Buckeye RINO

During the past week, a news story caught my attention.  Perhaps you’ve seen the news story, too.  If not, here’s a Plain Dealer article written by Peter Krouse of a Croatian immigrant’s family who is suing the school district in Mentor over the constant bullying of their daughter, a high school student.  She committed suicide last year.  Allegedly her ethnicity, such as the foreign accent she spoke with, was among the things the other students gave her grief over.

The school district in Mentor says that they will mount a vigorous defense in court.

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Editor’s note:  This press release was issued on 8/3/2010.  Note the link at the end of the press release.  By clicking on it, one can see the report issued by State Auditor Mary Taylor’s office of the Cuyahoga County Auditor’s office audit.  The Cuyahoga County cronyism is duly noted (though it isn’t called “cronyism” in this press release–“overstaffed” is the operative word).  Cuyahoga County voters approved a new home-rule style of government in an effort to get a handle on the corruption, but the new government structure, by itself, isn’t enough to turn the tide.  As I wrote two years ago about the county’s corruption when endorsing Annette Butler for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, ” . . . there is a political dimension to the corruption that grips Cuyahoga County.  It has everything to do with the Democrat Party.”  Voters won’t see the hoped for turnaround in any significant way if the Democrat machine pulls off a clean sweep of a new round of elections in the county.  Voters need to elect some sensible Republicans who have vowed to bring an end to business-as-usual–not just the cronyism, but the shakedowns of businesses and other organizations brokered by Democrat operatives over the years that have made the region less economically competitive than other regions.  As I wrote following the 2008 elections, ” . . . corruption exists among northern Ohio Democrat politicians, it’s taking its toll on the region’s economy, and that re-electing those Democrats won’t solve the problem.”  In the case of the impending Cuyahoga County elections, “those” Democrats doesn’t literally mean the electing the exact same Democrat individuals that held office before, as new names of Democrat individuals on the ballots mean diddly-squat if it so happens to be that they are linked with the same Democrat machine that the county needs to break free of.  Elect Republicans, for it will be easier to clean house that way.  But I digress, as this press release is to promote legislation that will improve government transparency through the audit process.  HB 65 was introduced more than a year ago by state reps Todd Snitchler of the 50th Ohio House district and Peter Stautberg of the 34th Ohio House district.

Statewide Bipartisan Legislation Idle While County-Level Audits Reveal Cost-Savings

Taylor: Cuyahoga Auditor’s Office Overstaffed, Inefficient

Columbus—The Ohio House of Representatives minority caucus today commended Ohio Auditor of State Mary Taylor, who released a performance audit of the Cuyahoga County Auditor’s Office and reminded the House majority that the bipartisan cosponsored, House Bill 65—which would increase state efficiency through similar audits—has only received one committee hearing.

Taylor provided the county’s new charter government with nearly two dozen recommendations that could save county taxpayers $2,289,000 annually if fully implemented. “Cuyahoga County taxpayers deserve well-organized and efficient government services,” she said. “This report can serve as a guide to charter government officials as they organize the county’s new fiscal office following their election this November.”

“Today’s report identifies further faults in what has been revealed over the past two years as a corrupt local government,” said House Republican Leader William G. Batchelder (R-Medina).  “A close examination of the report identifies avoidable costly burdens to the taxpayers, such as overpaid, excessive staffing and a less efficient operation than in comparable-sized county offices.”

At the state level, Representatives Todd Snitchler (R-Uniontown) and Peter Stautberg (R-Anderson Township) worked to implement performance audits of state agencies through HB 65, which was introduced in March 2009.  When enacted, this legislative measure would require performance budgeting by most state agencies and ensure efficient state spending. However, to date, the proposal has only received sponsor testimony in the House Ways and Means Committee.

“Performance audits are a smart, effective way to estimate the effectiveness of government operations and are a practice that is frequently used in the private sector,” said Snitchler. “My legislative colleagues and I applaud Auditor Taylor on this valuable tool she has conducted to improve operations, identify cost savings and utilize existing resources in the most efficient manner possible.”

Last year, Cuyahoga County Commissioners and the Cuyahoga County Auditor’s Office passed a joint resolution authorizing the Auditor of State to conduct a performance audit of the County Auditor’s Office.  A copy of the complete audit is available here.

No matter which ballot you request at the polls, an issues-only ballot, or a political party ballot (and, in addition to independent candidates that will have no party affiliation listed by their names, there are any one of six political parties that will be listed alongside candidate names on your November ballot this year), please vote “NO” on Issue 1.

For Republican voters living in the 13th Ohio Senate District, covering Lorain County, Huron County, and the eastern one-third of Seneca County, I’ve endorsed Bob Rousseau and Marilyn Jacobcik for Republican state central committee seats.

For all Ohio Republican voters, I’ve endorsed Sandy O’Brien for Ohio Secretary of State and Seth Morgan for Ohio Auditor.

For Lorain County voters requesting Democrat ballots, I’ve endorsed Ronnie Rimbert for the nomination for the Lorain County Commissioner seat being vacated by Betty Blair.

For Lorain County voters residing in the 56th Ohio House District that are requesting Democrat ballots, I’ve endorsed Richard Williams for the nomination for that state rep office.

I’ve been remiss in not posting original content during this primary season.  There are only a few primary races I wish to weigh in on.

On the Democrat side of the ledger, first let me note that, so far, the current Lorain County Auditor has no opposition.  This is a big, big mistake.  I’m crossing my fingers and hoping an independent files by May 3rd to challenge the auditor this fall.

For the 56th Ohio House District, a seat that I twice ran for on the Republican side, I favor former New Russia Township Trustee Richard Williams for the Democrat nomination.  He is considered an underdog in this 4-way race for the nomination, but he is both knowledgeable about the issues facing the whole state of Ohio and the priorities of local constituents.  I believe Jose Candelario to be too divisive and the choice of the Lorain “machine,” Dan Ramos to be too much of a Capitol insider and not fully in touch with the local residents (and too closely tied to Joe Koziura for my liking), and Maria Zampieri Vitale too narrowly focused to address the full range of issues facing Ohio.  If I were forced to pick a second preference, I would grudgingly favor Candelario.

Dick Williams was highly regarded as a township trustee, as he served well in office.  Mr. Williams also is past president of the Ohio Township Association, demonstrating how well he was esteemed by his peers, and acquainting him with issues facing all of Ohio.

For the Democrat nomination for Lorain County Commissioner, I favor Ronnie Rimbert, former Oberlin City Council member.  My second preference would be Carlisle Township Trustee Berry Taylor.  Joshua Meszes is too closely identified with former county commissioner Mary Jo Vasi, and, I ask you, how did that pan out?  I did not support Victor Stewart for Elyria City Council-at-large last fall, and I do not support him now.  I think Elyria is headed down the wrong road, and Stewart is part of the problem.  Bret Schuster is of no use to Lorain as a city council member, and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what he could possibly bring to the table.  I’ve been opposed to Joe Koziura during his mayoral campaigns in the city of Lorain, and I’ve opposed him (literally) in his state rep races.  He is one of the “good old boys,” a key player in the Lorain Democrat Party “machine,” too apt to practice cronyism, too wrongheaded on the issues, and has presided over political and economic disaster in his nearly 40 years in public office.  Another strike against both Schuster and Koziura are that they are from Lorain when two current commissioners are already from Lorain, a city that happens to be the most dysfunctional of any Lorain County community, thus the election of either would severely unbalance the representation of the county as a whole on the county commission.

Ronnie Rimbert served well in office, is not a “machine” candidate, thoughtfully deliberates over decisions facing him, and would bring a proven track record, a level head, and better balance of representation to the county commission.

Editor’s note:  It’s hard to believe, but the early voting period for Ohio’s primary elections has already begun.  Ohio’s Republicans need to look at election “day” in a whole new light.  My thanks to David Arredondo, a Lorain resident and Vice Chair of the Lorain County Republican Party, for offering this insight.

“I voted this morning.”

Yesterday was the first day for Early, and Absentee Voting. Today I went to the LoCo BOE and voted. Took 5 minutes or less; no lines. Only me.

Republicans need to change the culture of how we vote; no longer do we use election day as the target and ask voters to support us then; we need to seal the deal now and ask our supporters to VOTE NOW, VOTE TODAY.

Given the current climate that has most Independents and Republicans agittated, we need to push them into action now by casting their primary ballot for the Republican ticket. Republicans are motivated now more than ever, push them into action NOW.

If your kids are away at college, remind them to go to the BOE web site and complete an absentee form to mail in for a primary ballot.

For those whose parents or loved ones are incapacitated, take the responsibility to take them an absentee ballot request. Leave no eligible Republican voter behind.

Please vote Early or Absentee and send me a note that you have.

For the 2nd year in a row, John Kasich, candidate for Ohio Governor, was the keynote speaker at a Lincoln Day Dinner for the assembled GOP’s of Sandusky County, Seneca County, and Ottawa County.  The speech he delivered last night, Feb. 18th, was significantly retooled from last year’s speech.  His opening remarks still need further retooling, but the rest of his speech showed a marked improvement over last year’s speech.

Among the others also addressing the assembled crowd were 5th Congressional District Representative Bob Latta, State Senator Karen Gillmor, Ohio Supreme Court Justices Judith Lanzinger, Paul Pfeifer, and Terrence O’Donnell.  About 350 people attended the event, overflowing the venue’s parking lot capacity, and stuffing the venue itself like sardines in a can.

During Kasich’s opening remarks, the gubernatorial candidate clumsily announced his campaign had a gender gap problem, dropping the names of women who were running his campaign, mentioning his running mate, Mary Taylor, and afterward, referring to his wife and twin 10-year-old daughters.  He quipped that he didn’t have any men in his inner circle, thus he had a gender gap problem.  I don’t believe the audience was very amused, and I think the spiel came off as being very condescending.  To further retool his opening remarks, I recommend that Kasich drop the “gender gap problem” quip.  Instead he should say something like “At the outset, I wish to express my profound appreciation for . . .” and then, when stating each woman’s name, add some resume bullet-points for what each has accomplished on behalf of the Kasich campaign and the strengths that each bring to the table.  Working on a campaign is a temporary job.  At some point, when Kasich’s campaign has wrapped up at the end of the year, these women will be looking for work again.  There were people in the room who might possibly be in a position to hire these women in the future, so Kasich had an opportunity to advance their careers by publicizing their accomplishments and strengths.  He didn’t do that.  If Kasich is going to bring his family into the political arena by mentioning his wife and daughters in a public speech, it wouldn’t hurt to point out their strengths as well, much like newly elected U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, proudly touted the strengths of his wife and daughters.  Kasich didn’t do that either.  Instead, without pointing out the strengths of the women who form the backbone of his campaign effort, but merely rattling off names and job titles, Kasich almost seems to be invoking the image of a sheik surrounding himself with a harem.  The lack of a mention of men’s names in Kasich’s acknowledgments would have spoken for itself without having to try to be cutesy and coming across as condescending with the “gender gap problem” quip.  After expressing his appreciation for each woman and touting their accomplishments and strengths, Kasich could have led the crowd in a round of applause in honor of the important contributions of these women.  Retooling the message in a manner similar to what I’ve recommended here might lead to a warmer reception from Kasich’s audiences.

For the remainder of the speech, Kasich deftly shed the perception of being a Washington insider, talking about his Congressional battles to curb government spending even in defiance of prominent politicians in his own party.  He recounted an experience when he was not satisfied with either the Democrat version of a budget bill or the Republican version of a budget bill, so he gathered his staff together to craft their own budget bill.  He said his budget bill crafting team included just 7 other people in addition to Kasich, himself, in contrast to the huge cadre of White House staffers that drew up President George Herbert Walker Bush’s budget, or the plethora of lobbyists that handed a budget proposal to the Democrats.  Kasich stated that he sought accountability and savings from every government agency, including Republican establishment sacred cows like the Pentagon budget that procured such ordinary items like nuts and bolts at grotesquely overinflated prices.  In response to his renegade budget bill draft, a loud and clear message was delivered to Kasich that the President, from his own political party, George H. W. Bush, was angry with Kasich.  With dogged determination, Kasich continued his advocacy for a balanced budget, in line with his core principles of limited government, limited taxes, limited spending, and a private economy poised for growth, and eventually the unrelenting advocacy paid off with a balanced budget during the Clinton administration that was muscled through in the wake of a series of government shutdowns.  His highlighting of experiences wherein he took on the insiders within his own party was Palinesque, and possessed the same appeal to the audience that Sarah Palin might invoke during a similar recounting of taking on entrenched interests within her own party.

Kasich further distanced himself from Washington by pointing out that it will soon be 10 years since he has served in public office, touting all the things he learned about the real world outside of Washington in the private sector economy that he will reference to aid Ohio’s recovery if he is elected as Ohio’s governor.  He acknowledged that those whose careers consist entirely of politics are too far removed from the conditions that the rest of the nation’s population experiences.  He vowed to reverse the conditions that have chased corporations, investors, and entrepreneurs away from Ohio.  He also sounded a note of inclusiveness in his campaign and approach to governing, letting audience members know that he was as frustrated as other Ohioans and that he was eager to band together with other Ohioans to make a collective effort to reform our state government and turn around Ohio’s economy.  As evidence of his inclusiveness, he pointed to his 88-county house party, where, with the aid of modern technology, he and Mary Taylor were able to communicate simultaneously with gatherings of Kasich-Taylor supporters in every county of Ohio.

His frequent repetition of his commitment to creating the necessary conditions to expand the private sector economy of Ohio through limiting government’s scope, increased efficiency and accountability of state government, a drop in state spending and state taxes, and balancing state budgets without punishing Ohio households and businesses by imposing fee increases appealed to audience members sympathetic to the Tea Party movement.  Kasich didn’t have to invoke the quip of “I was the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party” to drive his point home.  He let the audience members connect those dots themselves, thus avoiding a condescending tone,  . . . and he can do the same in in his opening remarks (hint, hint).