Central Ohio Voters

Voters in Franklin County must make sure that they get out there and vote for Democrats. Here is what we face----

The Dispatch calls attention to the fact in the headline, 'All 4 incumbents in Franklin County's 8 judicial races are Kasich appointees'. Franklin County, which is heavily Democratic, does not need John Kasich to pick our judges.

Here are the Franklin County Democratic Party's endorsed candidates:

2014 Endorsed Candidates

Click on their names to go to learn more about our endorsed candidates!

FEDERAL·         US Congress Ohio 3rd District: Joyce Beatty
·         US Congress Ohio 12th District: David Tibbs
·         US Congress Ohio 15th District: Scott Wharton

STATE·         Governor and Lt. Governor: Ed Fitzgerald and Sharon Neuhardt
·         State Attorney General: David Pepper
·         State Auditor: John Patrick Carney
·         Secretary of State: Nina Turner
·         State Treasurer: Connie Pillich
·         Supreme Court: Tom Letson
·         Supreme Court: John P O’Donnell
·         Court of Appeals (10th District): Tim Horton
·         Court of Appeals (10th District): Mary Jo Kilroy
·         Court of Appeals (10th District): Jennifer Brunner
·         Senate District 3: Star Johnson
·         Senate District 15: Charleta B Tavares
·         Senate District 19: Neil Patel
·         House District 17: Mike Curtin
·         House District 18: Michael Stinziano
·         House District 19: Michael Johnston
·         House District 20: Heather Bishoff
·         House District 21: Dawn Valasco
·         House District 22: David Leland
·         House District 23: Rick Redfern
·         House District 24: Kathy Hoff
·         House District 25: Kevin Boyce
·         House District 26: Hearcel Craig

COUNTY·         Franklin County Commissioner: Marilyn Brown
·         Franklin County Auditor: Michael Schadek
·         Court of Common Pleas: David Young
·         Court of Common Pleas: William H Woods
·         Court of Common Pleas: Thomas F Hayes
·         Court of Common Pleas: Chris Brown
·         Court of Common Pleas: Monica Hawkins
·         Court of Common Pleas Domestic Division: James W Brown

You might want to print the list or copy down the names for election day.

>>> Plunderbund has found an interesting tidbit about Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine:

On multiple occasions Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has criticized his Democratic opponent David Pepper for lacking experience, claiming Pepper has a “lack of courtroom knowledge” and “precious little experience in any kind of serious litigation.”   

Funny stuff when you realize that Mike DeWine “was not allowed to practice law from Sept. 15, 1997, until April 10, 2007″ because his Ohio law license was inactive, according to today’s Plain Dealer.  

This may help explain the every growing list of legal mistakes DeWine has made since taking office as attorney general, including allowing troopers to operate on non-state property, declaring that Ohio’s voting restrictions were actually constitutional and claiming witnesses of the Steubenville rape were not actually breaking the law by not intervening or reporting the crime....

Wow! It is time for Mike DeWine to go take a refresher course in law.

**** Gov. John Kasich is returning to the location of a Romney rally---Stamco Industries.  Here is what was published in 2012 about that visit.

Cleveland:

...Stamco, where Romney will appear Monday, makes parts for truck manufacturers. Republican Rob Portman, often mentioned as a potential running mate for Romney, brought coffee and doughnuts to workers there in November 2010, a few days before winning his U.S. Senate seat.

Responding to Romney's scheduled visit, Jerid Kurtz, a spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, noted Romney's opposition to the federal government's bailout of Chrysler and General Motors.

"It's surprising that after opposing President Obama and Sen. Sherrod Brown's rescue of the auto industry, Romney has the nerve to hold a rally at the type of tier II automotive manufacturer he might've harmed," Kurtz said. "One in eight Ohioans' jobs [is] tied to the auto supply chain, and had we followed Romney's advice to 'let Detroit go bankrupt,' manufacturers like Stamco might not be around today to continue to support Ohio's economic comeback."

Kasich wasn't in favor of saving the American auto industry, but he thinks it is okay to visit a place that survived because of it.

What job growth?

Plunderbund has revealed the sad, ugly statistics about jobs in Ohio:

...According to new economic analysis performed by George Zeller, one of Ohio’s top data crunchers, Kasich and Taylor have more than a quarter million jobs to recoup to bring the level of working Ohioans back to pre Great Recession levels. It’s also unfortunate, now that we have Zeller’s detailed review of jobs data, that Ohio just isn’t getting the jobs done at a pace to bring Ohio’s workforce back to where it was at the start of the national recession that President George W. Bush also failed to cure during his eight years in the White House....

....In Ohio, Zeller tells us Ohio lost 12,400 jobs in July 2014, the largest job loss in July of any USA state. Further, July 2014 was the 21st consecutive month when Ohio’s job growth was below the USA national average, showing us that the dismal July 2014 job loss figure was not just a one month spike....

...Ohio gained 51,826 jobs during 3Q 2013, but as Zeller points out, that 1.1 percent growth was below the USA growth rate in employment during 3Q 2013 which was 1.7%. Furthermore, “that growth leaves Ohio 257,961 jobs short of the number of jobs that Ohio had before the 2007 “Great Recession. So, Ohio is growing, but that growth remains too slow, and we have over 250,000 Ohio workers who still cannot find a job because our growth is still too slow.”......

If you still can't find a job in Ohio, it is not your fault. John Kasich and Mary Taylor haven't restored Ohio's economy as they had promised.

Ohio's Job Crisis

Here is a frightening fact from Cleveland and the Associated Press:

"...Ohio still hasn't recovered the number of jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007..."



The latest state ranking on job growth from W.P. Carey ranks Ohio at number 40 in job growth. That is just awful. Despite Gov. John Kasich's claims to an 'Ohio miracle,' it is clear that all his talk is pure baloney.

On notice...

If you see this while you are shopping at Kroger, would you feel comfortable? In a story posted at
Huffington Post, it has been noted that Kroger is being pressed to ban open carry at their stores.

 

 

 As a lifelong Kroger shopper, I'd leave the store if I saw anyone carrying a weapon in the store that I frequent. I'd also let the manager know that I wouldn't be back until these open carry weapons were banned in the store. Contact the Kroger company and tell them to stand up to these gun people: http://www.thekrogerco.com/contact-us

> It appears that more and more college graduates from Ohio are leaving the state in order to get jobs. Apparently, the only types of jobs being created by Gov. John Kasich are those that don't require college degrees. Mothers and fathers across the state have seen their college educated sons and daughters leave the state in order to find jobs in their fields.

Kasich's secrets?

Once again the administration of Ohio Gov. John Kasich has refused a public records release.


Dispatch:

....In a blog post, the Checks and Balances Project accuses the administration of evading its request for records concerning Senate Bill 310, which weakened Ohio’s renewable energy standards. The law was crafted by majority Republican lawmakers and signed by Kasich.

Simply put, the Kasich administration said in its response letter to the group, no records exist concerning the Check and Balance Project's areas of inquiry and it failed to sufficiently identify records it sought concerning meetings between the governor’s staff and electrical (coal-burning) utility representatives.

The group was particularly interested in meetings between Kasich staff and conservative stalwarts such as the Koch brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council and Americans for Prosperity.....

Read the rest of the article to see how the campaign responded.

What are they hiding???  Unfortunately, the sarcasm and arrogance coming from both the governor's office and campaign are just disgusting.

>>> Once again we can see that Kasich's 'Ohio miracle' is not reality. The layoffs in Ohio continue:
http://jfs.ohio.gov/warn/current.stm

Ohio's Water Problems

Toledo, Ohio, residents experienced the loss of drinking water last weekend because of the presence of toxic algae. Over 400,000 people were unable to drink water, wash dishes, and bathe because of the water danger. Some people might believe that the rest of Ohio is safe from future incidents, but they are mistaken.

Here are a few news items that should make everyone in Ohio nervous about how well the current governor is protecting our water.

>   Dispatch:  (6/30/2014)

The state is investigating a fish kill in an eastern Ohio creek near where a fire occurred at a shale-well fracking site on Saturday.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources learned yesterday of the fish kill in Possum Creek in Monroe County, said Jason Fallon, an agency spokesman. Fallon said he did not have details about the extent of the kill. “I can’t confirm if it’s related to the gas-well fire,” he said.

Phillip Keevert, director of the Monroe County Emergency Management Agency, said Division of Wildlife agents were inspecting the creek yesterday and confirmed that a kill occurred.....


>   Dispatch:  (8/7/2014)

State wildlife officials are trying to determine if turkey manure running in a northwest Ohio river is responsible for killing thousands of fish.
Officers from the Ohio Division of Wildlife were called in after more than 6,000 dead fish were found in the Little Ottawa River in Lima last weekend....

....Officers tracked the kill zone in the creek along an 8.8-mile stretch of the Little Ottawa River that connects to the Ottawa River. The dead fish included sucker fish, largemouth bass, sunfish, bullhead and darter....


>   PublicNewsService:  (June 24, 2014)

According to a new report released by Environment Ohio, the Buckeye State's rivers, streams and lakes are teeming with toxic chemicals.

The "Wasting Our Waterways" report found over seven million pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped into the state's waterways in 2012, making Ohio the 10th worst in the country. Ragan Davis, a field associate with Environment Ohio, says analyzing additional numbers from around the country reveals Ohio also has one of the nation's top five polluted rivers.

"Polluters dumped approximately 4.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Muskingum River watershed," says Davis, "making this particular watershed the fourth most polluted in the nation." - See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2014-06-24/water/ohio-waterways-ranked-10th-in-the-nation-for-toxic-chemicals/a40095-1#sthash.2i7V3HVT.dpuf

According to a new report released by Environment Ohio, the Buckeye State's rivers, streams and lakes are teeming with toxic chemicals.

The "Wasting Our Waterways" report found over seven million pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped into the state's waterways in 2012, making Ohio the 10th worst in the country. Ragan Davis, a field associate with Environment Ohio, says analyzing additional numbers from around the country reveals Ohio also has one of the nation's top five polluted rivers.

"Polluters dumped approximately 4.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Muskingum River watershed," says Davis, "making this particular watershed the fourth most polluted in the nation." - See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2014-06-24/water/ohio-waterways-ranked-10th-in-the-nation-for-toxic-chemicals/a40095-1#sthash.2i7V3HVT.dpuf

According to a new report released by Environment Ohio, the Buckeye State's rivers, streams and lakes are teeming with toxic chemicals.

The "Wasting Our Waterways" report found over seven million pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped into the state's waterways in 2012, making Ohio the 10th worst in the country. Ragan Davis, a field associate with Environment Ohio, says analyzing additional numbers from around the country reveals Ohio also has one of the nation's top five polluted rivers.

"Polluters dumped approximately 4.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Muskingum River watershed," says Davis, "making this particular watershed the fourth most polluted in the nation." - See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2014-06-24/water/ohio-waterways-ranked-10th-in-the-nation-for-toxic-chemicals/a40095-1#sthash.2i7V3HVT.dpuf

According to a new report released by Environment Ohio, the Buckeye State's rivers, streams and lakes are teeming with toxic chemicals.
The "Wasting Our Waterways" report found over seven million pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped into the state's waterways in 2012, making Ohio the 10th worst in the country. Ragan Davis, a field associate with Environment Ohio, says analyzing additional numbers from around the country reveals Ohio also has one of the nation's top five polluted rivers.
"Polluters dumped approximately 4.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Muskingum River watershed," says Davis, "making this particular watershed the fourth most polluted in the nation."

One of Ohio's EPA experts was fired last summer.  (See Daily Kos for details.) Some people believe that Gov. Kasich caved to the desires of his campaign contributors that include coal companies.

Are Ohioans going to allow major polluter to dictate what items will be dumped into our waterways?
Voters have a chance to make a decision this election season.

According to a new report released by Environment Ohio, the Buckeye State's rivers, streams and lakes are teeming with toxic chemicals.

The "Wasting Our Waterways" report found over seven million pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped into the state's waterways in 2012, making Ohio the 10th worst in the country. Ragan Davis, a field associate with Environment Ohio, says analyzing additional numbers from around the country reveals Ohio also has one of the nation's top five polluted rivers.

"Polluters dumped approximately 4.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Muskingum River watershed," says Davis, "making this particular watershed the fourth most polluted in the nation." - See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2014-06-24/water/ohio-waterways-ranked-10th-in-the-nation-for-toxic-chemicals/a40095-1#sthash.2i7V3HVT.dpuf

Unqualified

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio seems to have made a big mistake in placing an unqualified person in charge of the Ohio Department of Health. Of course, this is not the first time Kasich placed an unqualified crony in a position of authority. Do you remember Mark Kvamme?

Cinncinnati.com:

The man Ohio Governor John Kasich appointed to lead the state's health department may not meet the state requirements for the position, critics say – complaints Kasich's spokesman Monday dismissed as "predictable, shrill attacks" from partisans.

On Friday, Kasichnamed Richard Hodges to be Director of Health. Hodges is not a doctor; he had been head of the Ohio Turnpike Commission - and his lack of health experience may violate Ohio law, which requires at least "significant experience in the public health profession."

The story was first reported by the liberal-leaning blog Plunderbund.....

Plunderbund:

John Kasich recently appointed Richard Hodges, his turnpike director, to head the Ohio Department of Health.  As we pointed out yesterday, Ohio law requires appointees to this position to either be a medical doctor or to have had “significant experience in the public health profession.”    Hodges is not a doctor and, according to every bio we could find, including his own LinkedIn page, nothing in his employment background provides any indication that he has had any experience whatsoever in a “public health profession.”

Then, suddenly, out of the blue, Third Base Politics “obtained” a copy of Hodges resume this afternoon that happened to contain a new position not listed on any of his other resumes:   “Director of Planning and Marketing” for the Fulton County Health Center, a small hospital in Wauseon, Ohio.  His time at this newly added job overlaps with his time as a state representative and his time serving as Executive Vice President of the Mechanical Contractors Assoc.  It’s unclear where this resume came from, who provided it, or when it was created.

And then… magically… this same position appeared on Hodges LinkedIn profile today.   (Yes, we have screenshots.)    Hodges also altered his profile on LinkedIn to include the word  “healthcare” on the Specialties section of his profile....

Incredible!

In case you missed it...........

The Huffington Post has an article about Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's method of running his office. If you are unaware of what is going on in DeWine's office, you should read the post. Here is a small sample from the HuffingtonPost:

...Now, Ohio's Attorney General, the official that's supposed to crack down on corruption, faces a deepening scandal surrounding campaign contributors winning contracts from his office in highly inappropriate ways.....

....Doing complex legal work on behalf of a state can mean big profits, so it's no surprise that lawyers, firms, and vendors make big campaign contributions hoping to influence the selection process. Since January, several Ohio media outlets have documented exactly that pattern: over $2.5 million in campaign contributions flowing to Attorney General Mike DeWine and the Ohio GOP while those same donors win lucrative contracts from his office. Throughout, DeWine has paid himself back $1.7 million of a $2 million personal loan to his 2010 campaign. 

The facts are disturbing. Many contributions were made during or immediately before or after bids were under consideration -- sometimes checks came on the same day as bids. DeWine met more than once with his campaign fundraiser in his official office, and in one meeting in the middle of a bid process, they reviewed the roster of those seeking state work. The office has little to no documented process for scoring bidders and actually dumped scoring systems put in place by Richard Cordray, DeWine's predecessor.... 

Many Ohioans thought that corruption had disappeared after Taft and the BWC "coingate" scandals, but apparently the Republicans continue to reward their friends and campaign contributors.

• • • • •

*****  The Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to do anything about immigration and appear to be under the control of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, instead of John Boehner. The alleged interference is the subject of an article at the LA Times:

...Cruz had been steadily stirring up opposition to the House GOP plan to approve the $659 million, far less than the $3.7 billion sought by the White House and the $2.7 billion proposed by Senate Democrats to deal with the 57,000 unaccompanied youths who have been apprehended at the Southwest border since Oct. 1.....

...Cruz’s handiwork lighted up the telephone lines in the Capitol after an appearance on a tea party webinar. He further stoked opposition among House Republicans when he met with them privately over pizza on the eve of Thursday's vote....

....Before the chaos on the House floor, Boehner had succumbed to pressure to include a Cruz-inspired measure that would defund the administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program -- which has given 500,000 young immigrants legal status for meeting requirements that they remain in college or join the military....

It appears the Speaker of the House and the Republicans in the House are being controlled by Ted Cruz. You can read the entire article at LA Times.