Posts Tagged ‘Ohio’
Rainy Day Funds tough to use in some states
Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 March 2011 01:37 Written by rslcpol Friday, 11 March 2011 01:05
From NewsTribune.com:
While budget deficits threaten to cripple government services across the country, a handful of states with billions of dollars socked away in “rainy day” funds for troubled financial times are discovering they can’t use that money to offset their cuts.
Amid the worst financial crisis facing states in decades, stringent rules governing the use of reserve funds have tied the hands of lawmakers in nearly a dozen states even as they consider raising taxes, slashing health and social services and shuttering education programs.
About three-fourths of states have used rainy day funds in the past three years to alleviate budget cuts, but some have had difficulty accessing the money or have shied away from doing so. They would have to repay it quickly or were worried it would hurt their bond ratings.
Tags: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Neveda, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma | Posted under State Legislature News | No Comments
Ohio: Governor Pledges Change; Unions Boo
Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 March 2011 01:37 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 9 March 2011 02:56
From the Marietta Times:
Amid pro-labor protests Tuesday, Gov. John Kasich said in his first State of the State address that big changes are ahead for Ohio and that lawmakers should not be scared off by the conflict that will arise from shaking things up.
“If you’ve seen a lot of change in these first seven weeks, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Kasich said, as the crowd erupted, some in cheer, others in boos.
Touting the advantages of the state’s many cities, the new Republican governor said he is willing to risk criticism in order to stop Ohio from hemorrhaging any more residents and jobs to other states. Seeing Ohio lose two congressional seats because of population loss was a punishing blow, the former congressman said.
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Blog | No Comments
Ohio: Have we seen the last of soon to be former Attorney General Richard Cordray?
Last Updated on Friday, 19 November 2010 02:29 Written by rslcpol Friday, 19 November 2010 01:43
Will he be appointed judge? We’ll see. But if he’s done with the public life, there are always Jeopardy! reruns.
From Columbus Dispatch:
By nearly all accounts, Richard Cordray is an ambitious politician and a talented lawyer, but the 51-year-old Democrat again finds himself in political purgatory after another election.
Cordray will leave office in January after serving two years as attorney general. He fell to Republican challenger Mike DeWine in a close race Nov. 2.
It wasn’t Cordray’s first loss in a major race: He failed to win election to Congress in 1992, attorney general in 1998 and the U.S. Senate in 2000. But Cordray had been on a comeback streak in the past several years, including blowout wins for state treasurer in 2006 and for attorney general in 2008.
In a conversation this evening, Cordray wouldn’t say what’s in store for him next, but he made it clear that his name will appear on a ballot again.
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
OH: Secretary of State Candidates Focus on Business
Last Updated on Friday, 15 October 2010 03:55 Written by rslcpol Friday, 15 October 2010 01:45
From The-Daily-Record.com:
Republican Sen. Jon Husted has been a state lawmaker for a decade, including a stint as the leader of the Ohio House.
“As Speaker of the House, I couldn’t hide from making decisions,” he said. “I’ve had to make a lot of them in my life. I’m not afraid to make them. But I also know that there’s a way to make them in which you can minimize the fallout for whatever it is you do.”
Democrat Maryellen O’Shaughnessy is the clerk of common pleas court in Franklin County and a former Columbus City councilwoman.
“There’s no one else who sits before you as a candidate for Secretary of State who understands as fully as I do the obstacles, the challenges and the successes of local government,” O’Shaughnessy said.
Both believe their backgrounds in public office help to make them a better choice to be Ohio’s next Secretary of State, the individual responsible for administering the elections and the office where businesses make official their presence in the state.
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Secretaries of State | No Comments
OH: AG Race has Sizzle
Last Updated on Friday, 15 October 2010 03:57 Written by rslcpol Friday, 15 October 2010 12:28
From Columbus Business First:
The battle for Ohio attorney general has more sizzle than a typical down-ticket race on the statewide ballot this fall.
In one corner is Democratic incumbent Rich Cordray, who has won two statewide elections, including one for attorney general, in the past four years.
His opponent, Republican Mike DeWine, is a former Ohio lieutenant governor and ex-U.S. senator trying to make a political comeback after being sunk by the Democratic wave that washed across Ohio elections in 2006.
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
OH: Prosecutors Say State Crime Lab is too Slow
Last Updated on Friday, 15 October 2010 03:41 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 13 October 2010 01:50
From the Columbus Dispatch:
Though they said the turnaround times have improved, a handful of county prosecutors gathered at Ohio Republican Party headquarters yesterday to criticize Attorney General Richard Cordray’s crime lab as slow and inefficient.
“The delays at the state crime lab have gotten to the point that if we have a suspect in custody on drug charges, we either have to pay the Newark crime lab to do the testing, or we have to basically let that suspect out of custody,” said David Landefeld, Fairfield County prosecutor.
“We need our drug-test results in a speedy fashion, and regrettably we haven’t been able to get that.”
Landefeld later said lab times have improved under Cordray, but he does not think they meet the “gold standard” set by Republican Betty Montgomery when she was attorney general from 1995 to 2001.
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
OH: Secretary of State Candidates Exchange Accusations
Last Updated on Wednesday, 6 October 2010 10:17 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 29 September 2010 01:17
From Vindy.com:
State Sen. Jon Husted, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, said he is much more qualified for the job than Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, his Democratic opponent.
O’Shaughnessy, the Franklin County clerk of courts, questions Husted’s “trustworthiness” and said, “He clearly doesn’t understand what it is to be an administrator.”
The two secretary of state candidates met separately Monday with The Vindicator editorial board.
Monday also was the first day that Husted began airing television commercials statewide calling O’Shaughnessy a “professional politician,” who is “padding her pockets” at the expense of taxpayers.
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Secretaries of State | No Comments
Ohio: New PAC takes on Democrat Secretary of State
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:35 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:35
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Blog | No Comments
Ohio State House Leaders Trade Barbs
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:18 Written by rslcpol Monday, 27 September 2010 02:12
From Recordpub.com:
Leaders of the Ohio House’s Democratic and Republican caucuses have been trading barbs, with angry claims of hypocrisy and mudslinging.
House Speaker Armond Budish, a Democrat from the Cleveland area, launched his caucus’ Rhetoric Reality Tour, aimed at spotlighting differences in Republicans’ campaign speeches and legislative records — specifically related to state spending.
“Now many House Republicans are running around the state expressing outrage over spending issues and claiming to be fiscal conservatives,” Budish said. “But when they controlled the Ohio House, Republicans spent and spent and they created or presided over the largest bureaucracy in state government history.”
He added, “The reality is that it took a Democratic governor and a Democratic House to significantly reduce the size of state government.”
Tags: Ohio | Posted under State Legislature News | No Comments
Ohio: Campaign Ads mean Big Money for TV
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 10:19 Written by rslcpol Monday, 27 September 2010 01:29
From Columbus Dispatch:
The politicians running statewide have dropped more than $17.48 million in campaign cash to get their faces on TV screens across Ohio.
Outside groups, labor unions and political parties have spent an additional $7.6 million.
The Ohio Newspaper Organization, a consortium of the state’s eight largest newspapers, reviewed political advertising records kept by 23 broadcast television stations in five media markets: Akron/Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Youngstown. Those figures cover purchases made since the May primary season and TV time reserved through November.
The numbers keep climbing. Even as reporters checked the files, more advertising contracts were being signed.
Tags: Ohio | Posted under Blog | No Comments