Brian Rothenberg's Blog

In the Shadows of Denver - Day 4: Stephanie's Long Goodbye

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:31:37 EDT

As conventions ebb and flow, Day 4 breeds familiarity.

Suits give way to sport coats, which give way to open colors and finally to shorts in today’s informal world (except Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory who I long ago concluded likely has pajamas with coat and tie.)

It was that atmosphere that actually seemed appropriate for the Democratic delegations family goodbye to Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Remembering STJ requires smiles and laughter – that was in essence Stephanie.

The Ohio delegation laughed, cried and even sang when remembering the one Ohio politician that took over a room without saying a word. Lee Fisher’s son put together a moving tribute from past footage and STJs son Mervyn who had been in town earlier this week left a video message for the Ohio delegation. You could see even in two dimensional video how she lifted the energy level of the room.

Many delegates will return home on Friday and face the busy realities of Ohio politics right off the bat. The memorial at Cleveland Public Hall for Tubbs Jones will attract not only the Democratic ticket and most Ohio political luminaries, but many Congressional leaders of both parties as well.

Tonight in Dayton, John McCain arrives in economically hard hit Dayton to anoint his ticket at a large rally on Friday morning.

After the Tubbs Jones Memorial Ohio will see the Obama ticket in Columbus.

If there is any doubt that Ohio is once again the heart of electoral politics – it is wiped away by the furious pace of conventions and politicking back in the Buckeye state. The race is on and the pace is fast.

Republicans packing for Minneapolis next week are equally taxed preparing for their own dual spotlight of conventioneering and McCain appearances.

And for the rest of Ohio they are targets as much as bemused bystanders. The negative ads began in July and will only pick up a faster, nastier and more furious pace.

From targeted mail and phone calls, to marketing programs aimed at clear demographics – Ohioans in their living rooms await an onslaught earlier and more costly than even 2004.

John McCain has to win Ohio. And it may not be as numerically necessary but Barak Obama’s path is much clearer with Ohio than without Ohio.

Everywhere you go in Denver, when someone hears you are from Ohio they stop you and ask how things can be different in Ohio this time around.

And the irony of all of this is that the one Ohio Pol who most enjoyed a good spirited campaign, the one who always seemed tireless, will not be there to enjoy it.

So amidst the tears and laughter at the memorial to Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Ohioans are in search of that adrenalin rush, the cheerleader in Stephanie that somehow made volunteering or working in politics fun.

A cab driver here in Denver told me his theory of energy which extends beyond just machinery but within people – emotional energy, spiritual energy and physical energy.

Little did he know that he more than anyone defined what Stephanie Tubbs Jones meant to the Ohio delegation during the hyper-kinetic days of campaigns like 2004. Somehow that smile and optimism lifted the energy level around her.

If those in Denver are to achieve their goal, they are going to have to replace that spark from within. Then and only then will they find solace in Stephanie’s long goodbye.

In the Shadows of Denver - Day 3

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:40:42 EDT

It’s finally over. Or was it over in Iowa. For Barak Obama in reality had a cyber convention long before this week’s show in Denver.

Not since the 1968 dramatic primary of Lyndon Johnson’s surprise announcement, MLK and RFK slain in violence, Eugene McCarthy and finally Hubert Humphrey has the Democratic Party withstood a long tough primary.

But unlike 1968 the voice of change emerged – largely from new technology. A well-funded Hillary-Bill Clinton machine, steeped in traditional politics, planned for four years and set the table for four years, only to be done in by a social convention in bytes and bits online.

Where Humphrey had a party machine, Barak Obama used new media masterfully, re-wrote the primary script, the fundraising script and thus created a new ending.

And it ushers in a very new era in politics – a different historical moment than that talked about most often in Denver this week. The rule-book of organizing and politics is changed forever.

From the obvious that a Bush or a Clinton will not reside on Pennsylvania Avenue for the first time since 1988, to the two million online donors Obama has reportedly attracted on-line – the dynamics of national politics changed forever today, when Hillary Clinton graciously and exuberantly sealed her unanimous support of Obama’s legendary primary.

Two million on-line donors change forever the dynamics of influence in politics.

Where Obama surely pulls in special interest and corporate donations – they are not a reliant lobby – not when you have an online well of $2 million one dollar donations waiting in the well.

Using the same Blue State Digital technology that ProgressOhio uses and an arsenal of creative out-of-the-box thinking, Obama was able to change even the way in which people can organize their support.

Whether the MyObama social networking that triumphed in Iowa or the creative text-message announcement of his Vice Presidential nominee, Obama managed to do what few progressives have done – merge the grassroots door-to-door model of organizing with the online tools that drop in our lives every day.

The “old” Saul Illinsky style of door to door organizing which a young Obama learned on the streets of Chicago merged with the tools of organizing groups, blogging, email, texting and user generated participation. It’s no longer one style or the other. Barak Obama merged the two.

Where Clinton managed to use the tools of old organizing in large states like Ohio, Obama did the unthinkable and chipped away state by state in places that had not seen a primary Presidential candidate since 1968.

In Pac-man like fashion he blew up Iowa and super-Tuesday and rolled into unlikely places like Idaho with huge crowds and along the way created a community of believers instead of a patchwork campaign of coalitions.

And Wednesday evening, in an ode to the new politic, the old-fashioned roll call never even finished as Hillary Rodham Clinton nominated Obama by acclimation – a formality thanks to the organizing efforts online.

The McCain campaign with its parody of the Obama movement shouting Obama, Obama, Obama seems to be headed toward the same misunderstanding as the Clinton campaign when it comes to the Obama movement. This isn’t driven by Obama or handlers; it is driven by people not at rally’s but reading email, chatting online, at the office and at home. It involves Americans who have not participated in the process and may never do so outside their homes.

Indeed in Ohio, it even attracted Ohio’s acting Attorney General Nancy Hardin Rogers and her husband who left his law firm to help the Obama campaign – the significance – both had father’s who served in Republican Richard Nixon’s cabinet. It is a deep-rooted community that transcends the norm.

As I sit in Denver I file this story from the two story Big Tent filled with bloggers and legitimate journalists. Videos stream live onto the internet to be posted and emailed back home. Newspapers struggle in the electronic age while blogging alongside volunteer bloggers and folks like us at ProgressOhio. None of this existed in Boston four years ago after a brief glimpse of possibility in Howard Dean’s fledgling 2004 campaign that seems like Jurassic Park with today’s advances.

It remains to be seen how things will play out in two months. Will states like Ohio that still have machines and organizations trump the on-line effectiveness of Obama? Or will Obama’s appeal in the new west of Colorado, Montana, Nevada and New Mexico and the reformed south of formerly lost states like Virginia change the script that seems headed for the Buckeye state, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Will negative television keep the race tight? Will John McCain have a Howard Dean moment that many predict or fear? Will race rear an ugly head? And more to the point will race even matter?

As recently as last month a gutter-level anti-Semitic add in an ugly Memphis, Tennessee primary largely back-fired or more to the point was ignored in an 80% to 20% victory against such ugly tactics.

And with a community of over two million funders, who are also activists, Sen. McCain will face the same unwritten script as the Clinton campaign – how and whether he can adjust to the electronic unknown can and will make a difference in a tight state such as Ohio as the negative attacks counter each other and swing voters bask in confusion.

It is often said the netroots has yet to win the big-one much like Ohio State in the last two National Title games – but Barak Obama is the netroots and this time the big-one was won – not the biggest one, but close to it.

The fact of the matter is that if Barak Obama is able to pull off a victory in November, the sheer size of his organized community will help him govern in a fashion that will allow him to cut loose a funder or lobby on issues that cause gridlock.

The way in which he cobbled this victory together will impact the way in which he has the freedom to govern. It may perhaps be the one thing that can break our nation’s dreaded gridlock that prevents a national government from moving forward socially and economically.

But all of it matters only if the Obama community does not scare off a Middle America that may be increasingly exposed to new technology, but is also decidedly dowdy in style. That in essence is what John McCain’s supporters were conveying in their Paris Hilton celebrity ad.

The nation has embraced netroots through Obama mania, but in the end the price of victory for Barak Obama may just be convincing the netroots to embrace the nation in places like Ohio.

Of course, Barak Obama has faced this before in integrating old school organizing with new technology. The question is whether he can integrate old school Middle America moderate social politics with his new found community of vocal change. Polling is on Obama’s side.

The question is can he merge competing traditions old and new once again. And for that he needs his two million strong community to embrace a stodgy nation into his community rather than allow the McCain campaign to isolate and scare the cusp of victory away.

In The Shadows of Denver Day 2

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:02:13 EDT

As the sun rose over the Rockies, weary revelers emerged state by state in host hotels bleary and at times teary over the emotional night at the Pepsi Center last evening.

Day 2 in Denver for Ohioans began with memories of Ted Kennedy's surprise speech; the old liberal lion had come perhaps to say "Thank You" to a mass of Democrats mostly born after his brother and even after his historic but conflicted 1980 run for the roses.

The video didn't come out as I'd hoped and wasn't posted, but Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan summed up emotionally what it really meant to Ohio. Hagan had recently visited the "old lion" at his home in Hyannis and spoke of the eternal optimism of Ted Kennedy. Dennis Kucinich in a video we posted spoke of the importance to the progressive movement of Sen. Kennedy.

Elsewhere as newspapers speculated about Stephanie Tubbs Jones replacement, delegates were whispering – uncertain how to proceed until Saturday's memorial service. Most including those being speculated about – are torn between the discomfort of the Congressional opening, and the uncertainty of how to proceed.

Joe Hewitt, STJs longtime communication advisor was passing out buttons in her memory – less than a week after having to conduct one of the most complicated press conferences in Cleveland history as the Congresswoman lay mortally wounded yet still fighting on during one of Cleveland's darkest days.

Elsewhere, Tuesday was the day that progressives and Democrat's began to discuss just what Obama mania change is and will be. In part, it has to do with message planning. But in reality the events at the Pepsi Center from both Michelle Obama and Ted Kennedy changed dynamics among delegates.

From Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison panel discussion of a "new" new deal at the U S Action appearance at the Big Tent to Leo Girard passionately quoting from Ronald Reagan's Chairman of his Economic Council Advisor's concern over trade policy and the lack of a U.S. manufacturing base – Tuesday was the day that brought glimpses of a reality check to tomorrows euphoria of a fresh new face of hope unseen since the 1992 election.

Progressives no longer speak of hope in future tense – they live and breathe ideas for a new Congress and a new White House from a weary nation besieged economically and over war. Maybe over-confidence, but conventions breed such hope. Only Howard Dean was there to remind Ohio delegates of the hard work ahead.

As a city, there is still little site of the vagaries of Denver life hidden from view by City leaders showing their best face. One observant attendee noted the "vanilla" look around the downtown area – not in a negative way, but rather a knowing glance. A former Clevelander now a Denverite pointed out that much like in the City by the lake there is more economic segregation than racial segregation of population – but segregation in any name is a battle not yet won – even with the historic Obama nomination.

It's not quite China, but there is a certain hypocrisy that some far left groups rightfully point out – nevertheless Denver officials have put on quite a show.

Over at the Big Tent celebrity sightings included a sighting of Katie Couric in the second floor interview room section of the ProgressNow, Sustainable Colorado facility. Out on a sidewalk talking with an Ohio politico, former Florida Senator and presidential candidate Bob Graham stopped to chat joking about a wager over turnout in Florida and Ohio. Ironically Sen. Graham lamented the Florida delegation was located way off-site – just eight years removed from being the center of the Democratic universe which is perhaps a pre-cursor to come from the Ohio heyday of the last two conventions given the potential loss of Congressional seats and electoral votes. Curses, of course, the power in my phone had drained. Graham is always a good video.

A beaming Lee Fisher seen on video, had obvious pride over his son's "SwingState" documentary filmed during the 2006 election. Rich Cordray seemingly everywhere interviewing others for his own online effort.

Jennifer Brunner fresh off a New York Times accolade addressed the delegates. Relaxed, a table full of State Representatives tells the tale of meeting Willie Nelson who gave out free CDs. The Big Tent guest list includes Ben Affleck. Delegates chatter about celebrity sightings throughout town. Rich Trumka Secretary Treasurer of the AFL is kind enough to stop for an interview – as does Leo Gerard.

Security is still tight. Last night and today military vehicles roam and security clad teams of men in black riot gear patrol down the streets, eerily reminding us all of the dangers of today's world. As they march it is an eerie police state feeling – but their cadence fades quickly among the chatter of sidewalk cafes throughout Denver.

Protesters seem sparser and spread farther out of the perimeter.

Some roads are closed. Denver cab drivers notoriously slow to respond are moving at an even slower pace. After oversleeping and waiting for a cab, I hail instead the Motel 6 super who gives me a lift in his truck downtown to the delegate hotel.

Governor Strickland spoke to the California delegate breakfast and had his evening DNC speech moved twice until he was close to the coveted prime time spot – first from 4:30 to 7:45 and then to 9:45. He plans to discuss the need for infrastructure much as US Action speaks of ideas to finally tackle Health care, strengthening education, investing in clean energy and seeking independence from foreign oil.

The Curtis Hotel is filled with politicos, staffers, delegates, bloggers including Jeff Coryell, and Nick and Dave from Buckeye State blog.

There seemed to be a bigger sense of purpose Tuesday morning. After years of Bush administration misplaced priorities, there is a reality descending on Denver on the cost both in deficit and lives in our neighborhoods and abroad. Perhaps a certain sense of yet to be fulfilled destiny – where the stubborn priorities of a nation and a Congress in gridlock will finally end.

There is a glimpse of a movement brewing, a shift from the reactionary defensiveness of responding to the Bush agenda – to the realization that America will undoubtedly have a new agenda which brings a certain optimism.

Change is inevitable given the stubbornly out of touch White House. But defining what American's believe in – the rest of the Obama mantra – will ultimately determine where the Obama family resides next January 20.

Tuesday was a day of sustainable ideas – something long missing in the progressive discourse of an American future dominated by pox Bush status quo.

If the message masters succeed, delegates on Wednesday and Thursday will move on to the difficult task of convincing Americans that the ideas are real, the dreams are within reach, and the goods can and will be delivered.

Ironies abound in politics, and though the odds are that the "old Lion" might not make it to a promised land fulfilled, his brave optimism injected a sense of purpose to the wonkish side of the convention.

Sustaining it through November is not the "old lion's" challenge – that baton was passed by a brave progressive icon who fearlessly faced the future of ideas last night without regard to his own.

In The Shadows of Denver Day 1

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:08:05 EDT

The jewel of the New West is a mass of humanity focused on one unique energy force -- Obama.

What were once old warehouses made famous in Kerouac's dusty novels and Neal Cassidy's trysts are now the miracle of the new west with condos, sports arenas and trendy restaurants along the 16th Street mall (a pedestrian only road that spans the middle of the City from the Statehouse to LoDo filled with trendy shops and stores.)

But the genteel west, which has a certain slow lingering charm and even a cowboy hat or two is replaced with Democrats who have come to witness history, and more to the point to change it.

It seems somehow fitting that the West which always had a certain openness toward race stretching back to the Old West Cowboys – opens America's arms to the new generation of America. Barak Obama is more than just the history buzzing about the City – it is more than just about this election – it is a generational shift where acceptance and toleration in American politics has changed.

Denver to be sure has its Fellini moments this week. Preachers praying for Democrats, Obama's and Gays with a fervor of disapproval and disdain that somehow seems insincere to the Judeo-Christian traditions they espouse.

A few, though not many, zealous Hillary fanatics riding around in a gas-guzzling Hummer protesting Hillary's demise. The Phelpsists – famous for protesting Mathew Sheppard's funeral and American soldiers funerals with a hateful anti-gay zealousness out in full force.

Taking public transportation into the City Center Denver is a microcosm of the America Obama or McCain will face – the haves versus have nots – ever apparent in Denver with the exploding demographic changes, ex-urban blight outside the gleaming center city – all far from the populous.

A hop out on my ride down Federal Boulevard to a food bank reveals the same poverty as Ohio's food banks, but with different ethnic faces. The City's Mayor even passed out Theatre tickets to the homeless in hopes of showing a different side of the City. But outside the Center City – Denver is as America is – a City struggling with common problems as Cleveland, Cincinnati or Columbus. There just seem to be more haves here on the money side.

This is the change the bus riders on Federal Boulevard wish for in Denver. There is a buzz – a certain pride not just in hosting the convention evident on the bus– but in the very real hope that the threshold Barak Obama breaks on Thursday night – is a threshold even for them. They speak about it with strangers. One mother told me, her child in the stroller next to her was the next Hispanic Obama as we both smile and chuckle in the euphoric atmosphere. What Obama means to them may mean nothing for their current lives– but rather for their sons and daughters – Hispanic, native American, African-American and even poor White's have a different pride in what Denver is doing this week.

Outside the eyes of the nation focus on Invesco Field Thursday, and you find that Conventions don't really matter. Lobbyists fly in this week for both the informal access a State Delegation home hotel brings and the parties and sponsorships they bare. Many will be in Minneapolis next week as well. Some are even former GOP Ohio operatives. Such is life in politics.

Perks are in the little things. Did you get a room at the Curtis (the official Ohio hotel) do you have the coveted delegate pass, if not an alternate pass, or even an honored guest pass for the hallway which is better than a distinguished guest pass elsewhere in the Pepsi Center. Aide's scramble. Some longtime loyalist Democrats grumble about far off accommodations while lobbyists get coveted delegate rooms at the Curtis – but that is the price paid for free drinks and food all over town. (PO as a c3,c4 did not try for either floor passes or the hotel, but as you can tell I thoroughly enjoyed my bus ride down Federal Boulevard from the Motel 6.)

Fundraising schedules are intense as politicos come and go – faces from Ohio's past and present. It is a family atmosphere of the familiar – the kind of place that the late Stephanie Tubbs Jones would have shined – and most delegates wear her image courtesy of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Chris Redfern one minute was in trademark pink sport shirt and then as I walk leisurely down the road, I see him ducking in a trendy restaurant in suit and tie (Superman couldn't have changed faster.) In politics this is a busy business week as Minneapolis will be next week.

The Big Tent is filled with the glitterati of the On-Line world and ProgressNow, Daily Kos, Google ET. Al. did a fine job.

But as I type this in a room full of bloggers, Nancy Pelosi is on a big screen before the assembly and her voice cannot be heard over the social chatter of the room.

It is all Obama this week and rightly so. The big gossip about number 2 is over and strangely for all the talk of Joe Biden before the announcement there is nary a word. Two young bloggers from Louisiana work diligently before me. Online names revealing themselves in real-time are a rarity.

The live video feeds PO will provide we hope will give you a sense of the atmosphere in Denver and a feel for the Ohioans who are there. And I think you can sense that the mood is upbeat by all.

It is a convention. It is fun. It is crowded and loud and food and alcohol flow. The King's of States and Congresses are paraded around in cars that gridlock like the rest of the City. Security is tight. Protestors are plentiful. People working to score the next big party or event or access level.

Beneath it all there is the tacit understanding that history seems on the cusp regardless of November's outcome – but getting in the red zone for Obama and Biden is not winning the game – that will not reveal itself until the party is over.

But when the party does finally end, and the big event in Invesco Field goes into overtime, the folks on Federal Boulevard will stand a bit taller knowing that any man or women in this country can rightly aspire not just in theory but in reality to the highest office in the land.

The question subdued in the haze of this week's history is one only time will tell. Will that aspiration finally lift the people of Federal Boulevard just a little bit higher?

History yes – but if anything wandering around Denver today, if finally hits you that history is not enough. Changing the lives of the people on Federal Boulevard --now, that would be change we can believe in.

Poverty Day is Coming: Will You Be Ready?

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:35:13 EDT

The U.S. Census Bureau will release its annual data about poverty, income, and health insurance in the U.S. on August 26.

On August 19, the Poverty Prep Webinar will help you:

Find and understand national and state numbers when they're released on August 26
See accurate trends over time; whether your state fares better or worse than the national average
Compare the new data (from 2007) with what we know about the economic woes of 2008, and
Talk about the new findings to help build the growing movement for a national commitment to dramatically reduce U.S. poverty.

Sign up for the Poverty Prep webinar:
Tuesday, August 19, 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Eastern time (11:00 a.m. Pacific): www.bostonconferencing.com/chn/1

Presenters:

Jared Bernstein, Director of the Living Standards program, Economic Policy Institute; author of Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed (And Other Unsolved Economic Mysteries), and frequent national media commentator. Jared will tell us what to expect in the new Census data.

Douglas Hall, Acting Managing Director of Connecticut Voices for Children, author of Pulling Apart in Connecticut: Trends in Family Income, Late 1980s to Mid 2000s. Doug will describe CT Voices for Children's work with the state's Child Poverty and Prevention Council, and how CT Voices uses facts about family income to carry out an action antipoverty agenda.

Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs, will give practical tips for getting and using the data you need to make the case for reducing poverty.

Ellen Teller, Director of Government Affairs, Food Research and Action Center, moderator.

Sign up for the webinar: www.bostonconferencing.com/chn/1
When you register, you will receive information so you can participate in the webinar on August 19. You will view the presentation via your computer and listen either through your computer or by phone.

The Poverty Prep webinar is co-sponsored by the Coalition on Human Needs, Half in Ten: From Poverty to Prosperity, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Voices for America's Children.

Shadows On High: Judasprudence; Ethics Problems in Ohio’s Supreme Court

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:55:10 EDT

“In appearing before governmental bodies or consulting with government officials, judges must be mindful that they remain subject to other provisions of this code, such as Rule 1.3, prohibiting judges from using the prestige of office to advance their own or others’ interests, Rule 2.10, governing public comment on pending and impending matters, and Rule 3.1(C), prohibiting judges from engaging in extrajudicial activities that would appear to a reasonable person to undermine the judge’s independence, integrity, or impartiality.”
Draft Rule 3.2 Comments of the Ohio Supreme Courts proposed judicial rules

Sitting at the dais of the Summit County Lincoln Day Dinner last February 23, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor must have sensed the tension that most party loyalists felt.

Swankier than some of the smaller county fares, “King” Alex Arshinkoff faced a two-front battle – internally against a self-consumed, power-hungry State Senator Kevin Coughlin who wanted to dismantle his empire and a Secretary of State who, fed up with Summit County’s nationally known power-politics, had dared to kick the “King” out of his kangaroo parliament – Mr. Arshinkoff would no longer be on the Summit County Board of Elections.

And as O’Connor, a former Summit County Prosecutor and Lt. Governor to Bob Taft, schmoozed with her base, she had to know that the man she owed it all too had his back against the wall – and was using every cog in the machine that the late Ray Bliss put in place before Arshinkoff had turned it into the National GOP Bank of Akron.

There was money at stake. Power was at stake. Indeed, patronage jobs were at stake if this machine unraveled. And everyone in the audience at the Quaker Station knew that at the meeting just three days after their elegant dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu, Oven Roasted Potatoes, Sugar Snap peas and pie – Arshinkoff would face off with Ohio’s Secretary of State over his handpicked successor. He, and many others in attendance, likely knew that this would wind up before another court that O’Connor sits on.

Why then, was Maureen O’Connor there? Why, months later, did she cast the deciding vote in favor of Arshinkoff without acknowledging her conflicts and recusing herself from the case? Ethics and Ohio politics rarely mix- even in Ohio’s highest Court.

In the 30-plus years of Alex Arshinkoff’s reign, his power has surpassed that achieved by his legendary predecessor Ray Bliss. Indeed the dinner even opened with a hearty video tribute and endorsement from former President George H.W. Bush that was included in a DVD that became part of the legal record of the Board of Elections dispute. But 2008 began with a confluence of pressures.

While Kevin Coughlin created a pesky, personal, but ultimately failed challenge to “King” Alex’s authority, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner had had enough of the legendary arm-twisting behavior at the Summit County Board of Elections. First she refused to re-appoint Arshinkoff citing examples of his heavy handed behavior. Then when Arshinkoff proposed a Hudson neighbor Brian K. Daley she rejected his appointment.

Brunner had heard, no doubt from Democrats and GOP enemies that Daley’s behavior in public office was not much different than Arshinkoff’s. In fact, a Plain Dealer article and editorial from 2007 emerged in which Daley, then a Hudson Councilman, appeared to have used his elected position to his advantage in a dispute with a neighbor over a shared waterline.

Shadows On High: I'm in with the in crowd - will Ohio jobs dollars reach our wallets?

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:16:09 EDT

“The power of perception is at work here. If self pity did any good, I would be all for it. But a negative self image undercuts a community's morale, and it undercuts a community's prospects. It's a self fulfilling prophesy - why should investors go where people have given up on themselves?
You know the old line, "A lie will go round the world while the truth is pulling on its boots." Well it seems to me just about every bad thing folks feel about Ohio gets shouted through a bullhorn while every good thing is whispered. And this matters in everything we do.”
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, July 11, 2008

Watching Ted Strickland stand before the City Club last week, even on videotape, you felt the energy of a room looking for a messiah – answers and hope.

He was right both in his tone and in his lambast at a national press that has been unkind, unfair and biased about Ohio’s economy. He was right to talk about the significant investment his Administration has taken in using government to address innovation.

But if there is a challenge that emerges from the heavy investment of jobs dollars in the University system it was best emphasized in Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut’s own speech to the very same City Club on May 4, 2007 where he spoke of the challenge of University systems long neglected who had dug in self-sufficiently in order to survive:

“For too long, out of necessity, many have become used to operating this way, and have become resistant to change that could benefit us all. If we are honest with ourselves, however, we would admit that this path has resulted in schools that , in many cases, cost too much and deliver too little.”
Ohio Chancellor Eric Fingerhut, May 4. 2007

And survival has meant that University Administrations were forced to become politically savvy – whether lobbying the legislature, fundraising from some of the very same wealthy donors as politicians and political parties, and in securing streams of funding sources from federal and state sources.

In effect, University’s have by necessity linked with the very same confluence of influentials in Ohio as those who walk the halls of the Statehouse. Which leads to a few problems. Whether it is bureaucracy, politics, or just complex communications – all too often the simple goal is lost in the rhetoric, lobbying and jockeying for contracts to meet government’s and in this case a University’s goals. And while State government has evolved into tight ethics and disclosure practices to solve some of these problems, Ohio’s University system has not.

So at the risk of the wrath of Strickland loyalists (a hearty bunch who create 99-0 House budgets), accountability on job creation money working through the University system needs a systemic overhaul.

Why, you ask? Well, for starters let’s take a look at the Taft-inspired Third Frontier programs which pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Ohio’s university system to incubate jobs. Ohio awarded $698 million in grants, spent $291 million and directly created or retained 5,641 jobs in a six-month period ending in December of last year. ODOD reports that it cost $51,661 per job created or retained and we know that during the Bush years, it is estimated that Ohio lost 209,400 jobs through last December.

Is that efficient? Well, if you figure it costs $51,661 per job, it would cost the state $1,081,979,200 to replace those jobs. Putting it another way, if you forecast the same growth level every six months it would take 18 years and six months (that would be February 2026) just to regain those lost jobs.

Even if you include spin-off and indirect jobs, Ohio DOD’s reported numbers would need 7 years and two months to replace those 209,400 jobs. So Lt. Governor Lee Fisher has his hands full in trying to take the money he has and stretch it to its limits.

And before Matt Naugle and the Buckeye Institute cheer with joy, in the last six months of the Taft Administration only 166 jobs were created or retained by the vaunted Third Frontier program – pretty ridiculous when it is one of Taft’s legacy programs.

Taft kicked off the original Third Frontier campaign at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital promising to “create new jobs and help existing business become more competitive to keep Ohio working.” This first bond issue tanked at the ballot box in 2003, resurrecting itself in 2005 promising more accountability in job creation. I highly doubt 166 jobs over six months was what Ohio voters had in mind.

So in that respect, 5,641 jobs are more than respectable growth. The problem for Lee Fisher is that he needs more for each leveraged dollar.

And as always, the Achilles heel in Ohio has to do with who gets the money and how it is put to use especially with less accountability and ethical rules at the University level.

Shadows On High: The Vet Trap: The Pentagon Says "Have I Got a Deal for You"

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:16:21 EDT

He would have been home in Vermont on Monday. After three tours of duty in Iraq – three - Sgt. 1st Class Jason Dene of Castleton, Vermont, died late last month of non-combat injuries. Left behind are a wife and three children – two daughters and a son.

Pending an investigation, Dene died of sleep apnea on May 28 in Baghdad.

Dene would have been out of the Army if not for a provision called Stop-Loss – a kind of back-door draft in which the Defense Department can compel longer service. His family said he wanted to retire after his second tour of duty because he felt rundown and stressed before being forced to return to Baghdad.

Dene’s uncle, Patrick Farrow, told WCAX-TV in Vermont, “It’s like a kick in the stomach. It’s like we were hoping Jason would get clear of this. Tisa, my sister, was thinking it was almost clear. He was out a month from now, you know, and suddenly they told her he’s dead. Dene’s aunt is actress Mia Farrow.

“The anger is what’s tough to live with, you know, it’s like I can live with tragedy but the anger is tough,” Patrick Farrow told the news crew.

Since 2002, more than 70,000 soldiers have been stop-lossed. Since the “surge” of troops in Iraq in early 2007, 12,235 troops have served under stop-loss and been forced into longer tours of duty. Currently, the Ohio National Guard has 373 members serving under the back-door draft.

Draft – what draft? Well … call it stop-loss if you will but compelling soldiers to extended military duty – well it sure looks, smells and feels like a draft.

And Ohio Representative Betty Sutton thinks that policy is wrong-headed. She has proposed legislation to at least compensate soldiers for what amounts to a back-door draft. “This is unjust and it undermines the voluntary nature of the military, said Sutton earlier this month.

Shadows On High: It's The Gas Pump, Stupid!

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:04:40 EDT

It was pouring rain as a mother of three in an old Ford mini-van pulled up to the pump next to me. The alarm in her eyes was evident. “It’s ridiculous,” I said, thinking what everyone at a gas station silently thinks these days.

“It used to cost me $125 a month for gas,” she said. “Last month, it was $275. Now it’s going to get worse.” Just then the numbers on my pump came to an abrupt stop at $50.13 as I nodded sympathy to her.

That’s right $50.13 for 12.565 gallons of 87 octane gas at $3.99 cents a gallon on a four-door sedan that according to the digital reading on my car gets 26.7 miles to the gallon (and yes I’m one of those who waits until the gas warning light turns on to fill-up.)

High gas prices are panicking paycheck-to-paycheck families and causing job losses in Ohio. So, what goes into a $50.13 gas receipt – how much for crude oil, how much for Big Oil, how much in taxes? And even more important, what havoc is it really creating in Ohio?

According to Congress’ Democratic Policy Committee, an estimated 150,000 Americans lose their job every time the price of a barrel of oil rises 10%. A barrel of crude oil rose 73% between February 2007 and February 2008, costing over 1,095,000 jobs. More alarming is the fact that the price of oil was at $100.86 in February and rose to $124.31 a barrel on June 3 further increasing that percentage and corresponding job losses.

And make no mistake about it Ohio jobs are being lost:

Gas Guzzlers Cause Layoffs at GM: GM announced Tuesday that it is closing four of its assembly plants, including one in Moraine, Ohio, that makes trucks and SUVs. The reason: High gas prices make gas-guzzling vehicles no longer affordable for many Americans.

According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, the Moraine plant will close by 2010 or sooner if market demand dictates that, a company official said. The move likely will cost 2,400 local jobs.

Speaking at the automaker's annual shareholders' meeting in Delaware Tuesday morning, company officials cited a clear consumer shift away from trucks and SUVs because too few can afford to fill their tanks.

The Moraine plant, in Montgomery County south of Dayton, produces Chevrolet Trailblazer and GMC Envoy and Envoy Denali sport utility vehicles, Saab 9-7X and Isuzu Ascender vehicles and employs 2,400 directly. The plant also supports 100 suppliers.

Diesel Costs Increase Retail Costs: According to Columbus Business First, the national average retail price for diesel reached a record $4.33 per gallon last month. Even before the record, the trucking industry had been desperately seeking more long-haul drivers amid projections that America would be short 114,000 workers by 2014, according to "The U.S. Truck Driver Shortage: Analysis and Forecasts,'' a study done by Global Insight for the American Trucking Association.

The combination of high prices and limited truckers prompted the Ohio General Assembly last week to impose uniform weight limits for trucks that haul steel coils.

Today, a single truck can carry a load consisting of one or two steel coils under a special permit, as long as the total weight is not greater than 120,000 pounds. The total weight limit for transporting three coils, however, is limited to just 92,000 pounds. When the new law takes effect, a three-coil load will fall under the same 120,000-pound limit allowed for one or two coils.

Even with the change, the trucker shortage is expected to continue. An estimated 935 carriers – or about 2 percent of the nation's total trucking capacity – went bankrupt in the first quarter of this year, according to the American Trucking Association. Trucking company failures are the highest since the 2001 recession.

Airline Costs Soar and Competition Disappears: ABC News this week said rising fuel costs are causing airlines to scale back and could prompt a new round of bankruptcies. Continental Airlines, with a hub in Cleveland, announced 3,000 job cuts on Thursday.

Highway Patrol Funding Short Over Fuel Costs: According to Jim Nash at the Columbus Dispatch, fuel costs for the Ohio State Highway Patrol have increased by 26 percent over the past nine months.

The bottom line: "The agency that patrols state highways, guards’ state buildings and aides in highly technical police investigations is facing a cash crunch."

We’re about to feel this crunch through school transportation costs, public safety costs, snow and trash removal and transportation of basic goods and services like the milk at our local grocery store.

Can there be any doubt, “It’s the gas tank, stupid,” is what this year is about? And understanding how that $50.13 gas bill for a four-door sedan is THE issue in 2008.

Shadows On High: Blood Money at the Statehouse

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:15:25 EDT

Even blood on our tax dollars can get lost in numbers.

Numbers are the feed trough of government. Numbers elect. Numbers budget. Numbers pass legislation and the financial power of numbers gives government the opportunity to do good as well as oft-publicized evil.

They are impersonal, non-descriptive, bureaucratic realities. That’s why DAS Contract #RS903107 means little to Ohioans, to legislators and even to DAS department leaders. But it’s a number written in blood literally when Ohio purchases goods from sweatshops.

In May 2006, in a world away in Chattagong, Bangladesh, 600 mostly teenage women worked to fulfill the contract by making undergarments for Ohio prison inmates. A fiery blast disrupted their routine and their lives.

A first floor boiler exploded in an inferno that fed on the flammable material in the textile mill. Hundreds of young women must have panicked, only to find exits locked by factory guards protecting against theft and monitoring the 600 workers. An eyewitness survivor later reported:

“When the fire erupted, I was working on the second floor. One of the two collapsible gates on the floor was padlocked. Finding it impossible to come out through the milling crowd at the other gate, I jumped out through a window on the roof of a nearby two-storey building,” she said. “Some local people standing on the rooftop of that building broke open the window and helped us out”.

The morning after the blaze, Ohioans woke up to other news: Funds for the state’s unemployed workers would go broke in 2007; a rattled and lame duck Governor Bob Taft wanted tougher high school standards; then-Congressman Bob Ney’s former aide, Neil Volz, plead guilty and agreed to testify against Ney in Washington; a Toledo councilman plead guilty to ethics violations; and Ken Blackwell, who had won the GOP gubernatorial primary the week before, watched his own party deep-six his Tax Expenditure Limitation proposal.

Ohio newspapers, Ohioans and Ohio government officials were unaware of reports that at least 54 workers --an estimate that later climbed to more than 200 -- had died as they scrambled to fulfill a contract paid from state tax dollars. The contract remains in effect today.

Almost a decade at City Hall is quite an accomplishment

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:56:00 EDT

It seems like yesterday, that a young ONN assignment editor called me at home one night to ask if I thought taking the job of Communication Director of the Ohio Democratic Party under then Chair David Leland was a good move.

Mike Brown even then was one of those people in media that was solidly grounded. I told him it was a good move and that I hoped he’d pursue the job. He did, got the job and in 1999 moved on to the Coleman campaign for Mayor.

Now comes news that Brown will be stepping down on June 2 as Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman’s Communication Director to take on a role developing “new urbanism” in Columbus. Both the Mayor, beaming at yesterday’s OLBC luncheon like a proud father, and Mike filled us in yesterday.

Many people don’t realize that being at the hub of City communications is probably one of the most taxing positions in government. If all government is local, a city press office is a meat grinder with everything from police issues, to utility breaks, to personnel issues constantly filling your blackberry (or pager back when Mike started.)

To fill the post as Mike did for over 8 years is an uber accomplishment. As for his replacement, Dan Williamson of Other Paper fame will take the walk to the “dark” side as journalists often refer to it and fill Brown’s role.

For that, I thanked the Mayor yesterday profusely. Dan is and always has been one of the toughest interviews in Ohio and you were never quite sure what his articles would say until the paper hit the stands.

Congratulations to them both.

And as for Mike, he’ll finally be able to turn that blackberry on silent. That will be both the hardest adjustment and most relieving adjustment of all.

Shadows On High: Caught in the Zipper, Dann Dann Dann!

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:18:02 EDT

Ouch.

That’s how it must feel for capital flaks these days.

While Ohioans are faced with a messaging barrage based on the Attorney General’s solar plexus, gone is a focus on the greenbacks of Ohioans gluteus maximus.

All Marc Dann. All the time. ProgressOhio’s front page, with its live news and blog feeds, is no different.

Over 650 mentions of pajamas that never were, coupled with the police complaint that led to no charges, the car accident that happened months ago and a third-level rogue bureaucrat named Anthony Gutierrez who rightfully looks like a scoundrel.

Blackberries and emails will never quite be the same for anyone with an address ending at .gov, as day after day some tabloid tidbit pops from the fingertip-sized memory of a blackberry drive.

It’s as if the world has stopped, and drip by drip, line by line, ticker by ticker and paper by paper Dann, Dann, Dann explodes byte by byte.

Caught in the zipper of tawdry headlines is Ohio’s struggling economy. Both parties made major election year moves to address Ohio’s ailing economy in the hearts and minds of our wallets last month. Did anyone notice?

ProgPicks: Two Books Launch On the Media and Many Faces of John McCain

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:45:20 EDT

While the Democratic primary remains in play, two authors with close ProgressOhio ties have launched books on presumptive GOP nominee, Senator John McCain, that take probing looks at key aspects of McCain’s political psyche.

Ohio’s own Cliff Schecter has launched a book that has quickly climbed to the third most requested political book on Amazon.com which chronicles the vast inconsistencies of McCain’s policy positions. Schecter can often be found at ProgressOhio events and later this month will launch a regular ProgressOhio Editorial column alternating at times with Brian Rothenberg’s Shadows On High.

Also, David Brock and Paul Waldman from the media tracking organization Media Matters For America have launched a book reviewing the way the press has defined (and given a pass) to Sen. McCain. ProgressOhio is a partner of Media Matters and you can often see the work of Brock and his staff on the ProgressOhio site

Free Ride: John McCain and the Media
By David Brock and Paul Waldman (Anchorbooks $13.95)

Brock and Waldman put together a fascinating read of the complicated contradictions in McCain’s relationship with the press.

[Excerpt] “E. J. Montini (a columnist for the Arizona Republic) says that Arizona reporters were once like the national media, smitten by the dynamic new lawmaker in the 1980s. But as with most love affairs, the passion cooled. “Over the years, though, the contradictions surfaced,” he wrote. The campaign reformer cozied up to bigwigs he’s supposed to regulate. The iconoclast trashed Big Tobacco but not Big Alcohol, financing his wife’s family. As the Arizona Republic noted during his first presidential run, McCain “has romanced the national press while warring with Arizona reporters.”

Other gems in the book include how the Washingtonian published a story on McCain in 1997 titled “Senator Hothead” but instead of ridiculing his temper problems, it was used as proof of his passion. Passion and the press’ explaining away of McCain’s temper flares as a theme in the book as examples of a flare up with former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, former Phoenix City GOP Councilwomen Kathy Dubs, former Arizona Attorney General and McCain staffer Grant Woods, former Maricopa County Schools Superintendent Sandra Dowling and even an admiring constituent who was lambasted after setting up a lectern too high for the short-statured McCain.

Media Matters has an excellent reputation for painstakingly reviewing “pack journalism” and dissecting media image from factual image in American politics. Regardless of McCain’s status as presumptive nominee, Free Ride is a fascinating look at media pandering versus factual contradiction. Well worth a read – especially for those of us who find themselves talking back to inanimate television talking heads in the evening.

You can find Free Ride on the ProgressOhio bookshelf at Powell's Books.

The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him and Why Independents Shouldn't
By Cliff Schecter (Polipoint Press $10.17)

Central Ohio’s own Cliff Schecter, a nationally known blogger, and frequent friend and visitor at ProgressOhio’s offices, launched his book a week ago and it has quickly jumped to the third highest selling political book on Amazon.com’s listings.

Schecter takes a look at McCain from the angle of his political image versus his factual behavior and it is a fascinating glimpse at a politicians’ politician whose limelight over the past year will show many contradictions in his political demeanor.

Schecter’s book has already made national news this year as the mainstream media has reported on tidbits from U.S. News & World Report to Fox, breaking stories on McCain's calling his wife a very naughty word to a fist fight he engaged in with a fellow member of Congress (U.S Rep. Rick Renzi).

[Excerpt] “Given all the talk about his moderate views, McCain has a long list of right-wing extremist friends. In the 2006 Republican primary for Ohio governor, McCain endorsed Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell over the more moderate Attorney General Jim Petro. Blackwell is a hard-core conservative; he campaigned (successfully) for a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, is a big-time pro-gun politician, and is against abortion unless the mother’s life is threatened.

There are also questions of voter suppression in Blackwell’s background, particularly in light of the sparse number of voting machines in liberal Ohio districts on election day in 2004. These questions were complicated by Blackwell’s investment in Diebold, the company that supplied the touch-screen machines on Blackwell’s orders. Blackwell is also closely tied to Reverend Rod Parsely of Columbus, Ohio; together they have worked with the Ohio Restoration Project, which calls for “tearing down the boundaries between church and state.”13 In the end, Blackwell lost the general election in a landslide. But it wasn’t for lack of support on McCain’s part.

Then there’s Falwell. When McCain decided to visit Falwell’s university, Jon Stewart asked McCain on the Daily Show if he was entering “crazy base land.” McCain sheepishly admitted he was doing just that.14 This is how the actual exchange went.

Stewart: I feel it’s a condoning of Falwell’s crazy making, to some extent, to have you go down there. It strikes me as something you wouldn’t normally do.

McCain: I’m going there to speak to the students at his invitation. I can assure you that the message will be the same as I give everywhere.

Stewart: You don’t think it helps reassert Falwell as the voice for a certain group of people — say evangelicals of the Christian Right. Isn’t it the kind of thing if you don’t go there it helps keep marginalizing guys like that? Or do I misunderstand politics? Why do I feel I’m about to get grounded?

McCain: Listen, I love coming on your show. Young people all over America watch it. I love to travel around the country and speak at colleges and universities. They’re all parts of the Republican Party. I respect them. I may disagree with them.

Stewart: Are you going into crazy base world?

McCain: I’m afraid so.

Stewart: When you see Falwell, do you feel vomit in the back of your throat? . . . What does it feel like?

McCain: I’ll give him your love.

That was slightly different than what McCain told Larry King less than a year earlier: “I admire the religious right for the dedication and zeal they put into the political process.” 16 McCain’s broad acceptance of the Christian Right as “having a legitimate role to play in the Republican Party” stands in stark opposition to his earlier claims that the Christian Right had a “corrupting influence” on the GOP.

For those who have read Cliff’s blog – he’s a hard-hitting fact-based pundit who pulls no punches dissecting the many contradictory faces of John McCain. For the GOP it’s a primer on what to expect next fall. For Democrats it’s a detailed study of a master juggler politician who is a very nimble and shifty campaigner. It’s a must read for insiders of either party.

You can find The Real McCain at the ProgressOhio bookshelf at Amazon here.

Shadows Update: Oversight Added to Veterans Bill to Help Track VA Care

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:10:20 EDT

Some of you may remember the Shadows On High Column from two weeks ago: Shadows On High: Ohio's Shame; Caring For Ohio's Veterans Shouldn't Be So Political.

The crux of the column had to do with Senate Bill 289 which creates an Ohio cabinet level veterans affairs department -- but provided little if any oversight to the often slow and cumbersome process veterans experience while filing and following their claims.

Yesterday Ray Strischek sent the following good news. A Substitute Senate Bill has been introduced that addresses most of the oversight issues -- something some veterans advocates have been fighting for over two decades to achieve.

Ray wrote: Today, 040808, Ohio Senate Finance Committee, 3rd hearing, on Senate Bill 289, the bill to elevate the Governors Office of Veterans Affairs to the Ohio Department of Veterans Affairs.

Senate Bill 289 was set aside. It was replaced by Sub SB 289, a compromise version worked out by Senator Spada (who introduced SB 289, GOVA Director Tim Espich, members of the Ohio State Association of Veterans Service Commissioners, and members of the Ohio State Association of Veterans Service Officers, to address problems brought forth during the previous 2 hearings by several veterans, including many specific issues brought forth by myself and Dave Jenkinson.

The first thing to happen was to drop the name change to the OHIO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.   The new name change will be to OHIO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS SERVICES.

Sub S.B. No. 289 (LSC 127 1844-2)

Replaces SB-289

Important changes:Sec. 121.02 (Administrative Departments)
(new language)
(T) The department of veterans services, which shall be administered by the director of veterans services.   (Page 3, lines 65 and 66)

Sec. 5901.02 (about Veterans Service Commissioners, the Judge SHALL remove)
(E) (added language)
The appointing authority shall remove a member who fails to maintain certification or whose certification is revoked by the director of veterans services. (Page 8, lines 219 - 221)

Section. 5901.07 (about CVSOs, the VSC SHALL remove)
(added language)
The commission shall remove a veterans service officer who fails to maintain accreditation or whose accreditation is revoked by the director of veterans services. (Page 10, lines 271-273)

Section 5902.02 (Director of Ohio Department of Veterans Services duties and powers)
(language as it already exists)
[C] Adopting rules pursuant to Chapter 119 of the Revised Code pertaining to minimum qualifications for hiring, certifying, and accrediting county veterans service officers, pertaining to their required duties,,,,,,

(added language)
and pertaining to revocation of the accreditation of county veterans service officers. A county veterans service officer whose accreditation is revoked is entitled to an adjudication under Chapter 119 of the Revised Code.   (Page 16, lines 456-460)

(language as it already exists)
(D) Adopting rules pursuant to Chapter 119 of the Revised Code for the education, training, certification, and duties of veterans service commissioners,,,,,,,,

(Added language)
and for the revocation of the certification of a veterans service commissioner. A veterans service commissioner whose certification is revoked is entitled to and adjudication under Chapter 119 of the Revised Code.   (Page 16, lines 463-466)

(new language)
(X) Requiring the several veterans organizations that receive funding from the state annually to report to the director of veterans services and prescribing the form and content of the report. (Page 20, lines 593-596)

(new language)
(Y) Investigating complaints against county veterans services commissioners and county veterans service officers if the director reasonably believes the investigation to be appropriate and necessary. (Page 20, lines 593-596)

(new section, new language)
Sec. 5902.09 The person in charge of a state agency or instrumentality, an agency or instrumentality of a political subdivision, or a private entity, such as a nursing home, that provides law enforcement, health, or welfare services to individuals, other than the Ohio veterans’ home and veterans service organizations, shall ask an individual with whom the agency, instrumentality, or entity interacts if the individual is a veteran or is or was athe dependent of a veteran. If the individual claims to be such and individual, the person in charge shall report the individual’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address; the agency’s, instrumentality’s, or entity’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, the nature of the agency’s, instrumentality’s, or entity’s interaction with the individual; and the date on which the interaction occurred to the director of veterans services. The director shall inform the veterans service commission having jurisdiction about the veterans or dependent and the interaction. The commission shall inquire about, and offer benefits and services appropriate to the veteran or dependent. (Page 23, lines 671-689)

Kudo's to the Governor's Office, Senator Spada and the many stakeholders for recognizing the deficiencies in this legislation and addressing them.

Since that Shadows many veterans have contacted us at ProgressOhio. Let's hope the changes stick through the legislative process.

Shadows On High: Rumor Has It

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:13:12 EDT

In this year of the do-little legislature, lame-duck leaders gaveled open the post-Spring break session last week with most major issues floating like space matter in the Ohio House’s ever-increasing gamesmanship playing footsy with a Democratic Governor.

The big headliner last week – a scrappy fight over theft from scrap metal yards. With copper costs up the state wanted to step in and strengthen the law – but one crafty legislator turned the tables to prevent home-rule cities from making more stringent rules. Ohio’s jobs and economy suffer and what do we get – literally a “junk” bill.

For most Ohioans, the difference between a U.S. Senator and an Ohio Senator means little. In fact, legend has it that back in the 1990s when one State Senator-elect struck gold with an upset victory, she mistakenly told a reporter she was headed to Washington D.C.

The fact is no matter how hard they try, Ohio legislators work in the shadows of obscurity. A dwindling press corps, term limits and short-term leaders lend themselves to an atmosphere of anonymity. The “good” credit for what they do goes to the Governor. The “bad” credit also goes to the Governor – despite legions of increasingly aggressive aides working feverishly for their members.

Even prior to term-limits, legislators were shocked to see in legislative polls that their name recognition topped out at the 30% level—even after decades of service. So here in an age of eight year tenures (16 if you work the system right) negative mail and cable ads are effective at defining candidates for the state legislature.

Name recognition is really scarce when you consider cutbacks in the number of journalists covering state government. The Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association has seen its ranks cut back significantly since the 1990s, including the disappearance of reporters from the former Thomson Bureau (2 reporters), the defunct Cincinnati Post (1 reporter), now-closed Gannett News Service ( 2 reporters), the Cincinnati Enquirer (down from 2 reporters to 1 reporter), the Akron Beacon Journal (down from 4 reporters to 1 reporter), the Plain Dealer (down from 6 reporters to 3) and the Toledo Blade (down from 2 reporters to one reporter.) The Dispatch and Associated Press are the rare exceptions that have seen growth, while the Dayton Daily News, Dix/Vindicator Bureau and electronic media have remained static.

Even at the press corps’ zenith, as more reporters meant more ink, the legendary Vern Riffe was never quite able to move up to the big-house in Bexley (let us all pause and reflect for this little Earth-to-Jon Husted moment here as he plots his way to Ken Blackwell’s legacy with less than half the ink of the legendary man from Scioto County.) Name recognition was still elusive.

So here’s to the Shadows of rumor has it – on what was behind the great compromise over Governor Strickland’s bond issue, the Dispatch’s self-anointed “partisan” Jennifer Brunner bi-partisanly saving the benefits of her Franklin County GOP nemesis, John McCain’s paper filing mistake that could have cost him a spot on the Ohio primary ballot, young State Reps of both parties chafing at the Riffe-like atmosphere on Broad and High, Speaker battles in both parties, and consultant battles on November campaigns – it’s a rumor has it Shadows edition …. .

Shadows On High: Ohio's Shame; Caring For Ohio's Veterans Shouldn't Be So Political

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:14:52 EDT

She settled into her seat on a flight from Chicago to Columbus, taking a clearly stressful call on her cell phone. She hung up to get ready for our flight – looked at me – and said, “How come my son could lay his life on the line for this country – but he has to wait six months for an appointment at the VA for even a Band-aid?”

As we spoke, her despair and anger came into focus. She was a native Ohioan from Oklahoma with a slight Okie twang, on her way to visit her parent in the central Ohio area, and her son had served two tours of duty in Iraq. He was home now with her daughter-in-law and her grandson – but he was waking up with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – night sweats and combat delirium. And her son could not get in to the VA hospital for at least six months.

In Ohio, the nation’s 6th largest concentration of veterans, a legislative committee found out in December that the state ranks 43rd in use of available services and 50th in the amount of disability pay. Legislation growing out of the study will create a new cabinet level department, but with little if any accountability measures over a cumbersome structure that has failed to deliver needed efficiencies for needy Ohio veterans.

So how bad will things get when Iraq and Afghanistan veterans begin to increase the need for services. At the federal level, in a March 6 AP article by Bradley Brooks in Baghdad he reports that:

About 15 soldiers are wounded for every fatality in Iraq compared with 2.6 wounded for every fatality in Vietnam and 2.8 wounded for every fatality in Korea.
29,320 servicemen were wounded in action as of early March, but an additional 31,325 others have been treated for non-combat injuries and illnesses.
The VA predicts it will treat 330,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008 – a 14 percent increase over the 2008 estimate of $263,000 costing over $1.3 billion.
The Bush budget requests $93.7 billion for the VA including $41.2 billion for medical care for veterans of all wars which is an increase of $2.3 billion.

In an article posted on opednews.com on March 5, writer Jason Leopold pointed out that VA officials estimate that 60,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are returning with PTSD similar to what I’d heard all too personally on that flight to Columbus.

Leopold chronicled the story of a Marine veteran named Jonathan Schulze who was awarded two Purple Hearts in 2005 after a lengthy tour of duty in Iraq. On January 11, 2007, he sought treatment for PTSD when his parents drove him to the VA hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He was not admitted and told to call back the following day. The VA told him he would need to wait at least two weeks to be admitted. On January 16, 2007, next to a photo of his one-year old daughter, he was found with an electrical cord around his neck in a friend’s basement at the age of 25.

Critics rightly point out that Veterans benefits at the national and state level are plagued with a systemic and political bureaucracy that puts care for veterans on the back-burner both at the national and Ohio levels.

Backlog at the VA

The VA has a backlog of over 400,000 pending medical claims and complaints – especially in mental health care.

In a rare Shadows kudos for U.S. Senator George Voinovich, he rightly points out in a letter to the Senate Budget Committee that the VA’s pending pension and compensation claims were up almost 6 percent from March of 2007 and that 27 percent of claims have been pending for more than 180 days, along with a 50 percent increase since 2003 in claims requiring a disability review which request increases in time and resources.

Voinovich said in his letter to Sen. Kent Conrad that the number of filed claims has increased 45 percent from 578,773 in 2000 to 838,141 in 2007.

At the time of Jonathan Schulze’s death, according to Veterans Today’s website, more than 200,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan had been treated at VA medical facilities according to a Government Accountability Office analysis, which is three times what the VA had originally projected. The GAO study said more than one-third of the cases involved mental health conditions including PTSD, acute depression and substance abuse.

According to Leopold’s article, VA attorneys argued in court papers filed this past February that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were not “entitled” to the five-years of free healthcare upon their return from combat, but instead their treatment was discretionary based on the level of funding available at the VA.

But earlier this month, the Undersecretary for Health at the VA admitted in court that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were entitled to free healthcare and that “there is no co-pay,” according to Leopold.

All of this bureaucracy was supposed to have gone away on October 25, 1988, when Ronald Reagan made the Department of Veterans Affairs a cabinet-level agency. But symbolism seems to have made little progress in the bureaucracy that a wounded soldier must navigate. Here in Ohio – let’s hope we have different results.

Bureaucracy and the Ohio Veteran’s benefit system – Why Ohio files fewer claims

More than any other bureaucracy, when it comes to the structure of Ohio veterans, you have the intersection of patriotism, politics, media image and most of all competing veteran structures that have impacted the way in which state-level veteran’s services are delivered.

The state has long had a Governor’s Office of Veteran’s Services which provides support and training to the various County Veterans Services offices. County offices have varying levels of funding, primarily because they are funded much like schools through property tax at a level of five-tenths of a mill. Because of the disparity of property wealth in different counties, the dollars to those programs vary widely.

When a County office files claims, they then use an outsourced system. Ohio does not employ its own service officers who follow Ohio veteran’s claims – instead traditionally that has been a function of the powerful and politically impactful Ohio veterans’ organizations even though 90 percent of Ohio veterans do not belong to these groups (but probably should given their effective lobby and access to services.)

During the recent Veterans Study Council meetings, a representative of the VA advised the Council that Ohio was at the bottom of the barrel in terms of the number of VA claims filed, the quality or completeness of the claims filed and the amount of money generated by approved claims.

Ohio has the 6th largest number of veterans in the United States an Ohio sub-committee of the Veterans Study Council was told in December. Yet Ohio ranked 50th at the time in the amount of disability pay received by injured veterans and 43rd in veterans’ use of services. In most veteran service categories, Ohio ranked among the bottom seven although recent numbers showed some improvement.

Services for Ohio veterans go through 88-county offices and are process in the VA regional offices. But the services rely on National Service Officers (NSO) given free office space by the VA and paid for by Ohio taxpayers but staffed by the various Veterans service agencies. In 2006, Ohio spent over $1.5 million dollars spread among the:

American Legion, $302,328
Am vets, &287,919
Veterans of Foreign Wars, $246,615
Disabled American Veterans, $216,308
Vietnam Veterans of America,$185,954
Marine Corp League,$115,972
Catholic War Veterans,$57,900
Meritorious Order of the Purple Heart, $56,377
Army Navy Union, $55,012
Jewish War Veterans $29,715
American Ex P.O.W., $25,030

In a nutshell, when a claim is received in the VA regional office from the county offices for veterans’ services, it is assigned to one of the National Service Officers (NSOs) who is there to act as the advocate for the veteran before the VA. That is why in essence, Ohio has outsourced the advocate role to these traditional groups.

But in reading the Subcommittee reports of the Veterans Study Council it becomes clear that a veteran is at the mercy of the resources of the County in which they live and the efficiency of the veterans organization they choose to track and advocate their claims. There appears to be little if no accountability on the process for follow through.

What is disturbing is that after working with the various county veterans’ offices and advocates, as well as the national groups on a comprehensive study that identified these concerns, State Sen. Bob Spada rushed to the table with S.B. 289 which made no recommendations to fix the VA claims processing system but did recommend that “the several veterans’ organizations” should get more support.

The issue that has gotten headlines is the recommendation for a cabinet-level Veterans’ Service Department – much as Ronald Reagan garnered headlines in 1988. But the symbolism of a department has not necessarily diminished the bureaucratic problems at the federal level. The question remains, will Ohio fall into the same PR trap?

While the Strickland Administration’s push for the cabinet-level department is not necessarily a bad sign – if anything it is needed, the legislation written by Sen. Spada appears to have very little impact on the processing of claims which appears to be the real problem for Ohio’s veterans. Instead it deals mostly with changing a Governor’s office into a Governor’s department. In fact, just this week representatives of Governor Strickland on the panel informed some concerned veterans that the legislation creating the new department would likely not include increased oversight of the county and NSO (veterans group) system.

As the bill stands now, after months of study and data about the problems of veterans services, a Legislative Service Commission analysis of the new departmental functions that Sen. Spada included in the bill are limited to:

Developing telephone answering services and a website.
Outreach efforts at conferences and fairs.
Advertising services in print, radio and television.
Broadly calling for the development and improved benefits and services for veterans.
Searching for administrative policies to unify funding, delivery and accountability of policy with no formal recommendations.
Maintaining a cordial relationship with both the VA and several veterans’ organizations.
And adds the Ohio Veterans’ Home Agency and the Ohio War Orphans Scholarship Board to the Department.

You can’t help but think that if this were education funding or other pet peeves of Columbus conservatives, Ohio’s Broad & High crowd would be preaching on the legislative floor for more accountability on how Ohio taxpayer money is being spent in classrooms – on the outcomes-based budgeting that conservatives around Capitol Square preach like a Buddhist mantra.

But it is not.

This is about veterans, and veterans are about the flag and neither liberal nor conservative legislators will take on such a bureaucracy borne from the battlefields of returning vets who spawned the complicated relationships of such diverse organizations in the first place.

No one including Shadows is arguing about the role and need for these veterans organizations to exist and flourish. But in fact, these veterans’ organizations do need prodding and accountability for processing veteran claims as any outsourced service should.

Ohio grants for the NSO officers in VA regional offices should be monitored and judged based on information that looks at the per capita amount of veterans here and in other states and sets up a compliance report with oversight by the new Ohio Department of Veterans Affairs.

It seems logical and in-line with all other Ohio government expenditures that the department should exercise oversight and tracking of all VA claims. That is the surest path away from a bottom ranking in services to Ohio veterans.

If Ohio will not hire its own compliance officers at the VA regional office, which given the clout of veterans groups is politically dead on arrival, at the very least the various service organizations that provide NSO services should be monitored by the newly created department based on:

Number of claims filed, starting at the county level, and continuing through the NSO level;
Completeness and accuracy of claims;
Average time to resolve claims;
Average dollars paid out to Ohio veterans per capita;
Communication and reporting with county offices from the NSO regarding claims status.

Certainly some who are active in veterans’ services groups who receive money from the State of Ohio may bristle at this opinion and couch these views as an unpatriotic attack on soldiers who have paid their dues to their nation.

But the fact of the matter is that this is not a debate over liquor licenses and bingo permits at the local lodge – these issues involve serious veterans’ needs and claims involving their everyday lives.

If the process is outsourced to these organizations – then so be it. But to not hold the same accountability standards on services for these veterans paid for by Ohio taxpayer dollars is benign legislative neglect of the stewardship of Ohio tax dollars.

S.B. 289 seems to be a rushed piece of legislation – the kind of thing legislators take and run with in an effort to wrap the flag around themselves in the next election cycle.

But the stark reality is that true patriotism would wrap that flag around a wounded veteran, a homeless veteran, a jobless veteran, a mentally troubled veteran – to expedite services, not worry about the politics of veterans group funding and future political support.

Save the politics for Novembers this year and in future years.

It’s time to set-aside politics and figure a way to get a Band-aid to our veterans – without all of the bureaucracy. Our national system is bad enough – there is no excuse for a state the size of Ohio to lag so far behind so many smaller states in providing services to veterans.

It’s time to streamline the process and make those within the system accountable here in Columbus and in Washington D.C. This shouldn’t be about politics, it should be about the lady sitting next to me’s very poignant question last month, “How come my son could lay his life on the line for this country – but he has to wait six months for an appointment at the VA for even a Band-aid?”

Being able to solve that question would be a cabinet department worthy of the seat at the Governor’s table.

Shadows On High: It's 3 am; Fear & Ohio's Swing Voters

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:59:57 EST

[Note: I started this column on Tuesday while polls were opened. This is meant as an analysis piece and not in support of any candidate.]

It’s a dirty little secret. The thing most folks don’t understand about Midwesterners.

We whisper about those things that make us uncomfortable.

You saw no knock-down drag out discussion about race and gender politics in Ohio’s primary as you did in South Carolina. But it’s there. It may not be correct – but Midwesterners are no different in their inner psychology than southerners. We just don’t talk about it. We whisper our irrational fears and true prejudices. We talk behind closed doors – or worse – we hold the deepest darkest of unpopular thoughts under lock and key. We don’t show our fears, but we sure as hell vote them.

Fear – not change – is once again the root of Ohio’s 2008 zeitgeist. Without fear there is no hunger for change. Fear is the underlying neurosis of our inner dissatisfaction with our government, the energy which makes us crave change. Without fear, there is no neutron in the chemical reaction of political change.

Fear of terror. Fear of the cost of the War in Iraq. Fear of the bloodshed and uncertainty of radical Al Qaeda. Fear of the politicians without answers.

Like it or not, if there is a turning point in our national dialogue for change, it was in the Hillary Clinton “It’s 3 a.m. ad’’ released in Ohio on the eve of our primary election.

George Bush rode fear into the White House in 2004. John McCain knows that. If Americans fear terrorism – McCain wins. If Americans fear the economic costs of war or the uncertainty of the “hawkish” and bellicose behavior that led to War – Michelle Obama or Bill Clinton will be redecorating the West Hall. (I’ll let you all fight out Tuesday’s results.)

All you need to do is think back to another Arizona Senator running for President back in 1964 and the fear engendered by Lyndon Johnson’s use of a child with daisies to conjure up fear of a different warmongering Arizona cowboy as President.

Times may change and technology may change but the wiring of the human brain does not. If Lyndon Johnson’s infamous Daisy Girl commercial , Willie Horton in 1988 and the Swift Boat Strategy in 2004 taught America anything about itself, it is that the path to the White House goes straight through the opposition’s strength. Hillary’s “It’s 3 a.m. ad” will likely be that memorable regardless of how her candidacy ends.

Much like Johnny Cochran taught us in the ‘90’s most infamous murder case, you must go right to the juries reasonable doubt—“if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.” All of which makes Ohio’s primary meaningless to Ohio swing voters – who likely decide this race by focusing their fears and doubts on the losing candidate – fear of terror or fear of war and because of war our biggest fear -- being poor.

That will decide the Presidency in Ohio.

Censorship at WVKO Party

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:33:05 EST

I just left the WVKO party after the folks from True Majority had their Iran Mobile kicked off the property.

It seems the owner of the Makoy Party Center personally did not like the likeness of a nuclear bomb with John McCain riding on it -- called it offensive.

The Army had an event at the next door ballroom and yet after initially balking thinking it was a protest the Army personnel at their event did not complain and employees allowed the float in -- in fact many Army personnel were laughing in the parking lot about it. I very much doubt they want a three-front war.

Admittedly I'm fired up. This one man thinks these progressive views are in poor taste outside his building but is willing to allow those views to be expressed inside his building for free -- as long as progressives are heard only by themselves.

I'm tired of the progressive movement backing down from such nonsense. I'm told the owner of the facility donated it for the WVKO fundraiser -- so be it. Again, what he's saying is -- sure go ahead and be progressive behind closed doors.

Why do progressives allow themselves to be put in a closet -- whispering their concerns while a right-wing shouts away leading us into warmongering, rallying about the continued use of faulty intelligence whether WMDs or nuclear issues in Iran which commit our troops and our pocketbooks for a 100-year war as John McCain put it.

It's OK for John McCain to think it's funny to sing "Bomb,Bomb,Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" -- that's not offensive. But for us to graphically speak about those consequences -- that -- that -- the owner of the Makoy Center thinks is offensive?

So if in the light of day some kids from Vermont choose to drive all the way to Ohio to point out pretty graphically the dangers of a three-front provocative war -- that can be censored.

As Executive Director of ProgressOhio I was invited to attend and speak to the WVKO audience.

I told Gary Richards of the station -- I would not and left after he tried -- to no avail to get the owner to change his mind.

If it is not OK to speak views outside in the light of day -- I'm not inclined to be party to relegate progressive speech to the whispers of a ballroom. That is why I left.

And whether it's one ad paid for from my own pocket, or money raised for ads, I do intend to put on the WVKO airwaves or local newspapers an ad about the censorship of the folks at the Makoy Center in Hilliard, Ohio.

Finally, if you hear those ads for Makoy on the airwaves of WVKO or other stations advertising the Makoy Center-- just remember -- the price of that ad was the censorship of the speech you fought so hard to get back on the airwaves.

Stephanie Miller's views may have been heard inside tonight -- but they were censored outside -- and somebody, somewhere ought to say enough.

I'm all for WVKO and keeping it on the air -- but as long as the progressive movement allows itself to be bottled up by folks like this building owner -- CHANGE will remain only a word.