From the monthly archives: December 2010
No, really… It’s like they stopped reading a key provision that gives the Governor power when the State Senate is being a partisan, power-hungry prick.
Here’s Governor Strickland’s response to today’s unprecedented Senate action:
“I am extremely dismayed and saddened to see so many experienced, honorable Ohioans lose the opportunity to serve their state today as a result of blatant, partisan politics,” Strickland said. “The vast majority of these appointees were to be volunteers who simply wanted to serve the people of Ohio. And it’s troubling that about 25 percent of the rejected appointees are members of our minority communities.
[...]
Full Story... →During the campaign, John Kasich seized upon first-year New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) as a model he’d emulate if elected. He’s continued that bombastic style and amped it up since winning the election. Looks like Kasich… well, you explain it Knight of the Templar:
Not even a year into his term, and Christie’s approval ratings have dropped below 50%, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. In a little over a month, Christie has seen his approval rating drop five points, and his disapproval rating raise six.
While Republicans love him and Democrats hate him, Christie is starting [...]
Full Story... →How is it that Michigan was the only State to lose population in the country, but it only lost one seat in reapportionment while Ohio lost two?!?
Full Story... →Today, nearly 80 qualified appointees who wanted to serve their State proudly, were summarily tossed under John Kasich’s campaign bus in a sacrifice to the lower demons of partisan politics.
In response, the Senate Democrats did the only thing they can do under the Ohio Constitution–they filed a formal protest into the Senate Journal. The full protest is attached at the bottom, but here are some highlights:
“We strongly oppose what we perceive as the continued politicization
of the confirmation process. Members of the Senate Majority have relied solely on political motive, failing to examine the merits of individual [...]
The U.S. Census announced today that as a result of Ohio being outpaced in population growth by other States, Ohio will lose two seats in Congress in the next apportionment.
There’s no doubt that the Republicans will target at least one Cleveland area seat for elimination since Cleveland has the greatest population loss. No idea what kind of map it brings. Regardless, it means all Members of Congress are going to have to represent a significantly larger area which is not inherently familiar with them. Incumbents tend to be most vulnerable when they’re a) fairly new to Congress; b) fairly [...]
Full Story... →Hannah News Report has just sent out a news alert that the Senate Rules Committee is recommending 78 Strickland appointees be rejected by the State Senate:
“Among them are recently named members of the Board of Directors of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Board of Regents, State Board of Education, Third Frontier Commission, and, as expected, the Ohio Casino Control Commission.”
We’re being told that the Senate is planning to reject any appointment Strickland made in December, claiming that they “hadn’t had time” to review them. However, in 2006, the Senate had no problem approving several of Taft’s appointees, including [...]
Full Story... →Governor Strickland is doing a round of “exit” interviews with the Ohio media to reflect on his Administration and to offer some thoughts about events since the election.
Strickland on Ohio’s unemployment:
According to the Associated Press:
"Our unemployment rate now is even with the national unemployment rate. First time that’s happened since December of 2002," he said. "So I’m leaving office having established, I believe, the foundation for future growth in Ohio, and I’m proud of that."
Our unemployment is still too high, but what most people fail to acknowledge was that Ohio’s unemployment substantially higher than [...]
Full Story... →The Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Akron Chamber, Canton Regional Chamber, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Columbus Chamber, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Regional Chamber Youngstown & Warren, the Toledo Chamber of Commerce, and the Dayton Chamber of Commerce today unveiled their “Redesigning Ohio” plan. A full copy of which is attached to the bottom of this post.
But in the end, the biggest takeaway is this: not even the Ohio Chamber of Commerce can create a report that plays to Kasich’s fiction that Ohio’s projected budget deficit can be cured by cuts in spending alone.
The report, billed as [...]
Full Story... →Last week’s rollout of Inspector General Thomas Charles as Kasich’s Director of Public Safety and John Born as the head of the Ohio Highway Patrol was supposed to go very differently than it did.
Right up until the press gaggle afterwards, the Kasich transition team was selling these appointments, incredibly, as a sign of Kasich getting politics “out” of both agencies. But enough of the Ohio Statehouse media was aware enough about what was really going on to take that story somewhat incredulously given the documented rather “unusual” things Charles had done as I.G. as it related to trying to [...]
Full Story... →Normally, after an election, it’s pretty common for a political blog to see its traffic drop off a cliff. Part of that is there is less of an audience for a political blog between election cycles. The other part is, well, there’s less supply of stories to churn out, too.
Now, we still have seen a significant drop in our traffic since the week of the election, but what we’ve seen is nothing I can compare it to in the past. While we don’t give out our numbers as that’s propriety information for us, here’s a couple things that make [...]
Full Story... →Outgoing Senator George Voinovich joined Republican Senators Brown (MA), Burr (NC), Collins (ME), Ensign (NV) Murkowski (AK), Kirk (IL) and Snowe (ME) in voting to repeal DADT in a stand-alone bill on Saturday.
How much do you bet that Governor-elect Kasich now doesn’t get the Cleveland Inner Belt named after George Voinovich now?
Full Story... →Budget Watch
