The ClevelandPlainDealer:
Is Josh Mandel a political opportunist? Politics Comment of the Day
In response to a Plain Dealer story about Josh Mandel secretly flying to the Bahamas to raise money from pay day lenders, cleveland.com user blueice5249 posts:
This guy has done next to nothing as the Ohio Treasurer. ANYONE who will use an office like that to springboard to a higher seat so fast, does NOT deserve to be elected to anything.
Josh Mandel was against the auto bailout even though 800,000 Ohio jobs are tied to the American auto industry. He has missed 14 out of 14 Board of Deposits meetings which decide Ohio's investments. His claims of transparency on state salaries conveniently left out many of his staff. Mandel's time and energy are being spent on fundraisers, trips, political meetings, etc., while those who were not elected have been put in charge of his office. Despite his full focus on a higher office, he has no unique, creative solutions other than the Republican mantra----- cut taxes for job creators, cut regulations, blah, blah, blah.>>>> When President Obama visited Dayton with British Prime Minister David Cameron, the President also invited Gov. John Kasich along since they would be visiting Ohio. However, Kasich acted like the obnoxious guest as he tried to sell President Obama on fracking, according to WKYC. Once again we see a shining example of Kasich's lack of people skills and his inappropriate behavior.
* Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, apostle of Ayn Rand, supposedly based his budget on some of the teachings of Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand wrote that the poor were "parasites." The Daily Beast had an article last year about Paul Ryan's budget plan:
....One conservative making that point was Ryan. His citation of Rand was not casual. He’s a Rand nut. In the days before his star turn as America’s Accountant, Ryan once appeared at a gathering to honor her philosophy, where he announced, “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.” He continues to view Rand as a lodestar, requiring his staffers to digest her creepy tracts.....
....What’s more, he saves trillions of dollars from Medicare by imposing huge cuts on anybody who retires starting in 2022. So not only has he adopted the cuts he claimed would never come to pass because they’re too harsh and too distant, he imposes far harsher and more distant cuts of his own. Indeed, Alice Rivlin, the fiscally conservative Democratic economist who endorsed an earlier version of his Medicare plan, called his new plan unrealistic. (Ryan nonetheless continues to imply that she supports it.)
Ryan’s plan does do two things in immediate and specific ways: hurt the poor and help the rich. After extending the Bush tax cuts, he would cut the top rate for individuals and corporations from 35 percent to 25 percent. Then Ryan slashes Medicaid, Pell Grants, food stamps, and low-income housing. These programs to help the poor, which constitute approximately 21 percent of the federal budget, absorb two thirds of Ryan’s cuts....
If Paul Ryan and the Republicans worship at Ayn Rand's altar, that is reason enough to disregard their plans and agenda.