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Monday, February 8, 2010
Strickland appoints Steven Lesser as PUCO commissioner
Steven Lesser, currently chief of staff at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, has been appointed a PUCO commissioner by Gov. Ted Strickland.
Ellis Jacobs, a senior attorney for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality in Dayton, was among the four candidates - including Lesser - that a nominating committee had sent Strickland to consider.
The commissioners serve five-year terms and regulate gas, telephone and electric utilities. His salary will be $119,995 a year, Strickland’s office said.
Lesser, of Bexley, a Columbus suburb, has been PUCO chief of staff since September 2007.
“Steven has served the PUCO in numerous capacities for the past 30 years,” Strickland said in a press release. “He is well regarded by his colleagues and he understands the issues facing utilities and customers in Ohio.”
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New DeWine AG opponent comes from Tea Party movement
Hardin County attorney Steve Christopher today, Feb. 8, said he is running for the Republican nomination for attorney general against former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine of Cedarville.
“I feel like the moderates and conservatives need to have a candidate for attorney general who’s not a professional politician and a liberal, which DeWine and Cordray both are,” Christopher, 51, who is part of the Tea Party movement, said by phone.
The incumbent attorney general is Democrat Richard Cordray.
Christopher said he is a township trustee in Hardin County where he lives on a farm near Forest. He has law offices in Kenton and Findlay in Hancock County, where he filed his designation of campaign treasurer form.
“The overriding theme (of the campaign) is that we need a conservative on the ballot, someone who understands the constitution,” said Christopher.
He also is an adjunct professor at Ohio Northern University. DeWine attended law school at Ohio Northern.
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Slots-at-the-tracks plan could be on Nov. ballot
Backers of the plan to let voters decide if slot machines should be allowed at Ohio’s seven racetracks said on Monday, Feb. 8, that they filed enough extra signatures to get the issue on the November ballot.
“Today’s filing should put us over the top in qualifying for November’s ballot,” Gene Pierce, treasurer and committee member for LetOhioVote.org, said in a press release.
The group filed 177,307 supplemental signatures from registered voters with Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the release said. The filing should cover a shortfall of 27,065 signatures from the original submission of signatures, said the release.
It takes signatures from 241,366 to qualify the issue for the ballot. The group originally filed petitions with 325,496 signatures but too many were thrown out to qualify the issue. The group then had 10 more days to file the supplemental signatures.
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Ohio AFL-CIO endorses Third Frontier ballot proposal
The Ohio AFL-CIO, the state’s largest labor federation, has endorsed the renewal of the Third Frontier high tech economic development program on the May 4 ballot.
“Third Frontier continues to create jobs and re-invest in our economy and we will encourage our members to vote for its renewal,” Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugula said in a press release on Sunday, Feb. 7.
The ballot proposal calls for the state to issue $700 million in bonds over four years to provide money to universities and businesses for high tech research with the goal of creating jobs.
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Portman holds slim leads in U.S. Senate matchups
Republican Rob Portman holds slim leads over Democrats Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner in possible matchups for this year’s U.S. Senate race, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll released on Monday, Feb. 8.
Portman, a former Cincinnati-area U.S. House member, led Fisher, the lieutenant governor, 43-39 percent, and was ahead of Brunner, the secretary of state, 42-38 percent.
The poll did not include Cleveland-area car dealer Tom Ganley who is running against Portman for the GOP nomination.
In other poll results:
*51 percent somewhat or strongly disapprove of the job performance of President Barack Obama and 49 percent strongly or somewhat approve.
*53 percent somewhat or strongly disapprove of the job performance of Gov. Ted Strickland while 46 percent strongly or somewhat approve.
*54 percent say cutting taxes is a better way to create jobs while 17 percent say government spending is a better way.
*43 percent say the U.S. is safer today than it was before the 9/11 terrorist attacks while 39 percent say it is not.
The poll was taken Friday, Feb. 5 - Saturday, Feb. 6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
