From the monthly archives: October 2011
Building a Better Ohio spokesman Jason Mauk finally issued a response on behalf of the campaign on their misappropriation of Cincinnati great-grandmother Marelene Quinn, who has politely asked the campaign to cease and desist their use of her in their ad since it creates the impression that she supports Issue 2, when the footage was taken from a We Are Ohio ad where she supports defeat of Issue 2.
In short, Mauk told the great-grandmother from Cincinnati to go jump in the Ohio River:
"We’re certainly not taking the ad down," Mauk said. "We absolutely stand by it and our [...]
Full Story... →Cincinnati Firefighter Paul Weber was on the truck that responded to the fire and helped save Zoey, the subject of a recent We Are Ohio ad. The political hacks over at Build a Better Ohio used that ad to mislead voters into thinking Zoey’s great-grandmother Marlene Quinn really supported Issue 2.
Paul has a simple message for TV stations: Pull the ad!
He also has a message for voters in Ohio: Vote No on Issue 2!
Full Story... →[Update 10/11/11 5:50pm] We’re getting word that NBC4 in Columbus has also pulled the ad!
[Update 10/11/11 5pm] Two more stations WSYX and WTTE in Columbus have also pulled the ads. Keep it up!
Earlier today, we broke the story of the Building a Better Ohio campaign misusing an ad run by We Are Ohio in an attempt to mislead voters. We have now confirmed that at least 2 television stations that were contracted to run the ads have pulled them:
WSAZ in Charleston Huntington, WV
WTAP in Parkersburg
More are sure to follow. Thanks to everyone who [...]
Full Story... →On Saturday, the We Are Ohio campaign issued a new ad called “Zoey,” which featured a Cincinnati grandmother talking about how she was, in no uncertain terms, voting against Issue 2 because it impacts the safety and ability of firefighters to respond. Firefighters like the ones who saved her granddaughter’s life.
This morning I saw a new Building a Better Ohio ad that looked awefully familiar running in Cincinnati. It was familiar because it literally lifted select portions of the grandmother’s statements in the We Are Ohio ad, including using the same footage of firefighters fighting a [...]
Full Story... →David Pepper was the Democratic nominee for State Auditor in 2010. He was a former County Commissioner. And if he isn’t on the Democratic ballot in 2014, I’ll be surprised.
Regardless, last week Joseph and I were invited to a Junior League of Cincinnati forum on Issue 2 with David Pepper representing the “We Are Ohio” campaign and Ohio Liberty Council attorney Gary Greenberg.
Greenberg started the debate with the premise that elected officials should decide how taxpayer dollars should be spent or public services delivered. Pepper revisited this issue later pointing out that many of the union employees impacted [...]
Full Story... →I watched a number of SB5/Issue 2 debates recently, and personally attended a few really good ones including the debate between Connie Pillich and Shannon Jones and the debate between David Pepper and Tea Party Lawyer Gary Greenberg. Both were especially entertaining and revealed a lot about the messaging the pro-SB5 camp is using.
One of the talking points that all the SB5 advocates seem to be using relates to the part of SB5 that makes it illegal for unions and management to discuss staffing levels during contract negotiations.
The argument from our side is that not legally being allowed [...]
Full Story... →The Governor’s education director lied to me. No big deal, right? Well, before he lied to me, he lied to the Senate Finance Committee, but that was after he lied to the House Finance and Appropriations Committee, and after he lied to a roomful of state superintendents, and after he lied to all of Ohio in the FY2012-13 budget.
Here’s the details of the lie and why you should be concerned.
During testimony on the voluminous House Bill 153, Ohio’s budget bill, I can only find evidence that three people specifically mentioned the Governor’s provision to retest teachers in Ohio’s [...]
Full Story... →Earlier in the week Tim Ryan along with other Reps. Kaptur, Kucinich, Fudge and Sutton and Senator Sherrod Brown sent a letter to the US Department of Transportation questioning whether it was appropriate for Kasich’s people at the Ohio Department of Transportation to spend $1.5 million in federal money to hire a consultant to research Kasich’s plan to sell Ohio’s turnpike.
Today the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) came back with their answer: Nope.
Kasich’s ODOT Director Jerry Wray believed politics was the reason and he went so far as to send out an email claiming:
… [...]
Full Story... →In a recent TV ad funded by the Republican Governors’ Association, John Kasich claims his “team” is “keeping and creating jobs” in Ohio.
One member of this team is Mark Kvamme, Kasich’s proclaimed “job-creation guru” and now CFO of JobsOhio – the public-private organization created by Kasich and the legislature to help bring more jobs back to Ohio.
According to JobsOhio’s website, the organization’s goal is to “lead Ohio’s job creation efforts by singularly focusing on attracting and retaining jobs”
And yet… Job Guru Kvamme repeated something today he’s said multiple times before: “Government doesn’t create jobs. [...]
Full Story... →In 2008, the General Assembly passed nearly unanimously Governor Strickland’s energy policy which reversed the disasterous (in the words of the conservative Ohio Manufacturers Association) electricity deregulation policy passed in the 1990s (which, ironically, was strongly pushed by… the Ohio Manufacturers Association who later learned to regret their deregulation=better for business myopic world view.) Now, with Governor Kasich in office and complete GOP control of state government, the very policies the GOP supported way back in 2008 is under attack by pro-fossil fuel zealots with their outdated, Stone Age views on energy policy.
Enter Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Kevin [...]
Full Story... →Budget Watch
