ProgressOhio

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 …. .

• Rumor has it…. That one of the driving forces behind the Governor’s compromise with the Legislative Republicans had to do with the reluctance of past major funders of issues like Bob Taft’s 3rd Frontier balking over economic development because of the Sick Leave/Sick Days initiative (Clevelanders hint – COSE).

  Funny thing is there is little amount of money that would defeat the Sick Leave initiative as internal polling shows that even evangelicals – long the bastion of conservatives in Ohio – would vote in favor of allowing sick days in the workplace.

  NFIB is leading the charge (even though the initiative exempts small businesses with less than 25 employees), but has enlisted business interests such as local Chambers of Commerce to threaten emptying their political pocket books on large expenditures to oppose sick day measures.

  So in effect the Chamber and business leaders would rather not give to economic development issues than cave on their principles over a common sense sick leave policy that most of them already provide in the workplace. And given that the rumor is about Cleveland’s COSE – known mostly for providing health insurance – opposing a preventive sick measure really leaves you scratching your heads?

  And given the fact that their own base is not likely to come to the table opposing sick leave, why waste four or five million dollars in an uphill climb to defeat the legislation, when the legislature has an opportunity to actually change the language to something they can live with?

  Seems like political vanity is trumping common sense on the sick leave proposal. The question is just how vain our these businesses when they are willing to risk their own economic future by balking at the Governor’s bond issue, and pour millions of dollars into a likely insurmountable cause? Now that’s really vain.

• Rumor has it … that Jennifer Brunner actually helped her Franklin County Board of Elections nemesis Matt Damschroder retain his job at the Franklin County Board of Elections while the newspaper’s editorial and news sections hammered her for partisanship. It seems the Franklin Board goofed at a much publicized special meeting prior to the primary election where Damschroder was given a consultant contract.

  It seems that Secretary Brunner actually wrote the Board after their procedural goofs and three days later Damschroder was formally named as Deputy Director – an employee not contractor with the Board.

  So while the Dispatch and others lambast Brunner for partisanship over Damschroder – she actually provided the legal procedures to allow Damschroder to hang on to his salary and benefits.

  Any of these Ed Boards want to revisit who’s being partisan? No – not a newspaper Ed. Board – of course not.

• Rumor has it … that the McCain campaign got a bit lazy and procedurally could have been in trouble over making the ballot – although it’s unlikely anyone would act on it. Back in October, the McCain campaign got lazy and cited its eligibility for matching funds as the reason McCain qualified for the primary ballot, to avoid gathering 100 signatures in 50 Ohio counties.

  But on February 6, when McCain’s campaign gained steam, he withdrew his request for more restrictive matching funds from the FEC prior to the Ohio primary election. It seems that he qualified to be on the ballot by using a set of rules that he now said no longer applied to him.

  But the FEC is in a stalemate over appointments and did not have a quorum so they never acted on McCain’s withdrawal from matching funds request – meaning he was left in the weird position of being eligible for matching funds that he did want – but no longer wants – but used anyways to avoid getting signatures to make the Ohio ballot.

  While he procedurally might have violated the law, (or might not have since the FEC had no quorum to act on his request for withdrawal) there appears to be little penalty other than referring the matter to a Franklin County Prosecutor who would treat the case file like nuclear exposure material.

  Funny how the State of Ohio can drag fraudulent voter registration canvassers (ACORN anyone) to jail for committing form frauds – but there is no penalty for John McCain on blatantly misusing the system on this issue. Especially when you consider how McCain avoided having to use canvassers in the first place.

• Rumor has it … that some of the younger Ohio House Reps are feeling a bit forlorn by the my-way-or-the-highway crowd from the both outgoing House leadership teams while the Governor does the delicate dance of working effectively with a GOP majority.

  In an age of term limits, legislators are forced to age in dog years – and the “my way or the highway” mentality that springs from a slim majority and bi-partisan legislating may have produced a 99-0 budget but could hardly be expected to last.

  Just a word to the wise folks, there ain’t no Democratic majority without achieving a happy current minority. And for those in the majority, there ain’t no majority if young legislators start figuring out the dynamics of such slim majority.

  And hey, is it just me or is that Bill Batchelder chuckling as the relatively young legislators haven’t figured out how to flex their own collective bi-partisan muscle. Veterans, even conservative ones, understand that a majority is 50+1 on the day a vote is taken – not in the caucus room.

  That’s something the crafty Batchelder perfected his first time around in his role under Speaker JoAnn Davidson when the GOP went from minority to majority – giving both she, then-Gov. George Voinovich and Senate leaders fits at times as he forged conservative majorities with urban Democrats.

  It seems like a velvet glove by leadership on both sides of the aisle may be needed to keep their lame-duck legislative whips in line.

  Besides, as Batchelder demonstrated in 1994, when you wield a maverick voice, the lobbying crowd, not to mention reporters, tend to notice the voice of contrarians. In an age of anonymity that there is legislative gold.

• Rumor has it … that PayDay lending could move in the House but stall in the Ohio Senate. Both parties have had splits over the issue, providing some lucrative reportable donation grist for the mill. For Democrats, some are peeled off by an aggressively smooth lobby – over arguments of the need for access to banking. For free-market GOPers, it has more to do with lack of regulation.

  But it’s an old Statehouse tradition to play good cop on a populist issue for vulnerable candidates and let the safer chamber play bad cop. It’s also an old caucus ploy to milk the issue on both sides – especially with a politically generous PayDay lobby.

  The constant Ed Board drumbeat against PayDay is starting to weigh on House leadership and Ed Boards seem to matter much more these days to GOP leaders – whose business leaders react to the newspapers, while increasingly the rank and file public hardly notices the newspaper let alone the editorial pages.

  Lost in the Shadows is the fact that if National City Bank’s fiasco in Cleveland winds up in a bank sale, local cities can use federal Community Reinvestment Act provisions to create accessible banking programs for poor consumers, easing concerns among some Democratic legislators hedging on a PayDay cap. If they still opposed the issue after potential CRA agreements, the only issue left to claim would be pure politics.

  Speaking of polling, Ed Board endorsements traditionally have never scored well in legislative races – but numbers have been plummeting even more in recent years – so just because the tree falls in the Ed. Board forest, did anybody hear?

• Rumor has it … that it’s anyone’s guess who will be the next Democratic leader of the House. A half a dozen names have surfaced. But given recent history, front-runners beware.

  Former Toledo Mayor Jack Ford took out former Rep. Ross Boggs when few thought it was possible in the mid-1990s, and when Chris Redfern took over as Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party few insiders thought Joyce Beatty had a chance to succeed him.

  As for the Senate and Senate Democrats’ recent coup-drama – fear not. This was not the only time in recent years this has happened and while bloggers hyperventilate about the Ray Miller/ Theresa Fedor brouhaha, hardly a peep was sounded when Rhine McLin took out Ben Espy in March of 2000 after Espy’s five- year run as leader.

• And finally rumor has it … that the leadership openings and uncertainty over who will maintain the Ohio House majority has led to a free for all for consultants from both sides of the aisle on House races.

  That’s not a problem for candidates or caucuses right now.

  But the high-stakes game will take place when caucuses must make the difficult October decisions over where to move money to win the greatest number of seats. Not only candidates will be barking at the caucus door – so too will consultants. Mix the pressure of consultants, candidates and funders with leadership fights and the caucus that wins next fall will be the one that makes decisions on the poll numbers – not the direct dial phone numbers of insiders.

  The biggest impediment in politics is when 50+1 gets lost in the insider phone number shuffle. That’s why former GOP House and Senate Chief of Staff Scott Borgemenke was well-respected – he always knew that a horse only needs a nose at the finish line – that’s all that really matters at the ticket window.