Two Days ago, I posted this …

Governor-elect Ted Strickland hired Deters' criminal fundraiser.

From Mark Naymik :

Governor-elect Ted Strickland has tapped the Columbus public relations and marketing powerhouse Dascenzo Creative Inc. to help pull off the inaugural party Democrats have dreamed of for 16 years.

That move, however, generated a little buzz because the firm employees Republican operative Eric Sagun, the convicted fund-raiser of former Ohio Treasurer Joe Deters.

Sagun, who is working on the inaugural event, was found guilty in 2004 of a misdemeanor charge of soliciting a $50,000 donation for Deters from rogue stockbroker Frank Gruttadauria and disguising it as a contribution to the Hamilton County Republican Party.

So much for cleaning up corruption in Columbus.

Two sources have confirmed that the reason Dascenzo hired Eric Sagun is because he's gay, and Dascenzo is an openly gay workplace. Could this be a reason Ted hired him?

I spent part of my time as a yout is Southern California, where I later interned for Congressman Ed Royce.

Anyway, this video shows why people in CA used to think my family owned a fast food taco joint. Thankfully, Del Taco bought the company, and put an end to Senor Naugle:

It probably didn’t help that Naugle sounds like “nalgas” which is Spanish slang for “ass.”

From The Toledo Blade :

COLUMBUS - Gov. Bob Taft yesterday signed into law a bill greatly expanding the number of parents eligible to apply for taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their children to the public, private, and religious schools of their choice.

 

The bill also:

”Includes provisions designed to increase oversight on quasipublic charter schools.

”Expands the authority of the Ohio Department of Education to demand criminal background checks every five years on teachers it licenses.

”Requires all schools, public and private, to report suspected misconduct by teachers to state licensing officials.

The number of vouchers, or scholarships, available in the next school year will remain unchanged at 14,000, but the number of academically struggling schools where students could apply would be increased from 99 to 212. Three-quarters of the grants went unused this year.

Any effort that allows students to escape failing public schools, or helps parents pay for a religious school, is a worth while endeavor.

The left is crying about Saddam doing the rope dance. I posted the complete hanging on my blog. It is also avialable on Drudge. It is graphic, but it people should make their own minds about veiwing it.

www.nokooks.blog.com

Recently, the teachers' union president was asked to add 1/3 + 1/4 in her head. She couldn't answer this simple math problem.

The Toledo Blade reports on Taft's flip-flop on mental health parity, as he signed it into law.

Ty Pine of the Ohio National Federation of Independent Businesses is not happy:

“During his eight years as governor, Bob Taft has stood on the side of Ohio's small-business owners in their efforts to create new jobs and grow Ohio's economy,”? said Ty Pine, Ohio director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

“By signing Senate Bill 116 today, he has dealt a disappointing blow to small-business owners who are already struggling to provide any level of coverage and who will now face yet another hurdle in their efforts to provide basic health-care benefits to their employees,”? he said.

Mr. Pine said the mandate on policies issued by private insurers doesn't apply to large, self-insured companies, government, and other public employers.

You know- Atleast when Strickland supports this type of nonsense, he won't be in my party.

With a Governor Strickland, we can atleast get back to Republicans fighting to improve Ohio's business climate and Democrats can get busy trying to grow government. It will be refreshing to get back to the natural order of things.

I just found out that President Bush ordered federal agencies to close on Tuesday out of respect for the memory of President Gerald Ford. So there won't be any mail delivery on Tuesday.

From the State Highway Patrol's Website:

COLUMBUS ”” As Ohio motorists begin planning for the upcoming New Year's holiday weekend, the Ohio State Highway Patrol is releasing its “Top 10”? Ohio counties for OVI stops made by state troopers, and felony OVI cases by state troopers.

Through November, state troopers had made 24,051 OVI arrests on Ohio roads. People who operate a motor vehicle impaired represent some of the most dangerous drivers on Ohio roads. Including all of 2005 through Nov. 22, 2006, state troopers also arrested, and removed from Ohio roads, 776 impaired drivers with four or more OVI convictions. These worst of the worst felony OVI suspects are dangerous repeat offenders who continuously jeopardize safety on Ohio roads.

“Top 10”? counties for OVI stops made by Ohio State Highway Patrol Troopers:

Jan. ”” Nov. 2006
1. Franklin County - 800 stops
2. Lorain County - 768 stops
3. Mahoning County - 670 stops
4. Stark County - 670 stops
5. Trumbull County - 652 stops
6. Clermont County - 615 stops
7. Montgomery County - 612 stops
8. Lucas County - 592 stops
9. Butler County - 569 stops
10. Clark County - 565 stops

“Top 10”? counties for felony OVI cases made by Ohio State Highway Patrol Troopers (suspects with 4 or more OVI convictions): Jan. 2005 ”” Nov. 22, 2006
1. Lorain County - 38 cases
2. Portage County - 37 cases
3. Scioto County - 34 cases
4. Stark County - 32 cases
5. Brown County - 27 cases
6. Ashtabula County - 22 cases
7. Franklin County - 21 cases
8. Athens County - 21 cases
9. Richland County - 19 cases
10. Warren County - 18 cases

With the Cleveland in Cuyahoga County and Cincinnati in Hamilton County- How did those two counties, just with their large populations, avoid the list?

Jerid from BSB, who shares my interest in US Supreme Court decisions, was nice enough to email me a link to this speaking engagement with Justice Antonin Scalia.:

http://www.clevelandclinic.org/ideas/

I look forward to it! Thanks Jerid for passing it along.

(Note: Dan's phone is displayed on Google when you search "Dan Shellenbarger Columbus.")

Seriously, where do these a-holes at the Ohio Channel get the nerve to say the Ohio GOP, Progress Ohio, or anyone can't use the raw feed of the Ohio legislature or other video?

The Ohio Channel's executive director Dan Shellenbarger believes these videos should not be made available for political purposes because they might inhibit debate on the floor. Dan is arguing that legislators should be able to make any arguments they want to, without any public scrutiny! Gosh, so much for "transparent government."

From Gongwer:

Prior to the passage of the capital bill earlier this month, OGT also tried to bolster its legal ground when it trademarked, or "servicemarked," its logo that appears in the streaming videos. Further legislation is also under consideration, the director said.

Mr. Shellenbarger said the Ohio Channel's latest legal steps were made amidst doubts about its future. "There was a discussion about what was the good versus the bad of this" service," he said, especially if members felt their floor speeches were fair political game. "It raised the question of whether this was inhibiting (floor) debate."

"There was quite a bit of concern about what would happen after this election passed - but we're still here and still covering the legislature," he added, while calling the political use of OGTS material "a slap in the face to the purpose of why we're here."

The Ohio Channel has some serious cajones… especially because taxpayers fund them:

OGTS receives most of its $1.2 million in annual funding - about $716,000 - through the eTech Commission's line item in the state budget, Mr. Shellenbarger said. About $200,000 comes from a contract with the Supreme Court and another $150,000 is made by contracts with various state agencies.

Mr. Shellenbarger said under $50,000 of OGTS funding is private, with Honda of America the largest single private donor at $20,000.

So there you have it- Not only does the Ohio Channel publish videos in that annoying Real Player format, but they have the nerve to say they can prevent the video from being used for political purposes, even though YOU pay their salaries!

Please, write an email to Dan Shellenbarger at [email protected] or call him and say this video, paid for by the public, should be in the public domain.

In the mean time, enjoy this Barbara Sykes video and this Geoff Smith video, before Dan Shellenbarger gets angry!

Make sure to watch the entire video…

Yesterday, I questioned why the The Inland Seas Maritime Museum in Lorain, or for that matter- any museum, should recieve public funding. Christopher Gillcrist, the Executive Director of the Inland Seas Maritime Museum, was kind enough to reply:

As the Executive Director of The Inland Seas Maritime Museum, I felt compelled to respond to the comments concerning our recent appropriation in the state capital budget.

First, Matthew, many museums throughout Ohio receive public appropriations, both operating and capital, in every budget. This is nothing new. In this capital budget, the Cleveland Museum of Art, one of the most wealthiest museums in the United States received a $3,000,000 award for its building project. Did you know that the Ohio Historical Society, which is not a state agency but rather a not for profit corporation receives an operating grant of nearly six million dollars a year from the state of Ohio. I point these two examples out not to denegrate these two organizations but to show you that public funding for museums is not limited to the Inland Seas Maritime Museum.

Second, one of the reasons my organization has sought state funding is because maritime history of Ohio, as part of the state historical story, and our nation's history as well, is under represented at the Ohio Historical Society. Despite the fact that commercial shipping on the Great Lakes made possible large scale manufacturing, which in turn generated tax dollars that built roads, highways, public universities and other businesses across Ohio, this history is not well documented and thus subject to being lost. We think the small public appropriations we have received are not only justified, but an excellent investment in preserving Ohio's history.

Lastly, our capital appropriation is a building project which in turn will generate local and state revenue through tourism. I would encourage visitors to this site to look at the state of Michigan's investment in tourism related to the Great Lakes. Michigan invests public dollars in support of its maritime tourism activities which draws more tourists, who spend more money at hotels, restaurants, gas stations, stores which in turn creates jobs and thus tax revenue. I am not foolish enough to think that tourism is the sole answer to Ohio's econmic woes, but a little investment can go along way. Our building project will draw tens of thousands of visitors to Lorain's waterfront thus creating jobs. There is no doubt that public agencies from time to time fund projects of limited value. I happen to know of a helicopter aircraft carrier built in Mississippi that the Pentagon did not want but that a certain Senator from that state demanded: at a cost of well over 500 million dollars.

Sometimes, in a democracy you have to take the good with the bad.

Sincerely,

Christopher Gillcrist

Many museums stay open without public funding. And with the Tax Foundation reporting that Ohio has the 3rd highest state and local tax burden in the country- In the overall scope of what government should do, museums are a frivolous endeavor. Mr. Gillcrist pointed out $9 million of additional museum funding I would love to see cut- And I'm not sure what $500 million helicopter he is talking about.

But many people don't agree with my position, and I thank Mr. Gillcrist for responding.

Dave at Nixguy.com responds to my post that Plain Dealer reporter and snarky Openers blogger Ted Wendling applying for a job with Ted Strickland:

Considering the shilling that Ted Wendling did for the Strickland campaign, I think an important question must be raised: Is this a quid pro quo?

It is hard not to assume Ted had this career change in mind all along. The Plain Dealer has been offering a number of buyout packages to reporters, and he probably wanted to do his best to impress Ted.

I believe Ted Wendling is an unethical journalist, and a disgrace to the profession of journalism. I hope the door hits Wendling on the way out.

Rick Segal of Fairfield has been elected to serve as the new Chairman of the Buckeye Institute's Board of Directors. I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Segal with his involvement in the Blackwell campaign. He was Steve Forbes' webmaster for his Presidential campaign, always wears bowties, and is very talented. I'm sure he will serve the Buckeye Institute well.

Click "read more" to read the full press release from the Buckeye Institute…

Media Alert

December 29, 2006

Contact: David Hansen
(614) 783-0309 (mobile)
(614) 224-4422 (office)
photos available — please see links at bottom.

BUCKEYE INSTITUTE ELECTS NEW CHAIRMAN
AND BOARD MEMBERS

Cincinnati Marketing Executive to Lead State Think Tank.

(COLUMBUS, OH) — December 29, 2006

The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions announced today that Ohio entrepreneur Rick Segal of Fairfield has been elected to serve as the new Chairman of the Institute's Board of Directors.

The Institute's Board also elected two new members, educator Deborah Owens of Richfield and business leader David Johnson of Salem.

Founded in 1994, the Buckeye Institute provides independent, nonpartisan research and analysis to policymakers, particularly in the areas of taxation and government spending, regulation and education.

“This is a time of exciting opportunity for the Buckeye Institute. When Ohioans changed the guard in the last election, they also cleared the way for the issues of runaway spending and job-killing taxation come to the fore in the debate about Ohio's future,”? said Segal.

“The Buckeye Institute will engage in this debate as an even more visible and influential force in the formation of public policy. Our vision that policies rooted in economic freedom are the best way to grow prosperity in Ohio is more relevant and needed than ever,”? Segal added.

Rick Segal, is chief executive of HSR Business to Business Inc., a national marketing communications consultancy headquartered in Cincinnati. Prior to founding HSR in 1981, Segal served on the campaign staffs of United States Senator Robert Taft Jr., Cleveland Mayor Ralph J. Perk, and as chief aide to former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Earl T. Barnes.

Segal was a member of the Hamilton City Council from 1982-84. He was a Senior Advisor to Republican Presidential candidate Steve Forbes in 2000, and is credited as the architect of that campaign's groundbreaking Internet effort. Segal is an elder of the Grace Evangelical Free Church, Cincinnati. He is married with three sons.

Deborah Owens, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Marketing and International Business at the University of Akron. Among her many community leadership activities, Owens is completing eight years service on the State Board of Education; she has served as President of the Summit County School Board and as a member of the boards of Abstience, the Better Choice, Inc., and Canal Square YMCA.

Dr. Owens' primary research interests include promotion strategies, customer satisfaction, political marketing and cross cultural influence on buyer behavior. She is the author of The Business Plan Project Work Book and has had her work publish in several scholarly journals.

As Chairman, CEO and President, David Johnson is leading Summitville Tiles, Inc. into its 95th year, a remarkable accomplishment as the Company is one of the nation's oldest continuously operating tile manufacturers and the only surviving charter member of the tile industry's national trade association.

Johnson contributes to Ohio's and America's well-being through several corporate, civic and political affiliations. He is a member of the board of the Ohio Manufacturers' Association, where he just completed his term as Chairman; he serves on boards of Radio America and the Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy, and he is a member of the Pew Charitable Trust's Commission on State Tax Policy. In 2004 Johnson was Chairman of the Ohio Electoral College.

The work of the Buckeye Institute challenges government intervention as the default solution to Ohio's needs. Our research and commentary offers a compelling vision of how policies that maximize the freedom and independence of our citizens also bring more growth and opportunity to our state.

The Buckeye Institute neither seeks nor accepts government funding. It enjoys the support of foundations, individuals and businesses sharing a concern for Ohio's future.

For more information about the Buckeye Institute, please contact President David Hansen at [email protected] at (614) 224-4422, or visit our website at www.BuckeyeInstitute.org.

###

Rick Segal photo at:
http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/uploaded_images/Rick_Segal_Photo_port.jpg

Deborah Owens photo at:
http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/uploaded_images/dowens_photo_port.jpg

David Johnson photo at (sorry, no hi-res available at this time):
http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/uploaded_images/David_Johnson_photo_port.jpg

Not according to The Washington Times :

During (John Edwards) career of allegedly championing the helpless, he took no pro bono cases. This failure is especially noteworthy given that the North Carolina bar's rules of professional responsibility state that "The provision of free legal services to those unable to pay reasonable fees continues to be an obligation of each lawyer …."

But Edwards truly cares about dead babies and making fortune with the now-disproved junk science theory about Caesarean sections preventing cerebral palsy. Too bad John doesn't have sympathy doctors which can't afford to pay their high malpractice insurance costs, thanks to sleazy trial lawyers like him.

Martin Gottlieb of the Dayton Daily News hits the nail on the head about Sherrod Brown, his kooky liberalism, and "fair trade." :

But, in truth, a Rep. Charlie Brown would have done as well as Rep. Sherrod Brown, provided only that he had the Democratic label.

And Charlie could have run as a "mushy centrist." That, after all, was the strategy of landslide winner Ted Strickland (who actually is just a little reminiscent of Charlie Brown, isn't he?) in the governor's race.

…

The magazine is right about something else: The new Democrats in the Senate are a lot like Brown on one issue: trade.

The Democrats long for a juicy populist issue, meaning one that allows them to connect with the suspicions of struggling people that they are being victimized by larger, richer forces. Right-wingers drove the Democrats nuts at a certain stage of recent history when they claimed the populist mantle. They rode and promoted fears of big government, big media and an allegedly elite liberal establishment.

The liberals are tired of being elite. They're tired of explaining to working people why things that people don't like ”� school busing, high taxes, immigration, gay marriage, flexibility in criminal sentencing, restraints on police ”� are good.

Trade offers the opportunity to be nonelite, to side with the little guy. This is something Democrats became Democrats to do; the elitism thing snuck up on them.

…

What the fair traders really want is to change other countries in fairly profound ways. They're the neoconservatives without the Marines ”� bent on bringing high wages to the world, just as the neocons are bent on democracy. It's the same kind of presumptuousness, even if it comes from the other end of the American political spectrum.

Neoconservatism should be defined as Irving Kristol's philosophy of an expansive foreign policy with the goal of liberating all of the world's oppressed peoples- Neoconservatives are usually reformed liberals/Trotskyites, and have very little in common with Russell Kirk's conservatism.

But I try to avoid the term "neoconservative", because the left uses that term synonymously with "dirty jew." Because it is used as an anti-semitic slam, or used as an insult against those who want Israel to exist, I try to avoid the term "neoconservative."

But regardless, Martin Gottlieb is absolutely correct- and Sherrod Brown arguments for "fair trade" are neoconservatish. And as William F. Buckley once said, this sort of "idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality the cost becomes prohibitive."

"Fair trade" is a silly, subjective notion, and it consists of government bureaucrats defining fairness without caring about the consequences of such statist policies.

Radley Balko, in Capitalism Magazine, explained that the best way for developing nations to improve wages is to allow the free market to work:

The best way to lessen the plight of sweatshop workers is more free trade, not less. If workers make 75 cents per day in factory A - the only plant in town - the best thing that could happen to them would be for a second factory to open up. If Factory B pays less than 75 cents, it won't attract any workers. If it offers exactly 75 cents, it might attract a few workers who couldn't get jobs at factory A. If it pays more than 75 cents, however, it might attract the best and brightest from factory A. Factory A then must decide whether to up its wages, or look for new labor - which means more jobs.

The alternative: force factory A to pay artificially high wages. That negates the advantage factory A had by investing in a developing country in the first place. Factory A packs up and returns to the U.S. Factory B never happens, because factory B's parent company sees no advantage (see: cheap labor) in investing in the developing country. Factory A's workers' wages go from 75 cents per day to nothing.

Instead of two factories paying twice as many workers higher wages, enabling them to inch their way out of poverty, a community is left with no factories, no jobs, and no hope.

"Fair trade" is simply a term used by union thugs and the left to to defend xenophobic economic policy ideas. But when such statism inflates the cost of food or products- Then Sherrod Brown and the "fair trade" crowd can no longer claim they have the poor's best interest in mind.

Tom at Bizzyblog has been following the status of legislation that would exempt those Ohioans who are in the military who are stationed outside of Ohio or overseas.

Tom asked me to find out if this legislation really did pass, and a very talented anonymous source in the Ohio legislature sent me this from the Ohio House journal from Dec. 13:

Tom has more on this subject here.

I am yet to see any MSM outlets report on its passage- Probably because liberal editorial boards needed extra room to attack the minimum wage enabling legislation and other bills they disapproved of.

The Ohio legislature deserves applause for supporting Ohio's brave men and women who volunteered to defend our freedom.

I'm glad to see there will be more controls on a bloated, corrupt inefficient bureaucracy run by the Strongsville Sellout, Gary Suhadolnik :

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Ohio Gov. Bob Taft signed into law Thursday a $1.77 billion capital appropriations bill for fiscal 2007 and 2008 that included $1.57 billion of bonds.

…

The capital bill also contained oversight provisions aimed at the Ohio Turnpike Commission.

Those provisions, which were signed into law, included requiring the commission to submit its proposed budget to the governor and legislature and obtaining state budget office approval prior to issuing or refinancing debt or altering its master trust agreements. Another provision included notifying the governor and lawmakers of proposed toll increases.

It will be a fun day at Right Angle Blog when the Ohio turnpike is leased and/or Gary loses his job.