From the monthly archives: September 2011
It’s hard to fault Shannon Jones for the many flaws in her bill, yet I can’t help but think that if she would have had some collaboration, then she could have gotten all of the contradictory parts corrected [heavy sarcasm intended]. Much has been made, both early on and recently, about the elimination of experience as a criteria for determining compensation and layoffs in SB5. A quick scan of the bill will expose numerous instances where experience has been stricken from the language and replaced with some form of “based solely on performance.” This [...]
Full Story... →Governor Kasich’s fearmongering continues on Issue 2. For the third time in two days, another news report of Kasich making outrageous predictions about what Ohio will look like after Issue 2 is defeated.
Two days ago, we wrote about how the Dispatch reported that Kasich said if Issue 2 is defeated on November 8th, then it means the private sector labor unions will get emboldened and somehow Ohio will have card check (even though we’ll still have a legislature controlled by the Republicans and Kasich as Governor.) Then the Dispatch reported how Kasich threatened the same meeting of [...]
Full Story... →Today, a crowd of roughly 400, mostly labor members, protested outside of Governor Kasich’s office building with one simple message:
I love Wheel of Fortune’s new “protest” edition.
Here’s NPR’s Bill Cohen’s coverage of it, in which Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols defends Kasich on the economy: WKSU- 9-9-11- “Where are the jobs?” Protest
Governor Kasich’s press secretary defended his boss. Rob Nichols noted eight straight months of net job growth in Ohio, with a total of 45,000 new jobs. One reason, he said, the official jobless rate has gone up recently is that jobless Ohioans are more confident about [...]
Full Story... →It is better to remain silent and suffer that people might think you a fool than it is to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Senate President Niehaus should really just stop talking because he keeps digging a deeper and deeper hole on the retroactive raises and how it reflects why Issue 2 is just bad policy. Niehaus’ latest spin in today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer is that these raises actually are entirely consistent with the values embodied in Issue 2. So that I can’t be accused of misrepresenting him, here’s what the Plain Dealer reported Niehaus said:
[...]
Full Story... →Yesterday, the Kasich Administration announced that the Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was leaving the Cabinet… to become the energy industry “manager” position in Jobs Ohio. As the Dispatch put it:
He moves from a post as director of the state Department of Natural Resources to a seat as energy manager for JobsOhio, Gov. John Kasich’s newly privatized development effort. Assistant Natural Resources Director Scott Zody will take over as interim chief of the agency.
…
Some of the new drilling might come on state lands he used to supervise; legislation passed this year allows [...]
Full Story... →This morning, the Dispatch updated the story we wrote about yesterday when Kasich talked about how failure of Issue 2 would embolden the private unions and somehow card check in Ohio would become law.
That wasn’t the half of it (literally):
Kasich also warned yesterday that if Senate Bill 5 were repealed “don’t be surprised if you see an increase in the (commercial-activities) tax to bail out a pension system.”
“Some of these pension systems are in bad shape,” Kasich said. “It’s not the end of the world, but I’ll tell you it’s a setback. And [...]
Full Story... →One of the biggest pieces of feedback we receive via email and on our Facebook page is “why is [insert offensive advertisement] running on your site?” The explanation we share with people individually we now have on our Advertise page:
Quick note on Google Ads: We run ads from the Google network when there are not direct placement ads available for a given banner ad spot. This allows us to still generate revenue while seeking qualified progressive advertisers. We often hear feedback from our readers that they don’t like an ad that Google places there. These are contextual [...]
Full Story... →You know how sometimes magazines will do photo shoots of celebrities without makeup just so people know what they are like unfiltered.
Today, we saw what happens when Governor Kasich is lacking most of his key staffers because they’re too busy to working for the Build a Better Ohio campaign, and it ain’t pretty folks:
Speaking to about 250 people at an event hosted by the Harvard Business School Club of Northeast Ohio and the Association for Corporate Growth, Kasich said, "if this bill doesn’t pass, don’t be surprised if you see card check."
The Dispatch had [...]
Full Story... →Short version: The only thing true in this ad is that Mike Bell is the Mayor of Toledo, used to be a firefighter, and was laid off in 1980. That’s about it. That leaves 29 seconds of outright misleading and untruthful statements about Issue 2.
Bell doesn’t mention that his “layoff” was rather temporary. So temporary, he doesn’t even mention it in his official bio. And as Joseph has already pointed out, Bell’s short-term layoff occurred four years before the law that SB 5 is attempted to rollback existed.
[Flashback:] Also, Mayor Bell didn’t always [...]
Full Story... →Listen, this isn’t going to come as a surprise, but I’m no Josh Mandel fan. I know, I know, shocking. If I had to come up with three words to describe him they would be arrogant, opportunist, and liar. Granted, I’m a jaded leftist political blogger sitting in my parents’ basement surrounded by posters of Karl Marx, Che Guevara and Stalin, so I’m sure my view is just a little skewed. But I will give Josh Mandel this – he is polite. So polite in fact that when asked to explain allegations about his [...]
Full Story... →Budget Watch
