All good things must come to an end.

In 2005, I started blogging about Ohio politics and the law while still in law school.  At the time, it was fashionable to write under a pseudonym.  I chose the name “Modern Esquire” as I thought the marriage of “Modern” reflected the new communication technology of blogging and later, social media to “Esquire,” the law, which is generally regarded as somewhat anachronistic and resistant to change (and, let’s face it, it’s pretentious as hell), was a great reflection of what I was doing as a blogger.  What I thought was a symbol [...]

Look, if you want a short overview of Kasich’s State of the State address, here it is:

Here’s the long version: The speech was a rambling mess of incomplete thoughts, decrees with no explanation on the plans to address it (while I’m all for ending human trafficking in Ohio, we need a plan, not a Governor to take the time out to point out that 21st century slavery is wrong), and contradictions.  Kasich’s aversion to having a speechwriter makes me wonder what a speechwriter could have done to traumatize  Kasich to this point.

Kasich chose the Wells Academy to [...]

PPP seemingly waited until Kasich finished his second State of the State address (more on that after my head clears from having to watch it) to release the remaining results of its most recent Ohio poll.

According to the latest Public Policy Poll, a Democratic pollster that is nonetheless well regarding in the industry as producing very reliable polling (Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight has pointed out that if anything PPP tends to overstate support for Republicans) Governor John Kasich’s approval rating is still a disaster with 33% approving and 53% disapproving.  In a rematch with Governor Strickland, Kasich also loses [...]

The Columbus Dispatch made this bold claim in today’s paper:

Now, let me begin that Joe Vardon has vastly improved the objectivity of the Dispatch’s political reporting, and he doesn’t write the headlines.  His story was balanced in that it mention the vast drop in the labor market we’ve seen the past two months (more on that later.)  But my biggest complaint is the subheading that “most indicators point to steady improvement in Ohio’s economy.”

That simply isn’t true, as much as I wish it were.  The reality is the most indicators indicate Ohio’s economy has unsteady [...]

As promised, Public Policy Polling (PPP) released its latest poll on the U.S. Senate race this year in Ohio.

PPP has Sherrod Brown’s approval rating lower than what we’ve seen in Quinnipiac with 42% approval to 34% disapproval (Quinnipiac had Brown at 47% approval.) It also shows him underwater with independents at 37%/44% (Quinnipiac had Brown above water with Independents at 46%34%.)

Both still show Sherrod Brown with an 11-15 point lead over Josh Mandel.   The most recent poll, PPP, shows Brown leading 47%-36%, with a five-point lead with independents.  Mandel’s numbers will improve once he [...]

Let’s recap the political news surrounding American Greetings first.

American Greeting, citing a minor increase in the City of Brooklyn’s personal income tax (which I don’t believe is one the company itself pays except as a payroll withholding for its employees), threatened to move to Illinois, which just enacted a significant hike in its corporate tax rate (which it would pay if it was located there.)

Enter Governor John Kasich, who promptly promises the company millions in state aid.  In fact, the combined state and local aid package to the company is so large that it will construct a brand [...]