Buckeye RINO

Editor’s note:  State rep Lynn R. Wachtmann represents Ohio House District 75.  I, DJW, would personally support stripping funding for the House Faith-Based Initiatives Committee, as I would prune  funding for faith-based initiatives at all levels of government. I think Norma at Collecting My Thoughts wrote a brilliant piece back in January on government funding of faith-based initiatives, particularly when she writes “Once you accept money from the federal government, you must play by their rules . . .,” thus highlighting the risk that the government may exploit such a relationship to begin placing mandates on religion, which would further erode our religious freedom. On that note, I’m glad that a bill has never been assigned to Ohio’s House Faith-Based Initiatives Committee.

House Dems Bloviate While Ohioans Suffer

Rep. Wachtmann Issues Response to Superficial Legislation

COLUMBUS— State Representative Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon), member of the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Council, issued the following statement regarding a press conference held this morning by House Democrats that outlined legislation to reduce the number of boards and commissions.

“Representatives Dodd and Book are unfortunately too little and too late with their simplistic solution to Ohio’s looming multi-billion dollar budget deficit. If they want to scrutinize about saving Ohio taxpayers money, I would urge my Democrat colleagues and Governor Strickland to look around the Statehouse at committees.  For example, the House Faith-Based Initiatives Committee, to which a bill has never been assigned, will have spent more than $32,000 in salaries alone to fund that committee throughout the duration of this General Assembly.

This is just another political stunt and shortsighted sound bite by House Democrats during an election year. If my Democrat colleagues were truly interested in reducing the cost burden on Ohio taxpayers, they wouldn’t have quietly raised taxes by nearly $900 million at the eleventh hour of 2009.

I continue to encourage House Democrats to work with myself and Republican colleagues in enacting true cost-savings measures to mitigate the damage of the projected $8 billion shortfall in 2011.”