Blue Buckeye Blog

Household incomes remain low under Bush

A new report by the U.S. Federal Reserve shows that the average family income dropped by 2.3 percent between 2001 and 2004, causing American families to feel less financially secure.  In addition, under President Bush's failed economic leadership minority income remains less than 60 percent that of whites.

The drop in household income is the first decline since 1989-1992, when George H.W. Bush was in office.  In contrast, average family income increased under President Clinton by 17.3 percent over the period between 1998 and 2001.

The study also indicates that the decline in family income is a direct result of falling wages.  Despite this, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have refused to raise the minimum wage, which was raised 10 years ago.  As a result, the Economic Policy Institute noted that "the real value of the minimum wage has fallen significantly, as minimum-wage workers earned only 32 percent of the average hourly wage in 2005."

Stunning role reversal for Dems in Ohio

The negative campaign commerical Ken Blackwell released earlier this week confirmed the suspicions of many political observers - Democrats, normally content to fight difficult primary battles that often leave the best candidate bloodied and at a fundraising disadvantage, have changed their ways.

It will be Republicans, not Democrats, will slug it out with nasty campaign ads and dirty tricks.  Joe Hallet, in today's Columbus Dispatch, hits the nail on the head:

Such twists of fortune are novel since Robert T. Bennett became Ohio GOP chairman 18 years ago. Until now, he magically has arranged statewide tickets by slotting his best candidates so they don’t waste their money and good names killing each other in primary campaigns. Not so in 2006.

Meanwhile, Chris Redfern, the new chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, discovered Bennett’s lost pixie dust. On Wednesday night, he sprinkled some on the party’s executive committee, and created something the party has lacked for 15 years: discipline.

In methodical fashion, Redfern led the committee to endorse a slate of candidates built around the candidacies of U.S. Reps. Ted Strickland of Lisbon for governor and Sherrod Brown of Avon for U.S. Senate. Redfern sought to copy the Bennett strategy of clearing the field for a ticket that embraces geographic, gender and racial diversity. He succeeded.

Two Taft aides plead to Noe/BWC loan charges

From the AP:

Two former aides to Gov. Bob Taft pleaded no contest Friday to charges they failed to report hefty loans from the coin dealer at the center of Ohio's government corruption scandal.

The plea agreements and fines the two were ordered to pay were the latest court penalties against former aides for Taft to arise from the still widening scandal, in which the governor also has pleaded no contest to ethics charges.

Doug Moorman and Douglas Talbott were fined $1,000 and $3,960 respectively.

State Senator Marc Dann comments Moorman and Talbott and the difference between loans and bribes -  Download dann_comments.mp3 

Legal protest filed against Blackwell's TEL Amendment

Opponents of Ken Blackwell's proposed constitutional amendment that would force an unrealistic and rigid budget formula today filed a legal protest against the initiative petitions in Clark, Clermont, Cuyahoga, Franklin and Lorain counties.

“Our review of these petitions has revealed numerous problems and inconsistencies,” said Bill Faith, the official protester and an opponent of the proposed constitutional amendment.  “The petitions are just like the amendment itself, sloppy and poorly done.  A constitutional amendment of this importance and complexity needs to be approached with a lot more care.”

The legal filing today specifies three broad grounds for protest: 

1. A number of submitted part-petitions list inaccurate and false employer information.  Paid circulators are required by Ohio law to disclose their employer.  The part-petitions in question list “Reform Ohio Now,” Citizens for Tax Relief,” "Citizens for Tax Return" or names other than the entity actually paying circulator.
2. A number of submitted part-petitions have a false number of total signatures per sheet as reported.  Some part-petitions have the wrong number, in other cases it appears the number was changed by someone other than the circulator.
3. A number of part-petitions do not accurately state the compensation of circulators.  Ohio law requires a circulator to complete a compensation statement prior to circulating a part-petition.  In this instance, part-petitions contained compensation information that was omitted, false, altered or interlineated, which would invalidate the entire part-petition. 

Tax cheats would benefit from Taylor's bill

Corporations that thumb their noses at paying state taxes could benefit under legislation introduced by Republican State Auditor candidate Mary Taylor.

The bill, which passed the Ohio House yesterday, would put a statute of limitations on the collection of unpaid business, sales, income and other taxes.  House Democratic leader Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus), said today that she is concerned the end result will be another shift of Ohio's tax burden away from the wealthy and big corporations and onto honest, hard-working middle-class families.

Every dollar that a dishonest person avoids paying in taxes because of this bill is one more dollar that people who work hard and play by the rules will have to pay," Beatty said.  "Why would we let tax cheats off the hook and force middle-class families to pay more?"

ODP Executive Committee endorses statewide candidates

The Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee met this evening in Columbus at the Fawcett Center to discuss the screening committee's recommendations and make endorsements for statewide candidates who filed for office last Thursday.  The meeting was held at 6PM and was open to the public.

The Executive Committee voted to endorse the following candidates:

Official Ohio Democratic Party Endorsements

U.S. Senate:  Sherrod Brown

Governor/Lt. Governor:  Ted Strickland/Lee Fisher

Attorney General: Marc Dann

Auditor: Barbara Sykes

Secretary of State: Jennifer Brunner

Treasurer: Richard Cordray

Supreme Court (O'Donnell Seat): A.J. Wagner

Supreme Court (Resnick Seat): Ben Espy

Chapter Nine of the Ohio Democratic Party By-Laws (posted at http://www.ohiodems.org/) requires ODP to consider pre-primary endorsements.

ODP by-laws dictate a 60 percent approval for an official Ohio Democratic Party endorsement to occur at that meeting.

 
"These endorsed candidates reflect the most powerful democratic slate in recent memory. I know that our Democratic candidates will offer the citizens of Ohio a new vision and direction. Democrats will focus on honesty in government, jobs, education and health care instead of the culture of corruption and one party rule that has plagued this state for the last 16 years." Chris Redfern, Ohio Democratic Party Chair said.

Endorsed candidates receive the full support of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Cinci grassroots opposition to Bush's visit

Cincinnati-area Democrats are launching two events tomorrow to show their displeasure with George W. Bush - and you can be a part of the action.

Bush will be in town to visit Indian Hill for a pricey fundraiser for Sen. Mike DeWine.  Two protest locations are being set up - pre-made signs will be available to wave, so all you have to do is show up.

Location 1:  Intersection of Cooper Rd. and Motgomery Rd. in Montgomery.

Location 2:  Outside the Madeira Public Library in Madeira between Euclid Ave. and Camargo Rd.

Participants are asked to be at their chosen location from 2PM-5PM.

Denison students dislike Coulter

The blonde-haired darling of the angry ultra-conservative right, Ann Coulter, came to Denison University (Licking County) last night.  And according the The Newark Advocate, students were unimpressed.

Coulter, who once dated the son of Bob Guccione, the publisher of Penthouse Magazine, said that "Democrats try to fake belief in God and moral values."  The giraffe-necked Coulter also claimed "we're being proved right about Iraq," in a comparison to the Cold War.

From the Advocate:

Stephanie Dixon, a 21-year-old junior from Perrysburg, said she found Coulter to be immature. "I felt like she depended on insulting people and avoiding the questions to make a point," Dixon said.

David Pellegrin, a 21-year-old senior from Newark, concluded by saying, "I try not to get upset either way. I'm neither strongly liberal nor conservative. I feel like I make decisions based on the issues. I guess what saddens me is that popular academic discourse is that," referring to Coulter's speech and particularly the question and answer period. "It's trivial and it's not intelligent. That's what disappoints me. That's what's popular. ... It's disappointing."

GOP Catfight! Petro vs. Blackwell

Mere days after the filing deadline, the Republican gubernatorial race got nasty as Ken Blackwell released a devestating ad highlighting the many investigations swirling around Jim Petro.

Though the ad has a relatively small buy, it is creating a ton of buzz in Republican circles for its viciousness.  Chair of the ORP Bob Bennett wasted no time in criticizing the ad, saying,

"a man who models himself after Ronald Reagan should have a little more respect for winning on ideas and vision. [Ken Blackwell] knows the accusations in these ads are politically motivated, and this kind of guttural politics doesn't win votes. If we can't win with substantive ideas for leading Ohio, we don't belong in the race."

Petro responded quickly, not with an attack ad of his own, but with a statement:

It is perfectly clear that Ken Blackwell has decided to run the ugliest and nastiest campaign possible. His scorched earth strategy is designed to distract voters from the truth about Ken Blackwell's dangerous and irresponsible policy proposals and his out of control spending record. But Ken Blackwell cannot hide from the truth.

Things are only going to get worse for these two.

"At Colmar" By Herman Zerger

Most everyone involved in Democratic politics knows Herman Zerger.  Even if you're new to the political world, there's a good chance you've seen the man his friends affectionately call 'Zerg' at a fundraiser, a candidate visit or a county party dinner.  Herman is more than the chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party, he is an ambassador for the Democratic Party and his reach extends far outside the foothills of the Appalachian region he calls home.

Herman Zerger is also a member of an important group - he is a WWII vet.  When I met Herman recently at a Zanesville truck stop to pick up candidate petitions he had gathered from Monroe County he handed me a sheet of paper - a story he recently wrote on his experiences in Europe, some 60 years ago.  I have reprinted the story below.

When faced with long, cold winter nights, I often think about the harsh winter conditions we faced in Europe during World War II.  In sharing some of these thoughts and memories, we'll begin the latter part of November 1944...