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Ted Strickland

Thoughts on Strickland Live Stream of LG Announcement

by Eric on January 19, 2010 · Comments

Weak. That’s the first word that comes to mind. Uncoordinated would be the second. They take the time to run a “first to know” blogad campaign (over there to the right), then don’t do anything with it? I don’t remember being the first to know anything. The only email I got from the campaign was a forward of a media advistory email about the announcement and a mention of the streaming – with no link to it!

The kids on da interwebs might call this a #fail.

I was going to embed the live streaming for PB readers, but embed code was not available unless you viewed the source code of the page on the campaign website. A note to Ohio lefty blogs about embedding the announcement would have been nice. I’m sure the campaign would want PB readers to see it, since we are the lefty blog with the most traffic in the state.

Team Strickland and Or Skolnik (“New Media Director”) need to step up their game. Give us a call or pay attention to those who have and are doing it right. They cleaned your clock on this one.

Does any of this matter at this point? Hell no. Kasich is not going to win the race because he had over 20k view his Ustream.tv video stream. Ted is not going to lose because only 200 viewed his. My point here is if you are going to do new media then do it right. No half stepping. The ‘fern should also figure out Twitter usernames too. Somebody get him a cheat sheet!

Now…for the real important stuff. Yvette was very solid. Great speech. I think she’ll campaign well for the ticket and motivate and inspire many. I was impressed, not having known much about her before. She won me over. I never did get too excited about Ted really, so he needed a little excitement brought to the ticket. Lee didn’t do that in ‘06 for me really. Sorry. ;-)

If I look at both tickets I think Dems are in a pretty good place right now.

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[UPDATED:]After disastrous rollout of Kasich-Taylor, Jon Keeling has resorted to simply making things up…

by ModernEsquire on January 16, 2010 · Comments

This post actually makes me happy.  It tells me that Kasich’s campaign realizes that the Kasich-Taylor launch didn’t exactly go as planned and now they’re trying to muddy the waters to make Strickland’s campaign look like an equal disaster.

The only problem is that it’s entirely untrue.

Jon Keeling honestly expects people to believe that there’s someone who would actually have personal, first-hand knowledge of this and the first person they’d think to tell is a blogger in VIRGINIA – and nobody else.  Jon Keeling expects you to believe that he (ex-Kasich staffer) is more connected to the inner workings of the Strickland campaign than I am (ex-Strickland staffer).  Nonsense.

Look to the immediate right of this website.  See that webad?  Do you honestly think the Strickland campaign would buy a webad to collect addresses and donations to announce their running mate  if they believed that they couldn’t find a running mate?  It’s already in the bag, and Keeling knows better.

Yes, technically, the campaign’s spokewoman said that “no pick has been made,” but that’s what you say when you want to build up curiosity as to the pick instead of having it leak out like it did with Taylor.  Nobody but Jon Keeling honestly heard that statement and believed it means what Keeling thinks it does.

But if you somehow still are not convinced that Jon Keeling isn’t full of crap, look what he actually wrote:

If Strickland picks someone on Monday or Tuesday, within the “days” as defined by the Governor’s campaign, then we’ll know that while he didn’t get his first choice, he still was able to get things figured out.

Yep, you read that right.  Even if the campaign announces on Monday the pick, in Keeling’s Imagination Land world of reasoning, that actually proves it.  In the Land of the Sane, it would actually disprove it.

Anyways.  Unlike Keeling, I actually DO have connections to the Strickland campaign and they’ve flatly denied Keeling’s story.

First, the campaign spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith told me, on the record:

“The lieutenant governor position has not yet been offered to anyone. As we have said all along, when the governor makes his decision, we will announce it.”

Furthermore, the campaign folks I talked to, all of whom would know, said Keeling is just nuts.  Everyone I talked to in the campaign specifically said nobody has declined to run on the Governor’s ticket.  His entire story is nonsense.

[UPDATE]:  I just got a phone call from Jeff Ortega, the Assistant Director of Communication for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.  He had inquired into the matter with key personnel in the Secretary’s Legal Department and says they are “unaware” of anything like what Keeling reported about “someone from ODP” asking the Secretary of State if Strickland could file and name a running mate later.  Expecting the Keeling would try to change his story, I asked Mr. Ortega if anyone from the Governor’s office or the Governor’s campaign contacted the office asking for such a legal opinion.  Again, Mr. Ortega said that his office is unaware of any such request.

Beyond that, Mr. Ortega said that it’s highly unlikely anyone would ask for such an opinion in the first place as both the petitions and the statute unambiguously state that a running mate must be named on the petition.  And that’s yet another reason I knew Keeling was lying from the get-go.  There’s no ambiguity in the statute and everyone understands that a running mate has to be named.  There’d be no point in asking a legal opinion on such a clearly established issue.  I’ve given Keeling the benefit of the doubt, but everyone, whether they’re on the record, on background, and even off the record says the same thing:  Jon Keeling is simply making this up.

Keeling.  I’ve actually got sources and they’re willing to go on the record.  Better luck next time!

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Non-Partisan Analysis Shows Kasich Income Tax Plan Dangerous

by Eric on January 14, 2010 · Comments

File under “Duh” of course, but here’s more confirmation that Kasich’s main campaign platform of eliminating the state income tax is dangerous:

COLUMBUS — Legislative analysts have determined that a proposal to phase out Ohio’s income tax — a key issue in the 2010 governor’s race — would cost state and local governments and libraries more than $800 million next year.

Losses would rise from $814 million to more than $12 billion by 2020, according to an Ohio Legislative Service Commission analysis obtained by the Associated Press. The commission reviewed the proposal because it’s been introduced as a bill in the Ohio House.

Former U.S. Rep. John Kasich, the Republican candidate for governor, has made a gradual phase-out of the income tax central to his campaign platform.

Again, the question is simple. Which programs will you cut? Which prisons will you close and what law enforcement will you lay off? What social services will you end, John? At some point these questions will need to be answered. $800 million next year opens up the gap that Strickland closed. $12 billion by 2020?

Damn…

So I get back from a week in the Dominican Republic to find Modern absolutely whacking the Kasich camp, right-wing tax foundations, and wingnut bloggers alike. Safe to say he’s had a good week. I’ve enjoyed catching up on everything. Anytime you post a “Many Levels of FAIL” graphic something good is going down. Getting off the island a day before the big quake and finding Modern on this big of a roll were both epic wins. Epic.

I also hear that John Kasich is a new media ninja. LOL

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Tax Foundation attempts to refute Plunderbund analysis by disclaiming that Tax Foundation’s study on Ohio’s taxes was fundamentally flawed

by ModernEsquire on January 13, 2010 · Comments

fail-owned-pwned-pictures

So the Tax Foundation’s blogger tried to do some damage control yesterday for the Kasich-Taylor campaign after I pointed out that their election-year study on John Kasich’s signature issue really didn’t help his campaign any.  Please note that the Tax Foundation’s blog post was not written by the actual author of the report, but instead someone who is far less qualified than the original study’s author.  First, read my initial post, and then read the Tax Foundation’s reply.

I know, they raised more strawmen than an Iowa cornfield!

But, just so you can follow this reply, I’m going to respond to each point in the order used in the headers on the Tax Foundation’s blog.

1) The Tax Foundation admits that its own data suggests no correlation between state/local tax rates in Ohio and migration from the state.

Remember this graph? Remember how I pointed out that the Tax Foundation’s own data shows that migration out of the State actually accelerated when Ohio began phase out corporate inventory taxes and making massive cuts to the personal income tax?  And remember how I specifically said that I’m not suggesting there’s actually a negative correlation, but I’m pointing out there’s no correlation at all?  Well, the Tax Foundation’s blogger apparently didn’t:

Just because two things happened in 2005 doesn’t mean one caused the other.

He thinks he’s refuting my point, but he actually made it: the Tax Foundation’s blogger just pointed out the major fallacy of its President’s report on Ohio taxes in which he claimed there was a correlation between state/local taxes and migration out of the State.  I only pointed out that the data doesn’t support that conclusion.  The Tax Foundation’s  blogger pointed out it would be a fallacy to suggest a causative  link between the two in the first place.  This, of course, did not stop him from repeating the fallacy as fact at the end of his post.  Irony.

Way to refute the President of your organization’s major thesis of his report on Ohio!

2.  Not even the Tax Foundation believes Kasich will run on a platform of repealing Ohio’s income tax.

The Tax Foundation essentially says it isn’t aware that Kasich is running to repeal Ohio’s income and estate tax, only that he ”mentions” he might.   This is the second time this week alone an organization sympathetic or someone tied to Kasich has suggested that Kasich will not, in fact, campaign on repealing Ohio’s income tax.  That, in and of itself, is newsworthy.

Second, the report at issue was explicitly billed as the most “sensible” way Ohio could reform its taxes to encourage economic growth.  Is their blogger now suggesting otherwise?  I’d note that the study doesn’t suggest these changes should be made because it will improve Ohio’s ranking with the organization’s biased and completely ridiculed “business environment” rankings.  No, the report said that the recommendations would actually make the actual conditions of our economy better.  Their omission of anything approaching Kasich’s platform is an indictment that Kasich’s plan is not sensible, according to them.  Again, the report itself does not even conclude that Ohio’s personal income tax, or its estate tax are the “most anti-growth” taxes in the State, instead it cites other taxes for that distinction.

Given the errors that the organization has admitted in this post later, I even question if Ohio would rank as the Foundation’s blogger “projected” it would.   There’s no question that any State without an income tax automatically gets a #1 from the Tax Foundation on income tax issues, but the rest of their rankings depends on what the organization estimated, if at all, how such a repeal would affect other tax rates as governments struggled to mitigate the loss of revenues caused by a repeal.  I bet $5 the simulated ranking failed to account for increases in local income and property taxes that even proponents of the repeal concede are likely to occur.

3.  The Tax Foundation admits that its data in the report was fundamentally flawed, and then correct it with praise for Strickland.

Don’t believe me?:

The numbers [regarding per capita spending adjusted for population changes and inflation from 1993 to the present] we used in our original report were wrong and we have now corrected them.

How flawed was the Foundation’s data in its initial report?  Well, instead of show flat growth in per capita spending when adjusted for inflation, they NOW claim it shows nearly a 40% increase on average.  Given that this was a major focus of the study, an error that profound is amazing.  It basically calls into question the validity of the rest of its “data” and the analysis thereof.

But those years were all Republican years except from 2007 till now.  What did they say specifically about state spending under Governor Strickland?  Well after observing that State expenditures in 2008 were $67.788 billion, it notes that:

Governor Strickland has proposed a 2010 total expenditure level of $63.9 billion and a 2011 level of $65.3 billion. (Executive Budget, page C-5.)

In other words, after blasting Ohio’s Republican Governors for exploding state spending, the Tax Foundation has to note that Governor Strickland has actually CUT overall State spending.  Without Governor Strickland’s first term, Ohio’s increase in per capita spending (if the Tax Foundation’s second try is more accurate) average would be worse.

And it’s not like this is the first conservative organization that has had to admit that historically Ohio Democratic governors have been better to keep state spending in check compared to Republican ones.  In fact, after Strickland’s first budget passed, the Buckeye Institute’s President said that Republicans should be “embarassed” that a Democratic Governor would pass a more fiscally conservative budget than ones the last two Republican governors passed.

Like everything the Tax Foundation does, it’s long on ideological rhetoric, but embarassingly lacking in actual facts.  Actually, as I already pointed out, even the data as they present them actually refutes their own assertions.

After first conceding that their own data does not prove their own theory: that there’s a direct correlation between state/local taxes rates and migration, they then “correct” their story by pointing out that state spending had, in fact, exploded since 1993… until Ted Strickland became Governor.

Can’t wait to read their third bite at the apple.

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Kasich-Taylor ticket rumor is evidence of total Kasich campaign desperation.

by ModernEsquire on January 9, 2010 · Comments

I’m going to give you a Madden playbook why John Kasich’s courtship of State Auditor Mary Taylor makes no sense for anyone but John Kasich.  But let’s start with the most obvious point: it is absolute insanity for the Republicans to risk the only Apportionment Board seat they held in 2006 by moving an incumbent who was on track for a relatively safe re-election so that she can run for the non-essentially (from both a political and governing sense) Lt. Governor slot.

It’s is amazingly insane.  Second, if it were a done deal, Kasich wouldn’t first float it through Jon Keeling’s blog and then let the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Columbus Dispatch’s Joe Hallett write about as if it weren’t.  They’d just announced it.

Read Hallett’s column and tell me it doesn’t sound like Hallett isn’t practically serenading for John Kasich’s public political courtship of Mary Taylor.  Kasich is trying to put Taylor on the spot:  join my ticket and help me keep the Tea Bag base from deserting me by November when they realize how I’ve been an anti-establishment phony for the past year, or publicly embarrass me, the Republican standard bearer.  (Most of Kasich’s arguments don’t even make sense.  Taylor could arguably attack Strickland just as easily running for re-election.)

Believe me, if the GOP establishment wanted Taylor to be Kasich’s running mate, Kasich wouldn’t feel the need to put Taylor on the spot so publicly.  It would have been an arranged political marriage and announced, no such speculation has existed in the past.  Kasich is doing this because there is strong resistance in the Republican party to having this ticket, just look at the comments on Keeling’s blog.

Despite Taylor’s claimed fundraising woes, she’s still the only Republican to survive 2006, and nothing has happened since then that has made her more politically vulnerable.  Privately, most Democrats would even agree that Taylor was heavily favored for re-election.

Move her out of the Auditor’s race, and it’s an open seat (Taylor could not even resign in the hopes to make the Republican candidate to replace her the incumbent.  Any such vacancy would be filled by appointment by Governor Strickland.)  Suddenly, Hamilton County David Pepper has more than just a fighting chance for the office.

Who’s the most likely candidate to replace Taylor if she agreed to be Kasich’s running mate?  Well, it sure as hell isn’t Mike DeWine or Matt Dolan.  After all, what political calculation would require Kasich to need the support of Mary Taylor but DeWine as Auditor?

No, the most likely replacement to Taylor would be Josh Mandel, who is currently running for State Treasurer.  This means Kevin Boyce is likely re-elected as opposed to being considered highly vulnerable.

Even with Mandel and his millions in the race, it’s still a very competitive open seat race, and not one where Mandel’s qualifications put him at any unique advantage, either.

There is no way that Taylor leaves the Auditor’s race without making that race more likely for a Democratic takeover as a result.  None.

And if Boyce and Pepper wins, so does Jennifer Brunner.  It would be highly unlikely that any party captures the Auditor’s and Secretary of State’s races in open seat races while losing the gubernatorial race.  Therefore, with Pepper viewed as now likely to win the Auditor’s office, Brunner’s run for Senate isn’t as loaded down with Apportionment Board concerns.

And Jon Husted has to be wondering why he endured all the attacks over his residency only to see the ticket up ended such that his win is viewed as largely irrelevant.  Jennifer Garrison also loses as Democrats can support Strickland and Pepper while sitting on their hands over her.

If there is any hallmark of the Ohio Republican Party is that they tightly control the formation of their statewide tickets before now.  And just last week, ORP Chairman Kevin DeWine saw with justified confidence that his party was likely to win the Secretary of State’s race and Auditor’s office, thus an almost guarantee that they’d keep the Apportionment Board.  If Taylor bolts for Kasich, that is all upended just 41 days until petitions must be filed.

Which is, again, why it would be absolutely insane, both for the Ohio GOP and Taylor personally, for her to join Kasich’s ticket.  That’s why Kasich is resorting to putting his courtship so publicly to put Taylor on the spot.

It’s a huge gamble.  Because either Taylor does this and gives the Democrats a real shot at picking up a crucial seat on the Apportionment Board, or worse, she says no and publicly embarrasses Kasich and make him look incredibly weak.

You cannot look at the idea of Taylor on the ticket and not be reminded of the reason John McCain chose Sarah Palin.  Like Kasich, McCain picked Palin to try to encourage conservative excitement.  Like McCain, Kasich is courting Palin Taylor to present himself as outside the Bush Republican establishment.

If you doubt that there’s lack of enthusiasm for Kasich consider this: the only conservative blogger that has been writing about Kasich at all is his former congressional staffer … from Virginia.  There isn’t a single conservative blogger in Ohio who’s been writing with any excitement for John Kasich.  Not Kyle Sisk, WMD, Bizzyblog, Matt Naugle… none of them. They’ll, at best, write about Strickland, but Kasich is persona non grata.  Among Ohio conservative bloggers, John Kasich is getting a colder reception than Ken Blackwell did.

Chris Redfern has to be nearly drunk in delight at this development.  No matter what Taylor decides, he wins.  If Taylor runs, suddenly Kasich has made the Republican’s most secure Apportionment Board seat a tossup race.  If Taylor doesn’t join the ticket, then Kasich looks incredibly weak amongst his own Republicans.  Regardless, behind the scenes, Republicans are fuming that their frontrunner has created this predicament.

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Jon Keeling’s most amazing political advice ever: Kasich’s running mate

by ModernEsquire on January 7, 2010 · Comments

Jon Keeling is going to go down as the Sun Tzu of Ohio Republican political strategist with today’s post.

First, let’s clarify a few things, this post is a trial balloon by the Kasich campaign.  Jon Keeling has demonstrated that he doesn’t write a single thing without the Kasich campaign’s involvement.   He even mentions in the post that this is what he’s hearing, so this isn’t just his personal opinion.

Second, nobody cares about who Kasich’s running mate will be.  God bless lil’ AK Bulletsauce, but the image he tries to create of Republicans circling the block waiting for an audience with Kasich to kiss his ring as the masses of Ohioans gather around his campaign headquarters awaiting the first sign of a plume of white smoke to surface doesn’t exist.

I mean, it’s not like being on the Lt. Governor slot has exactly been a boon for Republicans.  Just ask Tom Raga, Nancy Hollister, or Jannete Bradley… if you can locate them anymore.

Look, I’m about the most pro-Strickland guy in the world, and I’ve got to tell you that I’ve given virtually no thought to who Strickland is going to look to fill the void left by the departure of Lee Fisher.  All I know is that I don’t think it’s going to be me, but I admit that I cannot confirm that.

Regardless, Ohioans aren’t losing sleep wondering who these guys are going to entrust with breaking tie votes in the State Senate that never occur.

  • Former Canton Mayor Janet Creighton.  Yes, nothing spells “popular” Republican like one that lost her last election over her support for President Bush only to join the Bush Administration.  She told a mostly African-American audience at a mayoral debate that her Democratic opponent’s pledge to institute a zero tolerance for drug and property crimes as a way to clean up their neighborhood and make them feel safe was “racial profiling.”  She, of course, lost despite being expected to be heavily favored for re-election. Yes, nothing says a break from the failed Republican Administrations of the past like a failed Mayoral candidate with ties to the Bush Administration.  Genius, I.Q. Thinkysauce!
  • Sen. Karen Gillmor-  Who?  Oh, the widow of former Congressman Paul Gillmore.  Yeah, maybe having a woman on the ticket would make Kasich look more moderate and appeal to independents.  Look how that worked out for McCain.
  • Senator Jimmy Stewart- Guy has a great name, but given that he already passed on running against Congressman Zack Space, I don’t think he’s going to jump on the Kasich ticket.  Regardless, Athens County wouldn’t be diluted one bit with Stewart of the ticket (which is why Stewart also rejected numerous attempt to draft him to run against Strickland for Congress), so it’s hard to see what Stewart adds from a geopolitical strategy.  Still, it’s so Kapra-esque.
  • Senator Mark Wagoner and Representative Matt Dolan.  The fact that IE Crazysauce mentions Dolan’s family wealth would “self-finance his race” (maybe he doesn’t know as a Virginia resident that there is no such thing as a race for Lt. Governor?  Amber, did you know that?) suggests that Kasich’s fundraising is still below expectations.

Regardless, it’s funny that for all the bluster IT Bloggersauce has manufactured over the tax freeze, one-third of his list are Republicans who voted for it.  His list actually includes a greater proportion of Republicans who voted for the tax freeze than actually voted for the freeze itself.  And he mentions their vote as a way to appeal to moderates and independents.  So, in one fell swoop, Keeling actually concedes that the tax freeze is not the political liability he’s claiming.  Either that, or it’s only a political asset when Republicans support it?

No, such a pick wouldn’t inherently make Kasich’s criticism of the tax freeze look entirely hypocritical, nor would Dolan’s speech on the floor of the House about politicians criticizing this freeze with no solution of their own provide Democrats fodder for oppo radio and television spots.  Yeah, Dolan.  That’s the ticket!

  • State Auditor Mary Taylor….

Give me a minute.  I need to change my pants from peeing I’ve been laughing so hard at the one. 

No offense to the David Pepper folks, but it’s no secret that most pundits on both side of the aisle widely believe that Taylor is safe.  As the only Republican to survive the 2006 massacre, Keeling offers no rationale why Taylor would give up a safe seat that would position her for further statewide politics already in order to run with Kasich.

Please, let it be Mary Taylor.  David Pepper will win the State Auditor’s race, and when Strickland is re-elected, Democrats will control the Apportionment Board during redistricting.  God, I would love to see Kasich snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like this.  But I can’t believe the Ohio Democratic Party would be so lucky.

Keeling doesn’t even profess who the Republicans could use to replace Taylor because there is none as the Republican bench is so thin that after promising the State a new generation of Republican leaders, ORP Chairman Kevin DeWine has instead given 1990s retreads John Kasich, Rob Portman, and Mike DeWine.

I’m amazed Keeling didn’t include Ken Blackwell.  They both share the same views, and don’t you know how Blackwell would do with the urban African-American vote?

Seriously, Jon, nobody care who Kasich gets to run on the campaign to get beat by Ted Strickland.

But thanks for the laughs!

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Is the Green Party’s gubernatorial candidate a Strickland campaign plant?

by ModernEsquire on December 30, 2009 · Comments

Seriously, that has to be it.  Think about it.  He’s from Strickland’s old Congressional district, and he’s being doing nothing but issuing blog posts that promises to do things that Strickland has already done.

I cannot imagine a more effective vehicle for the Strickland campaign to educate progressives and all Strickland has done in his first term than this guy.

Today, it’s on education:

The Ohio Green Party supports equitable funding of all Ohio school districts, and we support the following three goals of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding:

Goal 1: Develop a comprehensive needs assessment of current facilities.

Goal 2: Develop standards that clearly define high quality education for Ohioans; establish a “per-pupil funding level” required to meet these standards; create a new system of funding which will assure each district adequate funds to meet these “per-pupil” standards and which will diverge from “excessive reliance on property tax as a funding source.”

Goal 3: Provide immediate relief to districts operating without the funds necessary to meet the new standards, based on need as opposed to the budget-based emergency assistance of the “School Solvency Assistance Program” or further reliance on property taxes.

…

Current Governor Ted Strickland and the Democrats and Republicans have put education funding reform on the backburner.

That would be the same Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy for School Funding that endorsed Governor Strickland’s education reform plan this year?

“I am deeply grateful for the support of the Coalition. Bill Phillis and the Coalition’s members have been long-time leaders in advocating for a high-quality system of education that is effectively funded to meet the unique needs of every Ohio child,” Strickland said. “The Coalition
has been a partner to both my administration and the House of Representatives as we crafted an education plan to ensure that every Ohio child will have the educational opportunities that will prepare them for success in the modern economy.”

The resolution commends the Governor for his total commitment to giving public K-12 education the highest priority and for proposing an entirely new school funding system that is premised on student needs.

…

“Ohio is on the threshold of a new era of high-quality educational opportunities for all students,”said William L. Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding. “The Governor’s education plan puts Ohio on track for constitutional compliance.”

Yeah, they apparently don’t think the Governor and the Democrats in the General Assembly have put school funding reform on the backburner.   Haven’t felt that way pretty much at all.

What’s amazing is that Spisak is a school board member, so you’d think he’d know that the organization endorsed Strickland’s education plan months ago.  In fact, you’d think for such a fan of the Coalition, he’d already know the praise its long-time Executive Director had for Governor Strickland’s “personal engagement” in reforming education in Ohio.

In fact, the support between Strickland and the Coalition is mutual and has been for years. (See pages 4 & 5).  Ted Strickland has been an active partner with the Coalition during its over decade-long campaign to legally challenge Ohio’s old unconstitutional school funding system.  He’s provided financial support to support their litigation, he’s filed his own briefs in support of their cases. 

And it’s not just the Coalition. The OEA and every other pro-public education public interest group has applauded Governor Strickland’s education reform and called him the first true education Governor the State has seen in decades.  You know who else supported Governor Strickland’s education plan, yeah, the Ohio School Boards Association.  You’d think Spisak, a school board member, would have known that.

Let’s recall that one of the media’s earliest criticisms of Governor Strickland’s budget this year was that he thought the General Assembly could address such a weighty subject such as school funding reform during a major recession.  They all  wrote it off as dead-on-arrival.  Instead, Strickland prevailed and got most of the substantive reforms he laid out in his State of the State address enacted into law in less than six months since announcing them.

Seriously, I don’t think John Kasich (let’s stop federal assistance for day care and abolish the U.S. Department of Education and privatize all the schools) or Spisak have anything on Strickland when it comes to education.

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Ted – you really need to ask Lee Fisher to drop out, and you know it.

by Tim Russo on December 15, 2009 · Comments

Back to the tour de force.

Brunner cannot be attacked on unemployment BECAUSE she’s not been in a position that is directly responsible for jobs! That’s why she’s the better candidate for it. The attack of her for Ohio’s job losses falls flat because she hasn’t been in charge of the State’s economic development during the worst job loss since the Great Depression! It’s a punch that doesn’t land well when used on her. Whereas it’s Fisher’s glass jaw. When you have a choice between a candidate who is the personification of the worst issue for us electorally and one that is relatively immune from the criticism, which one do you choose?

This is why it’s in Ted Strickland’s interest that Lee not run for US Senate.  Ted already has to endure a summer and fall of being attacked on the economy.  If Lee stands in the way of a candidate, Jennifer Brunner, who will certainly beat him, and has a chance to win the Senate seat, Ted Strickland will have to endure a winter and spring of being attacked on the economy, too, via Lee Fisher’s screaming vulnerability on the issue in his losing primary.

Even if the economy gets better by the summer, it won’t be of any help to Ted, because Lee’s been getting hammered on this all winter and spring.  The attacks will stick.   It’s a special kind of irony that Lee’s double-dipping job hoarding is probably going to end his job….over the issue of jobs.

Here’s how Ted avoids getting swamped by Lee’s self-promoting careerism.  If Lee isn’t on the primary ballot, no winter and spring of attacks on Ted’s economic record.  That gives Ted another few months to hope that the economy improves, while the primary stays relatively free of attacks on Ted.  Jennifer Brunner is the nominee, meaning precisely 50% fewer attacks on the economy in the fall than if Lee somehow made it to the general election.

All of that helps the entire Democratic ticket.  Top to bottom.  Maybe to placate Lee’s massive ego, you put him in the secretary of state slot, see if the constant loser can actually win something down ballot.  You cashier the ticket poisoning Sarah Palin routine that is Jennifer Garrison, and bingo.  Things look a whole lot better.

You know I’m right, Ted.

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ODP’s opportunistic cowardice about to flush ODP down the toilet

by Tim Russo on December 14, 2009 · Comments

A lot of people ask me why I support Jennifer Brunner for US Senate, the answer is simple.  Courage.  Brunner says what she’s going to do, then does it.  She ran for Secretary of State saying she’d clean up our sad electoral processes, she did it.  Brunner saw an opening for the US Senate, she’s going for it.

Unfortunately, it’s increasingly likely that when Brunner is our nominee, she will be the victim of a statewide Democratic ticket filled with a bunch of opportunistic cowards, backed by a bunch of opportunistic cowards, thus pathetic in the extreme because this state’s Ohio Democratic Party is filled with nothing but opportunistic cowards.  Exhibit A is Jennifer Garrison.

Garrison is a shameless gay-baiter, neanderthal rabid pro-lifer, to the point of Sarah Palin repulsiveness, and there isn’t a single person within ODP willing to step up and keep her off the statewide ballot.  Not one.  Marilyn Brown played us all for a bunch of fools until her cowardice got the better of her.  Progress Ohio knee capped me WAHMBULANCE!  May we never hear from her again, which is precisely what Marilyn wants, I’m sure.  Just keep the paycheck coming in, right Marilyn?

The rest of ODP stands by and lets this cancer of a candidate get on our statewide ballot, assuring the TOTAL CERTAINTY that not a single gay person or pro-choice woman will lift a finger for the ticket, and may even vote for John Husted.  I’ll never vote for a Republican for as long as I live, but I am certainly not going to be handing out literature with Jennifer Garrison’s face, name, likeness, penumbra or emanation surrounding it, either explicit or implied.  Never.  I’m a Democrat.  Garrison isn’t.

Who could keep Garrison from the ticket?  Gee, I don’t know, name another random state rep or state senator who could just as easily throw a hat into the ring as Garrison opportunistically did.  Armond Budish?  Jay Goyal?  Chris Redfern?  Maybe Eric Fingerhut?  How’s Secretary of State sound, Eric?  Oh wait….too risky, forgot about that.   Where’s our congressional delegation?  Collecting paychecks or sitting on fiefdoms in safe seats, that’s where.

Then there’s Kevin Boyce, who no one has ever heard of, running against the most cynical, game playing little puke in Ohio politics, Josh Mandel and his millions in Republican money.  Forget that one!  David Pepper?  Who?  Rich Cordray should this minute be sending out resumes to law firms, because Ted Strickland’s jobs record is about to get plastered all over the US Senate primary via Lee Fisher’s opportunism standing in the way of a candidate who can actually win the seat.

The 2010 Ohio Democratic Party ticket is rapidly shaping up to be the biggest, fastest fall from power in my lifetime.  Chris Redfern could be the only major state party chairman in Ohio history to win for his party the apportionment board, then lose it in a single cycle, before the apportionment board even meets to apportion.  By this time next year, even Harry Meshel will seem like an upgrade.

My only consolation is that Ohioans are ticket splitters, and will recognize the ODP ticket for what it plainly is, a sorry list of posing preening cowards, while recognizing that one person on it, Jennifer Brunner, will take her courage to the US Senate, make Joe Lieberman irrelevant, and help Barack Obama govern this country.  It’s a slim hope, I admit.  But that’s just the optimist in me.

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Conservative blogger finally admits it: John Kasich will raise taxes

by ModernEsquire on December 7, 2009 · Comments

Kyle Sisk is the first conservative blogger to admit that the entire candidacy of John Kasich for Governor is about hiding one fact: that for all his promises to repeal taxes, not only will John Kasich not do that, but he’ll raise taxes instead.

Given Sisk’s recent history of scrubbing his website when he realizes the import of his post is counterproductive, here’s the screenshot:

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Meanwhile, it’s Strickland’s public construction contract and sentencing reforms that are the structural reforms that the Senate GOP has adopted as their own (both were originally introduced in the Governor’s budget.)

It’s nice to finally see a conservative honestly admit that the entire platform of the Kasich for Governor campaign is a sham solely designed to dupe conservatives to believe that a vote for Kasich is a vote to repeal, not raise, taxes.  You’re right, Kyle, I understand exactly why the Kasich campaign would want to keep that quiet.

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Kyle Sisk tries to give Ted Strickland the "Willie Horton" treatment

by ModernEsquire on November 25, 2009 · Comments

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Apparently, conservative blogger Kyle Sisk thinks that Governor Strickland’s granting of clemency to an innocent African-American wrongfully convicted of murder could be a political liability for Governor Strickland:

Granting clemency to murderers never sits well with the electorate.

Funny, they can be a little touchy about the subject…go figure.

For reasons that are painfully obvious, Sisk felt compelled to put a picture of Willie Nighten, Jr. on the post.  He calls him a murderer and says that Strickland’s grant of clemency to this black murderer could come back to haunt him if people like Nighten

go out and break the law over the next 346 days prior to next fall’s election.

Nighten was wrongfully convicted of a murder he likely did not commit.  That’s not my opinion, or just Governor Strickland’s; its the conclusion that was reached by the Prosecutor’s Office that had prosecuted him and the trial judge that convicted him.  In hindsight, they believed that convicted the wrong man, and ask the Governor to let him free. 

Sisk cannot be bothered with such details.  So instead, he puts up a picture of an African-American inmate, says the Governor just released this murderer, and gosh, let’s just hope this scary black man doesn’t rob, rape, or kill you before next November.

Note of the 78 examples he could have chose from, Sisk went with the African-American male who was convicted of murder.  It’s not a coincidence, it wasn’t an accident, nor was ignoring his innocence because Sisk’s post even links to the Columbus Dispatch article that mentions that Nighten, Jr. was innocent.

Absolutely disgraceful.

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[UPDATE:] Ohio Senate Republicans decide to go with the five, instead of seventeen.

by ModernEsquire on November 18, 2009 · Comments

Despite their best efforts, the Senate GOP Caucus could not unite behind an alternative plan to Governor Strickland’s proposal to freeze the implementation of the final phase of the state income tax cuts begun in 2005.  Therefore, they have resigned themselves to giving the Democrats the five votes necessary to pass their modified version of the House’s plan.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Senate GOP plan delay implementation of a majority of the tax cut with the remaining hole filled by other sources, such as the casino licensing fees being paid now that Issue 3 has passed.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Carey is briefing the Governor on the Senate GOP’s this morning with a vote in his committee roughly this hour and an expected floor vote by the full Senate this afternoon.

The Senate GOP will provide just enough support, with the full backing of the Democratic Senate caucus, to get it passed.  Regardless, this fact is not enough to change the fact that the Senate Republicans, regardless of how they vote, now have equal ownership in the solution because their leadership could not find an alternative that could pass with their sizeable majority support alone.

[UPDATE:]  The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that the Ohio Democratic caucus has not yet signled that it will support the Senate GOP’s plan.  Former Senator Minority Leader Ray Miller has stated he won’t, and Minority Leader Capri Cafaro was noncommital while entering into the Caucus Room for the Senate Democrats to deliberate.  Senate President Bill Harris claims that the Senate Republicans have a “Plan B” that they believe it can pass with little or no Democratic support.  I’m doubtful.  If they had such a plan and the votes, why wouldn’t be their Plan A?

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Ohio Senate Democrats make a power play in the budget impasse: 5 v. 17.

by ModernEsquire on November 17, 2009 · Comments

Look, I’ve been really hard on the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus, its leaders, and particularly Ohio Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro.

It’s hard when you are so outnumbered by the Senate Republicans to be politically relevant, or to convince Democratic donors to donate to your caucus in your campaign to chip away and eventually take over a legislative body most of us have always known to be controlled by the Republicans.

But I think Senate Minority Leader Cafaro has listened to that criticism and is responding, and therefore, she should be applauded.

Watching the Senate Republican majority trying to find a way not to delay tax cuts and thereby give House Democrats and Governor Strickland political cover, Cafaro has seen a political opportunity for her caucus to make a power play and be a political relevant minority:  she’s told Senate President Harris that if he’ll go along with the Governor and the House’s plan to suspend the final installment of the income tax cuts, her caucus will support it, but anything else and the Senate Republicans better be ready to go alone.

The practical result is that Harris is only five GOP votes away from getting the Strickland plan passed, but any GOP alternative is going to need the support of 17 GOP Senators.   And his caucus has yet to unite behind an alternative plan that will get the 17 votes.  And it’s not looking good for them that they’re going to be able to by their promised deadline of tomorrow.

It’s pretty clear that the Senate GOP is trying to reach for the 17 instead of the 5.  Why else would they jettison the House’s provision calling for a 5% cut in legislative salaries unless they were planning to vote down the House bill, but want to do so without the political baggage of voting on the record against a legislative pay cut to help balance the budget?

The problem then is that if the Senate goes a different route, it’s not likely going to have much of a shelf life because the House is not likely to concur to the Senate’s changes thus throwing the entire thing into a conference committee to work out.

Harris has to either get 17 out of 21 of his members to unite around a plan that will then be subject to further negotiations with the House majority leadership or they can give the Democrats 5 votes and move on.

And none of their alternatives is really any politically more palatable than what Strickland proposed, either.

Tick-tock.

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Ohio’s new execution protocols applauded by… the Ohio Public Defender’s Office?

by ModernEsquire on November 13, 2009 · Comments

How often do you see this?  Today, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections announced, via an affidavit in federal court, that it has adopted a new lethal injection protocol.  The protocol was necessary after several death row inmates challenged the constitutionality of Ohio’s lethal injection method of executions under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution after a few executions were practically botched.  In fact, Governor Strickland issued a temporary reprieve of one inmate, after he spent two hours literally sobbing on the execution table as he unsuccessfully tried to assist the execution team find a suitable vein in which to kill him.  The new protocols actually was warmly received by an attorney from the Ohio Public Defender’s Office, which had been challenging Ohio’s lethal injection method of execution in federal court.

According to the Hamilton Pulse Journal, Ohio will be the only state in the nation to use one drug ,as opposed to a cocktail of three administered separately, in its criminal executions.

Terry Collins, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said executioners will use a five-gram dose of thiopental sodium, 2.5 times the amount previously used, to cause condemned inmates to go to sleep and stop breathing. The state no longer will use two other drugs, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride, that paralyzed the muscles and stopped the heart.

If viable veins cannot be found, executioners will use an intramuscular injection of two drugs, midazolam and hydromorphone, which also would put the inmate to sleep and stop respiration.

In reaction, one of the lawyers from the Ohio’s Public Defender’s Office issued qualified praise:

“I’d like to congratulate Ohio on taking a first and major step in correcting problems with the execution protocol,” said Ohio Public Defender Tim Young, whose office represents many death row inmates. “It’s a major step for Ohio and a major step for painless executions. I would encourage other states to follow Ohio’s lead.”

Young said his only disappointment with the plan is that Collins didn’t place a limit on the time spent or number of attempts made in attempting intravenous injections before switching to the alternate method.

Governor Strickland, who issued the reprieve for condemned murderer and rapist Romell Broom, issued a statement as well:

“The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has completed a thorough review of an alternative and backup lethal injection protocol.  I believe the department’s assessment and recommendation for changes to the current lethal injection protocol are reasonable and in accordance with Ohio’s lethal injection law. 

“I would like to thank Director Terry Collins and his staff for their diligent and careful review and for ensuring that Ohio’s capital punishment law will continue to be administered fairly and effectively.”

One of the unanswered questions, though, is whether the State’s intent to try to execute Romell Broom is constitutional.  Last month, I wrote this post at BSB regarding this issue.

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On all those polls – Lee “JOBS” Fisher better start looking for a new one

by Tim Russo on November 13, 2009 · Comments

I like to let breaking poll numbers sit for a while before commenting.  Let them age and cure.  So here’s my take on the recent spate of polling in Ohio.

I’ve written often that the current crop at ODP has yet to understand that they are where they are not because they know what they’re doing, but because of George W. Bush, Bob Taft, and Tom Noe, i.e., the political climate.  As a consultant, or a candidate, or some douchebag chairman of the ODP, if you do not internalize this fact, you are doomed to be vulnerable the next time the climate changes.  That is what’s happening to Ted Strickland, which the recent Quinny poll proves.  A sitting incumbent governor should not be polling at 40% one year out, tied with his opponent, but Ted is.

The economy is the ONLY issue in Ohio for the foreseeable future.  We Buckeyes are at the mercy of 30 solid years of conservative Republican economic dogma come to full glorious flower.  Ted Strickland can’t really do much about it except hold on for dear life, pray he doesn’t draw a primary, and hope Republicans nominate an opponent who has his fingerprints all over that catastrophe.  Thankfully, Ohio Republicans are about to do just that.

John Kasich is the poster child for the enactment of the entire Republican economic dogma, all the way down to his parasitic tenure at the very firm that nearly brought America to another Great Depression, Lehman Brothers.  It’s another gift for ODP from GOD ALMIGHTY.  Will ODP realize it, and take advantage?  They’d better.  After all, ODP’s only skill appears to be luck, and this stroke of luck is teed up nice and perky. It may be enough to re-elect Ted in the fall, unless…….

….unless Lee Fisher is on the ballot with him.  Yeah, it’s probably unfair to blame Lee Fisher for the jobs draught just because Lee was demonstratively, prancingly, with a flourish, at Lee’s urging, put in charge of JOBS by the governor.  But that’s what’s gonna happen.  If Jennifer Brunner doesn’t do it, Rob Portman will.

Which is why Jennifer Brunner will do it.  The best way to keep Lee from losing his 3rd statewide general election in a row, which he certainly will if he is the US Senate nominee, is to make sure his 3rd statewide loss in a row is this primary.  Lee purposefully made his position in government a JOBS position, and JOBS are the issue right now, and JOBS aren’t around.  The writing isn’t just on the wall for Lee, it is carved in stone.

Brunner’s surge is pretty odd.  The media narrative for Brunner has been awful, it’s the only “campaign” voters are seeing, unless voters are seeing the Ohio blogosphere.  I’m a blogger, I think we have influence, but we don’t have that kind of influence.   It could be statistical noise, but the move is outside the margin of error.

What is going on?  Ohio Democratic primary voters don’t yet realize Lee is Mr. JOBS.   I think Ohio Democrats are starting to realize that Lee Fisher really is the big fat loser he’s always been, we can’t afford to have him on the ballot in 2010, and that is moving the numbers.  Whatever is going on, the Quinny poll means Lee Fisher is softer than a down pillow, and if there were any doubt in the Brunner campaign about filing petitions, that doubt is gone, poof.  This poll pretty much guarantees we got ourselves that primary.  Which Brunner will win.

As for Rob Portman, meet the teabaggers, Rob!  The landscape in Ohio on the teabagger right is fertile for a repeat of NY-23 in Portman’s US Senate primary.  Tom Ganley’s primary challenge looked comic for a while, but in the wake of NY-23, Ganley is sitting pretty.  Portman is probably this moment trying to figure out how to get Ganley out of the primary, which of course will not happen.  Portman will have to run way further to the right than he is probably comfortable doing.  The potential for total fantastitude is endless.  Brunner will benefit.

Bottom line for Ohio Dems?  The big loser in this poll is Lee Fisher, the most terrified is Ted Strickland, and the big winner is Brunner.

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