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Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Budget talks break down on “construction reform”
Efforts to reach agreement on a plan to fill an $851 million state budget hole broke down Wednesday, Dec. 2, over a proposal to overhaul how the state awards billions of dollars in construction projects, including those at state-supported universities.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said Senate Republicans want to include “construction reform” in the bill that also would delay for two years the last of five 4.2 percent personal income tax cuts.
Overhauling how contracts are awarded is a needed part of a long-term process to improve state finances, said Harris. Getting the bill passed with construction reform is the right thing to do for “this great state,” Harris said.
He and Senate President Pro Tem Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, said they understood that the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus had a problem with the construction reform proposal. The two Republicans said that they hoped to work out the problem, possibly on Thursday.
However, Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard, and Sen. Fred Strahorn, D-Dayton, said the entire Senate Democratic caucus, not just the black caucus, have concerns with putting construction reform in the bill to fix the budget.
There is not even a bill drafted on construction reform and the plan should work its way through the legislative process, they said. It should be considered separately from the plan to fill the budget hole, they said.
“It seems to me that the funding for education is being held hostage to somebody’s desire to have construction reform,” Cafaro said.
Unless agreement is reached on how to fill the budget hole, cuts would have to be made to K-12 education.
The construction overhaul proposal is based on a report from a panel commissioned by Gov. Ted Strickland that said the changes could save money and get contracts completed sooner. The changes would allow the hiring of construction managers earlier in the process and expand their roles and change how risks involved in projects are shared, among other things.
Harris said Ohio State University President Gordon Gee said that the reforms could save $100 million on just one project.
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Kettering, Lebanon schools get Senate help with report card problem
The Ohio Senate on Wednesday, Dec. 2, gave the Kettering and Lebanon city school districts some help with their annual report cards.
“This is a first step in giving a more true picture of a school district’s performance,” Jim Schoenlein, Kettering interim superintendent, said by phone after the Senate’s 32-1 passage of Senate Bill 167.
The current system “does not communicate how a school district performs in an accurate manner,” Mark North, Lebanon superintendent, said in a separate telephone interview.
Although both districts generally were high-performing, their grades slipped to “Continuous Improvement” — equal to a “C” rating — because of a single measure called Adequate Yearly Progress.
It examines academic achievement in sub groups classified along racial, ethnic, economic and other lines.
Kettering’s AYP performance for special education students and students whose native language is not English brought its ranking down.
Lebanon’s slipped because of the AYP performance for Hispanics and other students whose native language is not English.
Otherwise, both districts were headed for the top rating: excellence with distinction. The bill would change guidelines to prevent a district from dropping more than one classification based solely on AYP performance.
Sen. Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati, cast the only “no” vote. He said the whole report card system needs to be revamped.
Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman, said the governor believes AYP is important in holding schools “accountable for every child.” Strickland has not been supportive of the bill “for some time,” Wurst said.
Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, sponsor of the bill, said that by providing an inaccurate grade of a district’s performance, the current system could make it hard to attract residents who are looking for the best schools for their children.
The bill now goes to the House. It won’t land on Strickland’s desk unless the House and Senate agreed on a final version.
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UPDATED with Speaker Budish response:House GOP leader “disappointed” with Dem Third Frontier plan
Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, and his fellow Democrats apparently have some work to do if they want to get the Republican support they need to approve putting a renewal and expansion of the Third Frontier program on the May 2010 ballot.
House Minority Leader William Batchelder, R-Medina, said in a letter to Budish on Tuesday, Dec. 1, that Democrats had put the plan together without Republican input and after holding “multiple closed-door meetings” with special interest groups.
“I was disappointed by your initial approach to the Third Frontier program,” Batchelder said in the letter.
Budish fired back in a letter to Batchelder about what he said had been bipartisan efforts to put the proposal together. The Third Frontier promotes high-tech research and job creation.
“I’m offended by your accusations and disheartened that you would choose to interject such disparaging political charges into what has historically been a productive and bipartisan process,” Budish wrote.
Nevertheless, Budish said he would offer Republicans a chance to be co-sponsors of the plan.
The House Democratic plan calls for seeking voter approval for a $1 billion, five-year bond proposal.
It requires 60 votes in the 99-member House to pass the plan. Democrats hold 53 seats, which means they need at least seven Republicans.
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Obama gets more support for Afghanistan from Portman than from fellow Dems
President Barack Obama gets more support from Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman for the president’s Afghanistan war plans than the president gets from his fellow Democrats in Ohio.
“I agree with President Obama’s decision to follow the advice of his military commanders and deploy 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan,” Portman said in a prepared statement on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
“Our national security is at stake, as Afghanistan remains the central front in the global war on terror. However, I disagree with an exit strategy that includes arbitrary withdrawal dates that will embolden our enemies.”
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said after Obama’s Tuesday speech that he was “encouraged” by Obama’s “clear goals” and “responsible timeline” but “skeptical about a commitment of 30,000 of our service men and women.”
Portman, a former Cincinnati-area U.S. House member, is seeking the Republican nomination to run for Ohio’s other U.S. Senate seat, held by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who is retiring.
The two candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for that seat did not support sending more troops to Afghanistan.
“…defeating al-Qaida does not require 30,000 additional troops be sent to Afghanistan,” Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher said in a prepared statement.
“”It’s time to say ‘enough’,” Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said in a prepared statement. “It’s time to employ more than military and mercantile strategies in Afghanistan and set a timetable to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.”
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Senate Finance Chairman “optimistic” about state budget deal
Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Carey, R-Wellston, said that he is “optimistic” that agreement could be reached on Wednesday, Dec. 2, on a plan to fill an $851 million state budget hole.
Carey said he would be one of five Republicans to back a plan but declined to name the other four. The five Republicans and support of all 12 Senate Democrats would be needed to pass the plan. Republicans control the Senate. Most of the Republicans are opposed because they consider the proposal a tax increase, which Gov. Ted Strickland and House Democrats deny.
It calls for postponing for two years the fifth year of five, 4.2 percent personal income tax cuts. That provision was in House Bill 318 already approved by the House but the Senate version could include other provisions, including comprehensive prison sentencing reform and construction reform.
It is unclear whether the House, controlled by Democrats, would accept the Senate version.
“We sent over a clean bill and I would like to see a clean bill come out of the Senate,” House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, said on Tuesday.
However, talks involving Strickland, a Democrat, and House and Senate leaders could resolve differences.
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Court: wife’s secret tapes can be used to convict husband
Secret jailhouse recordings between a husband and wife can be used to help convict a criminal defendant, despite a state law that says spouses cannot testify about their private communications, according to an Ohio Supreme Court ruling released Wednesday, Dec. 2.
In a 6-1 decision, the court rejected arguments made by death row inmate Kerry Perez that the recordings made by his wife, Debra, while visiting him in the Clark County Jail should not have been allowed to be used against him at his trial.
The marital privilege law says that a husband or wife shall not testify about their communications. Debra testified at the trial but prosecutors did not ask her to repeat Perez’ statements. Instead, they let the tape recorded conversations do the talking.
The court affirmed Perez’ death sentence for the aggravated murder of Ronald Johnson, who was shot and killed during a March 2003 bar robbery in Springfield. Perez wanted his death sentence reduced to life in prison.
The court’s opinion, written by Justice Robert Cupp, said the marital privilege statute prohibits a spouse testifying about their private communications but doesn’t bar introducing those conversations through other means.
Justice Paul Pfeifer disagreed. In a dissenting opinion, Pfeifer said admitting the secret tapes “eviscerates the intent behind the privilege and is in some ways worse than the admission of testimony. If a spouse testifies, the defendant at least has a right to cross-examine.”
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Centerville attorney disbarred
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday, Dec. 2, permanently disbarred attorney Charles E. Bursey II of Centerville after finding Bursey misappropriated client money, forged clients’ signatures, and mixed client money with his own.
The court said in a 7-0 opinion that Bursey violated attorney discipline rules and engaged in a patter of dishonest conduct.
Bursey, 38, was convicted of theft in May.
