State of the Union

Dark budget times? Take a $650 seat...

Here's what Gov. Ted Strickland says about Ohio's economy:

"We are in for a period of time that none of us want to witness."

Right, so what is Team Strickland doing to cut back?  They're filling state government offices with hundreds of thousands of dollars in new furniture.

There's more to the 'Joe' scandal than Strickland lets on

The Plain Dealer hits on an important issue today regarding the Joe the Plumber scandal.  Did Strickland give ODJFS director Helen Jones-Kelley a light punishment because she was being "a good soldier"?

If a rank-and-file Republican state employee had tried, on the job, to help McCain the way Jones-Kelley tried to help Obama, said employee would soon be an ex-employee -- fired outright.

"Jones-Kelley," however, "has dedicated her life to helping the most vulnerable among us," and "is recognized nationally as an expert in the field of foster care." That evidently protects her job, at least in Strickland's eyes. But such gentle treatment suggests to suspicious minds that Jones-Kelley was being a good soldier, not a self-appointed detective.

Was Jones-Kelley asked to snoop in Joe Wurzelbacher's confidential files?  Given the fact that Gov. Strickland's former campaign manager and current chief operating officer was running the Obama campaign, it's not hard to imagine that Jones-Kelley could have been fulfilling a back-channel request for political dirt.  Strickland's decision to give his cabinet member a mere slap on the wrist only feeds those conspiracy theories.

This change looks awfully familiar

Remember Barack Obama's line, "At defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington."  Apparently Obama changed his mind.

Secretary of State – Former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton

Attorney General – Former Clinton Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder

Commerce Secretary – Former Clinton Secretary of State Bill Richardson

Treasury Secretary – Former Clinton Treasury Under Secretary Timothy Geithner

Chief of Staff – Former Clinton Senior Advisor Rahm Emanuel

VP Chief of Staff – Former Clinton Counsel and Lobbyist Ron Klain

Health & Human Services Secretary – Former Clinton-era Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle

Homeland Security Secretary – Former Clinton U.S. Attorney Janet Napolitano 

Transition Chair - Former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta

According to Politico, "Thirty-one of the 47 people so far named to transition or staff posts have ties to the Clinton administration, including all but one of the members of his 12-person Transition Advisory Board and both of his White House staff choices."  Obama also has 27 lobbyists working on his transition team despite the hyperbole about curbing their influence on his administration:

"I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race. I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House." 

The LA Times is naturally giving Obama a free pass on his hypocrisy by suggesting he's just settling down to reality.  So much for change.

Leading with ideas

It's not hard to see why Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, one the rising stars in the GOP, has a near-80 percent approval rating.  He's a bold, visionary thinker who finds solutions that focus on results and public-private partnerships over government bureaucracy.  From today's Wall Street Journal:

Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's prodigy Governor, has been arguing lately that only policy innovators will break a path out of the GOP's political wilderness -- and he is leading by example. Mr. Jindal recently announced a major renovation of the way his state provides health coverage to the poor and uninsured, thus taking up a topic for which most Republicans require a shot of epinephrine just to pay attention. ...

Governor Jindal plans to steer working-poor Medicaid recipients out of the current "fee for service" program, where the state pays a set rate for all health-care charges (some 54 million this year). Instead, they'd choose among private managed-care plans, with Louisiana paying a fixed per-patient amount, adjusted for health risks. Essentially, Mr. Jindal wants to use Medicaid dollars to fund something like private insurance. That way, physicians and hospitals will be compensated for outcomes -- rather than volume of visits and procedures -- and get incentive payments for good performance.

And lest any Democrats sneer at the idea, it should be noted a similar concept was endorsed by President Bill Clinton in 1999.

Strickland should have fired Jones-Kelley

Ohio's opinion leaders accuse Gov. Ted Strickland of failing to adequately respond to an investigation that found one of his cabinet members (Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley) violated ethics policies by using state resources to search the records of a private citizen.

Canton Repository:  Helen Jones-Kelley should be fired. Instead, Gov. Ted Strickland has supended the director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services without pay for 30 days. That's not enough. Jones-Kelley has abused her authority and the public trust.

Dayton Daily News:  The governor essentially told Ms. Jones-Kelley, who leads the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, that he forgives her and to go and sin no more. That's light punishment, indeed, considering her rank, the nature of her mistake and the blowback it will create for her and the governor's administration. She should resign, and only her political naivete is stopping that.

Columbus Dispatch:  Two serious examples of unethical behavior should be more than enough for Gov. Ted Strickland to demand the resignation of the head of a state agency. But instead of being removed from office, Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Department of Job and Family Services, was penalized with nothing more than a month of unpaid leave for misusing her office for political purposes.

Coshocton Tribune:  Here we go again. Another state official doesn't know the meaning of ethics and has set the bar so low she won't stumble when she jumps back and forth.

Wheeling News-Register:  Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has maintained, since before taking office, that integrity would be the keystone of his administration. If he intends to stick to that pledge, he should fire Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the state Department of Job and Family Services.

Obama brings Chicago-style politics to Washington

The Washington Post reports:

Patrick Gaspard, a longtime labor operative, will be the White House political director for President-elect Barack Obama, sources with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed today.

Who's Patrick Gaspard?  He's the former national field director for America Coming Together (ACT) who was responsible for this:

A Democratic group crucial to John Kerry's presidential campaign has paid felons — some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary — to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in at least three election swing states. (Associated Press)

Gaspard's ACT was also responsible for submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registrations forms in 2004.  The group's Ohio administrator at the time was Jess Goode, now director of communications for Gov. Ted Strickland.  It's all one big twisted network of these people.

So much for change you can believe in.  More like change you can't believe.

Joe the Plumber on the Ohio Democrats' Cover Up

Brunner using vote fraud to hand Kilroy election?

Press release from the National Republican Congressional Committee:

Washington - Unbeknownst to voters who cast their ballots in good faith in the race for Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is working to undermine the principle of free and fair elections by changing the rules by which votes are counted after the votes were cast. In a transparently partisan act, Brunner has advised county boards of election to allow for the counting of ballots already invalidated by state law.

Brunner has issued an opinion advising Boards of Election to count provisional ballots cast by voters who failed to properly complete their ballot as required under state law.  Despite state law to the contrary, Brunner is directing election boards to count these fatally flawed ballots, suggesting the defective and incomplete ballots somehow result from poll worker errors. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, who is prosecuting a man who fraudulently signed at least ten absentee ballots, understands that a voter’s signature is the very basis for a valid ballot, even if Brunner and Kilroy do not:

“‘This case is being prosecuted because of the signatures,’ O'Brien said. ‘Some people in this state don't think they are necessary’ an apparent reference to statements made by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

“‘Anyone who thinks that a signature is not necessary to detect or prosecute voter fraud is not living in the real world.’” (Columbus Dispatch, 11/19/08)

“A fundamental cornerstone to fair elections is that consistent and inalterable rules govern throughout the process,” said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain. “Rather than allowing the vote counting process to proceed according to law and to the rules established prior to Election Day, Democrats are sensing Kilroy’s defeat again, and are attempting to change the rules to save her skin. By counting ballots that Ohio law had previously deemed invalid, Brunner is inserting political cronyism into what should be a fair and dispassionate process.”

Budish takes shot at Strickland

The new Democrat speaker of the Ohio House apparently thinks Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (the state development director) haven't been doing much to create jobs lately:

"Other states are very active in job creation and there's a lot we can learn." (Dispatch)

Perhaps the governors in those other states actually spend time doing their jobs instead of playing politics.

Gov. Ted Strickland spent all or part of 44 days since June 1 campaigning for presidential candidate Barack Obama and other Democrats, according to a schedule provided by his office yesterday.

Seven members of Strickland's staff also took varying amounts of unpaid leave to work for Obama or other Democrats. For example, Chief Operating Officer Aaron Pickrell ran Obama's Ohio campaign. (Dispatch)

The Columbus Dispatch also adds today, "Ohio's economy is in particularly rough shape. The state unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in September. Only six states had higher levels. The October jobs report will be released on Friday, and the news isn't expected to be any better."

Another election fraud bust in Franklin County

From The Columbus Dispatch:

An East Side man was indicted this week on charges that he requested absentee ballots and filed false voter registrations for himself and others, using a residential address that doesn't exist, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said yesterday. ...

Six other cases were forwarded to prosecutors by the Board of Elections last week, including one involving a woman who voted twice in different polling places and nonresidents who attempted to vote. More indictments are expected, O'Brien said.

The prosecutor also sent a little message to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner:

"This case is being prosecuted because of the signatures," he said. "Some people in this state don't think they are necessary" -- a reference to statements made by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

"Anyone who thinks that a signature is not necessary to deter or prosecute voter fraud is not living in the real world."

Of course, Jennifer Brunner and Ted Strickland still refuse to acknowledge any evidence of election fraud in Ohio.