Dispatch: Kasich Was Right About The 3C Rail

In what is becoming a recurring theme, former Governor Ted Strickland’s policies were once again proven misguided, as the Dispatch commented today on the disaster currently happening with California’s “high speed rail” project:

Remember when Gov. John Kasich took a heap of grief for killing Ohio’s 3C passenger-rail project, sending back $385 million in federal stimulus funds? A fiasco in California shows Kasich made the right call: Hopping aboard the federal gravy train would have derailed Ohio’s newly recovering budget.

 

The Golden State grabbed the lion’s share of Ohio’s returned federal dollars for its fast-rail system, only to now realize it is swamped with debt. Voters there have a serious case of buyer’s remorse.

 

As Kasich predicted, costs skyrocketed and ridership is unlikely to support the investment. A new poll shows that if a bullet train ever does run between Los Angeles and San Francisco — somewhat doubtful — most people say they would use it rarely or never. A ticket would cost $123 each way; travel websites were offering round-trip airline tickets this week for $174.

The editorial goes on to describe that California is now looking to spend more than double its original projection, and that California residents would overwhelmingly support doing away with the project altogether.

 

Thanks to Governor Kasich’s foresight, it looks like Ohio dodged a financial bullet. But that was a shot Strickland would have gladly taken. He campaigned on keeping the 3C rail, even amid reports that the train would have cost Ohioans millions.

 

But that’s not exactly a surprise coming from a governor who passed one of the most fiscally irresponsible budgets in Ohio history, stealing nearly a billion dollars from the rainy day fund, stalling a much needed income tax reduction, and even after news that such fiscal recklessness would set the state up for an $8 billion deficit just two years later.

 

A deficit Governor Kasich closed without raising taxes.

 

And that’s been one of the themes of Governor Kasich’s tenure: fixing what Strickland wrecked.

• After losing 400,000 jobs in 4 years under Governor Strickland, Ohio has created over 150,000 in 19 months under Governor Kasich.
• After creating an $8 billion budget deficit under Governor Strickland, Ohio has a balanced budget.
• After committing to a financially unstable and incredibly slow 3C rail under Governor Strickland, Ohio is replenishing its rainy day fund under Governor Kasich.

These are just some of the failed policies promoted by the disaster that was Ted Strickland, who’s not-so-quietly considering a rematch in 2014. And with his record, we’re not-so-quietly hoping for it.

 

Cross-posted at GOHP Blog.

Why is this even a story?

News many liberal wackos latched onto over the Independence Day holiday finds U.S. Senate candidate and current Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel being goofy in high school, cross dressing for a school photo opportunity.  You can look it up; it doesn't warrant a link from us.

But why is this even a story?

It was 1996 and Mandel was in high school.  What 16 year old didn't do a few goofy things back in the old days?  Hell, I dressed up as a cheerleader for "spirit day" for a perennially awful football team.  At least Mandel's school managed to win a few games.

You know what else was going on in 1996?  Sherrod Brown was entering his 22nd year as a career politician.  That was 16 years ago.

And Brown thinks he deserves another 6 years representing Ohioans in Washington, D.C.  Yet during Brown's 38 years in government, Ohio's population has stagnated, adding less than 900,000 people in the last 40 years.  Meanwhile, the United States has grown by nearly 110 million.

Since the 1970's Ohio has had many problems.  And if Sherrod Brown was the answer, they'd be solved by now.

Josh Mandel has been and continues to be an effective leader for Ohioans.  He'll continue that effectiveness as Ohio's next U.S. Senator, even if he had a goofy streak back in high school.

Of course, not every politician can be the perfect role model...

Happy Independence Day... Sort Of

236 years ago, some of the most visionary men in world history declared American independence from government tyranny that had enveloped every aspect of their lives.

At the time, excessive taxation had crippled many American families and government interference in the lives of each individual was intolerable.  These brave men took action vowing to never again allow their government to invade the lives of its citizenry, and to hold accountable those that lead this nation.


Oh, how far we've strayed...

So, with the President's healthcare plan invading the lives of every American and in the midst of a congressional investigation with which the President's Attorney General refuses to comply, just how far have we come as a nation on this, America's 236th birthday?

Well, Happy Independence Day anyway... sort of.

Chief Justice Roberts Defects, Obamacare Ruled Constitutional

While there is still much to be decided in the convoluted mess that is Obamacare, the Supreme Court has ruled the Individual Mandate constitutional.  In a surprising move, it wasn't Justice Kennedy that ended up as the deciding factor, but rather what many considered a reliable conservative, Chief Justice John Roberts, that tipped the scales in favor of the liberal bloc.

There will be much more to come, but the biggest takeaway from today's ruling is simple: we need to elect Mitt Romney and a GOP House and Senate.  The Court's opinion today has basically allowed government to rule every aspect of American life, and we absolutely cannot survive as a free nation without electing officials who believe in limited government.

I'm sending my check to Romney and Mandel today and will be volunteering on both campaigns with every free moment I have from here until Election Day.

If you, like the 67% of Ohioans who voted against Obamacare in 2011, believe that the federal government has gone too far, join the movement and let's get America back on the right path.

Kasich Derangement Syndrome among Ohio's left worsening

I really didn't want to do another Plunderpal post. Seriously. But the Kasich-hate over at that blog is getting worse all the time.

Back in February, the administration made a change in some of the signage used on Ohio highways, to include a new tip line to report suspicious activity to the Ohio Highway Patrol. The old number, 1-877-7-PATROL, was hard to remember, and kind of long for a person who is driving to punch into their cell phone, especially considering that you had to look for the letters on the keys. The new number is #677.

Even a simple change as this was enough to warrant a post full of scorn from Plunderbund, the main hangout for Ohio's moonbat left. They dubbed it "Kasich's anti-crime plan" and even described it as encouraging people to "nark on their neighbors". As if no other jurisdiction has tip line for citizens to report crimes. What childishness.

Thousands of calls have been made to the tip line, and earlier today, one such call resulted in a major drug arrest.

The first bust stemming from Ohio’s new #677 tip line posted on highways statewide was a big one: 32 kilos of cocaine worth an estimated $2.8 million.

A Canadian man faces felony charges after being stopped about 2 a.m. today while driving a white 2003 Freightliner on I-70 eastbound near Springfield. He was stopped based on an anonymous tip phoned to the new #677 line that Gov. John Kasich ordered posted on highways around the state in February.

Was the new tip line the entirety of an anti-crime plan? Of course not. It was one simple change that Governor Kasich put into effect to make it easier for citizens to report drug activity. And it worked out big time today. You would think the Plunderpals would just ignore the story after they literally called it "nuts and unlikely to remove any illegal drugs from the streets."

You would be wrong. Even after such great news as almost $3 million of cocaine removed from the street, they couldn't contain their hate, and actually doubled down on the grade school sarcasm with another ridiculous post about it today. Again, they lie and say that the tip line is the "center of Kasich's anti-crime agenda."

Get a grip, guys. We know you are Democrats, and thus, will write negative posts about the Republican governor. I get it. But constantly looking for ways to take even the obvious good news and turn it into mindless ridicule like this is just infantile.

Follow @Nick3BP

Unions Continue Same Sad Lies as Layoffs Continue in Public Schools

It's the same sad song unions have been singing for over a year, and every word of it is a lie:

First off, it's Lorain, not Lorraine.  Apparently, teachers' union hacks must be products of a system where educators aren't held accountable for actually teaching students, or in other words, Ohio's public school system.  But aside from the poor spelling and grammar, the statement is straight up false.

Just take a look at Lorain's recent five year forecast:

Barack Obama's shameful hypocrisy on collective bargaining

Today, the Obama campaign released this video saying that the attempt to reform collective bargaining laws for government employees was "an attack on the middle class."



It's a rehash of the same lame attacks on Governor Kasich from last year. The fact is that the reforms in Issue 2 still allowed collective bargaining for many issues, like safety equipment and salary. Where the reforms came in, was where the bill required a minimum contribution to an empoyee's health care benefits and pension.

I'm not going to reopen an old debate. The point is that when Barack Obama starts criticizing governors who attempt to reform collective bargaining laws for government employees in their states, he is showing an incredible amount of hyprocrisy.

Because guess which government employees have NO collective bargaining priveleges whatsoever? The ones that report to Barack Obama.

That's right. Federal employees do not have the privilege of collective bargaining like most of their counterparts in state and local government do.

What has Obama done to grant collective bargaining power to federal employees? To members of the armed services under his authority?

Nothing.

So, the next time you see him criticizing governors who attempt to reign in out of control public employee benefit costs by reforming collective bargaining laws, remember that none of the people who work for him have collective bargaining power, and how ridiculous it is for him to utter a critical word on the subject.

https://twitter.com/Nick3BP

Flash Rally planned for Sherrod Brown's office Thursday

A local tea party group will be holding a rally outside Senator Sherrod Brown's Lorain office tomorrow, the same day that the SCOTUS decision is expected on the Obamacare case. Sherrod Brown cast the deciding vote for the healthcare law that was soundly rejected by Ohio voters in the 2011 election.

Date - Thursday, June 28, 2012
Time - 4:00-6:00 pm
Place - 205 West 20th Street, Lorain OH

Bring signs and show your support.

Contact Kirsten Hill for more information at kirstenphill@gmail.com.

https://twitter.com/Nick3BP

Obama's Reality Gap on the Economy

While Barack Obama continues to campaign around the country, claiming that “the private sector is doing fine” and that his policies are working, more and more worrisome new data continues to raise red flags for the economy.

President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, once again visits Ohio this week. Last week while on the campaign trail on behalf of the Obama campaign, the Secretary seemed to echo Obama's cluelessness and said that the economy has “obviously turned the corner.” One glance at recent headlines may cause him to change his tune. We may be headed for a double-dip recession.

On Thursday, the labor department released the latest round of unemployment data, this time highlighting the number of Americans applying for jobless benefits. As Bloomberg reports,

More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating the labor market continues to struggle. . . . The four-week average, a less volatile measure, climbed to the highest of the year.

Another Poll, More Bad News for Obama

With just over 130 days until Election Day 2012, and now that Republicans have a presumptive candidate to rally behind, things are really starting to take shape for the presidential election.  And it isn't good news for President Obama.

Democratic polling institute Public Policy Polling (PPP) released their latest numbers on Ohio, and the top lines keep moving up for Romney and Kasich, while Obama finds himself trending down.

Obama's Approval Rating
From February to May, Obama enjoyed an even approval/disapproval rating at 48%.  While not stellar--any numbers under 50% are necessarily problematic--they remained steady.  Not so today.

PPP's newest numbers now have Obama underwater, with only 44% approving of his performance and 51% disapproval.  That's a -7% swing in just over a month.

Of course, PPP offered their own take on the numbers:

Dispatch, Vardon Follow Liberal Talking Points on Jackson Character Assassination

Former OSU Quarterback Stanley Jackson thought he was volunteering his time and energy to improving the lives of Ohio's children. Instead, he finds himself in the middle of an overblown controversy that should have never gotten to this point:

The Kasich administration could not provide a resume yesterday for Jackson, whom it named late Monday afternoon to serve the final six months of an at-large term on the 19-member panel...

Jackson is Kasich’s eighth appointment to the state Board of Education in his 17 months in office, and his third of someone who has no education experience. Of the other five, two were former members of district school boards, one was a former district superintendent, one was a teacher and one worked for the U.S. Department of Education.

Of course, this mirrors the attacks coming from the most liberal Ohioans: none other than the infamously inappropriate and increasingly inaccurate Plunder-Pals:

Masters Preparatory Academy Charter School is not yet in operation in Ohio and the recently registered website (mpaam.org) lists Jackson’s home address in Marion as the organization’s location. Neither is it listed by the Ohio Department of Education as a prospective school that will be opening in the 2012-2013 school year.

In other words, the Dispatch, through reporter Joe Vardon, seems to be taking marching orders from Ohio's most liberally skewed blog instead of reporting the news. And not only that, but they're reaffirming their jaded and misguided talking points that somehow Mr. Jackson's lack of a college degree somehow precludes him from having anything substantive to add to his new position.

Empty Promises Lead Youth Vote Away From Obama

If there’s one thing that was certain in the 2008 elections, it was that Barack Obama was an amazing campaigner. His election promises captivated audiences and swung the youth vote heavily in his favor, ultimately leading to his election that November.

Unfortunately for him, the youth aren’t buying it any more.

A new study released today shows that the President’s support among those between the ages of 18 and 29 has eroded, from 68% in 2008, to only 50% today. And the answer is simple:

Political Scientist Jason Johnson, who heads the college's year-long "Listening to Young Voters" project, says young voters are disappointed that Obama hasn't solved nation's problems over the past four years, but aren't convinced that Romney will do any better…

Sherrod Brown joins the Obama War on Coal

We've previously told you about the war that Barack Obama is waging on the coal industry. His declaration that he wanted to bankrupt coal plants apparently didn't phase Ted Strickland, who is out there making a fool of himself by claiming that Obama is actually a friend to coal.

Now fellow Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown has joined Obama in the trenches to destroy coal jobs and cheap energy for Ohioans, who get 86% of their electricity from coal. One of Obama's new regulations abuses executive power and is called Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology, or Utility MACT. It would make the building of new coal plants an impossibility and cost existing plants tens of billions of dollars to retrofit their systems. Many will choose to just close down like six of FirstEnergy's plants. And, just like Obama predicted, and desires, MACT will cause electricity rates to necessarily skyrocket.

How the environmentalists lie about fracking

With all of the recent talk about shale gas in Ohio, I've seen a few signs popping up in people's yards that say "Stop fracking". Since they were all in one neighborhood, it was obvious that someone canvassed the neighborhood scaring people about the practice, and then asked for permission to put the signs in their yards. The problem is that most of the things that anti-fracking liberals use to scare people are lies.

I have embedded a video showing the fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, process at the bottom of this post for your review. A fellow named Josh Fox made a 2010 documentary that highlights the supposed "evils of fracking", and this movie really started the anti-fracking movement. One of Fox's main claims is that fracking contaminates ground water with gas, and he shows two homes where you can light a fire out of the faucet when the water is turned on. It's quite dramatic footage.

The problem is, that Fox doesn't tell the whole story. In that part of the country, people have known there was naturally occurring methane in the water for decades. In fact, Fox admitted to knowing this and having reports of it happening long before fracking came along, but he completely omitted that information from the movie. Watch his answer when he is asked why he omitted the information.

Liberal AstroTurf Hecklers

For over 3 years now, the Obama administration and its allies have attempted to boast about the number of "saved or created" jobs they are responsible for.  Today, some evidence of a Team Obama program that actually stimulates job growth came to light courtesy of BuzzFeed.  In this story, McKay Coppins highlights how Obama's campaign and their union boss allies are paying people to protest at Romney events.

Obama moving the goalposts

Earlier this week, the Columbus Dispatch criticized Barack Obama for his pathetic speech and the recent shift in his rhetoric. According to the newspaper, the standards by which he evaluates the economic recovery have evolved since even the beginning of his presidency:

In the earlier days of the administration, Obama and other Democratic leaders said more than once that Americans could expect to see an economic turnaround before the 2012 election; if they didn’t, they could justifiably vote for someone else. Now that the day of reckoning is less than five months away, Obama is moving the goalposts again: In Thursday’s speech, he said the United States is still digging out after a decade of “falling behind,” and that it’s widely recognized that it takes 10 years for economies to recover “from a recession like this.”

Indeed, the change of tune in his rhetoric is quite jarring. His words speak for themselves. In October 2011, President Obama admitted that he didn’t think Americans were “better off than they were four years ago.” But just a few weeks ago, he said that the private sector was “doing fine.” Those two statements, it’s worth noting, are a mere eight months apart.

Dems Attack Kasich, Fail Miserably

Not a huge shock, but Democrats have recently been trying to attack Governor Kasich on a number of fronts.

First they claim that Mitt Romney is trying to distance himself from Kasich. The proof?  Governor Kasich didn’t attend Romney’s event in Ohio this past Sunday, on Father’s Day. 

This barely even warrants a response, because how dare a father choose to spend time with his family on Fathers Day.  I know it’s crazy, but maybe the Governor wanted to spend time with his daughters privately instead of taking them to a full day of campaign events. 

Also, if Mitt is trying to distance himself from the Governor I doubt he would he have said this:

... Instead, it’s governors like Gov. (John) Kasich, who have put in place pro-                growth polices and balanced the state budget, that are doing the job that’s creating economic good news in places like Ohio, and the entire nation deserves the same kind of agenda.”

Romney gave this quote to the Dispatch last weekend which shows a new narrative coming from his campaign.  They realized that highlighting Kasich’s ability to outpace the nation is a good way to highlight the President’s failures.  

Ted Strickland disses northeast Ohio again.

In case you haven't heard, the Kent State baseball team is in the College World Series. It's a pretty big deal. When you think of big baseball programs, Kent State is never one that comes to mind.

Last night, they won a game and staved off elimination. Ted Strickland sent out a tweet to congratulate them.

"Great win for the Zips tonight against FL in the College World Series"

Ummm...Ted? Kent State is the Golden Flashes. Akron University is the Zips.

Yes, folks, this was the Governor of Ohio.

UPDATE: The buzz about this on Twitter had "Ted Strickland" trending, meaning that a LOT of people were talking about it. And then there's this.

While congratulation Tweets were rapidly being sent, the one that came from former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's account used the wrong Ohio team name.

Instead of congratulating the Golden Flashes, it mentioned the Zips (University of Akron) which are one of Kent State's rivals in the Mid American Conference.

The Tweet was deleted and reposted with correct information, but not after many users pointed out the mistake.

One person Tweeted that it was like "calling Ohio State 'Michigan.'"

Ouch.

Ohio Succeeds Despite Washington’s Efforts

All Ohioans received great news on Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that Ohio, unlike the rest of the nation, gained jobs in May and had a slight drop in the unemployment rate. 

For those keeping track, the entire country added 69,000 jobs in the month of May.  19,600 of those came from Ohio.  This puts Ohio’s unemployment rate almost a full percent below the national average.  The last time our rate was this low compared to the national rate was in 1995.

Great news of course, but there is still work to be done and obstacles in the way.

Businesses in Ohio continue to struggle under the weight of the Obama Administration’s overbearing regulations.  The problem with our unemployment numbers is while they continue to move in the right direction, the headwinds created by the Obama’s over-regulation could easily stall our growth. 

Needless and unnecessary regulations increase costs to business owners who want to operate and hire Ohioans.  What’s the end result?  Businesses stop hiring because they are losing money faster than they can bring it in. 

Business owners like Kelley Moore and her husband Greg who own and operate four NAPA Auto Parts stores in Ohio have seen firsthand the effects of Obama’s over-regulation.  Her story was highlighted by Speaker Boehner on his website, where she discussed how they cannot afford to replace staff members when they leave due to the rising costs of the products that they sell. 

Kelley highlights, in two sentences, the problem with needless government regulations. “…And customers, they can't afford the products.  It's hard to stay profitable, keep your doors open and keep local people employed if customers aren't coming in.  Eventually, there only are so many costs you can absorb.”

RightOnline underway in Las Vegas

Checking in here from Blogger's row at RightOnline. We're actually in a separate room from the main session, with a live stream of the speakers piped into the room. Unfortunately, the stream frequently pauses to buffer. Hopefully in the future they can run the feed in directly, instead of via internet.

Last night we were treated to terrific speeches from Sarah Palin and Michelle Malkin. The entire theme last night was a tribute to Andrew Breitbart. He is sorely missed here, of course. Many of the people here knew him personally. We were treated to a sneak preview of the film "Hating Breitbart" and the first ever full screening of Citizen's United new movie "Occupy Unmasked", which exposes the supposedly "spontaneous" Occupy movement as a completely organized effort by big labor entities, specifically the SEIU.

Here is the video of Michelle Malkin's address.