From the monthly archives: August 2011
Well, I truly thought it would take longer than a month and a half before people saw how horrible Kasich’s budget was. I really did. But then I wake up this morning and open up the Toledo Blade to see a scathing editorial condemining the Kasich administration for, well, pretty much everything we have been saying for the last six months.
Candidate Kasich attacked former Gov. Ted Strickland for not creating jobs and for using one-time money to kick the state’s budget problems down the road. Governor Kasich balanced his budget by using one-time money from the sale of [...]
Full Story... →Thanks to everyone who took the time to read and vote on their favorite entries for the Plunderbund Camp Wellstone Scholarships. We’re really proud of our readers for their interest and thoughtful replies in voting for their favorites. The two who will go to the camp on us are:
Paul Worley and Shandell Jamal. Paul was the clear favorite and Shandell was able to edge out Corey for 2nd. Each of the 4 will get a brand new PB tee and is also invited to attend the private after-camp party we are throwing. Details to those who are registered [...]
Full Story... →Columbus Business First again lives up to their name today being the first to report on Kasich’s latest corporate handout: a $4 million package of state incentives to bring 50 jobs back to Ohio.
Just to be clear – these are 50 people who already have jobs. Not out-of-work Ohioans are going to benefit from this deal. And it’s costing us $80K per job. (I don’t think I need to tell you how many NEW teacher, police or fire jobs $4 million would create.)
And $80K/per job is over twice the cost-per-job of Kasich’s Diebold giveaway which was [...]
Full Story... →It’s time to vote on your favorite entry for our Camp Wellstone scholarships. We have selected 4 finalists based on entries we received and think we have some really great candidates to attend the camp. Each finalist will receive a PB t shirt and your favorite two will go to the camp on us!
Here’s how it will work. We’ve posted each entry below. We encourage everyone to read them here and give entrants their feedback in comments and tell us who their favorite two are. Based on the quality of the entries and our reader feedback we’ll pick [...]
Full Story... →Last week we wrote about how the PD’s PoltiFact page gave the Ohio Democratic Party a “pants on fire” rating for claiming that Josh Mandel endorsed the idea of letting the US default. At the time the PD article was written, Mandel still had not made it clear where he stood on the matter of default. This ambivalence seemed to be the reason for the rating that was given. Well, it is perfectly clear now that if Josh Mandel had been a US Senator on Tuesday he would have voted against the debt deal in favor of letting the [...]
Full Story... →During the campaign, John Kasich liked to highlight the community of Wilmington as symbol to criticize Governor Strickland over the economy, going so far as making his first campaign ad for Governor to focus on the community. Wilmington lost 7,000 jobs when DHL announced that it was closing its domestic parcel air service in the United States in November 2008 (DHL acquired Airborne Express in 2003 and was given local and state incentives in 2003 to expand services in Wilmington).
Kasich promised that if he was elected as Governor, the kind of mass layoffs we saw during [...]
Full Story... →Thanks to our loyal reader fan base, today the Washington Post’s “The Fix” blog came out with its 2011 edition of the top state-based political blogs in the nation.
First, Chris Cillizza had a few caveats:
Many of the blogs below are partisan and may use language and/or images that neither The Fix nor the Washington Post condones…
Gee, that’s a weird disclaimer to have. I mean come on, we’re all adults here, Chris. C’mon, how juvenile do you think we are?
In a handful of states, one blog — or sometimes two — were recommended far more [...]
Full Story... →On Wednesday, May 13, 2009 the Ohio House of Representatives passed H. B. No. 19, a domestic violence bill named after teenager Tina Croucher who was shot and murdered by her former boyfriend in 1992. The bill was introduced by State Rep. Sandra Stabile Harwood (D-Niles) and requires schools to teach dating abuse prevention in health classes.
The Ohio House of Representatives Journal for that day reported that then-Representative Kris Jordan voted against against the bill. Jordan is currently being investigated for “pushing around” his wife while running around his house drunk with a gun.
The [...]
Full Story... →Back in late 2009, Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine put together a 10 point plan that he hoped would help restore the “conservative credibility” of the Republican party in Ohio.
“The Republican Party has lost its credibility,” wrote DeWine. “We were the party of ethics and morality until our elected officials became symbolic of scandal and corruption,” he said. And “voters did not reject our conservative ideology… they rejected our hypocrisy.”
The final step of his plan was to “Enforce a zero-tolerance policy for misconduct”
Our party historically upheld the highest standard for ethics and morality in government, but [...]
Full Story... →Budget Watch
