Why won't Kasich tell the taxpayers???

*  There is a great new campaign tee shirt available at the Barack Obama campaign store which details all the Obama accomplishments (h/t DailyKos).


* The Kasich administration still hasn't stopped the layoffs.  The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services has listed the latest Warn Notice:  Kmart Store, in Springfield (Clark County), Number Affected: 52.

* Gov. Kasich's office won't release the number of people that work for him to the Dispatch.  Innovation Ohio:

...Apparently, the Governor is digging in his heels and refuses to be transparent. All the Dispatch is asking is for a list of how many people work for the Governor, regardless of which agency is paying them. And the Governor’s office refuses to say.

Innovation Ohio’s been down this road before and we figured it out. As of April 28, 2011, salaries for the Kasich team, including all staff reporting to the Governor but paid by another agency, were 12% bigger than they were saying publicly in budget testimony, and 8% bigger than their predecessor’s payroll...

Shouldn't that kind of information be made public?  Is the governor's office suddenly a private entity?

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

*** Republican Rep. Steve Stivers appeared on the Gordon Liddy radio program, according to the Dispatch.

Dispatch:

...Stivers complained that President Barack Obama is trying to win re-election by blaming Congress for not passing his initiatives. “His policies aren’t working so obviously he’s moving to try to shift blame to somebody else,’’ Stivers said. Pointing out that the Democrats control the Senate, Stivers said that it’s frustrating to be in Washington because "frankly the president wants us to fail right now.’’

Stivers has some nerve. The Republicans in the House of Representatives have done nothing to improve our lives or create jobs. Now Stivers is blaming President Obama?????

 I wonder what Stivers would have to say about this chart: JobChart

 
In an appearance on CNN, Mitt Romney said that he is "...not concerned about the poor..." What a guy! 

Raw Story:

“I’m in this race because I care about America,” he said. “I’m not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there, if we need to repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who are struggling, and I’ll continue to take that message across the country.” 

...“The challenge right now — we will hear from the Democrat party the plight of the poor. And there’s no question it’s not good being poor. And we have a safety net to help those that are very poor, but my campaign is focused is on middle-income Americans.” 

...Romney’s claim that he is focusing on middle class Americans also is highly questionable. His tax plan favors the very rich like himself, as well as his proposal to cut spending for programs that benefit middle to poor families and individuals. 

Romney embraced Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)’s plan that would turn Medicare into a coupon program. 

What safety net?  The Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness has these statistics:

...On any given night, approximately 750,000 men, women, and children are homeless in the US.

* 56% are living in shelters and transitional housing, while 44% are unsheltered.
* 59% are single adults and 41% are persons living in families.
* 98,452 are homeless families
* 23% are chronically homeless according to HUD’s definition. (Cunningham, Mary and Meghan Henry. 2007. Homelessness Counts. Washington, DC: National Alliance to End Homelessness.)

Over the course of a year, between 2.5 and 3.5 million people will live either on the streets or in an emergency shelter. (Homelessness in the United States of America. Prepared by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.)...
 


Romney is a heartless putz. I guess if a person has hundreds of millions of dollars stashed in foreign banks, several homes, and a trust fund worth one hundred million dollars for his kids, the last thing he'd think about are the poor, the homeless, the hungry,.....  Romney has to worry about his foreign investments.

Trouble Ahead

>>>> And so it starts......

Dispatch:

The Kasich administration’s decision to keep secret how it will determine whether Ohioans are getting a good deal from the $100 million a year that JobsOhio will spend on economic development did not stop the state Controlling Board today from approving the contracts to formally get the privatized entity going.....

...Hottinger and his fellow legislators on the bipartisan spending-oversight board questioned the heads of the state Development and Commerce departments for nearly an hour today about JobsOhio. When members of the panel asked what kind of results are expected, the answers were not clear.....

....Sen. Tom Sawyer, D-Akron, questioned how taxpayers are supposed to know if they are getting a good deal if JobsOhio will not disclose the criteria it is using to determine a positive return on investment. The Kasich administration is keeping the formula private, arguing that it is a trade secret....

Wasn't all that money invested in coins and beanie babies kept a secret during the Taft administration?  Wasn't that how we had "Coingate" and hundreds of millions of dollars lost in investments?  The Kasich administration and its enablers are gambling with our tax money.  We have the right to know how they are spending it.

I just hope that everyone remembers this decision by Kasich & Co. when the stuff hits the fan.



* Trouble?  Big bully, Bill O'Reilly, has issued a threat to the Muppets. 
RawStory:

....O’Reilly was not very pleased that Miss Piggy hit back against the network’s recent criticism of their movie, saying, ”It’s almost as laughable as accusing Fox News of being, uh, you know, being news.”

“Though we still like The Muppets, they better watch it,” O’Reilly said.

Isn't just like O'Reilly and his Fox "News" people to attack puppets.

$600,000?

**** The continuing story of charter schools ripping off tax payers continues in Ohio....

Dispatch:

A charter-school treasurer who has been ordered to repay more than $600,000 in public money has lost his job at one local charter, and another plans to fire him on Tuesday.

Carl W. Shye Jr. of New Albany still was employed at two Columbus charter schools, FCI Academy and Patriot Preparatory Academy, last week when the state auditor announced the latest findings against Shye for misspending taxpayer money. That case took the total Shye owes to $617,260, according to records kept by the auditor's office.

Garey L. Lewis, superintendent of FCI Academy, said today that Shye’s job was terminated on Friday. He said it wasn’t related to the auditor’s findings. The Near East Side school just wanted a full-time treasurer who will be based at the school, Lewis said....

I hope that there are further investigations.  It would be good if the taxpayers were repaid.


* Chairman of the Republican National Party, Rience Priebus compared President Obama with the captain of the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Italy.  This was completely inappropriate. 

* Congressman Alan West, a Republican, made a weird comment about Democrats and President Obama.

HuffingtonPost:

...Speaking to a Lincoln Day Dinner in West Palm Beach for the Palm Beach County GOP, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla) fired off a humdinger of a line that within minutes drew recriminations from Democrats on Twitter. 

"We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, (audience boos) and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table," West said. "Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America."

West, as I mentioned is a Republican. Really. Personally, I hope that Mr. West loses his next election because somehow he forgot he represents all his constituents, not just the members of his own party.  By the way, as a Democrat, I'm not leaving.

*  Catholic bishops came out strongly against the new health care law which says that all employers must pay for women's birth control. A letter to parishioners that was written by bishops was read in churches across the country.  Needless to say, people were shocked at the tone of the letter.  It is fair to say that many Catholic women use birth control pills and having it covered by their employers would be a real plus.  The problem with the Catholic hierarchy is that it is composed of men. Do the bishops think it is okay that health insurance pays for male enhancement drugs?????

>>>>  Republican Mitt Romney's solution to immigration problems is something called "self-deportation."  That is Romney's answer to the Dream Act.  Somehow Romney and his "self-deportation" plan sound incredibly stupid.

*** Crazy Gov. Chris Christie's idea that Civil Rights should have been put to a referendum. Christie is an idiot. Christie thinks that we should be able to vote which groups of people should have civil rights???? Maybe New Jersey voters could have a referendum on weight restrictions for their governor? Huffington Post has the story and comments from many people about Christie's idea.

>>> Rachel Maddow just said that the Republican "chickens for checkups" candidate, Sue Lowden of Nevada (see 2010 story from HuffPost ).

Mandel Will Speak?

* Will he really say anything?

OhioDailyBlog has news about Josh Mandel and his planned visit to the Akron Press Club:

....Mandel has caved:

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/01/josh_mandel_to_appear_at...

He'll be speaking to the group on March 1....

.....The event takes place at 11:45 a.m. at the Martin University Center on the University of Akron campus. It's $15 for members, $20 for non-members, which includes lunch. RSVP by Tuesday February 28. To make reservations, go here:

http://www.akronpressclub.org/201201/josh-mandel-accepts-press-club-invi...

Wouldn't you love to be there and see if he actually answers any questions about his own agenda?What question would you like to ask Josh Mandel???

 **********************************

* It is too bad that once again Ohio Republicans are playing games with road construction. People in various parts of the state of Ohio have seen their desperately needed road construction pushed aside because of claims of budget problems by the Kasich administration.  In an article in the Plain Dealer, officials in Cleveland are shocked that their project is going to be delayed for more than a decade:

A dozen projects, including a highway upgrade in downtown Dayton and the widening of Pearl Road in Strongsville, will see money for construction years before the second Inner Belt Bridge is funded.....

....Officials at the Ohio Department of Transportation insist they're not giving Cleveland the shaft. 

They're just following policy: Major road and bridge projects that are ready for bid get the money first... 

If you think that politics are not involved, you are very naive.  Kasich's ODOT saying that only "....projects that are ready for bid get the money first..." is a bunch of baloney. Why are Republican represented parts of the state getting their road/bridge construction approved? 

Ohio's Republicans have often played political games with bids and road/bridge construction. How do you think that the Austin-Pike interchange got built when it wasn't even on the original list for funding?  Which politician pushed, demanded, and screamed until the Austin-Pike interchange project was moved to the front of the line?  The former state senator that got his pet project, Austin-Pike, moved to a top priority and got the funding was Jon Husted.  Even today, one of Jon Husted's largest contributors, Oberer, owns property being developed along the corridor. How do you think that happened?

Cleveland's elected officials need to get on the phone, and talk to every reporter, media outlet, and anyone that will listen about this kind of political payback that is being used by the Kasich administration. (When the teachers did not not support Kasich in the 2010 election, do you recall how he went after them, demanded a full page ad of apology, and then targeted them in SB5?)

If you need more information about the state of our infrastructure, check out the Transportation for America website and plug in the address of the bridges/roads in Ohio that need repairs.  You can get the complete background on the traffic, year built, last inspection, and problems associated with each bridge or road in need of repairs.

Kasich & Co. and Your Money

 *  The Kasich administration loves to spend your money. Since winning the election for governor by the slimmest of margins, Gov. John Kasich and his staff have been living high off your money.  In the last year, we've heard about -----

1. a still undisclosed amount of money spent to beef up security at the Kasich private estate in Westerville (see NewsHerald).
2.  the overuse of state owned planes by Gov. Kasich and staff (DaytonDailyNews).
3. the higher than normal salaries of the governor's staff (Plunderbund).
4. the $23,000 charges for cell phones for the Kasich staff in one year (see Plunderbund).
5. how hundreds of thousands of dollars has been spent on the governor's official mansion that is currently vacant (see Sandusky Register).

Yet Kasich and his Republican Party love to make cuts to schools, the elderly, and the poor. This is what you get when people voted for a former vice president at Lehman Brothers.

 *****

*There are some people that say we don't need regulations from the EPA.  Would those people like to see dead birds and fish everywhere? Do anti-regulation people like polluted drinking water?

Dispatch:

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has agreed to plead guilty to charges in federal court and pay $4.5 m illion in fines in two incidents that date to 2008.

That year, the company recalled packages of wild birdseed coated with pesticides that were toxic to birds....

....Also in 2008, Federal EPA officials discovered that Scotts was selling lawn and garden products with falsified pesticide registrations. Court documents list a Scotts lawn service fertilizer, a garden “weed preventer and plant food” and another product called Southern Max Fire Ant Killer....

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Republican Disasters

>>>>  We've heard this many times in the past---
Dispatch:

A charter-school treasurer from New Albany owes the state more than $600,000 because he illegally spent tax dollars at a Columbus school and two others in Ohio, the auditor of state says.

Carl Shye was the school treasurer for several charter schools statewide, including the now-defunct Montessori Renaissance Experience. An audit of that school’s finances found that Shye collected more than $112,000 in tax dollars meant for students even though the school had already closed....

....The school was closed in 2009 because of financial difficulties. If not for those problems, Montessori Renaissance Experience would have been forced to close because of poor academic performance.

This is the fourth time in six months that the auditor’s office has demanded Shye repay tax money.....

Remember these???????
DailyHerald (12/30/11):

A suburban company seeking to run a taxpayer-funded charter school at Great Lakes Naval Station drew scrutiny from Ohio officials for questionable spending of public money at similar ventures there......

Dispatch (7/23/08):

The defunct charter schools that operated in a Downtown shopping mall owe the state $3.3 million plus interest, a judge has ruled.

It is the largest repayment sought from a closed charter-school operation.

The two Harte Crossroads schools abruptly shut in March 2007, leaving students scrambling to find new schools, teachers without jobs and spotty paperwork about where the money went......

Vindicator (11/18/07):

Ohio charter school operators were given $2.55 million in state and federal planning grants to start 33 schools that were never opened.....

Cincinnati (8/5/08):

A charter school once called "an abject academic failure" by Ohio's attorney general owes the state $2.6 million, according to an audit released today.

Harmony Community School in Roselawn didn't provide necessary documents to show that it met state curriculum requirements, state Auditor Mary Taylor said. The school also didn't have records proving that all teachers were properly licensed.....

Ohio Republicans continue to support charter schools even though most of the charters seem unable to properly educate our students.  The owners of these charter schools seem to be the only ones profiting (along with those Republicans that accept big checks from charter school owners).

  -----

* Still oblivious.  Gov. John Kasich is unable to understand why people are still upset about his plan to move the State of the State speech out of the Statehouse and down to a school in Steubenville, Ohio. The costs, and the inconvenience for taxpayers are just not something Kasich understands.

>>>>>  More layoffs in Ohio----From the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services we have this WARN Notice:

Date Rec'd: 1/26/2012...Company: Fortis Plastics, LLC.....City (County): Wilmington (Clinton)...Number Affected: 119....

* City and county leaders are still furious with the Ohio Department of Transportation's plan to delay road construction in the state for ten years or more.  The delays will continue to create slowdowns and bottlenecks for years to come.

***  Did you catch Gov. Mitch Daniels giving the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union speech?  Did you know that Mitch Daniels worked on the budget for the administration of President George W. Bush?  Now Daniels is trying to blame our economic problems on Obama???  Mitch Daniels helped to guide the country into economic disaster with George W. Bush.  What in the world was Mitch Daniels talking about? He sounded bizarre.

>>>>  I guess when you have a lot of money sometimes you forget where you've put it!
ABC News is reporting that Mitt Romney forget to include his Swiss bank account info in his recent financial disclosures. 

Where in the world is Josh Mandel?

Imagine that you've been elected to a public office.  People would assume that you are carrying out your duties, following events, attending meetings, verifying work, and fulfilling all of you responsibilities.  That is what most people would expect of an elected official.  Unfortunately, that does not appear to be happening with Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel.

CantonRep (Associated Press):

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel hasn’t attended a single monthly meeting of the powerful but mundane state board that decides which banks will hold billions in state deposits, records show.

It’s common to send a designee to most meetings, but the total absence of Mandel, a first-term Republican, makes him unique among modern-era treasurers.

Meeting minutes, news clippings and interviews by The Associated Press show that every state treasurer since at least the early 1980s has some record of attending the Board of Deposit meetings in person. The treasurer serves as chairman.....

Is anyone else troubled by Josh Mandel's seemingly lack of interest in his job as Ohio Treasurer?  Where has Mandel been? 
-Mandel was in Washington DC doing some fundraising in Washington, DC (see YouTube).
-Mandel was the guest of honor at a fundraiser thrown by the Maverick PAC in Houston (see Flickr pic from 12/6/11).
-Mandel visited Hawaii on June 1, 2011 to meet with friends of Republican Linda Lingle and others (see Hawaii Reporter).

Mandel has spent a lot of time flying to various fundraisers instead of staying in Columbus, working, and attending those Board of Deposit meetings.  I'm just saying.

Are Republicans sick of themselves????

* Now even Republicans are complaining about their party's lack of initiative and their light legislative schedule.  Could the John Boehner's Speakership be in trouble?

Politico:

....Staring nervously at a high unemployment rate, with the November elections around the corner, GOP lawmakers are concerned that what their leadership is revealing for this year’s work is simply not enough.

In short, they’re yearning for more than Speaker John Boehner’s signature infrastructure and energy production bill, and they worry they’re going to go home to campaign with a light legislative résumé.

“We need to get more done,” said Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), when asked if what has been laid out is enough......

Of course, in all fairness, passing bills with titles that include words like "job killer" and pushing bill, after bill, after bill, to end women's reproductive freedom is wasteful.  It is time to dump the Republicans at their nearest country club.  Republicans are sick of their leadership and themselves, and we're sick of them too.  As they continue to worship at the altar of Ayn Rand, and the Koch Brothers, they've sold their souls to the god of money.


* The fallout continues over Gov. Kasich's decision to deliver his State of the State speech out of the Statehouse (see Vindy).  Kasich's grand plan to move legislators, staff, security, and equipment to another part of the state will cost extra money.  I guess it must be okay for Kasich to waste tax money on this expedition and his state plane rides.  However, we should keep in mind that school children, the elderly, and residents of cities/counties are seeing their services disappear because funding is going to support Kasich lavish transportation modes.

Arrogance?

* Is John Boehner issuing a dare to American voters?  Has Boehner become so arrogant that he thinks that there is no way that Republicans will lose control of the House of Representatives?  Boehner and his "do-nothing" Republican House of Representatives have refused to back the President's job bills, but now Boehner thinks he in his leadership role to stay.

Politico:

Republicans will hold the House next year and for the next decade, House speaker John Boehner told POLITICO in an exclusive interview.

Boehner dismissed Democratic claims that House control is up for grabs and argued that the once-in-a-decade redistricting process has made the GOP’s hold on the majority 

ironclad......

......“I think it will be nearly impossible” for Democrats to win back the House in November, Boehner said....

Do you think it is arrogance?  Do you want to Boehner, Eric Cantor, and the Republicans to do nothing but help the wealthy and corporations for the next decade?????

*******

>>>>  In my opinion, Gov. John Kasich is trying to "...rob Peter to pay Paul..." in his latest scheme to fund his JobsOhio.  Kasich wants to use state money from liquor sales to fund his corporate giveaways to corporations.

BusinessFirst:

Gov. John Kasich wants to use $100 million a year in state revenue from liquor sales during the next quarter century to help pay for the state's privatized development arm to attract and keep businesses in Ohio, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.....

.....JobsOhio will pay the state $1.4 billion up front for the franchise, the newspaper reports. About $750 million will pay off the state's existing bonds backed by liquor revenue, $150 million will fund Clean Ohio projects and $500 million will be stashed in the state general fund, the newspaper reports.

Ohioans are still waiting for the jobs from Kasich's JobsOhio.

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

* Ohio's Attorney General Mike DeWine has a few problems on his hands in the foster care system and the crime labs.

PlainDealer:

Too many Ohio children are languishing in foster care, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said Monday....

.....DeWine called for a comprehensive review of foster care last month, after the beating death of a 2–year-old boy in Cincinnati. Police say DeMarcus Jackson was killed by his father shortly after a Hamilton County magistrate returned the toddler to parents with whom he had lived with only briefly......

I thought Mike DeWine could figure this out on his own.  Why is he asking for the public's help?  It might be that there are enough caseworkers and staff to oversee the huge numbers of children in the foster care system.  DeWine should talk to Gov. Kasich about more funding.


10TV:

Ohio lawmakers made bath salts illegal last year, but some investigators said on Monday that they continue to find the drugs on store shelves.

According to scientists at the state’s crime lab, bath salt cases are up 10 percent.....

Isn't this an area where DeWine complained about in the 2010 campaign?  Isn't Mike DeWine in charge of the crime lab?  Is this another area where Kasich's budget cuts have hurt law enforcement or is Mike DeWine just a poor administrator?

You Didn't Get An Invitation???

Guess what?  Neither did I.

Dispatch:

Gov. John Kasich headlined an Ohio Theatre event last week funded by lobbyists with deep ties to his administration, raising questions about his oft-stated commitment not to favor special interests.

The Tuesday evening “One Year Later” celebration was sponsored in part by lobbyists Douglas J. Preisse, Robert F. Klaffky and Matt Borges, all of whom were ground-floor advisers to Kasich’s 2010 campaign or inaugural committee. The private party was attended by members of Kasich’s executive staff, cabinet members, many state lawmakers and some clients of the three sponsoring lobbyists, among others.

Kasich, who recapped the accomplishments of his first year in remarks to the audience, said Friday that the event did not undermine his promise to Ohioans that no lobbyists would receive preferential treatment. As a candidate and governor, Kasich has railed against special interests with their “snouts in the trough.”

Only special lobbyists were invited. How nice.  Although Kasich might deny and special treatment for his lobbyist buddies, we can figure it out. No matter what Kasich says or does, he is definitely one of the 1% and the corporate owners. He never supported real people---only corporations, lobbyists, rich contributors, and CEO's.

Wouldn't you love to see an invitation list for that event?  Me too!

_____

Ohio is losing big, big, money under Kasich's budget.  If you're interested in finding out how much localities are losing, check out InnovationOhio's funding map link. As InnovationOhio states on their website:

....see the amount of cuts in state funding that each county’s local government and school districts will experience in fiscal year 2013, compared to fiscal year 2011, prior to the state budget’s enactment.

Where did all that money go?

>>>>  An editorial in the Toledo Blade gives fair warning about any attempts by Gov. Kasich to make Ohio voters any more upset. The editorial compares Kasich to other right wing, anti-worker governors like Wisconsin Gov. Walker, now facing a recall.

ToledoBlade:

....Gov. John Kasich similarly annoyed many Ohio voters when he balanced the state budget on the backs of local governments and schools, sold profitable state assets, and tried to curtail the collective-bargaining power of public-employee unions. But neither the Ohio Constitution nor state law allows statewide elected officials to be recalled, so he doesn't have to worry about facing a challenge like Mr. Walker's.

Still, Mr. Kasich should pay attention to Wisconsin. Ohio voters are angry about government spending too. But polls suggest they are not convinced that the solution is to throw schools, workers' rights, children, and poor and elderly Ohioans under the bus.

After Issue 2 lost last November, Mr. Kasich said he had heard voters' voices. But if voters decide he remains tone deaf, they can reiterate their message at the next gubernatorial election.

Although Ohio voters cannot recall Kasich, there are other ways to make him less powerful--- vote for Democrats for the Ohio House and Ohio Senate. If Democrats were in control of the Ohio General Assembly, Kasich's right wing agenda would get nipped in the bud.


*****  One of Kasich's BFFs, Rex Elsass, is profiled in the Dispatch. Elsass is another one of those friends/consultants that helped bring Kasich to the governor's office. (Note: If you follow the link, beware of the ugly Christmas sweater.)


>>>> Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, the Republican so bored with his new job as Treasurer that he started thinking about running for U.S. Senator only weeks after being sworn into office, has released his work schedule.   Here is what was found by an analysis of Mandel's records and financial disclosures by the Ohio Democratic Party: 

.....Despite at least 50 events related to his Senate campaign (largely fundraising), Josh Mandel found the time to talk with just 8 businesses in Ohio. This echoes an Associated Press report from last week that shows his “weekly calendars as state treasurer are almost devoid of appointments outside of staff meetings and speaking engagements. And he’s yet to hold a single news conference to discuss the work he’s doing for Ohioans.”

In fact, “Treasurer”Josh Mandel has been to Washington D.C. alone at least as many times as he’s met with Ohio businesses according to his schedule.

Equally troubling is the omission from Mandel’s schedule of 10 out-of-state trips he took just one month after being sworn into his four year term as Treasurer. While Mandel’s camp laughably claimed the trips were mostly for“official business,” Mandel’s trips were largely to locations that raised huge sums of money for his U.S. Senate campaign, despite being funded by his state campaign. FEC law clearly states that a federal candidate’s campaign may not accept assets of any kind from another committee established by the same candidate....

If Mandel is soooooooo disinterested with his job as Ohio Treasurer, he should resign and go work for his wife's family. Mandel's lack of real legislative experience and leadership in his previous post in the Ohio General Assembly makes him a lightweight in the political spectrum.  It might be all fun and games with his travel experiences, fundraising parties, and meeting like-minded right wingers and rich CEO's, but he has a job as Ohio Treasurer that he seems to be neglecting.
 

Saturday Afternoon in Central Ohio.....

*  With the redistricting in Ohio, current Republican Mike Duffey (and Kasich's BFF), will have some tough competitors for District 21 in the Ohio House of Representatives.  The new alignment has Dublin and Worthington in Ohio House District 21. One of Duffey's opponents is Democrat Donna O'Connor.  Donna O'Connor is a classroom teacher and she has been a fighter for her students in and outside of the classroom.  O'Connor says that she will support the middle class, fight for policies that create fair wages for everyone, and stand up for our children.  Isn't time that we had someone like Donna O'Connor fighting for us? To get more information on Donna O'Connor, visit www.oconnorforohio.com.

Early voting starts January 31st! 

(Let me remind you that Republican Mike Duffey was an enthusiastic supporter of SB 5. Duffey's neighbors and former friends in Worthington have been appalled at his embracing of the Kasich agenda. Need I say more???)

_____

>>>>>  It looks like Ohio Gov. John Kasich is losing more friends in the Cleveland area.  Some have accused Kasich of delaying road construction in an effort to push his plan to sell/lease the Ohio Turnpike. 

Cleveland.com:

With his administration under fire and his motives questioned this week for suddenly leaving the long-planned Inner Belt Bridge project shortchanged, Gov. John Kasich on Friday fired back....

....The governor also said the timing of the Ohio Department of Transportation's announcement on Tuesday that it was running a $1.6 billion deficit for road projects was not a politically calculated move to drum up support for his unpopular Ohio Turnpike leasing idea, as his critics have asserted....

...It has all left Cleveland leaders feeling blindsided and angry with the administration and worried over potentially decades-long gridlock that could emerge from a half-completed bridge into the heart of the city.....

According to the Ohio Secretary of State's website, then Gov. Ted Strickland beat Kasich by over 100,000 votes in Cuyahoga County in 2010.  Does Kasich think that voters in Cuyahoga County will forget this move on road construction and how he added to road congestion?
(FYI:  The Secretary of State's page has these numbers from the 2010 election for governor:
Kasich: # of votes= 1,889,186 (49.4%).............. Strickland: # of votes= 1,812,059 (47.04%).  Kasich won the election by only 77,127 votes.)

___________

A new Quinnipiac Poll shows Ohioans has some interesting news about Ohio. Here are some of the highlights-----
Cleveland.com:

....U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is in pretty good shape for his expected November showdown with Republican Josh Mandel. 

The Democrat holds a 47-32 edge over Mandel among those surveyed, a finding almost unchanged since late October, when a Quinnipiac survey found Brown up 49-34. The always critical independent voters favor Brown by a 44-27 margin.....

....Gov. John Kasich's job approval rating remains negative, with 39 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving of the way he is handling his job. His numbers were 38-50 in December.....

John Kasich is definitely not spreading sunshine in Ohio.  He has been a major disappointment for even those that voted for him.

---------

I heard a clip of Rush Limbaugh saying the following in his attempt to defend Newt Gingrich: "....Everybody has an angry ex-spouse..."

MediaMatters has the clip---

Really?  My husband and I do not have any ex-spouses.  We've been married almost 38 years to each other and no one else.  Having angry ex-spouses might be more common in the Republican Party. Why would anyone take anything Limbaugh and Gingrich say as fact?

Layoffs, Bullying, and Republicans

* There are more planned layoffs in Ohio. ODJFS has posted the latest Warn Notice:

PCCW Teleservices (US), Inc., in Tiffin (Seneca County), Number Affected 128.

>>> Think Progress found this about Ohio's approach to health care reform:

Ohio of two minds on health reform: “When it comes to federal health reform, the Kasich administration seems to be of two minds. One of Gov. John Kasich’s top appointees, Greg Moody, has enthusiastically embraced a key goal of health reform: boosting quality and moving toward more preventive, coordinated care. But a second official, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who Kasich tapped to head Ohio’s insurance department, has impeded implementation of the Affordable Care Act, calling it a ‘catastrophic law.’” [Newark Advocate]

Kasich and Taylor appear to be at odds ---- again.

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

>>> Ohio has passed an anti-bullying law.  There was one dissenting vote in the State Senate---Kris Jordan.  If the name Kris Jordan sounds familiar it is because his name has been in the news.  Plunderbund can catch you up on that--->  Plunderbund.

*******

**** Senator Sherrod Brown has revealed something that banks do that should be stopped.


FDL:

I brought up one of my chief problems with the possible foreclosure fraud settlement, the fact that AGs have already tried a settlement that mandated banks to deliver loan modifications to borrowers, and they flat-out didn’t do it. But Sen. Sherrod Brown offers up another problem. It turns out that, under the settlement, the banks could be allowed to pay out penalties using mortgage capital – basically the assets of investors, not anything that would harm the banks themselves. I wrote about this a couple weeks ago:

To be clear, a substantial number of investors would support principal reductions. They’ve come out and said so. They often end up in a better place with them than with foreclosure sales. But they would not have any say in the matter, according to this proposal, and the banks would get off scot-free for their fraudulent activities. The losses in the system would incur to the homeowners and the investors [...] not only is the $19-$25 billion figure inadequate to deal with the massive foreclosure crisis or the extent of the fraud perpetrated, but banks would have a way to wriggle out of some of the charges.

It’s good to see Brown pick up on this in his letter to the lead negotiators on the settlement, which I’ve put in full below. In addition to stating that the sum total for the settlement is inadequate, Brown criticizes this creative accounting where the banks wouldn’t even pay the penalty....

While Sen. Sherrod Brown is working to protect consumers, other elected officials aren't
doing as much. Sen. Sherrod Brown is always finding out ways to help people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More layoffs in Toledo, according to the Toledo Blade:

Mercy is laying off about 55 employees in Toledo-area offices and hospitals to help deal with lowered reimbursement rates, an increase in uninsured patients, and other economic factors.

Most positions being eliminated are among management and not involved with patient care, including some in back-office functions such as billing, payroll, and finance, Mercy spokesman Megan Manahan said.

Employees whose positions are being eliminated were notified Tuesday, and some will lose their jobs the end of this week, Ms. Manahan said. The majority of Mercy's 7,500 employees are in the Toledo area, and hospitals in the region are not affected by layoffs, she said....

Which group is holding up reimbursement?  Can you say Republican?

Don't Say I Didn't Tell You....

* Mitt Romney has flipped, flopped, and in some cases, flipped again.  Personally, I cannot keep all his statements straight.  Perhaps this will help us (YouTube):



Check out MittvMitt for more.

______

A prison guard in Ohio has lost his job over something he wrote on his Facebook page. See HuffPost for the story.

>>>  Gov. Kasich spoke at Central State on Martin Luther King Day.  By some accounts, his speech was over the top. 
The Dispatch:

....Kasich then described his own rise from a small, blue-collar town near 

Pittsburgh to the Ohio legislature, Congress, Lehman Brothers and Fox 

News, and finally to become Ohio’s 69th governor.

“I can’t figure it out. Somehow the Lord has shined on me,” Kasich said.

“And then he allows me to be governor. It’s incredible. So for me, you see, 

you’ve got to carry out the plan, and the plan is about lifting people. We 

talk about balancing budgets and all of that, that’s kind of not the deal. 

The deal is providing an environment so that people can be hopeful, and 

they’re hopeful when they can work and when they can feel satisfied, 

when their children can do better and when their marriages are more 

secure and their neighborhood works.

“And you can never run over people who a lot of people run over. You 

know why? It might be an angel you’re running over.”

(OMG!  If you go to the Dispatch link, read some of the comments at the bottom of the page.  They are a hoot!)

You might also want to check out a comment made by a student at Central State about Kasich's speech----
http://twitter.com/#!/WowItsSpencer

WowItsSpencer Spencer Franklin

the BAD out weights the GOOD in Kasich case...if you think about it he said I FIXED OHIO BY MYSELF AND CSU NEED TO DO THE SAME

17 Jan

Kasich's ego is so big that it is incredible that the rest of us can fit within the state's borders with him.

Want to Help President Obama?

* Are you interested in helping President Obama get re-elected?  Volunteers are needed at the brand new "Obama for America" headquarters located at 1973 Dublin-Granville Road in Columbus, Ohio (at the corner of 161 and Beechcroft).  The office is just getting set up, but they are already scheduling volunteers.

For additional information, visit  http://www.barackobama.com/state/OH/

Public Education in Ohio...

* It has come to this in Ohio's schools----

Fox8 has a report on Garfield Heights School District which has made drastic cuts to programs, teachers, the school day, and eliminated lunch.

Fox8:

...As of Tuesday, programs like elementary music, art and physical education are gone and libraries are closed.

School days are shortened to just 5 1/2 hours -- leaving kids less time for instruction, and working parents scrambling....

....Kids who qualify for free lunches were sent home Tuesday with a bologna sandwich, an apple and a pickle....

From the GarfieldHieghtsCitySchools website the new school hours have been posted:

New School Hours Start January 17, 2012

New school times are listed below:

 

Elmwood and William Foster Elementary	8:10 a.m. – 1:40 p.m.
Morning Kindergarten & Preschool	8:10 a.m. – 10:50a.m.
Afternoon Kindergarten & Preschool	11:00 a.m. – 1:40 p.m.
Maple Leaf Intermediate	7:40 a.m. - 1:10 p.m.
Middle School	7:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.
High School	7:42 a.m. - 1:40 p.m.

The Garfield Heights School District has been unable to pass a school levy for many, many years. These types of cuts have happened over the years in many Ohio school districts because elected officials refuse to take on school funding.  Gov. John Kasich did make major cuts in school funding in his budget.

The Republican controlled Ohio General Assembly has been too, too, too busy doing other things rather than solve school funding.  The Republican agenda in Ohio has included a heart beat bill, more abortion restrictions, an attempt to end collective bargaining, selling Ohio's prisons, restructuring the Ohio Department of Development to follow Kasich's wishes, allowing guns in restaurants, refusing federal funding for a rail system, telling lies about Ohio's public employees, making cuts to Ohio's health programs for the poor and elderly, expanding charter school enrollment, cutting public education funds, cutting funds to cities/counties and local governments, etc.

While our state tax money keeps flowing to failing charter schools that serve a small percentage of Ohio's students, our public school children are losing out because the GOP won't fix our school funding.

Is your tax rate higher than Romney's???

>>>> Thank you, President Obama, for stopping the Keystone Pipeline.  We don't need any project that endangers our citizens, our environment, and our food supply.  The Republicans say that this pipeline would create lots of jobs.  Every single time a Republican opens his mouth, the jobs created by the pipeline increases.  Even the estimate of 20,000 jobs is overinflated because at the most, no more than 2,000 jobs would result.

  ***

* Republican multi-millionaire Mitt Romney revealed that he has a tax rate of 15%. OMG!
That is incredible!  Yet this guy wants more tax cuts for people like himself!!!!????? If you want to compare your tax rate to Romney's, there is a handy new tool online.  Let me warn you---- sit down now. 

Visit WhatMittPays.  I did our income and let me tell you, Romney and those in his income bracket don't need any additional tax breaks.  It just doesn't seem fair that we pay more in taxes than Romney.

Wait!  There is even more on how Romney pays less in taxes.

Citizens for Tax Justice:

Although it is not apparent on his financial disclosure form, Mitt Romney has millions of dollars of his personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven.....

....But tax experts tell ABC News there are other reasons Romney may not want the public viewing his returns. As one of the wealthiest candidates to run for president in recent times, Romney has used a variety of techniques to help minimize the taxes on his estimated $250 million fortune. In addition to paying the lower tax rate on his investment income, Romney has as much as $8 million invested in at least 12 funds listed on a Cayman Islands registry. Another investment, which Romney reports as being worth between $5 million and $25 million, shows up on securities records as having been domiciled in the Caymans.

Official documents reviewed by ABC News show that Bain Capital, the private equity partnership Romney once ran, has set up some 138 secretive offshore funds in the Caymans....

Wow!  Incredible.  What else hasn't he told us?

*** In Ohio politics, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, is recycling an old lie of his.  He is trying to claim credit for Ohio's credit rating.  Politifact already knocked down Mandel's lie months ago. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.  Mandel should just try doing his present job instead of running all over the country to meet with lobbyists and PACs.

Things Not Going as Planned?

*  Delay. Delay. Delay.
Why is everything in Ohio taking so long to fix?  When he was elected by the slimmest of margins, John Kasich said he would bring jobs to Ohio.  We are still waiting.  Ohioans have learned that despite all of Kasich's braggadocious plans, nothing is really getting accomplished.

Here are a list of projects that Kasich has yet to accomplish or has "fixed" to such an extent that the roll out has been delayed.

*  SCHOOL FUNDING---
RecordHerald:

A key state legislative leader predicted Tuesday that a new approach to paying for Ohio's public schools will not be complete until sometime in 2013, leaving school districts across the state to grapple with their budgets in the absence of a predictable school funding formula.

Lawmakers scrapped the existing "evidence-based model" of school funding advanced by former Gov. Ted Strickland in the two-year state operating budget passed in June. The formula was sweeping but lacked the funding to be carried out....

....Russ Harris, a long-time school funding consultant to the Ohio Education Association, the state's largest teacher union, said the last budget eliminated Strickland's funding concept - developed over two years - without replacing it with anything. That has meant uncertainty for school districts, he said....

School districts will have a difficult time planning because the Kasich administration can't get the job done on school funding.  Now Robert Sommers, of Ohio's Department of Education, is leaving, according to Stephen Dyer at 10th Period.  


10thPeriod:

Less than a year into his job as Education Czar for Gov. John Kasich, Robert Sommers has decided to leave the administration. Under his leadership, the state ditched a national award-winning school funding formula and reforms, replacing them with no funding formula and ridiculed reforms. And he also infamously suggested that student-teacher ratios of 50:1 could work.....

.......It wasn't that long ago that candidate Kasich boldly declared that he would ditch Ted Strickland's Evidence Based Model because it didn't put money in the classroom, whatever that means. What Gov. Kasich is realizing is that it's a lot tougher to do something than it is to criticize someone else for trying. 

Once again, another Kasich plan bites the dust. 


* CASINOS---
PlainDealer:

The opening of casinos in Cleveland and Toledo will be delayed for several weeks, and likely much longer, because the required background checks on the gaming operators and vendors are well behind schedule. 

The Ohio Casino Control Commission received the sobering news during its meeting on Wednesday from its consultant, Spectrum Gaming Group, as representatives of the casino operators, Rock Ohio Caesars and Penn National Gaming Inc., looked on.

Neither operator commented publicly at the meeting but were clearly disappointed. Each day the gambling spots are not open could cost the operators a combined $1.4 million, according to a Plain Dealer analysis of revenue projections from state and company officials.....

Aren't there people assigned to make sure things are getting done on time?

* ROAD CONSTRUCTION---
Cincinnati.com:

A new plan by the state’s Department of Transportation delays the completion of six Southwest Ohio highway projects, two of which will add 14 years to the time before motorists see orange barrels disappear.

The same plan grants $44.8 million of new money for right-of-way purchases for rebuilding the Brent Spence Bridge.

Jerry Wray, director of the transportation department, said Tuesday after a meeting of the Transportation Review and Advisory Council (TRAC) that highway plans by previous administrations were far too big for the department’s budget and the new plan will bring projects in line with what the state can afford. He said the state has to look for new methods of controlling costs or adding revenue, including possibly making Brent Spence a toll bridge....

From the PlainDealer's perspective on the road delays----

The flow of commerce and traffic through downtown Cleveland will suffer with ODOT's plan to delay funding a second Inner Belt Bridge until 2023, officials say. 

 

Local leaders are demanding answers and insisting ODOT stick to its timeline of demolishing the existing Interstate 90 bridge in 2014 and building a new one by 2016, to pair with the new span going up now in the Cuyahoga River valley. 

ODOT shocked community leaders here and across the state Tuesday with a draft list showing that major, new projects will be postponed for years at a time.....

The Kasich administration is blaming previous administrations. Really?  Can't the Kasich administration take responsibility for their own inept "planning" and budget failures.
This means more road construction jobs will not be created.  If federal money is tied to these road jobs, there are certain time frames that must be adhered to for the money to be used.

The Kasich administration says they have no money for roads.  What happened to all that money that went to corporations to increase jobs?  Where are the jobs?  Was that money just wasted?

____

Senator Sherrod Brown is known as a champion of the middle class.  Republican Josh Mandel?  Not so much.  Sherrod Brown cares about people, Mandel is more concerned about corporations, CEO's, and special interests (polluters).

Bloomberg:

....Brown has established himself as a populist in the mold of Howard Metzenbaum, the former Ohio senator who championed liberal causes, said Dale Butland, a Columbus Democratic strategist. 

Mandel is “not ready for prime time,” Butland said in a telephone interview. He is running after taking office last year as treasurer and serving in the Ohio House of Representatives since 2006. 

“People can look at Josh Mandel and look at the way he has jumped from office to office in a very short period of time and think to themselves, ‘My God, this guy was born with a filing fee in his hand,’” Butland said.....

I just hope that Mandel spent more time on his current elected office as State Treasurer.  I have a fear that some items are being overlooked or pushed aside because Mandel is more interested in his next campaign.

Which one would you choose????

* Which job training program provides a chance for a bright future?

Gov. John Kasich has a new initiative he is pushing---job training. Here is a story followed by my opinion.
Fox 19:

Governor Kasich announced a commitment Monday from three community colleges to actively recruit and train young minorities in Ohio, including Cincinnati State. The Queen City college will be launching a new training program for people working in the food service industry. 

"It is not good enough in Ohio for only those in the suburbs to realize the benefit of economic growth and prosperity," Gov. Kasich said during a special event celebrating the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. "We want members of our minority communities to advance and become managers in the state of Ohio and leaders in our country in the business profession," Gov. Kasich went on to say..... 

On the surface, providing job training sounds like a good idea.  However, what does this type of job training say about John Kasich and his views of minorities?

Why is there such an emphasis on food service?  Food service jobs are
(a) low paying, usually at or near the minimum wage,
(b) subject to the ups and downs of a changing market,
(c) restrictive, in that the chances for advancement are small,
(d) not providing opportunities for training for new technology for the 21st century,
(e) the program appears to limit minorities to low-paying jobs.

Take a look at what Sen. Sherrod Brown said when he discussed a new program to train candidates for biosciences.  Cincinnati State:

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown joined President Owens, officials from the BioOhio program and other guests for a press conference at Cincinnati State to discuss strategies for connecting individuals with jobs in emerging and high-tech industries.

Of particular interest to Sen. Brown is a program jointly operated by Cincinnati State and Sinclair Community College that trains unemployed workers for jobs in the biosciences industry.

“It’s unacceptable that so many hardworking Ohioans are struggling to find jobs while high-tech industries struggle to fill vacancies. That’s why it’s critical that we invest limited workforce training resources to not only help unemployed workers find jobs, but also to attract new employers in high-tech industries,” Sen. Brown said, during a press event held at a biotech lab in the Health Professions Building on Cincinnati State’s main campus. “By working with Cincinnati State and Sinclair,’’ he added, “BioOhio is helping connect more Ohioans with the jobs of tomorrow, while also boosting Ohio’s biotech industry.”

BioOhio is a non-profit organization launched in 1987 to promote research, education and industry involving bioscience in Ohio. Today, more than 1,340 bioscience firms have operations in Ohio, employing more than 62,500, according to the organization.....

Which program provides students with more opportunities for growth, challenges, and an opportunity to provide an income for a family? The food service program appears to limit minority students to only low paying, part time jobs in the food industry. Personally, I believe that Sen. Sherrod Brown and the federal program provide endless possibilities for students.

Dr. King's Work

* U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown spoke today at a breakfast honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. The ToledoBlade:

The fight of Martin Luther King Jr. continues today in Ohio against efforts to restrict worker and voting rights, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown told a crowd honoring the slain civil rights leader Monday.

The Democratic senator made the remarks despite the fact that the man who signed two laws that he referred to, Republican Gov. John Kasich, was seated close by.

“Today Martin Luther King would recognize that we’re in troubling times,’’ Mr. Brown said. “We’ve seen an assault all over our nation on worker rights. The state next to us, Indiana, we’re seeing another right-to-work initiative that will in all likelihood go into effect....."

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has always been a supporter of workers and the middle class.

Unfortunately, someone thought that Sen. Sherrod Brown was too political in his speech about Dr. King.  It might be that Alex Triantafilou doesn't know much about Dr. King's contributions.  Perhaps Alex Triantafilou is too young to remember the life and times of Dr. King, but I remember.  Dr. King fought for voting rights, civil rights, non-violence, and equality in all aspects of our lives.

I did find this Twitter post from the Republican Chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party:

ChairmanAlex Alex Triantafilou

Leave it to failed Sen. Sherrod Brown to improperly politicize Dr. King's legacy...that's why I'm voting for Josh Mandel.

6 hours ago
Triantafilou should search the archives at The King Center to find the information on Dr. King's work in the area of pay equality and fairness in the work place. Dr. King also supported unions.

It is sad that these young Republican whippersnappers like Triantafilou always try to come up with their own facts.  Republicans should remember that people are entitled to their opinions but not their own facts.  In the case of Triantafilou voting for Josh Mandel for U.S. Senate, let me remind everyone that Mandel supported SB 5 (check out Mandel's picture at the Mason, Ohio "Yes on Issue 2" rally).

 __________

* I don't know about you, but greed makes me sick to my stomach. After reading this article from the Washington Post, you too might be disturbed by some moves made by Republican John Boehner and his push for the Keystone Pipeline.

WashingtonPost: (h/t to DailyKos)

....Environmentalists note that in December 2010, according to Boehner’s financial disclosure forms, he invested $10,000 to $50,000 each in seven firms that had a stake in Canada’s oil sands, the region that produces the oil the pipeline would transport. The firms include six oil companies — BP, Canadian Natural Resources, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Devon Energy and Exxon — along with Emerson Electric, which has a contract to provide the digital automation for the first phase of a $9.4 billion Horizon Oil Sands Project in Canada.

Bill McKibben, a climate activist and co-founder of the group 350.org, wrote in an e-mail that Boehner has received more than $1 million from fossil-fuel companies, “and now we find out that he’s got extensive personal investments in companies dependent on tarsands oil.”

“He was willing to shut down the government in part to prevent enough time for serious environmental review,” McKibben added. “In any other facet of our public life . . . this whole list taken together would be seen for the gross conflict of interest that it is.”

Doesn't that just make you absolutely sick??? Boehner's constituents should ask him if he is putting his personal wealth before their needs and those of 300,000,000 Americans.

The Public is Against It

The Ohio Republicans must have some crazy notion to do everything that Ohioans don't want.

1. First they passed SB 5, then voters defeated it. 

2. Then Kasich proposed selling the state prisons, even though Ohioans were against it. Of course, Kasich did not get his over-hyped money and not all the prisons were sold.

3. Kasich wants to sell off/lease the Ohio Turnpike like Indiana did. Kasich and his staff are working hard to get this done, even though Ohioans are against it. Kasich believes he'll get something close to the $3 billion that Indiana's Gov. Daniels got for his state's toll road. (According to the HeraldTimes, Daniels admitted that the "....foreign investors "overpaid" for the Indiana Toll Road five years ago....") In an article in Businessweek, the Indiana Toll Road investors are upset. 

Businessweek:
...Now five years old, the Indiana deal has yet to turn a profit, or break even. Two overseas companies—Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, a unit of Madrid-based Ferrovial, and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, an investment fund managed by Macquarie Group (MQG) of Sydney, won the right to run the road with a daring $3.8 billion bid—$1 billion more than the next-highest offer.....

.....The private investors haven’t made out so well. Had the road been profitable, they stood to make millions per year over the life of the 75-year project. As it is, they have not been able to get past the debt they incurred winning the bid. They have met their annual debt payments only by borrowing money and may default before loans mature in 2015, according to disclosure documents from Macquarie Atlas Roads, one of the investors.....

Truckers and drivers are staying off the Indiana toll road because of huge increases in tolls.

4. Republicans now want to raise the speed limit on the Ohio Turnpike, but the public is against it (see WTRF).

Ohio's GOP members should just keep going against what the public wants.  It will only help the Democrats.

 *******

**** Ohioans would like to know how much time Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (Republican) actually spends working in his elected position. Mandel has traveled to Denver, Hawaii, Florida, Texas, Washington, DC , Aspen (Dec. 28), New York, etc. to raise money for his run for U.S. Senate.  Meanwhile, Josh Mandel said he was too busy to talk to the media.  With his weak legislative background, Mandel would just be a puppet for the right wingers. 

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

After an extremely long break, the Congress will be back in DC.  I wonder what they won't accomplish this time.  Where are the jobs, Mr. Boehner?  Where are the jobs, Mr. Cantor?

_______

I'm wondering if the Ohio Farm Bureau has a position on imported vegetables being sold at Anderson's?  A company called Woodstock Farms has frozen vegetables in the freezers at Anderson's with packages clearly marked as being from China.  With our farmers working so hard to make profits, why is Anderson's not supporting the American farmers?  Importing "fresh" vegetables from China makes me wonder how safe such a product would be for American consumers. If you shop at Anderson's, make it a point to question their choice of imported frozen vegetables.

Anti-Bailout Kasich Now Supports Automakers

Where do Republicans stand on clean air, clean water, and a safe environment?
(video from Realrepubs.com)


Real Republicans on the EPA from Sierra Club National on Vimeo.

 * * *

* Isn't it amusing how people against President Obama's measure to save the American auto industry are now throwing themselves at automakers?  Both John Kasich and Mitt Romney were against the auto bailout.  Today, however, Kasich can't do enough to kowtow to the auto executives. Kasich even made an appearance at the Detroit auto show, according to the Detroit News.

* Job cuts at Wright-Patterson:  Airforcetimes:

The Air Force plans to cut 598 civilian positions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, as part of its next round of buyouts and early retirements....

>>>  Northcoastnow is reporting 150 job cuts are planned for Lorain Schools and will include teachers. (h/t Dailyjobcuts)

 -     -     -     -     -     -

>>>  Former Gov. Ted Strickland will be spending a great deal of time one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Cincinnati.com:

Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland will spend the spring at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He will spend the academic semester as a resident fellow,  interacting with students, participating in the intellectual life of the Harvard community and leading weekly study groups on a variety of issues, according to a press release from the school.....

Strickland has worked in other areas of academia.  His push, as governor, to unify the public universities of Ohio and make college education more accessible has been extremely beneficial to students.

***** President Obama has proposed streamlining some government agencies to save money and make things easier for small business owners and international trade.
USA Today:

President Obama asked Congress today to give him the power to make it easier to reorganize the federal government, starting with a plan to combine various offices devoted to international trade.

"We live in a 21^st-century economy, but we've still got a government organized for the 20^th century," Obama said in remarks at the White House.

Speaking to a group of invited business owners, Obama asked for what is called "fast-track authority." It would enable him -- and future presidents -- to propose specific reorganizations for up-or-down congressional votes; Congress could not amend or change the plan submitted by the president.....

Will Republicans vote against this?  Are Republicans just going to sit on their fat a**#* and do nothing until November?