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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Strickland blasts Senate GOP budget plan; Husted fires back
Gov. Ted Strickland has told Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, that the Senate Republican budget plan unveiled on Wednesday, Nov. 18, “is not a responsible way to address the serious budget challenges facing the state and Ohio’s schools,” Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman said.
“…the governor believes that the Senate has the responsibility to either put forward a realistic and responsible proposal or adopt the tax freeze, even if that means working through the weekend,” said Wurst.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, fired back, calling Strickland’s response “almost childish.”
“We accept some of his ideas and try to work with him and then he starts name-calling when he doesn’t get exactly what he wants,” said Husted. The Strickland ideas in the GOP plan include prison sentencing reform and construction reform, said Husted.
Husted accused Strickland of “schizophrenic leadership” by first opposing any tax increases and then proposing a tax cut freeze - which some Republicans call a tax hike - to fill the budget hole.
The Democratic-controlled House already has adopted Democrat Strickland’s proposed freeze on a 4.2 percent income tax cut as the path to filling a $851 million budget hole.
The Senate GOP plan calls for raising about $560 million by freezing two-thirds of the scheduled tax cut and then coming up with the rest through $200 million in casino licensing fees, revenue from oil and gas drilling at Salt Fork State Park and the state Housing Trust fund, savings from prison sentencing reform and other sources.
Republicans control the Senate, 21-12.
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Senate GOP offers own budget-balancing plan; Dems say no
Senate Republicans have offered their own plan to fill a $851 million hole in the state budget but Senate Democrats rejected it and their votes are needed.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said on Wednesday, Nov. 18, that the plan is aimed at winning approval not just in the GOP-controlled Senate but from Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and in the Democratic-controlled House.
Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard, categorically rejected it in a prepared statement:
“We respect the work the majority caucus has done so far. But, it is in conflict with our core values and counts on money that can’t be relied on.
“The Senate Democratic Caucus is unified in opposition to the substitute budget plan offered today by Senate Republicans. We remain united in support of HB 318 as passed by the Ohio House of Representatives.”
Senate Republicans appeared to have given up on trying to pass their plan on Wednesday. The full Senate, which met earlier, won’t meet Wednesday night, Maggie Ostrowski, spokeswoman for Harris, announced in an e-mail about 5:45 p.m. However, the Senate Finance Committee was scheduled to meet Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. to continue discussing efforts to fill the budget hole.
The House earlier passed the plan offered by Strickland, House Bill 318.
That plan called for delaying for two years a 4.2 percent cut in state income taxes, the last in a five-year series of income tax cuts. That would solve the current budget hole. The GOP plan goes beyond that to provide long-term help to the budget problems, said Harris.
The Senate GOP plan would come up with about $560 million by allowing one-third of the scheduled income tax reduction to go into effect but freezing two-thirds of it.
It also would take money from other sources, including $200 million in casino licensing fees.
The constitutional amendment approved by voters on Nov. 3 to permit four Ohio casinos calls for using the $200 million from licensing fees for job training and workforce development. The GOP plan says that the $200 million would be transferred into the state’s general fund “to offset current regional job program expenditures.”
The GOP plan also projects getting $10 million from oil and gas drilling at Salt Fork State Park in eastern Ohio. “
Other sources of funds in the GOP plan include:
*$50 million in savings at state prisons from sentencing reforms.
*$30 million from the Housing Trust Fund
*$30 million from liquor profits
Republicans hold 21 of 33 Senate seats but only about five GOP votes are expected for the plan so all 12 Senate Democrats would have to go along for it to pass.
Sen. Fred Strahorn, D-Dayton, was one of the Senate Democrats who was opposed.
“We still have a lot to talk about,” Strahorn said.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, said the GOP plan is better than what Strickland and the House supported because it leaves intact some of the tax cut. It’s important that Ohio send out the message that it’s friendly to business.
Also, Husted said the Senate GOP plan has two parts that have been priorities for Strickland- sentencing reform to save money at prisons and construction reform to save money on state building projects.
Both those proposals get at “long-term (budget) structural problems” while the tax cut freeze alone only solves a temporary problem, said Husted.
Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, blasted the plan to take $30 million from the Housing Trust Fund. He called it “outrageous” and said the money is needed to help the homeless.
“It’s the wrong thing to do at the wrong time,” said Faith.
According to Faith’s office, the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, established in 1990, is a state funding source for services related to affordable housing and homelessness.
In 2004-2005, the Ohio legislature created a permanent, dedicated funding stream for the OHTF through an increase in county recordation fees.
For the last several years, the HTF was capped at $53 million/year, the remainder of which went to the state’s General Fund. Currently, only $35 million in revenue has been generated because of lost fees due to the housing crisis.
Harris, the Senate president, said Republicans are holding in reserve a “plan B,” which is believed to include much less of what Strickland wanted, but declined to provide details.
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Dann aide gets 45 days jail, including Christmas
Tony Gutierrez, a former top aide and friend to Democrat Marc Dann, must report to the Franklin County jail beginning Dec. 4 to serve a 45 day sentence spread out over weekends, including Christmas and New Years Day.
Gutierrez, 52, was sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 18, to 45 days in jail and five years probation, plus he must pay $6,876 in restitution. He pleaded guilty to felony theft in office and unauthorized use of property as well as misdemeanor charges for filing an inaccurate ethics statement, soliciting or receiving improper compensation and attempted workers compensation fraud.
In Franklin County Common Pleas court, Gutierrez apologized to his wife and children for what he has put them through and to the state and the court.
Gutierrez is the only one to face criminal charges in the sexual harassment scandal that led to Dann’s resignation in May 2008.
In February 2007, Dann hired Gutierrez, a neighbor and friend in a Youngstown suburb, to head up the attorney general’s general services department, despite knowing about problems in Gutierrez’ background. The job paid $87,500 a year but Gutierrez also ran his private construction business on state time, using state equipment and employees.
Gutierrez said coming from the construction industry, he was ignorant of state ethics laws.
“The top guy was my best friend and he guided me down the road wrong,” Gutierrez said of Dann.
Then two junior female staffers accused Gutierrez of sexual harassment and drunken driving of state vehicles. That triggered multiple investigations and eventually Dann’s admission that he had an extramarital affair with a staffer and wasn’t prepared to be attorney general when voters elected him over Republican Betty Montgomery in November 2006.
Dann admitted to misusing his campaign account and paid $1,000 fine to the Ohio Elections Commission.
Earlier this year, the state agreed to pay the two female staffers a combined $495,000 to settle the case.
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Rep. Luckie proposes bill to monitor sex offenders
Rep. Clayton Luckie has introduced legislation to require GPS monitors for sex offenders who do not have permanent addresses, Luckie, D-Dayton, announced on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
House Bill 369 would apply to all Tier 3 sex offenders, considered the most violent, and require them to wear a global positioning device until they have a fixed address.
“This bill will allow law enforcement to keep better track of sex offenders,” Luckie said in a press release. “We cannot lose track of these offenders just because they are homeless. Using GPS to monitor their whereabouts is necessary to protect the citizens of Ohio.”
Luckie said that the attack of a nurse outside of Miami Valley Hospital by a sexual predator who was living under a railroad bridge near Patterson Boulevard underscored the need for the legislation.
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Casino backers offer draft plan to get gambling started
The successful backers of the Nov. 3 ballot issue to permit four casinos in Ohio have sent lawmakers draft legislation to get the casinos up and running.
The purpose is to give legislators the benefit of the experience that Penn National Gaming, which is to operate casinos in Columbus and Toledo, has had in other states and to answer some of the questions raised in the campaign, Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for the pro-casino Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan, said on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
The other two casinos are planned for Cincinnati and Cleveland. Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert is the backer of those casinos.
Key points of the legislation:
*90 percent of the casinos’ employees are to come from the four metro areas where the casinos are to be located.
*The casinos will use a cashless wagering system with chips, tokens, tickets, electronic cards and similar objects. Critics had said cash wagering at casinos would be exempt from taxation.
*Charitable gambling, such as church casino nights, would not be prohibited. Critics had charged such gambling would be banned.
*Building permits for casinos should be processed “without unreasonable delays.” In Franklin County, which includes Columbus, voters rejected the casino plan and there has been talk of delaying efforts to get the casino started.
Keary McCarthy, spokesman for House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, said Budish wants to hear from all parties and the draft is a “first step.” Budish, who supported the casino plan, wants to get the best deal for the state, said McCarthy.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, who opposed the casinos, hasn’t had a chance to look at the draft, said Maggie Ostrowski, Harris’ spokeswoman.
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Obama approval dips below 50 percent nationally; tracks Ohio results
President Barack Obama’s approval rating among voters nationally has dipped below 50 percent for the first time, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
In the poll 48 percent approved the Democratic president’s performance, while 42 percent disapproved, while the rest didn’t know or didn’t answer. This compares to a 50-41 percent approval rating in an October poll.
The national results track closely with a slide in approval for Democrat Obama among Ohio voters. A Quinnipiac poll released last week showed that 50 percent of Ohio voters disapproved of his performance, compared to 45 percent who approved.
“Although President Obama’s job approval rating is below 50 percent for the first time nationally, it is not statistically different from his 50 percent approval rating in October,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
“Nevertheless, in politics symbols matter and this is not a good symbol for the White House.
Other key poll results:
*By a 48-41 percent margin, voters said fighting the war in Afghanistan is the right thing to do.
*Voters said by a 47-42 percent margin that Obama should send 40,000 more combat troops to Afghanistan as military commanders on the ground have requested.
*Voters disapproved of Obama’s handling of the economy, 52-43 percent.
*91 percent of voters said the state of the economy was “not so good” (42 percent) or poor” (49 percent). Just 8 percent said it was “good” and nobody said it was excellent.
The poll was taken from Nov. 9 - Monday, Nov. 16 with 2,518 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
