Strickland's Big Blink

Governor Ted Strickland announced today that he will seek to postpone the last installment of personal income tax cuts to plug the budget gap now that the video slots idea is in danger. Modern has a liveblog of the press conference and some reax. Some thoughts.

Republicans immediately fell upon the governor like hyeanas on a rancid zebra carcass, calling this a tax increase. Leaving the tax rate where it is does not constitute an increase. They will continue to say it's an increase because it's what they do, and every time they do it will kill brain cells in every sentient being within earshot. But please try to remember that no matter how loud they scream that 2+2=5, it's not an increase.

This is the probably least worst of a number bad choices -- including the video slots. The State, local governments and schools are already cut to the bone. Cutting more would fall on schools and could do long term irreparable harm. Plus more cuts means more unemployment -- another term for a government job is a job.

Of the possible tax changes, it certainly is the best. Strickland is right that raising the CAT would renege on the agreement hammered out with the business community during the tax reform debate that brought us to this point.

And a sales tax increase would be doubly bad. For one thing, sales taxes disproportionately affect working and lower class people. For another, state income taxes are more easily deducted against Federal income taxes. That means that funding through income taxes keeps more money in the state -- for every dollar the state takes in, Ohioans pay some fraction like 70-80 cents. The Feds absorb the rest in lower tax revenue. One legacy of the Taft years is that we bumped the sales tax up a half penny, then dropped the income tax. We increased relative taxes on those least able to pay them and sent more Ohio money to Washington. Brilliant.

Anyway, I have issues with how Strickland has handled the spending side of the budget crisis (about which more anon), but he's right that something needed done on the revenue side. It took a while, but he has made the right choice.

2010 and the Budget

Yesterday's papers reported two stories that lay out much of the discussion for next year's gubernatorial election. In the first, social service advocates and providers and union officials are expressing dissatisfaction with the Strickland administration (from the Dispatch).

Some of the Democratic governor's staunchest supporters, particularly leaders of social-service agencies, said their view of Strickland has been altered by the two-year, $50.5 billion budget he signed into law July 17. They concede that their enthusiasm for his re-election has waned.

Which is a worry in the sense that these folks may not go all out in the next election. It's unlikely any of these core constituencies will defect to Kasich. And he's not exactly throwing open the flaps of a big tent:

Kasich said he has a record during his 18 years in Congress of being willing to work with advocates. But he also warned that Ohio needs major reforms, including in the social services.

"We can't let people who are vulnerable end up in the ditch," he said. "But I also have to tell you that we face a crisis, and we're going to have to stabilize things and there'll be nobody that is going to be a favored son."

This is less a play for those constituencies than reassuring the Republican base. Translation: You can vote for me and maybe not be completely shut out of the process, but remember that I'll answer to my actual business/social conservative/small government ideologue constituencies first and foremost.

And what does that base want? That brings us to the second story. House Republicans spent yesterday rolling out their version of an economic development package (from the PD).

The Republicans offered up bills that would establish new tax credits, create a low-interest loan program for small businesses, allow local governments to put ballot issues up that would chop estate taxes and track exactly why exiting businesses are leaving Ohio.

But Republicans were short on details, refusing to offer a ballpark estimate for the cost of their tax credit packages. House Minority Leader Bill Batchelder, a Medina Republican, said in an interview that most of the tax credits would pay for themselves through job creation. He also said a government reorganization plan touted by Republicans could fund the initiatives.

We have heard this before. In 2005 the General Assembly overhauled the tax code, scrapping the business personal property tax, replacing the mess of a business franchise tax with a dubious but undeniably simpler Commercial Activities Tax and setting down a schedule of personal income tax cuts. And they said that this would solve all of Ohio's economic problems. And would pay for itself with all the growth it would generate.

Kasich's vague mention of "reforms" on the spending side offers help if you ignore the vagueness. It's true that Strickland has disappointingly wasted the budget crisis. He could have used it as an impetus to push through some much needed reforms and didn't. But those battles are tough on either side, and it's unlikely the Republicans would be willing or able to institute reforms now that they didn't accomplish during their decade plus of hegemony.

And this is the dilemma facing Kasich. The dissatisfaction directed at the Governor is real. But the only policies his party would allow would only deepen that dissatisfaction.

Tomorrow in Akron Legal News

My column for tomorrow will answer the question so many of you have been asking (OK, it was one Facebook Friend responding to a Tweet, work with me): what do I think about last week's case about residency requirements for city workers?

The case, Lima v. Ohio, upholds a state law passed a couple of years ago that bans residency requirements. Both Lima and Akron sued to challenge the law under the Ohio Constitution. And lost.

My focus in the article is about the implications of the case for home rule in Ohio. Under the home rule provision in the Constitution, municipalities are afforded some protection against state laws that exist only to limit municipal power (there are other aspects to home rule, but that is the one that generates the most -- and most interesting -- litigation).

At first blush the case looks like it should be an easy one for the cities. But the anti-residency requirement law was passed under a section of the Constitution that grants the General Assembly broad authority to regulate employment for the benefit of workers, and says specifically that no other constitutional provisions can supersede it. The Court broadened the reading of that section, but as precedent it only applies to employment cases, not to other aspects of home rule. It certainly isn't a ruling friendly to home rule, but it's also not a dire as the urban papers made it out to be.

I quote three editorials singing dirges to lament the death of home rule. If you are keeping score at home, 's the PD, here's the LMJ and here's the Blade.

As for what I think of the residency requirements themselves, I think Akron should have gotten rid of ours some time ago. I think we lose more in damage to morale than gain in keeping the employees here. In a time when Ohio cities are shrinking, I understand the impulse, but the best way to keep people in the city is to make the city an attractive place to live.

All that said, I thought the legislature overstepped its bounds banning the practice. It's not the worst insult to home rule of late (that would go to a state law forbidding cities from banning assault weapons.) But whatever the bounds of home rule, local autonomy should be respected.

Watching Ohio's Recovery.Gov

Like a number of states, Ohio has set up a state version of the Obama administration's Recovery.gov, offer the promise of Web 2.o interactivity with the stimulus bill. The website/blog SocialGovernment offers an assessment of various state efforts, opining that Illinois has the best. Ohio's isn't metnioned (Ohio has yet to merit a mention on SocGov, generally btw), but Ohio's appears close to on par with the apparently gold standard Illinois site.

The reviewer/blogger Alexander Muir on SocGov graded Illinois highly on "interactivity" -- the website tools that allow users to communicate with the government recovery workers. Ohio has two of the same tools as Illinois -- a form for submitting proposals and another for submitting questions generally. I'd give Ohio extra points for including a feedback/question form on the FAQ page with the promise to post answers to questions submitted. An FAQ based on Questions that are actually Asked Frequently is in itself a welcome throwback.

As Muir notes, the real test will be online transparency as projects are selected and shovels start digging. I'm particularly interested in seeing how much of the decision-making process we will see online. And as is true with pretty much any website, it looks good when shiny and new, but the real test is whether the web team can keep it updated and fresh.

H/t to Governing Mags' 13th Floor blog.

Waiting for Strickland's State o' the State

Tomorrow Gov. Ted Strickland delivers his State of the State address. Aside from the obvious (everyone's economy is now in the tank with ours! w00t!), the Governor is expected to offer at least the beginnings of his school funding fix.

While Strickland made the smart move waiting to this point for obvious political reasons, the economic mess has left him with little room to maneuver. Nonetheless, he's committed at this point. Here are some possible proposals and some of what they might mean.

• A new methodology for calculating support. This is suggestion of a new KnowledgeWorks report and plenty of others before that. Right now the state uses a formula that supposedly determines how much each school district needs, but each budget cycle the General Assembly reverse engineers the total amount of support so that it looks a lot like the amount they want to spend as opposed to the amount they actually need. The problem with a new formula is it still doesn't tell us where the money comes from.
  
• A tax shift. The basic deficiency in the current system is the overreliance on local revenue. The most basic form of school funding reform would be to raise some statewide tax -- a sales tax for instance -- dedicate the revenue to k12 education and simultaneously reduce local property taxes. Even a tax shift would be a hard sell in this economy, but it's hard to imagine a serious reform proposal that doesn't feature one.
• H.B. 920 Rewrite. The other recent think tank proposal is revisiting the no-growth rule first past in House Bill 920, then ultimately enshrined in the state constitution. By law a local school levy millage is reduced every year in order keep the amount of money charged each property static. Problem is that a fix would require a constitutional amendment. Granted, it's easier to sell growing levies at a time when property values aren't going up. On the other hand, it's a lot of political capital to spend on something that wouldn't offer much immediate help to schools.
• Gutting State Board Authority. Strickland proposed last year rewriting the State Board duties to make it essentially an advisory board. I could offer at least a post about how horrible Board is, just from governmental structure standpoint, not to mention how, um, unevolved some of its decision making has been. Now that he has some of his appointees on the Board, we'll see if he floats the idea again.
• Consolodation. Strickland has floated signals before that he would like to see something in the way of consolodating functions, if not districts. This is the sort of big fix for efficiencies that would sell best in a fiscal crunch.
• Union Concessions. When Taft put together his Blue Ribbon Commission, one recommendation was a state health insurance pool, as opposed to letting the unions bargain with each district. The savings would be significant, but the unions like being able to bargain about health care -- it gives them something of a reason for being. If Strickland is proposing pain on the administration side and pain (or at least tradeoffs) on the part of taxpayers, he may resurrect this idea or one like it to spread the pain.

This list is by no means exhaustive and is only based on ideas that have floated around for as long as I've been watching school funding. No inside info hear. If I'm able to liveblog the SOTS (or lets just call it SoS and be done) look for that. But with a possible snow day tomorrow, no promises.

TNR Spotlights Jennifer Brunner

Just up on The New Republic's site is an article shadowing Ohio SoS Jennifer Brunner as she prepares for tomorrow's elections. Much of it is familiar to Ohioans -- chaos in 2004, Republican attacks on her neutrality, howling fantods about database mismatches. As the article notes, Brunner is now lining up her bucket brigade to douset any fires that flare tomorrow. A taste:

On the floor below Brunner's office, dozens of staffers in the Elections Division are recovering from months of GOP blasts while, at the same time, bracing themselves for Tuesday's swarms of voters and the hiccups or disasters they might bring. "We're preparing for the worst, and hoping for the best," says field leader Katherine Thomsen, who will coordinate polling site checks and conference calls on Tuesday to keep the secretary of state's office in the loop about what's happening on the ground.

One wing of the floor houses a "phalanx of lawyers," in one staffer's words, ready to handle any legal problems, while another is staffed by campaign finance officers still answering phone calls about possible problems with candidates' yard signs. Piles of filing boxes stuffed with election documents stretch down one wall in the floor's central hub, past cubicles where "paper jockeys" are busy with faxes and e-mails from local precincts.

Ted in Town Today

Governor Strickland's Conversations on Education road show comes to Akron today. It looks like I'm going, though plans can change quickly here at the House of Pho.

The event itself is invite-only. People interested are invited to stream it on the web or attend a watch party. As to the latter, the ones being held for this session are in Stark County and Coventry. For live streaming, the Gov's site offers this FAQ. The meeting will be broadcast at 10 on Time Warner, though it's not clear if on Channel 16 or 23.

For my part, I'll take notes and write a post. I'm not going to try to lug in the laptop to liveblog and have given up mobile blogging to Blogger. But I'm on Twitter now and will probably tweet a couple things. You can check that out here.

The reviews on Strickland's education agenda, to the extent we know what it is, have been decidedly mixed. I expect this will be a cagey affair, but hopefully we will have a little more clue where he is going by the end.

Census Data: Ohio Population Shift Continues

Analysis of the latest census data shows that some midwestern cities are growing modestly -- but none around here. Cleveland continues to lose people like it's on fire. Akron is shrinking, though much more slowly.

Most of Ohio's major cities are shrinking; Cleveland is the top loser nationwide, with Dayton and Toledo appearing among the top ten shrinking cities. But Columbus continues to post impressive gains and Cincinnati is growing as well.

No surprises, really. The old-line manufacturing cities shrink. The winners have knowledge-based industries (e.g. insurance in Columbus, P&G et al. in Cincy). Akron continues to make the transition, though time will tell how successfully.

Strickland's Education Forum Coming to Akron

Governor Ted Strickland has announced that one of his twelve planned "education forums" will be in Akron at North High School on July 23. The Governor has started a website, Conversations on Education to facilitate/publicize the listening tour. The url embedded on Ohio dot com doesn't seem to work for the website. You can try here or here.

The Governor has gotten grief for not fixing either the schools themselves or the school funding mess as of yet. It always seemed to me that any proposal would come after the midterm elections. First, because such a proposal takes time. The Governor committed to getting input, particularly from the business community. Being pretty much a pro-business D, that's what he would have done anyway, plus anyone paying attention to the GIRFOF mess knows that the effort was doomed as soon as the business community spoke out against it.

Also, any proposal prior to midterms becomes a political football. The R's would have to oppose it regardless of merit or risk handing the statehouse over to the D's. Which brings up the third factor -- once it became apparent that generic D's would do well in the midterm, Strickland's best bet is to wait until the November smoke clears to see what kind of General Assembly he has to work with. If, as hoped, D's take the House, he will get much more of what he wants.

I've had background conversations with various sources that pretty much confirm the above. And it's pretty well known that Strickland has been meeting with various stakeholder groups, including business groups.

The forums are another step in the process. How much will be gathering input and how much will be softening the ground for the eventual proposal remains to be seen. According to the website, things are organized around the six principles outlined in the State of the State address. You remember those, right? No? Well, here's a refresher:

And I have developed six core principles that will guide our efforts to achieve that vision.

First, we cannot address our education challenges without strengthening our commitment to public education. As a practical matter, the vast majority of Ohio children are and always will be educated in the public school system.

Second, a modern education must be directly linked to economic prosperity. Ohio cannot thrive without understanding that world class schools will produce a talented workforce, and a talented workforce will attract and create jobs.

Third, we need to identify the great strengths of our schools. There are features in our education system that the rest of the world seeks to emulate, and we must build on these triumphs.

We excel internationally in our ability to foster creativity and innovation. These skills fuel a lifetime of success, especially in an evolving global economy.

Ohio schools produced the minds that created Superman, with his fictional X-Ray vision, and the mind that invented the MRI, giving doctors the very real ability to painlessly view inside the human body. Ohioans are visionaries, but practical as well. It wasn’t long after a pair of Ohioans invented the airplane that another Ohioan invented the parachute.

Our schools must teach students to think past the limits of what’s been done, and imagine what could be done.

Fourth, our best teachers can show us what works best in the classroom. We need to consult them and follow their lead.

Great teachers can be a resource not only for their students but for their fellow educators. We should support these teachers by giving them the freedom to stay in the classroom and still be rewarded for sharing their expertise with their peers. We lose a lot of new teachers – as many as half of all new teachers leave the profession in the first 5 years – but we can help keep these talented people by giving them better access to senior colleagues.

Fifth, we must strive to develop a specific, personalized education program that identifies how each individual student learns and use the teaching methods appropriate to that student’s needs and abilities.

The great educator and philosopher John Dewey described this idea many years ago. He wrote that we must shift “the center of gravity” in schools. It’s a “revolution, not unlike that introduced by Copernicus when the astronomical center shifted from the Earth to the sun. In this case, the child becomes the sun around which the appliances of education revolve.”

And sixth, testing and assessment will continue to answer accountability questions. But their most important role will be to guide personalized and individualized education through a comprehensive and ongoing understanding of a student’s capabilities and weaknesses and growth in the educational process.

Not the list I would pick, but good enough to be going forward.

Gov. Strickland in the Running for Dumbest Post-Heller Reaction

Here's the statement posted on the official website:

“I concur with today’s landmark decision by the US Supreme Court, which emphasizes what so many have long understood: The right to bear arms is a fundamental civil right like the freedoms of speech and to vote. And it's important that governments at all levels not infringe on those fundamental rights.

Um, Wayne LaPierre has left the building, Governor. You can get up off your knees now.

First off, Scalia's opinion studiously avoided stating whether the right to bear arms is "fundamental." The laundry list Scalia provided of what the Court was not striking down

Second, a finding that the right is fundamental would be if the right to bear arms is directly analogous to the right to speech, where does the Governor think that right ends? Possession of fully automatic weapons? Do we need to strike down the firearms specifications for crimes? After all, we've struck down hate crimes laws that enhanced penalties for things people said in the course of a crime. Does enhancing penalties for possessing but not using a gun in the commission of a crime "infringe" on the right to bear arms. What about concealed carry by convicted felons? Or guns on airplanes?

There appears to this Governor's fealty to the gun lobby.

Couglin Working Toward Guv Run: Breaking News and a Bleg

An Anonymous dropped a comment in my George Carlin post, reproducing a fundraising letter he received from State Sen. Kevin Coughlin (R-Vidal Sassoon.) Here's the meat of it:

Often in politics, leaders promise to be visionaries who will "turn around Ohio."
All too often, those slogans and promises turn out to be empty.

Ohio's challenges are too serious to simply be managed. They require
forward thinking leadership that is in touch with our common values. Our citizens
deserve leadership that is bold enough to share a detailed vision and is
energetic enough to turn that vision into a reality.

I want you to be the first to know that I will be spending the coming months
discussing what my contribution can be toward building a Whole New Ohio with
my family, friends, and supporters. By Thanksgiving, I will decide whether
to seek to lead our state in 2010.[Emphasis added]

Everyone has been expecting Coughlin to run at statewide office, though it wasn't clear whether it would be Governor or a downticket race like taking on Jennifer Brunner. This looks like Bexley is in his sights.

At this point, no additional information is available on KC's campaign website and New Summit Republicans remains static since the coup was put down.

Ted Strickland could do worse than an opponent who will be undercut by his home county party chair (and one of the most powerful party chairs in the state) at every turn. Make no mistake, Alex Arshinkoff will say "feh" to party loyalty and make it his personal mission to take out Coughlin if he runs. And it wouldn't even make the Top Ten Most Petty and Fratricidal Things A² Has Ever Done list.

Meanwhile, I'm curious who is getting this letter. All I know about Anon is that he's posting from Akron. Summit County is pretty barren land for Coughlin after his unsuccessful run at Alex. He certainly won't get any of the major funders on board and folks who give to him will likely get on Alex's naughty list.

Hence the bleg¹ part. Did anyone outside of SummitCo. get the letter? Please drop a comment or an email. Thanks.

¹If you are relatively new to blog world, a "bleg" is a blog-based request for information. Blog + beg. And agreed, the lingo is getting increasingly precious.

The View from a Mile High

We are staying at the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center (following custom, they get a plug for giving free wifi -- a rarity in business hotels.) Major swanky, although in true western fashion the lobby decor includes a dog-shaped iron boot scraper mounted on a plexiglass base and displayed as an objet.

The view from outside our window looks like this:



Signs of money abound, at least here in the southern suburbs. High-end retail, luxury cars and these tall spindly things that look vaguely familiar. I asked a local who informed me that these are called "construction cranes" -- things used in areas where it makes economic sense to erect new tall buildings.

With all that, the hot topic on LeftyBlogs/Colorado our first day was a study showing that the state experienced the highest growth in child poverty over the past seven years. While the study notes a number of intersecting factors, it's important to remember that Colorado is home of the TABOR amendment which severely restricts government spending (and also the state that blunted its fangs.) Colorado now lags behind most states in a number of spending categories, including substance abuse treatment, child health and education.

Not to say that spending alone is the cause behind the study's findings. But then as TABOR acolytes were pushing the amendment in Ohio, they pointed to Colorado's gaudy growth rates and attributed them to the amendment which is just as reductivist. The rates of growth and in-migration may have more to do with this:

This picture was taken from the parking lot of the IHOP where we had breakfast yesterday. Now Northeast Ohio has plenty of beautiful places if you know where to look. But nowhere in NEO will you find an IHOP parking lot with a view that will take your breath away -- at least not in a good way.

If we are serious about turning the Ohio economy around, we need to avoid gimmicks from states whose cachet is based on factors we cannot replicate.

See also: No income tax in Florida.

Ohio của tiếng Anh chỉ hoá đơn -- không vấn đề , không có giải pháp

Ohio Nhà Bill 477. hiện tại hạ cân nhắc , sẽ đơn xin bất cứ " Công Cộng thân thể -- về cơ bản bất cứ chính phủ tác dụng , bang hoặc bản xứ -- yêu cầu kia " tiếng Anh là dùng cho mỗi hội nghị của một Công Cộng thân thể và cho mỗi quan chức sự chuyển động của bất cứ bang tác dụng hoặc chính trị, bao gồm mỗi kỷ lục chuẩn bị , hội nghị cử hành , chính sách câu hỏi , hoặc khác sự chuyển động cầm hạ màu của hợp pháp."

Gho kia chúng tôi không hiện tại có một vấn đề có , nói , Ravenna Hội Đồng Thành Phố sự xuất bản cái đó phút tại Slovenia , hợp pháp là chĩa phiên dịch phục vụ dịch vụ đến dân nhập cư. Hợp pháp sẽ hạn chế , một chút , năng lực của chính phủ tác dụng cung cấp phiên dịch của quan chức cái giũa đến ấy ai sự cần chúng nó.

nhưng hợp pháp cũng làm một số của sự trừ ra kia vung hầu bất cứ địa thế hạ nào một tác dụng có lẽ muốn cung cấp phiên dịch . ở giữa chúng nó :

( 3 ) bảo hộ hoặc đề cao Công Cộng khỏe mạnh , an toàn hoặc phúc lợi ;
( 4 ) bảo hộ quyền lực của đảng và người chứng kiến tại một dân sự hoặc tội phạm sự chuyển động hoặc hoa lợi tại một sân nhà hoặc tại một hoa lợi sự quản lý ;
( 6 ) cung cấp sự biểu thị đồ án đến sự giúp đỡ học sinh có hạn chế tiếng Anh proficiency như thế chúng nó có thể làm một hợp thời sự quá độ đến dùng tiếng Anh trong trường công ;
( 7 ) đề cao thương nghiệp quốc tế , buôn bán hoặc sự du lịch ;
( 9 ) hành nghề informal và phiên dịch nonbinding hoặc thông tin

Như thế hoá đơn cứu cánh sự biến đổi rất nhỏ. Tôi sự xảy ra đến ngồi tại ban giám đốc của một từ thiện kia công tác có dân nhập cư và người lánh nạn, chủ yếu từ châu Á. Iôi liên lạc có giám đốc chúng tôi ai bảo đảm tôi kia nhiều quá phiên dịch không phải là hiện tại Ohio của vấn đề. H.B. 477 có lẽ làm một ít nhỏ hơn phiên dịch có thể dùng được , nhưng từ khi Ohio không hiện tại cung cấp cả phiên dịch sự cần đến " bảo hộ hoặc đề cao Công Cộng khỏe mạnh , an toàn và phúc lợi " có lẽ không bằng nhiều.

477 là một giải pháp tại lục soát của một vấn đề . đại phàm phương pháp này vấn đề là địa chỉ là được người tuyển dụng và kia nhất định coi bộ ca ở đây . hoá đơn cuộc biểu diễn tại sự sợ -- sự sợ một, Balkanized Mỹ , và liên hệ sự sợ người ai không vẻ ngoài và âm thanh thích chúng tôi , những ai " chúng tôi " là.

chúng tôi có sự tranh luận này ở đây đẹp nhiều mã mãi . từ NINA dấu tại thứ mười chín thế kỷ thương nghiệp cửa sổ đóng hạn ngạch Do thái² của thứ hai mươi thế kỷ , chúng tôi luôn luôn nghe tối tăm cảnh cáo về ấy người ai sẽ đến ở đây và sự biến đổi văn hoá Mỹ . cảnh chung , chúng nó đến và chúng nó đổi văn hoá chúng tôi cho càng hay

dùng Balkan Peninsula khi nào một cờ hiệu cho hại của đa dạng văn hoá nhấn mạnh thế nào sai của sự tranh luận là . chia tay của Yugoslavia là một và công việc chảy máu , nhưng không , tại chủ yếu , do sự chuyển động của phần ít văn hoá . phần lớn Serbia chị huyết nhất chạy theo một lớn hơn -- và " purer " -- Serbia

tại khác tự , sự khác nhau không phải là vấn đề . ngoan ngạnh là

Thanks to Jill for conceiving and organizing the Blogging in Tongues action day. You can find the translation here.

¹ “Không sự cần Ai-len đơn xin.”

²Phải đó nào hủy diệt untold nghìn đến chết tại khí chambers khi nào chúng nó đang giữ gìn tại thế giới chiến tranh II.

ODP Updated to Be Obama Country, But Not Completely

Both ODB noticed the lag in the ODP website updating to reflect Sen. Barack Obama's new status as undisputed Democratic nominee (though Bill Sloat noticed earlier that they had the merch sales going). When Jill posted news of Gov. Strickland's endorsement I checked back and, for five minutes or so, got a Service Unavailable message. Then on the third or fourth try, this:

Nicely done, but I'm still wondering about this:



The ODP Dinner is little over two weeks away and we still haven't heard who is headlining. Last year it was Hillary; the year before Obama, plus Biden. Given that the smart play is a high-profile surrogate of the nominee, it may well be that the party has been waiting for resolution. We'll see if that plays out, or if it will just be a backyard barbecue among us Ohio Dems.

BTW, I'll be on a plane back home that day, so no report this year.

Rep. John Widowfield Stepping Down Due to Improprieties

Akron Beacon Journal is reporting tonight:

State Rep. John Widowfield, R-Cuyahoga Falls, is expected to resign from his legislative seat following accusations that he purchased Ohio State University football tickets with campaign funds and sold them for a profit.

Widowfield did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment Tuesday and today. He signed for gas mileage reimbursement for the week and attended a committee hearing in the morning, but was not at the House session in the afternoon.

Sources told the Beacon Journal that Widowfield sold the football tickets over the Internet for more than their face value, and pocketed the profits.

Widowfield's financial disclosure forms for the past two years list only his legislative salary and interest on checking and annuity accounts as sources of income.

Some reminders about John Widowfield. He ran unsuccessfully last year for Cuyahoga Falls Muni Clerk. Despite still having a term to go before bumping up against term limits, he is not running for re-election, he instead is running for the one spot on County Council currently occupied by a Republican.

He's also an Alex crony. Louise Heydorn, the woman he beat in the primary for County Council (as the Republican endorsee) is married to one of the attorneys who represented Kevin Coughlin in the Elephant Wars. And Widowfield famously did Alex's bidding as the county lobbied for new common pleas judgeships, even as the ABJ chanted "Who's yer daddy?" In sum, it looked like Alex has been looking for a soft landing for a valuable tool who hasn't done well in Columbus.

Meanwhile, Mike Moran has been mounting a strong challenge for his seat. Since Widowfield was already standing down, this changes the dynamic of that race but little. I believe the party gets to pick his replacement, but let me get back to you on that. If so, Robart Jr. will be running as a sort of incumbent. || UPDATE: I had forgotten that the younger Robart was upset in the primary by one Richard Nero. The replacement gets appointed by the House Republican Caucus. It would be interesting to see if Alex tries to orchestrate a coup of sorts and get Robart appointed and on the ballot. END UPDATE || On the other hand, the Republicans will have a harder time imposing their announced strategy of tying Dem candidates to recently disgraced Dems, at least in this race.

As for County Council, that's probably the least of his worries right now. From the looks of it, he's probably guilty of at least two campaign law violations.

Thus endeth the state career of Ohio's laziest legislator.

Strickland Appoints OSU Law Dean as Interem AG

Gov. Ted Strickland announced today that he is appointing Nancy Hardin Rodgers, currently Dean of the Ohio State University Moritz School of Law, to be interim Attorney General. According to both the press release and the press conference, Dean Rodgers will take a temporary leave of absence from Moritz and does not intend to run for the unexpired term.

Resources:

Dean Rodgers' bio page, including a link to her curriculum vitae (pdf) on the Moritz website.

Dean Rodgers on Wikipedia (already updated of course.)

Governor's statement.

Good career rundown from Jeff. I would add that in addition to serving on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Law Schools, she is also the immediate past President.

I briefly interviewed a source who works in law school administration (grin). She says that Dean Rodgers is widely admired and highly accomplished. She also said that despite a soft-spoken demeanor, she has a sufficiently thick skin to be effective as a law school dean. In many ways she is the AntiDann.

I'd agree with Jeff's assessment that she is a solid choice, though labeling it "safe" may include some connotations I don't necessarily agree with. Strickland has deftly threaded the needle. He picked someone with extensive administrative experience, but without political ambition. In other words, someone well poised to assume the role of cleaner.

What the office needs now is someone who will root out the rotten parts of the office, but with enough care and precision that she doesn't gut the workforce. The citizens of Ohio are best served by someone who will reform the office objectively, without being constrained by political considerations. What the office doesn't need is someone scrambling to put his or her own policy stamp on prior to the election. In all Dean Rodgers appears a good fit.

Cleveland's Slavic Village Becoming Forclosure Crisis National "Poster Neighborhood"

This week's Newsweek features a lengthly story about how predatory lending decimated Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood. Over the past week two public radio programs have reported on Slavic Village: NPR's Weekend Edition and American Public Media's Marketplace.

The Newsweek story is devastating. We heard about Cleveland trying to regulate predatory lending and being preempted by state officials. As the story makes clear, the unregulated environment and promises of easy money led to widespread fraud:

Yet insidious forces were at work in the neighborhood. After the mortgage-refinancing boom of 2003–04, demand for fresh subprime "product" grew so intense that lending standards nationwide disintegrated. To meet Wall Street's demand for a steady supply, lenders kept reaching lower and lower down the scale of quality in both property and borrowers, until the street hustlers jumped in to offer up their "product." Not surprisingly, the once shunned inner city became a prime lending spot across America. That, in turn, led to the phenomenon of reverse redlining. More than a decade ago, the big story was the redlining of low-income, often African-American, neighborhoods by banks that refused to lend there. Now the opposite happened.

Wall Street's insatiable demand inspired the local shop owner and plumber to go into the mortgage business—what Brancatelli calls "station-wagon brokers."

"There are a lot of former drug dealers who have gotten into the business," adds Ed Kraus of the Ohio Attorney General's office. Many brokers simply invented biographies and jobs for their indigent borrowers, officials say. In one case, says Brancatelli, Kellogg saw a lawn mower in a truck belonging to Williams's husband and declared him a "landscaper" for the mortgage records.

Meet Bill Rausch, OPD Veterans Caucus Director and Obama Activist

The ODP dropped this in the ebag today:

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Democratic Party today announced the hiring of former Army Captain, Iraq War veteran and Marengo, Ohio, native Bill Rausch as the full-time director of the newly formed Veterans and Family Members Caucus. The Ohio Democratic Party is now one of only two state Democratic parties in the country to employ a director of veterans and military family outreach, signaling the party's intention to aggressively fight for the votes of this historically Republican-leaning constituency in the 2008 election and beyond.

After past tragic experiences, we've learned to always Google those whom the ODP hires. That yielded this interesting video posted by the Obama campaign.




First off, Capt. Rausch is an excellent and sincere speaker and I look forward to watching his work as Caucus Director.

Second, the fact that ODP hired someone with his very public record as an Obama supporter suggests one of two things. Either they still aren't Googling their job applicants (certainly a possibility) or the party as a whole is sufficiently confident that Obama will be the guy that they aren't worried about pro-Hillary blowback.

Finally, I bet Rausch could beat the crap out of John Ettorre.

Ohio as a Bellwether on Religion and Poitics?

A Blogging Faith post leads to this article in Religious Dispatches by one Robert Jones -- among other things a Center for Amercan Progress guy. Jones' piece heavily overclaims whatever shift in faith and voting may have happened in Ohio. The story starts contrasting the "fortunes" of We Believe Ohio on the left and Bruce Johnson on the right. From there the author notes the result of the 2006 gubernatorial election, then draws broader points about the supposed crack up of the religious right and ascendancy of religious progressives. Here's a sample:

In the meantime, Ohio Christians clearly voiced their preference for a candidate that shared all their values rather than a candidate running on a narrow divisive platform of opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. Blackwell was handily defeated by Ted Strickland, a Methodist minister who stumped as a “Golden Rule Democrat” and who, as a senator, insisted on paying for his own health coverage as long as his constituents were not covered. According to the 2006 NEP exit polls, Strickland gained fourteen points among voters who attended religious services once per week or more, compared to support these voters gave Senator John Kerry in 2004. And voters, including a majority (fifty-one percent) of weekly church attenders, overwhelmingly supported a long-overdue ballot measure to increase the minimum wage.

*sigh*

If this is our evidence that the tide has turned, I'm not moving down the beach just yet. Of course we can start with the elementary mistake -- Strickland was a Representative, not a Congressman.

More broadly, We Believe has a long way to go before it is anything more than liberal clergy talking to each other. They currently aren't a convenient bus ride from the stadium Rod Parsley et al play in.

And of course, one cycle does not a trend make. I'd love to believe that we just need to keep doing what we are doing and we never have to worry about intolerant ranters like Parsley again.
While not his intention, Jones in fact shows now much work we have to do.

Watching the Strickland/Dann Press Conference

No sooner did I post the following, than Plunderbund noted that Marc Dann and Gov. Ted Strickland are giving a joint press conference today at around 4:45. Right now it's 4:50 and ONN is standing by for the presser.

UPDATE: After some technical difficulties ONN cuts into Dann's statement just as he is announcing his resignation. The speech is a good one; probably the best shade of lipstick for this pig.

No wife in the background, but he drug his daughter along as the family support.

Now Ted is speaking. Hopefully he will address questions about what quid brought about this quo.

Brief statement -- Dann is doing the honorable thing. Then questions.

Q1: Was the threat of impeachment overstepping. My the MSM loves this narrative. Ted says no, "we've been consistent."

Q2: Any concessions: A: Absolutely no deal made between "Me and my administration." We met and he "expressed certain concerns." E.g., his employees. He wants his successor to treat them in a "professional manner."

Q3: Reports about Dann being concerned about the investigation. Was that discussed? A: I've said all along there should be an outside investigation. I signed the IG bill yesterday. My duty now as governor is to

Q4: Appointment? Ted is reading the Revised Code section. Right now Tom Winters, the First Assistant AG is assuming the duties. Ted mentions either interim appointment or appointment of an individual to stand for election in November. He hasn't made the decision yet.

Q5: What was Dann's attitude during the meeting? First meeting last Sunday night he insisted he did nothing warranting resignation. Last couple of days he's been realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Q6: What is the walk-off thought you'd like people to have: A: People will decide. I think it was handled appropriately. Etc.

Q7: Re: AG recognizing the seriousness. A: I would be speculating. But [then he speculates] that over the past several days the groundswell of opinion may have contributed to the decision he made today.

Q8: Damage to the Democratic party? A: Shouldn't damage the party. It's not the failing of a party, the party responded quickly and appropriately.

In terms of retaining the office in the Fall, I'm sure there will be a contested race but given the circumstances of

Q9: Affect on the Presidential election? A: Don't want to turn this into a political discussion, but (anecdote about (Obviously Ted doesn't read right-wing blogs.)

Q10: Unintelligible but Ted laughs about it. Seems to be about replacement but causes Ted to note that he doesn't have much influence w/r/t the Presidential primary.

Q11: Find it ironic that Tom Noe's former lobbyist is now the acting AG? A: Not ironic, it's just how the statute works.

Q12: How long will Winters stay in office, given that he was A: AG resigned about an hour and fifteen minutes ago. I'm dealing with one thing at a time.

Q13: Unintelligible, but seems to be about whether he's concerned about the overall quality of the workforce of the AG's office. A: AG employees number in the hundreds and many are career people. One reason I did what I did was to prevent just that -- the diminishing of the work they do.

Q14: Seems to be about how he feels about sexual harassment. He's agin' it.

Q15: Did Dann ask him to kill or delay the investigation. A: Never to me. Yesterday he asked Lt. Gov Fisher to speak to Sen. Harris and Spkr Husted. Fisher did that, but was simply conveying the message. Told them that the admin didn't support Dann's position.

Q16: Did Dann express concerns about his future financial situation? A: Yes, couched in terms of concern about his "three wonderful children."

Q17: What specific qualifications are you looking for. A: Maturity! (you can actually hear the exclamation point.) Also experience, administrative ability, etc.

Q18: Do you have a list? No. People have been suggested.

Q19: Lee Fisher? A: Would consider him but he's doing a great job at the Dept. of Devolopment and I'd hate to have him leave. I have a great deal of respect for Fisher and would consider him for anything.

Q20: Did you ever take Dann aside and say "we're hearing things, clean up your act." A: To begin with, the other Constitutional offices are occupied by individuals who have been independently elected who are office holders in their own right. Not part of my administration. Don't think the Gov office should assume the right to interfere with those offices.

Having said that, had I known any of the things that have come to light, I would have spoken to him.

Q21: Were the AG's misleading statements the reason we are here today? A: I believe I sa

Q22: What's next for Marc Dann? A: Heading back to Ytown to be with his children. Reiterates how wonderful Dann's children are.

And out.