From the monthly archives: May 2011
Hey, if you thought there was nothing left to John Kasich’s corporate welfare giveaways to get you outraged over, guess again:
After securing nearly $100 million in State taxpayer assistance over the next 15 years, American Greetings has decided to give its CEO a nearly 20% raise. We’ve called the company to ask what kind of raise the non-executive employees can expect to receive.
So, congratulations, your taxes aren’t only subsidizing a company that was very profitable on its own in the first place, but you can now say your tax dollars are stimulating the economy thanks to Governor Kasich’s corporate CEO raise subsidies, too!
Full Story... →An investivation by Ron Regan of WEWS revealed last night that the operator of 16 Horizon Science Science Academies in Ohio has been sending hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent, immigration and legal fees to Turkey.
Auditors found immigration fees and legal fees for school officials’ families and others living in Turkey. In some cases, auditors found payments were made to individuals who were never employed by any of the schools.
Auditors found 19 Turkish immigrants were paid nearly $13,000 for what they called “illegal immigration fees.”
…
A Horizon Science Academy school in Dayton signed a lease [...]
Full Story... →Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson announced Cleveland would be laying off 466 city workers this afternoon. He directly attributed the layoffs to the huge cut in state funding Cleveland is facing in John Kasich’s budget.
According to WEWS in Cleveland the cuts will include:
– 81 police officers
– 42 cadets (will be allowed to graduate, but then will be immediately laid off)
– Police demotions: 4 sergeants
– 51 firefighters
– Fire demotions: 4 battalion chiefs, 3 captains, 10 lieutenants
– 6 employees in building and housing (5 full-time, 1 part-time)
– [...]
Fresh off their big sweep in November, Ohio’s Republican legislators continue to push their far-right agenda.
State Rep Jeffrey A. McClain has introduced House Bill 219 which would allow high school students to “earn up to two units of high school credit for the completion of a released time course in religious instruction.”
H.B. 219: To enact section 3313.6017 of the Revised Code to permit public school students to attend and receive credit for released time courses in religious instruction conducted off school property during regular school hours.
Ugh.
Full Story... →Yesterday, Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine sent out an email that is pretty standard fare for a State Party Chairman, promoting the upcoming State dinner, talking about how the Party is trying to put “ObamaCare” on the ballot.
And then there’s this:
You know, it’s probably not a great idea to have a white Chairman of a party known for, well, not exactly being a diverse group of people refer to the head of the Black Republicans as “Servant,” even if it is the person’s chosen e-mail handle.
Instead, what should go on is that Chairman calls this person [...]
Full Story... →Friday was John Kasich’s birthday.
And I guess someone in the Governor’s office, realizing it would look really bad if some “idiot” cop pulled Kasich over for driving with an expired license, thought to ask John if his driver’s license was up-to-date.
It turns out it wasn’t.
Friends of Plunderbund have informed us that Kasich then showed up at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles office on Broad Street in downtown Columbus on Friday afternoon accompanied by Public Safety Director Tom Charles.
The BMV is a subdivision of the Department of Public Safety and it appears as though Charles [...]
Full Story... →The merit pay provisions contained in Senate Bill 5 and House Bill 153 (Kasich’s Budget) have been contentiously debated by both sides for their, well, merit. While supporters might claim that it brings these public sector jobs in line with the private sector, opponents will fiercely debate the lack of evidence that these methods have proven to work. When merit pay existed in the union-busting Senate Bill 5 legislation, it was easy to draw the conclusion that it was a power play by the Republicans, but now that merit and performance pay language has been lumped into the budget, one [...]
Full Story... →Earlier this week a Warren County Sheriff’s deputy was killed in the line of duty. The officer, Sergeant Brian Dulle, was hit by the driver of a stolen car while putting down stop sticks.
Two weeks ago three Columbus police officers were shot while while pursuing a murder suspect. Two of those officers were also Sergeants.
These are not isolated incidents. Police sergeants across the state are out in the field, answering calls and facing the same dangers as other officers.
But under Senate Bill 5, officers like these three men – and all police officers with the [...]
Full Story... →Sorry for the title, but I just can’t even hold it back anymore.
Anyone else see this post on the Dispatch’s Daily Briefing blog this afternoon is going to have the same reaction. This was a one-year consultancy agreement:
Gaming expert to make $15 million from state
…
Moelis, which along with Spectrum Gaming was hired to advise Kasich on casinos and other gambling-related issues in Ohio, will be paid a monthly retainer fee of $200,000 over the year-long contract. Additionally, the Los Angeles-based company can earn up to $13 million in incentives fees.
According to the contract, which [...]
Full Story... →InnovationOhio has released a new report that examines the nexus between e-schools’ academic performance (or lack thereof) and yet their political popularity with Republicans that might, just might be, influenced by the rather large campaign donations made by e-school businesses, like… White Hat Management executive David Brennan.
Among the findings of the report:
Of Ohio’s 7 state-wide E-schools (which account for 90% of all E-school enrollment), six are not even rated “effective” by the Ohio Department of Education. 5 of the 7 have graduation rates worse than Cleveland Municipal Schools, which has the lowest graduation rate of all traditional [...]
Full Story... →Prepared to go inside the mind of a Republican when the world of taxes meets the world of privatization in which you need to be a quantum political physicist to comprehend what is occurring.
Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s “PolitiFact” examined Rep. Matt Lundy’s (D-Elyria) claim that the budget the House passed included tax breaks to “sweeten” the deal for the private companies the State is trying to sell six correctional facilities. They found the claim to be True, because, it is.
But first, we need to apparently correct something on the issue. Last week, the Dayton Daily [...]
Full Story... →Budget Watch
