Dirty Little Secrets

Will you be going to a restaurant soon? Apparently, something was slipped into the Ohio budget bill that many of us did not find out about until today.

NY Times:

...And this week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed the state budget, which contains sweeping limitations on local government control over restaurants...

....Scott Oelslager, the Ohio state senator who sponsored the budget amendment that threatens Cleveland’s ban, did not return requests for comments. 

Jarrod Clabaugh, a spokesman for the Ohio Restaurant Association, declined to comment. The association enlisted Mr. Oelslager’s help when it failed to prevent passage of the Cleveland ordinance, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported.....

Kasich and his anti-regulations Republicans have gone too far.  There is absolutely no reason to remove local control over the health and safety of the public. 

But wait!  There is more!


Poligraft has this information:

Aggregated Contributions

Represents total campaign contributions from an organization's employees and/or its PAC.

• CENTRAL OHIO RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION has aggregated $250 to OELSLAGER, SCOTT

 

From the Ohio Restaurant Association, we see these details:

 

Working with leaders in the Kasich administration and the Ohio General Assembly, the Ohio Restaurant Association (ORA) successfully encouraged the Ohio Senate to add an amendment, House Bill 153, to the state budget bill on June 1, 2011. HB 153 is now in a House-Senate conference committee. 

“There is a clear national trend among some activists to persuade local governments to enact ordinances that attempt to tell restaurants what food they can serve, how to describe their menu items to customers and even how to advertise their business to the public,” said Richard Mason, ORA’s Director of Government Affairs. “The ORA’s amendment would prohibit local political subdivisions from enacting such ordinances.”

 

 

Kasich & Republicans appear to be willing to do whatever businesses desire. 

The Office of the Legislative Inspector General Joint Legislative Ethics Committee (JLEC-OLIG)  reports that the Ohio Restaurant Association has been very busy calling upon members of the executive and legislative branches of the ohio government (see LINK). 


I thought Kasich wasn't going to give in to special interest groups. What do they call it when someone doesn't tell the truth? I wonder what other surprises are ahead from Kasich and the Ohio GOP?