What should be on the agenda

  • Posted by Brian
  • November 9, 2006

Now that it’s more-or-less official that the Senate has gone Blue, it’s time to start talking about what Democrats should want to try and get done.

At the national level:

  • Start reinserting some kind of oversight on Presidential action
  • Hold hearings on controversial bills passed over the past six years
  • Hold hearings on the administration of the Iraq War
  • Push a minimum wage increase
  • Start real efforts on alternative energy development
  • Getting out of Iraq
  • Stem cell research
  • Balancing the budget
  • Border security / Immigration reform
  • Bringing back civil rights eroded away with the Patriot Act/Military Commissions Act
  • Fixing FEMA
  • Putting an end to the Taliban
  • Negotiating with Iran
  • Talking with the North Koreans
  • Getting a handle on corruption

At the state level:

  • Strickland should try to push initiatives to increase the technology base in the state.
  • Start real efforts on alternative energy development
  • Stem cell research
  • Balancing the budget
  • Fix school funding
  • Redistrict. For the love of god, at least get some competitive districts drawn. Democrats have 3 of 5 seats on the Apportionment Board.
  • Fix the election process. Get machines we can all trust as reliable and accurate.
  • Now I’m dreaming, but get Instant Runoff Voting in place by ‘08. (This’ll never happen, but…)

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November 9th, 2006
4 Responses
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
ohdave
Posted on:
November 9, 2006 at 2:45 pm

Can we redistrict while the R’s control the legislature?

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Brian
Posted on:
November 9, 2006 at 2:59 pm

I believe so. We hold three of the five seats on the Apportionment Board (which would have been changed had Reform Ohio been successful). The board is responsible for legislative districts (congressional districts are drawn by the General Assembly). I don’t know if they can force a redistricting - the next scheduled one is in 2011, which means the Democrats would need to hold at least Governor and SoS in 2010 to be able to control legislative districting.

I don’t know all the conditions, but the fact that the GOP in the Ohio legislature were freaking out about this earlier this year makes me think Dems might be able to force a redistricting.

Things are so gerrymandered now I’d be delighted if we could just get competitive districts. Right now most seats in the Ohio legislature are completely safe.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Purple Avenger
Posted on:
November 20, 2006 at 3:50 pm

Start real efforts on alternative energy development

Shell apparently has a 155,000bbl/day tar sand operation going in up in Canada, and that’s only one site.

We need more of this to buy the time to do other things correctly. Hydrogen, for example, is rife with safety and distribution infrastructure issues. anyone who’s worked at an industrial plant (I have) where its used will attest to this.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Brian
Posted on:
November 22, 2006 at 9:23 am

The big concern is that too many people will think “problem solved”. We need to break our fossil-fuel dependence, and soon, and I think it’s going to take strong leadership (and some tough times) to do it.