Ohio Needs Poll Workers?

According to an article in the Dayton Daily News, Ohio needs poll workers.
DaytonDailyNews:

Six months before a presidential election that will put the Ohio vote in the spotlight, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said Monday he’s trying to set up the best electoral process possible, and “eliminate excuses in advance.”

....Husted said one of his main goals is to recruit the best poll workers that the state can get, and plenty of them. Ohio needs about 40,000 people to staff 9,500 precincts on Nov. 6. Husted’s office has set up a website — PEOinOhio.com — where people can sign up to be precinct elections officials. Volunteers will be reviewed and selected by county boards of election....

...Mark Owens, chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party, said Democrats have already raised concerns about early-voting procedures and handling of provisional ballots, but said Husted’s office ruled against them....

With Republicans in control, we've got to get more Democrats out to work at the polls.  We don't want a repeat of the 2004 elections.  Sign up, get your friends, relatives, and neighbors involved.  You also will be paid for the day. Don't delay.

Hmmmm.  Why isn't there any mention of the need for poll workers in the Columbus Dispatch?

>>>>> Students!  Join the Students for Sherrod Brown on Facebook!

Josh Mandel: Won't Tell You Anything!

* Apparently, Republican Josh Mandel, the empty suit candidate, won't reveal where he stands on various issues.  Mandel is running against a super star, champion of the middle class, defender of worker safety, protector of working women and men, friend of college students, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown. 

Next to Sherrod Brown, Mandel looks and appears like a pipsqueak, with nothing to offer voters except flags and boots.  Sherrod Brown has demonstrated his love of country by respecting all people and working for the common good, at every level of government.  Josh Mandel hired his friends, campaign workers, and college pals for the Ohio Treasurer's office.  How does that show respect for voters and taxpayers? 

I'm not willing to vote for Josh Mandel because I don't trust him. I cannot believe that he'll support the middle class because of the kinds of support he has received from the Club for Growth, right wing PACs, and people who want to destroy our environment by taking away clean air/water/environment restrictions.  Mandel continues to provide nothing for voters and continues to attack Sen. Sherrod Brown.  That is not a campaign!

We know where Sen. Sherrod Brown stands---- with working women and men, families, college students, seniors, and our future.

On the other hand, Josh Mandel stands with corporations, right wing groups that want to take away women's rights, drillers that want to destroy our parks, and still many unknown views and agendas.

Which candidate can you trust? My answer is --- Sherrod Brown.


(Note: I don't work for the Democratic Party.  I'm just a little old lady, wife, mother, grandmother, dog lover, grad of OSU, and someone that cares about the future of my grandchildren. )

Borrow Money From Parents!???????

(Note:  At this time, 11:37pm, Friday, the Columbus Dispatch has not included Romney's advice to students, "....borrow money from your parents....," in the article posted online.  Why am I not surprised!  Leave it to the Dispatch to only report what they think you should know.)

Mitt Romney went to speak at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.  Otterbein is a small, private university, with tuition set at $29,000/yr. (excluding living expenses). Approximately 3,000 students (see Otterbein.edu) are enrolled at Otterbein, a majority of them are white.

Otterbein has been visited by Republican candidates because it is viewed as a quiet, conservative school.  When Romney was at Otterbein today, he brought along Gov. John Kasich.

Think Progress has part of the advice Romney gave students:

....If you’re young and you want to start your own business, Mitt Romney’s has some advice from you: Borrow money from your parents. At a “lecture” for students at Otterbein University in Ohio today, Mitt Romney told students that, his friend, Jimmy John, started a business by borrowing $20,000 from his parents at a low interest rate. Romney suggested anyone in the audience could do the same:

           This kind of devisiveness, this attack of success, is very different than what we’ve  seen in our country’s history. We’ve always encouraged young people: Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.  

Romney is completely clueless.  If parents are out of work, or barely scraping by, how can they borrow money from their parents?

Not every student has a parent like Romney with tax shelters in foreign countries.
Not every student has a parent like Romney with a net worth of over $250 million.
Not every student has parents that own and compete with dressage horses.
Not every student has parents that own several palatial homes around the country or "...a couple of Cadillacs...."

I guess a guy that plans to put a car garage in his new house doesn't understand that some students don't even have cars, garages, or someone other than themselves to pay for their college education.

If you have a chance to look at the totally bored students sitting on stage behind Romney, you'll notice that they look tuned out, bored to tears, and as though they were forced to be there.  (Since a majority of students at Otterbein are female, why are there an overwhelming number of males on the stage?????) Even though some people say that it was an enthusiastic crowd, don't believe it.  Mitt Romney is out of touch and as exciting and compassionate as linoleum.

Sen. Sherrod Brown has his first ad up and it hits Treasurer Josh Mandel right where it hurts---- the cronyism that has been rampant in the office of the Ohio Treasurer.

PlainDealer:

You've seen U.S. Sherrod Brown criticized in TV ads over economic and energy policy. Now Brown is hitting back, starting tonight with a tough, 30-second commercial that accuses his opponent, Josh Mandel, of hiring inexperienced, "unqualified" buddies and giving them big raises in the Ohio treasurer's office.

The commercial shows pictures of six Mandel aides and focuses on three in particular: Mandel's former campaign manager, earning $100,00; his former college friend, earning $150,00, and his former 26-year-old campaign aide, earning $90,000.....

....Each of these claims is based on reporting by the Dayton Daily News. The newspaper reported on March 31 that Mandel, a Republican elected as state treasurer in 2010, hired young, relatively inexperienced staffers from his campaign "and gave them high-ranking jobs in the state treasurer’s office."

You Tube:



Sen. Sherrod Brown has worked and supported the working men and women of Ohio.  We need to support him today and on election day.

--------

The Senate vote on the renewal of the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act).  Here are the Senators that voted against the legislation:                                                                        
Senate Roll Call Vote (S. 1925 Roll: Vote No. 87):

NAYs ---31
Barrasso (R-WY) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Cornyn (R-TX) DeMint (R-SC) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC)	Grassley (R-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (R-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Lee (R-UT) Lugar (R-IN) McConnell (R-KY) Moran (R-KS)	Paul (R-KY) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Rubio (R-FL) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Toomey (R-PA) Wicker (R-MS

Did you notice that they are all Republicans??? Shame on them!

Romney in central Ohio????

>>>> Mitt Romney will be at Otterbein University in Westerville tomorrow, Friday, April 27th.  The Dispatch has the details:

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will appear at Otterbein University in Westerville on Friday, his second visit to Ohio in just over a week.  

Romney is scheduled to join Gov. John Kasich in a roundtable discussion with graduating seniors at 2 p.m. at the university's Battelle Fine Arts Center, 1 South Grove St. Further details were unavailable.....

Otterbein has always had a lively College Republican organization.  Obviously this was a safe place to visit considering even John McCain visited Otterbein when he was a candidate.  Were only Republicans invited?  With Kasich attending, I wonder if the students will get to speak at all.  

_____________

* I saw this over at Daily Kos:

....Mitt Romney saying in April 2007 that it was not worth going after Osama Bin Laden:

It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.

Hmmmmmm. 
Here is the original 2007 story from TalkingPointsMemo:

Yesterday we flagged an Associated Press story quoting Mitt Romney saying the following about Osama Bin Laden: "It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."

....Indeed, the only condemnation we can find of Romney's remark comes in a single post on the National Review's group blog, The Corner. Byron York writes: "Perhaps Romney should watch the tape of the planes hitting the towers again."

A page capture of TPM Cafe (http://tinyurl.com/cor8ukd) shows this-

Quote Of The Day

By Eric Kleefeld | bio

"It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."

— Mitt Romney, in an interview with the Associated Press, saying that the country's safety would not benefit significantly from catching Osama Bin Laden. This quote was buried in the AP article. One wonders what the reaction would be if a Democrat said this.

login or register to post comments
Apr 26, 2007 -- 05:20 PM EST

Here is the original Associated Press story from an interview and published in SFGate.com and captured by web.archive.org :



....In the interview, Romney also:

_Said the country would be safer by only "a small percentage" and would see "a very insignificant increase in safety" if al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was caught because another terrorist would rise to power. "It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person," Romney said. Instead, he said he supports a broader strategy to defeat the Islamic jihad movement.

_Said "the jury's still out" on whether Iraqis, with U.S. help, will successfully rebuild their nation, and establish the rule of law and a permanent government. He ridiculed Democratic efforts to set a public date for withdrawal. "There's certainly nothing wrong with having milestones that we hope to achieve and having the military evaluating whether we're making progress or not, but to set a public deadline for departure makes no military sense at all."

For months, Romney has faced criticism for changing his positions on abortion and gay rights, and equivocating on a series of other policy issues, including immigration and gun control. He has cast himself as the conservative choice for voters, a contrast to the moderate views he voiced in an unsuccessful 1994 Senate race and a victorious 2002 governor's race in liberal-leaning Massachusetts.....

Of Romney's 5 sons, not one of them served in the military, but in this interview he is willing for your sons and your daughters to be in wars forever.


I wonder what other Romney quotes will be found.

Did you know.....????

----*  Which Columbus Police officer was one of the first responders on the scene when Gov. John Kasich's (Republican) car was in a fender bender????????

Columbus Dispatch:

The state vehicle carrying Gov. John Kasich was crunched in the middle of a minor four-vehicle accident near Downtown yesterday.

The responding Columbus police officer? None other than Officer Robert Barrett — the same Officer Barrett whom Kasich called “an idiot” last year.....

......Barrett, who’s assigned to work second shift for the Columbus Police Division’s freeway division, arrived on the scene to investigate. He spoke with members of the State Highway Patrol assigned to Kasich’s detail but not to the governor himself, according to both the patrol and Columbus police.....

Thank you, Officer Barrett, for your continuing professional manner! I don't know if I would have been as nice if I had been the first on the scene.


*  John Boehner will keep the low interest rates of college student loans, if he can destroy parts of the health care bill, such as coverage for students, preventive care (mammograms, cancer screenings, HIV tests, blood pressure monitoring, etc.), coverage for children, etc.

 I have some advice for President Obama and the Democrats:

Don't surrender to the tea party pandering, anti-woman, anti-voting rights, anti-immigrant, anti-Medicare, anti-public education, anti-student loans, anti-medical care, anti-middle class, anti-public school teacher, anti-poor, Republicans.  I'm sick of these Republicans and their arrogant party that continues to worship at the altar of Ayn Rand and their millionaire/billionaire supporters.

 ------

Speaking of student loans and student loan PACs......

According to Campaignmoney.com, John Boehner has received money from the Sallie Mae Inc. PAC:

BOEHNER, JOHN A

House of Reps

Republican

OH

08

P

$1,250

05/05/2011

STIVERS, STEVE MR.

House of Reps

Republican

OH

15

P

$1,000

02/02/2011

***** Republican Josh Mandel, the regularly absent Ohio Treasurer, hasn't made up his mind on the Violence Against Women Act, and the legislation to keep college student loan rates low.  According to various new items (see Plain Dealer and , Mandel sees problems with parts of these bills. All the students at Ohio State (more than 50,000), it is apparent that Josh Mandel doesn't really support keeping your college loans low.

Is it possible that---
1. the right wing puppet masters behind Mandel haven't told him what to say so he has his "handlers" speak for him.

2. Mandel doesn't care how college students or middle class families have to struggle to pay for college.  He just cares about those payday lenders, rich Republicans, and corporate polluters that keep writing contributions for his campaigns.

3. Mandel hasn't formed an opinion about the Violence Against Women Act because
   (a) he doesn't know what it is
    (b) it wasn't in the talking points he was given by Republicans.

4. This is just another piece of evidence that Josh Mandel is really an empty suit.

* How many veterans that you know talk about their service as soon as you meet them?
Ohio Daily Blog has some great observations about Josh Mandel: OhioDaily.

 * * * * *

The Hill has noticed Josh Mandel's lack of frankness:

...The state treasurer in Ohio, Mandel has given little indication about how he would vote on a range of issues, a luxury that his opponent, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), doesn’t have. When The Hill asked Mandel in March whether he would support Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget and its Medicaid provisions, Mandel pivoted to an attack on Brown and gave no direct answer.

 Asked about sanctions on China for currency manipulation — a major issue in manufacturing-heavy Ohio — Mandel’s spokesman, Joe Aquilino, told Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer in December not to expect detailed answers.

“For the next year, we’re not going to pretend like he’s there [in the Senate] and voting on every bill that’s introduced or that’s on the floor,” Aquilino said....

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

Did you know that Mitt Romney's poor father had his own pony?

College Loans

* When I graduated from college (almost 40 years ago), I had a college loan that I had to pay back. My interest rate was 7% and my loan would be paid back over ten years.  My husband also had student loans, and we paid that off as well.  It was tough, but we did it.  Knowing that President and Mrs. Obama worked hard to repay their student loans, makes me feel that they understand the problems that students and families have in facing college debt.  I'm glad to see that President Obama and the Democrats are working to get students to college and provide government programs to help them do it. An educated populace helps us compete with other nations.  Why are Republicans so against keeping college loan interest rates low?

Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx thinks that there is no excuse for college debt.
Republicreport:

Last week, ThinkProgress’s Scott Keyes found an amazing interview with Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) where she totally dismissed the concerns of students who have large amounts of debt as a result of getting an education. “I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there’s no reason for that,” she told a radio host. She also complained that students want success “dumped in their lap.” 

....Many commentators have prescribed Foxx’s harsh words as evidence of her being motivated by callous ideology. While it is possible that this is one of her motivations, there’s one other very big factor at play here.

Foxx is one of Congress’s most outspoken proponents of for-profit colleges — an industry rife with scam schools that charge students exorbitant tuition and fees. This veritable subprime school industry gets the majority of its funding through federal loans and grants that students use to afford school.  ”About 87 percent of the revenue at the biggest for-profits comes from federal taxpayers, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. They belong to a class of company that I call Subsidy Sucklers,” writes the Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney. Records show that executives at the top 15 of these for-profit schools “also received $2 billion during the last seven years from the proceeds of selling company stock,” with Strayer’s chairman earning “$41.9 million last year. That’s 26 times the compensation of the highest-paid president of a traditional university.”

If you are thinking of attending medical school, your debt will be huge.  A quick look at fees for The Ohio State University College of Medicine shows that an Ohio resident would pay approximately $140,000 for four years of medical school at OSU (excluding living expenses).  It is no wonder that the average medical school graduate has a debt of approximately $200,000+.   

***  Republican Rep. Steve Stivers is out courting those farmers that are now in his newly drawn district.  Do farmers know that Steve Stivers voted for the Paul Ryan budget which cuts $33 billion in farm subsidies (see HuffPost).

>>>>>  Ohioans might not know it, but oil/gas exploration firms, and lawyers are going through county auditors offices to see which people own the mineral rights to properties through out the Marcellus Shale areas of the state. You may own your home, and property, but the mineral rights might belong to someone else. 

In State vs. Out of State

Open Secrets has some information that will make you pause and wonder why people from out of state are pouring so much money into Josh Mandel's campaign coffers:

Candidate	In State	Out of State	No State
Sherrod Brown (D)	$3,572,686 (63%)	$2,127,583 (37%)	$0 (0%)
Josh Mandel (R)	$2,221,685 (48%)	$2,383,621 (52%)	$750 (0%)

(I've highlighted some figures above.)

It is apparent that special interest groups and super secret PACs are supporting Josh Mandel's campaign. Why are groups outside of Ohio so interested in Mandel?

>>> President Obama was at the University of North Carolina this afternoon.  He spoke of the need for Congress to keep student loan interest rates low.  Apparently, some Republicans want to reward their bank buddies and raise rates. You can join in the campaign to stop the interest rates from going up on student loans by (1) calling you Representative, (2) spread the word on Twitter  - #DontDoubleMyRate

There are quite a few stories about the latest ethics accusations involving Josh Mandel's office and campaign:
Ohio New Network
Chronicle-Telegram
The Plain Dealer
Talking Points Memo
Dayton Daily News

     

When does Mandel work?

 ****  If you have a chance to look over Josh Mandel's records at the FEC you might notice that Mandel has spent a good deal of his disbursements on travel to other cities and states, receptions in other cities and states (including the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago on 6/27/11 where he spent $3,476 on catering), multiple taxi rides in NY City (5/12/11, 5/13/11, 5/16/11, 7/18/11, 7/21/11, 8/22/11, 10/26/11, 12/13/11), and even a $9,000 disbursement for a video production for Sunshine State Communications in Palmetto, Florida. (Aren't there any video production companies in Ohio????).  Mandel certainly has spent a lot of time out of Ohio getting campaign cash from other people.  When does he have the time and energy to do his job as Ohio Treasurer????? Exactly which people are doing Josh Mandel's job?

* An ethics complaint has been filed in Ohio and it involves Josh Mandel and his former aide, Joe Riter.
WTRF:

A Democratic lawmaker wants the Ohio Ethics Commission to investigate potential legal violations by a former aide to Ohio Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel....

....Lundy cites state payroll and lobbyist registration records that show Joel Riter (RY'-tuhr) left his job at the treasurer's office and began lobbying employees there within a single year, activity potentially prohibited under Ohio law.

Riter lobbied the treasurer's investment division for New York-based Charles Jordan and Co....

 

Ooooops! Cronyism, absenteeism, lack of a work effort, ethics problems, Josh Mandel's tenure in the Treasurer's office has been very messy.   

*     *     *

>>>>  The Republicans don't want you to read this article in USA Today:

The government plans to announce today that the 2010 health care law will save Medicare beneficiaries $208 billion through 2020, and save Medicare itself $200 billion through 2016, based on a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services actuary report.

"We have achieved significant tangible savings that have been passed on to beneficiaries," said Jonathan Blum, director of the Center for Medicare. "There's a tremendous opportunity for even greater savings."

.....The report states that Medicare beneficiaries will save $59.4 billion through 2016 because of lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs. And Medicare will save $200 billion through 2016.....

With doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies embracing changes, more computerized medical records, and preventive care, health care reform appears to be a good thing.

Distraction

Josh Mandel's first ad is a total distraction to the fact that he refuses to discuss issues.  Look at the boots, but please don't ask him about his agenda, his support for Paul Ryan's budget, and his cronyism at his current office. 

The campaign of Sen. Sherrod Brown has an official response to Josh Mandel's first ad:

Reeling from multiple reports of Josh Mandel’s political cronyism in the Treasurer’s office, Ohio’s absentee Treasurer has taken to the airwaves in an attempt to distract from weeks of negative headlines over the qualifications of his hires, taxpayer funded raises they received upon being hired in the Treasurer’s office,  and reports that Mandel’s Director of Debt Management was so unqualified for his position that he had to be sent to a beginner’s course on the subject he was overseeing......

In his campaign ad, Josh Mandel avoided speaking about any of the issues that Ohio voters are concerned about this year.  What are his plans for jobs, other than giving more tax breaks to the wealthy? We know that Josh Mandel was against the auto bailout that saved the American auto industry.  We're still waiting for Mandel's "rescue plan" that he said he'd be announcing.  Josh Mandel is too late because President Obama and Sen. Sherrod Brown already saved the American auto companies and the hundreds of thousands of jobs associated with auto manufacturing.

Josh Mandel supported SB5. In his response to why he supported SB 5, Josh Mandel gave voters a thoroughly sophomoric answer (see video here).  Here is a question for Josh Mandel:  How do you show respect to someone by attacking them, and taking away their rights, and reducing their income? 

Fairness

Imagine this sign:

NO WOMEN ALLOWED!

Many women I know would be angry to see a sign like that anywhere in the United States. What would you think about elected officials that belong to clubs that do not permit women members?

Republicans Jim Renacci and John Boehner belong to clubs that do not allow women members (see Plunderbund).  Why does it matter?  Why should we be concerned that these elected officials belong to an organization that discriminates?

When they took their oaths of office, they swore to uphold the laws of the United States. We have laws against discrimination.  By belonging to these clubs that exclude women, they are supporting and promoting discrimination. Since many important discussions in business and government take place on golf courses, blocking women from membership does not allow a female point of view in these conversations, and stops women from participating.

Boehner and Renacci should be ashamed of themselves.

Trust?

A letter to the editor in the Plain Dealer takes a very cursory look at the Republican candidate, Josh Mandel, and declares his trust in the candidate.

Personally, I don't trust Mandel.
1. Josh Mandel is against the EPA, the government agency that protects us and our environment. Josh Mandel is being supported by groups/PACs that want to pollute and have free access to our parks, land, and waterways.

2. Josh Mandel has refused to answer questions because he doesn't want to give voters any indication on how he'd vote.

3. Josh Mandel support SB 5.

4. Josh Mandel has misused the public trust by
    a. hiring young, unqualified, inexperienced friends, buddies, and campaign workers in a department that handles our tax dollars.
    b. being absent from work to campaign.
    c. went to the Bahamas for a campaign event to get money from payday lenders at their convention.
    d. refusing to release the resumes of his new hires and explain why his Republican hires got raises but long time employees got next to nothing.

5. Josh Mandel was for the rights of LGBT community when he was in college, but now he is against them.

6.Josh Mandel voted for a restrictive bill concerning the reproductive rights of women.

7.Josh Mandel supports the budget crafted by Paul Ryan, which would end Pell grants, give tax cuts to the rich, give vouchers to those on Medicare, and take away programs that help the poor and disadvantaged.

8.Josh Mandel was against President Obama's assistance to the American auto companies.

9. Josh Mandel has attended only one meeting of the board which oversees the state's investments.  Instead, he sent unelected, appointed staff members in his place.

I will have more later.

Fed up with Ohio's Republicans???

State Sen. Nina Turner appeared on the Ed Show on Wednesday evening.  She said that the Ohio Republicans added something to the budget bill that would cut funding to Planned Parenthood.  One hundred thousand poor women in Ohio would lose preventive care, such as mammograms, cancer screenings, STD testing, etc.

If you are a woman in Ohio, it is time to stand up to the Republicans and their attacks on the rights of women. Why do Republicans think that they have the right to make medical decisions for each woman in Ohio?  Ohio Republicans must think Ohio women are stupid, uneducated, and not capable to make their own decisions.

OhioDemocrats have a petition online which will be sent to Gov. Kasich.  To add your name to the petition, visit Ohio Dems Action page here.

I know you are wondering about this particular legislation. Plunderbund has some important information about this move by Ohio's elected Republicans.  The legislation is H.B. 298 and it is sponsored by the following members of the Ohio House:

Sponsors:
Kristina Roegner: Phone: (614) 466-1177  Fax: (614) 719-6942 Contact Me
Cliff Rosenberger:  Phone: (614) 466-3506  Fax: (614) 719-6986

Co-Sponsors:
Jarrod B. Martin: Phone: (614) 644-6020  Fax: (614) 719-3970  Contact Me
Ron Maag: Phone: (614) 644-6023  Fax: (614) 719-3589 Contact Me
Tim Derickson: Phone: (614) 644-5094  Fax: (614) 719-6953  Contact Me
Craig Newbold: Phone: (614) 466-8022  Fax: (614) 719-6971 Contact Me
Peter Beck:  Tel: (614) 644-6027  Fax: (614) 719-3967 Contact Me
John Adams: Phone: (614) 466-1507 Fax: (614) 719-3978 Contact Me
Margaret Conditt: Tel: (614) 466-8550  Fax: (614) 719-6955 Contact Me
Lynn R. Wachtmann: Tel: (614) 466-3760  Fax: (614) 719-3975  Contact Me
Jim Buchy: Tel: (614) 466-6344  Fax: (614) 719-3977  Contact Me
Bill Hayes: Tel: (614) 466-2500  Fax: (614) 719-6991 Contact Me

Please start with the names above.  The names below can be accessed through this link:
     http://tinyurl.com/3uxs7d5
Young
Brenner
Butler
Grossman
Slaby
Blessing: Tel: (614) 466-9091  Fax: (614) 719-3583 Contact Me
Henne
Huffman
Boose
McClain
Hall
Dan Bubp: Phone: (614) 644-6034  Fax: (614) 719-6988  Contact Me
Goodwin
Burke
Uecker
Dovilla
Thompson
Gardner
Blair

Of course, you should also contact Gov. Kasich's office @ Phone: (614) 466-3555
Contact Form, or the "Share Your Ideas" page.

..............................

 Pennsylvanians are very serious about their cookies.  If you attend any event in Pennsylvania, particularly Western Pennsylvania, you will see tables filled with cookies. Weddings, baptisms, showers, and holiday dinners always have cookies that have been made with loving care. Cookie bakers are very proud of their home baked cookies, their recipes, and their family history associated with the recipes. 

It comes as no surprise that the awkward, arrogant, snobby Republican , AKA Mitt Romney, made an inappropriate remark that disrespected a cookie, the bakers, and generations of families.

Think Progress:

At a campaign stop in Pennsylvania Tuesday, Mitt Romney sat down with some regular Americans to discuss the economy and, apparently, his distaste for the cookies provided by a beloved local bakery. “I’m not sure about these cookies,” Romney said. “Did you make those cookies?” Romney said to one of the women. “You didn’t, did you? No. No. They came from the local 7-Eleven bakery or wherever.”

Unfortunately, for Romney, they came from Bethel Bakery — “a longtime South Hills staple,” according to a local ABC affiliate. Some loyal patrons were outraged by Romney’s put down of their local baked goods. “Maybe he’s just used to eating cookies with diamonds in them,” one customer said on Facebook, according to bakery owner John Walsh.....

Yes, ..."....wherever....." Once again, we see an aloof, snob, dismissing the hardworking men and women of our country. I guess Romney is accustomed to his cookies and pastries arriving on imported china, placed on silver trays.

(A NY Times article published in 2009, detailed the cookie cult in Pennsylvania.  Since Romney stepped in it with his disrespectful comments about the origin of the cookies, I suggest that President Obama read the article before he does his campaigning in Pennsylvania.)

***  What was up with that campaign ad for Josh Mandel?  Mandel can put on boots and touts his time in the Marines, but his right wing, anti-worker, anti-health care, anti-woman agenda is not discussed in it.  Why didn't he talk about how he never goes to work and went to the Bahamas to get campaign money?  Huh?????

A suggestion for Ohio Democrats.....

The Coshocton Tribune has a suggestion for Ohio Democrats who've asked for Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel's records:

...There's a way to get the information if you really want it and are being stonewalled. 

Sue for the records.

But the story wouldn't stay in the headlines for long after a lawsuit was settled. And with Mandel running an increasingly tight race for the U.S. Senate against veteran Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, Democrats have every reason to keep the story alive. By not suing.

We'd rather see the chips fall where they may. File a lawsuit against Mandel, Democrats. If he's illegally withholding public records, Ohioans should know. If he's not, they should know that, too.

That is indeed a perfect idea!  Considering the amount of times Josh Mandel has had his statements called "Mostly False" or "False" or "Pants On Fire" by Politifact, one never knows what could be uncovered!

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

****We got home about 3am this morning after going to the Bruce Springsteen concert in Cleveland.  It was a fabulous concert, with great music, and an enthusiastic crowd. Bruce was outstanding.  Since my husband and I are close to Bruce's age, we're trying to figure out how he keeps up the energy through a three hour concert.

Jake Clemons, the nephew of the late Clarence Clemons, won the hearts of the audience.  I'd say that seeing Bruce in this Cleveland concert was tremendous, but......the concert that is the most memorable for us will always be his concert in Rome's Olympic Stadium a few years ago.

(Note: The Quicken Arena issued "Flash Tickets" and it was confusing.  Always make sure that you have a back-up ID on your "Flash Ticket" account.  Why are these promoters moving away from paper tickets??????)

Those Republicans

*  The war on women continues, even in Ohio.

Plunderbund shows that Gov. John Kasich pays his female staff members far less than what he pays his male staffers.

Has anyone seen or heard of Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor recently?  Did Kasich put her in a cave?

>>>>  I'm surprised that Ann Romney didn't mention the au pairs (fancy French name for nannies) that she employed while her boys were growing up.  Have you ever employed an au pair?  I think that there is a certain income level that comes with hiring au pairs from France.

Ann Romney never had to worry about when she would get her next paycheck, if her male colleagues were making more money, and what she would do if her children were sick, and she had no sick days.  She has always had help and money.


* Republican candidate Josh Mandel apparently only rewards those that he hired in the office of the Ohio Treasurer. Once again we see that Mandel, on the country club luncheon circuit, likes to reward his friends and Republicans.  I bet Mandel doesn't meet many teachers, fire fighters, police officers, nurses, auto workers, and underpaid state workers at those fancy private clubs.

Toledo Blade:

Josh Mandel, Ohio treasurer of state, has given his staff appointees large raises since he took office while awarding more modest raises to the employees he inherited when he became treasurer a year ago.....

Six Mandel political appointees received raises ranging from $250 to $1,153 per two-week pay period since the time he took office.

In the same period, raises for the six highest-paid holdovers from former Democratic Treasurer Kevin Boyce ranged from $147 to $441 per pay period.

The biggest dollar-amount raise went to Mr. Mandel’s general counsel, Seth Metcalf. His salary zoomed to $5,961 per two-week pay period from $4,808, a 24 percent increase, after he joined the staff in January, 2011. According to Seth Unger, press secretary for Mr. Mandel, Mr. Metcalf also took on the job of chief financial officer, eliminating a position and saving $45,000 a year......

Further examination finds that "Seth Metcalf" is "James" Seth Metcalf and he passed the bar exam in 2004 (see Ohio Supreme Court attorney info).  Once again we see an example of Josh Mandel giving a friend a higher salary and a boatload of responsibility.  I wonder how the rest of the more experienced, mature, highly trained, employees feel about having this newbie overpaid.  I know if I worked in that department I'd be raising my voice about this situation.

More Eyes on Josh Mandel's Work Habits

* Republican Josh Mandel, the practically absent Ohio Treasurer, continues in his campaign for Senate.  People are noticing Mandel's lack of dedication to his current job because he frequently pays hooky in order to do fundraising during work hours.

Plain Dealer editorial:

...The Daily News reported that Mandel did indeed put "qualified, experienced staff members in some top positions." But Ohio's supposedly reformist Republican state treasurer also "hired six campaign workers whose average age is 26 and assigned them duties ranging from debt management to policy-advising to community outreach."  

.....Mandel seems not to understand that when voters elect a statewide executive officer, they're looking for managers, not political operators. 

That's especially so at the treasury, where minding the store is a must. Periodically -- before the Civil War, before World War I, late in the 1920s, in 1970 and early in the 1980s -- something at Ohio's treasury goes very wrong. And even when the treasurer is personally blameless, that's whom voters blame. If, between anti-Brown campaign stunts, Mandel finds time to stop by the office he was elected to run, he might care to recall that fact. 

Josh Mandel has demonstrated his arrogant attitude and lack of respect for the Ohio taxpayers. We pay his salary! He has thumbed his nose at Ohioans.

* The News-Messenger, Josh Mandel gave a speech for his campaign.  I was struck by the fact that Mandel was speaking to Republicans at another country club.  This time it was the Fremont Country Club. Mandel will appear at a fundraiser with John McCain at the private Columbus Club today at Noon (see OCTA).  He spoke at the Shawnee Country Club in February (see 939kisslima.com).  I guess by going to speak at country clubs, Mandel avoids having to deal with real, hard-working Ohioans.

*  Now we know that Josh Mandel hired inexperienced, unqualified, pals/friends/campaign workers for his staff at the Ohio Treasurer's  office, there is something more to add to that information.  The Toledo Blade:

Josh Mandel, Ohio treasurer of state, has given his staff appointees large raises since he took office while awarding more modest raises to the employees he inherited when he became treasurer a year ago.....

....Six Mandel political appointees received raises ranging from $250 to $1,153 per two-week pay period since the time he took office.

In the same period, raises for the six highest-paid holdovers from former Democratic Treasurer Kevin Boyce ranged from $147 to $441 per pay period......

When I think of Josh Mandel, I think of these words:

Absenteeism.

Favoritism.  

Cronyism. 

Arrogance.

Those Out to End Student Loans

* Thankfully, our children are no longer in college.  When my husband and I went to college in the early 1970's, we took out student loans, and were able to pay them back.  Tuition was lower then and we were lucky to have jobs after graduation. Now some Republicans want to end student loans and Pell Grants.

In a post titled, Rep. Virginia Foxx has "little tolerance" for student loans, parents and current and future college students can see a peak into the Republican agenda at Daily Kos:

....Ladies and gentlemen, the deep thoughts and abiding wisdom of Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), complaining to G. Gordon Liddy (yeah, I know) about the young kids today and how they should all just get a job, hippie:

I went through school, I worked my way through, it took me seven years, I never borrowed a dime of money. He borrowed a little bit because we both were totally on our own when we went to college, totally. [...] I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there’s no reason for that. We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” You don’t have it dumped in your lap....

Virginia Foxx's voting record shows that she even voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Act (see Washington Post).  Seriously.   Govtrack has rated her ideology as a "far-right Republican" in the House of Representatives.
Rep. Virginia Foxx isn't the only problem.  Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan would end Pell Grants, according to Think Progress:

The House Republican budget makes some deeply flawed arguments about higher education. It claims both that rising financial aid is driving college tuition costs upward and that Pell Grants, which help cover tuition costs for low-income Americans, don’t go to the “truly needy.” Republicans — led by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) — use these falsehoods to justify cutting the Pell Grant program by $200 billion.

According to an analysis by the Education Trust that was provided to the Huffington Post, the House Republican budget would ultimately knock more than one million students off of Pell Grants entirely:

  More than 1 million students would lose Pell grants entirely over the next 10       years under Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, according to an analysis that the national reform organization Education Trust provided to The Huffington Post.....

If you think you'll need college loans or Pell Grants, you might want to vote for Democrats, instead of Republicans.  We've seen what the Republican House leadership has on their agenda and we know their intentions to destroy any help for college students.  We cannot allow the Republicans to have a majority in the House or the Senate.  They'll cut many programs in order to get more tax cuts for their wealthy friends.

This video from YouTube says it all:

Friends, Campaign Workers, and Pals

*  Republican Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel is a classic Republican hypocrite.  Although he accused his opponent in his last election of cronyism, now the world knows that Josh Mandel is guilty of cronyism.  Mandel has hired his campaign workers, pals, friends, and their friends in his department and some of them are not remotely qualified.

Huffington Post:

...The new three-a-half-minute web ad, obtained exclusively by The Huffington Post and shown below, has fake Facebook postings between Mandel and several of the aides currently embroiled in the debate over how Mandel hired top staffers in the treasurer's office. The Ohio Democratic Party is behind the web ad....

....The ad follows Facebook postings from Mandel and several aides, including general counsel Seth Metcalf, a college friend of Mandel's; Joe Aquilino, a campaign aide who spent 2011 as his debt management director; and Scott Guthrie, who was public affairs director in the treasurer's office for five weeks before returning to his post raising funds for Mandel's political organization. The satirical postings include Mandel offering jobs and raises to the group, and references to Mandel's skipping 14 months of meetings of the state Board of Deposit, which he chairs.....

Josh Mandel Against Choice???? You Betcha!

*  Here is a blast from the past---------

Writes Like She Talks had a post in 2009 in which Republican Josh Mandel marched in an anti-abortion protest in Cleveland.  The story was carried in the Plain Dealer which had Josh Mandel involved in the march to protest a bill to promote a woman's right to choose.  Mandel marched because he was against it.  The Plain Dealer article reminds the reader that Sen. Sherrod Brown "....supports a woman's right to choose..."

There you have it!  If you want Republicans to continue to restrict your access to birth control, cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, and get into your privacy, you can vote for Mandel.

However, if you want to retain your personal freedom and privacy regarding your reproductive organs, have health care for your gynecological needs, and keep Planned Parenthood operating, we need to re-elect Sen. Sherrod Brown.  Sen. Sherrod Brown will  have my vote because he respects me as a woman and my civil rights.

Thank you, Writes Like She Talks, for reminding us of Mandel's statements and actions against our reproductive freedom.

*  The big spotlight continues to be on the people hired by Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel for his office.  With accusations of cronyism, charges of unqualified personnel filling positions in the treasurer's office, Ohioans are worried that their tax money is being used to pay salaries for Josh Mandel's friends.  Now even Huffington Post has taken notice of the refusal by Mandel to release the resumes of his hires.


HuffingtonPost:

Democrats have filed their seventh request for Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel to release the resumes of 60 top appointees, a request his office has alternatively denied, refused to answer or released the entire state payroll as an answer. 

Ohio Democrats have been pressing Mandel, the Republican nominee running against Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, about the backgrounds of staffers he hired at the state treasurer's office since his 2010 election. Mandel had accused former Treasurer Kevin Boyce, a Democrat, of hiring political cronies during the 2010 race and has come under fire in recent weeks after similar accusations.

"Josh Mandel repeatedly slammed his opponent for alleged cronyism during the campaign and promised to operate his office differently if elected," Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Andrew Zucker told HuffPost. "So after his swearing in, we sought to hold him accountable for his own words during his own campaign."

If you'd like to see the list of Mandel's people, visit this link: OHDems  and check over the names. If you know anything about this group that the Dayton Daily News called, “young, relatively inexperienced” campaign staffers..., send an email to the researcher on the OHDems news page.

>>>>  Republican Josh Mandel is bringing in some big shots to talk for him and raise money.  One of the Republicans coming to Ohio is NJ Gov. Chris Christie.  Christie has been in the news lately because of some recent accusations.


Salon:

Whoops, turns out Chris Christie was just lying about everything when he canceled that train tunnel project in 2010....

 

The New York Times has the details of the report today, and in classic Times fashion it is repeatedly calling Christie a liar without using the word. Instead, Christie “exaggerated” and “misstated” his rationales for canceling the project.

The report by the Government Accountability Office, to be released this week, found that while Mr. Christie said that state transportation officials had revised cost estimates for the tunnel to at least $11 billion and potentially more than $14 billion, the range of estimates had in fact remained unchanged in the two years before he announced in 2010 that he was shutting down the project. And state transportation officials, the report says, had said the cost would be no more than $10 billion.
Mr. Christie also misstated New Jersey’s share of the costs: he said the state would pay 70 percent of the project; the report found that New Jersey was paying 14.4 percent. And while the governor said that an agreement with the federal government would require the state to pay all cost overruns, the report found that there was no final agreement, and that the federal government had made several offers to share those costs.

What else do you expect from a Republican?

Drilling Without Your Approval

* It looks like it is full speed ahead on drilling in the state parks. The Kasich administration has ODNR (Ohio Department of Natural Resources) getting everything moving in the direction of drilling, even though a majority of Ohioans are against it.  Go take pictures of your state parks so you can show your grandchildren what they looked like before Kasich came to power.

WKSU:

The Sierra Club is suing the state to see the plans the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is developing for oil and gas drilling in state parks. The club has filed public records requests with the department since October and has been ignored. ODNR had said last fall it would have a model lease for the parks, possibly by January.

The Columbus Dispatch also filed a public records request last month, and quotes an ODNR spokesman saying it is – quote – “ in the final stages of gathering information to comply” the request.

State lawmakers approved drilling on state parts and other public lands last fall. A five-member Oil and Gas Leasing Commission will oversee the leases, but its five-members  have not yet been appointed.

I wonder which FOK (friends of Kasich) and former oil/utility CEO's will get those jobs on that oil and gas commission. Even as you read this, the Kasich administration and their buddies have people checking out who owns the mineral rights to various properties.

* The Plain Dealer reports that a real "heavyweight" is coming to Ohio to help raise money for Josh "hardly working" Mandel. Mandel is bringing in Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.

Saved by the Auto Recovery Act

* The auto recovery act proposed by President Obama and successful in restarting the American auto industry, was celebrated in Toledo yesterday.  The Toledo Blade reports that the owner of American Manufacturing Inc., Chuck Gotberg, owes his company's recovery to the auto recovery act.

Toledo Blade:

 ....Before the sudden collapse of the market for automobiles in 2008 and 2009, the steel-fabricating company at 2375 Dorr St. had 125 people manufacturing industrial steel containers for automotive-parts suppliers. After nearly shutting its doors in 2009, American Manufacturing is now back with more than 100 workers and looking for additional welders.

On Monday, Mr. Gotberg hosted an event with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) and officials of the U.S. Small Business Administration to give credit to the 2009 American Recovery Act, also called the stimulus package. They also praised the 2009 $80 billion bailout of General Motors and Chrysler with the turnaround in American Manufacturing Inc. — and American manufacturing in general.

"The automotive bailout was the key to my recovery," said Mr. Gotberg, a Northville, Mich., resident. "If General Motors and Chrysler would have failed I'm convinced the supply base in total would have failed, because once it's dead, it's dead. You can't just say that some other company's going to take the place of General Motors. They can't."

Thank you, Sen. Sherrod Brown!!!!  After all the hard work has been done, now Josh Mandel said he has his own plan for the American auto industry.  He is a little late.

>>>>  The new Washington Post-ABC News Poll has been released and here is further proof that women respect President Obama:

26. Regardless of who you support, which candidate do you trust to do a better job [ITEM] – (Obama) or (Romney)?

4/8/12 

                                       Obama   Romney 

k. Dealing with social issues such as
   abortion and gay marriage             46       38 

l. Addressing women’s issues             53       34 

The Republicans don't get it.  Even Sen. Mitch McConnell doesn't even respect the views of the Republican Senators that are women to ask or know how they feel about the Republican attacks on contraception. 

From a Kentucky radio interview, we have this from McConnell and posted on  Think Progress:

...MCCONNELL: There is no issue. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine I think would be the first to say — and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska — ‘we don’t see any evidence of this.’

Except that they do. Three of the four women McConnell names have already come out against the GOP’s war on women — Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

In fact, Murkowski specifically pushed back on claims like McConnell’s, saying, “If you don’t feel this is an attack, you need to go home and talk to your wife and your daughters.” Maybe McConnell should take her advice....

I guess Mitch McConnell just doesn't care what they think.

Cuts to Farm Subsidies

* Republican Rep. Steve Stivers recently met with farmers, according to the Lancaster Eagle Gazette:

Don't expect anything major to be decided in Congress before the November election.

That's a message U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers presented to a group of farmers Thursday....

....Stivers doesn't represent Fairfield County, but he is running for a newly formed district that will represent the county starting in 2013.....

I didn't see Steve Stivers mention that he voted for the Paul Ryan budget bill that would end all farm subsidies.  It is curious that he didn't mention that little item.

Here is what the Huffington Post has about the cuts made to agriculture in the Paul Ryan budget that Steve Stivers voted for in 2012:

...This year, under pressure from conservatives to cut even more, Ryan increased cuts to food stamps, student loans, welfare, farm subsidies and other programs whose budgets now mostly run on autopilot. A cut of $33 billion over 10 years to farm subsidies would be larger than a bipartisan plan hatched last year and would be difficult for farm state lawmakers to choke down....

I guess Steve Stivers believes that he should only provide as little information as possible to the farmers. Ohio farmers that support Romney will get the Paul Ryan budget and the cuts.

>>>>  Josh Mandel is learning that when you run for the U.S. Senate, there are more questions, and more people interested in what kind of people you've hired.  If a person hires incompetent, unqualified, friends and buddies to high positions with huge salaries, it indicates a person that will reward friends before citizens.  Even as Mandel criticized his predecessor, we see that cronyism is alive and well in the Ohio Treasurer's office.  In sending himself and others in his office to beginning "seminars" to learn how to do their jobs, we see that Josh Mandel has poorly qualified hires in his office.

By the way, why is Mandel so willing to criticize Sen. Sherrod Brown's work when we know that Josh Mandel has yet to reveal his own agenda?  Mandel has refused to give us details.  It is like someone trying to distract the voter from their own record.  Sen. Sherrod Brown has worked tirelessly for the average Ohio worker, farmer, teacher, firefigther, police officer, nurse, miner, and regular people.  Josh Mandel has no record of any legislative experience and it is clear to see that his neoconservative view is only for his corporate, pollution-making contributors.

Mandel supported the "heartbeat bill"

*  Josh Mandel supported HB 125 and spoke out in support of the bill, along with Mike Huckabee.  Josh Mandel is trying to involve himself in your reproductive decisions.


Think Progress:

The Ohio House will soon take up the a “Heartbeat” bill — a first of its kind, anti-choice bill that would outlaw an abortion if a fetal heartbeat can be medically detected, generally occurring around six or seven weeks. With the current ban on abortions set around 22 weeks, this bill would give Ohio “the most restrictive abortion law in the nation.” 

Despite a failed-attempt to present the heartbeat of a nine-week old fetus for “testimony,” a House committee voted to 12-11 to bring the bill to the House floor. The bill sponsor, state Rep. Lynn Wachtmann (R), recently announced that, on top of 50 sponsors, likely GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee has endorsed the bill:

   “In addition to the majority of the Ohio House of Representatives, the 400 

    pro-life organizations and leaders who support the Heartbeat Bill 

    now include Governor Mike Huckabee, State Treasurer 

    Josh Mandel, Congressman Steve Chabot, former Secretary of 

     State Ken Blackwell and the who’s-who of the pro-life movement,” said   Representative Lynn Wachtmann, Sub. H. B. 125′s prime sponsor....

Josh Mandel supported H.B. 125 and SB 5. That is very radical.  Mandel is another Republican at War on Women.

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

* Josh Mandel said that those of us that support Sen. Sherrod Brown are "...out of touch with mainstream Ohioans...." (Newsmax).

Here are a few other radical things that Republican Josh Mandel had to say, as reported by Newsmax:

....Brown, who Mandel slams as being the most liberal senator in the country — “actually to the left of Bernie Sanders who is an avowed Socialist from Vermont"

....He also slammed Brown for accusing him of cronyism in hiring staff for the treasurer’s office. He pointed out that the state has the highest ratings from both Standard and Poors and Fitch at a time when the national credit rating has been downgraded.

“One of the reasons we have had success in the treasurer’s office is because of the superior staff we put in place. We’ve got this excellent staff of qualified financial professionals with great expertise that we are willing to stack up against any treasurer’s office or fiscal office in any state in the country.”

Josh Mandel thinks it is okay to hire his buddies who have no experience managing millions of dollars because they're his buddies.  Even Mandel had to go to a seminar to learn how to do the job of State Treasurer.  He had to send at least one of his buddies/staff to a basic beginning course on how to do his job.  

 

Would you want someone to go to a two day seminar to learn to do your brain surgery or manage your money or fix your car?  Mandel doesn't take his office seriously shows because he has not approached it with the dignity and importance of doing the job---especially in the way that he has hired his buddies to fill jobs for which they were not qualified.

 

Someone else must be doing the work in the Treasurer's office because Mandel is never there.  He is going out during the day campaigning.  How does he manage that?  Should we ask that his pay be docked for those work hours he spends campaigning?  That sounds like a sweet deal---- get your salary while you are out campaigning for your next job.  We should all have jobs like that.

Beginning of a Scandal?

* The Huffington Post:

Days after being accused of hiring young, inexperienced staffers for key positions in the state Treasury, new evidence shows that Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, the Republican nominee for the state Senate race, dispatched a top aide to a beginner's course in the subject he was overseeing.

A roster of attendees for a seminar on the fundamentals of municipal bond law, held at the April 2011 National Association of Bond Lawyers, shows that Joe Aquilino -- Mandel's debt management director at the time -- attended the conference. The seminar is tailored for those new to the subject......

....Aquilino, 26, had been the political director for Mandel's 2010 campaign for treasurer before being tapped to oversee Ohio's debt management, including issuing new bonds and working with the state's investment underwriters. Aquilino has since left that position to serve as political director for Mandel's Senate race against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)....

This follows the investigative reporting by the Dayton Daily News that questioned Josh Mandel's hiring practices because he had hired inexperienced friends and campaign workers for his staff as Ohio Treasurer.

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel lists the following in his official biography on the Treasurer's website:

...Treasurer Mandel.....completed the Investment Decisions & Behavioral Finance program at Harvard University.....

Do you know what ...the Investment Decisions & Behavioral Finance program at Harvard University... really is?  According to the program's website, it is two day course, with tuition at $4,000, complete with a dinner.  OMG!


Even Josh Mandel wasn't experienced enough to be the Ohio's treasurer.  He had to go take a class to find out how to do his job. Josh Mandel spends so much time out of the office, he appears to be campaigning instead of overseeing our tax money.  How does he justify his campaigning during regular work hours?

With all this being revealed now about the workings of Treasurer's office under Mandel, you must wonder how many other unqualified, and inexperienced people got jobs because they were  Mandel's buddies/campaign workers that are employed in the state. Are we as taxpayers responsible for paying for these courses that Mandel, Aquilino, and others have taken so that they could learn how to do their jobs???

If Josh Mandel cannot tell the truth and has placed these inexperienced and unqualified friends in tough, responsible positions, how can anyone trust him?

The Political Battle Begins

* This was not a surprise------- Kevin DeWine resigned as chairperson of the Ohio Republican Party, just as Gov. John Kasich wanted.

Investors.com:

A long, bitter intra-party feud among Ohio Republicans ended last night when state party chairman Kevin DeWine announced he would resign nine months early at next week's state central committee meeting.

The ongoing feud between DeWine and Gov. John Kasich and his allies threatened to tear the party apart in what is for Republicans probably the most crucial state in this November's presidential election. The GOP has never won the White House without also capturing Ohio's electoral votes.....

....Robert Bennett, a 73-year-old former state party chair, will return from retirement on an interim basis until next January's scheduled election for a new chairman. 

Oh, yes, we all remember Bob Bennett from the 2004 election. 

* Republican Rep. Steve Stivers has been collecting big campaign contributions from PACs and people associated with banks, insurance, and real estate.  A quick look at Open Secrets lets you see that those three groups must like how Stivers is trying to do away with consumer protections because the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate Sectors have contributed over $332,000 for this election cycle.  If we have another Wall Street collapse, consumers will have none of the protections for their investments.  Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. 

* The OCTA (Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association) is having a luncheon on April 16 to support Republican Josh Mandel with special guest John McCain.  Don't worry. It is just for the elite at $500/person.

>>>>>  Another day and there is another lie from Republican Josh Mandel.

PlainDealer has the PolitiFact meter on Josh Mandel. Once again, Josh Mandel's latest claim has been judged as Mostly FALSE.  It might be time for Josh Mandel to join the Pathological Liars that was represented by Tommy Flanagan (Jon Lovitz)on Saturday Night Live. Josh Mandel has been telling some real whoppers about Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Part of the Elite

Who knew???

Mitt Romney speaks French, and yet he accuses President Barack Obama of being European.  I just saw this on the Rachel Maddow show.

YouTube



** Do you have a car elevator in your home? Mitt Romney has plans to put one in his new home which would, if elected, be his "western" White House.

ABC News:

From car elevators and outdoor showers to expansive basements and beach-view decks, Mitt Romney's plans to renovate his $12 million beachfront villa outside of San Diego are nothing short of luxury. 

 

But for a presidential candidate who has constantly battled the criticism that he is "out of touch" with the average American, an elevator specifically designed to lift and lower his vehicles in and out of the home's four-car garage, could make selling that "average guy" persona a tad bit tougher.... 

.....From touting his Nascar-owning friends to mentioning that he likes "being able to fire people" here's a look at some of Romney's comments that have made that "average American" persona a much harder sell.....

Remember that Romney isn't concerned about the poor. If Republicans win and the Paul Ryan budget is used as the basis for government cuts, we'll all be poor.  Romney still won't care about us.

Josh Mandel Shows No Concern for Middle Class

*  Josh Mandel, Ohio Treasurer and subscriber to the "I'll go anywhere to get campaign cash - --- even the Bahamas" idea, has some new information up on this campaign page.  The new Josh Mandel campaign page provides his (?) views on "Critical Issues," but not the "critical issues" of working Ohioans.  The website, ElectMandel is funded by CAPE PAC, a right wing conservative PAC. You almost wonder if someone gave him a fill in the blank page and had him put in the words. 

Unfortunately, there is not one mention of words like ---
  middle class, women, families, the auto industry, job creation, or raising taxes on the 1%. We can assume that the CAPE PAC and Josh Mandel just don't give a damn about the middle class, women, families, the auto industry, job creation, or raising taxes on the wealthy.
 

Latest video on Josh Mandel on YouTube:



*****  Here we go again:  Gov. John Kasich has gotten people angry - again! Plunderbund has all the details.