4 More Years for Ohio Lawmakers?

Coming to a ballot near you next November, if Ohio's Democratic and Republican Chairmen have their way, will be an initiative to extend the 8-year term limits imposed in 1992 to 12-year limits. The Dispatch discusses the news in an article that merely puts an official sort of stamp on what has been rumored since the November 2006 elections: that ORP Chairman Bob Bennett and ODP Chairman Chris Redfern agree on the damaging effect of current term limits. Some would advocate term limits as a way to restrict and prevent corruption, but others see them as damaging to the legislative process in terms of the quality of laws enacted. Personally, I support the principle of term limits, but I would tend to agree that 12 years may better serve Ohio. Especially at the state level, so many incoming Assemblymen are rather inexperienced with the workings of state government, drafting legislation, and the working of the Assembly itself. It really takes a full term to get acclimated, in some cases more, and two more terms would only be four more years.

If term limits are extended, however, I would like to see a different way of drawing the districts. A Representative or Senator in the General Assembly should not be able to get elected once and coast for the next twelve years; districts should be at least competitive at the state level for no other reason than to productivity on the part of the elected. It seems that Speaker Jon Husted (R-Kettering) agrees with this notion, as he is quoted in the Dispatch piece as saying:

"It seems to me that we should have a fair way of drawing districts before we start talking about changing terms," Husted said. "The voters will be more receptive to it if they think elections really matter."

If you were reading Red State Rampage last week, we reported about Bennett, Redfern, and Husted all traveling together with the Ohio State University delegation to the BCS Championship Game last weekend. It is rather fair to assume this topic came up in discussion; it will be interesting to see what else, if anything, comes of that trip.

Who's OSU taking to the Dance?

When the Ohio State Buckeyes play Florida in the inaugural BCS Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona, on January 8, The Ohio State University will have a very large contingent of guests in attendance. The Columbus Dispatch has published the list of all official guests of the university, and there are no real surprises, simply a lot of the likely suspects (suspects may be a bad choice of syllogism when speaking of politicians, eh?). Ohio GOP and Ohio Democratic Party Chairmen are both on the list, with ORP Chairman Bob Bennett taking his wife Ruth Ann Bennett, and ODP Chairman Chris Redfern taking his fiancee Kim Kahlert. Among other Ohio politicians in the General Assembly attending include:
-Speaker Jon Husted (R)
-State Rep. Steve Reinhard (R)
-State Rep. Michelle Schneider (R)
-State Rep. Robert Hagan (D)
-State Sen. Steve Stivers (R)
-State Sen. Jay Hottinger (R)
-State Rep. Jim Carmichael (R)
-State Sen. Steve Austria (R)
-State Rep. Jon Peterson (R)
-State Rep. Tom Letson (D)
-State Rep. Jim Hughes (R)
-State Rep. Matt Barrett (D)
-State Rep. Ross McGregor (R)

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman (D) is attending, as is outgoing City Council President Matt Habash (D). Ohio Secretary of State-elect Jennifer Brunner (D) will be on the flight, as will Ohio 5th District Congressman Paul Gillmor (R). All of the politicians are paying their own way, at $2,100 per person. Other notables include ambitious OSU Student Senate President Nick Benson, whose trip is being paid for by the university from the bowl payout, and Undergraduate Student President Ryan Fournier, whose trip is covered because he is working on the trip. The Board of Trustees also is on the list, part of which will be paid for by bowl proceeds. Notable Republicans on the Board of Trustees include RNC Co-Chair JoAnn Davidson, outgoing Auditor of State Betty Montgomery, disgraced former Taft aide Brian Hicks, and GOP campaign treasurer extraordinaire Bill Curlis. Of these four, only Curlis is paying his own way.

One interesting side note to this list are the few Republicans who will get to spend a plane ride and a weekend with Chairman Bennett, no doubt discussing 2008 ambitions and beyond. State Sen. Jay Hottinger, rumored candidate for Congress in the 18th District is one of these to note, as are Speaker Husted and Rep. Hughes, who have both been rumored replacements for 15th District Congressman Deborah Pryce if she retires. State Rep. Steve Reinhard is also a rumored candidate to replace term-limited State Sen. Larry Mumper in 2008. It also is not known if Governor-elect Ted Strickland will be making the trip.

Ohio Politics: My Late Two Cents

Over the last week, between traveling twice for Christmas and working on other side-projects, I have neglected a few rather important Ohio stories. Most of them are still topical, and everyone is still talking about them, so I will throw in my two cents, albeit slightly tardy.

-One of the measures passed by the General Assembly before the end of this session was HB 690, essentially the enacting/enabling bill for this November's Issue 2, which raised the minimum wage in early 2007 to $6.85. Issue 2, which also requires a yearly raise of the minimum wage to adjust for inflation, was backed by groups who did not even pay their petition circulators the current minimum wage. No one ever accused liberals of being intellectually honest, though. Issue 2 passed in November, and so the General Assembly reacted with HB 690, the language of which enables the enforcement of Issue 2. The issue was penned with sloppy language (a la the TEL Amendment that was dropped earlier in 2006), so the legislature cleaned it up as they saw fit. If you don't want the issue you put on the ballot to be messed with, then learn how to write legislation! All of these half-cocked issues campaigns kill me, because half of them are ill-conceived, and the rest are written so poorly that they are never enacted in the manner intended. As far as minimum wage increases go, I will go ahead and tell you that this hike is another nail in the Ohio economy's coffin. Prices will rise, benefits will fall, and the inflation alone caused by this will negate any of the short-lived benefits.

-After running a campaign for Attorney General here in Ohio against Betty Montgomery, during which he lambasted her for perceived ties to felon Tom Noe, Attorney General-elect Marc Dann wishes to have Noe's attorney as his second-in-command. Tom Winters may be a fine lawyer, and he may do a great job in the end. However, picking a guy who worked for Tom Noe as your number two, especially when you ran your race almost entirely against Noe's GOP connections, is high hypocrisy. Dann, a camera seeker if there ever was one, is not off to a good start in his AG tenure.

-All outgoing politicians are given farewell speeches, sort of like their last meal, and outgoing State Rep. Geoff Smith (R-Upper Arlington) was no exception. He raised a few eyebrows, especially Speaker Jon Husted's, during his nearly half-hour diatribe with several off-color comments. Most notable among the shocking remarks was a quip about fellow Columbus-area State Rep. Larry Flowers (R-Westerville), involving his wife needing "more hose" in the bedroom. I am all for our politicians speaking their mind and against most all political correctness, but Smith went a little bit over the top in the whole speech. He even had the audacity to call his speech brief, and say that he hated droning on, after 26 minutes! That is long, even for a politician! Smith also was very brash in saying that he often did not do what was best for his district, being very easily talked into voting otherwise. I am not a very big fan of Smith, in full disclosure, but this was a bit much to keep quiet about.
H/T to Right Angle Blog on the YouTube clip of the speech, found here.

-Columbus City Councilman Mary Jo Hudson (D) was appointed to be Director of Insurance under Governor-elect Ted Strickland. Hudson will still have to be approved by the Ohio Senate, but I am not too surprised by this move. First of all, given the ineptness of the GOP in Columbus municipal elections of late (0 GOPers on City Council and no candidate for Mayor in 2003), incumbency is not even a needed advantage for Columbus Democrats. Secondly, Hudson has a background with the Ohio Dept. of Insurance, so this makes sense. Anyhow, a lot of my fellow GOP and conservative bloggers are up in arms over this appointment, because Hudson is openly gay. I say this: who cares? So long as she does her job, why does it matter? If Hudson strays from her duties, I will be sure to call her out on it, but I would do that with anyone not doing their job. Get over it, and move on to more important things.

-Another bill under consideration in Ohio would cap union donations to political campaigns under the premise that unions are businesses. Anyone who still sees a union as a non-profit entity should ask themselves why all of the union bosses are getting rich quick off of their membership dues? I will not get into the relative irrelevancy of unions in modern America, as one must only look to their flip-flop on illegal immigration to see their own desperation. That is another topic for another day. I personally am not a big fan of campaign contribution limits and all of the ridiculous restrictions that McCain-Feingold brought us nationally, but if we are going to cap donations, unions should not be exempted. If you will go back a year to 2005, it was Democrats in Ohio who were trying to limit personal and business contributions further, and they were soundly rejected. It is also telling that Democrats have railed against corruption in Ohio, yet when given the opportunity to end a form of pay-to-play, choose not to do so.

Ohio Political Roundup

-My Congressman, Deborah Pryce, has (almost) officially won her bid for re-election, but due to the close margin of victory, another automatic recount will be taking place. Ever the optimist (or opportunist, you pick one), Mary Jo Kilroy is waiting to concede until after the recount is complete. I would post the still frame of her press conference in the Dispatch today, but it sent me in search of Pepto Bismol after a just a quick glance so I will spare you that misfortune. By the way, their 'recount strategy' is to make sure every vote counts, even the fraudulent ones. How dare Deb Pryce and the GOP disenfranchise fraudulent voters!

-Ohio Senate Democrats have filled two vacant seats left by Charlie Wilson's election to the US House and Marc Dann's election to Attorney General. It really showed that they searched high and low, near and far, for the best and brightest candidates to fill the posts; their commitment to cleaning up corruption and qualified politicians shines through brightly. Failed Congressional candidate Capri Cafaro is finishing up Dann's term, and Jason Wilson, who happens to be Charlie's son, will serve out his time. If Cafaro decides to become a media whore a la Marc Dann, at least she will look good on camera. Besides that, she will be a great fundraiser, and I will go ahead and guarantee that all of the cash will come on the up and up. I am sure that the donor gave it freely after being knee-capped and fitted for concrete shoes. The junior Wilson will also prove to be a great asset to petition drives taking place in neighboring districts; he did great work while coming up short on 50 valid signatures for his dad's last campaign (after which he was fired). He is a true scholar.

-The Ohio GOP Headquarters building on South Fifth Street in downtown Columbus has been vandalized no less than five times in the past month; it is clearly not politically motivated. Evidently, the latest in Democratic campaign strategy (or what qualifies for strategy) is to bankrupt the GOP by forcing them to make repeated costly repairs to their facilities. ORP spokesman, John McClelland, claims that they caught the culprit on video camera, which is not surprising because of the plethora of surveillance cameras on site there. My theory is that Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman is still perturbed at the GOP for running out of coffee at March's St. Patrick's Day Parade. He was told that there was Irish coffee available, but apparently his wife is the only one who likes it Irish.

-Look for a better sense of where the next General Assembly will be headed after session begins in January. The budget will be on the table (dripping with pork, to be sure), term limits will likely be addressed, and redistricting and campaign contribution reform will likely be broached by springtime as well. In order to get anything accomplished, there will have to be some cooperation due to the divided government coming into power.