BuckeyeBlog

Gongwer reports on yesterday’s Controlling Board meeting–they’re the guys who write the checks, or cause them to be written, anyway–that “prevailing wage” is coming down the pike from Gov. Strickland.

The Strickland administration confirmed Monday it is considering a major policy change in which private companies that receive millions in state aid would have to pay prevailing wage on their construction projects.

Word of the expansion in the application of prevailing wage - the geographic pay scale usually tied to union contracts - surfaced as the Controlling Board released $2 million in Third Frontier Program grants.

Well of course prevailing wage is coming. There hasn’t been much doubt about that. This is a great reporting catch, though, the good stuff, because it’s the real meat and potatoes. Knowing something is coming is quite different from catching it when it does come.

It’s really a shame how much of government is just about shoveling money from one pocket into another, and of course the only pocket the money is being shoveled out of is yours. Our officials seem interested only in the debate over what pocket it gets shoveled into: the unions, large corporations or entitlement programs. (I wonder if there are any economists out there studying how large the politicians’ commissions are among these groups? My initial guess would be that it’s pretty constant, but that’s just to start the models going.)

As for those few of you who save anything, there is only one message for you: suckers.

Raided

Where is the New York Times on the Cuyahoga County corruption story? By my count this morning there were 17,000 hits for “Ted Stevens” in the NY TImes site for the past seven days (yes, 17,000, counting all articles, blogs and comments) and nothing for “Dimora“.

Now I get it that a Senator may be a bigger target than a Midwestern Commish for the national media, and perhaps our expectations for the ethics of the US Senate are greater than those we hold for a county position.

Still, we are talking about a county that is home to one of America’s poorest cities, one plagued by all kinds of evils the lefties ascribed to too little government, such as unemployment and the mortgage meltdown. A county that is the political cornerstone to a Democratic victory in Ohio and thus nationally in the November presidential election. A county that is nearly twice the size of Alaska in terms of population.

17,300 cites to 0 is simply out of whack, but then again, it is the New York Times.

BTW, Cuyahoga County also costs all of the honest, hard-working taxpayers of the rest of Ohio dearly to support. So that’s why it is also disconcerting about the silence of our Governor Ted Strickland on this issue, and our new Attorney General Nancy Rogers. Where’s the outrage over the foul smell of offenses which draw in 200 federal agents from across two states to investigate?

Forget this nonsense put up by Strickland about leaving this all to the FBI and the feds. Think of all of the times you’ve read of state and local authorities, smelling blood in the water, jump into cases looking for their own chance at a pound of flesh, like Michael Vick facing VA charges after the federal case was prosecuted. Any good prosecuting authority can figure out how to get into a game as good as this one is.

And then there’s Marc Dann, whose impeachment Strickland, et al. were jonesing so hard after. Not because Dann had been found to have done anything “impeachable”, but because, well, Marc had been kind of a slob in running his office.

Where is the alacrity in running Dimora and Russo out of office shown by Strickland in the Dann Affair?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has done a great job in covering this story and should be commended for pursuing accountability of government to the people so vigorously. Too bad other media outlets in Ohio and nationally aren’t following suit. Yet.

The indictment this week of Senator Ted Stevens (one of the biggest earmark abusers) makes this new addition to the Reason.tv series extremely timely:

The Columbus Dispatch reports:

State regulators have failed to eliminate by today, as promised, the backlog of requests from Medicaid patients for wheelchairs and other medical supplies. 

But the problem isn’t as bad as it was.

There were fewer cases pending yesterday than on July 20 when The Dispatch detailed the 16,000-case backlog and hardship it had created for a teenager with cerebral palsy who had been waiting two years for a new wheelchair.

Keep this backlog in mind when you hear Governor Strickland pushing to expand eligibility in the program. Medicaid can’t serve those who are already enrolled in it. Is it really a good idea to stretch its resources (i.e., your tax money) even further?

Youngstown teacher union boss Will Bagnola should be credited for candor in revealing the YEA’s true interests in thwarting kids from getting the education they need from a charter school. According to the Youngstown Vindicator:

Will Bagnola, teachers union president, said the Youngstown Education Association’s chief concern was that sending city kids to the charter school could result in job losses for teachers in the regular system.

(more…)

The Washington Post reports on the flap over privatizing the Senate’s cafeterias.

Now remember, gasoline is $4.00/gallon, 130,000 troops are afield in Iraq, tens of thousands of young adults will be graduated by public schools unable to read, and the Democrat senate caucus finds time to not only contemplate, but to debate, the issue of privatizing the Senate food service.  Have they ever heard of the phrase “no-brainer”?

Here’s what Ohio’s junior senator had to say about this burning conflict: (more…)

Currently the state Senate is debating the Governor’s “economic stimulus” package. In reality, this bipartisan spend and borrow mess will do nothing to help the state’s economy, as discussed in Sam Staley’s Viewpoint. Unfortunately, some cities in Ohio are passing resolutions urging the General Assembly to engage in pork barrel spending, reward politically-connected industries, and burden future Ohio taxpayers with debt (of course, they put it somewhat differently). The Gahanna city council, however, is bucking the trend. They voted down a resolution that was promoting the stimulus package and are now considering the resolution below, which advocates steps that would do much more for the state’s economy than anything being discussed in the General Assembly today:

(more…)

The AP reports that the central government of the People’s Republic of China is requiring its agencies cut spending by 5% in response to the recent earthquake. Compare that to the $1.5 billion spending increase Ohio’s politicians are currently pursuing in the name of “stimulating” our state’s economy.

A country raised on Mao’s Little Red Book shames Ohio’s political class through its vigorous embrace of limited government.

In a news report yesterday on the state pork capital budget, there was this interesting tidbit:

State Budget Director J. Pari Sabety told legislators yesterday that the budget needs another $344 million ($122 million in state funds) to cover increased Medicaid costs because 66,000 more people than expected are using the state-federal health-insurance program for the poor and elderly.

I hate to say “I told you so,” but:

Expanding Medicaid can lead to large increases in Medicaid spending when states can least afford it — during recessions. Ohio saw this earlier this decade when Medicaid spending increased dramatically during the recent recession. Spending grew at 11 percent annually during 2001 and 2004, squeezing other budget priorities at a time when the state was seeing reduced revenue. Expanding Medicaid now will only repeat this cycle during the next recession.

Remember when they made fun of Ken Blackwell’s proposal to privatize the Ohio Turnpike?

Pennsylvania just raked in nearly $13 billion for its turnpike. Ohio probably wouldn’t bring as much, being a bit removed from the east coast, but then again, there’s quite a little bit of transport comin’ through the heartland.

What do you suppose, say, $8 billion or even $10 billion would do for the Ohio capital budget? Heck, let’s make it $4 billion. Think of all the Third Frontier money we could give to private companies!