Ted Strickland is lying about John Reardon, and broke the law when he appointed him

A few days ago, we told you about the evolving scandal with a Democratic fundraiser, and how it has uncovered an allegation made against former Governor Ted Strickland. John B. Reardon was the Mahoning County Treasurer in 2006 and decided to run for Auditor of State. He eventually dropped out of the race.

But as part of an FBI investigation, he claims that he only dropped out of the race because Ted Strickland promised him a job in his administration. From the Columbus dispatch:

Reardon said Strickland, who at the time was a candidate for governor, called him and said, according to the FBI report, “John, I’ve to be very careful in how I say this to you, when I’m elected, the administration is going to need good people in a lot of top jobs. Good people with abilities such as yourself and we are going to have a lot of jobs to fill and we are going to fill them with people with qualifications and abilities like yours.”

Of course, as we told you before, Strickland completely denies that he implied any job offer in return for dropping out. Ted went on to claim that such a deal was "against his values", and then he claims that Reardon got the job because he was qualified.

Strickland said he didn’t want his administration to be “Columbus-centric,” and said Reardon was from Youngstown and qualified for the job he ultimately landed.

Here's the problem for Ted. Reardon wasn't qualified to be the Superintendent of the Division of Financial Institutions. Who says he wasn't qualified? Ohio state law, that's who.

Obama Continues To Show Politics Trumps All

The values and principles of our nation's president are for sale. And their surprisingly cheap.

After going on the attack against GOP nominee Mitt Romney for his record of success at Bain Capital, President Obama has refused to return the $7,500 in campaign contributions from two Bain employees.  

Though the Obama campaign has repeatedly attacked Mitt Romney for his career at Bain Capital, President Obama still accepted $7,500 in campaign contributions from two Bain executives. His campaign press secretary, Ben LaBolt told The Politicker the president has no intention of giving the money back. 

So that's the price of hypocrisy? $7,500? While that may seem like a lot, in a campaign that is likely to see the President raise and spend close to a billion dollars, $7,500 is a drop in the bucket.

One promise Obama is keeping: hurting the coal industry

As Mitt Romney continues to talk about President Obama’s hostility toward job creators and the negative impact his policies have had on the economy, the New York Times wrote a front page piece on the travails of America’s coal industry. Even with control of the House of Representatives and a supermajority in the Senate, Obama couldn't get his extreme economy-killing "Cap and Trade" bill through Congress, so he is going through the back door, abusing executive authority and using the EPA to create new regulations aimed at crushing coal. The article details how the new regulations are hurting entire communities that depend on the coal industry for their jobs and livelihoods.

The decline of the coal industry, reports the Times, stems largely from:

“new pollution rules [that] have made coal plants more costly, while a surge in production of natural gas through the process of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, has sent gas prices plummeting.”

As we have discussed regarding Governor Kasich's proposals, we welcome the new technologies and opportunities from the coming shale gas boom. But what’s significant here is that the Obama Administration’s war on coal is having a devastating effect on the industry and on the lives of thousands upon thousands of people who work in the industry.

Today, Mitt Romney Becomes The Official GOP Nominee

Since Gingerich’s collapse and Santorum’s exit, we all knew this moment was coming, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see fanfare, balloons or parades.

But after today, Mitt Romney will be the official GOP presidential nominee.

With today’s Texas primary, he is poised to secure the 1,144 delegates required to clinch the Republican presidential nomination.

…it becomes official today, when Texas voters are expected to push Romney over the finish line in the delegate race…

After a year of criticism that he didn’t have the strength or shrewdness to take on President Barack Obama, Romney has emerged from the bruising primary as a formidable adversary. He is a more disciplined campaigner than he was a few months ago, and he has pulled even with Obama in many national and swing-state polls.

However reluctantly they might have settled with him, most Republicans are now rallying behind him. Yesterday, 5,000 people turned out to see him pay tribute to veterans in San Diego, one of the largest crowds of his campaign.

Media Trackers Month-in-Review

Regular Third Base Politics readers may know I recently left a web development position at The Ohio State University to take on the role of Communications Director in the new Columbus office of Media Trackers. Media Trackers is a conservative nonprofit dedicated to covering stories legacy media outlets botch or simply ignore. In what I'm planning to make a more regular feature here at 3BP, here's what we've been working on at my day job!

The first Media Trackers Ohio analysis focused on We Are Ohio's funding -- which will remain important going forward, as the union bosses have clearly decided the "We Are Ohio" brand helps their cause. Looking at final numbers as only GOHP Blog bothered to do after last fall's election, we found that We Are Ohio took more than $20 million from unions outside the state.

In a follow-up piece, we dug even deeper into We Are Ohio contribution data. All said and done, the union front group got more than 95% of its funding from unions in 2011. Donations from individual Ohioans were outweighed by money from unions at a ratio of 91:1.

How's that for a grassroots, citizen-driven movement? Makes you wish you listened more closely to the union shills who troll 3BP comments, I bet!

We remember

Today we honor all of the men and women who gave their lives on the battlefield, so that we could continue to live in freedom. So enjoy the beautiful day off here in Ohio, but please make sure that you remember what this day is about.

Follow @Bytor3BP

Strickland gave millions of Ohioans tax dollars to a solar firm he knew was failing

A failing solar energy company. Millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars loaned out to promote "green jobs". Campaign contributions to the warchest of the politician in charge of said tax dollars. Huge payments made to the executives of said company while workers are being laid off.

We're talking about Barack Obama and Solyndra, right?

Wrong. We're talking about Former Governor Ted Strickland and Ohio's own version of Solyndra, WK Solar near Toledo.

Media Trackers Ohio details the findings of a Toledo Blade investigation of possible misuse of millions of dollars loaned to WK Solar by the Strickland administration. Among the most alarming of the revelations that MTO's Jesse Hathaway finds is that the Strickland administration knew as early as 2009 that WK Solar was in financial trouble even after receiving $5 million in state loans. Yet, Strickland continued to give the company another $10 million in state funds.

Bad to Worse for Richard Cordray (and Ted Strickland)

Could it get much worse for Richard Cordray right now?

Yes.  Apparently it can.

First he gets pummeled in his attempt to install a loyalist as Chairman of the ODP, then the press calls him out for being a lousy politician and now his top staffer in Ohio is being investigated for campaign finance misconduct. 

The article talks about a significant amount of money that Richard Cordray’s fundraiser says is owed to her by the Franklin County Democrat Party.  Apparently the debts that she claims are owed didn’t show up in campaign finance reports that the county party has to file.  The worst part is that the folks that are supposed to be backing her claims are keeping their distance.

The article also mentions a previous client of Cordray’s fundraiser, John Reardon, who ran for state Auditor in 2006 when he was Mahoning County Treasurer.  Apparently Reardon listed false loans to his campaign as a way to beef up his fundraising report, which is obviously not allowed under campaign finance law. 

Reardon claims that Cordray’s fundraiser suggested that he ask for a contribution from the state party in exchange for getting out the race.  Soon after Reardon dropped out he received $50,000 from the state party.  He subsequently made a $10,000 contribution to Richard Cordray’s campaign for Ohio Treasurer.

Honestly, it doesn’t even matter whether these allegations against Cordray’s fundraiser are true.  The story here is that Cordray, and his people, are diminishing his chances of winning a primary for Governor by the second.  The only people stepping up to their defense are former elected officials like Jennifer Brunner who are not well liked by the ODP and Chairman Redfern.

3BP is going to RightOnline 2012

Hello 3BP readers,

Jason and I will be attending the RightOnline 2012 conference in Las Vegas in 3 weeks. RightOnline started in 2008 as a project of Americans for Prosperity with the goal of advancing liberty and prosperity for all Americans through grassroots activism and online participation.

The conference is June 15th and 16th at the Venetian. We would love to see you there, so send us an email if you plan on going. Here is a short video showing some highlights from last year.

There they go again...silly Plunderpals

Our friends over at Plunderbund are known to have problems with the truth, especially when it comes to Governor Kasich. Today, "dirtgirl" posted this about the governor:

Clearly, faced with the prospect of increased tax revenue from fracking, even a top Republican legislator placed assistance to local governments ahead of a tax cut, the only use of the revenue Governor Kasich says he will consider. Kasich is so adamant about not helping local governments, suffering from severe cuts in his two-year budget, [he] actually threatened to veto any measure providing extra cash to communities in the mid-biennium budget review.

In other words, at least one leading House Republican appears to agree with liberal think tanks, the editors of the Toledo Blade, Cleveland Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal and House Democrats that any proceeds from increased fracking taxes should be shared with local governments before we consider cutting the income tax.

In other words, Plunderbund is saying that Kasich has refused to consider and help the local communities affected directly by drilling activities. The problem is that they are flat out wrong.

From the very beginning of this entire debate, Governor Kasich has talked about assisting local governments in communities that are directly affected. Take this article from way back in January in the Columbus Dispatch.

Ohio’s oil and gas industry would pay an “impact fee” for deep-shale wells to cover the cost of infrastructure damage caused by oil and gas extraction, part of a package of taxes and fees for the industry that Gov. John Kasich soon will propose.

Meet another one of Sherrod Brown's violence-prone Occupy friends

For months now, we have been informing you of Senator Sherrod Brown's love affair with the Occupy movement. In our original post, we highlighted an appearance he made on Hardball where he praised the energy coming out of the socialist movement as "always a good thing." He and Chris Matthews went on to conclude that Washington needs to look to these people for solutions.

Months later, fellow contributor Jason Hart reminded us of how Sherrod Brown denounced the non-violent Tea Party movement, who have yet to rack up even a single arrest at their peaceful protests. Yet, to this day, he still echoes on his own website the rhetoric of the filthy, violent and criminal crowd that makes up the Occupy movement and that has resulted in thousands of arrests nationwide, including rapes and homicides.

Then, of course, came the big news three weeks ago when Occupy Cleveland members planted what they believed was C4 explosives on a Northeast Ohio bridge and attempted to blow it up. When the Occupy movement right in Sherrod's backyard started with rape and finally graduated to terrorism, I expected him to come out and say "Enough" and denounce these people. Nope. Nothing but silence from Sherrod Brown (not to mention former governor and Obama lackey Ted Strickland). After praising the movement so heavily, their silence after the bomb plot could be interpreted as a tacit approval of their tactics.

Now, meet another Occupier in Ohio whose violent past and recent manifestos should raise eyebrows, this time in Columbus. From Media Trackers Ohio, we learn that Occupy Columbus leader Jesse C. Kloth, aka "Vegas Verbz", posted on their Facebook page that what they needed to boost their pathetic participation was to ratchet things up by employing violent black bloc tactics.

Kentucky, Arkansas Dems won't commit to Obama

A couple weeks ago, we told you about President Obama's problems convincing West Virginia Democrats to vote for him over federal inmate Keith Judd.  Last night the states of Kentucky and Arkansas held Presidential primaries for both parties, and Pres. Obama faced similarly formidable competition.  While Governor Romney was winning more than 2/3rds of the GOP vote with Paul, Santorum, and Gingrich's names still on the ballot as options, over 40% of Democrats in both states rejected President Obama.

SC Union Boss Celebrates Retirement by Whacking Nikki Haley Pinata

With the Obama campaign focused on their phony "war on women" narrative, the image of a female governor being hit in effigy by one of the GOP's key bases of support would be a tremendous boon to their efforts.  As luck would have it, just such an event took place recently in South Carolina.  Unfortunately for the Democrats, it was Republican Governor Nikki Haley turned into a pinata for AFL-CIO boss Donna Dewitt's retirement ceremony. 

UPDATED: Even Obama's allies find his attacks on capitalism "nauseating"

To conservatives, it has been clear for a long time that Barack Obama has not a single clue how an economy functions. We've seen a trillion-dollar stimulus come and go. And fail miserably. We've seen how his answer to every single problem is more and bigger government, instead of removing the roadblocks that government has put in the way of businesses.

His economic incompetence comes as no surprise to many of us. After all, he hates capitalism in the first place. His hatred of America runs deep and far back into his youth. He launched his political career in the living room of a pro-Communism terrorist, and attended the church of an America-hating preacher for decades. Even his wife admitted that she had never before been proud of her country, until 2008 when Obama began to lead the polls for the Democratic nomination. We on the right have been disgusted by this man from Day 1.

But now, his latest attacks are beginning to turn off members of his own party. The man whose private sector experience is dwarfed by a 10-year old selling Girl Scout cookies wants to attack Mitt Romney's experience in private business.

Obama's Healthcare Solution For All Leaves Students Without Healthcare, Or Paying Double

President Obama sold his hallmark legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, as being a healthcare solution for everyone. It was supposed to solve the problem of the uninsured, especially younger adults.

Well, so much for that thought. News this week from the eastern edge of our state shows just how detrimental Obama's policies have been:

Faced with being forced to abandon its conscience while emptying its bank account, a Catholic university finds its students can't keep the health insurance they like as it becomes prohibitively expensive.

Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, finding itself at the nexus of cost and conscience regarding the demands and expenses imposed on it and other Catholic institutions by the onslaught of ObamaCare, has announced it will neither comply nor participate in the nationalization of health care and drop the health coverage it offers to its students.

While Franciscan University is grappling with how to deal with the Obama mandates that amount to nothing more than an assault on religious freedom (and are blatantly in violation of the U.S. Constitution), the bigger issues here is affordability. In Steubenville, student coverage under Obamacare was simply too expensive for the university to maintain:

Liberal Calls For Bipartisanship Prove To Be Nothing But Whining

We all remember the fight over Senate Bill 5 last year. And while Republicans proved that the reforms were needed, Democrats condemned it at every turn with every accusation imaginable. Among them were cries that the process was not open and it was simply partisan politics.

So, naturally, all the liberals really wanted was to have a seat at the table and have their voices heard during the legislative process, right?

Apparently not.

With Senate Bill 335 moving through the legislature, co-sponsored by Democrat and strong union supporter Sen. Nina Turner, the legislation to reform the failing Cleveland Public School system is garnering incredible bi-partisan support. The bill is the brain child of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson—a Democrat—and is being considered before the Senate Education Committee, of which Turner is a member.

Another Romney Classmate Turns Up

Evidence Of President Obama’s Base Problems

A shaky economy. High unemployment. Skyrocketing deficits. Sinking poll numbers. And now a significant problem with his base.

Things certainly aren’t looking up for President Obama’s reelection efforts.

Following an abysmal showing in North Carolina where 20% of Democrat voters cast their ballots in favor of “no preference” and an utterly disastrous performance in West Virginia, losing over 40% of the vote to a convicted felon, Obama’s had a bit of trouble showing his base—the liberals that dominate the Democrat party—that he’s worth keeping around another four years.

And for further proof, you only need to look at his new position on same-sex marriage:

"At a certain point, I've just concluded, that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Obama told ABC News.

Of course, this is a switch from his long-held belief that marriage is between one man and one woman. So why the about-face?

Obama ad appears to lie about Ohio man's supposed layoff

Who is Brian Slagle? He is a Toledo man featured in Barack Obama's new commercial touting the auto bailouts.

A new ad by Obama tells the story of Brian Slagle, an autoworker in Ohio who says he was laid off and “scared to death” until the president swooped in to save the industry.
“Obama stuck his neck out for us, the auto industry,” Slagle says in the ad. “He wasn’t going to let it just die, and I’m driving in this morning because of that, because of him.”

Ted Strickland Redux: Governor Kasich’s Guarantee For Reelection

You’ve heard us tell you before that Governor Strickland and his band of misfit toys are definitely considering another run for governor in 2014. Of course, we couldn’t be more ecstatic to see the man who lost Ohio 400,000 jobs match up against the man currently turning this state around.

He’s added jobs, made Ohio more attractive to business, surrounded himself with the best talent and all while tackling Ohio’s largest budget deficit in history.

Of course, if you’re to believe Strickland, that $8 billion deficit he handed off to Kasich wasn’t really all that much: