| By Bret Thompson, ProgressOhio - Nov 20th, 2009 at 12:54 pm EST |
Gov. Strickland had some of the strongest words of disdain for Senate Republicans and Sen. Bill Seitz, in particular.
Senate Republicans put forth a truly odious bill that would balance the budget by cutting money from a fund that prevents families from becoming homeless and relying on liquor profits, casino profits and drilling for oil in state parks. The bill did not even have support of a majority of Senate Republicans, who control the chamber.
Yesterday Seitz made remarks that laid bare the GOP's strategy, saying that if Senate Democrats don't en masse support the horrible budget solution - "come Dec. 31 the education governor gets to cut public schools by 10%."
Strickland labeled Seitz's remarks "pathetic" and "despicable", particularly in so far as they seemed to celebrated the gutting of our children's education to score political points.
Truly this is the case, since the Democratic-controlled House has already passed a perfectly reasonable budget bill that is supported by most major business and social groups. Not only are the Republican tactics played out to their end (i.e. massive education cuts) harmful, in the short-term they are fiscally wasteful since the Department of Taxation has to have next year's tax documentations produced during December.
[h/t Gongwer]
