From the monthly archives: December 2010
Just like Playboy, everyone has heard of us, but nobody will claim to have actually looked at anything we’ve published. But they’re rip us off and hope nobody notices.
The Columbus Dispatch’s Daily Briefing blog has a post by Mark Niquette “confirming” our exclusive report that Kasich will name Inspector General Thomas Charles as Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, with the difference that the announcement will be made on Thursday instead of tomorrow.
Mark Niquette doesn’t say in the post he wrote whom he “heard” this information from in his post [...]
Full Story... →Apparently, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine had the State’s Central Committee pass some sort of resolution condemning State Senator Tim Grendell’s (R-Chesterland) decision to forgo taking the House seat he won this November and instead staying for the remainder of his Senate term.
(Image Source: The Pullins Report)
Here’s a copy of Grendell’s letter to Chairman DeWine protesting that decision:
Note this on page 2: [...]
Full Story... →I’m seeking additional confirmation on this, but a very reliable source has informed me that it is expected that Governor-elect John Kasich will appoint Ohio Inspector General Thomas Charles.
Yep, the same Thomas Charles’ whose office was criticized by a Brown County Common Pleas Judge for violating the civil rights of individuals Charles was investigating in a case where the media criticized the decision to attempt to bring criminal charges based on his investigation.
The Thomas Charles who House Democrats introduced a bill to change the law to require the Inspector General to recuse himself [...]
Full Story... →The Plain Dealer is reporting that Mary Taylor is under consideration to lead the Department of Commerce.
If you would have asked me where John should send his running mate I might have sarcastically suggested Lottery because of the exceptional work she did uncoving tens of thousands of dollars in savings with her big, expensive audit. Or maybe even Aging because John Kasich thinks women are good at making “small decisions” – decisions about thinking like where (old) people should live.
But who would have thought John Kasich would have the balls to appoint Mary Taylor to head [...]
Full Story... →In today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer, Reggie Fields cites as an example of the support by Ohio’s cities of Governor-elect Kasich’s desire to see a major undercutting of public sector unions’ ability to negotiate under Ohio law the City of Middletown… which is about fifteen minutes from where I live. Here’s what the Plain Dealer claimed:
The Middletown City Council recently passed a resolution asking the Ohio General Assembly to revise the state’s collective bargaining law.
City Councilman Josh Laubach, who authored the resolution, said the city had to dip into reserves to pay police and fire costs [...]
Full Story... →The “what John Kasich doesn’t understand about Ohio state government” posts are getting old, but get used to them. On Thursday, he opened his mouth and inserted his foot again, this time on the prospect of implementing a reduction in the state income tax.
Recent Ohio tax reforms included a phased-in reduction in the income tax of 21%. The final 4.2% drop in rates was to have gone into effect in 2009, but Governor Strickland and the Ohio legislature, postponed that reduction as part of a late-year fix in 2009 when the Supreme Court put a stop to its earlier [...]
Full Story... →Last week I pointed out that John Kasich was attacking the Department of Corrections for not proposing any cost-saving measures even though the department had spent the past four years working with legislators and the Governor to do exactly that.
As a result of these cost-saving studies, Governor Strickland’s last budget contained comprehensive sentencing reform proposals, developed with the help of the Department of Corrections and legislators from both parties. But they were all removed during budget negotiations with Republicans.
You want to guess what John Kasich proposed this week?
At a Thursday news conference, Kasich expanded upon [...]
Full Story... →(Pictured from left to right: Ohio House Speaker designate Bill Batchelder (R- Medina), Governor-elect John Kasich (R), and Senate President-designate Thomas Neihaus (R-New Richmond))
A month ago, Speaker-designate Bill Batchelder indicated that his House Republicans may cut Medicaid eligibility in half, thus cutting off access to affordable, quality health care to thousands of expecting mothers, children, and other Ohioans.
Where’s Sarah Palin to protest the death panel Governor-elect Kasich and his allies in the legislature are plotting to convene to determine who lives and who dies?
And if you think the situation isn’t this dire, consider what [...]
Full Story... →Sometimes we find truth at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected places.
Tonight it was written on the men’s room wall at the High-Beck Tavern in Columbus.
Full Story... →I was sitting in my living room last night catching up on my TiVo recordings when I saw this wonderful ‘War on Christmas’ piece from Tuesday’s Daily Show. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen on the topic so far this year – and right in the right in the middle of it you’ll see a clip of then-Fox News host John Kasich attacking ‘the athiests’ for their ‘War on Christmas’.
The clip is funny enough to be worthy of a post even without the Ohio political connection. However it does seem worth mentioning that John Kasich spent [...]
Full Story... →I swear to God, we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried. According to the Columbus Dispatch’s Daily Briefing Blog, Stivers has been named to serve on the House Financial Services Committee, the Congressional Committee that legislates on the very industry Stivers was a state level lobbyist for.
John Boehner just named a former bank lobbyist to the House’s banking committee.
Sigh.
Full Story... →Budget Watch
