It's the story from last week where we learned Ohio spent their federal stimulus dollars on a project that funded an off-shore calling center in Central America, thereby taking away jobs from Americans.
When asked for comment he stated, "perhaps we could have done a better job vetting the company."
No kidding, Ted.
That's why soon after the stimulus was passed in February of last year, Minority Leader Boehner and other U.S. House Ohio Republicans sent a letter to Strickland calling for the following:
Well, interestingly enough, today Ted Strickland did something about it. He announced an executive order that "prohibits the expenditure of public funds for services provided offshore".
The question? Why now?
After all, the Governor's Director of Development, Lisa Patt-McDaniel, knew about this mess all the way back in March. So shouldn't this executive order have been issued then?
Could it be because Strickland didn't care until the problem was publicized by the media? Of course it is.
The fact is this: Strickland should have shown leadership and created the oversight board as recommended by Boehner.
Ohio was given $8.2 billion in taxpayer dollars to spend on a multitude of projects and programs. Clearly, the Controlling Board was incapable, for whatever reason, of providing the oversight necessary to ensure this outsourcing would never happen. If they were capable, this never would have happened. A dedicated and bipartisan oversight panel, accompanied with certified public accountants and auditors, could have given the due diligence necessary to ensure our money wasn't wasted.
Strickland's executive order solves one problem. It's a bandaid on a gaping wound. The fact is, there are innumerable other possible scenarios where stimulus dollars could be misused. Strickland needs to show some ability to cooperate and recognize the proper use of our tax dollars outweighs the pride he is trying to show in refusing such an oversight panel.
UPDATE: A friend brings up a good point....where was Lee Fisher on all this? He was the Jobs Czar at the Department of Development until February of 2009. He claimed he left a "capable team in place".
Clearly, he did not.
How well Ohio spends $8.2 billion in federal taxpayer dollars is the business of the next U.S. Senator representing the Buckeye State. Fisher owes us a comment.
--Fisher owes us a comment.--
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Modern Esquire will provide it...
How about Boehner's stupid panel already exists? It's called the Controlling Board. And a bipartisan majority of State legislators approved this contract.
ReplyDeleteSo, Boehner's proposal wouldn't have prevented this, nor was he offering to do so. Boehner has never opposed outsourcing.
Amazing how Modern can skip over entire paragraphs of the post.
ReplyDeleteBecause it doesn't matter, Keeling.
ReplyDeleteLook, you have Strickland on one call center that administered a program that saved hundreds, perhaps, thousands of Whirlpool jobs here in Ohio vs. the hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs we've lost from John Kasich/Rob Portman's "free trade" policies.
You really want to frame the campaign on outsourcing? LOL. Ok.
But the reality is you keep harping on the "if we had only listened to Boehner" b.s. that is disproven by actual facts.
I know with Kasich hitting a low point in Rasmussen and you didn't outraise Strickland nearly as much as you expected, the Kasich campaign is nervous, but your stench of desparation to turn everything into a "game changer" this week with reckless disregard of the facts is not working.
Just as your Gary Coleman post shows, nothing Strickland can do avoids the waging finger from VA. You're always going to feign shock and outrage over things you know little about.
Where's John Kasich's statements against outsourcing? Oh that, right. He has none.
ReplyDeleteYou know when Kasich talks about privitazing services to get government services to cost less means? More outsourcing.
It's too bad the Ohio GOP is letting Strickland run unopopsed.
ReplyDeleteYou'd expect an opponent to say something about this, maybe issue a few statements, run some TV ads, etc.
He should probably weigh in on the union arm-twisting of Strickland's cronies at the school facilities commission, too.
Kasich's out on his book tour. His website hasn't even been updated in two weeks.
http://www.kasichforohio.com/site/c.hpIJKWOCJqG/b.5200297/k.B836/News/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp
"You know when Kasich talks about privitazing services to get government services to cost less means? More outsourcing."
ReplyDeleteMo Esq.,
'Outsourcing' is the midterm election season's boogie man and pols with any savoir faire have that base covered via "backshoring"...like brilliant Ted's savvy deal to lure foreign outsourcing giant TCS to Ohio with taxpayer funds. Which one of these candidates is pledging to halt the use of taxpayer funds to displace American workers and stop importing foreign cheap labor to Ohio?