I've noticed lately that people say things that they don't really mean or that they say things that don't correspond with the reality of the situation (in days gone by, some would have called these things "lies"); e.g., "glad to meet you"; outside of the venue where Pres. Obama is speaking out for free speech and assembly around the world, Chicago's finest give a beat-down to Occupy Chicago; Gov. Bob McDonald of Virginia, like many conservatives, says he's focusing on job creation, yet his actions say his focus--as it has been for years--is on restricting a woman's right to choose (witness the mandatory vaginal probes for any Virginia woman seeking to terminate her pregnancy); and Ohio State Rep. Christina Hagen, R-Marlboro Township, who was appointed not elected to her position at the age of 21, says ". . . I always lean on the side of transparency, and I recognize the importance of open records in state government," (from The Repository) yet she sponsors legislation that attempts to codify secrecy.
HB 489 "says any market research performed by TourismOhio and any JobsOhio records would not be public records" (also from The Rep). Why on earth would you legislate secrecy unless you're up to no good (?!) Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, or Independent this should raise a red flag.
Full disclosure: I'm no fan of Rep. Hagan's work as a legislator--her first vote was in favor of SB5/Issue 2, which put her on the wrong side of the state-wide 61-39 popular vote on the well-publicized referendum; her next vote was in support of fracking, which put her in line w/ others who just can't make themselves wait for the scientists to finish their study of the controversial drilling process (Renacci followed suit this past week w/ his " community energy development forum" that was stacked w/ industry folks who stand to directly benefit from fracking going forward unimpeded w/ silly regulations. No environmentalists were invited to be on the panel--I wrote more on this last week here).
And following in the steps of the Gov. Kasich, who also has no problem taking public money and giving it to private entities with little to no oversight, Rep Hagan wants to eliminate public oversight and create crony commissions who also suck money out of the system. I haven't been able to reconcile why the tea party goes nuts if a school teacher makes a decent living yet doesn't say a peep when these crony commissions leech money out of the nearly tapped-out system.
When you're bored or unable to sleep, go back to SB5/Issue 2 and just look at the first few pages of the roughly 300-page bill: crony commission after crony commission, page after page. Yes, we kicked the butt of the union-busting bill that surely would have been one of the nails in the coffin of public education, but the crony commissions contained therein were seldom discussed. Any time we see public offices or departments being replaced by private entities, you can be assured this is the mechanism du jour. Are you OK w/ your tax dollars going into the pocket of some politician's benefactor/beneficiary?
Sorry to bang the familiar drum, but it shouldn't matter your political affiliation when it comes to demanding disclosure, accountability, and transparency of our representatives. Write or call your representatives every single time they support legislation that protects secrecy--it's our tax dollars; they're representing us--we want to know what's going on. Seems like such a simple, reasonable expectation, doesn't it? Then why is Kasich, Renacci, Hagan, et al. still getting away w/ it?
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speaking of shiesty politicians, a couple blurbs from The Daily Kos Elections:
also from The Daily Kos Elections:
for goodness sake, please take at look at their opponents before you vote (I almost included "goofballs" as a term to describe this group of politicians but decided it was a little sophomoric, esp after already using "sheisty" above--so there): Betty Sutton is running against Renacci. Many interesting names being floated about as an opponent of Kasich--Strickland, Cordray, Tim Ryan are some I've heard. Sherrod Brown, of course, is being challenged by Mandel. Sue Ryan will oppose Christina Hagan. Do some homework--don't just vote the capital letter after the candidate's name--and see who will better represent their constituents, and then vote, please Vote.
HB 489 "says any market research performed by TourismOhio and any JobsOhio records would not be public records" (also from The Rep). Why on earth would you legislate secrecy unless you're up to no good (?!) Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, or Independent this should raise a red flag.
Full disclosure: I'm no fan of Rep. Hagan's work as a legislator--her first vote was in favor of SB5/Issue 2, which put her on the wrong side of the state-wide 61-39 popular vote on the well-publicized referendum; her next vote was in support of fracking, which put her in line w/ others who just can't make themselves wait for the scientists to finish their study of the controversial drilling process (Renacci followed suit this past week w/ his " community energy development forum" that was stacked w/ industry folks who stand to directly benefit from fracking going forward unimpeded w/ silly regulations. No environmentalists were invited to be on the panel--I wrote more on this last week here).
And following in the steps of the Gov. Kasich, who also has no problem taking public money and giving it to private entities with little to no oversight, Rep Hagan wants to eliminate public oversight and create crony commissions who also suck money out of the system. I haven't been able to reconcile why the tea party goes nuts if a school teacher makes a decent living yet doesn't say a peep when these crony commissions leech money out of the nearly tapped-out system.
When you're bored or unable to sleep, go back to SB5/Issue 2 and just look at the first few pages of the roughly 300-page bill: crony commission after crony commission, page after page. Yes, we kicked the butt of the union-busting bill that surely would have been one of the nails in the coffin of public education, but the crony commissions contained therein were seldom discussed. Any time we see public offices or departments being replaced by private entities, you can be assured this is the mechanism du jour. Are you OK w/ your tax dollars going into the pocket of some politician's benefactor/beneficiary?
Sorry to bang the familiar drum, but it shouldn't matter your political affiliation when it comes to demanding disclosure, accountability, and transparency of our representatives. Write or call your representatives every single time they support legislation that protects secrecy--it's our tax dollars; they're representing us--we want to know what's going on. Seems like such a simple, reasonable expectation, doesn't it? Then why is Kasich, Renacci, Hagan, et al. still getting away w/ it?
* * * * *
speaking of shiesty politicians, a couple blurbs from The Daily Kos Elections:
· OH-Sen: No one ever accused Republican Josh Mandel of being a competent state treasurer—and no one ever will:
During a rare press conference with reporters, Ohio's absentee Treasurer was asked where he stood on pension reform bills that passed the state Senate last week. He declined to take a position (what a surprise), then said, "I will be watching it very closely, obviously, as the custodian of the $100 billion assets under management of the pension funds."
"$165 billion," the reporter quickly corrected. Mandel, channeling a deer in headlights, nodded and smiled sheepishly, then nervously glanced directly into the camera before walking off from the podium.Yeah, I like to read this stuff about Mandel the week that I get my update regarding the changes in STRS (the retirement system for Ohio educators)--other than the raise in retirement age, reduction in payouts, reduction in cost-of-living adjustments, increased years in order to retire, increase in employee contributions (just to name the highlights), it's not a bad piece of legislation.
also from The Daily Kos Elections:
OH-Sen, OH-16: Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel has decided to return some $105K in questionable campaign donations that came from a handful of employees of the Suarez Corporation—donations which are now under federal investigation. GOP Rep. Jim Renacci, who also was the beneficiary of this mysterious Suarez largesse, isn't following suit, though, and I think is subtly trying to suggest that this is some kind of politically-motivated inquest. From a Renacci spokesman: "When we first learned of the Obama Administration's investigation into this group of Republican donors several months ago, we decided not to rush to judgment." Because the FBI = the Obama administration, right?
for goodness sake, please take at look at their opponents before you vote (I almost included "goofballs" as a term to describe this group of politicians but decided it was a little sophomoric, esp after already using "sheisty" above--so there): Betty Sutton is running against Renacci. Many interesting names being floated about as an opponent of Kasich--Strickland, Cordray, Tim Ryan are some I've heard. Sherrod Brown, of course, is being challenged by Mandel. Sue Ryan will oppose Christina Hagan. Do some homework--don't just vote the capital letter after the candidate's name--and see who will better represent their constituents, and then vote, please Vote.
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