The Humor of Budget Blowback

There's plenty of humor to find in what has become the immediate rough-and-tumble of virtual debate; even some very over-the-top stuff.

Just a couple from the email bag this week before, during and after Governor John Kasich's budget Town Hall meeting and the continued sniping from side to side in Washington as both capitals grapple with the legacy of spending more than they have:

(Columbus) The Ohio School Boards Association both praises and questions the budget's treatment of elementary and secondary education, correctly noting the details are still to be delivered in assessing impact on the state's 600 plus districts. My favorite quote:

"..it is unlikely that those methods mentioned -- health care pooling, changes in procedures for reduction in force and new regional shared services -- will make any substantive difference in the upcoming budget cycle. These are possible changes that may help districts over the long term."

So let me get this straight; it's unlikely consolidating services will make a difference but it's possible it'll help over the long term. That's going out on a limb.

(Washington) Following the House vote to de-fund National Public Radio (NPR), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) issued their take by claiming it would cripple AMBER Alert programs.

"In his partisan zeal to defund NPR, Representative Bob Gibbs opposed an effort to protect NPR's vital role in disseminating AMBER Alerts. The AMBER Alert program is a partnership between law-enforcement and broadcasters that activates an urgent bulletin in child-abduction cases. Under an agreement with the Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NPR was designated as a disseminator of AMBER Alerts."

Now I happen to know a thing or two about AMBER Alerts, and this is a stretch. A big one. Not only to public stations issue AMBER Alerts, but local commercial stations do as well. We all do so in Ohio because we participate in the Emergency Alert System (EAS) -- those announcements usually preceded by beeps and tones before getting tornado, flood and severe weather warnings. The equipment is in place and has been for years to allow local law enforcement and emergency services, including the state emergency operations center, to issue such alerts. In the vast majority of cases, these alerts are automated -- meaning radio and TV stations pass them along to the public without the touch of a human's hands. The system is designed expressly for that purpose. Whether NPR gets funding or not won't impact stations automatically broadcasting such alerts. Whether NPR gets funding does impact if any humans are left behind to report on it.

(Columbus) My personal favorite is in this item from my friends at ProgressOhio, the group of Progressive Democrats. The topic is the Kasich Administration's ham-handed treatment of the press by ordering, then reversing, a ban on cameras and microphones at a budget briefing. It took about a half-day of protests from reporters to overturn the ban, but critics are still playing it for all it's worth. In the process, however, ProgressOhio's Brian Rothenberg might have used spell check for his subject line:

"Ohio is not Lybia: End the Statehouse Blackout!" Errr...not only was the blackout short-lived...there's also no Lybia. It's Libya. You might have heard of them. Wacko dictator (see at left), lives in tents, takes down commercial airlines, fights his own people? They've been in the news lately...

The Speed of Cynicism

One thing about today's social media -- is the speed it can be decidedly anti-social.

Take the tone of tweets from Ohio Democrats:

ODPChairman Chris Redfern (he's the Ohio Democrat Party Chair)

by OHDems

In SOTS JK invokes prevention for healthcare cost reductions Check POTUS work over the last 2 years, gov. More to like!

OHDems Ohio Dems

MT @joacobmanser keep the public safe, Kasich? Then why are we attacking our cops and firefighters? How does this make sense to you?

OHDems Ohio Dems

Not just black caucus that cares about issues impacting minorities, guv.

OHDems Ohio Dems

even after the campaign @johnkasich still looooooves florida. so does @MaryTaylorFL

Just s sampling, and to be very fair the Republicans do the same thing when it's the Democrats standing behind a podium delivering a speech. What is concerning is the process of democracy that depends solely on tweets and Facebook posts rather than actually listening to what the politicians -- either party -- say.

I love social media and practice it often, but watching the real-time spin without even a deep breath to consider what either side says just isn't healthy. It may make politicians look like they are earning your donations, but in reality is just adds to the smoke instead of the fire that's needed to get Ohio's economy cooking again.

Of course, I write this before Kasich is done with his first State of the State. But then, that's social media.

Swearing Over Swearing In

Update 3:45 p.m. The Governor-elect will now allow folks "in the house" for the ceremony. I'm told his staff was working on this before the yelping started Tuesday, but it sure makes the media feel like it won one...

All my friends in the media are having a conniption (meaning: tantrum) over Governor-elect John Kasich's desire to keep his private home private, even as he's sworn in with a midnight technicality ceremony. My first question is: why is his house now considered public? This really isn't about the First Amendment or government transparency. It's about politics, silly

Kasich's decision to remain at home in a Columbus suburb -- providing stability for his family while he works his "day job" in the Governor's office -- tosses a monkey wrench of sorts in the land of government transparency.

Is this really at the same level as the swearing-in of LBJ with widow Jackie Kennedy by his side, at left, with the slain JFK in the hold below?

Prior Governors who called the Mansion home lived in a building owned by the state; the expenses of running the place, records of phone calls, all considered the people's business and therefore open to examination by friend and foe alike. That's the price one pays for serving their fellow citizens.

But Kasich's decision to stay at home and use the Bexley Governor's Residence for ceremonial purposes adds a wrinkle to how the people's business gets done. When he's living in his house, it's not the "people's house" but his private residence where his family lives. I think most of us, when pressed, would sympathize with his desire to offer as normal a life as possible for his family.

Which brings us to being sworn in as Governor at midnight, a largely technical exercise ahead of the more ceremonial inaugural bash set for January 10th in Columbus. It's to legally allow Kasich to act as Governor in the event of an emergency before the public show.

We're told there's plenty of precedent in modern Ohio political history to have the moment captured on film. At least that's the argument offered by the Associated Press and other journalism organizations, equating coverage of the act as a show of transparency in government. They want to be there to capture the moment, and make a good argument it is part of the people's business and should be open press.

But this isn't taking place in a state-owned building; it's in someone's personal, private residence. If "a man's home is his castle" is a dictum you embrace, then it stands to reason the homeowner decides who to admit to their home and is not bound to do so because that's the way others have done so in the past. I doubt many of us would consider giving up the privacy of our own homes as a price to be paid for serving our fellow citizens and neighbors. The Kasich home is still the Kasich home, regardless of what he does for a living, so long as the taxpayers aren't footing the bill.

And no, just because he's Governor doesn't mean we're footing the bill for his family's home. That would be like saying your employer has a right to inspect and enter your house on demand.

This "midnight swearing ceremony" may be part of history, but other public officials here and across the country have similar ceremonies without having a news photographer on hand. Even when new statehouse lawmakers were sworn in this week, I doubt every newspaper was lined up to have photos of the official event. Fact is, the candidates themselves usually send the media a photo. It's no different than life behind the curtain at the White House; it's not always an AP photographer snapping history. Some of the most iconic photos of our Presidents are taken by the official White House photographer, a surrogate for the press corps.

I'm not inclined to buy in to the outcry over transparency for a ceremony taking part in Kasich's private residence, and think it highlights for every potential public servant a good reason to think twice before putting their name on a ballot. A balance should be struck, and in this particular case a technical ceremony in an official's private home at midnight doesn't exactly rise as a litmus test of transparency for me.

That said, there are compelling reasons why the Governor-elect and his advisors should heed the protest letters likely to come from media and critics alike. Those reasons aren't in defense of open government; they are offered here because of the politics.

Governor Kasich, you have far more on your agenda than wasting time fighting over this. The most important times in any politician's career are those moments building support to get elected, and then the message you send on your first steps in office. What you will be doing in Columbus over the next four -- or eight -- years begins with how you project your leadership these next few weeks.

Your fellow citizens are far more concerned with how you intend to plug up to a $10 billion dollar shortfall -- that's $10,000,000,000.00, approximately $909 and change for every man, woman and child in Ohio -- in the budget without raising our taxes or cutting off our services. We're far more interested in the reforms you and your team will try to push through the Legislature while every Tom, Dick and Harry special interest squeals like a stuck pig and pulls out all the stops to protect their way of life. It matters more to Ohio how you get us and our neighbors working again, with jobs that make a difference to our community and provide a real future for our families without packing up the moving van and heading to Texas.

It starts with being on the up-and-up and building trust. Yes, it's your house. Yes, the histrionics from both sides over whether they'll get a picture of you swearing the oath before going to bed at midnight seems silly. But this is politics and the media, both of which you are all-to-familiar with.

Use some common sense: let the AP or a pool photographer enjoy a brief moment of hospitality in your home to take a photo for posterity. If you absolutely protect the privacy of your own home (I'm with you on that one, by the way) see if the local city hall or library if they mind you using their building to be sworn in at midnight. Get the Ohio State University's official photographer to snap away and send the images to the media. It was good enough for John F. Kennedy; it should be good enough for John R. Kasich.

You accepted the transition of private citizen to public leader when you filed the papers to run for Governor. Leadership is knowing when to pick a fight, and this small potatoes isn't worth the time, energy and political capital as you prepare to undertake the hardest job in Ohio.

AFTERMATH: WTH Comes Next?

All the screaming, crying, kicking, mud-slinging, lying, shading the truth, spinning the facts and trying to drown out other viewpoints is over.

Now comes the hard part.

The campaigning itself isn't evil -- it's just what people do with it. Millions upon millions spent on vapid commercials, mailbox stuffers, pre-recorded phone calls got us to November 2.

Now it's November 3, and time to figure out just where the hell we go now with a deficit in the billions (yes, Billions with a B) forecast in Columbus and the ongoing deficit in the trillions (yes, Trillions with a T) in Washington likely to dominate every public policy discussion for at least the next five months.

Why five months? Because between now and swearing-in January, politics is about the transition, measuring office space, sending out resumes for political appointments if you've got an R tagged to your name and sending out resumes for real jobs if you've got a D tagged to your name.

Give both sides a couple more months to puff and fluff and do the positioning dance, then they'll be ready to start doing business by the time spring baseball season starts. So how exactly does one go about doing the right thing with the wounds of that hatchet in the back still fresh?

By taking the high road, of course, and following the advice of more seasoned hands who've both won and lost before. Put it behind us. Be true to who we are, but re-introduce the respect we expect from others into our dealings with our political enemies -- remembering people with differing viewpoints are still our fellow citizens, even friends, likely neighbors and certainly interested in making life in Ohio and America better for us, ours, you and yours.

I liked this email that came out of yesterday's election results. Brian Rothenberg heads up Ohio's Progressives -- they go further than the standard Democrat positions. He rightfully doesn't apologize for what he believes, but he does at least dial back the usual hyperbole pre-election and helps set the tone for what a loyal opposition should be doing: respecting the process the owners of the country use to set a direction, while still making sure their voices and observations are part of the debate.

Well done, Brian.

- - -

Over the haze of coffee this morning, surveying the news and election results, I did find someone who had it worse:

A Zimbabwean has been killed by a pride of lions while he was showering in a camp in the country's north.

So, fellow progressives, there were winners and losers yesterday, but we live another day. The guy in Zimbabwe had it much, much worse.

We'll leave analysis to others for now. Instead we ask our new Governor-elect to help answer these 10 lingering questions we have, as we move forward as Ohioans, Americans and citizens:

10. Redistricting: Many leaders, including Chairman Kevin DeWine and Secretary of State-elect Jon Husted, have long championed a fair and balanced approach to redistricting. Now that the GOP has control of the Apportionment Board, will you and Secretary Husted advocate for those issues in a consistent manner?

9. Reaching Out: Much was made about the tone of the campaign. Victory however was both narrow and sweeping. Will you reach out to the minority caucuses in the legislature? Will you reach out to ideological opponents? In short, will you govern to bring Ohioans into the room or perpetuate the politics of exclusion that has permeated Washington, D.C.?

8. Presidential Politics: Obviously there is now split government between Ohio's Statehouse and the Obama White House. Will the coming presidential campaign interfere with solutions in the face of national politics?

7. Higher Education: Much has been made of the Third Frontier Program and the work of Universities and private businesses in creating jobs. Will you continue the Third Frontier? Will you create measurable goals? Will you provide adequate ethical and administrative oversight of job development money in the University structure?

6. Primary Education: You've indicated we'll be increasing the role of charter schools in the state. Will you keep the Race to the Top money? Will you keep or increase the oversight of charter schools, particularly for-profit schools, in order to protect the usage of our state money? What other education issues are your

5. LGBT Rights: You have long been open as a conservative to some social issues. Will you continue the Governor's executive order about LGBT discrimination in executive departments? And will you champion legislation in this area to provide LGBT anti-discrimination provisions in Ohio code?

4. Business-Friendly: Ohio is now 'open for business.' What does that mean? What ethical and legal parameters will you put in place to make sure that being business friendly doesn't veer off into Noe-land?

3. Renewable Energy: You have indicated support for Governor Strickland's renewable energy programs after first expressing concerns. However, you've also come out for drilling in Lake Erie. Do you see Ohio being a leader in the clean energy field? What, if anything, will you do to emphasize job development in that sector?

2. Privatization: You have hinted at privatization. What exactly are we selling/leasing/shedding? Can you assure us these aren't one-time fixes that will cost us more in the long run? Which leads us to'¦

1. The Budget: Ok, you've said there will be no new taxes to fill the $8 billion budget hole. Now that the election is over, we need to know, how are you going to fix it?

Will individuals continue to bear so much of the tax burden compared to businesses? Will you use one time funds, including federal funds? Will you maintain needed services at the state level and not just shift government and tax burdens to the local level?

You are now in the same boat as Barack Obama was two years ago. You've won a long, difficult campaign and have large majorities in both bodies of legislature. Unemployment, the budget, education, and all of the other problems facing our great state lie squarely at your feet.

We stand ready, willing and able to work with you.

Where we disagree with you, it is our right and our duty to voice our concerns. Where we can find common ground for the good of our State '“ and yes there will be moments of common ground '“ we will seize those moments.

In the end we are all Ohioans who live breath, work and dream together. Let our role be a productive one, and let us hope for all of us, that advocacy and understanding can lead to a better place for all of us.

Brian Rothenberg
Executive Director, ProgressOhio.org

VIDEO Why They Leave

Nothing like the voice of reason from out-of-town friends to help spur the thinking post-Decision. With all the outrage over LeBron's call to go MIA to play with his friends and win some titles, where's the angst over every other 20-something viewing northeast Ohio in a rear-view mirror?

I'm just as PO'd as the next Cavaliers fan. Not at The Decision itself -- LeBron's got every right to decide where he wants to play. That's what "free agent" means. More on that in a moment.

It was the set up, the way it was done -- breaking away on national television with the entire world watching, relegating "always home" to the same status we've become accustomed to watching "The Bachelor" make up his mind on true love. Didn't expect him to stay, but didn't expect him to be so manipulative about it.

That said, the more I hear the hate talk the more I wonder just where that passion is when talking about the hundreds of thousands of young people who've left Ohio in droves, especially northeast Ohio, the past decades. Between 2000 and 2007, Ohio's own Department of Development reports Ohio added only 114,000 people. Our population grew 1%; the national population grew 7.2%, and it shows as school systems (such as those in Akron) scramble to figure out how to keep the doors open for fewer and fewer students.

This is the free market, folks. We Americans vote with our feet. Ohio's future has been voting no.

We've seen Cleveland continue to fall from a titan of industry and prime example of American manufacturing might to a national joke, the lowest of the worst, almost a third-world country within the most powerful nation on earth. Like Detroit, we used to make what everyone bought; now it seems we can't even buy into ourselves enough to provide opportunity to keep our kids here at home. This video from Reason.tv spells it out in plain English: we're not sick anymore, we're dying.




The same public debate so obsessed with where LeBron went, driving hours upon hours serving up LeBron fare for consumption, won't get the same time or attention targeting northeast Ohio's brain drain. So much talk on things that matter so little, because it distracts us from the reality. Karl Marx described religion as "the opiate of the people," but today's environment proves him wrong. It's sports.

The 2010 Census figures are likely to show what all of us know: Ohio's great cities aren't so great anymore, our beautiful suburbs are just a little tarnished, rural Ohio has no hold on it's people. We act powerless to halt the outflow of talented, resourceful and energetic young people seeking opportunity outside the state's borders.

The answers from our political leadership, both sides of the aisle? Bet on it.

It is ironic the same owner of the team LeBron left -- the same owner who flames the player he so desired to keep in the fold -- sees Ohio salvation in the form of slot machines and casino games designed to take, not make. More attention, time and money spent convincing voters to be like Erie, or Wheeling, or even Detroit and build our future on fleecing those desperate enough to turn dreams into cash fed into machines earning the title "one-armed bandits."

Where's today's John D. Rockefeller wanna-be who built the first billion-dollar fortune? Reading Ron Chernow's Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. offers a lesson; it isn't the titan who built an empire, but the industrialist who also left Cleveland because it just wasn't big enough to handle his business anymore. He left in 1914 dogged by tax collectors who went after this son of Cleveland, challenging his residency in New York, because his wife lay dying over the deadline.

What a great irony; Rockefeller was, in part, hounded for taxes from an opportunistic city and LeBron will benefit from tax advantages from an opportunistic team. Both leave behind where it all started because it just isn't big enough to handle their dreams. They see legacy and dollars; we see moments and pennies.

An economy that once made and exported prosperity now stands in line to be made poorer one spin at a time. This is hope for our future? Colleges and universities willing to make tuition more expensive while bemoaning low college graduation rates? Industry seeing the other side of the fence really is greener? Workers and families going mobile, trading comforts of home for chances to grow?

LeBron James leaving isn't the problem we think it is; it's the template we've built. Sports is a mirror that should make us take a hard look at the story line we're really living.

Northeast Ohio sports fans continue to cry about the Sabathia, Thome, Lee and Ramirez's who leave but don't seem to grasp the loss of businesses who buy those suites and stadium ads means team owners don't have money to land top talent, much less keep them here. Browns fans still hate Art Modell for moving the team, even though public policy (and his own miscalculations) left him isolated to the point where there was no hope at home.

It's ridiculous to think one of the poorest cities in America, where the easiest thing to do is find a view defining us as "rust belt", can afford to attract the kind of talent to build something great again. We can't even do that with our own children much less someone like LeBron. He was a two-time MVP on a team that led the league in wins but still couldn't convince his BFF Chris Bosh to sign and play here. We landed Shaq because of the chance to win a ring for the King; will other world-class players look at Cleveland as opportunity now, or will they take the view the rest of the nation has: poor, poor Cleveland. Great fans, great facilities, but...always but not enough to sign if there's a better deal in a place that dreams big.

It's past time to blame the weather, or some sports curse, or supposedly selfish athletes for our woes. Ask your sons, daughters, nieces and nephews if the plus is really worth missing out on the opportunities elsewhere. Remember for thousands of Ohio families that simple conversation comes with a one in front of the area code because that chat won't be held in their living rooms. They'll be talking on long-distance using the family plan in Texas, and Atlanta, and Carolina because that's where the jobs went.

The future has already left the building.

On the subject of LeBron's decision:

In few other occupations do workers have to start their careers in a city not of their choice, but the choice of others based on the drop of a lottery ball. What other professions have workers prohibited from looking for work with the company they choose? The "free agent" window was opened when Curt Flood argued that athletes were not slaves.

LeBron, Wade, Bosh and the rest of last week's NBA crop exercised this most basic of America values; to work for those we want to work for, to grab the best opportunity we can find, to control our own destiny. This was a schooling in the free market, the American way. The NBA owners built a system where their control lasted only as long as the contract, and these players were smart enough to play the system as well as the game on the court.

The method of the move leaves a bad taste, and will for a long time. But The Chosen One did just that -- choose -- when he had the chance.

As a fan of LeBron, I'd like to see him win his rings, but as a Cavs fan not before we get ours. I'd like him to do well and be happy, but think at some point he'll wish he'd stayed and accomplished his dream here at home. I'd like this experience to serve as a teachable moment to a truly talented guy in his mid-20s as well as the posse of friends he keeps around him that there are better ways to realize a goal than the way this played out.

Most importantly, though, I'd like to see us refocus our energies on the things that truly matter: rebuilding this place we call home into a place where people want to live, work and prosper by their choice and not just because of the way a lottery ball falls.

LeBron, Best Places & Why The Healthcare Rush?

Not quite the dog days of summer yet -- those pop up in August -- but there are some interesting stories making the rounds beyond the Heaven Can Wait saga and attacks in Firestone Park.

The celebrity-watching site TMZ.com is at it again, this time with promises of a video coming later today that will be sure to have Akron watching.

The website that broke the Michael Jackson story -- and seems to continue to "own" the latest revelations, giving traditional media bigwigs fits -- says it has landed what we were led to believe didn't exist.

Video of LeBron James getting dunked on at his basketball camp.

By now you should know the story: LeBron holds a camp for up-and-coming players, and Jordan Crawford of Xavier University does the unthinkable during the LeBron James Skills Academy and slams one home over LBJ. Nike reps, thinking as fast as their shoes can carry then, proceed to scour the arena for anyone with video and point out this isn't acceptable and confiscate the video.

One apparently got away.

It isn't posted yet; TMZ's too smart for that, knowing this is a golden opportunity to showcase their TV show to get the first taste of the video with all the traffic to the web site to follow. Smart marketing...especially with advance notice it'll be posted after 9:45 p.m. tonight.

- - -

Seen the latest edition of Money Magazine featuring a list of the 100 Best Places to Live -- Small Towns version? Not really surprising to note Ohio towns didn't make the top ten, we've become accustomed to getting dissed. But what is interesting is noting how well Ohio communities placed among the towns cracking the top 100.

Westerville (15), Highland Heights (18), Solon (23), Twinsburg (30), Medina (40), Springboro (41) placed well. In fact, Medina was one of two small towns with "A" ratings in all but one category (the other was Plymouth Township, Michigan) ranging from housing affordability, safety, education and leisure/arts.

Guess what's dragging down the top performers?

The economy. Medina earned a C, the same as the other near-perfect. Otherwise northeast Ohio looks like the best location in the nation with Solon, Twinsburg and Highland Heights joining Medina to stake their claim to four of the top 40 rankings.

- - -

Tonight President Obama holds a news conference where the dominant questioning is likely to be over health care. No wonder, since the White House determines when it holds news conferences and right now that's all Washington is talking about. Tomorrow, Mr. Obama brings the health care road show to Shaker Heights for a Town Hall meeting.

The debate now seems to be over which version making its way through Congress is the best, what parts are the worst, and how much/who gets hurt/how long we wait in line for care on the minds of the little people who wind up paying for all this. There is another question, however.

Why the rush to get this done in the next couple weeks?

We've seen just how well managed going trillions of dollars in debt has been so far with the bailouts/recovery many members of Congress approved without reading. If health care truly impacts one-sixth of the economy, isn't this time to keep the heat on public debate without an artificial political deadline?

The Democrats running Congress seem to forget the lesson the Republicans ignored in the rush to war: talk may be cheap, but real debate and actual deliberation is the cornerstone of America's legislative process. It's designed to be clunky and time-consuming because more than 130 years ago a group of rebellious wise dudes decided the wisdom of bringing diverse opinion together and forcing them to talk was a better idea than turning America into a juggernaut dominated by "damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead" political strategy.

It would be wise to remember this when talking about policy that will either fix the problem or turn us into a nation with even less money in our wallets to harden the longer wait for a doctor.

VIDEO Lee Fisher: Stud Candidate

There's a video making it's way through the blogosphere showcasing Ohio's Lieutenant Governor as a man who won't sleep until he's sure his message is getting out -- and this message shows off more than just political will.

On one hand, I'm not sure this is the kind of message a sitting government official really wants to get out; on the other hand, it is slice of life -- kind of -- just like the photos of the hunky Senator Obama in the Hawaiian surf in early 2008.



Couple thoughts here before things get too weird:

- I first saw this version of the video on Gateway Pundit, a political website with a conservative skew. If the intention of the video maker and campaign is to show Senator-to-be Lee Fisher in a rare moment of candor, they might want to consider the viral nature of where voters will see this;

- Don't know about you, but this kind of stuff hit it's apex with those creepy laughing-during-the-affair plane interviews then-presidential candidate John Edwards did with the film producer, the one he was caught cheating with. This one's a bit creepy, too, especially with the music in the background;

- Is that Jackson Browne singing in the background? Too bad there are no candles to help set the mood even further...

- Note to ALL political campaigns: DO NOT SHOW YOUR CANDIDATE HALF NAKED. Does anyone really think we don't keep this image in our minds when your hero steps to the microphone during a debate to discuss global warming? Not the most flattering photo when we're looking to leadership rebuilding a shattered economy.

Finally -- gotta admit, Lee's in good shape.

Remembering The Glory: Ten Cent Beer Night

With three weeks to go before the Akron mayoral election, GM's bankruptcy today, Chrysler coming out of the bankruptcy judge's chambers, a month to go for Ohio to figure out how a shrinking budget pays for all those education reforms -- looking back at one of the truly pivotal moments for northeast Ohio.

Can there be any doubt?



Kudos to the boys http://www.youtube.com/user/Yetanotherstringband for this...

It's The Economy, Stupid

Consider this an Akron version of the old TV game show "Family Feud," complete with host Richard Dawson's famous "survey says....!"

Most of us in Summit County apparently think having a job is pretty important; in fact, more than 46% of the 1,067 adults surveyed by the Center for Marketing and Opinion Research agreed employment is the top issue when it comes to quality of life here, pacing a big increase in all economic issues over the past three years. Taxes and money issues finished a strong second with crime and safety a distant third; education then government/political issues wrap up the top five.

Even with a national and state economy providing plenty of angst, over three quarters of those surveyed by phone still think Summit County is either an excellent or good to live. Fewer than one in twenty four think life stinks.

But again, the economy looms large with less than 16% holding the opinion the local economy is excellent or good, and half of that number thought Summit County offered a positive outlook for finding a job.

What to make of these numbers?

No big surprise but confirmation folks really do pay attention to the pocketbook issues. While the rest of the nation calls what is happening a recession, it's been life in Ohio for years now and provides what should be the biggest wake-up call to political and business leaders. In 2007, more than 21% of those surveyed had some confidence in their ability to find a job in Summit County; that number dipped to 11.3% in 2008 pre-Wall Street bubble burst and is now 8.1%.

Statistically, fewer people think this is a good place to find a job than the number of people on unemployment benefits. That spells big trouble for politicians who talk a good game about creating an environment of opportunity for young people to stay here on graduation. This spiral goes by many names, including "brain drain" which is the latest catch phrase to describe what parents and grandparents have been talking about for decades in describing a future northeast Ohio -- a place where the kids come back for holidays with tales of opportunity found elsewhere.

We are at a point in time where it is tough to find an oasis of opportunity; that used to be the Carolinas, or Las Vegas, or Florida but now those states are hard-hit by the national economy. But when things swing back, as they inevitably do -- remember, every boom has a bust and vice-versa -- will Ohio be better positioned for the recovery or will we still be trapped in that spiral given lip service by the regardless-of-which party leadership?

Retirement, By George

No, not George W. -- although I think the President is exiting stage right with much more class than the pathological hatred that seems to follow him. Giving advance notice (two years worth) is longtime Ohio political fixture George Voinovich.

Let the games begin!

The positioning has already started with names ranging from Ryan and Strickland and Fisher, oh my! on the Democratic side to a host of Republicans led by former OMB Director and Congressman Rob Portman.

While I like Voinovich for being independent and admire him for being unafraid to wear his heart on his sleeve, some critics bring up an interesting point: shouldn't George V. and the rest of the political class of Ohio bear some responsibility for the horrible shape the once-mighty engine of the state finds itself?

Voinovich, perhaps unlike any other statewide political figure, spans two generations of true governing at every level of the public's business. He's been a state rep; a county commissioner; a county auditor; Mayor of Cleveland; Lieutenant Governor and Governor, and U.S. Senator. He's been one of the few public officials in the nation to serve not only as President of the National League of Cities (1985) but also to chair the National Governor's Association (1997-98) as well as head the GOP Governor's Association and the Midwest Governor's Association. Here's a guy who not only saw history made...he was the one making it.

So what are we left to ponder as this independent thinker from Cleveland who admits to eating freshwater drum out of Lake Erie (he soaks them in milk forever and claims they taste just like walleye) hangs up his right to prowl the halls of power? Cleveland today isn't the Cleveland he left for Mike White, Jane Campbell and Frank Jackson; it is one of America's poorest cities and by most accounts remains a poster child for major municipalities that just can't seem to make it work. Ohio isn't the Ohio he left for Bob Taft and Ted Strickland; gone is the billion-dollar rainy day fund and in place we find one of America's most vigorous economies sputtering to the status usually reserved for Mississippi and Alabama. Hell, Alabama even has a more vital auto industry. Alabama. Say it out loud for extra effort.

With all that seniority and experience is Ohio awash in a flood of federal dollars similar to what Hurricane Byrd dumped on West Virginia over the past twenty years? With a state ranked eighth in population (and falling) has every federal dollar been diverted the old-fashioned way to pave over enough of the state or fix dilapidated bridges? Those yahoos in Cleveland and ODOT can't even seem to get the Innerbelt, the most precious of northeast Ohio road arteries, worked out. Bob Byrd would've had the money allocated at this point, work underway, prevailing wages paid and the grateful populace begging to name something after him. Here in northeast Ohio, Senator Voinovich has a lakefront park nobody uses except for a couple weeks in the summer named after him.

We -- and he -- really missed the boat. What happened to the political brains that built the nation into a juggernaut after the Civil War, and helped steer American in the 1900's into the waters of world domination?

This isn't all V's fault; he did leave the state in better shape, and without the condition of Cleveland after his tenure at least posing the hope of getting better we never would have seen the development that has occurred in this city by the lake now seemingly bereft of hope.

George says he wants to spend all of his time and energy over the next two years doing the job as U.S. Senator; perhaps its time for the people of Ohio to look favorably over a replacement that will do the job as a collector for Ohio's interests. While decent men and women such as George V. can help make politics more decent maybe what we really need is a Ted Stevens, a Robert C. Byrd, a Lyndon Johnson/Sam Rayburn, a Robert Taft (the former Senator, not the one taken down for accepting a couple steaks and free golf) or a Trent Lott.

If landlocked states get Naval bases then Ohio needs Naval bases; Alabama, Florida and Texas stand as the home of NASA...and if the space agency survives the Obama vision then Ohio needs to be more than just a Glenn Lewis afterthought. West Virginia now has a huge chunk of the FBI and, if memory serves, stands as the major repository of IRS computing in the nation. Are we such chopped liver we can't get a piece of this?

Someone who doesn't just rail about the bacon but someone who brings it home -- in a dump truck. Time for a return to time-honored tradition and performance: Ohio needs Senator Pork.

Where's Michael Vick When We Need Him?

There's a great adage in the news business that the story of a dog biting man isn't news but the man biting the dog? That's a different story. How about lawyer biting dog?

In a fashion that's the treat scheduled for Tuesday, December 11th from the Ohio Supreme Court -- and best of all we can all follow along at home thanks to the First Amendment and an enlightened court that opens up oral arguments of cases to webcasting.

Here's the gist: Rebecca Kim of Columbus got popped with a barking dog complaint from her neighbor, Joseph Berardi, who testified he just couldn't take the 90 minutes of Kim's dog "Lucky" going non-stop despite Berardi being inside his own home with the air conditioning on. Kim was found guilty and, not missing a beat, moved up to the 10th District Ohio Court of Appeals to argue the state law was vague because it doesn't define exactly HOW long or HOW loud barking needs to be to drive the neighbors nuts.

The appeals court didn't buy Kim's argument but as luck would have it the 11th District DID find the law in Warren (State v Ferraiolo) too vague in a related case, hence the Ohio Supreme Court having to decide just how loud a barking dog needs to be in order to call the heat. Now our highest-ranking judges will figure out when dog-barking becomes "unreasonably loud or disturbing” or “detrimental to the life” of one resident of a neighborhood when it may be completely inoffensive to another.

Lawyers being lawyers Columbus is arguing in their legal filings that the vagueness of the law isn't a problem so long as the court finds that "no reasonable construction that would meet constitutional requirements," or to paraphrase the only way to find barking dog laws unconstitutional is to find the barking dogs are protected by the constitution.

They point to court decisions in several other states that have struck down noise ordinances that are more specific than the Columbus ordinance at issue here, and they urge the Court to affirm the 11th District’s reasoning in Ferraiolo that the subjective standards set forth in the Warren and Columbus ordinances are unconstitutionally vague.

You have a front-row seat to all of this; all you need is a fast connection, a computer with Real Audio and this link to access all the fun. Best of all will be watching folks seriously argue the measurement of when dogs cross the line.

Who says government is boring?

Nature Girl Deals With Death

What a story, and in my own backyard.

Nature Girl was happy; she'd spent the Labor Day weekend laboring under the golden rays of the sun removing overgrowth and reshaping the kidney-shaped bed, restoring the glory of the butterfly bushes flanking the fountain. Flowers, greenery and water elements once again were in balance. She even found a few new buddies. "Praying mantis, how exciting," she exclaimed!

"What a wonderful garden paradise I have!" In the cool morning she would amble over to the garden, looking for her new stick-like friends living in harmony with bees, monarch butterfly and assorted other bugs besides the burbling fountain. "Hello, babies," she would coo to her new mantis friends. Even when she found one of the new babies on the block sucking life out of a moth's face. "It's OK, it's nature, and it's wonderful," she said.

First a bumble bee buzzed Nature Girl's foot and left a stinging reminder; then the Praying Mantis showed their true colors: green really stood for PREY-ing Mantis, as the once-tranquil solace of serenity turned to into a garden of death. The floor of what had been a home for hospitality was now littered with the corpses of mighty monarchs, wings cast aside by the unfeeling cruelty of Mantis finding the backyard buffet is always open for breakfast.

Look at the joy of my new green buddy
with eyes so wide and skin so green.
Who could imagine coming to the garden
would leave the paradise a place wiped clean?

What a wonderful creature the Mantis is,
chomping on a friend.
Smiling and praying over every meal
from start to untimely end.

Now Nature Girl is moving the babies off the block, eyeing greenery in the verdant forest behind the garden. The Palace of Patience must now be closely managed under the newly-watchful eye of Nature Girl.

So What's A Round Worth?

One must sincerely hope the Democrats learned important lessons in paperwork from the ethics nightmares of then-Governor Bob Taft when he was dinged for not properly reporting golf and even frozen steaks.

The thought jumped out at me when I got a solicitation from the Ohio Democratic Party (you can read it on this website here from the ODP) to shell out $500 bucks a pop to take in 18 with Governor Strickland and ODP Chair Chris Redfern (also a member of the State Legislature) in their pre-Labor Day outing at Blackhawk Golf Club in Galena.

Just in case you planned on a discount with three other pals there's no benefit to a foursome; it's $2,000 so everyone pays full freight. In case you have cash left over and want to further support the Party tee sponsorships are another $500, hole sponsors an even grand and to sponsor a cart for folks who don't want to talk is a cool two thousand.

Hope those folks who pushed so hard for Akron's campaign finance limitations don't have a hand in doing the same for state politics; at $300 bucks a cycle you would barely squeeze in nine holes!