ProgressOhio

David Brooks, a thoughtful conservative columnist, makes a strong case against Palin for VP.

I found it insightful and hoped others would, too:

My worry about Palin is that she shares McCain’s primary weakness — that she has a tendency to substitute a moral philosophy for a political philosophy.

There are some issues where the most important job is to rally the armies of decency against the armies of corruption: Confronting Putin, tackling earmarks and reforming the process of government.

But most issues are not confrontations between virtue and vice. Most problems — the ones Barack Obama is sure to focus on like health care reform and economic anxiety — are the product of complex conditions. They require trade-offs and policy expertise. They are not solvable through the mere assertion of sterling character.

I know I get outraged daily, but I think this is the most outraged I've been. I found a story in the Portsmouth Daily Times on the payday lenders.

It liberally quotes payday spokesperson Kim Norris peddling some of the biggest lies I've seen in a long time.

The lies aren't the worst part. The worst part is that she peddled it to a newspaper in one of the poorest regions of the state because she knows that the bigger papers have the staff necessary to call her out on her BS. Let's look at some of the bigger lies:

"In a nutshell, it (the proposed referendum) repeals Section 3 of House Bill 545, but still allows for short-term loans at 28 percent," said Kim Norris of the Reject House Bill 545 Committee.

Norris said Rogers rejected the organization's first two proposals - saying the first was too short and the second, too long. "It felt like the three little bears," Norris said. "But she did accept our third proposal." ...

"We have to go out and get signatures, but an attorney general cannot impede the process. That argument is still under way," she said.

"Yesterday, she rejected that one but approved this other summary, so we're moving ahead with our summary that she approved."

In a nutshell, here is what they are REALLY doing: They are trying to kill the part of the reform that banned them from charging you 391% interest. In other words, they want to keep screwing the poor by charging them 391% interest when they are so desperate that they take out a payday loan.

Now about the Three Bears comment. Nancy Rogers did not say one was too short and one was two long. She said neither was a "fair and truthful'' statement. In other words, each was UNFAIR and NOT TRUTHFUL.

Having the state's top lawyer accuse you of lying is a lot different than having her accuse you of being too wordy or too brief.

And finally, the attorney general is NOT impeding the process. She is doing her job.

Ohio law REQUIRES the attorney general to decide if a petition summary is fair and truthful. 

If the payday guys don't want to slow down the process, they have the option of writing a fair and truthful summay. They control their own destiny.

These guys are amazing.

In today's Akron Beacon Jounral there is an interesting column from the head of the Ohio Manufacturers' Association about the electricity re-regulation bill, SB 221.

Here's the part I found to be most persuasive:

Senate Bill 221 would give the PUCO additional tools to redress reliability issues. As voters evaluate the merits of SB 221, they should closely examine who has lined up for and against it.

More than 100 businesses, consumer groups and trade associations support this bill. Supporters include the Cleveland Clinic, which experienced an average of seven power outages per quarter last year; DuPont, where persistent power failures prompted the company's Global Business Director to take a portion of the Circleville facility out of consideration for future expansion; Alcoa, which closed an aluminum smelter in Maryland after skyrocketing electricity prices made the plant no longer cost effective; and Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy, a group that helps low-income residential customers with their heating bills and is watching demand for its services hit an all-time high.

The much shorter list of opponents consists mainly of two groups that stand to make even more money if the rate caps expire: Ohio's politically potent electric utilities, and their allies, the electric marketers. Senate Bill 221 is backed by Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat. It passed the Republican-ruled Ohio Senate by a vote of 32-0.

Full Article Here > >

Electric bills paid by everyone is Ohio will nearly double unless legislators pass a bill that will bring price stability to the rates.

The governor announced his plan last year, and the Ohio Senate passed a modified version of it months ago. Now, the bill is stuck in the Ohio House where the Republican Speaker is playing a game of chicken with the Democratic governor -- and where the Speaker continues to collect millions from the well-funded electric utilities.

On Sunday, The Plain Dealer chided the Speaker and urged him to pass a good bill -- and pass one quickly.

I can hear it now: "We're just supporting the political process.''

That's often code for, "I'm donating to you with the hope that you'll do what I say.''

In this case, the donors are the payday lending crowd -- the people who engage in legal loan sharking but act as if they're doing the little guy a favor by temporarily putting money in his pocket.

Today's Columbus Dispatch tells us that House candidate John Rabenold -- not a sitting member -- raked in more campaign cash than all but three other House candidates. The three who received more are sitting members.

More astonishing than the total is the source. Of the $176,000 Rabenold collected, more than half ($90,000) came from the payday lenders.

The newspaper reported:

Rabenold is making strong use of his business connections. A vice president in CNG Financial Corp. (Check ’n Go), he has taken in more than $90,000 from the payday lending industry since the start of the year.

"I figured people were going to beat me up for taking dollar one from some of these companies," he said. "But I still need the resources to be successful, and they stepped up."

A Senate member in the 1990s, Rabenold also has former Senate President Richard H. Finan of Cincinnati as his campaign’s honorary chairman. One veteran Republican called Rabenold "the golden one" as Hamilton County looks for another GOP leader in the House to replace the likes of Reps. Bill Seitz and Michelle G. Schneider, who will reach their term limits in 2008.

Even Rabenold said he was surprised by his total take.

"I thought $50,000 would be a good goal to start, and I had a personal goal of $100,000," he said. "The phone kept on ringing. I kept on calling, and people were real comfortable with me."

Does he really think they did this because they are "comfortable'' with him?

I have a suggestion to the media: Why don't you comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. 

Payday lending has to be stopped. 

A new report shows -- once again -- that several publicly funded Education Management Organizations (EMOs) won't give researchers information about their finances.

I guess public funding is one thing, but public scrutiny is quite another.

And manners? Those are about as popular as scrutinty.

Researchers said that the Ohio-based White Hat Management was so reluctant to provide information that an employee answering the phone at their corporate headquarters refused to provide even her name before hanging up on an ASU researcher.

The study is called "Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations: 2006-2007" and it was released today by the Arizona State University Commercialism in Education and Education Policy Research Units.

The data collected in the report suggest that the number of charter schools overall has increased and the number of EMO-run charter schools has stabilized or declined slightly. The number of students enrolled in charter schools has shown a slight decrease.

See Also:

SHADOWS ON HIGH: Are Our Kids For Sale?

Two of the more vocal Republican bloggers, Matt Naugle at RAB, and Mark from WMD, have a disagreement about Ken Blackwell's decision to step in and help his fellow Cincinnati right-wing friends try and keep the strip club referendum off the ballot.

According to Matty:

"Citizens for Community Values just put a new radio ad on the air, which talks about the stripping and sex industry’s efforts to lie to voters in hopes that they sign a petition for a ballot issue that would reverse the recent strip club ban that was signed into law by Gov. Strickland.''

Aside from the fact that Strickland did not sign it into law but let it become law without his signature, Matt deviates from his previous denouncements of the nanny state and insists he's doing this because the organization fighting the law is using deceptive tactics.

While those hoping to repeal the law have had some minor problems with petition circulators -- which they've fired -- CCV has a history of deception on this topic, including getting caught lying to a legislative committee.

The Columbus Dispatch broke the story:

Representatives of a conservative Cincinnati-based group pushing for stricter strip-club regulations have assured Ohio lawmakers that eight other states have implemented similar laws.

But a check of those states by The Dispatch found only one, Tennessee, that has enacted a state law resembling the combination of restrictions proposed by Citizens for Community Values.

The man who told the whopper wasn't just some guy who doesn't know the law. He was CCV lawyer Scott Bergtold. When the high-priced lawyer got caught giving out bum information, CCV didn't fire him.

When the low-priced circulators screwed up, they did get fired. It's called accountability.  

But the real news is the decision by Mark at WMD to take on Blackwell and CCV President Phil Burress. He sums it up nicely:

And given all the kookery we have seen over the years from Phil and the CCV, you are just going to take them at their word? Just like Blackwell took Bennett at his word? Not good choices in either case. This type of moral grandstanding over true issues like the budget, our infrastructure, or defense, and the erodation of the culture in the urban communities are why people get turned off the conservatives and republicans. Instead of focusing on these, the most devisive issues, why can’t we do as Reagan did and focus on the issues and run on the issues both social and fiscal conservatives agree on, then win, then argue once we have won. No, instead, we beholden ourselves to the deep but mentally imbalanced pockets of groups like the CCV. I was with them on the issue of the maplethorpe exhibits and others, but doing what they are doing to the already heavily regulated adult industry is silly and smacks of the type of big brotherism we often accuse the left of.

It's also the type of Big Brotherism that Blackwell often railed against.

See Also: 

Who Can You Trust? CCV or The Dancers For Democracy?

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Hurt Their Cause

Brunner to Appoint Special Counsel in CCV Probe

ProgressOhio's Dave Harding is usually first to post what's in the news but he must be hesitant to toot his own horn and link to a national story that features he and some other prominent Ohio bloggers.

In the second installment of a series on Ohio bloggers, Campaigns & Elections talks about what's hot in Ohio -- and how ProgressOhio is expanding:

One of the state's largest online political communities, ProgressOhio, seeks to organize progressive groups on a local level. Dave Harding, who runs the site's blog, says the non-profit is careful to avoid coordination with the party nowadays.

The site, which Harding says has over a quarter of a million members, is as likely to post items about Ohio health care issues as the presidents' approval ratings. The group provides organizing tools for a myriad of progressive groups. The focus, says Harding, is issue advocacy and becoming part of the day-to-day news cycle.

"I think we're going to see an increase in the number of people who get their news from the blogging community," Harding said. "With the new technology, it's ever-expanding."

The piece also highlights some of the recent reporting down by Buckeye State Blog, which it calls the "starting point for any Democratic political junkie in Ohio.''

BSB is credited with focusing lots of attention on the race for Columbus mayor, which features popular incumbent Michael Coleman against GOP newcomer Bill Todd, a local lawyer who is best known for failing to keep the Ohio Chamber of Commerce from running illegal political ads.

The Chamber's troubles began when it raised money and paid for political ads (it said they were issue-advocacy'' spots) against Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick.

While BSB gently pokes at the mainstream media for not doing more on the mayor's race, there is a non-sinister explanation for it: It's not considered to be much of a race.

To read Campaigns & Elections first installment, click here. 

Poll workers are supposed to be helpful, non partisan -- the kind of people who take the day off for the good of democracy, then work in church halls or neighborhood centers and help make sure our elections run smoothly.

Leave to Right to Life to try and politicize and polarize -- then cry foul when it gets caught.

According to the Dayton Daily News:

Dayton Right to Life is recruiting people to work the polls on Election Day, telling them they'll be allowed to wear shirts bearing the anti-abortion group's name and asking them to donate the $95 the county pays them to the organization, according to Christi Dodson, executive director.

The plan has voter rights advocates outraged and the Montgomery County Board of Elections planning to reconsider allowing any logos on clothing worn by the people who work at the polls.

"You don't want people with a political ax to grind wearing their politics on their shirt in the polling place," said Ellis Jacobs, senior attorney for Dayton-based Advocates for Basic Legal Equality.

"I think the secretary of state is going to need to weigh in because this undermines the neutrality of election workers."

 While the article is very well done, the on-line comments are priceless. Here's just a couple:

I don’t know who Christi Dodson thinks she’s kidding. Her organization never does anything that isn’t calculated to draw attention and convert people to their viewpoint. I’m a pollworker and pro-choice. If Dayton Right to Life T-shirts are okay, then my ProChoice Ohio T-shirt should be okay, too. If it’s not, they’ll have to find another worker.

 Sure, just as long as I can wear my MFSO shirt saying “Bring the Troops Home, Now!”. Actually, it’s hard enough to sit with 2 morons…er, republicans as it is. I’m sure there would be fireworks between the anti-abortion and anti-war folks.

Chime in PO readers. Tell the DDN what you think. 

State officials reacted too slowly to the theft of a data backup tape, losing their best chance of recovering the tape that contained the names and Social Security numbers of more than 800,000 taxpayers.

That's the conclusion of a new report, issued Friday afternoon, by Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles.

According to the Plain Dealer:

Officials didn't immediately tell police the significance of the theft from an intern's car June 10 even though they knew sensitive personnel information was on the tape, according to a report issued by Charles on Friday.

"This strikes us as akin to waiting to put out the fire until you discover the cause of the flames," the report said.

The data debacle is expected to cost the state more than $2 million, mostly the cost of enrolling individuals in an identify theft protection program.

Charles recommended disciplinary action against state workers responsible for losing the tape, for failing to tell police the significance, for downplaying the seriousness to supervisors and for failing to insure that sensitive data was removed from the computer drive that was backed up on the tape.

The report also criticized state officials for ceding too much authority and decision-making to private contractors involved in a massive state computer project related to the theft. It also said "a complete breakdown in the reporting chain" led to delays in key officials becoming aware of the theft.

Gov. Ted Strickland wasn't told of it until four days after it was reported to police.

Backed into a corner and fearing the loss of more GOP support in the Senate, the oh-so-secretive Bush White House invited a platoon of legislators to the White House and offered what AP is calling "unusual access'' to top military and diplomatic advisers.

While this might make a nifty picture, does anyone really think will result in anything positive? To read the entire story, click here.

Bush is just stalling for more time so his daddy can host the upcoming scheduled fund raiser for Ohio's own George Voinovich and he can continue to pray for a Plan B -- or is this the Plan C?

The headline is not a typo.

The self-described compassionate conservative today rejected entreaties by his Republican allies that he compromise with Democrats to renew the popular SCHIP, or State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Bush blurted out his goofy position during an interview with the Washington Post:

The president objects on philosophical grounds to a bipartisan proposal to expand the program, known as SCHIP, by $35 billion over five years, saying that would expand it beyond its target population of low-income children and enlarge the role of the federal government.

He has proposed $5 billion in increased funding and has threatened to veto the Senate compromise and a more costly expansion of the program being contemplated in the House.

"I support the initial intent of the program," the president said in an interview with The Washington Post following a factory tour and discussion on health care with small-business owners in Landover. "My concern is that when you expand eligibility . . . you're really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government."

 Can you believe the same guy who wiped out the surplus, ballooned the defense department budget, was forced to help rebuild New Orleans, threw buckets of money at an abstinence program that doesn't work and handed oil producers record subsidies has the stones to complain that health care for kids will enlarge the role of the federal government?

SCHIP is 10 years old and is set to expire Sept. 30. It costs the federal government $5 billion a year and helps provide health coverage to 6.6 million low-income children whose families don't qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford insurance on their own.

Under the proposed changes, about 3.3 million additional children would be covered.

Maybe we should scrap the whole program and send the kids to Cuba for their health care. If you don't get the Cuba crack, go see Sicko.

Strange as is ''odd,'' rather than dissimilar.

Rep. Tom Brinkman and the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform are in bed again, figuratively, of course.

Brinkman has introduced his annual ban-all-abortions bill -- even though it won't pass and if it did, it would get struck down even by this liberty-snubbing Supreme Court.

This session, it's HB 284. 

According to Gongwer, Brinkman won praise from the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.

With a name like that, one would assume that the Center deals with issues such as stem cell research or genetic testing. Nope. This is the same group that flies banners of fetal parts over major cities in its efforts to crusade against abortion.

They did it during last year's governor's race in Ohio -- and they're doing it in other states.

Is it me, or are these folks down-right weird? Think of carbon footprint they are leaving, the children they are scaring and the money they are wasting. It's mind-boggling.

I hope their efforts to ban abortion are as successful as their efforts to elect Ken Blackwell as governor.

We hear the lip service a lot: Our senior citizens are valued, respected and deserve the best. But our society has not valued home health care workers who are often primary care givers for our elderly.

Gov. Ted Strickland changed that today when he signed an executive order that allows home health care workers to bargain collectively.

From the governor's office:

“Establishing collective bargaining rights for independent home health care workers will ensure that, as we expand choices for Ohio's seniors and disabled citizens, we have a qualified workforce to support their long-term care needs,” Strickland said.

“My administration is committed to ensuring quality all along the continuum of care.” The executive order gives approximately 7,000 independent home health care workers in Ohio the opportunity to select a bargaining representative. Establishing collective bargaining rights will improve access to proper training and effective representation when negotiating for work-related benefits, and provide a method for voicing work-related concerns.

“Providing home health care workers with the same opportunity as their counterparts in nursing home facilities to voice concerns and negotiate rates and benefits will further professionalize this vital part of Ohio’s growing health care workforce,” said Strickland.

I can almost hear the critics: This big government. This is pandering to the unions. This is anti-free market.

Hey, what's that about the elderly?

Just when it appeared as if no one was listening, the No Child Left Behind Law is undergoing a re-write to fix some of the many flaws that have been identified.

The law requires yearly testing of many primary and secondary students and punishes schools that don't meet certain benchmarks. Educators complain that it fails to provide especially struggling schools with the resources needed to hit the benchmarks and its emphasis on testing encourages the most seasoned teachers to work only in academically promising districts, not the struggling ones that can benefit from the best teachers.

The Boston Globe explains the latest:

The original authors of the bill, Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Representative George Miller, are looking at a slew of changes, including expanding the way "adequate yearly progress" is calculated, so schools that barely miss the testing thresholds are not put in the same failing category as schools with across-the-board learning problems.

Other proposals include giving schools more time to improve test scores before schools are forced to take corrective action.

"Everything's up for review," said Miller , Democrat of California and chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "I've always said I was the proud co author of No Child Left Behind. . . . Now, I'm determined to be the proud author of a No Child Left Behind that works."

Kennedy, who worked closely with President Bush in writing the law, has for years said the much-reviled measure would work if the administration provided the money schools need to develop good tests and help struggling students, especially those in poorer school districts.

But the Massachusetts Democrat said in a Globe interview that he now believes the law itself must be changed as well. Many of the presidential candidates in both parties have called for changes in the law, and several -- including Democratic Senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Hillary Clinton of New York, and Barack Obama of Illinois -- have introduced legislation.

Time is running out to make the changes because the law is up for re-authorization this year.

To read the Globe's entire article, click here.