Ohio GOP primary poll

Ohio's primary is 5 weeks from today. Since we last did a poll here at 3BP, half the field has dropped out. Lets see where we stand. We'll keep this one open through Saturday night. Only vote once please!




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Please, Put Down the Gun

Guest post by Carl Dorsch

Last week I attended a Tea Party meeting in Hamilton County, specifically to listen to one presentation, but came away distressed by another, one on the Right to Work issue.

Now, I fully favor the enactment of Right to Work legislation. But I was appalled at the nonsense being put forth by one Jeff Longstreth, who’s connected to the Ohio Liberty Council, the state Tea Party coordinating group. Longstreth, who I expect is a fine fellow, gave a Power Point presentation reviewing an Ohio public opinion poll someone had recently commissioned on Right to Work.

Now why anyone would have spent a dime on such a survey is beyond me. Polls of this nature have been done nationwide by the hundreds since the 1950’s, and they always show exactly the same results – which thousands of well-meaning individuals have been misinterpreting for decades.

Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama's China Envy

When not attacking American companies, President Obama gets downright romantic about the grand things American companies do with Washington’s guidance. China is frequently a source of envy (see: passenger rail boondoggles), because China’s statist capitalism-lite floats Obama’s boat. As America’s most statist senator, Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is on board for anything involving more government!

Sherrod asked President Obama about his plans for a federal manufacturing and energy policy during a February 2010 Democrat meeting:

President Obama knows what’s best, and seems annoyed by the democracy blocking his path. For all his worries of "falling behind" autocratic China in the race to throw money at unmarketable products, we have to wonder how much of the New York Times coverage he was briefed on the week before!

In the United States, power companies frequently face a choice between buying renewable energy equipment or continuing to operate fossil-fuel-fired power plants that have already been built and paid for. In China, power companies have to buy lots of new equipment anyway, and alternative energy, particularly wind and nuclear, is increasingly priced competitively.

[...]

As in many other industries, China’s low labor costs are an advantage in energy.

Emphasis mine. Impromptu poll: Do you think Sherrod Brown or President Obama comprehend how expensive capital is, or realize China’s population and infrastructure are different from ours? Do you think they would cross Big Labor in order to compete with Chinese manufacturing in a meaningful way?

Sherrod Brown wants a Constitutional Amendment to silence Opposition to the Liberal Party

I recently received this in an email from Sherrod Brown (one of the most Liberal Senators in the U.S. Senate:

Email resized for clarity.

Plunderbund explains why Ohio job creation has improved under John Kasich

The guys over at Plunderbund are excellent spokesmen for the Ohio Democratic Party and Chairman Chris Redfern. Well, Justin Barasky is actually Redfern's spokesman, but the Plunderpals actually seem to be the ones parroting more of the silly and petty partisan attacks that we have come to expect from him.

Their favorite past-time is filing FOI requests and breathlessly reporting them to their readers. They did so last year, and claimed that Governor Kasich was going to pay his staff way more than former governor Ted Strickland did. Another liberal blog even called it "a coup of biblical proportions". Unfortunately for them, it wasn't even true.

After they were done congratulating each other and slapping one another on the back, the Dispatch did an analysis, and found that, no, Kasich's overall staff doesn't make more than Strickland's did.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich is living up to his promise to spend less money on employees than did former Gov. Ted Strickland - but by only 0.5 percent, or about $38,500.

So, today we have another one from the same mold. They obtained another document of administration expenses.

Are you ready for this bombshell?

Sherrod Brown's Occupier Solidarity

Back in October, Sherrod Brown (D-OH) made one of his frequent MSNBC appearances to chat with Chris Matthews about the hot new show in town: Occupy Wall Street. Matthews and Brown seemed equally enthusiastic about the left’s answer to the Tea Party movement.

Here are two of the most telling exchanges from the segment, which you can view in its entirety courtesy of YouTube user toddfein:

My favorite part of this clip is Sherrod’s self-contradicting statement, “this isn’t a liberal/conservative, left or right, it’s whose side are you on?” Sherrod is a Progressive, you see, so he’s not divisive – he just wants you to pick a side, and if you pick the wrong side he’s going to demonize you.

Ohio Republican Party's outrageous new tactic to keep the Tea Party out and Kevin DeWine in

There was breaking news today of an upcoming meeting that has been called for the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) State Central Committee. Below is an excerpt of the memo sent out to committee members.

> Proposed Amendment to the Permanent Rules of the Republican State Central Committee & Executive Committee of Ohio

Article I, Section 2:

At the first meeting of the State Central Committee following the election and qualification of its members, all of its officers, the chairman and co-chairman of the Ohio Republican Finance Committee, and the National Committeeman and National Committeewoman, shall be nominated and elected to the State Executive Committee, which shall then be merged into the Republican State Central Committee.

Proposed Amendment*:

For the purposes of these Rules, to be qualified, and thereby seated and sworn in as a member of the State Central Committee, a person shall have voted in the three immediately preceding Republican statewide primary elections, including in the year in which the person was elected.

Talk about trying to protect their established incumbents! To be seated on the committee, a person will have to have voted in the Republican primary in 2008, 2010 and 2012. This is a pretty brazen move by Kevin DeWine and his allies. This rule, if adopted, is clearly intended to make it harder for outsiders to be seated on the State Central Committee, even if they are elected to the position.

Video: How has the middle class really fared under Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama?

Tonight, expect to hear more of the same tired class warfare from Barack Obama. He will focus straw man attacks, once again, aimed at blaming others for the failure of his disastrous policies.

A trillion dollar stimulus plan that failed, even by his own measure of success. A health care takeover that has driven health care costs higher instead of "bending costs down". Increased regulation of the energy industry by executive fiat, not through Congress, where he couldn't even get enough of his own Democrats to play along. Blocking tens of thousands of jobs in a shovel-ready project that even his big labor friends urged him to approve.

What you won't hear from Obama in the State of the Union

Tonight Barack Obama makes a big campaign speech. You won't hear about how his economic policy has completely failed, and made a bad situation worse. You won't hear about tax dollars wasted by making bad loans to poorly run "green" companies to reward his political donors. You won't hear about how he violated the war powers act.

Sherrod Brown's Shameful Record

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) served 7 terms in the House – starting in 1993 – before his 2006 election to the U.S. Senate. I’m 28, and Yale graduate Sherrod Brown has been peddling his blue-collar class warfare elixir in Washington since I was in 4th grade.

Does his record merit reelection this November? If you have any vaguely conservative beliefs, the answer is a resounding “NO.” Ranked as the leftmost senator in 2009 and 2010 by National Journal, Sherrod has a lifetime 7.77 rating from the American Conservative Union (ACU). What sort of voting history puts someone to the left of Dianne Feinstein and Harry Reid?

Here’s a compilation of Sherrod Brown’s most notable votes, accompanied by his ACU rating for each year!

Rob Portman to endorse Romney UPDATED

From an email from Portman:

Because you are one of my top supporters, I wanted you to have a heads up that I plan to endorse Mitt Romney for President tomorrow morning. As you may know, I had not planned on endorsing this early in the primary process. However, I decided to act sooner because I feel Mitt Romney's policy positions, debate performances, and character make him the best candidate to take on President Obama. I also feel our chances in November will be improved by coalescing around one candidate and stopping the political attacks among Republicans. President Reagan's 11th Commandment came to mind: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican! I must admit, the attacks demonizing private investment and Mitt Romney's private sector experience have also influenced my thinking.

Lis Smith brings her losing ways to the Obama campaign

Our old friend Lis Smith is back in the news. Lis was the communications director for Ted Strickland during his campaign for reelection back in 2010. The bulk of her communication strategy seems to revolve around making snarky comments about Republicans on Twitter. And she isn't even very good at that. For example, she tweeted out that someone who blocked her on Twitter had a "glass jaw" and mockingly called him a "grown man". Here at Third Base Politics, it was revealed that someone else also blocked others on Twitter.

Her boss, Ted Strickland.

Maggi Cook: Plagiarist, ORP Central Committee Candidate

I avoid writing about myself because I realize I'm boring, but something I read yesterday merits an exception. I was disappointed to learn Maggi Cook is a candidate for the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee in the 7th District. Cook has complained of being pressured to drop out of the race:

“Both sides, especially Kasich, have overreached and overplayed their hands,” Cook said. “It’s a power play by the governor’s staff, and it’s a bit like Joe McCarthy. ‘Trust me little girl, we know best.’ ”

Apart from her hackish McCarthy reference and the implication of sexism - which is doubly stupid because all three candidates are women - Maggi Cook is unsuited for a Central Committee seat because she is a plagiarist. I know because she plagiarized me less than a year ago (view PDF printed 01/17/2012):

Bruce Wyngaard, Associate Executive Director, AFSCME Local 11, had a salary of $94,337 in 2009.  Also in 2009, the eleven local staffers of this Public Employee Union were paid more than $5.8 million.  All 30,870 members of AFSCME  paid approximately $190 each for their local staff.

AFSCME Council 8 President John Lyall was scheduled to testify against Senate Bill 5 today.  Lyall was paid $155,482 in 2009. Excluding payments to officers such as Lyall – and $148,265 for First VP Robert Mitchell – AFSCME Council 8 employees were paid more than $5.7 million in 2009. Annual disbursements to union employees equaled more than $155 per member.

The unions spent less than half as much on benefits – pensions, medical insurance, etc. – as on union pay in 2009. AFSCME Local 11 spent a little over $2.5 million on benefits; AFSCME Council 8 spent less than $2 million.  Do you really believe that Lyall, Wyngaard and Mitchell are concerned about  shops, stores, gas stations and other merchants in communities across this state or do you think they are concerned about their incredibly generous paychecks?

Maggi Cook lifted these three paragraphs without attribution from one of my posts, which had been published at that hero, Third Base Politics, The Buckeye Institute's Liberty Wall, and the Columbus Tea Party site before "her" piece went up. My version:

Big Labor Partisanship at Teacher Expense

However they market themselves, public unions are political by nature, brimming partisanship that goes beyond their skewed campaign spending. Every Republican teacher, public safety worker, and government employee forced to pay “fair share” dues should be outraged.

Ohio’s National Education Association (NEA) affiliate, the Ohio Education Association (OEA), takes millions in fees from non-members each year. Operating on NEA’s model, OEA insists all teachers be forced to pay for the union’s non-political business. This would be well and good, if OEA conducted any non-political business.

From the union’s mission statement:

OEA believes that for those whose business is public education, activism is an obligation.

OEA has the same definition of “activism” as every garden variety leftist group: Demand bigger government under the guise of fairness and equality. For example, ACORN’s 2005-06 Political Program (hat tip: Publius’ Forum) lists OEA as a “Coalition Partner” -

We see the combination of these efforts as key to maintaining and expanding the level of electoral participation by more progressive voters in the state, along with playing a role in pushing voter alignment along axes of community concerns and economic security.

In other words, OEA worked with ACORN to push the entitlement mindset and get entitlement-minded voters to the polls. For… the children?

Ohio Workers Keep Losing Thanks to Big Labor’s Win

In Wisconsin, Governor Walker’s public union reforms are pummeling the Big Labor narrative by saving taxpayer dollars and teachers’ jobs. Meanwhile, the professional class-warriors who get rich pushing “solidarity” force districts into layoffs by refusing to revisit unaffordable contracts.

After similar reforms failed in Ohio thanks to a smear campaign exceeding $30 million, Ohio’s public workers are enjoying the sort of union victory that’s often accompanied by a pink slip.

A month ago I shared stories from around the state of firings caused by the same union bosses who screeched against Governor Kasich’s “attack on workers.” To the surprise of neither of my website’s readers, this avoidable trend continues.

Voters who opposed reform have caused the very problems Big Labor insisted reform would create:

Marion Police say they are committed to answering the city’s 9-1-1 calls but come the [sic] January 1st, callers could see delays in response times.

That’s because the [sic] 15 officers are being cut from the department.  Another position is expected to be eliminated in 2012.

Emphasis mine. Delayed response times were one of the many unexplained evils that would have allegedly resulted from making public employees a little more accountable to the public.

Maybe this is why the White house tried to hide Biden's Columbus fundraiser

Earlier this week on Monday, we told you about how Vice President Joe Biden was holding a fundraiser during his visit to the Columbus area.  3BP reported this information before any of the media did.

GLHS just happens to be the alma mater of yours truly, so its pretty exciting to see my old high school get a visit from a sitting Vice President. I might even say that it's a "big f-ing deal", but for the fact that Joe Biden is such a buffoon, that even Barack Obama must wish that he had chosen someone else to be his "foreign policy expert".

However, what is not being reported is Biden's other appointment on Thursday. The White House doesn't want you to know, but Third Base Politics has learned that Biden will attend a private fundraiser in downtown Columbus that same evening.

An excellent video illustration of our debt problem

President Obama has just requested that the US debt ceiling be increased. Again. Didn't we just have this debate?

And yes, while under his watch, the annual deficits have skyrocketed to 4 times the highest deficit under George W. Bush, Obama isn't the only guilty party. But he and his party certainly lead the charge to demonize ANY attempt to solve this problem by reforming the entitlements that are increasingly unsustainable.

You! Yes, you! We still need you to chip in $20 to bring clean water to people who need it

It only takes $20 to help us dig a clean water well for a village that has nothing. Please join us in helping people who are truly among the world's poorest.

See all of the details, and the link to donate here.

Thank you.


Water Changes Everything. from charity: water on Vimeo.

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Ohio liberals put their class and maturity on display

This is just sad.

The state asked for suggestions for slogans to be put on Ohio's new license plates.  Suggestions that would show what pride we have in our state.  Suggestions of what Ohio has to offer.  The Plain Dealer has a story on the results.

About three-quarters of the nearly 400,000 responses the state received contained the word God, with most of those settling on Ohio's motto, "With God, all things are possible."

The suggestions were solicited by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles as part of a promotional campaign for the new plates.

Of course, with any anonymous suggestion process like this, you're going to get your share of people who submit entries that are full of profanity and sexual slurs. It's a reality of life, but still kind of a sad statement on society.

Athens County Commissioner arrested for domestic violence again

Democrat Mark Sullivan, an Athens County Commissioner, has been arrested for head-butting his niece in the face.

Sullivan is accused of head-butting his niece, Samantha Sullivan, Tuesday evening. Nelsonville police responded to Sullivan's Nelsonville Woodland Drive residence and took him into custody, booking the commissioner into the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail at 7 p.m.

More lies from Obama's Campaign

From Obama's Campaign:

Mitt Romney just won the New Hampshire primary. A lot of people think he's going to be the Republican nominee. We don't know that for sure. From here on, anything can happen. Do you want to have a president who says he likes to fire people? There's only one candidate in this race fighting for the middle class -- and that's our guy. Please chip in $3 or more to help build this campaign:

As Ronald Regan said, Facts are stubborn things. Here is what Romney actually had to say:

Did Chris Redfern engineer Kucinich's exit from Congress?

The Dennis and Marcy primary saga continues.

First, a look at Kucinich's and Kaptur's districts as they stand today, before redistricting. Dennis's 10th comprises most of western Cuyahoga county. Marcy, in the 9th, represents most of Lucas County (including Toledo), all of Ottawa and Erie Counties, and western and southern Lorain County where I live.

Joe Biden coming back to Columbus to raise money

So, VP Joe Biden is coming to Ohio again this week. According to the White House, he is only coming to speak to students at Gahanna Lincoln High School.

Vice President Joe Biden will visit Gahanna Lincoln High School on Thursday afternoon to talk about college affordability with high-school students and their parents, officials said.

Biden, accompanied by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, will speak at noon during a town hall-style meeting at one of the high school’s gymnasiums, said Michael Straughter, spokesman for the Gahanna-Jefferson school district.

GLHS just happens to be the alma mater of yours truly, so its pretty exciting to see my old high school get a visit from a sitting Vice President. I might even say that it's a "big f-ing deal", but for the fact that Joe Biden is such a buffoon, that even Barack Obama must wish that he had chosen someone else to be his "foreign policy expert".

The State Against Blacks Revisited

In early 2011, the Wall Street Journal had an interview with Walter Williams, an economist at George Mason University. Mr. Williams raises many issues that appear to explain the destuction of the black family, and related metrics that seem to explain the "inequality" that so many in the main stream media chirp about. Here are some key comments made by Mr. Williams:

"We lived in the Richard Allen housing projects" in Philadelphia, says Mr. Williams. "My father deserted us when I was three and my sister was two. But we were the only kids who didn't have a mother and father in the house. These were poor black people and a few whites living in a housing project, and it was unusual not to have a mother and father in the house. Today, in the same projects, it would be rare to have a mother and father in the house." Even in the antebellum era, when slaves often weren't permitted to wed, most black children lived with a biological mother and father. During Reconstruction and up until the 1940s, 75% to 85% of black children lived in two-parent families. Today, more than 70% of black children are born to single women. "The welfare state has done to black Americans what slavery couldn't do, what Jim Crow couldn't do, what the harshest racism couldn't do," Mr. Williams says. "And that is to destroy the black family."

Sherrod Brown is taking credit for John Kasich's successes

Senator Sherrod Brown sent out an email today, telling everyone what he has been doing for Northeast Ohio in the last quarter. And boy, has he been busy! Brown has done some terrific work, including finding "ways to create jobs and strengthen our economy."

For example, he's fighting to protect a program for the Ohio National Guard and to save the US Postal Service. He also honored some Northeast Ohio veterans. And to top it all off, he helped create 400 new jobs at Republic Steel in Lorain and save 1,400 jobs at the Ford Plant in Avon Lake.

Wait...WHAT!?

Sherrod Brown hid out in steakhouse while Obama spoke in Ohio

Yesterday, we told you about how Senator Sherrod Brown was nowhere to be seen when Barack Obama spoke in suburban Cleveland yesterday.

Sherrod can't use Senate business as an excuse. He is in Ohio today.

What Sherrod and Obama WANT you to believe is that he had pre-existing appointments. But we are talking about the President of the United States here. Most members of Congress are eager to be seen with the leader of the free world in front of their constituents.

And when you look at Sherrod Brown's history of attending Obama's visits to Ohio, his excuse makes even less sense.

We then shared with you the list of Obama's visits to Ohio and Brown's excellent attendance of those visits that...suddenly changed about 4 months ago.

Republican Governors Association brings in record haul

Republican Mike Pence is running for Indiana Governor

This is not good news for Ted Strickland, Richard Cordray, Tim Ryan, or whoever else is considering challenging Governor Kasich in 2014. The Republican Governors Association (RGA) continues to get better and better at raising money. They just announced their total for 2011, and it was a huge year.

The Republican Governors Association raised $44.1 million in 2011, more than doubling its fundraising total from 2007, the last comparable election year. The RGA also carried forward into 2012 $26.6 million, giving the RGA more cash on hand than any other political party committee.

Is Kevin DeWine Misleading ORP Donors?

During the flood of uniformly annoying December 31 fundraising mailers, Kevin DeWine and the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) sent an email titled, "Every Dollar Raised in Ohio, Stays in Ohio." Does this mean ORP has severed ties with Brett Buerck and his Florida consulting firm, Majority Strategies?

As recently as November 2, 2011, The Columbus Dispatch covered ORP's Buerck connection:

Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine wouldn’t address whether the comeback of Buerck and Sisk was controversial for the party. But he and a spokesman for the Romney campaign separately vouched for the work of Buerck’s firm.

During the 2010 statewide campaign, the state party paid Majority Strategies about $1.8 million. It also paid $3.3 million for direct-mail services to King Strategic Communications, a firm owned by Joe King, a former Ohio GOP official who also did campaign work for Gov. John Kasich — who tried to depose DeWine.

“We were quite pleased with the performance of both vendors,” DeWine said of the Buerck and King firms.

Emphasis mine. Is Majority Strategies of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida still an ORP vendor? If so, it's awfully misleading to say "every dollar raised in Ohio, stays in Ohio" when what you mean is that every dollar is spent on Ohio campaigns.

Obama gives the finger to the Democratic process

From Obama's "grass roots" Organizing for America:

President Obama has been saying for months he won't wait around for Congress to get middle-class families and working Americans back on their feet. He'll work with Congress when he can, but if they refuse to act -- he will. So today the President appointed former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For months, Senate Republicans -- with Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum right behind them -- have fought this bureau every step of the way, and their latest strategy is to refuse to allow even an up-or-down vote on this nomination. The issue isn't his qualifications: Cordray has bipartisan support from elected officials across the country and a clear majority of the Senate behind him.

Hypocrite Ohio liberals still obsessed with Kasich's plane use, ignore Obama's

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern

President Obama's trip to Ohio today reminded us of a post from months ago about government plane use by our elected officials.  Back in April we told you about the lame attack on Governor Kasich that was made by Ohio Democratic Party Chairman (and wannabe pirate) Chris Redfern.  He was upset that Kasich was using the plane to conduct state business more than his predecessor Ted Strickland did, and actually said we should just sell the planes and pay to fly the governor and his staff around on commercial airlines.

Never missing an opportunity to put his diarrhea of the mouth on display, get a load of what Redfern says about the two planes owned by the state for its governors to use to travel around Ohio: The governor should stop using the planes to travel around Ohio.

Obama goes nuclear, appoints Cordray in defiance of the Constitution

Today during his visit to Shaker Heights, President Obama will announce that he is using a recess appointment to install former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the head of a new bureacracy called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The problem is...that the Senate isn't in recess. Ace of Spades provides good commentary on the Constitutional issues involved here:

Let's look at the relevant words of Article II, Section II of the Constitution.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Funny, I don't see anything about "effectively" being in recess.

Sherrod runs away from Obama. Again.

Sherrod Brown indicates his level of
desire to be seen with Obama in Ohio

Barack Obama is campaigning in Ohio again today. He is returning to Shaker Heights High School, where he spoke 2½ years ago. From Henry Gomez of the Plain Dealer:

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- When he came to Shaker Heights High School in July 2009, full of first-year optimism and salesmanship, President Barack Obama called on Congress to work with him on an overhaul of the nation's health care system.

When he returns Wednesday afternoon, expect a different tone.

The Cleveland-area visit, which the White House bills as remarks on the economy, is likely to present Obama in a new, election-year narrative.

That new narrative, of course, will be to blame Republicans for the complete failure of his entire economic policy. Blaming Republicans for all of the world's evils is also a favorite pasttime for our beloved Senator Sherrod Brown. I'm sure he will jump at the chance to join President Downgrade in Shaker today, right?

Iowa 4 years later

Iowans are voting today and President Downdrade is coming back to Ohio. Again. The RNC just released a new video to commemorate Obama's victory in Iowa 4 years ago. Watch and share.



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Happy New Year for those who live off the Ohio taxpayers.