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.