Saturday, June 26, 2010

News, news, news...

 * Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (Oh-15th-Democrat) has had a successful week in Congress with her working on the Senate House special committee.  Kilroy has worked to protect the average person, especially during these difficult financial times.  In her capacity on the FinReg committee, according to the Dispatch, Kilroy got two of her amendments passed:

...One would allow the federal government to provide grants to legal-aid organizations, which could offer legal advice and help to homeowners facing either foreclosure or eviction.
The second amendment, which Kilroy drafted, would toughen federal regulations of credit-rating agencies by holding them liable for providing false information to investors....

Thank you, Mary Jo Kilroy! 

(I wonder if we had a bank lobbyist in Congress, if he would push forward such pro-consumer legislation.   Hmmmmm.  I don't think so.  Stive Stivers, Republican and former bank lobbyist, is not interested in helping and protecting consumers.  We know that because he worked to put caps on liability claims and he was against consumer protection.  Steve Stivers.  What a great bank lobbyist!)


*  Mary Taylor, Auditor for the State of Ohio, is Republican John Kasich's running mate for the upcoming general election.  Kasich, a former investment banker with the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers, is running for governor on a promise to eliminate the state income tax.  Unfortunately, the voters in Ohio have yet to see a plan on how he'd do that, what departments he'd cut, if he will cut 11,000 state employees, what state assets (parks, forests, highways, buildings, and schools) he'll sell off, etc.  Right now, with no platform to run on, Kasich and Taylor are doing nothing but playing with the element of time.  Kasich is selling books, having talks with other defeated Republicans, and talking on, and on, and on, and on,........

Republican Mary Taylor, who is still the State Auditor, is now playing politics.  She has  just discovered (Really? Just a few months before the elections? Really?) embezzlement in the Stark County's Treasurer's office, even though, according to CantonRep, it has been going on since 2003 (when Betty Montgomery, Republican, was State Auditor).  The article goes on and to state that the "total theft committed" was $2,464,989.

Earlier this year, it was discovered that Mary Taylor often works out of an office in Canton, which is closer to her home (see Dispatch 2/14/10).  All of the state offices are located in  Columbus, but Taylor is rarely there.  By the way, Canton is located in Stark County.

Republican Mary Taylor is asking us to believe that this embezzlement has been going on in Canton, Stark County since 2003, the location of her satellite office, but she just noticed it?????????  How is that possible?  Taylor audits the Stark County Treasurer's office every year.  Did she just release the embezzlement charge now because it was better to use the information just before the election?  If Taylor knew that embezzlement was going on earlier, why didn't she stop it then?


>   Mary Taylor is in the news again--------

Now Mary Taylor is playing politics again.  She said that she would not release the findings of the audit of the Ohio Lottery.  Cleveland:

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said Auditor Mary Taylor needs to set a date for the release of her performance audit of the Ohio Lottery to eliminate the perception that she is playing politics with her office....

....Strickland was reacting to a Plain Dealer story about Taylor's recent decision to delay the release of the lottery audit begun in January.


The story cited a letter by Lottery Director Kathleen Burke that says she was told by the auditor's office that the audit was delayed because Taylor's executive staff wanted auditors to "dig deeper" into some recommendations outlined in the executive summary of a draft.....

I think that someone who knows what is really going on in that lottery audit, should use their own cell phone and on their lunch hour, call the Governor's office or the Attorney General's office, to let them know if Taylor is playing some shenanigans with the numbers. 

*  Kasich and Taylor met with Mitt "I tied my dog to the roof of my car" Romney, according to WMFD.  Big deal.  I don't vote for anyone associated with dog abusers.