Workers' Rights Are Moral

Have you ever seen these words?

(Source for excerpts below: Link)

.....worker must be paid a wage sufficient to support him and his family....

....fully supports the right of workers to form unions or other associations to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions.  This is a specific application of the more general right to associate......

We consider it our duty to reaffirm the the remuneration of work is not something that can be left  to the laws of the marketplace; nor should it be a decision left to the will of the more powerful.....

Our ancestors demanded fairness, justice, and equality.  Some people even died in the struggle for rights. Why are Ohio Republicans so determined to take these things away from public workers like teachers, firefighters, police, nurses, and state workers?  Kasich, Shannon Jones, and the Ohio Republicans are trying to deny rights to the people who are the very foundation of your community.

* * *

Here is another view about the rights of workers---(Source: Link)

....There is a strong enduring Christian tradition of support for fair treatment of workers. In 1908 The Methodist Episcopal Church adopted The Social Creed supporting workers’ rights. This tradition continues today over a century later in the form of The Social Principles of the United Methodist Church. In 1968 Reverend Martin Luther King actively supported the struggle of sanitation workers to get fair treatment in the workplace. He was killed early in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee in that struggle. These are simply a few of the examples of this tradition.....

> In the Business-Journal, Tracy Wright, a Youngstown Firefighter, had this to say about collective bargaining:

...."Collective bargaining entails negotiating about safety concerns, working conditions, those kinds of things impact on us and the community as well," says the Youngstown Fire Department captain, a professional firefighter for 19 years. "It's important that the community recognizes what collective bargaining really means."

....Wright and Sgt. T.J. Assion of the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department, who also was on hand for the opening of the Struthers We Are Ohio office, disagree. Assion argued that Senate Bill 5 prevents discussion in negotiations on safety equipment and staffing.

"It's not going to have any immediate impact on any current contract other than to reduce staffing," said Assion, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 141. "Who is the governor to know or who is [Senate Bill 5 sponsor] Sen. Shannon Jones to know how many police officers it would take?' he questioned. "It's the it's the officer that's doing the job, it's the firefighter that's doing the job that's the expert on the job, that's going to know what needs to be done. We use collective bargaining to accomplish these changes." 

Do you want Kasich and the Ohio Republicans to determine what is a correct staffing for a firehouse?  Do you want them to set the number of patients a nurse in a state hospital should be able to manage during an 8 or 10 hour shift?  Do you want Kasich, the Ohio GOP, and their business cronies to set up how many students should be in a classroom?  Is 25 too little?  Would 50 students in a classroom okay by them?  Should we allow Kasich, Jones, and the Ohio GOP the power to decide how many police officers should be on duty within a police station or on patrol?


As Wright and Assion said in the article noted above, allowing elected officials and those in power to decide wages, safety equipment, workloads, and workers rights is totally wrong.  Workers should have the right to decide what they want and need, and then negotiate about it.  Taking away collective bargaining turns teachers, firefighters, police, nurses, and public workers into serfs and peasants subject to the whims and desires of their overlords.

Kasich won election by just under 2% of the vote.  We cannot allow this power grab.  We cannot allow our friends, neighbors, spouses, relatives, and people in our community to be denied their rights. Let Kasich, the Republicans, and their puppetmasters (the Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party GOPers, and others) know that you stand with the people in your community and against the right wing, corporatocracy.

* Vote NO on Issue 2 *

*Vote No on Issue 3 *

* * *

If Kasich and the Ohio Republican really wanted to save money, they would have refused to give another penny to failing charter schools that do nothing but enrich owners.

Rules and Laws Apply to Republicans Too!

*  You may not believe this, but Republican Josh Mandel still has not released his financial disclosure to the U.S. Senate as required by law for all candidates.  Mandel is only 100 days late!!!!! Can you imagine the arrogance?  Have you ever ignored a law for 100 days????

People are starting to talk about the odd, suspicious campaign contributions that include huge amounts of money from employees of a certain pro-Mandel company owner. 

While Josh Mandel has put all public employees salaries online, he has refused to disclose his personal financial disclosure.  If you need further evidence of the Josh Mandel campaign's unsavory operations, check out the following link:  SeattlePI.

_________

****  Gov. John Kasich, who still can't believe that Ohio has a constitution, has some news this morning.
Vindy:

Two Democratic lawmakers and a liberal advocacy group have refiled their lawsuit against Gov. John Kasich and Jobs-Ohio, challenging the constitutionality of the state’s new private economic- development nonprofit.....

.....opponents, including many Democratic lawmakers, have questioned the constitutionality of a private entity using public funds without public oversight of the process.....

.....The suit specifically challenges whether the state has the authority to make equity investments in private companies and whether lawmakers and the governor had the power to create JobsOhio the way they did.....

Rules and laws apply to everyone----- even Republicans!

Someone needs to tell Kasich that he is not on Wall Street anymore.

Backroom Deals? Where is the transparency?????

*  Don't you wonder why the Kasich administration seems to bristle every single time ProgressOhio levies a charge at them?  If the Kasich administration is doing nothing wrong, why is there always a negative reaction from them?  The Kasich administration appears to be completely uncomfortable with the idea that government should be totally transparent.  Instead of having a website devoted to providing transparency (http://transparency.ohio.gov), they should rename it http://onlywhatwewanttotellyou.ohio.gov.

Ohioans should worry about the lack of transparency and the resumption of the backroom deals, and "pay-to-play" agreements that seem to have taken hold of the state government.  Although some business leaders and Gov. Kasich might not like the scrutiny, as taxpayers we have every right to know how our tax money is being spent. This is public government supported by a state constitution. It is not Wall Street.  As we all know, Wall Street is where backroom transactions take place all the time, and that is what brought us to the failures of Lehman Brothers and Wall Street, not so long ago.


Here is what ProgressOhio has on this:

"JobsOhio is starting to look like a slush fund to pay off supporters,'' ProgressOhio Executive Director Brian Rothenberg said at a Columbus news conference. "Explain to me why this is not a new pay-to-play scheme."

....He especially took issue with Kasich's companion announcement that he has set aside a $24 million pool of Third Frontier funds for distribution to local chambers of commerce and other private, regional economic development agencies. The announcement came after most of the agencies or their partners endorsed SB5, a Kasich-backed law to limit the collective bargaining rights of police, firefighters, teachers and other public employees.....

...Specifically, supporters of SB5 and Republican committees received contributions from board members of Team NEO, Dayton Development Coalition, Cincinnati USA Partnership, Greater Cleveland Partnership and the businesses associated with board members who were CEOs or presidents....  

Are groups getting paid to publicly endorse the SB 5? 

Then we have a pro-Kasich publication's take on the issue----Businessweek:

A liberal policy group is raising questions about political ties between Ohio Gov. John Kasich and groups receiving high-tech grants through the state's new semi-private job creation board.

ProgressOhio on Monday said that Kasich and other Republicans received donations from affiliates of three of six groups handling state economic development grants on behalf of the JobsOhio board. The six local economic development groups have been tapped to share $24 million.

ProgressOhio Executive Director Brian Rothenberg disseminated state records that show affiliates of the groups contributed more than $60,000 to Kasich and legislative Republicans since 2007. The money came through executives, member businesses or their Political Action Committees......

Kasich & Co. should be reminded that the public still remembers the scandals associated with "Coingate" and the number of trials and convictions associated with it.  Backroom, secret deals, stink.  (If you need a refresher on Coingate, you can check out these links:
Republicansoffenders, Commoncause, LATimes, RawStory, WashingtonPost, TalkingPointsMemograndoledocket, etc.)

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***** Now others are starting to notice something about Republican Josh Mandel and it isn't pretty!  Mandel broke promises to finish his term, the dirty campaign he ran against his Democratic opponent, his jet setter travel, his lack of legislative experience (only 3 co-sponsored bills), and his reluctance to file his financial disclosure statement on time, have raised questions. 

WashingtonPost:

...Democrats pounced on a recent newspaper report that the owner of an Ohio direct marketing firm, his employees and their spouses gave $100,000 to Mandel’s campaign. Some donors listed their occupation as “writer,” ‘’copywriter” or merely “marketing,” according to the report in the Toledo Blade.

A spokesman for the marketing company told the Blade the firm did not reimburse employees or provide money for the contributions.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said the contributions raise questions.

“Those contributions don’t make sense,” she said.....

Exactly.

*   *   *

*  Where in the world is Republican Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-15)?????  Except for his job fair and his super secret town hall in a remote area of his district, constituents are wondering where he is and when he'll come up with a job creation bill.  We're waiting.

New We Are Ohio Office Opens....

In an article in the Athensnews.com, the mayor of Athens, Paul Wiehl, believes that SB5 would "...demean the police force..."

The Athensnews article also provided the  announcement for the location of the new
We Are Ohio office at 18 N. College in Athens.  The volunteer and information office is conveniently located near Ohio University.

Vote NO on Issue 2

*  Now that the job fair sponsored by Republican Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-15) is over, people are wondering if that was his only effort to get people to back to work. Many people realize that the Stivers office must have just called up some of their campaign contributors to show up at his "job fair" that was held a couple of weeks ago.  Stivers has still not sponsored one bill in the House of Representatives that would create one job.

When will Stivers hold a town hall meeting in the Columbus area of his district? Is he hiding out by only having town hall meetings in less populated areas of the 15th district?  There is still a lot of concern about the controversial move of his local congressional office to Hilliard.  Even though Hilliard might be the geographical area of his district, it is not the population center.

-     -     -    -     -     -     -     -

>>>>  Here are some other events that might have missed your attention.

-  1. From the ToledoBlade:

Toledo attorney Robert B. Scott resigned as campaign manager of judicial candidate Mark Davis’ campaign Friday, a day after the Ohio Supreme Court suspended his law license for two years.....

....Mr. Davis, a Republican running for Toledo Municipal Court, did not immediately return a phone call.....

....The Ohio Supreme Court suspended his license for taking cash and other items from an in-custody client who he was representing on an aggravated murder charge. One year of the suspension was stayed with certain conditions....

- 2. Guilty plea in Indiana...
      Toledo Blade:

A former Ohio legislator charged with drunken driving in Indiana has pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and was sentenced to probation.

Fifty-nine-year-old Robert Mecklenborg pleaded guilty Thursday in Lawrenceburg, Ind. The former Cincinnati-area legislator was arrested April 23. Court records show he failed sobriety tests and had a blood alcohol level of 0.097 percent. The level for drunk driving in Indiana is 0.08......

....A deputy prosecutor says Mecklenborg was ordered not to drink alcohol or take drugs during his probation of about a year and must seek treatment. His driver’s license was suspended for 90 days in Indiana.....


When will we hear from that other Ohio Republican from Beavercreek?

High Turnover in Charter Schools

*  Which type of schools provide better education for children--- charter or public????
We have the answer (although some of us already knew it).

ProgressOhio:

Traditional public school districts continue to provide a vastly better education for students, according to report card data released today by the Ohio Department of Education. Efforts to strengthen accountability for the state's privately operated, publicly funded charter schools in the last few years have led to slightly improved performance by charter schools. While the change does not demonstrate a dramatic trend, the even slight advances due to increased accountability indicate that greater oversight benefits students, noted the Coalition for Public Education.

State report card data shows steady general improvement in traditional public school districts' ratings with slight improvements in charter schools.....

Public schools have more experienced, better educated teachers, as well as better facilities,  equipment, and materials/books.  Charter schools exist for the purpose of providing profits to their owners, while public schools exist to provide an education for all children.

Charter schools also have a large turnover rate for their teachers.  A research project by David A. Stuit and Thomas M. Smith has some interesting numbers.

  National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education  NCSPE.org:

183. Teacher Turnover in Charter Schools. 2009.
Author: David A. Stuit and Thomas M. Smith

This study examines how teacher turnover differs between charter and traditional public schools and seeks to identify factors that explain these differences. Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) 2003-2004 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS), we found that 25% of charter school teachers turned over during the 2003-2004 school year, compared to 14% of traditional public school teachers. Fourteen percent of charter school teachers left the profession outright and 11% moved to a different school, while 7% of traditional public school teachers left the profession and 7% moved schools. Using multi-nomial logistic regression, we found the odds of a charter school teacher leaving the profession versus staying in the same school are 132% greater than those of a traditional public school teacher. The odds of a charter school teacher moving schools are 76% greater. Our analysis confirms that much of the explanation of this “turnover gap” lies in differences in the types of teachers that charter schools and traditional public schools hire. The data lend minimal support to the claim that turnover is higher in charter schools because they are leveraging their flexibility in personnel policies to get rid of underperforming teachers. Rather, we found most of the turnover in charter schools is voluntary and dysfunctional as compared to that of traditional public schools.
Click here to view publication as a PDF


This is also a key to why students in public schools perform better than those in charter schools.  With less teacher turnover in public schools, students are provided with a stable learning atmosphere, with teachers that have used and know the curriculum,  are familiar with school rules and expectations, and have several years of experience in the teaching profession. Experienced teachers can provide better student performance.  (Note:  Under Kasich/GOP plan called SB 5, teacher tenure would have no influence when layoffs occur.  SB 5 would allow principals to dismiss highly qualified, experienced teachers in an effort to cut costs.)

Still No Diversity in Kasich's Administration

*   A lawsuit has been filed to stop the privatization of Ohio's prisons. 
ZanesvilleTimesReporter:

A liberal policy group that previously sued over Gov. John Kasich's privatization of Ohio's economic development functions has filed a similar lawsuit challenging privatization of five state prisons.

ProgressOhio and several prison employees filed the action Thursday in Franklin County.

The lawsuit alleges selling state-owned prisons to private contractors is unconstitutional....

Ohioans have learned that Gov. Kasich has little respect for the Ohio Constitution.  He just wants to do what he wants to do.  Forget about things called restrictions, laws, constitutions, etc.

-   -   -   -   -   -   -   -

*  Republican leader Rep. Eric Cantor is becoming irritating with his demands.

TalkingPointsMemo:

Looks like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) will extend his requirement that federal disaster relief be paid for by cutting spending elsewhere in the budget to Hurricane Irene.

"We aren't going to speculate on damage before it happens, period," his spokesperson Laena Fallon emails. "But, as you know, Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts."

Will Cantor and the Republicans try to hold up federal relief until cuts are made? How about if we just hold up federal relief to just Cantor's district?

__________

****  City Beat has a story about Republican Rep. Steve Chabot's flip flop on the use of cameras at his town hall meetings.  Now, according to a Chabot staffer, people will be able to use cameras at his next town hall meeting scheduled for Monday, 7pm at Westwood (see CityBeat for details).  Chabot, former puppet of the Bush administration, had cameras and cell phones confiscated from Democrats at a meeting he held just days ago.

>>>>  We already knew that Kasich has favored males in his cabinet appointments, but now we have some statistical evidence.

DaytonDailyNews:

Dayton Daily News examination shows Kasich has named predominantly white males to boards, commissions and open judgeships since becoming governor in January.

In his first seven months as Ohio governor, the Republican made 141 appointments: 28 women, or 19.8 percent, and 15 minorities, or 10.6 percent....

 
From DaytonDailyNews:

Kasich's disdain for diversity is quite evident.

*     *     *

*   The StarkPoliticalReport has some interesting info on some contributions to Rep. Jim Renacci:

Congressman Jim Renacci would not have missed the "coming out party" of May 10, 2011 for Ben Suarez and his relocation of local operations (Jackson Township) to the former Hoover complex being rehabbed and repopulated by Stu Lichter of IRG.

According to a Toledo Blade article of August 20th, Renacci's campaign committee had just been the recipient of some $100,000 in contributions from Suarez and a number of his employees including a number of their spouses....


.....A sampling of the contributions (gathered by the SCPR from the FEC website) includes the following:

 

This information has come to light just as all those similar contributions to Josh Mandel were made by Suarez and his employees.  How is it possible that these Suarez employees are able to make these huge contributions to several politicians?  This doesn't pass the smell test.

How about some truth?

*  Josh Mandel is in hot water and Plunderbund has the story:

Last week Josh Mandel’s office put out a press releasing announcing that Treasurer Mandel had ‘initiated’ a $25 million loan program to help assist Northeast Ohioans impacted by summer storms.....

.....Not only did John Mandel not ‘initiate’ or ‘create’ the Rebuild Ohio program but Kevin Boyce and Richard Cordray both used the program to offer low-interest loans to people impacted by disasters. In Kevin Boyce’s instance he used the program to offer loans to Ohioans impacted by tornadoes in Northwest Ohio and Cordray offered loans to homeowners who fell victim to summer floods.....

Mandel's slim legislative portfolio and his far right, tea party Republican leanings, make him a very, very scary candidate.  Since he has little background in writing legislation, would he be easily influenced by lobbyists, far right interest groups, and large contributions? 

*  Gov. John Kasich of Ohio has been bragging about his trip with Detroit's big three automakers.  Detroit Free Press:

....At Dearborn, the first stop of the day, Kasich met with Mark Fields, Ford executive vice president of the Americas. Then it was a stop in Detroit, where the Ohio governor met with General Motors' Mark Reuss, vice president and president of North America operations, and Bob Ferguson, vice president of global public policy.

Lastly, he went to Auburn Hills to meet with Chrysler senior vice president of manufacturing Scott Garberding.....

....Tuesday's meetings were "very, very positive and a significantly improved atmosphere compared to last time. And there was directness," he said. "We don't beat around the bush. They know my background."

They know about his background?  Which part of his background impressed them the most?

* Kasich was against the auto bailout money initiated by President Obama.  The money saved the automakers. If it had been up to Kasich, there would be no American automakers.

* Kasich was a vice president at Lehman Brothers.  When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, pension funds, retirement funds, individuals, and corporations lost billions. The Lehman Brothers failure triggered the recession.

* Were they impressed by his job approval ratings (between 32-35%) in Ohio?

* Were they impressed by his pompous, braggadocious demeanor?  Did he actually take time to listen to you?

* Did he tell you the fable that he alone saved the government in the 1990's?  Most people agree, President Clinton won that one.

Chabot Afraid of Cameras?

Republican Rep. Steve Chabot (OH-1st) apparently doesn't want his constituents to film him.  At a town hall meeting, Chabot who was one of George W. Bush's biggest fans, constituents had cameras confiscated by the police.

YouTube video from ThinkProgress:


h/t Raw Story

I totally agree with CityBeat's opinion of Chabot: "Wimpy." In an effort to prevent questions from constituents, people had to submit their questions before the session and Chabot's staff picked the questions. 

*** WKSU: 


Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan is opposing Governor Kasich’s plan to privatize the Ohio Turnpike. Ryan says it would likely lead to higher tolls and poor road maintenance. But Kasich argues that a lease would bring in more than $2 billion that the state needs for other projects. 

At a press conference today, Ryan said a foreign company leasing the turnpike would only be looking out for a profit and not the best interests of Ohioans.

A huge majority of Ohioans and even former Ohio Turnpike consultants/board members are against Kasich's plan to lease the turnpike.  Kasich just keeps moving forward.  Will Ohioans have to put a referendum on the turnpike on the ballot next?

We Expected This

* Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, is trying to make it as difficult as possible for Ohioans to get absentee ballots.  In the past, applications for absentee ballots were routinely mailed out automatically by counties.  This year, in an effort to put up some roadblocks for voters, Husted and the Ohio Republicans are changing access to the ballot.  Isn't this just what we expected?

WTAM:

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has ordered all 88 county boards of elections to stop mailing unsolicited vote-by-mail applications to all registered voters, but Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald says that's not the right thing to do.....

Contact your local Ohio Board of Elections by checking this list from the Secretary of State's website and request an absentee ballot application.

I think that Ohio's Republicans must have a campaign called "Block the Vote" because of their efforts to make it as difficult as possible for citizens to get a ballot. I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that we will see some of the same voting problems we saw when Blackwell was in power.

_______

***  Once again, Gov. Kasich is being criticized for his recent refusal to help the unemployed.  Truthout has Thom Hartmann's response to Kasich's rejection of help:

The unemployed are screwed in Ohio. With an unemployment rate around 9% - Republican Governor John Kasich put aside his war on unions – and is now going after the jobless. Yesterday was the deadline for Ohio to apply for $176 million in federal funds as part of the 2009 stimulus act to boost the state’s unemployment program. Even though the money could have helped some of the 529,000 desperate people who can’t find a job in Ohio – Governor Kasich doesn’t want the money – saying, “it makes no sense” to take it since the state’s unemployment program is already in debt – logic that makes no sense to me either. Democrats in the state senate offered up legislation to force Kasich to take the money – but Republicans shot it down. What Kasich – and most Republicans – fail to recognize is unemployment benefits are one of the best forms of economic stimulus out there – as one dollar spent on unemployment benefits translates to $1.64 in economic stimulus. But I guess Kasich is being a loyal soldier, following the national Republican strategy of causing so much economic pain that people in 2012 will vote against President Obama.

If there was an option to get special funding for Ohio's millionaires, Kasich would apply for that.

*  Even though the Kasich administration is bragging that the governor is going to Detroit to speak to auto manufacturers, he is not meeting directly with the CEO's.  Kasich is only a legend in his own mind.

> When Tea Party Republican Josh Mandel served in the Ohio House, he did not even sponsor one piece of legislation.  Mandel was a co-sponsor on only 4 bills with the co-sponsors numbered at 3-5 dozen on each bill.

Project Vote Smart:

Date	Bill Title	Type
02/17/2009	Transferable Tax Credit for Film Production HB 6	Co-sponsor
02/07/2009	Campaign Finance Amendments HB 5	Co-sponsor
09/18/2007	Abortion and Ultrasound Bill HB 314	Co-sponsor
06/13/2007	Lethal Force Against Intruders SB 184	Co-sponsor

Mandel was clearly in the light weight division in the Ohio House of Representatives.  Previous to his time in the Ohio House, Mandel also served on the city council of Lyndhurst, Ohio.  The huge population of Lyndhurst, according to City-Data, was 13,728 in July 2009.  Once again we see that Mandel might not have the background for the legislative work required for higher office.

More Reasons to Vote NO on Issue 2....

*  The Dispatch has a front page article on the fight against and for SB 5.  (The Dispatch supports SB 5 in keeping with their pro-Kasich, pro-Republican, point of view.)  The Dispatch has Ohio Senate President Niehaus confident that SB 5 will stand, and even has him saying that if the vote on SB 5 doesn't favor the Republicans, they could bring up similar legislation.

Vote NO on Issue 2.

> > > > > Here is a story that you may not have heard about----  Firefighters Cancel Dispatch Subscriptions

The president of the Columbus firefighters' union says many firefighters and their stations have cancelled their subscriptions to The Columbus Dispatch to protest the newspaper's support of Senate Bill 5.....

....He says he knows it won't have a great effect on the Dispatch's bottom line, but it does make a political statement by the firefighters.

I wonder what would happen if every central Ohio police officer, firefighter, state employee, nurse, and teacher decided to end their delivery of the Dispatch to protest the newspapers pro-SB 5, pro-Kasich, pro-Republican mantra.   Hmmm.

_______

 **   This morning DailyKos has a bunch of information on campaigns and elections, including a little something about Ohio:

• OH-Sen: Republicans endorsing other Republicans usually isn't news, but this is an exception: GOP Rep. Jim Jordan just offered his backing to Treasurer Josh Mandel, who is running for the Republican Senate nod. Jordan, you'll recall, landed himself on the redistricting hot seat when he tried to sabotage House Speaker John Boehner's debt deal from the right. A Senate run seemed like a decent alternative to walking the plank, but with this endorsement, it looks like Jordan's closed that door on himself.

By the way, this Weekly Standard piece says that Mandel "does not anticipate a primary challenge." That's awfully weird, since ex-state Rep. Kevin Coughlin is not only running, but has already attacked Mandel on a few occasions. Does Mandel expect Coughlin to drop out, or to register as nothing more than nuisance level?

Is Coughlin just going to be forced out by the Ohio GOP?  Mandel certainly sounds over confident.

_______

***  An organization that is working to inform the public about the dangers we face with fracking and other issues, has a very informative website that every person should visit.  Neogap.org has videos, scientific information, and reports showing some of the problems associated with the aggressive drilling of oil and gas companies.  Despite assurances from elected officials and owners of energy companies, problems still are occurring.  Visit Neogap.org and check out this ABC News video about fracking.  With Gov. Kasich pushing the fracking in state parks and state property, we need to be informed about possible dangers.

Remember Mary Taylor?

Mary Taylor is the Lt. Governor of the state of Ohio.  For months, the people of Ohio haven't seen or heard from Taylor.  Unfortunately, when Taylor does speak, she chimes in with her support of the anti-labor, anti-middle class, anti-public worker legislation signed into law by Kasich.

Times-Reporter:

.....On the subject of Senate Bill 5, the lieutenant governor said the legislation — which restricts collective bargaining rights for 350,000 public employees in Ohio — has been endorsed by many major business organizations in the state.

“We’re very thrilled to have their endorsement,” she said. ....


Isn't that something.  She is thrilled to have the endorsement of business groups?????  The people of Ohio are not thrilled with the anti-teacher, anti-police, anti-firefighter, anti-state worker Republican SB 5 legislation.  Isn't it just like the Republicans and their business supporters to rally for the suppression of the middle class workers?


>>>>  The people of Lancaster, Ohio, will be losing some very important people.



OhioBudget Watch:

In case you haven’t been following the coverage of the Lancaster city budget troubles, it’s worth catching up. The story fairly well encapsulates what the Governor’s budget is all about – cuts in state aid to local governments that are already facing declining tax revenues, impacts to vital public services like fire and police, job losses and tax increases at the local level.....

.....One of the city’s three fire houses will close and the number of medics will be reduced from three to two per shift, moves that all agree will drive up response times in emergencies. The tax increase is also facing stiff competition on the November ballot, with voters also facing property tax levies for street repair and schools. Voters only recently approved an income tax levy in 2005 to expand fire services.

All in all, the City — run by Republicans, by the way — is faced with an unappealing choice of reducing services or raising taxes. And voters will be confronted with the prospect of three tax issues on the fall ballot.  Next time you hear the Governor and GOP say that this budget was balanced without tax increases, or local governments simply need to show fiscal discipline and do more with less, keep Lancaster in mind.

As long as the people of Lancaster keep supporting Republican candidates like Kasich, they will face cutbacks.

More Layoffs???

It seems like just a few weeks ago that Gov. John Kasich was congratulating his buddy, Bob McDonald, the CEO of Procter & Gamble, and member of Kasich's JobsOhio group.  P&G had boasted that it was going to add jobs at a new facility, according to WLWT.  Kasich was practically jumping out of his skin saying that his policies were improving things in Ohio.

That was then, and this is now------

Bizjournals:


Procter & Gamble Co. is likely to embark on a restructuring that will include job cuts, although the number isn't known, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

CEO Bob McDonald told stock analysts during a conference call that the company needed to get costs under control, and shift money and manpower overseas, the paper reported. The impact on P&G's (NYSE:PG) home city of Cincinnati, where the company is the third-largest employer wasn't clear, the paper said.....

Not only will P&G layoff workers, they will be outsourcing some of the jobs.

Kasich is two for two.  After Gov. Strickland meets with Calisolar, plans push forward to begin construction on a plant in Ohio.  Then Kasich meets with them and the company decides to move to Mississippi.  Kasich lost Calisolar and now it looks like P&G is whittling down their presence in the state.

Here is the icing on the cake from America Votes:

Ohio Governor John Kasich today turned down millions in available federal funds to help the unemployed.  $176 million in funding was available to Ohio if they pledged to expand their state unemployment programs -- they had a number of options to do this, including to extend benefits to people in approved job training programs and extended benefits to dependents, among other options.  

Governor Kasich instead said, though a spokesman, that doing so "makes no sense..."

Read the article from ThinkProgress here.

John Kasich has the magic touch! 

***  Does anyone know why Kasich and Jerry Wray are moving so many people out of the Ohio Department of Transportation offices located in Columbus to other locations withing the state?  Are they trying to hide people or just force people to quit because their jobs have been relocated three hours away?  What is the deal?

Are things getting worse in Ohio's economy?

*  I think it has become very apparent that when Ohio has a Republican in the Governor's office, and Republican control of the Ohio House and Senate, nothing works properly.
Besides that catastrophic passage of SB 5 that end collective bargaining, Ohio's Republicans have been pushing their far right agenda, instead of doing things that help people.  These same Republicans have taken so many days off that they seem unable and unwilling to meet deadlines.

Houston Chronicle:

As Ohio faced Monday's deadline to expand unemployment benefits and receive $176 million in federal stimulus money, state officials had not applied for the money and the General Assembly had not scheduled any sessions to take any action.

The federal government set aside $7 billion for unemployment compensation for states that broaden their unemployment programs. The provision is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.....


....Meanwhile, Ohio's unemployment rate has been rising. It was 9 percent in July, up from 8.8 percent in June — the second monthly increase after a two-year decline. In the week ending Aug. 13, Ohio had 529,000 unemployed workers and 213,000 of them getting unemployment benefits.


While Gov. Kasich is flying here and there, and everywhere on the state-owned planes, people in Ohio are struggling.

>>>>>  Kasich is trying to float a rumor that the unions in Ohio are cracking. Kasich, uninterested in listening to anyone but himself, is trying to spread lies to boost himself.  I've seen and talked with many people who oppose SB 5 and the Republican agenda.  The only cracks appear to be in Kasich's agenda.  It is coming up a strong, united, solidified "rock" of hardworking Ohioans who are sick and tired of the attacks and disrespect displayed by this Republican administration and the GOP sheeple in elected office.

Ohioans know that their neighbors and relatives who are firefighters, police officers, teachers, state workers, and nurses, are good people who deserve to have rights on their jobs, and respect.  The people of Ohio know that these same good people need their support and plan to vote no on Issue 2.


*  A letter to the editor, published in the Idashostatesman, accuses the U.S. Senate of not doing anything to help reduce the debt.  The letter was signed by conservative, Tea Party Republicans, and Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-15th).   Their support for Paul Ryan's budget that cuts Medicare and Medicaid, shows their extremist agenda that favors the rich and corporations over the needs of regular Americans just trying to put food on the table.  This particular Republican controlled House of Representatives has passed few bills that have actually become law.  While they push for tax cuts for the rich, talk about their support for corporations over people, proselytize the words of Ayn Rand, they forget that they are in Washington, DC to serve the people, not ALEC, not oil companies, not millionaires/billionaires, and not special conservative, secret groups.

The country is waiting for these same Republicans to pass a jobs bill.  When will that happen?  Are they planning to do nothing until after the next presidential election because they hope the economy tanks under Obama?  When will these Tea Party Republicans even write a jobs bill?  It is really sad that the GOP focus appears to be on something other than regular people.  Where are the jobs????

Treat Others as Equals

*  I found that Plunderbund had a great analysis of John Kasich's latest move----the negotiation table he set up even though he knew ahead of time that no one was going to show.  See Plunderbund for some updates.

*  People around the country are starting to watch what is going on in Ohio.  With Republicans in control of state government, Ohioans have been watching unprecedented attacks on the middle class working people in the state.  The good men and women who are our police, firefighters, teachers, state workers, and nurses, have provided support, protection, their education, and experience to help our communities.  We need each of these people to provide services to all of our neighborhoods.  We depend on them being there.

However, things might be changing in Ohio.  Truthout has noticed the backlash against Gov. John Kasich:

.....With all the momentum on the side of the workers, and with his poll numbers swiftly dropping, Kasich has decided it's time to compromise. “It's really hypocritical of the guy,” Ohio State Representative Mike Foley, D-Cleveland, told me, “He's the one who said 'If you’re not on the bus, we’ll run over you with the bus,' and now he says 'I believe in talking.' Well, he doesn't believe in talking at all, he believes in my way or the highway.”  

.....Rumors are flying that Kasich is being asked for money back by some of his big donors. We weren't able to confirm this, but he is being out-fundraised by the attorney general from his own party, who's already got $1.1 million in the bank for a reelection that is a few years away. (Kasich has $230,000.)

Kasich's poll numbers are abysmal—Public Policy Polling has him with only 36 percent approval, worse than any other governor in the country besides Rick Scott in Florida.....


Isn't that interesting? 

*****************

We attended one of the special events this weekend that was sponsored by We Are Ohio.  It was good to get out there and talk to people who share our progressive ideas.

Vote NO on Issue 2.

Dear America,....

To those people that listened to Republican Gov. John Kasich respond to the weekly address by President Barack Obama, I want to caution you.  Kasich may have indicated that there was some "miracle" or big "happening" in Ohio because of his leadership.  Trust me.  Anything that came out of his mouth is pure, unadulterated b.s.  There is nothing good happening in Ohio because of Kasich.

Ohio workers have to contend with a stupid law (SB 5) put forth by Kasich and the Ohio GOP that attempts to stop collective bargaining for public employees.  The Ohio Republicans said it was necessary to pass SB 5 because there was an $8 billion deficit.  (There was never an $8 billion deficit, and Innovation Ohio has the details from the Office of Budget and Management.).  Kasich and his buddies want to stop teachers, firefighters, police officers, nurses, and state employees from negotiating for safety, better wages, working conditions, and job security.  Can you imagine police officers and firefighters being forbidden to ask for better safety equipment???? 

Do you have any teachers in your family?  Are there teachers that you admire?  John Kasich doesn't seem to have respect for the work, dedication, and education that teachers display on a daily basis. 

We know that police officers put their lives on the line every single time they go to work.  In a highly publicized speech in front of  state employees, Gov. Kasich repeatedly referred to a police officer as an "idiot" for doing his job (see YouTube video).

There have been no new jobs in Ohio.  Sure, the auto manufacturers have gotten back into bigger production lines, but that was because of President Obama's action, not Kasich.  John Kasich was against the loans to American auto companies (which have been paid back).

As a matter of fact, Ohio public money is being given away to FOK (friends of Kasich) for the most ridiculous things, none of it having to do with any large job creation.  Adding ten, twenty, or thirty jobs at a corporation is not worthy of millions of our tax money and tax credits to be given away. 

Kasich and the Republicans are trying to increase charter schools.  In an effort to reward the rich Republican contributors who just happen to own charter schools, the Ohio Republicans have expanded the charter school voucher program.  This year, even with more vouchers available, the increase in the request for vouchers was minimal.  Parents might be getting the idea that most charter schools in Ohio do not measure up to the better quality programs and higher qualified teachers in public schools.

On Friday, the Ohio Supreme Court made a ruling about one of Kasich's prime ideas.  ProgressOhio:

State Rep. Dennis Murray (D-Sandusky) received an opinion from the Ohio Supreme Court today declaring part of the JobsOhio legislation, House Bill 1, unconstitutional.

The Ohio Supreme Court agreed with plaintiffs that the legislature did not have the authority to force this challenge of the new state-created private corporation in the Supreme Court.  The attempt to create new jurisdiction on the Supreme Court was one of seven separate constitutional challenges to H.B. 1 brought by Rep. Murray, State Sen. Michael Skindell (D-Lakewood), and ProgressOhio......


It is no wonder that Kasich has very low approval rating all over the state and has the distinction of being one of the least popular governors in the country.  In November, Ohio's workers will have Issue 2 on the ballot to repeal Kasich/GOP's SB 5.  Kasich and his Republican followers have tried to blame the middle class workers in the state for the job losses, even though everyone with any common sense knows that the recession that started in 2008 was caused by the collapse of Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, banks, unscrupulous money managers, and the budget problems of President George W. Bush's administration (unfunded tax cuts, unfunded No Child Left behind, unfunded Medicare Part D, two wars, etc.).

To sum this all up, in ten words or less:  Kasich is not doing anything good in Ohio.

For those of you in Ohio, Vote No on Issue 2.

What?

*  Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and his two buddies, House Speaker Batchelder and Senate President Niehaus, looked like dummkopfs yesterday.  They knew that no one representing Ohio's unions would show up for a meeting because a letter had been sent to the governor's office.  However, a "no" on the RSVP didn't stop Kasich, Batchelder, and Niehaus from looking like fools.  Kasich and his two sheeple wasted valuable time, and money on their performances and they did the same for each member of the media that also showed up for the pre-determined response.  Does Kasich control the media to such an extent that every single one of them shows up even though they already know what they will see?

Plunderbund said it best on this YouTube video:




Now, more than ever, we must VOTE NO on ISSUE 2.

_   _   _   _   _

*  Dispatch:

The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus does not want his parishes or schools to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which provides funding for breast-cancer research, screening, prevention and treatment.....

.....No money given to Komen in Ohio goes to Planned Parenthood, said Megan Savage, community-outreach director for the Columbus Komen affiliate. Nineteen Komen chapters in other states do partner with Planned Parenthood, but Ohio funds do not make their way to those efforts, she said. Local money funneled to the national organization goes entirely to research, she said.

When money does go to Planned Parenthood, it is given to breast-health programs only, Savage said.....

I'd guess that many Catholics have benefited from the cancer research that has been done with money provided by Komen.  Are breast cancer patients and survivors to refuse any benefits provided by Komen in the form of counseling, research, and support? I think that people need to speak to the diocese about this.

Hot News!!!

*  Do you find it odd that former Gov. Ted Strickland had been in talks with Calisolar before he left office, and then when Kasich became governor, the deal was lost?  Was there something about Kasich's personality that turned off the decision makers at Calisolar?

*  Despite the pleading, and begging coming from Gov. John Kasich, We Are Ohio will NOT take Issue 2 off the ballot. See GadsdenNews.  Vote NO on Issue 2.



*** If you missed it----  The Ohio Daily Blog has some very interesting information found at RedStateOhio about some of the suspicious campaign contributions that were received by the campaign of Josh Mandel.

RedStateOhio:

Meet Ben Suarez. Ben is a direct marketing entrepreneur who did well for himself helping people hock their goods. 

He hasn’t made it without controversy. He’s had his bell rung by several state attorney generals after consumer complaints for scams and false advertising. And Suarez’s recent political activity may attract some unwanted attention from the government.

According to the latest campaign finance report for Job-Hoppin Josh Mandel’s U.S. Senate campaign, Suarez figured out how to funnel $120,000 to his favorite candidate. The fact that Suarez’s employees were somehow able to pony up $10,000 each to Mandel’s campaign despite the fact that they have no record of giving to candidates in the past is curious at best. But that’s best left to the Federal Elections Commission and the FBI....

Sounds like trouble!!!!!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

>>>>>  Don't forget:  Tomorrow, Saturday, August 20th, there will be a special event at the Ohio State Fairgrounds from Noon until 8:30pm, for Stand Up for Ohio:




Warning:  If you are listening to the radio or TV this weekend and hear an announcer say that the Republican response will be seen/heard soon, change the channel/station.  This weekend, the Republican response to President Obama's weekly address will be given by Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich.  Kasich will show the rest of the country his vainglorious, self-aggrandizing, egotistical personality.  Since taking office, he has continued to insult and disrespect the working men and women of our state.  Be thankful that he is not your governor.

Running Scared?

* Don't forget this post from CNN about Kasich: CNN.

>>>>  Make sure you visit one of the best blogs in Ohio for updates on these issues surrounding the repeal of SB 5:  Plunderbund.

**  Yesterday, Republican Gov. John Kasich and Republican leaders from the Ohio Senate and Ohio House held a press conference in which they begged opponents of SB 5 to remove Issue 2 from the November ballot.  After all that transpired before the bill was passed, when Kasich refused to meet with teachers, firefighters, police officers, state workers, and nurses, locked the doors of the Statehouse to keep them out, now Kasich waves the white flag?????

The Youngstown Business Journal has a response to Kasich and the Ohio Republicans:

....Representatives of We Are Ohio, the advocacy group that gathered petitions for the referendum and is leading the organized effort to repeal the legislation, said following Kasich's news conference that it is standing by the 1.3 million Ohioans who signed petitions to repeal S.B. 5.

"We're glad that Gov. Kasich and the other politicians who passed SB 5 are finally admitting this is a flawed bill," said Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio. "Just like the bill was flawed, this approach to a compromise is flawed as well. Our message is clear. These same politicians who passed this law could repeal it and not thwart the will of the people. They should either repeal the entire bill or support our efforts and encourage a no vote on Issue 2."

Kevin DeWine, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, issued a statement that while supporting the "reasonable reforms" of S.B. 5 the party urged labor leaders to discuss "compromise reform legislation" with Kasich and legislative leaders....

Why are Republicans refusing to call back the legislature into an emergency session to repeal the entire SB 5 legislation?  Why are these refusing to interrupt the vacations of the Ohio House and Ohio Senate to repeal SB 5 today?  Why is it necessary for anyone to go to the negotiation table when Kasich and the elected Republicans in the General Assembly have the power themselves to repeal the issue now?  

ThinkProgress brought Kasich's bragging on Morning Joe to our attention:

....on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Kasich pretended that the opposition to his signature piece of legislation was no big deal, saying with all sincerity that “there was no drama” in his first six months as governor:

KASICH: What’s driven my negatives up is the fact that we’re trying to rein in and give local communities the abilities to control their costs with public employees… So it’s just protesters and noise. But when it comes to the budget, no protests, no noise, and we got it through. And got through virtually all of what we really wanted....

According to Kasich, those middle class workers that teach your children, provide safety and security in your community, and provide emergency life and fire services, are just "noise." Once again, Kasich disrespects their work, dedication, achievements, training, and contributions to communities.


Then, Firedoglake had this post:

....The story goes like this: Ohio Republicans took a page from Wisconsin’s book and rammed through SB 5, a bill that strips most collective bargaining rights and the right to strike from public employees. They used some real strong-arm tactics toward members of their own party to do it; they pulled Republicans off committees who weren’t going to vote for the bill. That hurdle cleared, the bill passed in March, despite mass rallies against it, despite total lack of support from Democrats and the public.

But in Ohio, they have this law. You can put a referendum on the ballot to overturn a bill if you get the required signatures. This stops the bill from going into effect. Unions and progressive groups collected far more signatures than they needed to repeal SB 5, almost 1.3 million in all, getting it on the November ballot. And polls showed them headed to victory, with SB 5 slated to go down by 20 points......

.....Shorter Kasich: Wahh, wahh, wahh. As soon as he is staring an epic loss in the face, now he wants to compromise and bargain. Now he wants to set aside political agendas.....

As Firedoglake reminded us in the posting: ....We Are Ohio has until August 30 to take down the referendum.....

Kasich knows that if a majority of Ohians vote no on Issue 2, his power, agenda, and braggadocio will crumble.  Isn't that a pretty picture?

Vote NO on Issue 2.

Vote NO on Issue 2.

Vote NO on Issue 2.

No Way!

Tonight, We Are Ohio made the news on the Rachel Maddow Show and The Ed Show on MSNBC.  Ed Schultz had State Sen. Nina Turner on TV tonight for an interview.  Well done!

Kasich and the Republicans had plenty of time to have a session and repeal  SB 5 on their own.  Are Kasich, Shannon Jones, and the Ohio GOP suddenly afraid they are going to lose?

_______

When I read about this latest news about Republican Gov. John Kasich offering to negotiate his way out of having Issue 2 on the ballot, I started to laugh.  This governor has been on a rampage to hurt the working families in Ohio.  He has called people names, and disrespected their work, education, and training.  Now he is begging for us to let him pick which part of SB 5 he'll enforce if SB 5 is taken off the ballot????????

YouTube:



 In life, we make our choices, and then we deal with the results.  Kasich already made his choice.  Prior to the November 2010 election, Kasich said that he wanted to "...break the backs of organized labor in the schools..." (see StarBeacon)

After the election, Kasich wanted teachers to take out full page ads to apologize to him (see CrooksandLiars):

Story link: wdtn.com

Even before taking office, Kasich had something to say about police and firefighters.

DaytonDailyNews:

Gov.-elect John Kasich outlined a wish list of changes he would like to see regarding employee unions Thursday, including eliminating union-scale wages paid on public construction projects.....

.....Since his election last month with 49 percent of the vote, Kasich has said teachers’ unions would have to take out full-page ads in newspapers across the state to apologize to him before he would invite them to the table; and he said that he would rescind two executive orders signed by Democrat Ted Strickland that led to the unionization of 14,000 home health care and independent day-care providers.

Kasich added: “I really don’t favor the right to strike of any public employee. OK. That’s my personal philosophy. How practical that is to implement, you know. But my personal philosophy is I don’t like public employees striking. They got good jobs, they got high pay, they got good benefits and great retirement.What are they striking for?”

When SB 5 was going through committees, the Republicans had to change members of the committees to get their SB 5 passed through the committee.  John Kasich is  not a very nice man.  He has ignored the Ohio Constitution, ignored pleas from workers, and now he wants to negotiate.

John Kasich called a police officer "an idiot."  Do you remember this?
YouTube



Kasich even recorded a secret video to thank the Koch Brothers' front group, Americans for Prosperity, for their support.
YouTube



Kasich and the Republicans hurt the working people of Ohio.  My answer to Kasich's plea for a deal is this-----No way.

Another day, still no disclosure.....

Yep.  On this beautiful morning in Columbus, Ohio, I can report that Ohio Treasurer, Republican Josh Mandel, a candidate for U.S. Senate, has still not released his required financial information to the U.S. Senate.

WKSU News:

Ohio Treasurer and Senate candidate Josh Mandel has still not disclosed his personal finances – as required by U.S. Senate rules – a point Democrats are repeatedly making. The finance report was in May. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Mandel’s staff says he’s awaiting clarification on what to include in the report. Mandel is planning to challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown next year.

I find that hard to believe that over 90 days have passed and the Mandel campaign is unclear what has to be in the report!!!!  Perhaps the geniuses over at the Mandel campaign office should do as I did to find it ----  Google it!!!!!!!  Are the Mandel campaign staff members so busy counting money from tea party members, and extremist Republicans that they can't do any necessary paperwork???

There is no excuse for this type of behavior from Mandel's campaign or anyone else.  I can understand extenuating circumstances, but the Mandel office did not appear to file for an extension. Rules are rules.

* * * The Dayton Daily News is reporting that Republican State Rep. Jarrod Martin has refused to resign:

State Rep. Jarrod Martin, R-Beavercreek, said he does not have a drinking problem and is not resigning over three alcohol-related incidents despite House Speaker William Batchelder asking him to consider that option.

In his first public interview since his arrest July 22 for drunken driving and child endangering charges, Martin told the Dayton Daily News he will fight the allegations and plans to run for re-election in 2012.....

 Oh, okay.  I hope that the next time Martin has a problem, no one gets hurt.

Mandel Saga Continues.....

*  It is the late Tuesday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio, and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Josh Mandel still has not submitted his required financial disclosure.

Wait!  A columnist in the Plain Dealer is giving him a pass because Mandel gave a financial disclosure in Ohio for his job as Ohio Treasurer.

Cleveland.com:

....Mandel filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on April 6. On April 15, Mandel, currently Ohio’s treasurer, filed his annual financial disclosure statement with the Ohio Joint Legislative Ethics Committee. This is a less informative form of disclosure than the U.S. Senate’s, because it doesn’t require filers to include the value of investments.....

What do you think would happen if you tried justifying to the federal government that you filed a state income tax and would be filing your federal income tax return when you felt like it? Right.

I don't care if Mandel filed a financial disclosure with the state, or a cupcake factory.  He has still not followed federal law and has arrogantly refused to provide his federal financial disclosure to the proper office in a timely manner.

I wish that the Plain Dealer would stop trying to be Mandel's biggest supporter and be objective and honest.

Details, Details, Details

*   Many in Ohio are wondering how and why Republican candidate and Tea Party supporter, Josh Mandel, forgot to file his financial disclosure.  These kinds of details should be something of utmost importance, but Mandel has ignored the requirement to file his financial disclosure report, for 90 days.  He is 90 days late!

People are starting to wonder if Mandel has been spending too much time flying to Hawaii, Washington, D.C., and Vegas. With Mandel visiting every Republican club in every Ohio county, it is obvious that Mandel has a lack of focus on these details.  It might be fun to go speak to the Republican women in one county, meet Republicans with deep pockets in Cincinnati, but this is not getting the financial disclosure report completed.  While he has lifelong state workers in his office, Mandel is out running around the state.

The DaytonDailyNews  and even the Republican-loving ColumbusDispatch have noticed that Mandel is skirting the law on his financial disclosure release.

ThinkProgress:

90 Days Past Due Date, Ohio Senate Candidate Fails To File Personal Financial Disclosure Form | Ohio’s current Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) is challenging Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) for his seat in 2012. Running on the “tested and trusted” tagline, Mandel is failing the basic test of transparency. On April 6, Mandel filed paperwork for his Senate campaign with the Federal Elections Commission. According to federal law, a candidate’s personal financial disclosure must be filed within 30 days of declaring or after raising $5,000. But 90 days later, after both declaring his candidacy and raising $2.3 million for his race, Mandel has still failed to disclose. Indeed, the Secretary of the Senate’s office confirmed to ThinkProgress that no forms have been filed. By law, he is subject to a $200 fine. Mandel also faces a FEC investigation for violating another federal election law by using resources from the Treasurer’s office to support his candidacy.

Does Mandel even care????? Is this another example of Mandel's problem with ethics?  Those of us who remember his dirty, scandalous, name-calling campaign for Ohio Treasurer find it hard to get that image out of our memories.

____________

****  Yesterday, Republican Rep. Steve Stivers had a job fair in the district.  The companies represented included a few corporations, companies looking for entry level employees, and temporary services.  The job candidates waiting in line said they appreciated the job fair, but this was not the "job creation" that Stivers should be doing.  Honestly, Stivers did not create these jobs represented yesterday.  He just had his staffers call up a few companies (some of which were his campaign contributors) and bring in their list of current openings.  All Stivers had to do was tell his staffers what to do (arrange tables/chairs, call employers, reserve space, clean up, etc.), while he went out and to shake hands with job seekers. 


Here is the list from the congressman's website of employers represented at the job fair:

1st Advanced EMS,  Abbott Nutrition,  Academy Medical,  Acloché,  Acquisition Logistics Engineering,  Altercare of Ohio, Inc.,  AMVETS,  ATT Mobility (Hilliard),  Battelle,  Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Ohio,  Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane, Inc.,  Cardinal Health,  CITIBank,  Clinton Consultants LLC,  DecisionOne,  Diversified Systems,  Employment Plus,  Famous Enterprises,  FedEx,  Godman Guild Association,  Hansons,  Heartland Bank,  Honda,  Huntington Bancshares Inc.,  IGS Energy,  ITT Tech,  JP Morgan Chase,  Lifecare Alliance,  Limited Brands,  LogisticsART - Columbus State CC,  McCarthy & Cox: Retirement and Estate Specialists,  McCloy Financial Services,  Memorial Hospital of Union County,  Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc.,  Mount Carmel Health,  MS Consultants,  Nationwide,  Nationwide Childrens Hospital,  NCO Financial Systems,  Ohio Department of Administrative Services,  Ohio Health,  Ozark National Life,  PNC Bank,  REM Ohio,  Restoration Hardware,  Rosemont Center, Inc.,  Safelite Autoglass,  Schneider National,  Scotts Lawn,  Staffing Leadership Group/ODW Logistics,  State of Ohio,  The Columbus Dispatch,  The Ohio State University Medical Center,  The Ohio State University,  THK Manufacturing of America Inc.,  U.S. Secret Service,  United McGill Corporation,  UPS,  US Coast Guard,  Verizon Wireless,  ViaQuest, Inc.,  Vocalink

From Open Secrets on Abbott:

GROVE, JASON E MR WASHINGTON,DC 20036	ABBOTT LABORATORIES/DIRECTOR FEDERA	6/17/10	$250	Stivers, Steve (R)
GROVE, JASON MR WASHINGTON,DC 20036	ABBOTT LABORATORIES/DIRECTOR FEDERA	3/8/10	$500	Stivers, Steve (R)
HAAS, ROSEMARY T MS PARTLOW,VA 22534	ABBOTT LABORATORIES/SENIOR DIRECTOR	3/8/10	$500	Stivers, Steve (R)
HAAS, ROSEMARY T MS PARTLOW,VA 22534	ABBOTT LABORATORIES/SENIOR DIRECTOR	6/17/10	$250	Stivers, Steve (R)
MORRIS, KRISTEN MS ARLINGTON,VA 22207	ABBOTT LABORATORIES/DIVISIONAL VP F	3/8/10	$500	Stivers, Steve (R)
PAXTON, JILL E MRS COLUMBUS,OH 43221	ABBOTT NUTRITION/CATEGORY SPECIALIS	9/30/09	$250	Stivers, Steve (R)

From Open Secrets on Nationwide Insurance and Nationwide Children's Hospitals:
Total campaign contributions to Stivers = $62,250

OpenSecrets results on Ohio Health: Total contributions to Stivers = $2,900

OpenSecrets results on JP Morgan Chase: contributions to Stivers = $20,000

OpenSecrets results on Huntington: contributions to Stivers = $15,950

Trust me, there are more ties to many of these companies and Stivers, but I'll let you search for them.

This is just part of the good old boy network.  The Stivers staff called on his campaign contributors to put on a show for some jobs, while Stivers does absolutely nothing to create one job.  This was more public relations than anything else, because most of these jobs have been posted on the websites of these companies.  Where are the jobs, Steve Stivers?  Where are the jobs?  When will you write some legislation that creates jobs?


In central Ohio, there are many structurally deficient bridges that need repair.  Why is Stivers wasting time trying to stop laws that make banks and financial firms more ethical and transparent, when he should be getting people back to work? President Obama said that we can rebuild America by creating jobs that fix bridges, roads, parks, etc. 

According to Transportation for America, here are a few bridges that are structurally deficient in central Ohio (some within Ohio's 15th district):

11TH AVE

• Crosses I71
• in Franklin County

Structurally deficient

• Built 1961
• National bridge ID 2507927
• 16,200 cars per day (avg.)

Ratings

• Deck: 3
• Superstructure: 6
• Substructure: 7

Inspections

• Inspection frequency: 12 months
• Last inspection: October-2009

 --------------------------------------------

ROBERTS RD

• Crosses IR 270
• in Franklin County

Structurally deficient

• Built 1968
• National bridge ID 2509660
• 40,400 cars per day (avg.)

Ratings

• Deck: 4
• Superstructure: 6
• Substructure: 4

Inspections

• Inspection frequency: 12 months
• Last inspection: October-2009

---------------------------------

I-71

• Crosses OVER SECOND AVE
• in Franklin County

Structurally deficient

• Built 1961
• National bridge ID 2507838
• 143,635 cars per day (avg.)

Ratings

• Deck: 8
• Superstructure: 8
• Substructure: 4

Inspections

• Inspection frequency: 12 months
• Last inspection: October-2009

 _______

RAMP TO 270NB

• Crosses IR 70
• in Franklin County

Structurally deficient

• Built 1970
• National bridge ID 2514850
• 130,010 cars per day (avg.)

Ratings

• Deck: 4
• Superstructure: 7
• Substructure: 5

Inspections

• Inspection frequency: 12 months
• Last inspection: August-2009

 __________________________________

While Ohio Republicans continue to try to lower tax rates for millionaires and billionaires, instead of supporting President Obama's goals to get people back to work, our lives and our children's lives are in danger every single time we cross a bridge.  Here in Ohio, Transportation for America reports that there are 2,743 structurally deficient bridges in our state. In Republican Rep. Jim Jordan's district alone, 32% of the bridges are structurally deficient in Morrow County.  Jordan would rather play politics than work on the safe travel of your family.  He'd rather uphold the right wing extreme policies of the Tea Party than create jobs that help deliver a school bus safely to a destination.

What is wrong with these Republicans like Stivers, Jordan, Austria, Boehner, Schmidt, Turner, Chabot, Tiberi, Latta, Jim Johnson, LaTourette, Renacci, and Gibbs?  Why do they continue to stand in the way of job creation?  Giving more tax cuts to millionaires, billionaires, and companies that outsource jobs will not get Americans back to work!  Tell these non-working, lazy Republicans it is time to support President Obama's agenda to get people back to work.