Governor's Race: My Take

I had no real intentions of swapping horses it mid stream, as it were.  We're facing the worst economic climate in a generation or two (or three, or four...) and on the whole, I feel Ted Strickland has done an exemplary job with the cards he'd been dealt.  I remember the first State of the State address, and how lofty his vision was.  I've listened to the local news about just how much he's had to adjust that aim in the face of budget restrictions and looming unemployment.  Is Ohio in tip-top shape?  Nope.  But then again, the economic crisis didn't really peak until two years ago, maybe less.  You can't step on board an airplane about to crash, live through the crash, and then take off again all in the same day.  I plan on giving Ted my vote for another term to continue working on the foundation he's started to lay for Ohio's recovery.


And if this was my opinion before looking at John Kasich's website...I saw nothing there to make me change my mind.  If anything, I felt repulsed by the man's positions on several issues, including:


The Ohio Budget.  Kasich webpage: 


"The Problem:
By any measure, Ted Strickland has been a disaster for Ohio’s budget. Because of his incompetence, mismanagement and wasteful spending, next year Ohio’s governor will face an estimated $8 billion deficit."

...and the drop in revenue, and increase in unemployment benefits has nothing to do with that deficit, I'm assuming. Silly me.

"Take the politics out of budgeting. Every program and agency must go under the microscope. Special interests must stop saying how Ohio taxpayers’ money is spent."

I sat in horror on the edge of my seat to hear whether or not the Columbus Metro Library was going to have to start shutting branches and laying off vital staff because of state funding going away.  I listen to my recently-graduated friends with education majors who can't get an interview in their field because of "Budget reasons."  I'm not sure what agencies and programs are getting the gravy here, since some of the most popular ones sure aren't.

On Taxes:

"According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, under Ted Strickland, Ohio ranks 7th in the nation in total tax burden."

As one expects from every candidate from office, only part of the complex picture is presented here.  This tax burden is also based on local taxes, which in many cases are raised in response to falling state and federal aid.  Cut the state budget, but the money still needs to come from somewhere...

The over-arching message:

"Reduce spending so we can start reducing taxes."

I found this to be a fairly inappropriate bullet point to see under "Education Reform."  In the Columbus area alone, continued under-funding means school districts are having to levy their own property taxes just to keep enough teachers on payroll, or to replace aging buildings.  I don't like paying taxes any more than you do, but I also recognize that if we cut taxes willy-nilly we're going to wake up one of these days without public education, without roads, without the services we've come to associate with the developed world.

There's a couple other points that I took issue with, but you get the idea.  It's a philosophical difference for the most part...this is why I identify on the left side of the spectrum.  I firmly believe the government HAS a place in our lives, because history has proven time and time again laissez faire does not work.  But I suppose this is what free and fair elections are for, eh?

Governor's Race: John Kasich

Sorry it's a few hours late...my wireless router crapped out and I had some trouble getting alternate arrangements together!

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Challenging Ted Strickland for the Governor's seat is John Kasich.  Born in PA, but moved on to attend Ohio State and stick around.  He's been a State Senator, and one of Ohio's Representatives in Congress for nine terms.

Kasich is campaigning on the idea of returning Ohio to small, responsible government.  He feels the budget is bloated, full of gimmicks, and controlled by special interests.  Kasich feels he can create a better environment for businesses, solving the employment crisis.  Another point Kasich differs from Strickland is taxes; Kasich wants to cut taxes significantly.  On education, the concern is over spending on beauracracy, and underspending on students.  Going down the list, Kasich is pro-life, supports sportsmanship with his NRA membership, and wants to eliminate the estate tax in part to help keep farms in the family.

Arguments against Kasich?  The famous Lehman Brothers connection, which implies Kasich is the type of person who helped tank the economy in the first place.  His conservative record is a turn off for many. With that record comes the standard accusations of GOP congressmen who aren't keeping the interests of the people in mind.  There's a school of thought that Kasich is unfairly blaming Strickland for inheriting a disaster economy generated by events outside the Governor's control, and not allowing Strickland enough time to put his budget and job creation policies into place.

Whether Kasich makes sense or not really boils down to whether you feel Strickland is actually doing his job. If Strickland is trimming the budget, controlling costs while encouraging job growth, things in Ohio will improve along with the economy over the next four years.  However, if Strickland is actually splurging money into special interests, hiking taxes for the hell of it, and not paying attention to job growth...then clearly that's not setting us up for success.

Mid Term Elections (State Offices)

As I touched on in the last post, the first step in responsible voting is knowing who's running.  This can get pretty difficult in a year like this one, where so many offices are up for grabs and more than usual don't have an incumbent.

Knowing how a person voted/acted over the last few years makes it easier for me to decide whether or not I'm voting for them.  When I have to weight the campaign statements of two people who are playing to their political base...it just gets ugly.

So now that the primaries are out of the way, I'm trying to get a list of candidates together, so we can start to consider them long before we step into the voting booth.

The Races

Ohio Governor

Ken Matesz (L) and Dennis Spisak (G) John Kasich (R) challenging Ted Strickland (D)

Ohio Senate

District 3

Mark Pfeifer (D) vs Kevin Bacon (R)

Ohio Representative

District 20

Lawrence Binsky (L) and Matt Carle (R) challenging Nancy Garland (D)

Attorney General

Mike DeWine (R) and Marc Allan Feldman (L) and Robert Owens (C) challenging Rich Cordray (D)

Auditor

David Pepper (D) vs Dave Yost (R) vs L. Michael Howard (L)

Secretary of State

John Husted (R) vs Maryellen O'Shaughnessy (D) vs Charles Earl (L)

Treasurer

Josh Mandel (R) and Matthew Cantrell (L) challenging Kevin Boyce (D)

Next time?  We'll go over the judgeships that you'll be voting on!  Woot!

Negotiations Bear Fruit on Transport Budget

So you remember me blogging about Strickland's transportation plan? Negotiations between Senate Republicans, House Democrats, and the Governor's office created a compromise bill. Main items? (From the Columbus Dispatch)

• Truck speed limit will rise from the current 55mph for commercial vehicles to 65mph like the rest of us.
• Construction zone cameras are nixed, no ifs ands or buts.
• Cops still won't be able to pull you over for not wearing your seat belt (they have to have another reason to pull you over).
• The Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati-Dayton rail line is moving along, with the Senate Republicans agreeing to let the Controlling Board have the final say (letting the planning/approval process move forward in time to compete for federal funds.
• Strickland wanted to raise the cost of regular vehicle registration $5.75, but that was rejected. Other fees like vanity plates WILL go up to raise State Patrol funds.
• The negotiating teams also worked out extra unemployment benefits for some workers (though I'm kinda lost on why this is in a transportation bill).

Total price tag? $9.6 billion. I don't see anything that gets me all riled up...but I haven't tracked down the actual legislation and dug through the details, either. I'm mostly curious to see what happens with the rail line...we really, really, really need to push mass and rapid transit much more than we typically do.

Special Extra Post: State of the State Address

So Governor Ted Strickland made his second State of the State address yesterday...I caught the last 20 minutes or so on NPR. That meant I got the meat and potatoes of the speech...namely, a primary education chancellor and a $1.7 billion stimulus program to create jobs.

Here's the transcript...

...and a news story with the highlights from the Columbus Dispatch.

There were also some big promises on college...guaranteed quality associate and bachelors degrees available within 30 miles of every Ohioan...a "Seniors to Sophomores" program that will let high school seniors opt into a state college for their last year.

I liked it. I thought Strickland did a nice job, wasn't bashing anyone, was making some nice gestures to the legislature. And he's got his eye on the prize...now to see if we can actually get the education system in this state under control.

How to Contact the Governor

Just a quickie today...but I thought we should touch on what might be an obvious character, the state Governor.



http://www.governor.ohio.gov/ is the webpage for Ted Strickland. Once you're there, you can check out all kinds of nifty stuff, not unlike the White House website. In order to contact Governor Strickland, click on the "Constituent Affairs" link towards the bottom of the page. This will get you a web contact form, which even lets you flag your message as needing a reply.



If you're looking for a phone number or mailing address, go to the sidebar on the left-hand side. Find the link that says Contact Us. There you are!



Now for Some News...

I think Wednesday's I'll try and focus on environment/sustainability news. Which makes most of Marketplace's show yesterday (this whole week, really) pretty applicable.

Effects of a Consumer Culture on Bhutan
A small Indiana Town Shoots for Energy Independance
Discussion: Public Solutions or Private Enterprise?

All three of the above from Marketplace, an American Public Media operation.

Headlines...

FBI Finds Blackwater Shootings Unjustified, from NPR
Congress to Vote on Another Iraq Spending Bill with Troop Drawdown Attached, from NPR

French Strike Brings Travel Chaos, from BBC
Another Pakistani Opposition Leader Arrested, from BBC

Reds Lose Chief Operating Officer and Executive VP, from WVXU
Ohio Prison Population Hits 50,000, from WCPO. (I heard on the radio version on WVXU they blame the short term, 1 year or less drug convictions for most of the over crowding. Also, the prisons are projected to be at 52000 by this time next year).

Tune in next time, when we'll take a look at the Ohio State Legislature!