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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > September > 20
Monday, September 20, 2010
Vice President Biden stumps for Gov. Strickland in Dayton
By Lucas Sullivan
Vice President Joe Biden spoke just after lunch at a fundraiser for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland at the Engineers Club in downtown Dayton, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 20.
Biden greeted and took pictures with the area’s most loyal Democrats before telling the crowd Strickland’s re-election bid is “the most important governor’s race in the country.” A few hundred attended the event, paying from $125 to $5,000 to see or speak with the VPOTUS.
Strickland introduced Biden after speaking for about a minute. Strickland admitted his race was going to be “very close” and asked for those in audience to mobilize and reach apathetic voters. Strickland is down as many as 17 points in the latest polls, though there was no mention of that by Strickland or Biden.
Biden took the podium with Strickland seated to his left and Strickland’s running mate Yvette McGee-Brown to his right and spoke for nearly 40 minutes about the country’s economic problems and how Strickland’s Republican opponent, John Kasich, represented the same Republicans that put the country and economy into “a ditch.”
Biden said Democrats need to tell voters “Don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. The Republican Tea Party is the alternative.”
Biden mentioned Kasich’s ties to Wall Street through his tenure at Lehman Brothers and said “I like John,” but called most of Kasich’s plans misguided. Biden said President Obama has created 763,000 private sector jobs since taking office two years ago, “more than the previous administration did in eight years.”
Meanwhile, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine of Fairborn used a press release to “welcome” Biden to the state.
“Joe Biden is a visible reminder of why Ohioans are fed up with the failed policies and reckless spending of the Obama administration,” said DeWine.
“He’s been here three times since August, and the only thing Ohio has to show for it is 15,000 more people on the unemployment line.”
Back in Dayton, Biden hammered home Strickland’s ability to balance Ohio’s budget while still investing in public education.
Biden said he has campaigned for many candidates, but there is no one that has “more character” than Strickland and said the Ohio governor knows what it is like to struggle, referencing Strickland’s hardships on the farm growing up.
Biden said the country’s “most important” governor’s race was going to be a close one. He said Strickland’s ability to lead Ohio through the “greatest recession” in history shows his character and the governor has helped rescue a state from policies of the previous Republican administration.
Like he has done numerous times before, Biden referenced growing up in Scranton, Pa., and his father’s decision to move the family to Delaware in search of work and “the longest walk parents can make” is up a short flight of stairs to tell their children they’ve lost their job.
“Millions have been stripped of their dignity,” Biden said. “It’s time to restore their dignity.”
Biden said he gets that millions of Americans are upset and said they have a right to be. He said Republicans don’t value the middle class and said Republicans will cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, while middle class families struggle to pay their utility bills.”
Biden said the Republicans want to give those who make an average of $8.3 million a $360,000 tax break, which add to $700 billion in lost tax revenue.
“When the country’s in the ditch we want to take that $700 billion and reduce the deficit with it,” he said. “There’s no economic data to show they would invest the money otherwise.”
He rallied those in attendance by saying, “Reports of the demise of the Democratic Party are premature.” He was emphatic Democrats would hold majorities in both the House and Senate through the Nov. 3 election.
After speaking Biden and Strickland hopped on a plane to another campaign event near the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.
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TweetPassenger train study sparks disagreement
A study released on Monday sparked more disagreement about Ohio’s plans to develop passenger rail service linking Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.
Also Monday, Amanda Wurst, spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, a key booster of the Ohio rail plan, said the governor rejects state Sen. Shannon Jones’ request that the state delay signing planning contracts for the Ohio project until after the election.
Strickland supports the rail plan while Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich is opposed.
“Connecting the Midwest”, the report from the Ohio Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund, said that a completed Midwest high speed rail network - including connections in Ohio - over 10 years of construction would:
*Create more than 57,000 permanent jobs.
*Improve the environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
*Give Midwestern manufacturers of railroad equipment a boost.
“You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution,” said Jeff Griffin of PIRG. “Rail is part of the solution.”
However, Rob Nichols, spokesman for Kasich, said Kasich, if elected would end the rail project because of slow speed of the trains, questions about ridership and other problems.
If Kasich becomes governor, “this train will never leave the station,” said Nichols.
At a press conference unveiling the PIRG report, state Rep. Bob Hagan, D-Youngstown, said opposition to the project in the Republican-controlled Senate was “political,” inspired by Kasich’s opposition. It comes despite past GOP support for considering passenger rail, Hagan said.
“I don’t know if some of these senators and former senators have been sniffing coal dust or just have a terrible case of the ‘whatever’s-popular- nows’….,” Hagan said.
Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., said, however, that she has been a long-time critic of the plan and said it makes sense to delay signing contracts for a planning study until after the Nov. 2 election.
The Controlling Board has approved releasing $25 million for the study but contracts still are being “finalized,” Scott Varner, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation, said. The money would come from $400 million in federal funds awarded to the state for the rail project.
In an e-mail, Wurst said Strickland won’t delay.
“What Sen. Jones and Congressman Kasich seem to not understand is that if Ohio doesn’t use these resources to create Ohio rail jobs, we will lose these jobs - in the manufacturing, construction, retail and maintenance industries - to another state like Florida or Michigan,” Wurst said.
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TweetBrown to decide whether to use state insurance for disciplinary issue
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Eric Brown, appointed to the bench in April, is facing a pending disciplinary complaint over whether he violated judicial conduct rules when he personally called lawyers, asking them to attend a May 14 campaign fund-raiser.
Brown has not made a final decision yet on whether he will use a state insurance policy to cover his legal bills, his campaign spokesman Don Spicer said.
A state insurance policy covers judges’ legal expenses when they are facing disciplinary complaints or legal actions stemming from their official duties. The policy costs the state $741,000 a year and covers more than 800 judges across Ohio.
Republican Justices Judith Lanzinger and Maureen O’Connor represented themselves in disciplinary complaints filed in June by the Ohio Democratic Party, said O’Connor campaign spokeswoman Amy Sabath. Those complaints, which were filed after the complaint against Brown, were recently dismissed for lacking probable cause, the campaigns announced.
Spicer said Brown is the victim of a frivolous complaint lodged by the Ohio Republican Party in June but that he is unable to comment on the confidential matter until it is resolved.
Disciplinary complaints against lawyers and judges are confidential unless probable cause has been found. The complaint against Brown was filed with a three-judge panel but there has been no word on its current status.
O’Connor is running for chief justice against Brown, a Democrat who was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland.
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TweetKasich TV ad features wife, daughters to promote “Opportunity”
With his wife Karen and their twin daughters Emma and Reese in supporting roles, Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich on Monday unveiled a new TV ad, “Opportunity”, to promote Kasich’s plans for education.
Previous Kasich TV ads have focused on jobs and economic development. The new 30-second spot ties education into these issues but lacks specific proposals.
“We want to create an opportunity society right here in Ohio,” Kasich says to a group of people in a library setting, with his wife and their daughters in the group.
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland’s campaign criticized Kasich’s voting record in Congress on higher education grants and scholarships.
“Only one candidate in this race can be trusted to fight for education and that is Ted Strickland,” the governor’s campaign said.
Here’s the ad:
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