Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson spoke to a small, but impassioned group at Clazel Theatre in Bowling Green on Nov. 2.

Johnson, who served as a Republican governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003, addressed about 150 people, drumming up his experience leading the state and his third-party status.

Gary Johnson

“Right now, you all have to be hearing the following and that is you shouldn’t waste your vote … that’s absolutely right. Don’t waste your vote on somebody that you don’t believe in,” Johnson said.

He touted his experience and popularity as governor.

“This may be an embellishment … I’m waiting for someone to prove me wrong. I may have vetoed more legislation than the other 49 governors in the country combined. I vetoed 750 bills. I had thousands of line-item vetoes. I took line-item vetoes to a new art form,” he said, adding that only two of his vetoes were overturned so he saved taxpayers money.

Johnson said of his re-election in the mostly Democratic state of New Mexico, “I should have been ridden out on a rail, but I think it just speaks volumes to the fact that people really do appreciate good stewardship of taxes dollars.”

He added that polls show he is the only presidential candidate viewed favorably in his state.

“People actually wave at me with all five fingers, not just one,” Johnson said. He also said that a study had him as the best job creator — something he disagreed with in a way.

“I did not create one single job as governor of New Mexico. The private sector creates jobs, but I did create an environment of certainty, rules and regulation,” he said.

Johnson also emphasized how he would cut back on defense if elected.

“I’m the only candidate that does not want to bomb Iran,” he said.

“The largest demonstration in the world in support of the United States after 9/11 was in Iran where over a million citizens showed up in support of the United States, and we’re gonna bomb Iran?” Johnson said.

He also criticized the economic sanctions against Iran

“It’s a horrible place to be. Do the citizens of Iran blame their government for this? Absolutely not. They blame the United States, so we’re making more enemies,” Johnson said.

In addition to bringing the troops home from Afghanistan, Johnson said he would legalize marijuana.

“90 percent of the drug problem is prohibition-related, not use-related,” he said, adding that most of the people behind bars are there because of a drug-related offense.

Colorado is voting on whether to regulate marijuana like alcohol, he said.

“I think it’s going to pass. I think it’s going to be the first of 50 state dominoes that are going to bring about rational drug policy in this country,” Johnson said.

“What happens when Colorado does that and everybody in the whole country gets on an airplane to go to Denver for the weekend to chill out?” he added.

Johnson said he is also a proponent of the Fair Tax, which would eliminate income and corporate taxes, instead imposing a consumption tax.

A consumption tax would be the answer to the country’s trade issues with China and bring manufacturing jobs back, he said.

Johnson, who promised to balance the country’s budget, also called Medicare “unsustainable” because it’s a system where users put $30,000 in and get $100,000 out.

“We need to have a raging debate and discussion in this country on how we cut Medicare,” he said, advocating for giving states block grants to take care of those who are poor or older than 65.

Johnson criticized President Barack Obama for not taking a stronger stance on marriage equality.

“Taking a position that marriage equality is a state issue is effectively saying I’m not going to do anything about it because 42 states have recognized marriage as between a man and a woman. You’re not addressing the issue,” he said.

He also lampooned Gov. Mitt Romney for advocating building a fence on the border between Mexico and the United States.

After calling it the “stupidest thing you could possibly do,” Johnson said, “Let’s make it as easy as possible for someone who wants to come into this country and work to get a work visa.”

The work visa would require immigrants to get a background check and social security number and to pay taxes.

“Would immigrants stand in line if the line was moving to get a work visa? Yes, they would and we are a county of immigrants,” Johnson said. He added that if marijuana were legal, drug violence at the border would be dramatically scaled back.

Eventgoer Mark Noltemeyer, who works for a chemical company in Toledo, said he enjoyed hearing about Johnson’s views on fiscal responsibility and personal freedoms.

“We want to be left alone, a beautiful message,” he said. “The two-party system these days, it’s either this way or this way. Nobody has any common sense.”

His friend Aaron Albright said many people who vote Romney or Obama are “voting for the lesser of two evils, which that’s a waste of their vote in my opinion. And I’ve got friends in non-battleground states, who are voting for Johnson because their vote doesn’t matter because of the way our election system’s set up so they’re going to vote for a third party.”

Brooke Kirian, a teacher and undecided voter from Bowling Green, said she agreed with many of Johnson’s stances and that she also liked Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

“They’re candidates that actually stand for something and speak to a lot of people,” she said, adding that she is putting in a lot of research about where her vote should go.

“I’m voting for what I truly believe in and my morals, my ethics,” she said. “I hope that more people start putting in the necessary thought and research into such a big decision.”

Tags: Election 2012, Gary Johnson, Libertarian

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2012 at 5:33 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Election 2012, Politics.
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Four years ago, many people got caught up in the “historicalness” of the 2008 presidential election. Then-candidate Barack Obama was the man who could make us forget about our troubles. He was “The One” who could restore our credibility with the world, “The One” to provide good jobs for the jobless, “The One” to help the helpless, “The One” to slow the rise of the oceans and “The Only One” who could heal our country’s original sin, slavery. Obama was a blank slate on which we could project all of our hopes for change.

In 2008, we knew in our gut that something wasn’t right because the world was hurting and our families were, too. We were spending too much, and we believed his promise to cut the deficit in half in his first term.  We were tired of war, and we believed his promise to end it.  It all sounded wonderful, a utopia, and because the self-professed “guardians” of the truth, the media, didn’t question any of his promises, it got caught in the whirlwind and helped us cling to that utopia without question.

Now, in 2012, it’s hard to find areas in which we are better off today than we were four years ago. In fact, financially many of us are worse off.

The U.S. government has added $5 trillion to the national debt and President Obama has not cut the deficit in half but instead has increased it. The president promised that he would get us out of the wars, and while our military troops have withdrawn from Iraq, we have troops in at least 90 countries and have been aiding rebels in Libya and Jordan. The cost of the war in Afghanistan has increased during Obama’s presidency along with the number of casualties.

Additionally, despite the stimulus spending and money thrown at companies like Solyndra and all the shovel-ready jobs that the President promised, the national unemployment rate is about the same as it was when Obama took office. There are a record 46 million Americans on food stamps; 8.7 million Americans are on disability and almost 48 percent of Americans pay no income tax. These are all stark reminders that President Obama has not accomplished what he promised during the whirlwind of his election.

So what is the president’s plan for his second term? More of the same, it seems. He is using the same 2008 playbook, as though he has not been president for four years. He talks about hiring more teachers. (that was what the 2009 stimulus was supposed to do), infrastructure jobs (again the 2009 stimulus) and of course the always popular investment in green energy (once more, stimulus 2009). Mr. President, this plan did not work the first time and even I know that if you try something and it doesn’t work, trying it again may not be the best course of action. As a country we will not survive if this trend continues.

Given all of this, the silliness of this election season is astounding. With all the frightening and systemic changes happening in and to America, are we really talking about Big Bird, binders of women and whether the military still uses horses and bayonets? Our country has a 100 percent income-to-debt ratio, yet we are talking about a tall, yellow bird? (That would be like making $30,000 a year and having 30 thousand in credit card debt.)

We have 7.8 percent unemployment and millions who have stopped looking for work, yet we debate horses and bayonets? The Titanic is sinking, and we are being told to listen to the utopic music of the on-deck string quartet to calm us into the “there is nothing to worry about” mentality. I, for one, am sick and tired of being treated like a child who can’t handle the truth. I suspect that most feel the same way.

President Obama has promised more of the same, more government spending and more government handouts.  Americans don’t attack problems with government; we face the problem and tackle it. Entrepreneurs create jobs, not government. Small business grows our economy, not government. If neighbors are having a hard time, we care for them, not the government. At least that is what Americans used to do, have we changed? On Nov. 6, we will have a choice.

Undecided? Understand that it’s OK to not vote for Obama. When a leader is not getting the job done, it’s time to vote him or her out. No regrets for the past. What’s done is done. It’s not too late to change course, but time is running out. Don’t put all hope in “change.” Put hope in the future of America: one that is focused on God-given freedom for all, and believes in the potential of each individual to pursue happiness.

Email columnist Scott Allegrini at letters@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Barack Obama, Children of Liberty, Election 2012, Mitt Romney

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2012 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Children of Liberty, Opinion.
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The mainstream media say there are approximately 4 percent of people who consider themselves “undecided” about the presidential election. My personal opinion is there are more like four. Not percent — the number four. If there is even that small percentage of voters who haven’t made up their minds yet after the nonstop campaigning and being bombarded by political ads day and night for as long as we can remember, they most likely will just not vote.

The first thing undecided voters need to do to come to a rational decision is to educate themselves on the candidates’ positions. In the case of Mitt Romney, this could take a while because they are prone to changing month to month, week to week or even day to day. And pay particular attention to his statements, which often seem to defy conventional wisdom or wisdom altogether.

A particular example just happened to play on a TV commercial even as I’m typing this. Romney states that teachers have nothing to do with building a strong economy, and that smaller classes are just the teachers union trying to get them to hire more teachers! I would be willing to bet that old Mitt never had 40-plus students in his classes in elementary through prep school, so it probably never occurred to him that the quality of education available to the hoi polloi in public schools is directly affected by class size. One teacher can hardly give any student any individual help or attention if she or he has to try to keep a large number of students engaged in the educational process. Those who attended private schools have little or no awareness of the trials and tribulations that the middle class and poor generally face.

Anyone who thinks that a well-educated populace has no bearing on the economy is delusional or simply doesn’t care about the people not in his social set. Romney’s “47 percent” comments have been well reported and seem to bear this out. It’s not just 47 percent that he doesn’t care about, however. The number is probably double that at least. Romney seems to have no real idea what life is like for people who weren’t born with silver spoons in their mouths. He has spent his entire life in a bubble of privilege that has insulated him from the real-life adventure of having to make ends meet.  He’s used to getting his way, and will do or say whatever he thinks the crowd du jour wants to hear to meet his goal of becoming president.  You never get the feeling that he wants to be president to help you and me. It’s more like it’s another notch on his gun handle. It’ll be cool on his résumé, and when he’s done with that, he can probably make some really lucrative bucks by being on some large corporate boards. We’re not his people.

Romney keeps touting how when he was governor of Massachusetts, he worked with an 87 percent Democratic controlled legislature. During his one term in office he vetoed 800 bills; 707 of these vetoes were overridden. Hardly sounds like he was stepping across the aisle to work with the opposition. Add to that the fact that he was gone from the state for 212 days during the last year of his term. He was already moving on. He already had the governor notch. Next!

He did enact Romneycare, which is virtually indistinguishable from Obamacare, but he has dissembled on that saying that while it was OK for Massachusetts, it would devastate the nation if everyone had those benefits. The real reason was the extreme right that he was pandering to considered the one thing he could remotely call a success to be an albatross around his neck. These are the same people who don’t believe in any type of government social programs, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Since Ohio is now the center of the political universe, we’ve been plastered 24/7 with political ads. My last piece of advice would be to follow the money. Since the Citizens United case gave corporations the same rights as citizens, a lot of big money is paying for those ads. All of those Crossroads GPS ads are Karl Rove’s doing, paid for by anonymous money. Sheldon Adelson alone has invested $70 million to defeat Obama. Do you really think he spent that money because he’s worried about you? The Koch Brothers and Americans for Prosperity and many other groups backed by big corporate interests aren’t investing hundreds of millions because they’re worried about you. The same groups are investing tens of millions to defeat Sen. Sherrod Brown, too. Vote for your best interests, not to enhance their bottom lines. Vote for the real public servants.

Tags: Barack Obama, Don Burnard, Election 2012, Hot Corner, Mitt Romney

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2012 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Opinion, The Hot Corner.
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Area door-to-door canvassing for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has kicked into full gear, prompted by Brown’s visit to Toledo on June 30.

Brown spoke to about 40 volunteers and supporters in West Toledo Saturday before they dispersed to canvass.

“Each of you in your school, neighborhood, church, your family, each of you knows more about politics than anybody else you know; and that’s why people will listen to you,” he said to his supporters. “You have more influence than you think you do and that, in the end, will make all the difference in the world.”

Brown said that although state Treasurer Josh Mandel has raised more than $9.5 million from outside groups on attack ads against him, campaign activities such as Saturday’s are a big reason why Brown still leads in the polls.

Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Andrew Zucker said outside groups raised approximately $2 million against Mandel.

According to Quinnipiac University poll released June 27, Brown has a 16-point lead over Mandel, 50-34.

The canvass launch in Toledo is either the third or fourth largest of the 30, Brown said.

Brown said that although unemployment rates in Ohio have improved since 2009, the current rate of 7.3 percent is “nearly not good enough.” He added that the auto rescue helped Ohioans recover.

“You know in this town, probably more than any city in the state, maybe the country, you know what the auto rescue meant,” Brown said. “It’s not jobs at the transition plant in Toledo, it’s not just about the jobs (at Jeep) assembling the Wrangler and the Liberty, it’s Johnson Controls, it’s Magnum, it’s union and non-union plants alike, it’s small companies that feed into the auto supply chain.”

Brown said the Supreme Court ruling to uphold the heart of the Health Care Reform Act will help the lower and middle class citizens who cannot afford health insurance.

“In many ways, the hardest lives are the ones who are making $9-$10 an hour, have jobs and are struggling to get any kind of assistance,” he said. “It really takes care of people who are playing by the rules and doing their best.”

A representative from Mandel’s campaign could not be reached for comment.

Tags: Election 2012, Josh Mandel, Sherrod Brown, U.S. Senate, Vincent D. Scebbi

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2012 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Community, Election 2012.
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Ron Paul’s campaign and its adherents are still claiming that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, and President Barack Obama are the same.

Such a notion would be laughably absurd if the Obama presidency did not invite revulsion. For example, do those who believe this claim expect Romney to be as blatantly disrespectful of the office, dignity and traditions of the presidency as Obama has been? Do they really think that a President Romney would tolerate gay rights activists using a White House reception in their honor to photograph each other making obscene gestures in front of President Reagan’s portrait?

Do they really believe that a President Romney would tolerate in his administration an attorney general who openly lies to Congress, let alone endorse and defend him as Obama has done with Eric Holder?

Do they expect a President Romney to force people of faith to violate their consciences by funding or participating in practices that violate the tenets of their religions, as Obamacare will do to opponents of abortion and contraception in less than two months?

Would President Romney pack the Supreme Court with clearly prejudiced judges nominated solely for their fealty to his agenda, as Obama did with Justice Kagan?

Do they expect a Romney presidency to be a cesspool of corruption like Obama’s quickly became? Do they think a President Romney would hand out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in kickbacks, disguised as guaranteed loans, to backers and bundlers, as Obama did with Solyndra?

Would President Romney bow to foreign leaders, embrace enemies and stab allies in the back, as Obama has done? Would he betray close friends, as the Obama administration did in leaking Israel’s once-secret plans to take out the Iranian nuclear weapons program, supporting election of Muslim Brotherhood members who vow war with Israel in Arab Spring countries, then giving said countries $800 million?

Did Romney sit for 20 years under the preaching of a radical minister who called for God to damn America and referred to the country as the “U.S. Of KKK A”? Would President Romney form his view of the country from such hate? On the contrary: Romney’s faith has strong roots in traditional, unequivocal patriotism and love of America.

Is Romney a pathological liar like the President? Ben Smith of Buzzfeed Politics has documented 38 lies and fabrications, covering everything from ancestors to college, in Obama’s autobiography, “Dreams of My Father.” One wonders if one of his dad’s dreams was that his son would be a man of honor and truthfulness.

The claim that Obama and Romney have no differences is itself rooted in deceit. A headline on Rep. Paul’s campaign site on June 22 states, “Romney No Different From Obama.” The evidence cited for the claim is a video from the Jan. 16 Republican candidates’ debate of Romney saying he would have signed the National Defense Authorization Act.

The text accompanying the video fails to note that, in the video clip, Romney goes on to explain in detail major differences between himself and the president – and, by the way, Congressman Paul – regarding defense, terrorism and national security.

Paul supporters are also circulating a video of Paul saying in a June 20 interview on MSNBC that “people have been misled into thinking that there’s a big contest” between Obama and Romney.

Paul’s backers use this video to claim there’s no difference between the two; but then Paul explains that while he fails to see satisfactory difference in their philosophies of government, there are major differences in “personality and power struggle.” As we saw in the examples of the attorney general, religious freedom and the Supreme Court, there are undeniable major differences between Obama and Romney regarding “philosophies of government.”

For the Paul people to present these videos as evidence that there are no differences between Romney and Obama is flatly dishonest. Such a claim is like saying that Republicans and Democrats are the same. Both positions require deliberate disregard of factual evidence and willful acceptance of falsehood.

The claim that Obama and Romney are the same is also, much like Obama, childishly spiteful. Since their hero is out of the running, Paul’s followers want to bring down his rival as well, thus ensuring Obama’s reelection. While to his credit he still wants to influence the Republican party, Paul refuses to endorse Romney, even though his son, Sen. Rand Paul, has done so to the Paul camp’s chagrin.

From acceptance of delusion to willingness to believe and spread lies to indulgence of spite, I maintain that those who promulgate the notion of no differences between Obama and Romney are the same as the president and his supporters.

Tags: Barack Obama, Children of Liberty, Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Thomas Berry

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 24th, 2012 at 8:27 am and is filed under Children of Liberty, Election 2012, Opinion.
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Thank goodness Super Tuesday is behind us and St. Patrick’s Day is mere hours away. In this all too brief period of relative calm before a Celtic Storm of Guinness and 12 year-old examples of the distiller’s art, I strangely found myself connecting many of those running for elective office with the mythical patron saint of Ireland. Like many of those doing so, Patrick seemed a rather unlikely candidate for his role, having in fact come to Ireland for the first time in chains as a slave (long a favorite way for the Irish to treat their eastern neighbors). Also like many politicians, there’s a good bit of misinformation out there regarding his history and alleged achievements.

Having done a bit of research on Patrick, one cannot help but notice for example, that as part of his missionary duties of casting out evil (something which some recent candidates seem to believe they can do), he’s credited with driving the snakes from Ireland. Now while it’s true that there are no legless reptiles on the Emerald Isle (except perhaps, those long since brought over as pets … or perhaps a few spineless ones running for political office), the terrible truth is that there have never been snakes native to the Island. The myth for this wondrous feat is little more than pure fabrication (probably done by his most ardent supporters or operatives attempting to gain his canonization). And while the facts do not bear the story out, the continued recounting of these half-truths, mistruths and outright lies cannot help but lead to comparisons to those running for office.

We are told the fiction by some that experience in running a business means that a candidate is better able to help run a government. Unless you consider that like government, most businesses seek to expand their size and influence; or that the current CEO seems to believe that he can do whatever he wants without consulting with stockholders, senior management or the board of directors, I can find none. No business running like government could long remain in business (well … maybe GM and Chrysler), and government seems all but incapable of the reorganization required to run like one.

Many of those same candidates tell us the myth that if elected to office, they’ll “work to bring jobs to the area.” Of course governments can do no such thing, with the exception of course of adding to their own ranks through the previously mentioned expansionism. In fact the only way that politicians and governments can even hope to assist in this effort is to get out of the way of the entrepreneurs who actually create jobs.

Others tell us tales that they’ll bring more services and lower taxes when elected. Setting aside the logical inconsistency that these political saints can somehow perform a miracle and do more with less, we are left with the terrible truth that government isn’t there to provide things to its constituents in the first place. Government was designed to do for people only those things that individually they cannot do for themselves. Attempting to do more for people than paving the streets and keeping them safe is a question of taking personal responsibility, and a quality of life issue that cannot be parceled out by government fiat.

Of course incumbents tell us the fable that they should be rewarded and retained (or moved up the governmental food chain) so that their experience can be taken advantage of. Certainly something is being taken advantage of with the experience currently being displayed by government, but it seems far more likely to be the trust of the voters. If this is the kind of government that experience gets us, I vote that kick all the bums out and start from scratch. Political neophytes may not be experienced with the way government works (or doesn’t), but neither are they cursed with a history of doing the “business as usual” that has proved good for politicians and not so much for voters.

It seems that like those surrounding St. Patrick, far too often what we’re handed by candidates is little more than myth and legend. They have far too little to do with the actions performed, past or present; and are usually more the result of cleverly fabricated fictions by campaign organizers. I’m afraid that when the dust settles in November, we’re far more likely to have those who, like St. Patrick, have been given credit for chasing the snakes from somewhere these reptiles have never been. As we celebrate the day in his honor once more however, perhaps it’s we who might learn a valuable lesson from St. Patrick’s myth, and instead chase out a few snakes ourselves.

Tags: Election 2012, Just Blowing Smoke, St. Patrick, Tim Higgins

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012 at 11:50 am and is filed under Just Blowing Smoke, Opinion.
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Statewide results may be found here. Lucas County results are posted here. Reactions will be posted throughout the day.

March 6, Super Tuesday, saw Mitt Romney winning Ohio, but Rick Santorum winning Lucas County; Rep. Marcy Kaptur triumphing over Rep. Dennis Kucinich despite Lucas County Board of Elections snafus and the ¾ renewal income tax levy’s passage. All results below are unofficial and based on Lucas County Board of Election and Secretary of State figures.

Former Gov. Romney won 38 percent of Ohio votes while Former Sen. Santorum had 37 percent. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich finished with 15 percent and Congressman Ron Paul ended up with 9 percent. Gov. Rick Perry and former Gov. Jon Huntsman, who have both withdrawn from the race, finished around half a percentage point.

Romney, who visited Toledo on Feb. 29, ended up with 37 percent of the votes in Lucas County compared to Santorum, who visited Perrysburg on Feb. 28, receiving 38 percent. Paul received 13 percent and Gingrich gained 12 percent in the area.

Idaho, Virginia, Massachusetts, Alaska and Vermont also went to Romney on March 6. Santorum took North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee and Gingrich won in Georgia.

In the Democrats’ race to represent District 9, unofficial results show Kaptur with 56 percent of the votes while Kucinich had about 40 percent. Graham Veysey took 4 percent.

Both candidates are longtime congress members while Veysey runs a documentary company. In Lucas County, Kaptur received 94 percent of the votes while Kucinich took 4 percent and Veysey took 2 percent. However, in Cuyahoga County, Kucinich’s turf, he took 73 percent compared to Kaptur’s 24 percent and Veysey’s 3 percent. Kaptur won Erie, Lorain and Ottawa counties. Veysey came in second in Ottawa County with 11 percent to Kucinich’s 8 percent.

Kaptur’s victory was not without its moments of drama—about 70 Lucas County voters may have received the wrong ballot March 6, said Steve Fought, Kaptur’s campaign manager.

“It’s just sloppy work on the part of the Board of Elections. Voters in Lucas County have had enough of this; it’s time for the Board of Elections to get its act together,” he said.

Samuel Wurzelbacher aka Joe the Plumber will face Kaptur in November, according to unofficial results. In a tight district race, he earned 51 percent versus Steven Kraus’ 49 percent. In Lucas County, Wurzelbacher finished with 65 percent and Kraus with 35 percent. Wurzelbacher also won Cuyahoga and Ottawa counties while Kraus took Erie and Lorain.

Holland resident Wurzelbacher gained fame when he asked Barack Obama about his tax plan in the 2008 campaign. Kraus is a real-estate agent and auctioneer.

Fifty-seven percent of Toledo voters were for Issue 1, the ¾ percent payroll tax renewal while 43 percent are against it. The temporary tax brings in about $51 million annually and has been on the books for 28 years.

Passage means the city can maintain its plan of graduating more police and fire classes in addition to a “robust” street repaving program, said Council President Joe McNamara on March 6.

“Had it failed, that would probably have been the first thing to go,” he said.

“I didn’t know what to expect because these have been challenging times in terms of the economy,” he added of the issue’s passage. “I’m just grateful that a majority continue to support the City of Toledo.”

In the race to face Sen. Sherrod Brown in November, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel took 63 percent of votes. Michael Pryce earned 14 percent and Donna Glisman earned 12 percent. David Dodt and Eric LaMont Gregory both took about 5 percent while Russell Bliss took .21 percent.

With 57 percent of the votes, Toledo City Councilman Phil Copeland will run against colleague Republican George Sarantou in the county recorder race, according to unofficial results. Oregon City Councilman James Seaman had 29 percent and attorney Kevin Eff had 14 percent.

“I want to go and be a part of it and I may have some ideas when I get in there,” Copeland has said of his plan for the office.

Tags: Election 2012, payroll tax

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Community, Election 2012.
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Ohio’s new Republican Gov. John Kasich is a study in contradictions.

He is candid yet secretive. He is acerbic yet personable. He quibbles over media access yet is omnipresent on Twitter and Fox. He’s made a cause of taking on public workers after spending most of his life as one.

Critics call Kasich’s inconsistencies arrogance. Fans see him as bold and endearingly human. Polls have found mounting dissatisfaction among voters. One thing shines through regardless: John Kasich is a man in a hurry.

Six months into a four-year term, Kasich has dumped his Democratic predecessor’s high-speed rail initiative and education overhaul. He’s moved to privatize Ohio’s job creation operation, state prisons and the Ohio Turnpike. He’s signed a bill limiting bargaining rights for 350,000 unionized public workers that’s even stricter than Wisconsin’s polarizing first-in-the-nation restrictions.

The state budget he signed on Thursday closes a yawning budget gap that approached $8 billion while cutting estate, income and investment taxes.

The pros and cons of Kasich have both Democrats and fellow Republicans seeing the possibility that his impact could be important as President Barack Obama seeks to retake Ohio in 2012. Obama won with 51.5 percent of the vote in 2008, but it is essentially a race between the parties to see whose ideas — Obama’s stimulus and health care policies, or Kasich’s business incentives and cuts to government — do more, faster for average Ohioans.

Both know that to Ohio voters, the economy is king.

“Ultimately John Kasich’s popularity will not be the most important number to determine whether Obama carries Ohio. It will be the unemployment rate,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute.

Indeed, Kasich, appearing Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation, said doing “what’s right” trumps any consideration of his political popularity.

“At the end of the day you look yourself in the mirror and you say to yourself, `Did I do what was right for families and for children? If I paid a political price, so what?”’ Kasich said.

And the former congressman and chairman of the House Budget Committee in the Clinton administration admonished Washington lawmakers to re-evaluate their own motivations.

“I mean, there’s too much posturing. There’s too much thinking about your party, yourself.”

Looking almost shell-shocked on Election Night after squeaking out a victory over Ted Strickland, a once-popular Democrat, Kasich tossed two victorious fists in the air. He grabbed his running mate, Mary Taylor, for a twirl to the music, and grinned. “Guess what? I’m gonna be governor of Ohio!”

He punctuates his proclamations with a pointed finger, a verbal jab and a nod of his head of brown tousled hair. Long-time Statehouse lobbyist Gayle Channing Tenenbaum says it’s a rare day when Kasich doesn’t say something that surprises.

“It’s interesting to watch him because you just don’t know what particular thing he’s going to be grabbing onto at that particular moment,” she said. “When it’s something that you are really interested in, such as mental health or autism, it always pleases you.”

Now 59, Kasich moves through his days with the demeanor of the young man he was when he arrived at the Statehouse in 1978, making history as the youngest state senator Ohioans had ever elected at 26. His youthful self-image shows through when he declares he’ll change the color of Ohio’s pink drivers’ licenses or restore snow days schoolkids were losing in a legislative battle. He likes Lady Gaga, Spiderman and wants Ohio to be cool.

Yet a Quinnipiac Poll found voters’ disapproval of Kasich rose from 46 percent in March to 49 percent in May. Majorities disliked his handling of the state budget and said his policies are unfair to people like them.

Kasich is among a handful of new Republican governors around the country — including Florida’s Rick Scott and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker — who are trying a new aggressive approach, often to the displeasure of the public.

Public Policy Polling declared Kasich and Scott the two most unpopular governors in America in May.

Protests dog Kasich wherever he goes. Last week, thousands of teachers, firefighters, police officers and other unionized workers paraded through the streets of Columbus against Ohio’s new collective bargaining law — many chanting, “O-H-I-O, John Kasich’s got to go!”

On a recent afternoon at Port Columbus International Airport, Bill Parizek, a Republican from suburban Dublin, tried to explain the phenomenon, comparing Kasich to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a fellow Republican and fiscal conservative.

“They have that cold, just-the-facts kind of approach. They do what they think they need to do to right the ship, and they’re not as warm and fuzzy as probably a lot of people would like,” said Parizek, 49, who works for a New York investment fund. “I think that’s the profile of the kind of person you need to make really tough, fundamental structural change.”

Kasich exudes confidence when he enters a room, even being so bold as to deliver his State of the State address without a script. His style can lend itself to verbal gaffes.

At Ohio Memory Day, a day of advocacy for people with Alzheimer’s disease, he told the crowd he “drew a blank” trying to write his remarks. He called a police officer who once pulled him over “an idiot” in front of a gathering of Ohio EPA workers. Kasich later apologized.

George Tucker, an AFL-CIO union leader for the Toledo region, interprets such misstatements by Kasich as a disregard for other people. He said the governor is “just out of touch.”

“I don’t think he has any feelings or sympathy for working people,” Tucker said. “He doesn’t have to look people in the eye who are being put out of their jobs like we do and tell them, `You’re not going to get that assistance you were counting on.”’

Kasich, known in Congress for fighting for a balanced budget, ran for president in 2000 but dropped out before the Republican primary. His work as a speaker, best-selling author of books on his conservative philosophies, former Fox News commentator and managing director at since-failed investment bank Lehman Brothers helped make him a millionaire — so he says he’s not worried about being a one-term governor.

He says he’s trying to fix Ohio’s economy and can’t be distracted by lousy poll numbers, Statehouse protests and critics who parse his every word. By clashing with well-funded unions and special interests such as nursing homes and casinos, he says he never expected to be liked. In fact, his is almost a holy mission.

“Do you have any idea the pounding I’ve taken in six months?” he asked a group of reporters and Cabinet directors at a Friday event. “I kind of like it, I think it accrues to my benefit — not in this world, but by doing the right thing, I get points, OK?”

He started taking on reporters even before he took office — denying them records and attempting to bar them from his ceremonial inauguration. After he was criticized, he went beyond changing his mind to hosting the largest midnight swearing-in anyone could remember — with more than 150 onlookers and his entire Cabinet.

Two months later, Kasich tried to bar recording equipment at the media’s technical briefing on his budget, hoping to focus attention on a public budget unveiling that evening that starred Ohio’s budget as Apple’s latest iPad and Kasich as Steve Jobs.

Confronted again, Kasich relented — but not before the political blogosphere lit up with allegations that he was becoming a serial obstructionist.

Kasich has often answered his critics — bloggers, unions, Ohio Democrats and late-night comedians — with a well-timed appearance on Fox News, where he used to host “From the Heartland with John Kasich,” or upbeat Twitter posts like this one from Wednesday: “Proud of my partners in the legislature. Together, we closed an $8 billion budget gap and cut taxes!”

With the Ohio vote so closely divided between the parties, the question will be whether Kasich can ultimately win over the state with his bold approach.

Right now, it seems for every Ohioan who appreciates what he’s attempting, there is another who disagrees, like Democrat John Hisey, a 60-year-old retired manufacturing worker from Newark. Criticizing Kasich and his fellow Republicans, Hisey said the governor is

“bad for Ohio.”

“They want everybody to work for $7.35 an hour, unless you’re a brain surgeon or something like that,” Hisey said. “A simple man can’t go out and raise his family like he used to. It’s true.”

Tags: Democrat, Election 2012, Gov. John Kasich, Government, Republican, State of Ohio

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Community, State of Ohio.
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President Barack Obama cannot escape one giant vulnerability as he bids to keep his job: There are millions of voters who still don’t have one.

Suddenly, the snapshot of the American economy is depressing again.

Job creation is down. So is consumer confidence. And homes sales, auto sales, construction spending, manufacturing expansion.

The brutal month of May was a reminder of the economy’s fragility and the risks for an incumbent president.

Nothing that Obama oversees, not even a success as dramatic as finding and killing Osama bin Laden, will matter as much as his handling of the economy. It is the dominant driver of voter behavior. People hold their president accountable if they can’t find work in the richest country in the world.

The weakening recovery is testing the entire foundation of Obama’s optimistic economic message, that the nation is getting stronger all the time. As much as the White House says it never dwells on any single jobs report, and Obama never even mentioned the troubling one released Friday, the stakes get higher by the month.

A finally forming field of Republican presidential competitors is maneuvering into the space for the public’s attention with this message: Obama has failed.

Election Day 2012 is 17 months away, and Obama’s campaign knows incremental job growth won’t do. The unemployment rate is 9.1 percent. If it stays anywhere near there, Obama will face re-election with a higher jobless rate than any other post-war president.

In his favor, Obama still has the loudest voice to sell his message that the longer term trends, including job growth every month, are good.

Nearly halfway through a year dominated by foreign events mostly outside his control, he plans to build his next few months around economic events.

So what comes next will be a summer when both sides select the economic facts that best suit their case. It will play against a backdrop of trying to cut a massive deficit while letting the nation borrow more so it doesn’t default.

As Obama pushes his economic agenda, his re-election chances bank on more than job growth. They also depend on how well he can remind people that he inherited a recession and that compared with the early days of 2009, the country is in a better place.

“This economy took a big hit,” Obama said June 3 in Ohio, a pivotal state in the 2012 election. “You know, it’s just like if you had a bad illness, if you got hit by a truck, it’s going to take a while for you to mend. And that’s what’s happened to our economy. It’s taking a while to mend.”

Is progress enough to convince people that he deserves a second term?

If so, he can’t afford many setbacks like the new jobs report. Employers in May added just 54,000 jobs, the fewest in eight months. Almost 14 million people are jobless. Analysts suggested the economy could improve this year, but the recovery could be weak for months.

“There are always going to be bumps on the road to recovery,” Obama said.

The Republicans hoping to unseat him pounced.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: “President Obama has failed to pull us out of this economic downturn.”

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: “Obama’s failure to address the tough challenges” is clear.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: “The administration’s policies are failing.”

Obama’s political tendency is to take the longer view. An Associated Press-GfK poll less than a month ago, for example, showed rising public optimism about the economy and his stewardship.

The election won’t be just a referendum on Obama and the unemployment rate. It also will offer a choice between his economic ideas and his opponent’s. Still, just as change worked for him last time, it can be used against him in 2012.

Even 8 percent unemployment, a goal once promoted by the administration, is hard to see now.

Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush all faced unemployment rates higher than 7.5 percent in the final months of their re-election campaigns. Reagan won, and an important factor for him was that the jobless rate was declining at the time. Carter and Bush lost.

Obama, for now, has no reason to engage the politicians trying to win his job. He instead presents himself as the workers’ champion who risked his own capital and their money in a successful bid to help Chrysler and General Motors survive and return to profitability.

“I’ll tell you what. I’m going to keep betting on you,” Obama told workers at a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio.

And hope they’ll do the same for him.

__

Article by White House Correspondent Ben Feller who has covered the Bush and Obama presidencies for The Associated Press.

Tags: Democrat, Election 2012, Politics, President Barack Obama, Presidential election, Republican

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 5th, 2011 at 7:38 pm and is filed under Community, Election 2012.
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Prominent labor leaders, frustrated that Democrats in Washington aren’t aggressively pursuing the union agenda, are threatening to limit their campaign support for Democrats, an act that would hamper the party’s bid to regain control of the House next year and keep a majority in the Senate.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s threat of a pullback May 20 was the latest warning to a party that has long relied on labor’s cash and grass-roots support. If it makes good on its threat, labor probably would spend more time and money combating union-busting efforts by state officials.

“We will change the way we spend, the way we do things and the way we function that creates power for workers,” Trumka said.

In a speech at the National Press Club, Trumka called for “an independent labor movement” and said unions were not responsible for building the power of any political party, but for improving the lives of working families. He promised that unions would spend the summer holding leaders in Congress and the states accountable.

If labor makes itself truly independent of the Democratic Party, it would mark a major shift in a long-standing political relationship.

“It doesn’t matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside to let it happen,” Trumka said. “The outcome is the same either way. If leaders aren’t blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families’ interests, then working people will not support them.”

The AFL-CIO’s executive council is considering a plan that could spend less on congressional races and more on fighting state battles like those in Wisconsin and Ohio, where lawmakers want to weaken collective bargaining rights and reduce union clout.

But Trumka made clear the federation had no plan to follow the lead of the nation’s largest firefighters union, which announced last month that it would halt all political donations to members of Congress because they are not fighting hard enough for union rights. The move has won praise in many corners of the labor movement, where union activists have openly grumbled about House and Senate Democrats being too quiet while unions are getting pummeled in dozens of states.

“We’ve spent money where we have friends and we will continue to do that,” he said.

Leon Fink, a labor historian at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said unions are tired of being taken for granted and discouraged that their influence with moderate and conservative Democrats has been limited.

“Spending a lot of money electing conservative Democrats in marginal districts had no legislative payoff for unions,” Fink said. “They don’t seem to have the capacity to impose their will on the party.”

Unions have been disappointed that Congress has not passed a more ambitious stimulus plan to create jobs, that health care reform didn’t go far enough and that Democrats — when they held a majority in Congress — couldn’t muster enough votes to pass a bill that would make it easier to organize unions.

The AFL-CIO spent more than $50 million to support Democrats in last year’s midterm elections, much of it in critical get-out-the vote efforts in dozens of key races. But a growing number of union leaders remain frustrated at what their money has bought. Some activists want to reallocate resources permanently so that more is spent bolstering grass roots support in the states.

Unions have threatened to pull support from Democrats before, only to come back as election time draws closer when they realize there are few political alternatives.

Asked how seriously Democrats should take the threat, Trumka pointed to former Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln. Unions spent about $10 million last year trying to unseat Lincoln in the Democratic primary because she refused to support a broader health reform package and a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions. Lincoln beat back the challenge, but lost in the general election.

Yet unions continued to offer support to other Democrats in the 2010 election who also wavered on the health overhaul, as some leaders feared the consequences of a GOP majority would be even worse.

It remains unclear how far the trend on unions trimming back political donations might spread. The politically powerful Service Employees International Union does not intend to reduce its role in federal races, SEIU political director Brandon Davis said.

Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said organized labor is not just an important part of the Democratic Party, but is “critical to rebuilding our entire economy.”

“We are working closely with labor at every level to build strong campaigns and deliver results for working families,” Cecil said.

Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said “labor’s fight is our fight and we’re proud to partner with them.”

Trumka saved his harshest criticisms for Republicans in Congress and dozens of state legislatures for passing budgets that slash pensions and curb bargaining rights of union members while giving tax cuts to “the powerful and well-connected.”

“The final outrage of these budgets is hidden in the fine print,” Trumka said. “In state after state, and here in Washington, these so-called fiscal hawks are actually doing almost nothing to cut the deficit.”

He said these budget deals are sending a message that “sacrifice is for the weak.”

“Powerful political forces are seeking to silence working people — to drive us out of the national conversation,” Trumka said.

Trumka and other union leaders have said they expect the moves in some states to curb union rights will create a backlash that will help organized labor grow stronger.

Tags: Democrats, Election 2011, Election 2012, Politics, Unions

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 at 9:43 am and is filed under Community, Politics.
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