The Cuyahoga Rough Writers Blog

No, the Republican Party Didn't Leave Specter -- He Was Just Visiting

"As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the Right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy, and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party."

That's how former Republican-In-Name-Only Senator Arlen Specter justified his decision today to leave the Grand Old Party and run for reelection next year as a Democrat.

There's just one problem with his statement: It's balderdash.

Specter's statement has two operative parts: that the GOP "has moved farther and farther to the right," and that Specter has found himself "increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy."

First, has the GOP "moved farther and farther to the Right" since Arlen Specter first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1980?

That was the year Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination for President.

That was the year the GOP platform first included a call for a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, putting the party squarely in the pro-life camp - a place from which is has not moved, despite the best efforts of some very determined pro-choice activists over the decades. And, 1980 was the year the GOP platform for the first time opposed ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

There's more: 1980 was the year the GOP platform called for enactment of the Kemp-Roth tax cut plan.

In other words, the Republican Party of 1980 -- the Republican Party whose nomination for the U.S. Senate Arlen Specter sought and achieved -- was a conservative party to begin with.

Well, let's flip this analysis. Has Specter moved increasingly to the left?

No.

Every year since 1971, the American Conservative Union has been issuing its Ratings of the Congress, separating the liberals from the conservatives on a 100-point scale, where a perfect liberal scores zero and a perfect conservative scores 100.

Arlen Specter's lifetime ACU rating is a left-of-center 44.47.

But that's not because Specter has moved, over the course of his career, from the right to the left.

As far as the ACU's Rating is concerned, he has always been on the left:

In 1981, his first year in the Senate, he scored a 40.

In 1982, he scored 26; 1983, 16; 1984, 36; 1985, 36; 1986, 33; 1987, 15; and 1988, a 33.

He didn't break 50 on the ACU Rating until 1989 -- his ninth year in the Senate -- when he scored a whopping 57.

In fact, his scores over the last eight years, from 2001-2008, indicate that, if anything, he has moved to the right since first coming to the Senate:

In 2001, he scored a 51; in 2002, a 50; in 2003, a 65; in 2004, a 75; in 2005, a 63; in 2006, a 43; in 2007, a 40; in 2008, a 42.

His average ACU Rating during the Bush presidency, then, was a 53.6.

That's almost twice as conservative as the 29.3 ACU Rating he averaged during his first eight years in office.

That's rather odd, for a man who says he has found himself "increasingly at odds" with the Republican philosophy.

If anything, it looks like exactly the opposite is true -- he has found himself increasingly more comfortable with the Republican philosophy.

Can Arlen Specter's ACU Ratings tell us anything, then?

Why, yes, they can.

Turns out Specter's highest-ever single-year ACU Rating was a 75 he scored in ... 2004, when he was being seriously challenged from the Right by one Pat Toomey.

Let Arlen Specter leave the Grand Old Party to join the Democrats -- in doing so, he will simultaneously raise the level of conservatism in both parties.

Specter wasn't at home in the Republican Party from the very beginning.

SMB Editorial: I couldn't have said it better myself...

To view the article on Congressional Quarterly click the link below:

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/in_the_right/2009/04/no-the-republican-party-didnt.html

What Were They Thinking???

NEW YORK (AP) -- It was supposed to be a photo op that captured images of an Air Force One plane with a majestic Statue of Liberty in the background. Instead, it turned into a public relations nightmare that led to recriminations from the president and mayor and prompted thousands of others to ask, "What were they thinking?"

Just before the workday began on Monday, an airliner and supersonic fighter jet zoomed past the lower Manhattan skyline. Within minutes, startled financial workers streamed out of their offices, fearing a nightmarish replay of Sept. 11.

For a half-hour, the Boeing 747 and F-16 jet circled the Statue of Liberty and the Financial District near the World Trade Center site. Offices evacuated. Dispatchers were inundated with calls. Witnesses thought the planes were flying dangerously low.

But the flyover was nothing but a photo op, apparently one of a series of flights to get pictures of the plane in front of national landmarks.

It was carried out by the Defense Department with little warning, infuriating New York officials and putting the White House on the defense. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't know about it, and he later called it "insensitive" to fly so near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The director of the White House military office, Louis Caldera, took the blame a few hours later. One of the planes was a 747 that is called Air Force One when used by the president.

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," Caldera said. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."

President Barack Obama said Tuesday it was a mistake for one of his official airplanes to be sent soaring past lower Manhattan for a photo shoot. He said it will not happen again.

Still, federal officials provided few details and wouldn't say why the public and area building security managers weren't notified. They also wouldn't address why someone thought it was a wise decision to send two jets into New York City, all for a few photos with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.

An administration official said the purpose of the photo op was to update file photos of the president's plane near the Lady Liberty.

This official said the White House military office told the Federal Aviation Administration that it was updating file photos of Air Force One near national landmarks. The official requested anonymity to give more details than the official White House announcement.

An Air Force combat photographer took pictures from one of the fighter jets, administration officials said.

The photo op was combined with a training exercise to save money, according to another administration official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly about the behind-the-scenes discussions about the flight.

The FAA notified the New York Police Department of the flyover, telling them photos of the Air Force One jet would be taken about 1,500 feet above the Statue of Liberty around 10 a.m. Monday. It had a classified footnote that said, "Information in this document shall not be released to the public or the media."

"Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies the imagination," Bloomberg said. "Poor judgment would be a nice way to phrase it. ... Had I known about it, I would have called them right away and asked them not to."

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said typically a flight like this would be publicized to avoid causing a panic, but they were under orders not to in this case. They regularly get requests for flyovers, but without secrecy restrictions.

The FAA also alerted an official in the mayor's office, but he didn't tell Bloomberg, who said he first learned about it when his "BlackBerry went off crazy with people complaining about it."

The Bloomberg official who was notified was Marc Mugnos, director of operations for the Office of Citywide Event Coordination and Management. Mugnos didn't immediately respond to questions about why he didn't tell the mayor; Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser issued a statement saying: "He has been reprimanded and a disciplinary letter will be placed in his file."

Workers in lower Manhattan were stunned by what they saw.

John Leitner, a floor trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange Building, said about 1,000 people "went into a total panic" and ran out of the building around 10 a.m. after seeing the planes whiz by.

"We were informed after we cleared out of there," Leitner said. "I kind of think heads should roll a little bit on that."

Employees of the Wall Street Journal also left their desks to see what was going on.

Kathleen Seagriff, a staff assistant, said workers heard the roar of the engines and then saw the planes from their windows.

"They went down the Hudson, turned around and came back by the building," she said. "It was a scary scene, especially for those of us who were there on 9/11."

Air Force spokesman Vince King said the "photo mission" involved one of two VC-25 aircraft. The aircraft is part of the Presidential Airlift Wing, based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

The F-16 jet that flew alongside came from the D.C. National Guard's 113th fighter wing.

"This was a photo shoot. There was no need for surprise," Sen. Charles Schumer said. "There was no need to scare thousands of New Yorkers who still have the vivid memory of 9/11."

 

SMB Editorial: I actually have no words to describe the utter stupidity of this stunt.

To view the entire NY Post Article click the link below:

http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/U/US_LOW_FLYING_PLANE_BAOL-?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Longtime GOP Sen. Specter Intends to Switch Political Parties

Veteran GOP Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania intends to switch political parties and run in the Democratic primary in 2010, FOX News has confirmed.

Republican voters had sent him to the Senate five times. But faced with the prospect of a strong challenge from conservative Pat Toomey in the GOP primary and the state trending Democratic, Specter jumped ship.

"I deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends and supporters," Specter said in prepared remarks to be delivered at a news conference on Tuesday.

"I can understand their disappointment," he continued. "I am also disappointed that so many in the party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate. It is very painful on both sides."

The switch puts Democrats within one vote of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Democrats currently hold 56 seats in the Senate, and two independents typically vote with the party. Republicans have 41 seats, and there is one vacancy.

Specter was facing a tough primary challenge from Pat Toomey, head of the conservative Club for Growth, who almost defeated Specter in a 2004 GOP primary.

Specter was under heavy fire from conservatives for his support of President Obama's $787 stimulus bill earlier this year. Specter helped negotiate a compromise that was approved by Congress with the support of only three Republicans.

SMB Editorial: Is this really as shocking as Fox is making it out to be? Many in our Party have long been unimpressed by Arlen Specter's views.

To review the entire article and comments click the link below:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/28/source-specter-intends-switch-political-parties/

Cuyahoga Home Values Fall

Cuyahoga County home values fall in tax reappraisal; city, school budgets could suffer

Download file

In this, the most dire housing market that tax experts can remember, property values are tumbling.

Property reappraisals were once considered an unending ladder going up -- climbing 9, 12 or 20 percent every three years -- but this year's adjustment says values across Cuyahoga County have fallen as much as 12 percent.

Only Chagrin Falls Township and Hunting Valley have seen increases, according to preliminary figures from County Auditor Frank Russo. Seven communities remain stable. The rest of the county will see an 8 percent slide, on average.

Most officials say they're happy it's not more. A Plain Dealer analysis in January, for example, showed home sale prices diving 20 and 30 percent. Those were one-year declines, though, said Shelley Wilson, tax equalization administrator for the state Department of Taxation.

"Ohio isn't Las Vegas. We're not Miami," Wilson said. "We didn't experience this big bubble in the housing market, then turn around and watch it burst."

But city, county, library and school budgets will be hurt next year, when the county collects taxes based on the new values. Cuyahoga probably will lose more than $10 million; Cleveland could be out $5.1 million. And the Cuyahoga County Public Library is looking at a nearly $2.4 million loss.

That's all before the county calculates property value changes for commercial and industrial land. The residential numbers won't be official until the state approves them.

The falling home values won't slash much from your tax bill, because most of what you pay is for school and library taxes, which readjust when property values change. Tax rates go down when home values rise, and they rise when home values fall.

But a small portion of your bill is made up of fixed-rate taxes and recently passed tax rates that cannot go any higher. That's where you will save some money and your city, county and school district will get socked.

"It's inescapable," County Treasurer Jim Rokakis said. "If values take a hit across the county, that inevitably means there will be less revenue for all the taxing subdivisions in Cuyahoga County."

Rokakis thinks the next appraisal, in 2012, could be equally bad.

"This is the first of what I think is two significant hits in value," he said.

Click here for PDF.

Reappraisals take in 3 years' changes

Like 18 other Ohio counties, Cuyahoga reappraises property values this year, covering changes over the past three years. That means the updates include a period in which homes were still appreciating, in addition to the recent slide.

To calculate new values, appraisers studied recent home sales to figure out how much they had fallen or gone up. Then the auditors used the average changes in each community to calculate the values of all homes in the municipality.

The calculations, which exclude foreclosures or sheriff's sales, resulted in a wide range of changes, from a drop in home values of 12 percent -- in Bedford, the East Side of Cleveland, East Cleveland, Oakwood, Richmond Heights and South Euclid -- to a rise of 6 percent in Hunting Valley.

After the state approves the changes, the auditor's office will mail out the new values. Residents then can challenge them at community meetings this summer or through the board of revision, beginning in December.

As it stands, all but nine Cuyahoga municipalities will lose value. So all but nine will lose some amount of tax revenue.

Lakewood, which has one of the highest property tax rates in the county, stands to lose $985,000 if values fall the projected 6 percent.

"We're right on the edge of just not being able to cut anymore," said Mayor Ed FitzGerald, who had feared a double-digit loss in value.

The city laid off about 13 percent of its employees and searched for cheaper health care. Now FitzGerald hopes to lose employees through attrition to cut costs.

Schools and the county will also lose out.

Parma schools would lose $1.1 million if the city's residential value plummets 11 percent, according to county calculations. Cleveland schools would lose $1.6 million.

County government expects to lose $10.4 million. Although it already has a hiring freeze, lower revenue could force it to consider other options, county Administrator James McCafferty said.

"When you lose dollars like this . . . it's certainly going to reduce services," McCafferty said. "We have to make up the difference somehow."

Library aiming to maintain services

The Cuyahoga County Public Library, though, is pledging not to cut services, even though the new assessment will cost about $2.4 million in lost taxes, according to a county analysis. That's on top of a $2.5 million cut from the state.

The library, which serves 47 communities, persuaded voters to support a 2.5-mill levy in November, expecting it to generate $38.3 million. Because the tax is new, it is being collected at the maximum rate, meaning the rate cannot be adjusted to counter declining property values.

"What this means for us is really homing in on our priorities," Executive Director Sari Feldman said.

That means opening on summer Sundays, for example, hosting homework centers and providing computers for job searching. Cost savings will come, in part, from no longer shipping items back to their original branches after they're borrowed elsewhere.

Cleveland could face a budget crisis.

Mayor Frank Jackson and several of his Cabinet members said last week that a recent court fine of nearly $1 million would require layoffs to keep the city from sliding into default. Absorbing a $5.1 million decrease in taxes in 2010 could put Jackson's budget gurus into a quandary.

Yet spokeswoman Andrea Taylor stressed that as with all cities, the budget is driven by income taxes, not property taxes.

"We will not be impacted until 2010, which means we have time to make any necessary adjustments to our budget by reducing expenses and staying aggressive on collecting revenue," Taylor said.

Plenty of leaders are talking about ways to cut, including freezing hiring, forgoing big purchases and discussing regionalism.

And many believe the housing market will swing up soon.

"It's always been expected historically that purchasing a home was probably the wisest thing to do financially," North Royalton Mayor Robert Stefanik said. "Hopefully this is just a bump in the road."

To view the entire article and associated comments on cleveland.com click the link below:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04/cuyahoga_county_home_values_fa.html

 

NOW Brunner Wants To Make Elections Cheaper and Investigate Fraud...

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner offers recommendations for improving elections

Posted by dkramer April 23, 2009 00:30AM

Plain Dealer fileAmong the proposals made by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is that a vote-by-mail system be used in special elections to fill vacancies.

COLUMBUS — The special election last year to finish the term of the late U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was necessary, but the process was probably a waste of time and money for Cuyahoga County, Ohio's elections chief says.

"The turnout was very, very light," said Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. "It was at an expense and difficulty for the Board of Elections and for poll workers. And I'm not sure how clear it was to voters."

Brunner made those comments Wednesday while recommending that special elections to fill a vacancy in office in Ohio shift to a vote-by-mail system rather than a system paying dozens of workers for a rare election that generally nets few electors.

That recommendation is one of about 50 the secretary made in a 33-page report, "Elections Enhancements for Ohio," sent to the governor and General Assembly with ideas for ensuring integrity, efficiency and accountability in the state's voting process.

Other recommendations include shortening the early-voting period from 35 days before an election to 20 days, funding a voter fraud investigation unit at the secretary's office and paying poll workers higher wages.

The recommendations also include changing state law to stipulate that a photo ID or two nonphoto documents with a voter's name on them qualify for a regular ballot.

Highlights

• Move special elections for issues to primary- or general-election days.

• For special elections to fill a vacancy in office, allow voting by mail only.

• Finalize a voter registration database to help verify voter information at the polls and avoid voters being disenfranchised.

• Focus verification on a person's identity, not address; a photo ID or two nonphoto forms of identification would do, even if addresses do not match.

• Shorten early-voting period from 35 days before an election to 20 days

• Increase early-voting locations from one to four in each county.

• End early voting on the Sunday before an election rather than the Monday before an election.

• Fund a voter fraud investigation unit.

• Limit statewide issue ballot language to 25 words or fewer.

• Increase pay and award merit pay for poll workers.

• Require political campaign funds to move to interest-bearing accounts with the interest going to the secretary of state's office for various expenses.

Brunner also called for revamping Ohio's complicated provisional-balloting rules by counting ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong precinct, as long as the voters are in the county where they are registered, and reducing the number of reasons for which a voter would be forced to use the standby ballots.

"We do hope that the General Assembly will swiftly consider enacting these proposed changes because the quicker that this is completed, the more time the boards of election have to prepare for this November's general election and the elections next year," Brunner said.

Brunner, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate next year, has hosted two elections summits since November at which she heard suggestions from state elections officials and county commissioners. She also borrowed thoughts from a national elections reform report and a Statehouse bill introduced by Republican Sen. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati.

An idea Brunner took from Seitz, which is not in his Senate Bill 8, is requiring state and local political campaign funds to be placed in interest-bearing bank accounts with the interest going to the secretary's office to pay for enforcement of campaign finance rules.

The bipartisan Ohio Association of Election Officials, representing members and directors of Ohio's 88 county boards of election, applauded Brunner for the report.

"While we are still reviewing and digesting the recommendations, they appear to be a major step forward in both updating and improving Ohio's election statutes," said Marilyn Jacobcik, president of the association and director of the Lorain County Board of Elections.

SMB Editorial- How convenient-I guess timing AND a potential run for the US Senate are easy ways to finally want voter fraud investigated and to run cheaper elections.

To view the entire article and associated news links on Cleveland.com click below:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04/secretary_of_state_jennifer_br_1.html

Stimulus or Highway Robbery?

Sen. Tom Coburn is an MD (general practitioner) and GOP Sen.from Okla.and recognized as 'the conscience' of the Senate. He is well respected on both 'sides of the aisle' & probably one of the few senators to actually read these 'bailout' bills.

This takes a couple of minutes. It's from his speech in the Senate and if this doesn't raise your awareness then nothing will.

"We are going in exactly the wrong direction. We ought to be standing on the principles that made this country great. There ought to be a review of every program in the Federal Government that is not effective, that is not efficient, that is wasteful or fraudulent, and we ought to get rid of it right now. We ought to say, you're gone, to be able to pay for a real stimulus plan that might, in fact, have some impact"

I would be remiss if I didn't remind everybody that next week we are going to hear from the Obama administration wanting another$500 billion. Outside of this, they are going to want another $500 billion to handle the banking system.  Still not fixing the real disease-the pneumonia-we are going to treat the fever or treat the cough, but we are not going to treat the real disease.

Until we treat the real disease, this is pure waste. It is worse than pure waste. It is morally reprehensible, because it steals the future of the next two generations.   

I wanted to spend some time to make sure the American people know what is in this bill. I think once they know what is in this bill, they would reject it out of hand.

The biggest earmark in history is in this bill.  There is $2 billion in this bill to build a coal plant with zero emissions. That would be great, maybe, if we had the technology, but the greatest brains in the world sitting at MIT say we don't have the technology yet to do that. Why would we build a $2 billion power plant we don't have the technology for that we know will come back and ask for another $2 billion and another $2 billion and another $2 billion when we could build a demonstration project that might cost $150 million or $200 million? There is nothing wrong with having coal-fired plants that don't produce pollution; I am not against that.  It is a boondoggle. Why would we do that?

Thankfully we eliminated a $246 million payback for the large movie studios in Hollywood.

.

We are going to spend 88 Million to study  whether we ought to buy a new ice breaker for the Coast Guard. You know what. The Coast Guard needs a new ice breaker. Why do we need to spend $88 million? They have two ice breakers now that they could retrofit and fix and come up with equivalent to what they needed to and not spend the $1 billion they are going to come back and ask for, for another ice breaker, so why would we spend $88 million doing that?

We are going to spend $448 million to build the Department of Homeland Security a new building. We have $1.3 trillion worth of empty buildings right now, and because it has been blocked in Congress we can't sell them, we can't raze them, we can't do anything, but we are going to spend money on a new building here in Washington.

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We are going to spend another $248 million for new furniture for that building; a quarter of a billion dollars for new furniture. What about the furniture the Department of Homeland Security has now? These are tough times. Should we be buying new furniture? How about using what we have? That is what a family would do. They would use what they have. They wouldn't go out and spend $248 million on furniture. 

How about buying $600 million worth of hybrid vehicles? Do you know what I would say? Right now times are tough; I would rather Americans have new cars than Federal employees have new cars. What is wrong with the cars we have? Dumping $600 million worth of used vehicles on the used vehicle market right now is one of the worst things we could do. Instead, we are going to spend $600 million buying new cars for Federal employees.

There is $400 million in here to prevent STDs .. I have a lot of experience on that. I have delivered 4,000 babies. We don't need to spend$400 million on STDs. What we need to do is properly educate about the infection rates and the effectiveness of methods of prevention. That doesn't take a penny more. You can write that on one piece of paper and teach every kid in this country, but we don't need to spend $400 million on it. It is not a priority.

How about $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs? That might even be somewhat stimulative. New sewers. That might create jobs.

How about $150 million for a Smithsonian museum? Tell me how that helps get us out of a recession. Tell me how that is a priority. Would the average American think that is a priority that we ought to be mortgaging our kids' future to spend another $150 million at the Smithsonian?

How about $1 billion for the 2010 census? Everybody knows, the census is so poorly managed that the census this year is going to cost in 2010 twice what it cost 10 years ago, and we wasted $800 million on a contract because it was no-bid that didn't perform. Nobody got fired, no competitive bidding, and we blew $800 million.

We have $75 million for smoking cessation activities, which probably is a great idea, but we just passed a bill-the SCHIP bill-that we need to get 21 million more Americans smoking to be able to pay for that bill That doesn't make sense.

How about $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges? Since when is a community college in my State a recipient of Federal largesse? Is that our responsibility? I mean, did we talk with Dell and Hewlett-Packard and say, How do we make you all do better? Is there not a market force that could make that better? Will we actually buy on a true competitive bid? No, because there is nothing that requires competitive bidding in anything in this bill. There is nothing that requires it. It is one of the things President Obama said he was going to mandate the Federal Government, but there is no competitive bidding in this bill at all.

We have $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas. Well, that will put 10 or 15 people to work. Is that a priority for us right now?

There is $6 billion to turn Federal buildings into green buildings. That is a priority, versus somebody getting a job outside of Washington, a job that actually produces something, that actually increases wealth?

How about $500 million for State and local fire stations? Where do you find in the Constitution us paying for local fire stations within our realm of prerogatives? None of it is competitively bid-not a grant program.

Next is $1.2 billion for youth activities. Who does that employ? What does that mean?

How about $88 million for renovating the public health service building? You know, if we could sell half of the $1.3 trillion worth of properties we have, we could take care of every Federal building requirement and backlog we have.

Then there's $412 million for CDC buildings and property. We spent billions on a new center and headquarters for CDC. Is that a priority? Building another Government building instead of-if we are going to spend $412 million on building buildings, let's build one that will produce something, one that will give us something.

How about $850 million for that most "efficient'' Amtrak that hasn't made any money since 1976 and continues to have $2 billion or $3 billion a year in subsidies?

Here is one of my favorites: $75 million to construct a new "security training'' facility for State Department security officers, and we have four other facilities already available to train them. But it is not theirs. They want theirs. By the way, it is going to be in West Virginia...

. I wonder how that got there. So we are going to build a new training facility that duplicates four others that we already have that could easily do what we need to do. But because we have a stimulus package, we are going to add in more pork.

How about $200 million in funding for a lease-not buying, but a lease of alternative energy vehicles on military installations?

We are going to bail out the States on Medicaid. Total all of the health programs in this, and we are going to transfer $150 billion out of the private sector and we are going to move it to the Federal Government. You talk about back-dooring national health care. Henry Waxman has to be smiling big today. He wants a single-payer Government-run health care system. We are going to move another $150 billion to the Federal Government from the private sector.

We are going to eliminate fees on loans from the Small Business Administration. You know what that does? That pushes productive capital to unproductive projects. It is exactly the wrong thing to do.

Then there is $160 million to the Job Corps Program-but not for jobs and not to put more people in the Job Corps but to construct or repair buildings.

We are going to spend $524 million for information technology upgrades that the Appropriations Committee claims will create 388 jobs. If you do the math on that, that is $1.5 million a job. Don't you love the efficiency of Washington thinking?

We are going to create $79 billion in additional money for the States, a "slush fund," to bail out States and provide millions of dollars for education costs. How many of you think that will ever go away? Once the State education programs get $79 billion over 2 years, do you think that will ever go away? The cry and hue of taking our money away-even though it was a stimulus and supposed to be limited, it will never go away. So we will continue putting that forward until our kids have grandkids of their own.

There is about $47 billion for a variety of energy programs that are primarily focused on renewable energy. I am fine with spending that. But we ought to get something for it. There ought to be metrics. There are no metrics. It is pie in the sky, saying we will throw some money at it.

Let me conclude by saying we are at a seminal moment in our country. We will either start living within the confines of realism and responsibility or we will blow it and we will create the downfall of the greatest Nation that ever lived. This bill is the start of that downfall.To abandon a market-oriented society and transfer it to a Soviet-style, government-centered, bureaucratic-run and mandated program, that is the thing that will put the stake in the heart of freedom in this country.

I hope the American people know what is in this bill. I am doing everything I can to make sure they know. But more important, I hope somebody is listening who will treat the pneumonia we are faced with today, which is the housing and mortgage markets.

It doesn't matter how much money we spend in this bill. It is doomed to failure unless we fix that problem first. Failing that, we will go down in history as the Congress that undermined the future and vitality of this country. Let it not be so."

Ted Strickland "Leads" Ohio Back to 1984

(Columbus) - Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine issued the following statement today regarding the Strickland administration's announcement of Ohio's 9.7 percent unemployment rate - the highest in 25 years:

"Gov. Strickland's plan to turn around Ohio's economy apparently meant taking us back to 1984.  He called himself the jobs candidate, but he's quickly becoming the jobless governor.  We're losing thousands of jobs every month under this administration, and they've offered nothing lately but an eight billion dollar budget deficit and a flawed school funding plan.  Ohio needs a governor who can take our economy beyond the days of stonewashed jeans and floppy discs."

# # #

For the Record

Strickland: "I think I'm the jobs candidate." 

"Asked about Fingerhut's comments on the choices for Democrats, Strickland good-naturedly said, 'Was he (Fingerhut) describing himself as the politics of the past? I think I'm the jobs candidate.'"  [Dayton Daily News, 1/19/06]

Strickland promised to "meet the need" on job creation. 

"Working together, we can meet the need for good jobs, especially within our inner-cities. Our schools can be revitalized. We can make college affordable for our young people. And we can work to make sure every Ohioan has access to high-quality and affordable health care."  [Call & Post, 1/19/06 - 1/25/06]

Strickland promised "a change" from Ohio job loss and decline:

"The Record of the Taft Administration and One-Party Rule is Clear: Job Loss, Decline, and Corruption." "U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Democratic candidate for governor, said in a statement: 'Despite the words offered and promises made today, the record of the Taft Administration and one-party rule is clear: job loss, decline, and corruption. Ohioans need and deserve a change.'"  [Toledo Blade, 1/26/06]

Strickland criticized Republicans for "lacking a strategic economic plan":

"Strickland and Fisher criticized Republicans for lacking a strategic economic plan and for letting Ohio slip among the worst states in key economic indicators, including 47th in job creation, 46th in per-capita personal income and 43rd in bankruptcies."  [Columbus Dispatch, 2/15/06]

Strickland said his "Turnaround Ohio" plan would "achieve job growth" by 2010:

The goals of the plan are to raise Ohio's per-capita income above the national average by 2015; achieve job growth equal to or above the national average by 2010; move Ohio's national ranking of small-business ownership from 50th to 25th; and refocus 75 cents of every economic-development dollar on regional economic development and other priorities." [Columbus Dispatch, 9/17/06]

More Medical Mart Mischief

Jockeying intensifies for location of medical mart and convention center in downtown Cleveland

Posted by cpinckar April 21, 2009 06:00AM

Scott Shaw / The Plain DealerJeffrey P. Jacobs, son of Cleveland developer Richard Jacobs, took out a full-page ad in The Plain Dealer supporting the mall location in downtown Cleveland as the site for the new medical mart and convention center.

Business leaders are tugging the medical mart project in separate directions as negotiations to finalize a site for the project near their conclusion.

City wants traditional conventions to be priority

More medical mart stories

At stake are hundreds of millions of dollars that project supporters say will be spent at hotels, restaurants and other amenities near the $425 million mart and convention center complex. Developers who own or have options on land closest to the project will be among the big winners.

Jeffrey P. Jacobs, son of Cleveland developer Richard Jacobs, joined the conversation Sunday, taking out a full-page ad in The Plain Dealer to extol the mall property in downtown Cleveland.

Jacobs jumped in after Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert last week pushed for a site behind Tower City. Forest City Enterprises, which owns the land near Tower City, lobbied on its own behalf for several weeks before that.

The latest to enter the debate is Ari Maron, developer of the thriving East Fourth Street entertainment district. He sent his position to Plain Dealer Architecture Critic Steven Litt, slamming Gilbert's Tower City argument.

All the debate comes three months after the matter supposedly ended. In January, Cuyahoga County commissioners and their partner in the convention center project, Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., announced they had settled on the site of the existing convention center, on the mall.

Still, Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones on Monday welcomed Jacobs' input.

"It's good to see people weighing in, giving their opinion," he said.

Commissioners signed a development agreement with MMPI to advance the project last week. MMPI will use tax dollars to build, own and operate the convention center and mart, a shopping center for medical equipment and other health care-related products.

The county continues to negotiate with the city to buy the existing convention center. The lengthy negotiations opened the door to the chorus of differing opinions.

Some people even worry the discord could threaten the project.

Jacobs' ad took the form of a letter to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and the commissioners.

"I do not own land or businesses near either of the contemplated sites," wrote Jacobs, who is not affiliated with his father's company, the Richard E. Jacobs Group. He suggested the mall location "will greatly contribute to the experience that we wish our guests to take with them after visiting Cleveland."

The Jacobs Group developed and built the Key Center complex, directly across the street from the Mall site. The company now manages the Key Tower office building.

The Jacobs Group last year proposed a 21-story office tower on Public Square.

On Monday, an assistant for Jeffrey Jacobs said he would have no comment on the ad because the advertisement spoke for itself.

Gilbert argued last week that the convention center/medical mart must be clustered with other entertainment venues to realize its full potential. He said Detroit made a mistake by spreading out casinos that opened in recent years.

Gilbert, whose basketball and hockey teams play near Tower City, also is involved in plans to open a casino next to Tower City.

But Maron said Gilbert's clustering theory "is of the last century."

"In his model, we turn away from the city by clustering all of our assets in a massive, indoor development that allows people to never have to leave the building," Maron wrote in an e-mail to Litt.

North Shore AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Harriet Applegate was unsure if Gilbert's ideas were independent of Forest City.

She said Forest City's relentless attempts to steer the project to land that it owns clearly were not made to benefit the public. Forest City took out its own full-page ad in The Plain Dealer on March 15. The ad said taxpayers would spend $100 million less on medical mart project construction at their site.

"Ever since it hasn't been at their site, they've come out like tigers," Applegate said. "I don't want to attack Forest City, but I don't want to lose the project."

To view the complete article and to see additional comments on Cleveland.com click below:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04/jockeying_intensifies_for_loca.html

More "Good News" For Cleveland

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson to announce today he will seek re-election

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Henry J. Gomez

Plain Dealer Reporter

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson will make official today what has been expected for months: He will seek a second term.

The re-election announcement will come at noon, during the opening of his campaign headquarters at 3590 Carnegie Ave. Jackson, a former councilman and council president from the Central neighborhood, unseated then-Mayor Jane Campbell in 2005.

In a phone inter view Friday, Jack son said he has ap proached his first term as a founda tion to rebuild hope in Cleveland. He cited efforts in the areas of public safety, education and finance, particularly his ability to keep the city's budget balanced without job or service cuts.

"Are we where we would like to be? No," Jackson said. "My second term will be to construct on that foundation, to institutionalize the changes that we've made."

Jackson is hitting a campaign trail filling up with candidates. Already in the race are former social worker and radio personality Kimberly F. Brown; former educator Norbert Dennerll, who served as a councilman in the 1950s and '60s; and marketing consultant Laverne Jones Gore.

In addition, maintenance worker Ricky Pittman said this week that he is exploring a third bid for mayor. Attorney Michael Nelson, who ran unsuccessfully in 2005, is considering a run, too.

Jackson starts with a huge fund-raising advantage over his lesser-known opponents. He had more than $633,000 in his campaign account at the beginning of the year.

In 2005, Jackson spent a little more than $1 million in his defeat of Campbell, who spent $1.5 million on the race.

To view the entire article and associated links click below:

http://www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1240043512305000.xml&coll=2

SMB-editorial- What has the Mayor accomplished to deserve a second term? Cleveland is still one of the poorest cities in the nation, he placed an additional tax increase on the backs of Cuyahoga County citizens and we are still one of the least "business friendly" cities in the midwest. Couple that with the highest murder rate in our cities history in his first term and massive unemployment and that resume simply doesn't scream "give me another shot"...

2 Down-19 To Go

Cleveland Council members Sabra Pierce Scott, Roosevelt Coats, abruptly resign

 

Plain Dealer FileCleveland City Council members Roosevelt Coats (left) and Sabra Pierce Scott (right) resigned Thursday.

Two veteran Cleveland City Council members unexpectedly announced their resignations Thursday evening, both citing a desire for new opportunities.

Majority Leader Sabra Pierce Scott, 50, a two-term councilwoman from Glenville, and Councilman Roosevelt Coats, 60, the South Collinwood representative since 1987, will step down at the end of the month. Both are solid allies of Council President Martin J. Sweeney, who said he was unaware of their plans until 5:30 p.m.

"I've got a couple of things to do," Pierce Scott said in a phone interview, who added she does not have another job lined up. "I'm not leaving for any other reason other than it has been a great two terms."

Coats said, "Twenty-one-and-a-half years is long enough. It's time to do something else. I'm blessed I can leave on a good note, nothing or no one is pushing me out."

Sweeney called his colleagues late Thursday with the news. One veteran councilman said the council president sounded stunned by the abrupt resignations.

"Surprised? Not totally," Sweeney said when reached by phone.

"They were absolutely wonderful colleagues," he added.

Council members were blindsided by the announcements.

"I am shocked and stunned," Councilman Zack Reed said.

Coats, in a phone interview, said he plans to recommend State Rep. Eugene Miller for his job and seek Miller's Ohio House seat.

Coats said he plans to spend more time with his family, especially his youngest son, who is 17.

He described the legislature as less demanding and a "different mind set" as opposed to his seat on council. Pierce Scott said she would recommend Shari Cloud, executive director of the nonprofit organization, Sankofa Fine Art Plus, as her successor. Council protocol allows an outgoing member in good standing to recommend a replacement. Sweeney said he met Thursday evening with Cloud and Miller.

"I look forward to working with their replacements," Sweeney said.

Council turnover has been memorably high under Sweeney's reign. Last year, four council seats became vacant, including those of Fannie Lewis, who died, and Robert J. White, who pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge.

Asked about losing two loyal allies in Coats and Pierce Scott, Sweeney, whose tenure has been tinged by scandal and unsuccessful attempts to throw him out said: "It gives me the opportunity to gain two more [allies]."

Coats made his announcement in front of about 80 residents in Ward 10 Thursday night at Five Points Community Center on East 152nd Street. Coats and Miller were both in the neighborhood where they have been working the past few months to set up a weed-and-seed public safety program.

Miller, who represents the 10th district, said he was surprised by Coats' recommendation.

"I was shocked," Miller said. "I am very humbled because this was not a Eugene idea. This was presented to me and I'm taking it on as a challenge."

The 34-year-old Cleveland resident, who is in his second term as a state representative, has come a long way since he dropped out of Glenville High in 1992. He got his GED at age 20 and received a bachelor's degree in sociology at Baldwin-Wallace College in 2003. He is working on a master's degree at Tiffin University and plans to graduate in the spring.

Miller said if he wins Coats' seat, he would work on public safety and economic development in the ward.

"I have a lot of work to do," Miller said. "I can't assume that just because they supported me as a state rep they will support me as a councilman."

In a news release sent by Pierce Scott, Cloud said, "I will work diligently to provide leadership and service to the residents of Ward 8 and am committed to fostering partnerships and seeking opportunities to move our community forward."

The remaining 19 council members will have the final vote on their departing colleagues' replacements. Council members make about $74,000 a year.

Reporters Gabriel Baird, Peter Krouse and John Caniglia contributed to this story

To view the entire article and associated links on Cleveland.com click the link below:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04/cleveland_council_members_scot.html