Seth Morgan, an Ohio House Republican from Huber
Heights near Dayton, leads discussion today on GOP good
government bills. (Photo/Ohio House)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The quartet of mostly rookie Republican House members, led by Seth Morgan (R-Huber Heights), convened in a meeting room in the Ohio Statehouse the GOP has not seen the inside of for about 15 years because it controlled the House during themto trot out a stable of 10 good government bills they said deserve discussion and action now, but which they know will not be welcomed, let alone acted on by ruling Democrats.
The impact of the 10-bill package is to spur government, streamline efficiency, strengthen accountability and transparency in state government, while simultaneously working to reduce the economic turmoil suffered by Ohio families who have been hard hit by the national economic maelstrom.
Hard hit in both loss of jobs -- 641,800 according to information provided to reporters by House communication staff -- and an economy that can no longer produce the amount of revenue to sustain state government at its current, albeit reduced level of government. Ohio lawmakers need to fill a biennial budget hole of about $900 million.
But finding a consensus solution is still over the horizon. Republicans and Democrats, in the House and Senate, are staking their claim on how to build a vehicle that not only withstand the hit from filling the gapping budget pothole in front of it but will be engineered to withstand greater shocks from even larger, more distant potholes that await the state as soon as 2011, when the biennial budget train again chugs around the bend.
Leader of the pack
The leader of the GOP pack today was House Policy Committee Chairman Seth Morgan, the youngest person to be elected to Huber Heights City Council. The first-term member and MBA, told reporters that Ohio is facing real problems, and that The Future of Ohio - Government Reform package presented today represents a real solution to those problems. Morgan said the GOP package of bills represents "an effective, sustained effort to streamline government, reduce waste, and improve services for a brighter future for Ohio.”
Making up Morgan's Raiders were were Representatives from A to Z, literally. John Adams (R-Sidney), Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster), Peter Beck (R-Mason), Terry Blair (R-Washington Township) and Jim Zehringer (R- Fort Recovery), stood close by, no doubt as they did last evening when the group conducted a town hall forum in Blue Ash, a city north of Cincinnati, where the themes interwoven throughout the group's legislative strategy range from efficiency and accountability to state spending --
Rep. Beck, who represents the suburban community north of Blue Ash called Mason, is so new to the House that its Web site offers no picture or biography.
Morgan's Raiders said they will work to see that government is operating as transparently, effectively and economically as possible. All this good government will be propelled by the business management tactic of scrutinizing every tax dollar in order to reduce waste. But to fill Ohio’s nearly $900 million yawning budget deficit, the committee did not stray from their core message that long-term, sustainable solutions are needed now to address Ohio’s urgent economic needs.
“Tough fiscal times present opportunities,” said Amstutz, the only member of the group to serve in the Senate. “Our citizens are very supportive of making government more efficient as a cost savings tool."
Expressing their collective frustration with what they said has been "inaction and partisanship from House Democrats" over the last 11 months, the Republican Caucus established the Ohio House Policy Committee to explore sustainable solutions to the economic crisis. According to a media release, they believe that Ohio’s families, not political games, should be the focus of the Legislature. And to circumvent House partisanship, Morgan's raiders are taking their ideas from the floor of the House to the streets of their districts. They want feedback from the public to confirm their proposed agenda or to find other lasting improvements for Ohio’s families and small businesses.
House Republicans assembled the Policy Committee in light of the recent imbalance of education funding to have open discussions with the people of Ohio regarding the state’s future. Contained in the proposals discussed by the House Policy Committee are plans that would restructure state government by streamlining of the executive branch; examination of Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse; requiring conference committee reports to be publicly available for 48 hours prior to being considered by the House or Senate; reestablishing the Legislative Budget Office to provide nonpartisan financial oversight; and identifying other areas of wasteful, inefficient spending. The group echoed the theme that Republicans have offered these proposals as bills in the Ohio House as well as amendments to the budget, but that many ideas have been silenced or ignored by majority party Democrats.
Rookies to the rescue
Had the legislative rookies assembled today been members of the House when their party was the majority party, as recently as last year, they would have been on the receiving end of a fuselage of arrows of outrage of the same make they are now flying toward Democrats, who recaptured control of the House in last year's General Elections. These House Republicans, who are not speaking out of school but reflect the will of their caucus, said they hope that by discussing their long-term plans with the public, the Democrat controlled House will take heed of their legislative ideas, ones Morgan's Raiders said would help create jobs and grow Ohio’s economy.
“Our residents want less government and lower taxes,” Beck, a CPA and former councilman and mayor of Mason, said. “It is time for us to look at and act on ways to not only spend less taxpayer money, but make government more effective, efficient and leaner. We need to do more with less!"
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