speed of response by the community is what is most important. Some examples of the intensity your activism include when you generated over 10,000 emails in 48 hours to preserve high-speed rail, and the 1,300 letters to the editor you sent to preserve children’s health insurance in 72 hours.

Our research has overturned laws (Bob Taft’s mistaken signature on his last piece of legislation), provided research that led to the largest fine in Ohio Elections Commission history (over Charter School advocates funneling money through a Va. PAC) and sought fairness in the workplace, among lenders, for veterans and their families, in corporate America and in Ohio Election law.

To us you are not a number – We’re Powered by You.

So on behalf of Dave, Lorraine and Bret (as well as past staff, interns as well as advisors and board members), we want to thank you  for three years of action, three years of change, and three years of being motion in the movement

Thank you for making a difference – not in politics – but in your neighbors’ lives.

Brian Rothenberg

Executive Director

ProgressOhio

ProgressOhio sat down with Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner this week at her campaign office and discussed the Husted Residency case, the debate over federal Health Insurance Reform and in the wake of Sen. Ted Kennedy's death, the way in which political culture reacts to politicians.

Secretary Brunner discussed her experience as a politician with threats during the 2008 election, her support of national Health Insurance reform efforts, and the fact that she was ready to rule on the Husted residency case when to her surprise Sen. Husted, Ohio's former Speaker of the House went directly to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Secretary Brunner is currently running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher. The winner will face former Bush 43 Budget Director Rob Portman or his primary opponent Cleveland auto mega-dealer Tom Ganley.

Watch It:

As an introvert in an extroverted world who would admittedly rather be reading a book, watching a ballgame or playing with my dog than hanging out just about anywhere, it’s never easy when your personal life winds up on Front Street.

It’s not that I’m not comfortable and proud of who I am and the realities of what I do, it’s just part of human DNA to want to be liked—accepted and embraced by all  -- something that with maturity you realize cannot and will not happen no matter how hard you try.

When I came to terms with being Gay, I also came to terms that because of my involvement in politics and advocacy, both of which I love, I needed to be upfront and open about my sexual orientation – not just with family and friends, but in general. If anyone asked, I would confirm it. If it were appropriate in context, I would mention it usually with humor. It’s not jaded to say that we live in an indecent political world where even if you are out, people might think they have something on you.

The fact is decency is one of those things where you, individually, have to create the self-control to understand what crosses the line of civil discourse and what is inappropriate – especially in light of the modern empowerment of both online anonymity and the sanctity of a keyboard in some barren office or basement.

As a young communications director in the Ohio Senate, I was once given some “opp research” – a highway patrol report – on a candidate for the State Senate that involved a tragically fatal accident. After some soul-searching, I realized that the candidate’s accident was just that – a tragic accident – and the candidate had paid a heavy price and redeemed himself through great faith.

I was told the Highway Patrol report I was given by a House political operative was the only copy. If so, it is no more. I burned it in my backyard barbecue and the candidate went on to win a pretty gerrymandered district, which he would have won regardless. I fought that candidate and later Senator, now retired, tooth and nail on issues for years – but never regretted my decision to burn the “opp trash.”

A few bloggers last week decided not to contact me, but instead have a public online discussion about me and my sexual orientation that, in my opinion, crossed a level of decency by discussing my sexual orientation publicly in relation to an issue debate, with a clear intent on their part to inflame or embarrass, or maybe just be mean. I did not respond. Those that know or ask, know I am quite comfortable with who I am and my life.

I can tell you that I am both not ashamed, nor upset about people knowing. The more people know someone who is gay, the more people know that we are just the same as straight people. We love like you love, bleed as you bleed, blush as you blush, smile as you smile and pray like you pray. We even commit in relationships as you do, despite silly laws and political games to the contrary. The fact is to be gay is a part of you, it isn’t all of you.

This all started because Rep. Jennifer Garrison who strongly supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which I abhor, wanted to be clear that she supports H.B. 176 the LGBT Anti-Discrimination Bill – a bill ProgressOhio has been working on for well over two years with Equality Ohio and others.

I’ve known Rep. Garrison for quite some time, and have no recollection of whether I’ve ever told her I’m Gay or not – but we have discussed my personal disagreement on issues like abortion and DOMA and her beliefs on such issues.

I embraced her support on H.B. 176 because Rep. Garrison is moving in the right direction – and because if we are to make progress on LGBT issues, we must reach out, and not distance ourselves from the majority from which we need to build legislative power and change.

I can also tell you that the way in which these bloggers behaved lacked common courtesy and decency. Their points could have been made without reference to my sexual orientation – my leadership on progressive causes and gay rights issues is a matter of record and their point could have been made based on that record -- but they chose to discuss my personal life publicly because of malicious intent. In fact, one blogger thought he was outing me, the other blogger admitted not really knowing me in their discourse. Sexual orientation never came up before as an issue by friend or foe many of whom knew this in our state’s rather small political world.

This issue came up because these bloggers wanted to cross this line intentionally, linking, commenting and stirring on purpose despite what they may have said at the time or will I am sure say about it based on Mr. Hallett’s column. There seems to be some psychosis in America where online technology emboldens some of the worst in some people’s character.

When Joe Hallett approached me, he asked (the decent thing to do) and I said he could mention the way my personal life was used because I believe civility and decency needs a check on the left and the right before it leaves the basement and erupts into more than Town Hall mob bickering. At what point does someone’s basement keyboard traverse from online psychosis and become violent?

For me I’ll go back to my books, my Browns and my labradoodle. I’m gay, so now you know – big deal. It’s a part of me like being Jewish, growing up in Portage County, being a proud progressive and being a Marietta College grad is a part of me. This issue of “Brian’s Inside Edition” is over.

If you knew, you are likely having a chuckle. If you didn’t – do you really care. And if you know me and felt I should have told you, it just didn’t come up in context and I wish I had told you – but know that if you would have asked or circumstances were right, I’d have answered.

And finally if you are a reader of those blogs about me and felt it inappropriate or awkward to view -- just stop reading those bloggers. Readers are the oxygen of a writer, without it, they are simply having a tantrum in an empty circus tent and eventually even the loudest loneliest carnival barker loses his voice.

Here is Mr. Hallett’s column, you can read his take as well:

Anonymity of Internet encourages people to spread venom, vulgarity

State Rep. and House Majority Floor Leader Jennifer Garrison stopped by ProgressOhio today to discuss the passage of the Equal Housing and Employment Act (HB 176).

Garrison stated that she unequivocally supported the Equal Housing and Employment Act. She then went into details about HB 176’s progress in the Statehouse and the role she is playing in bringing it to a vote.

Garrison then talked about her position on other equality issues, like the Defense of Marriage Act.

Watch It:

Read the letter regarding HB 176 sent by Floor Leader Garrison to Speaker Budish.

It was only a year ago.

John McCain and Barack Obama both stopped in Wilmington, Ohio.

Corporate greed had run amok in this small town – long before Wall Street collapsed, Detroit collapsed and the housing bubble burst.

Down in Georgtown, Kentucky, the Bengals began training camp with hopes of a championship, while up in Berea, Romeo Crennel was the toast of Cleveland after a winning season and Jim Tressel readied his men for what was to be a disastrous showdown with USC, all so long ago.

DHL had left Wilmington high and dry, taking 8,000 jobs from a town of 12,000 people. The great German company left such destruction in its wake that Congress demanded hearings and 60 Minutes dispatched reporters to the scene. State development officials were sent scrambling for what was to be a long twelve months for both them and Ohio’s weary workers.

Joe Hete, President of ABX Air and its parent company ATSG, was the principle contractor that provided planes and flights for DHL readied himself for hearings before Congress.

Hete addressed a joint hearing of the Senate Finance Committee and House Government Committee on August 19th at a hearing in Wilmington called. In the midst of the heat of a presidential campaign, he told them:

There will be an adverse impact on the state of Ohio. ABX Air draws its employees from more than half of the counties in the state.

• ABX Air Ohio wages are approximately $8.2 million per pay, or over $214 million annually, and;

• Our employees pay roughly quarter of a million dollars every two weeks in Ohio state income taxes, totaling over $7.1 million annually and;

• Ohio school district taxes over $27,000 per pay.

• ABX Air conducted business with companies in Ohio, including Clinton County, spending $19.4 million from the first of Oct. in 2007 to the end of March this year.

When you combine the total jobs potentially lost at the Air Park of them:

• ABX Air—6,000 to 8,000;

• ASTAR—1,050;

• DHL—1,000; and

• the GM Moraine plant less than 35 miles away—2,000; the numbers are staggering when realized they are confined to one geographic area.

It will be difficult for the state of Ohio to cope with the large numbers of people seeking employment if the total number of jobs lost rises over 12,000.

Congress must have felt like finally they were staring down the table at a CEO with a conscience – finally some corporate responsibility to community – right? WRONG!

At the same hearing Joe Hete assured Congress that he had been working with DHL on “retention, severance and productivity” incentives – money which DHL, under pressure, set aside for ABX employees – money they have never seen to this day.

ABX and Mr. Hete had other plans for the severance money and DHL just didn’t care.

As for the pilots of ABX, their lives were shattered while Washington slept.

Voinovich Temper Tantrum: Blackmails the EPA

Senator Blocks #2 EPA Nominee Unless They Slam Climate Bill

Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) is forcing the Environmental Protection Agency to work shorthanded until it changes its climate change study. CQ Politics is reporting that Voinovich has blocked Robert Perciasepe's nomination for EPA Deputy Administrator for at least a month[1].

Perciasepe has over 30 years experience and even Voinovich himself admits his hold is completely unrelated to the nominee. Voinovich wants the EPA to change its study of the House climate change bill (HR2454) to make it seem more expensive than it is and may not allow the agency to fill its #2 position until it does.

"This is not the first time that George Voinovich has bullied the EPA or ignored its findings," said Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director at ProgressOhio. In 2005, the EPA released a cost-benefit analysis of the Voinovich-sponsored Clear Skies Act and rival plans.

Compared to Voinovich's bill, the Clean Air Planning Act, would prevent premature deaths and lower the country's annual health care costs by an additional $23 - $27 billion and only cost $3.8 billion more[2]. Then-EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, a Bush appointee, called it "the most detailed, thorough, comprehensive legislative [analysis] ever done by the agency."

"It appears that unless George Voinovich writes the reports himself, he's not happy with the results," said Rothenberg. 

[1] http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003164871

[2]Risk Policy Report, 11/8/05. "Inhofe May Call For EPA To Revisit Analysis On Clean Air Bills."

Governor Statement on Legislative Conference Committee

Columbus, Ohio – Governor Ted Strickland today issued the following statement:

I have always believed that government is at its best when all sides work together to find common sense solutions to the challenges we face. 

I also believe that legitimate public policy disagreements are essential to the health of our democratic process, as they fuel the marketplace of ideas and require leaders to find middle ground.  That’s what makes the deafening silence from Ohio’s Republican Senate leadership these past few weeks so troubling.  The marketplace of ideas, and our very democratic process, breaks down when those elected to lead – to make hard choices and live with the consequences – simply refuse to do so. 

Ohio businesses are struggling to get by and Ohioans continue to lose jobs because of the national recession. Ohio’s leadership needs to be doing all that it can do to help our businesses and workers through the recession – and to make sure that when the economy does recover, the state is positioned for job growth.

That’s why, seventeen days ago, I proposed a plan to preserve our safety net to the greatest extent possible while protecting Ohio businesses and workers from the tax increases that they simply cannot afford at this time. 

Some say a tax increase during a recession would help kick start the economy.  I believe that tax increases during this recession would only kick Ohioans when they are down, undermining the economic recovery that we need.

And, let’s not forget, the federal government is not only holding the line on taxes in this recession, they are actually cutting taxes for most middle-class American families as part of the Recovery Act.

It is also important to recognize that Ohio’s 3.2 billion dollar budget gap, while deep and painful, would be much worse if not for the leadership of President Obama and the members of Ohio’s congressional delegation who supported the stimulus.

To address our challenges, my plan reduces the size of state government, cutting spending by more than 2.4 billion dollars.  These are difficult cuts, but they are necessary to meet the constitutional requirement to balance the budget. 

Our plan would add 933 million dollars in new revenue with legislation permitting video lottery terminals at Ohio’s racetracks.  And, because the quality of our classrooms will determine the quality of future Ohio jobs, our plan directs the state’s limited resources to support our schools – even as most states are slashing support for education.

The legislative conference committee has now been underway for twenty-five days.  To date, the Republican Senate leaders have disregarded their constitutional responsibility to send me a balanced budget, refusing to put forward even one proposal this entire time.

When someone not only refuses your proposals, but also refuses to put forward any solutions of their own, it’s not a negotiation.  It’s game playing.

It saddens me to say that, while I have tried to advance a forward-looking budget agenda, Senate Republican leaders have retreated to partisan game playing.

I am increasingly concerned that the Senate majority caucus has been hijacked by a few highly-political Senators who are holding the state hostage to achieve political advantage.

Some might say that’s not fair.  But one of their operatives was so gleeful about their strategy that he couldn’t help boasting about it out loud.  There was no mistaking it when they actually said, “the longer this goes, the more it hurts [Ted Strickland].”

What this statement indicates is that they just don’t get it.  The issue is not whether or not I am being politically hurt.  The issue is the fact that the people of Ohio, the people, are being hurt.

It is disgusting to me that they would play games with Ohio’s future when Ohioans desperately need real leadership.

The truth is, the longer this goes on, the more it hurts the people and the state of Ohio.

Despite all this, I am still willing to work with Senate Republicans.  I hope they will stop being political and reengage in a good faith effort to resolve the one outstanding issue – how to balance the budget. 

Regrettably, I have reached the conclusion that, as it stands, the current debate is no longer primarily about public policy, but partisan political advantage and, now it appears, political gimmicks.

You may have heard, as I have heard, that the Senate majority is considering the placement of a video lottery terminal initiative on the ballot and abandoning our schools to a speculative, one-year temporary budget.  That means education funding for the second year would depend entirely on the passage of the initiative or some other unidentified, unknown source of funds.

That is not a real budget proposal.  That is a blatant political gimmick.  It is utterly and totally unacceptable.

Such a proposal would withdraw Ohio’s commitment to our children for no other reason than an unwillingness to make hard choices now.  It would make education our last priority, when it should be our first.  And it would rely on the uncertain outcome of a ballot initiative to determine the future of education.

I will not allow Senate Republicans to play politics with our schools.  I will not sign a budget that orphans education funding to the uncertain outcome of a future ballot initiative or, in the event it fails, no plan at all.  I will only sign a comprehensive, two-year balanced budget.

Last week, I signed a seven-day interim budget that expires tomorrow.  Because of the Senate majority’s delays, the legislature will almost certainly fail to meet that deadline.

This is alarming because each day that goes by without a budget puts the state into a deeper fiscal hole. 

Temporary budgets delay or reduce subsidy payments to county government agencies that provide local support services to the elderly, people with developmental disabilities and those in need of mental health care.  The longer this goes on, the more it affects their ability to provide quality services, make payroll and draw down federal matching funds.

The budget uncertainty is impacting Ohio’s 614 school districts.  They are unable to plan for the next school year even though classes will resume next month.

Temporary budgeting also means that we are continuing to pay for programs and services that, under our budget proposal, will be cut or suspended over the next two years. 

We are losing millions of dollars each week by spending on programs that will be cut and diverting those limited resources away from other critical programs and services.  That is simply not responsible.

While I will reluctantly sign a second temporary budget tomorrow if necessary, I have serious concerns about signing a third.

I again call on members of the legislature to work around the clock until they agree on a budget.  Members of the legislature are getting a paycheck, when a lot of Ohioans are not.  They receive health care, when too many Ohioans do not.  There is no justification for any unwillingness to stay here and work continuously until this budget issue is resolved. 

I am doing my job in presenting a balanced budget proposal to the legislature.  The Ohio House is doing its job by reworking my proposal and developing compromises.  It is time for Senate Republican leaders to do their job. 

Our budget proposal reflects hard choices and real compromise.  It is time for Senate Republican leaders to put an end to the partisan political maneuvering, to set aside the gamesmanship and the gimmicks, and either agree to our plan to balance the budget without a tax increase or present their own comprehensive, two-year balanced budget plan.

U.S. Sen. George Voinovich’s decision to drop an f-bomb in a private conversation with Karl Rove inspired a 2007 trivia quiz.  His recent off-color assessment of the new climate change bill prompted us to update the survey.

As long-time Georgiephiles know, Ohio's senior senator has a temper than can be real hot.

Take the Temper Trivia Test to see just how hot. 

1. When the FAA grounded his state airplane to clear the airspace for President Clinton, Voinovich told the control tower to go:

A. blow

B. screw themselves

C. screw the Democrats

D. fly a kite

E. to hell.  

2. When the FAA grounded his state airplane to clear the airspace for President Clinton, Voinovich called the decision:

A. bullsh*t

B. horsesh*t

C. cow sh*t

D. a vast left-wing conspiracy

E. Dick Celeste's fault.  

3. After the incident, the FAA fined Voinovich and accused him of trying to:

A. impersonate a licensed pilot

B. impersonate an air traffic controller

C. impersonate a rational man

D. endanger the life or property of another.

E. harm the reputation of the United States Senate.  

4. When welfare recipients descended on the Statehouse to protest then-Gov. Voinovich's plans to cut welfare benefits he:

A. ordered the Ohio Highway Patrol to remove them

B. ordered the Ohio National Guard to shoot them

C. ordered Mike Dawson to spin them

D. blamed Dick Celeste

E. cried  

5. As Cleveland Mayor, Voinovich hosted a news conference to urge people to patronize the struggling Cleveland Indians. When a reporter pressed the mayor for information about the last time he had attended a game, Mayor Voinovich blurted out:

A. Go Browns. And take the Indians with you.

B. Who-Dey!

C. Rah, rah, rah. Get behind the team.

D. The tickets are too pricey.

E. Frank Celeste hated baseball.   

6. When the Ohio Supreme Court first ruled that the state's system of funding public schools was unconstitutional, Voinovich's initial response was to:

A. cry

B. blame Dick Celeste and the Democrats

C. want to strip the court of its authority to determine what constitutes a constitutional school-funding plan

D. put out a contract on Paul Pfeifer and Andy Douglas

E. cry harder  

7. When the Ohio Supreme Court again ruled that the state's system of funding public schools was unconstitutional, Voinovich responded by:

A. accusing the OEA of being greedy

B. accusing Democrats of being greedy

C. accusing Pfeifer and Douglas of being Democrats

D. blaming Dick Celeste

E. appointing a commission   

8. When explaining his opposition to cap and trade legislation, Senator Voinovich said:

A. “They should call it crap and trade.”

B. “There is just a lot of crap in there.”

C. “Where did all this crap come from?’’

D. “Who gives a crap?’’

E. “If crap falls in the forest, and no one else is present, does it really make a smell?’’ 

Answers:

1. B (screw themselves)

2. A (bullsh*t)

3. D (endanger the life or property of another)

4. E (cried)

5. C (Rah, rah, rah. Get behind the team).

6. B (blame Dick Celeste and the Democrats ) and C (wanted to strip the court of its authority)

7. E. (appointing a commission)

8. B (There is just a lot of crap in there.)  

Non-Temper Bonus Question:

On the day of his inauguration as governor, a tuxedo-clad Voinovich signaled his desire to tighten the state's belt when he:

A. Sold inaugural mugs engraved with "Let's Work Harder and Smarter and Do More With Less.''

B. Gave free inaugural pencils stenciled with "Let's Work Harder and Smarter and Do More With Less.''

C. Signed an executive order to cap state spending.

D. Signed an executive order to cap tuition at public colleges.

E. Picked a penny out of a urinal.  

Answer to Bonus Question:

E. Picked a penny out of a urinal

Montgomery County Board of Elections members tied along party lines moments ago on determining what to do over State Sen. Jon Husted's residency.

A tie would head back to the Secretary of State.

More from PO's Bret Thompson who is on site later.

Hypocrisy Alert: Bill Harris and Ohio Republicans already voted for gambling without a vote of the people.

Back on May 25, 2007, Bill Harris and Ohio Senate Republicans voted for parimutual betting VLTs at Ohio Racetracks – without a vote of the people. The legislation was S.B. 125

The Senate Journal indicates the following votes:

Yes -- 25
Boccieri, Coughlin, Grendell, R Miller, Roberts, Smith, Harris, Cafaro, Fedor, Kearney, Morano, Sawyer, Spada, Cates, Gardner, Mason, Mumper, Shuler, Stivers, Clancy, Goodman, Miller D, Niehaus, Schuring, Wilson

Nays -- 8 Amstutz, Austria, Buehrer, Carey, Faber, Jacobson, Padgett, Schaffer

At the time Jim Siegel of the Columbus Dispatch quoted Senator Keith Fabor as saying "If it looks like a slot machine, rings like a slot machine, pays like a slot machine, it just might be a slot machine."

We’ll let you be the Judge by comparing VLTs and Slots. Click ‘em and don’t blink they sure look the same.

S.B. 125 failed in the House when Governor Ted Strickland threatened to veto the measure. Because of the recent economic crisis, he has reconsidered that position as the lesser of evils.

The question is, why is Bill Harris now opposed to expanded gambling at racetracks without a vote of the people when he was willing to do it two years ago?

Politics. What else when it comes to Ohio.

C’mon Bill – it was your idea in the first place!

Bill Harris is paralyzed by politics and therein lays the real budget stalemate.

In truth the old Marine, term-limited out after this session, is struggling to hold his troops with a fractionalized caucus divided among those more interested in political power, ideology and special interests than governance.

As a result, the congenial and devout old soldier has become the lamest of lame ducks.

• No taxes. Well what about stimulus from the federal government? Harris says stimulus money makes the budget “that much more difficult.”
• No slots. Well what about filling the new hole in Ohio’s budget. No says Harris, only if Strickland does it himself leaving investors wary.
• Cut government. Well what about the Governor’s continued cuts? Silence from Harris, who will not put forward his own cuts to offset the slots proposal.

The whole thing brings to mind another old soldier turned politician, named George McClellan who eventually ran against Lincoln. The President was continually perplexed that the Union Army McClellan led never fought – resulting in this famous quip:

My Dear McClellan:

If you are not using the army, I should like to borrow it for a short while.

Yours respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln

(Lincoln of course clobbered McClelland in the election of 1864 – long after he gave way to Ohio’s U.S. Grant, who had no compunction in using the Army.)

The reality is that Mr. Harris is not using the Ohio Senate to right the Ohio budget.

Reality check here: the Governor only has a veto pen. House Speaker Armand Budish is dancing a nifty tango without a partner, pirouetting through the thin air to the tune of Pari Sabety’s tin chorus.

The only way a budget can be reached – with cuts or revenue items – is if Bill Harris picks up his dance card, gives Budish a little balance and takes the lead.

Truth is only two short years ago, Mr. Harris and his Ohio Senate colleagues passed similar gambling legislation for different machines to be placed in Ohio without a vote of the people. It died in the Ohio House when a reluctant Governor, not facing the greatest budget challenge in 80 years, said he was not in favor of the proposal.

So why now such reluctance on Senator Harris and his minions -- politics what else.

For weeks in the weeds of the Statehouse, rumors have continued that this is about politics not people, and that the Machiavellian motivations of former Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and ORP Chair Kevin DeWine had forced Mr. Harris into a corner, a risky gambit to score points against the Governor by bleeding bad headlines month after month after month. It’s a strategy the likes of which haven’t been seen since Newt Gingrich got shanghaied by Bill Clinton’s pizza and Monica’s blue-dress crowd. Risky – you bet. You could get Gingriched here.

Harris has been afforded plenty of cover.  Weirdly, social service lobbyists were lilting pianissimo during the first two rounds of the budget, only to reach a jarring aria of triple fortissimo protest, as this budget catastrophe hit a crescendo – suddenly those last lines of defense for defenseless Ohioans have awoken with a G-force some see as too little, too late.

Group after group has awoken from the personal charm of legislative friendships to understand that in crisis there is a limit between friendship and business. Protestors hastily flock daily at the Statehouse – librarians, historians, mental health advocates, advocates for the poor and hungry, advocates for underprivileged children programs and charter schools and public schools, retirees concerned about pensions, home health care advocates for the elderly, health care advocates concerned about people being cut from care and even higher education.

Perhaps most laughable of all was a protest by nursing home owners wanting more of the shrunken pie than they already have taken.

(According to a Columbus Dispatch editorial titled “No Special Treatment”:

“The Senate's version of the budget provided nursing homes with $13.7 billion over four years, $1.2 billion more than Gov. Ted Strickland had recommended in his plan. Plus, senators inserted an annual rate increase for nursing homes, starting in 2013 -- a guarantee enjoyed by no other provider of Medicaid services.

But when Strickland subsequently proposed cutting their funding back to his original $12.5 billion, the industry went ballistic. The Skilled Nursing Care Coalition, representing nursing homes, issued a press release yesterday that said Strickland's cuts will result in job losses and mass closures of facilities for "frail elderly and disabled Ohioans.")

So while the Ohio Senate silently watches as parades of protestors trample the vaunted pristine turf of Dick Finan’s Capitol Square, inside Mr. Harris and his minions strategize in silence.

And it’s not only well-heeled nursing homes that somehow broke through Marine lines in the Senate.

The Associated Press reported earlier this week the the petroleum industry – no stranger to large profits – lubricated the Senate budget by exempting fuel distributors from paying the CAT tax – at a cost of $20 million to the State budget when nearly all other sectors were getting substantial cuts.

The fact is Mr. Harris is faced in his final budget with an increasingly political caucus.

Former Speaker “Cactus” Jon Husted – he of the zero water consumption in his district home - is running for Secretary of State. Along with Kevin Coughlin, a zero chance gubernatorial candidate, and the hyper partisan Mr. DeWine who are all more focused on power and the apportionment board than unemployed Ohioans.

Not to be outdone John “we don’t need no money to govern” Kasich pushes to increase Ohio’s dissension into the pits of Bush “economism” by abolishing $10 billion more through the elimination of the income tax. Along with Rob Portman, former Bush budget director, these are the Bush bumper sticker Republicans – power for power’s sake – state and country economy be damned. They make you pine for the days of Blackwellian TELs.

Then there are the Bill Seitz and Tim Grendell’s of the world. Once both considered the Neanderthal progeny’s of Conservative Bill Batchelder’s brand of Goldwater ideology – they are pragmatic, business-oriented, and market driven. Seitz in fact is the major proponent of slots, persuading the Governor to embrace a plan his Caucus has abandoned.

Finally there is the erstwhile Marine Bill Harris and his loyal and able sidekick Tom Niehaus – Chamber of Commerce Republicans. They are the town leaders we all have in our Rotary Clubs, believing in deep prayer, and small town values - the progeny of Paul Gillmor, Stan Aronoff and even ‘ole cementhead Dick Finan who knew when to hold em’ and when to fold em’ when politics and services met revenue needs.

I wandered through the hurtful pride of protestors last week, watching the fear in the eyes of many haunted by the lack of political will in the “People’s House.” The looming seat of power never seemed far from their hearts and minds – you could look at the Statehouse and almost see the problem.

Lobbyists stream by in pressed suits, brows furrowed with worry. With little or no revenue to play with even friendly legislators are powerless to help. It is all too little, too late – the time for such discussions long since lost in the backslapping of Statehouse politics gone awry.

In the Governor’s office to the left and the Speaker’s office to the right, lights burn through the evening storm clouds. The Legislative Chambers are empty; for this is the inside game and only three people truly make these decisions: one who can only erase the ink, one who is writing and one, Mr. Harris, who can’t seem to find his pen.

Faced with a Senate that will not consider revenue and seems inclined to play politics with any revenue proposal – even their own Bill Seitz’s beloved slots – cuts are Ted Strickland’s only alternative, unless and until Mr. Harris exerts his leadership. For even if the Governor did propose revenue increases, the Husted crowd would drown it in cries before watering it to nothing. Mr. Husted has discovered not only the faucet but Ohio’s drain.

Like it or not, Mr. Harris is in W’s skewed parlance “The Decider.” If only the old Marine can corral his political troops to silence the frightened masses who encircle the Statehouse these days.

And so as crowds rail and suits wail, and lives trail in this ultimate game of budget “Russian roulette”, I can think of no better way to spur the old Marine to action than by offering a slightly modified version of the Marine Prayer:

Almighty Father, whose command is over all and whose love never fails, make me aware of Thy presence and obedient to Thy will. Keep Mr. Harris true to his best self, guarding him against dishonesty in purpose in deed and helping him to live so that he can face his fellow Ohioans, his loved ones and Thee without shame or fear.

Protect our Ohio family. Give him the will to do the work of a servant and leader of power and to accept his share of responsibilities with vigor and enthusiasm. Grant him the courage to be proficient in his daily performance. Keep him loyal and faithful to his superiors, all 11.5 million of them, and to the duties of his state, country and the leadership of the State Senate that have been entrusted to him. Make him considerate of those committed to his leadership out here on this lawn. Help him to wear his title of power with dignity, and let it remind him daily of the traditions which he must uphold.

If he is inclined to doubt; steady his faith; if he is tempted by partisan politics, make him strong to resist; if he should miss the mark, give him the courage to try again. Guide him with the light of truth and grant him the wisdom by which he may understand the answer to our prayers. Amen.

And if prayers don’t work then this political gimmick of a “silent Senate” has done what even Mr. Husted and Mr. Harris had once decried.  They were part of the Statehouse elite that so nobly rose in 2006 against Ken Blackwell’s TEL provision. Have you let Ken Blackwell win after all?

So if you want to do more than pray than call Mr. Harris. Tell him if he’s not using the Senate, the people of Ohio would sure like to borrow it for a while.

UPDATE on Dr. Robert Brundage and activist who was seriously hurt after an assault in Toledo.

[Robert 's brother Dick asked me to update you all on Robert's progress. Robert is still on the respirator... He has been opening his eyes for brief periods when people talk to him and he has motor function of his limbs...He ocassionally moves his arm and feet and has been yawning as well...Several tests have been run and the results have yet to be determined.... Please keep Robert in your thoughts and prayers... Please communicate this update with folks in your network... I will send you further updates as they become available...thanks... Joe]

We should all take some time today to remember the sacrifices many Ohioans voluntarily take in an effort to improve our neighbors lives.

Our PO friend Bob Lynn from Toledo's Jobs with Justice sent the following disturbing news about a progressive activist assaulted on his way home from an activist meeting:

Dear Brian,

I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, however one of our friends and activists, Dr. Robert Brundage (Dr. Bob) was seriously hurt yesterday and is now in ICU at St. Vincent Hospital.

Dr. Bob was accosted as he was riding his bicycle after leaving our monthly meeting. He was knocked off the bicycle, hit his head (he was wearing a helmet) and became unconscious.

Many of our members were there immediately after the incident and assisted him. He is on life support and has internal bleeding in the head.

The doctors say that the outlook is grim. A few of our friends visited him yesterday evening and spoke to him in the hopes that he could hear them or feel their presence. We are not ready to give up even though we are cognizant of reality.

Thanks to the efforts of Amjad Doumani - Executive Director of Community Shares and others, there will be a vigil today at 6:00 p.m. at the Collingwood Arts Center in the Theatre. The Collingwood Arts Center is at 2413 Collingwood Blvd in the Old West End.

Please be there if you can make it and let us focus our energies and love to what hopefully will be a full recovery.

In sadness, Bob Lynn Jr

If you are in Toledo this evening please try to attend the vigil.

If not keep the good Doctor in your prayers.