The Ohio Democratic Party released a new video yesterday that hilariously highlights the unbelievably bad decisions Josh Mandel has made since taking over as Treasurer. The video is definitely worth watching just for a good laugh at Mandel but while you’re watching, try to keep in mind that this stuff ACTUALLY HAPPENED. And evidence suggests it’s been happening for a long time.

During the campaign for Treasurer, Mandel promised to bring in highly qualified financial professionals – not friends or political hacks – to work at the Treasurer’s office. But once sworn in, he immediately hired his inexperienced friends [...]

John Kasich has been trying to oust Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine since at least November 2010. That’s 3 months longer than he has officially been serving as Governor of Ohio. 16 months in total.

Sixteen months.

Last week DeWine finally agreed to step down, to be replaced by former Chairman Bob Bennett. There’s no doubt that the basic goal of John Kasich’s “Oust DeWine” effort was successful. But did Kasich really “win”?

Kasich’s lobbyist friends have worked long and hard to make this happen. Kasich’s staff too. Many circulated petitions – often during work hours – to get [...]

When Kasich announced his tax hike for the oil and gas industry last month, his “friends” in the industry were completely shocked. Oil and gas lobbyists were shocked. Republican legislative leaders were shocked.

That’s because Kasich and his team, sitting in a back room somewhere, decided they needed to have an income tax cut on their record going into the 2014 elections, and the best way to get the money was to raise taxes on the booming shale gas industry. They did not, however, think it was necessary to involve anyone else in their decision making process.

They didn’t [...]

The worst kept secret in Columbus right now is that the FBI has started looking into Kasich’s staff and allies over allegations they used unethical and possibly illegal threats and promises in their ongoing struggle to oust Kevin DeWine as Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee.

Unfortunately for Kasich, it looks like he may have put himself and his friends in this potentially calamitous position for nothing. Despite their announcements of success in the recent committee elections, Kasich has some problems that seem to indicate he may not have the support he needs to win control.

The first [...]

Considering Josh Mandel’s complete and well-documented absence from his current job as Treasurer, it seems pretty ballsy for the guy to suddenly feel qualified to promote himself as the ‘jobs’ candidate. But it looks like that’s his plan.

As part of his plan, Mandel seems to have decided that his campaign website wasn’t “jobsy” enough for his new found moniker – so he’s now redirecting all traffic from joshmandel.com to JOBS.joshmandel.com.

The is, however, one big problem with the rebranding effort, and if you go to the “Jobs” section of the website it will become pretty clear. Considering [...]

Regardless of how you feel about the Tea Party and their ballot initiatives in Ohio, you have to give them credit for persistence and, at least last year, their success.

I wrote extensively about last year’s “Healthcare Freedom” amendment (aka Issue 3) – the anti-”Obamacare” amendment that Chris Littleton and the Ohio Liberty Council not only got on the ballot, but succeeded in passing. I honestly never thought they’d get enough signatures to get it on the ballot. And when they did, I never thought they’d get the votes to get it passed. I was wrong in both cases.

I [...]