GOP lawmakers give Gov. Strickland a choice: Cut a deal with us or cut education funding
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William G. Batchelder, House
Minority Leader (Photo/Ohio House)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Republican president of the Ohio Senate, who said yesterday that he needs more convincing by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and allied Democrats on details related to renewal of a popular technology fund before he can endorse it to voters, was joined Tuesday by House Republican Leader William Batchelder of Medina, who said he also needs more time to learn whether a plan being proposed by House Democrats to renew the Third Frontier diverges significantly from past practices in a way that could further hurt the state's debt position or its credit rating.
Batchelder, Harris, GOP allies try to corner Strickland on budet fix
“It has come to our attention that for more than half a year the House Democrats have been drafting, working and reworking with their possible contributors on an arbitrary rewrite of the Third Frontier program," Batchelder (R-69th) said in prepared remarks.
Batchelder, a long-time fiscal conservative who returned to the House in 2007 after previously logging 30 years there and who could easily culminate his political career by becoming the next House Speaker if Republicans take back next year the few seats they lost in 2008, complained of the sparse time he and his caucus were given to fathom the ramifications of the bill before it comes to a vote.
He said Republicans are "uncertain of the details within the Democrat proposal, since we have not received it" and commented that the skeleton outline minority party members received "differs significantly from the original Third Frontier proposal," a high-tech funding initiative created by former two-term Gov. Bob Taft.
Batchelder, whose conspicuous eyeglasses are as much a part of his distinctive style as rock 'n roll legend Buddy Holley's black rimmed glasses were to him, said the original proposal for the Third Frontier program was a $1.6 billion dollar investment over 10 years with an average of $160 million per year and several sources of funding including a $500 million bond issuance, tobacco settlement money, General Revenue Fund (GRF) and excess liquor profits.
He said the current proposal calls for twice the bonds in half the time. He noted that $1 billion over five years produces an average cost of $200 million per year. "This is a departure from the original balanced proposal that bears further scrutiny," Batchelder said.
Batchelder said that to fully expose all ramifications of this critical proposal as it stands today, he and his caucus need more time to study and consult with bond counsel. Echoing a talking point from comments Senate President Bill Harris made yesterday that included concern for Ohio's debt payment burden and appetite by voters to take on yet more debt, Batchelder said he is "committed to protecting Ohio’s bond rating" and expressed worry about Ohio's credit rating taking another hit due to an unbalanced budget he laid squarely at the feet of Strickland, and by extension, his Democratic allies in the legislature.
He said that as soon as "the majority party provides us with the details of their proposal," he and his GOP caucus will "work across party lines just as we did with the extension of COBRA benefits in the transportation budget earlier this General Assembly.”
As Batchelder joins Harris in a political pincer movement against Strickland and colleagues, it came as no surprise that two Republican State Senators, Tom Niehaus of New Richmond and Bill Seitz of Green Township, told the Cincinnati Enquirer in an editorial board meeting Monday that Gov. Strickland can "either cut a deal with Ohio Senate Republicans to fill an $851 million budget hole in December or risk having to slash public education funding in a year when he is running for re-election."
Seitz, Niehaus give Strickland a Hobson's Choice: Cut a deal with us or cut education funding
To fill this yawning budget hole, Strickland wants to suspend the final year of a five-year cut in personal income taxes, a choice supported by his Democratic allies in the legislature and by an odd-couple assortment of business groups who normally follow the lead of GOP-centric interests.
Seitz and Niehaus told Enquirer staff that they are willing to give Strickland two-thirds of the tax-cut freeze he and supports have chosen as the best of a bad set of choices to fix this budget hole.
"We offered this as an alternative, expecting a discussion and instead it produced a hissy fit on the part of the governor,'' said Seitz, who is known for his rapier wit and ability to translate a complex issue into layman's language. "The governor said it would be his plan or nothing."
But the big problem Seitz and Niehaus have is that their own plan lacks enough support from their own majority caucus (21-12) to pass. For it to pass, all 12 Democrats would have to vote for it and that is beyond even fantasy.
The standoff between Strickland and legislative Republicans cannot last forever, for various reasons. One of those reasons, as articulated by Seitz and Niehaus, is that after Dec. 31, Strickland's tax cut plan turns into a pumpkin again, as it will be impossible under state law for Strickland to delay the scheduled income tax break. Then, the two said, Strickland would likely have to cut state funding for public education by 10 to 15 percent.
"I think we will come to an agreement, because (Strickland) doesn't want to have to do a 10 percent cut to schools when he's trying to run for re-election as the 'education governor,''' Seitz told the Enquirer editorial board.
For his part, a spokeswoman for Strickland told Howard Wilkinson that "the governor's door is open to any reasonable and realistic proposal.'' But for what Seitz and Niehaus are proposing, the word from Strickland is that it "does not qualify" because it "spends money we do not have".
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