Jordan, Obhof win Oscars for most embarrassing Ohio lawmakers

From the beginning to the end of Wednesday's all-day hearing in Washington, featuring President Donald J. Trump's former personal attorney providing "smoking-gun" evidence and hours of testimony that corroborated the corrupt and likely criminal activity Trump and loyalists, including his family members, are alleged to have engaged in during his presidency and prior to his election in 2016, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan walked away with the Oscar for most embarrassing performance by an elected official.

Ohio Statehouse in Columbus

The only member of the committee to not wear his suit jacket, Jordan, a founder of the so-called Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives, was the hatchet man who went after Trump's legal fixer for a decade. Michael Cohen eventual rose to become Trump's personal lawyer, a position he said he wanted, that flummoxed Jordan who insisted that Cohen was peeved for not landing a job in the White House.

Defending the president by attacking Cohen as a liar who cannot tell the truth and the FBI as an untrustworthy federal agency, Jordan demonstrated his abject but misplaced adoration of Trump despite Cohen's evidence and truth telling at the second of three congressional committees he will face this week.

Acting like an trained yet mad ideological attack dog, Jordan's shirt-sleeve performance brought tremendous ignominy to the Ohio congressional district that elected him and further damaged his well-established reputation as  a dedicated warrior against any policy or program that smacks of the public interest. Not recognizing truth when it reared its ugly but clearly seen head, the former wrestler who has managed to disassociate himself from being complicit in know about but doing nothing to stop sexual abuse that take place during his years as a wrestling coach tried to be Cohen's grim reaper.

Meanwhile, while Jordan was giving Ohio a political black eye in DC, back in Columbus, GOP Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof has indicated he's more than ready to keep Ohio moving backward. Obhof, a black-belt fiscal and social conservative, said that any hike in the gas tax must be off set by a similar reduction in Ohio's income tax.

Obhof was an active Republican wingman who aided former Gov and now CNN political pundit. John Kasich. Kasich's faux fiscal record is unraveling by the day amid new reports from state media no longer afraid of frozen out by Kasich's media machine that lower taxes for the rich will create more revenue and good jobs.

As Obhof delays to figure out his proposal to ransom off raising more money for transportation infrastructure, Ohio's other state leader, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, is looking downright moderate by comparison. Householder, who during his previous speakership was linked to "pay to play" statehouse schemes, got brownie points in exchange for Democratic who voted to elect him speaker instead of another Obhof-like candidate, Ryan Smith, who do what Republicans know they do without fear of consequence, run over Democrats like they were snakes on the road.

When Ohio fractures along political fault lines that make a former GOP power player like Householder look like a leader who includes instead of excludes Democrats, what was once normal hegemony practiced by Republicans against Democrats is no longer the standard. 

In a soon to be released report, Ohio maybe worse off in some key areas after two-terms of Kasich than when Gov. Strickland left it, following the pounding on jobs it took from The Great Recession of 2007, as hundreds of thousands of jobs out-right evaporated or relocated to other states or countries.

The big news from Ohio's last budget was that the shortfall of $800 million was filled by spending cuts. After years of tax cutting and special deals for a special class of business, the belief in "no news taxes" is alive and well to Buckeye Republicans.

In classic Kasich fashion, Obhof says adding 18 cents to the state's gas tax, to generate money to fix and repair transportation assets, especially roads and bridges, must be off set by lower income taxes, making it tough going forward to pay for state needs with a declining revenue base. Revenue shortfalls over the past couple of months are worrisome, but Obhof believes complicating Ohio's future seems to be a strong part of his agenda.

The Ohio Department of Transportation wonders where it goes now a $1.6 billion shortfall in its budget is hanging over the state like the Sword of Damocles. Once a model for other states to follow because taxes imposed more than paid for a system of roads and bridges critical to job development and growth, Ohio is now a model for what not to do.

With Ohio hurting from decades of Republican control, including passing dozens of bills that hurt women's health care choices or those poor enough to qualify for Medicaid who may soon have to hop new hurdles to remain eligible for their meager healthcare assistance, it's both funny and sad that Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan is calling on Amazon to reconsider Ohio for the company's next headquarters site after the company recently announced it will pull out of its first choice for the 25,000 jobs it said would come to its chosen location, New York City.

This reporter has written before that Ohio's lawmakers, the same GOP dunderheads who have set the state in reverse motion on so many fronts over many years, represent the major reason why a giant company like Amazon wouldn't consider the right-wing state no matter how good the public bribes might be.

Someday, Ohio media will wake up to the fact that there is a connection between economic development and social development. When the latter hearkens back to earlier times when race and gender were issues that divided neighbor from neighbor, 21st century companies looking for diversity, inclusiveness and openness in where they have a business presence will see Ohio as a second or even third tier state to do business in.

When high-profile members of congress like Jordan put on the display of rabid ideology he did yesterday, with Obhof eager to pursue more bone-headed tax policy that's put Ohio more behind the Eight Ball than in front of it, Ohio takes a beating among thoughtful people and business.

With Sen. Rob Portman constantly befuddled by Trump's deceptive and maybe illegal behavior, afraid to take a stand that clearly shows whether he supports or opposes the White House on a laundry list of important issues, the dignity of work, as exemplified by Ohio's senior Sen. Sherrod Brown, is indeed a fresh breeze that blows away the stench created by Jordan in Washington and Obhof in Columbus.

Gone as governor, Kasich's Ohio 'Miracle' reveals itself to be a 'Mirage'

In the weeks following his exit as Ohio's 69th governor, John R. Kasich's self-described "Ohio Miracle" is revealing itself to be mostly mirage, as money shortfalls crop up for Ohio's 70th Governor, Mike Dewine, who is being forced to course correct to keep the Buckeye State from falling farther behind the other 51 in so many areas.

John Kasich on election-night 2010.

Long known as The Wizard of Westerville, 66-year old John Kasich can no longer abuse the trappings of state CEO now that's he's signed on as another well-paid talking pundit on CNN. While some question whether he should even have his new media gig given his persistent and sophomoric strategy to engage in yet another a peek-a-boo campaign for president in 2020, Kasich's narcissistic ego that sees his eight years as Ohio's top leader is taking a beating, as nearly daily reports from Ohio's gullible media show his razzle dazzle on budgeting and taxes policies has left Ohio poorer off when it comes to adequate revenue to fix roads and bridges, among many other policies central to the state's overall health and vitality.

Recalling that Kasich made advocating for reduced income taxes and buying into the notion of "supply side" economics, which former President George H.W. Bush once dubbed "voodoo economics," central to his conservative political philosophy over the decades, Ohio found itself $1 billion short last budget cycle, a situation resolved by spending cuts alone. New revenue was anathema to the quirky, sanctimonious leader who signed on to Grover Norquist's "no new taxes" pledge in 2010.

Kasich contributed to Ohio's growing problem of income inequality through repeated overtures to a friendly Republican legislature who, with the exception of adhering to some of his most outlandish policy proposals, went along with income tax reductions across the board that took from the poor and gave to the rich.

Since DeWine won his election for governor last fall, beating a Democrat whose leadership of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau was his main selling strategy, more money problems have arisen, starting with the sad fact that the Great State of Ohio, where a once robust system of infrastructure was a hallmark of its growing importance, no longer has money to fix or repair the very infrastructure that once made it great. If not corrected, Ohio will sink further as people and business choose other states to live or relocate to that are taking care of business. Right now, estimates are that state and local governments will face a $2 billion to $2.5 billion yearly deficit in road and bridge construction.

At issue is a proposed 18-cents-a-gallon gas tax that Gov. DeWine will ask state lawmakers to enact for road and bridge projects. “We’re taking that to the legislature,” DeWine said, according to published reports. Whether the governor gets his wish or not will depend on whether anti-tax Republicans will increase the gas tax or suffer by not increasing it.

Meanwhile, as Kasich crows about how great he was as governor, another General Motors supplier announced it will layoff another 73 workers from the Lordstown plant. Kasich mocked former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland for letting NCR slip away to Georgia, something he said wouldn't happen on his watch. But it did, and did so with Kasich's much vaunted but much criticized private nonprofit jobs group, JobsOhio, letting it happen. For Kasich, who's still waiting for God to tell him whether or not the former Fox News host and Lehman Brothers banker should make a third run at the White House, spending the greater part of nearly two years campaigning out of Ohio didn't allow him to be on the job to convince GM to keep Lordstown in business. Since announcing it will shut down Lordstown, GM stock has gone up.

More than a few critics of Kasich and his GOP-led legislature say the tax-cutting policy he and it promoted so vigorously for two terms, to replenish the state's emergency fund drawn down during the Great Recession, shifted the burden of taxes to local governments. Reports say that more than a fourth of the state’s cities and villages increased local income taxes during the Kasich years. Local officials pegged their tax increase strategy to Kasich's cuts in both the local government fund and the estate tax.

Kasich's support for for-profit charter schools earned Ohio a reputation as the "wild west" of charter schools. From a national ranking of fifth place under Gov. Strickland (2007-2010), Ohio schools under Kasich plummeted to 23rd. Further distressing news came from a new Stanford University study showing Ohio’s charter schools have not improved in the decade.

Even though Kasich said in 2010 that he would probably trash The Affordable Care Act, commonly dubbed "Obamacare" by Republicans, his lust for billions of free federal funding ruled the day, as he did what most other Republican governors refused to do: Accept expanded Medicaid, an option made possible when Supreme Chief Justice John Roberts untethered Medicaid from the court's ruling that the ACA was constitutional.

Quick to embrace the flow of free money that would end after he left office, Kasich had Ohio Democrats, federal and state, cooing after him as someone who was on their side, when in fact the National Chaplin has never been on their side. His "moral preening and self-praise for expanding Medicaid under Obamacare," as one reporter put it, endeared Democrats to him. But true to his austerity prone political philosophy that always prescribes a dose of bitter medicine to those most in need of public support, Kasich made massive cuts to Ohio's Medicaid program as he left the Statehouse in Columbus to shine before the bright TV lights of CNN.

Are Democrats still adoring him for accepting expanded Medicaid or have they finally learned that he was only after the approximately $2.5 billion that would flow to Ohio before Ohio had to kick in 10 percent of the cost?

Kasich appears to have left Ohio worse off than he inherited it in 2010, as revenues slide and funding priorities leave public officials wondering where more money can be had if they continue to keep the doors to tax increases closed.

For the new CNN pundit, Kasich can boast of how great he and his "Ohio Miracle" was, but the facts emerging each week are showing that the performance politico was boasting about miracles that were nothing more than mirages.

Sherrod Brown says Trump fell short on a bi-partisan agenda in second ‘State of the Union’

On his weekly Wednesday call with Ohio media, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said he was hopeful President Donald Trump’s second State of the Union speech would be unifying.

Sen. Brown says President Donald
Trump missed the mark on a
bi-partisan agenda.

“If he had focused instead of attacking immigrants on things we could work together on, like infrastructure or the cost of prescription drugs, we could make major progress,” he told media on the call. 

“Unfortunately we are not (unified). The White House looks like a retreat for drug companies,” said the three-term senator who will decide in March whether he’ll jump into the Democratic race for president next year.

Brown said the president could have provided more details to congress on rebuilding streets but missed the mark.

Sen. Brown’s guest on the call today was Jim Obergefell – the plaintiff in the landmark 2015 marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges. Obergefell and Brown stated their agreement in opposing President Trump’s nominees to serve on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Those nominees, Chad Readler and Eric Murphy, are expected to be voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, despite Brown’s objections to both nominees.

Readler and Murphy have proven too extreme for Ohio, with combined records of working to roll back healthcare protections, to strip Ohioans’ of their voting rights, to deny Ohioans their right to marry the person they love, and to eliminate reforms to hold Ohio charter schools accountable, information from the Senator’s office in advance of the call noted.

“Their nominations to a federal bench would serve special interests, including big tobacco, at the expense of the rights of citizens,” Brown said, adding that he opposed both nominees when they were first announced by President Trump last year and continues to oppose their nominations today.

Brown’s office will outlining “the harmful and radical records of the respective nominees.”

Brown described Obergefell as one of "my civil rights heroes." Asked how well he sleeps at night since the landmark marriage equality decision just four years ago, Obergefell said he looks over his should wondering how secure it is. His hope is that Chief Justice Roberts, who was against marriage equality before, will support the precedent decision.

“(I) have a bit of comfort that the chief justice will be on the side of maintaining marriage equality.”

Asked by this reporter what his suggestion is to new Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to find funds to fix Ohio’s rundown roads and bridges, now that former Gov. Kasich has left the state broke when it comes to infrastructure funding, Brown said DeWine should reestablish the local government fund, a source of funds that had flowed to local governments for many decades until Gov. Kasich confiscated those funds as he sought to replenish Ohio’s emergency fund.following The Great Recession.

Sen. Brown said GM president Mary Bara had told him and Sen. Portman that she “was taking care of people.” Brown seemed less than impressed with news that 950 Lordstown plan workers had accepted transfers to other GM locations.  

“Workers feel betrayed by the president and GM,” he said, adding that he and others continue to talk with GM about bringing a new auto product to the endangered auto manufacturing plant.

“They (GM) realize their brand is damaged by the way they’ve treated this Northeast Ohio community.” He added, “Maybe an electric vehicle should come to Lordstown.” Bara, he said, thinks it would be too expensive to bring another SUV line to the plant.

Meanwhile, with another shutdown of the federal government looming, Brown said his number one priority is to keep government running.

And who can make that happen? “(Mitch) McConnell is the key,” Brown said.

Democrats are unified, so it's up to some Republican senators to join Democrats to override Trump's threats to again shutdown the national government, after the last episode that lasted about a month and cost between $3-10 billion dollars.