Ted Strickland's $7 billion secret

Ohio's budget is a mess.

Democrats want to raise taxes. Some Republicans want to find alternatives. Some don't. And everyone is confused.

All because of a measly $841 million shortfall that Ted Strickland failed to adequately address beginning 9 months ago when the budget was first introduced in the General Assembly.

Since then the Governor's office and the legislature, both Democrats and Republicans, have failed t0 find a resolution.

The latest news is that a likely solution won't come until at least December 2nd.

December 2nd.

That's 308 days since Strickland promised in his State of the State address that he would introduce a balanced budget that didn't raise taxes.

He failed to do either. And now look where we are.

If only Ohio had a leader at the helm instead of someone too busy doing fundraising for his own campaign up in New York City, the way Strickland did on Tuesday of this week.

Alas.

Now imagine this...

[you may want to make sure you're sitting down for this]

Imagine the problem is 7 times worse.

As Senate Republicans continue to chew on ways to fix an $851 million hole in the current state budget, the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants produced a slew of recommendations to attack the far-bigger, multibillion-dollar deficit that state leaders will face in the next two-year budget.

The future hole will develop as upward of $7 billion in one-time state and federal stimulus money used to balance the current budget disappears.

That is from an article that appeared in the Columbus Dispatch this past Tuesday.

And it just may be the ace in the hole for John Kasich's campaign.

This report is the first mainstream media coverage of the looming ginormous budget gap since State Auditor Mary Taylor released her analysis detailing an $8 billion gap in April. And it's the first time it's come from a non-partisan, independent source.

How non-partisan? These guys support Strickland's proposal to raise taxes this year - provided the Governor promises to consider long-term solutions to cutting state spending.

I hope the CPAs aren't holding their breath.

With this independent validation of the trouble in store for Ohio - trouble that the Governor refuses to address, John Kasich now has a formidable message.

As Ohioans suffer from a job crisis and economic meltdown, Ted Strickland has been asleep at the wheel and shown an inability to lead Ohio back from the brink. With the state staring down the barrel of the greatest budgetary challenge in Ohio history, how can any voter trust that Governor Strickland is up for the job?

They can't.