Gonna wash that dirt right outta your hair!

Apparently Rebategate just wasn't quite ready to go away yet.

From the Big D:

A division director was forced to resign and a second Department of Development staffer was placed on a three-day suspension today in the wake of a controversy involving the state outsourcing call-center work to El Salvador.

In March the state gave a federal stimulus-funded $11 million appliance-rebate program contract to Texas-based Parago Inc., which used hundreds of workers in El Salvador to process applications and answer customers' calls. The Development Department recommended Parago after evaluating nine bids, including two from companies in Columbus.

When the contract was made public, Lisa Patt-McDaniel, director of the Ohio Department of Development, said Parago never told state officials it would use an offshore call center.

But today, Patt-McDaniel said she has since come across new information regarding what was known, and when. The information led Nadeane Howard, director of the Ohio Energy Resources Division, to resign today.

Special props need to go to State Senator David Goodman who went on ONN this past weekend and exposed Ms. Howard and the lies she told to the Controlling Board. Jump to the 2:00 minute mark for the red meat:



Ms. Howard's failures do far more than highlight yet more ineptitude within the Strickland Administration. They confirm that the request Rep. Boehner and other Ohio Congressmen made in March of last year to incorporate an independent panel to review Stimulus projects was the right way to go. Instead, the Governor felt he could handle things just fine.

That didn't work out too well, now did it?

From a political perspective, this issue is absolutely killing the Governor and Lee Fisher. At best, it's distracting from whatever message the Governor has been trying to convey the past two weeks. The voters that are paying attention this far out instead see stories that highlight the ineptitude within the Administration and enhance the negative perception of the stimulus that Strickland and Fisher so enthusiastically supported.

A simple firing won't make that go away.

Some people never learn.

Ohio Democrats pick some strange people to idolize. One of which is David Betras.

David Betras was honored Saturday as the County Democratic Party Chairman of the Year for Ohio. “I didn’t even know about it,” said Betras, Mahoning County’s Democratic Party chairman. “It was a total shock.”

You weren't the only one, Mr. Chairman.

Some of you may have forgotten the name, David Betras.

What if I say "Marc Dann"?

Ah, yes. That rings a bell, eh?

Yep. David Betras was the best friend and law partner of Marc Dann. He helped Dann get his start in statewide politics and even helped him flirt with his then future-lover:

The next day, when David Betras, a friend of Dann's, wrote her to tell her how fond he was of Dann, Utovich told him that Dann spoke highly of Betras.

"Mutual feeling, believe me," Betras wrote.

"He speaks highly of me? " she responded. "Or you speak highly of him?"

"Both," was his reply.

Awwwww yeah. Bow chicka chick bow bowwww.

Betras even helped Marc Dann send some cash they hoarded after his election for "transition" purposes to Dann's wife.

From the IG Report on Marc Dann:


Legal? Technically. Ethical? Not so much.

But hey, what do you expect from the County Chairman of the Year for the Ohio Democratic Party?

In case you forgot...

With everything going on these days, it sometimes is easy to forget about the sacrifices being made on the other side of the world on our behalf.

To give you a small dose of reality, check out this footage of a real life firefight in Afghanistan that was recently posted on youtube:

BREAKING: Ka-BOOM!

Reuters-Ipsos just put out a new poll showing John Kasich up 48-39 on Ted Strickland.

And the good news doesn't end there.

Rob Portman has also staked out a 43-36 lead on Lee Fisher.

The rest of the poll confirms a lot of what we already knew.

Jobs and the economy are far and away the most important issue in the campaign with 79% citing it as the biggest problem. Second was weak government and corrupt politicians.

Both aren't exactly good news for Ted and Lee.

Are Ohioans optimistic that Ted and Lee's administration are turning around Ohio? With nearly 2/3 saying the state is headed down the wrong track, that's a big, fat no.

Joe Hallett and the Ohio Democratic Party like to think Democrats are enthusiastic. Well, as I just mentioned yesterday, that just isn't happening. The Reuters poll confirmed my theory with 75% of Republicans saying they are certain to vote versus just 52% of Democrats.

If there is any good news at all for Ted, it's that 93% of Ohioans believe bankers and wall street are the biggest culprits for the economic downturn.

But after millions and millions of dollars spent on advertising, Strickland press conferences, and organized political events designed to highlight Kasich's attachment to Wall Street, that tactic hasn't done much good, has it? In fact, if these numbers are accurate, things have actually gotten worse since the tactic was fully implemented.

Hmm...it's almost as if someone predicted things would get worse for Ted after Kasich "twisted the knife" on Lehman.

With the incumbent Democrat pulling in just 39% of the vote, it's time for Ted Strickland and his team to get very, very, very worried. Remember, traditionally it's bad news when an incumbent isn't hitting 50%. Ted's at 39%.

As for Lee, for someone who has been around as long as him to get just 36% of the vote is simply astounding. And unfortunately for him, he doesn't have any money to really move those numbers.

Do these numbers mean we should rest on our laurels? Not by a long shot. There are still 84 days until election day. Anything can happen. Additionally, this is just one poll. If we see the same trend over the next few weeks, we'll have further confirmation on the state of the race.

But as Larry David says, this is pretty good.

12 weeks.

There's our boy.



Interesting. Gov. Barbour is the one that mentions 2012.

Curious as to why that's interesting? Check this out.

Obama v. Obama on Afghanistan

As edited by.......the Huffington Post?

DeWine is up. Big.

Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies is one of the most well-respected pollsters out there. If he's your pollster, you've hired one of the best.

And a new poll from Public Opinion Strategies shows Mike DeWine absolutely smoking Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray.

They sampled 600 likely voters. The party ID breakdown was 37-30 in favor of the Dems, or about what it was in the 2008 election. And voters were asked straight up who they prefer, Cordray or DeWine.

The results?

DeWine is up 46-38 on Cordray.

Among Independents, DeWine is up 46-27.

Cordray is only winning 68% of the Democrats.

DeWine is winning 88% of the Republicans, once again disproving theories of some type of right wing rebellion against DeWine.

Cordray has a massive hill to climb.

How will this play?

Going against all logic and ignoring the massive chorus against spending, the U.S. House of Representatives is reconvening in spend $26 billion in order to make the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers happy.

They are giving them money to "save the jobs" of teachers.

Interestingly enough, a lot of these very same teachers are already being rehired, as happens over the course of each summer.

Of course, that's neither here nor there. Congress needs to make the teachers unions happy, right?

But at what political cost?

As it turns out, there are tons, and I mean TONS, of usually liberal groups that are extremely unhappy with the bill.

Why?

Well, for instance it meant the cut of $11.2 billion from the food stamp program. That means low-income families will eventually start seeing $59 less in food stamps each month. A letter of protest signed by page after page of food pantries and charities can be seen here. And a sense of the Democratic infighting can be seen in the comments of the article in Huffington Post about this very issue.

What else? Well, it also pissed off a conglomeration of education groups collectively called the Democrats for Education Reform. They are ticked off about cuts to other education programs they deem more worthy than appeasing the teacher unions.

The point is, this bill is very discouraging to a lot of organizations that traditionally support Democrats. And yet, we already have people like Mary Jo Kilroy bragging about supporting it.

Now the members of these Democratic groups will very likely not start voting Republican, but in an election year where the Democrats need every part of their base to show up, discouraging them with a bill like this is a very poor tactical choice.

Yes, it appeases the teacher unions. But it further enrages conservatives and depresses a large number of usually reliable Democratic votes.

That's not smart politics.

"That may not be what the Washington crowd wants..."

How bad has it gotten for Democrats?

They are running against Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.

In a campaign ad from Democratic Congressman Joe Donnelly, he hits hard on immigration and uses this image to highlight how he won't do what his leaders in Washington say.


The amazing part? Donnelly won in 2008 by 37%.

And now he has to rely on bashing Pelosi and Obama in order to court the favor of voters.

This is a wave election, people.

Myrl wouldn't be happy.

The recent IG report on OSFC Director Murray and Governor Strickland stated that Strickland fired former Director Mike Shoemaker because he hadn't done enough to cozy up to Unions.

Shoemaker told us that nobody explained to him why he was being fired, but he suspected it was related to complaints from union officials. A month later, Governor Strickland appointed Richard C. Murray, a union official who years earlier had challenged the OSFCs exclusion of PLAs.

Murray, in an interview with this office, said that the governors office had asked him to smooth over rocky relations with unions and make sure union representatives were regarded as constituents at the OSFC.

In a gaggle after the IG report, the Governor tried to make the implication that it was because of poor performance by Shoemaker. Considering Shoemaker was never told of any poor performance at his firing, that accusation is surprising. In addition, the directive given by the Guv's office also implies that the problem was rough relationships with unions, not poor performance.

So based on the lengths the Governor has gone to embarrass Shoemaker, I did find it surprising that they had no problem naming an award after his Dad at their recent Party fundraiser.


If the honorable former Lt. Governor was still around today, I wonder what he would think about the way the Strickland Administration has tried to pull his son's name through the mud.

It's my understanding that Tyrone Yates won the Shoemaker award. I wonder if he has anything to say.

Space is vulnerable.

State Senator Bob Gibbs hasn't raised much money. He doesn't have the highest name recognition.

But that doesn't stop him from being tied with a two-term Congressman in Ohio's 18th district.

According to an NRCC pollster, Gibbs and Rep. Zack Space are tied at 43%.

But the news gets worse from there.

When asked whether Space deserves re-election, only 38% said yes.

And on an issue of particular concern to the 18th district, 62% said they are opposed to Cap & Trade. Mind you, Space voted for Cap & Trade this year before being left hung out to dry by the Obama Administration.

Space, of course, dismissed the numbers. But don't forget, John McCain won OH-18 over Barack Obama by a full eight points just two years ago. Does anyone else think the political environment has improved in OH-18 since then?

I thought so.

All offense. No defense.

After the May primary, Ted Strickland went up with his first campaign ad. It was a negative ad that utilized the same actress and same substance from an anti-McCain ad in 2008.

Since then, the DGA and Big Labor, led by AFSCME, have funded millions in attack ads against Kasich.

And now it's the Governor's turn again. But this time he's using old-fashioned radio. It can be heard here.

Governor Strickland came into office nearly four years ago. He has a record.

And yet, with just 84 days to go until election day, he and his allies have yet to spend one cent on paid mass media to communicate anything about that record.

I've discussed before how bad of a strategic error this actually is for his campaign. While trying to tear down his opponent is necessary, it does no good if he can't find a way to drastically improve his own standing among Democrats and Independents. And he's running out of time.

Sure, his record pretty much sucks. But this is politics. It's easy to put "lipstick on a pig", as President Obama would say.

But he isn't.

Thanks, Governor.

Has Kilroy given back her craigslist cash yet?

Last week we detailed the charges against Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and his political contributions to a very few select members of Congress...one of which being Mary Jo Kilroy.

Well, this weekend the Craigslist story got even bigger.

From the Washington Post:

Craig Newmark was all over Twitter on Friday, as he is most days, yakking about Android, re-tweeting about Bart Simpson in summer school, reminding his 24,000 followers to vote to end world poverty. He engaged with friends and strangers alike.

MC is still waiting to hear from him.

Newmark is the founder of the worldwide online bazaar Craigslist. MC is a 17-year-old girl who says she was repeatedly sold for sex through ads on Craigslist. In open letters published as newspaper ads, she has beseeched Newmark to shut down the site's lucrative "adult services" section, which law-enforcement officials and advocates say facilitates prostitution and child trafficking.

[...]

This week brought increased pressure. Friday morning, MC's "Dear Craig" plea appeared in a half-page ad in The Washington Post, along with the account of AK, who said she had been sold for sex by the hour at truck stops, 10 hours with 10 different men each night. Friday afternoon, a federal judge in South Carolina threw out a lawsuit in which Craigslist had tried to stop authorities from investigating whether it has a role in prostitution; and by Friday night, Connecticut's attorney general had called for Craigslist to shut down its "adult section" site completely. Earlier in the week, CNN aired video of a reporter ambushing Newmark, who was unable to muster a response when confronted with ads that depicted girls being offered for sex.

Remember, Kilroy has accepted a contribution from Mr. Newmark.

In light of his disgusting refusal to yank the ads for "Adult Services" from his website, Congresswoman Kilroy has a responsibility to return any and all contributions Mr. Newmark has made to her campaign. My recommendation would be to send those contributions to the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition.

The XXXXXX Act of XXXX

Wow.

There haven't been many more perfectly symbolic actions than this one.

It was supposed to be some routine election-year largesse from Democrats: a $26 billion spending measure to aid two of the party's core constituencies, labor unions, and government workers.

But a watchdog Web site on Sunday evening spotted an unusual feature of the legislation, which the Senate approved by a 61-to-39 vote last week.

It doesn't actually have a name. Congress' official Web site calls it the "______Act of____" (PDF). Elsewhere, it's referred to as the "XXXXXX Act of XXXX."

Whatever the name, or no name, associated with the legislation, it may be too late to christen the bill properly. The Senate has left town until mid-September, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called the House of Representatives back into session to vote on the same unidentified legislation.

During the Obamacare debate, there was call after call by Americans for Congress to "Read the Bill".

Apparently, Pelosi and her allies learned nothing.

If they can't even get the title right, how can we possibly expect the text within to be appropriately designated? If they can't pay enough attention to realize they haven't named their bill, it explains why they haven't paid attention to the Americans that are begging for Congress to restrain spending.

I'm sorry. I just can't get behind The XXXXXX Act of XXXX.

Can the Governor get out of firing Murray?

Last week yet another scandal exploded out of the Governor's office as his Director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, a man in charge of billions of taxpayer dollars, was raked over the coals for abusing his position to benefit unions. As if the Richard Murray IG investigation wasn't bad enough for the Governor, now we find out Strickland ignored his legal responsibilities as well:

Strickland’s office is required by state law to notify the Senate of its appointments so the Senate can begin a confirmation process. But the Senate never received paperwork from the governor’s office, and Murray was never confirmed, said Maggie Ostrowski, spokeswoman for Senate President Bill Harris, an Ashland Republican.

"They are required to send over this paperwork and they didn’t do it," Ostrowski said. "It’s kind of astonishing with everything that happened with other gubernatorial appointments that they missed this one too."

This guy served for two years on a state pension council. It's not like the Governor didn't have time to walk over the paperwork.

As you'll recall, Strickland was able to get out of firing Cathy Collins-Taylor because he failed to get her confirmed. After Troopergate, she was finally sent over to the Senate for confirmation and was soundly rejected.

Well now there are public calls for Richard Murray to be fired.

From the Dispatch:

Murray’s actions were grossly unprofessional and unacceptable for the head of a state agency in charge of billions of dollars in public money. The governor faces a choice: Remove an administrator who has ill-served the public, or keep him and thereby choose to serve labor’s interests rather than those of Ohio students and taxpayers.

As the Dispatch states, the Governor is to blame. He has two choices, get rid of Murray and risk pissing off a whole lot of labor that have given him millions over the years. Or keep him and risk alienating the hoards of Independent voters that are disgusted with this kind of politics. Either way, it's a lose-lose.

At least some good came out of all this. Maybe now we have a way to find out all the people within Strickland's administration that have committed some type of malfeasance. Do a review of all the appointees that the Governor failed to get confirmed.

Where is the enthusiasm?

Over the weekend, you may have seen my quick rundown of the deficiencies of Joe Hallett's article on the Ohio Democratic Party's dinner event.

Well, there also happened to be another serious problem.

He seems to think a fundraiser with 2,256 Democrats equals enthusiasm among Democrats statewide.

What does he do to back it up? He lists off Chris Redfern's talking points discussing the large "staff" of ODP employees he has at his disposal to execute a ground game that will win the day.

What a load of malarkey.

Why?

Four important points about organization and enthusiasm.

1) The ODP does things a little differently than the Republicans. Rather than every campaign worker on each statewide, congressional, and other campaign being paid by that individual campaign, they collect them all into one basket at the ODP. This includes everyone from campaign managers, to paid canvassers, to operatives funded by over $1.1 million from the DNC and DGA. According to Redfern, this means his "staff" is far larger than the ORP, and in turn, provides the Democrats with an unbeatable ground game. Well, I have news for Mr. Redfern, if we added up the equivalent for the GOP, we'd have the same, or possibly even more paid staff on the ground. And we don't have to buy our canvassers.

2) As Hallett mentioned in the article, Democrats think their ground game will win the day:

Despite an adverse political climate and the historical midterm-election jinx for the party in power, Ohio Democrats think they can win Nov.2 on the strength of their organization.

"We've been building this thing here for the past five years," said Doug Kelly, the state party's executive director. "We're organized in every single county and community across the state with an ongoing, sustained presence. We have a committed, dedicated core group of people."

Interesting. Why? Because this article focusing about Ohio ran in the New York Times in 2006:


It went on to say:

Voter intensity is a critical element in politics, especially in midterm elections, when Americans’ interest and turnout are typically much lower than in a presidential election year. Pollsters say enthusiasm among Democrats is particularly high this year — significantly higher, by several important measures, than the intensity of Republicans.

Republican strategists counter that they can compensate for any gap in enthusiasm with their legendary get-out-the-vote operation. The party has built its electoral success in the last two elections on identifying and producing nearly every obtainable Republican vote at the polls; this time may be more challenging, they say, but no different.

Sounds familiar, eh?

Anyone remember what happened in 2006? Thought so.

3) The GOP GOTV machine is better than ever, and already outperforming Democrats.

How do we know? The Ohio Democrats bragged that their first massive statewide grassroots voter contact effort reached 10,000 Ohioans.

How many did Republicans reach in their first organized equivalent? 63,000 phone contacts and 5,000 doors knocked.

That's a 7-1 ratio. So much for Dem grassroots superiority.

4) While having an organization is nice, and getting 2,200 to a fundraiser is inspiring to Chairman Redfern, by no stretch does that infer enthusiasm across the base.

And Democratic voters simply aren't enthused.

The latest poll from Gallup showed 22% of Democrats are "very enthusiastic" to vote. Republicans are twice that. And we're supposed to believe Ohio is an outlier from these results?

If so, wouldn't we see that in other poll results? After all, it's safe to say voter enthusiasm for an incumbent would be reflected in polls gauging job approval and direction of the state. If someone can't wait to vote, they can't wait to vote for someone they approve of, right?

But poll results across the board show that's not the case.

From the Democratic PPP polling firm, 40% of those who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 do not approve of the job Ted Strickland has done. Broken down by Party, 39% of Democrats feel the same way. For an incumbent Democrat who has been in office for four years and is well known across the state, those numbers within the base are astounding.

What about Quinnipiac?

In their last poll we learned:

• 59% of Dems are satisfied with the direction of the state.
• 54% of Democrats don't believe Ted kept his campaign promises.
• 46% of Dems don't approve of his handling of the economy.

And we're supposed to believe these Democrats are enthusiastic to get to the polls?

Incumbent elections are referendums. The base needs to want to vote for the guy they put in office four years ago. And right now there is no indication of that happening.

At best, Redfern's best hope is that these discouraged Democrats will stay home rather than pull the lever for the alternative. And that's not the kind of enthusiasm that wins elections.

"We can get it done."

In 1980, Ronald Reagan ran on the slogan, "Let's Make America Great Again".

In 2010, John Kasich wants to do the same for Ohio.

A Tale of Two Articles

It's not too hard to see where Joe Hallett's allegiances lie.

Today, the day after the Ohio Democratic Party's big fundraising dinner, this was the headline by Mr. Hallett in the Columbus Dispatch:


The text of the article was a virtual hump of the leg of the Ohio Democratic Party. Quotes are included from Strickland, Fisher, and the guest of honor, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine. I was actually sorta surprised it didn't end with a "Go Team!" from Hallett and a link for where to contribute money.

So with that in mind, let's take a look at Hallett's article after the Ohio GOP state dinner back in June.


Not one quote from any of the GOP candidates for statewide office. Not even a mention of their names. Instead, he writes an article about infighting within the Party. Now to be fair, it's arguably a legitimate complication for the GOP. But it's also an article he could have written at any time. Hallett even goes so far as to state the question of Tea Party influence was an "unspoken question" at the event. So why write about it?

Since Hallett had no problem bringing up controversial issues to attendees at the GOP dinner, why didn't we see similar questions asked of Democrats at the ODP dinner? Why weren't they asked about the latest two scandals in the Governor's office, Rebategate and the Big Labor boss turned Director of School Funding Czar? Why weren't they asked about the floundering Fisher campaign? Considering the reported reception of Jennifer Brunner relative to Fisher, that was clearly newsworthy.

But I guess that wasn't on Hallett's agenda.

Strickland tries to patch up gaping wound with band-aid

You remember Rebate-gate, right?

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.

Cordray and Strickland stick up for the bad guys.

All too often I've had to describe Governor Strickland's decisions as either incompetent or purposefully and ethically wrong.

Well, I guess it's time to add Attorney General Cordray's actions under the same description.

From Wednesday's Columbus Dispatch:

Gov. Ted Strickland and Attorney General Richard Cordray wrote yesterday to prosecutors in seven criminal cases, including Swanson's, urging them to allow DNA testing that could confirm guilt or prove innocence. In each of those cases, DNA testing has been opposed by prosecutors and ultimately refused by judges.

[...]

"I really think it's irrational not to take advantage of methods that could establish either guilt or innocence when those technologies are available to us," Strickland told The Dispatch. "I can think of no good argument why anyone would be denied DNA testing if, in fact, there is a reasonable or relevant opportunity to bring clarity to whether or not someone is guilty of a crime."

Strickland said that neither he nor Cordray has the legal authority to require local prosecutors or judges to grant DNA testing. The letters simply ask the prosecutors to voluntarily make the evidence available for testing "as a matter of public policy."

To the layman, it seems like a safe and painless request, right?

Not so much, at least according to the bipartisan Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. This is a portion of a letter sent to the Governor in response to his request:


I've attached the letter from the OPAA below in full, as well as a particularly powerful letter from the Fairfield County Prosecuting Attorney that discusses another case Strickland and Cordray wanted to open back up. I highly recommend you read both to gain a full understanding of just how horribly wrong Strickland and Cordray are by making such a request.

In addition, the Portage County Prosecuting Attorney had this to say, "It’s a pending case. I thought it to be improper or inappropriate for anyone to interject themselves into pending litigation like that. ... We’re going to let the Supreme Court make their decision and let the judicial process take its course here."

There are times when utilizing the bully pulpit has its uses. But Strickland and Cordray seem to have gone far out of bounds this time. If this was truly a concern of theirs, couldn't they have at least tried to address the issue privately rather than trying to score political points? Of course not. That's not how these two operate.

The question is whether the press and the voters call them out on it.

John Murphy Letter

DavidLandefeld Letter

Cheerleader for Change

When the American people were being sold on the stimulus, Obama and his Democratic friends in Congress promised us a "jumpstart" to the economy and an unemployment rate that would never reach 8%.

535 days later the nation's unemployment rate sits at 9.5%.

But it gets worse.

The Labor Force participation rate currently sits at 64.6%. The last time it was lower than that was 1984.

Since March of 2009, one month after the stimulus was implemented, the number of discouraged workers, the economic term used for individuals who have given up looking for a job, has increased by 500,000 people.

Additionally, we now have 2 million fewer full-time workers than we had a year ago.

And while Obama and the Congress like to brag about 7 months of private sector job growth, the rate of increase doesn't reach the 125k-150k rate necessary to keep up with population growth. In other words, we're falling farther and farther behind.

This is why we're spending $862 billion? That's more than the cost of the entire War in Iraq.

Ted Strickland may like to call me a Cheerleader for Failure for a post like this. But if a policy fails to do what it was promised to do, especially at this extreme cost to the American taxpayer, don't we have a responsibility to hold our leaders accountable for the results?

The answer, of course, is yes.

And if the above statistics make you say "things are going just fine", that's your choice. But it won't be the same opinion as a whole lot of Americans come November 2nd.

Now from a purely political perspective, this couldn't be worse news for Democrats. Not only are there the obvious problems of no substantive results to highlight to the American people, but it gives Republicans another full-month to highlight the failure of the Administration and the Pelosi Congress.

That won't help those generic congressional polls very much.

Did Ohio learn its lesson?

Thanks to the irresponsible spending of billions of dollars in stimulus funds and exorbitant spending for far too long before that, Ohio finds itself in a $7-8 billion pile of budget dookie starting next cycle.

Well, with new federal stimulus dollars being prepared to be funneled down to the states, Ohio has a chance to test its mettle.

If the money is coming whether we like it or not, can Ohio's leaders at least find it within themselves to avoid spending the money, and instead save it until its needed?

Well, if Democrats have their way, don't count on it.

Democrats have boasted that the measure will save up to 140,000 teaching jobs, including 5,000 in Ohio, potentially setting up an expectation that money should be spent this year to keep or hire back teachers, rather than as a way to save money for the next budget.

Scott Blake, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, said the $362 million in federal aid for education "would likely prevent layoffs and allow schools to recall teachers.

But Sen. Carey gets it:

State Sen. John A. Carey Jr., a Wellston Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said leaders should find a way to shift extra money into the next budget, if possible.

"I definitely would be in favor of using any additional resources we have to address next year's budget," he said. "We definitely should not increase spending today because that would just dig us a bigger hole for the next budget."

Ideally, none of our tax dollars would be spent just to expand the spending bubbles in each state that are bursting at the seams. But if the cash is coming, it should at least be used appropriately, and not utilized to maintain the status quo that has already proven itself impossible to maintain. And that means holding onto it for the next budget cycle.

Believe it or not, the federal government does not have a magic money tree where all this cash comes from. It comes from each and every one of us, and the more we use, the deeper into debt we all go.

Why is that bad?

Ask Greece.

In or out.

I've seen some of my liberal friends on twitter and facebook rejoicing about Elena Kagan's confirmation by the Senate. A number of them are happy that the court "now looks a little bit more like America".

To me, that's exactly the wrong attitude.

We should be struggling to find the most qualified candidate for the Supreme Court based on his or her ability to do the job, not the color of his or her skin, their gender, or who they sleep next to at night.

As a nation, we need to stop looking at what's on the outside, and start recognizing it's what's in the inside that matters.

Gary Coleman should be fired.

No, not that one.

Gary Coleman is a Strickland-appointed trustee at Shawnee State.

He's also best friends and a labor ally of Richard Murray, the target of the Ohio Inspector General's report released this morning. Coleman was reported to join Murray on a number of the meetings discussed in the IG report.

And he also sounds like a bit of a psychopath.

From the report:

Gary Coleman, a business manager for Laborers Union Local 83 in Scioto County, showed up at the Clay school building site and confronted the owner of Solid Rock Construction Services. The Portsmouth merit shop was doing site preparation work that included building a permanent retaining wall. Coleman accused Solid Rock of subcontracting out the work to a company that used illegal immigrants. At the job site, Coleman shouted profanities at the owner within earshot of several people. According to accounts from Solid Rock owner Bill Whitaker and two employees, Coleman declared war on Solid Rock and referred to the workers as Mexican n----rs. Coleman also mocked Whitakers devout Christianity by shouting f--k your Jesus.

And in a letter from the Superintendent of the Clay Local School District:

It continued...


Oh, and then there's that bit about the $20,000 bribe offered to a candidate for Commissioner in Scioto County:

On May 4, 2010, Carl Pertuset won the Republican primary for the Scioto County Commissioner race. That night at the courthouse, Gary Coleman introduced himself to the victorious Pertuset and, according to Pertuset, told him he would find $20,000 in his lap if he would support the union. Pertuset replied that he supported all workers, and Coleman withdrew the offer and walked away. The Scioto County sheriff heard and verified the conversation. Coleman, in an interview with this office, acknowledged making the offer, although he said it may have been for $15,000. Coleman said he was not offering cash, but merely offering to raise campaign contributions for Pertuset.

Of course you were, Gary.

Remember, Coleman is a Strickland appointee.

The Governor can ask for his resignation or fire him at anytime he so chooses.

And that time should be now.

UPDATE: Despite his name still being listed on their website, I've been informed Gary Coleman did resign his position as a Shawnee State trustee in July. Boy, I can't imagine why. The timing is interesting. After all, the Clay School District Superintendent sent his letter to Strickland way back in February. And yet, Strickland did nothing until the IG report was nearing completion and he knew it would come out in the report. Shameful.

I've been told his resignation letter simply said, "I f__ing resign." Ha.

Richard Murray should be fired.

Back in June I pondered the following about Richard Murray:

With word yesterday that Strickland's head of the Ohio School Facilities Commission is pushing unions to exclusively score contracts, one has to wonder when all of these dirty tactics will catch up with them. It has to only be a matter of time, right?

Not a week went by when we discovered Murray was being investigated by the Ohio Inspector General.

And today his findings were released.

Without question, Ted Strickland must fire Richard Murray.

After a quick scan of the report, here are a few lowlights:

Our investigation found that the administration removed its previous OSFC director and appointed Murray in September 2009, in part, to improve relations with unions and ensure that unions were regarded as constituents or stakeholders at the OSFC. Murray had been a longtime union leader when he was appointed OSFC director. Rather than put unions on equal footing, we found that Murray provided them with undue access and accommodations. In ways large and small, Murray repeatedly failed in his responsibility to remain neutral on union matters.

[...]

He never similarly reached out to non-union organizations. Encouraging union workers, regardless of whether they worked on a job site, to snoop on non-union contractors was an abuse of Murrays authority on several levels. Not only was Murray inappropriately making plain his preference for union construction, he literally mobilized union labor against non-union contractors. These two factions compete for OSFC work and sometimes work side-by-side on projects. Promoting discord and taking sides demonstrated exceedingly poor judgment on Murrays part.

[...]

As director, Murray has repeatedly allowed his union ties to undermine the credibility of his position and that of the OSFC. Murray was instructed upon his appointment to treat unions as constituents or stakeholders. Instead, Murray conferred upon unions a favored status, at the expense of non-union competitors, local school districts, and the OSFCs own guidelines. In 2007, for the first time, the OSFC introduced prevailing wage and PLA provisions as options for OSFC-funded projects, but left the decision up to local school districts. Murray, who oversees $2.8 million a day in construction spending, abused his authority by repeatedly acting as a go-between for union representatives and participating in PLA arm-twisting sessions with local school districts.

Will Strickland fire Richard Murray?

Well, I've got 178,520 reasons why he won't.

$178,520. That's how much Governor Strickland received from unions just in the past reporting period. That doesn't even include the eight other campaign finance reports he has submitted since becoming Governor.

Of course, if political pressure gets to a boiling point, anything is possible.

But let there be no doubt, Strickland knew what he was getting into when he fired the well-respected Michael Shoemaker back in 2009 and replaced him with Murray:

Back in August of 2009, Dennis Willard explained why the firing happened:

Sources told the Beacon Journal that Shoemaker angered unions and construction companies that hire union workers because the executive director would not bend the rules to ensure prevailing-wage clauses were part of every awarded contract. Minutes from commission meetings support this assertion.

Sounds familiar, eh?

Willard continued...

The unions and the construction companies that employ them contribute large sums of money to candidates, and there has been considerable speculation that Strickland canned Shoemaker to appease big-money men.

The governor and Haseley might not appreciate this connection, but they must expect that the void created by silence will be filled with innuendo and rumor.

And now we no longer have innuendo and rumor. We have hard evidence provided by the Inspector General and the school districts effected by Strickland's overwhelming desire to "appease big-money men".

This is politics at its worst.

Breaking it Down: The Polling Mess

Yesterday, the Dispatch wrote this about the new Rasmussen poll showing Rob Portman up by 4 on Lee Fisher:

Rasmussen's explanation of the party ID crosstabs hardly seems to lead to a 4-point Portman lead, unless its sample is overwhelmingly Democratic:

"Portman, a former congressman and George W. Bush administration official, has support from 85% of Republicans, while Fisher is backed by 69% of Democrats. Portman leads by 20 points among voters not affiliated with either major political party."

Well, with Rasmussen's numbers out today showing Kasich up only by three on Strickland, do these crosstabs look any better from a Party ID weighting perspective?

Not so much.

Kasich wins 83% of the GOP vote.
Strickland wins 72% of the Dem vote.
Kasich wins Independents by 19%.

And we're supposed to believe Kasich is up by only 3%? Once again, that's only possible if the sample is overweighted with Democratic votes.

So let's try a little experiment of our own.

If we use the highest profile Exit Poll from the 2008 election, as provided by CNN, that broke down the number of GOPers, Dems, and Independents that voted in the Presidential, and applied those ratios to this result, what would happen?

In 2008, per CNN, 5,608,789 Ohioans voted. 39% were Democrats, 31% were Republicans, and 30% were Independent.

As you can see, if we apply Rasmussen's gubernatorial choices by Party to the Party ID model provided by CNN in 2008, we get a vastly different result. And that doesn't even take into consideration the all too likely probability that the 2010 breakdown by Party will likely be more favorable to Republicans than the Year of Obama.

Now, is this formula perfect? Of course not. We're using two different polls, and we're unable to determine whom the undecideds in Rasmussen would vote for. But this does give us a more realistic perspective of what to expect if Rasmussen's breakdown by Party ID is correct.

The one pollster so far that has most closely reflected Party ID as it broke down in 2008 has been the Democratic polling firm PPP. Unfortunately, we haven't heard from them since late June.

This all goes to show you, gauging a race by a single poll, while very interesting, isn't likely to give you a real reflection of the race. Instead, we need to gauge polls as an aggregate. The bad news there? Four of the past six polls have been Rasmussen.

PPP, Quinnipiac, Ohio Poll, and Survey USA need to step it up.

The Experiment is Working

Way back in May I wrote this of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie:

Christie's style of governing and communicating to the media and public-at-large makes me think his Administration will be a fun experiment to watch. We conservatives have clamored for someone who represents our belief system and is a no-nonsense politician who does what he says and says what he does.

So far, Christie is doing just that. As long as he continues on this trajectory it provides an interesting opportunity to see just how successful sticking to your guns is as not just a governing strategy, but an electoral one as well.

Since then he's had a number of policy victories. And he hasn't changed his style one bit.

So, how are his approval numbers looking?

Better than Obama.

In approval vs. disapproval, Christie sits at +11 in a new poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University. Obama sits at +9.

Even better? Christie sits at a 48-24 approval rating among Independents.

Considering the tough decisions the Governor has been forced to make, that's pretty amazing.

For more on Christie's unique style of governing in New Jersey, I highly recommend reading this cover story from the National Review.

How did I miss this?

I hate to harp on old news, but I just remembered how an old prediction of mine came true.

Back on July 14th, I wondered just how long Fisher spokesman John Collins had left. After all, he wasn't exactly a model spokesperson. My bet was he'd be gone July 23rd.

Well, I ended up being off by three days. He ended up leaving the campaign on July 26th.

Can't believe I forgot about that prediction. Ha.

Since then, of course, Fisher has ran into gaffe after gaffe, and the only bit of good news came yesterday when a Rasmussen poll came out showing him down only four points to Rob Portman. The problem? Even the Dispatch noticed how overwhelmingly oversampled Democrats were in the poll.

Lee Fisher is going to lose. The only question is how much damage he will do down ticket.

But at least John Collins won't be there to witness the mess.

First Reaction: Ohio Guv Fundraising Numbers

Today, Ohio campaigns had to submit their campaign finance reports to the Ohio Secretary of State.

By every indication, Kasich absolutely demolished Strickland.

Kasich outraised Strickland by over $200,000.

But that's not the whole story. It very well should have been a total blowout.

Why? Because more than 1/3 of Strickland's haul came from gifts from his own Party organizations. That includes $704,000 in gifts from the Ohio Democratic Party and $55k from other committee organizations.

How much did Kasich get from State and County GOP? Well, I gave up looking after finding $5k from the Cuyahoga County GOP and $1,316 from the Franklin County GOP way down deep in the report.

In other words, the Ohio Democratic Party is keeping Strickland's campaign afloat.

Then there are the special interests - PACs and Big Labor.

Together, they gave Strickland $357,300. By comparison, Kasich took $52,739 from PACs.

Who again is beholden to special interests? That's what I thought.

All told, $1,116,300, or well over half of Ted Strickland's haul, did not come from individual contributions.

But to me, the real story is the enthusiasm behind each campaign as reflected in the quantity and the size of contributions.

Ted Strickland received a grand total of 2,692 contributions (63 of which came from the ODP).
John Kasich had more than double that at 5,890.

You'll also remember after the last report was released in June that Strickland's spokeswoman called low-dollar contributors "bad investments".

I guess we should expect the same namecalling after learning about Kasich's 2,376 contributions of $25 or less versus Strickland's 716.

To me, that speaks volumes about the enthusiasm of the average voter behind each campaign.

Overall, the cash-on-hand gap remains the same as the last report thanks to rules stating that no expenditures need reported until October.

Other interesting tidbits from Strickland's report? He received 11,395 from RJ Reynolds, better known for their cigarettes.

He also scored $2,500 from Planned Parenthood.

And remember Terry Coyne? Well, he donated another $10,000.

Ultimately, fundraising helps communicate the standing of a campaign.

Just how Lee Fisher's poor fundraising predicted his current troubles, Strickland's reliance on help from the Party and special interests indicate the frustration voters feel for the incumbent.

Kasich's fundraising superiority indicates the wind is at his back. After all, it's pretty damn hard to convince contributors to donate to a cause they don't believe will win.

Ultimately, if you're a Kasich fan, you couldn't be much happier with this report.

The Sample Question

Finally. A breakthrough.

All too often, the mainstream media looks solely at the toplines of polls. They tend to ignore the all-important demographic breakdown of the crosstabs to determine what they really mean.

Thus, the breakdowns I like to provide for my readers.

Now previously I've mentioned my questions regarding potential sampling problems with Quinnipiac and Rasmussen. Both tended to oversample to benefit Democrats in their polls of Ohio races.

[Click here for my Rasmussen questions back in May, and here for my questions about Quinnipiac]

Well, finally the Columbus Dispatch has decided to take a closer look at the latest Rasmussen poll that showed Rob Portman up by four on Lee Fisher, and they come to the same conclusion:

Rasmussen's explanation of the party ID crosstabs hardly seems to lead to a 4-point Portman lead, unless its sample is overwhelmingly Democratic:

"Portman, a former congressman and George W. Bush administration official, has support from 85% of Republicans, while Fisher is backed by 69% of Democrats. Portman leads by 20 points among voters not affiliated with either major political party."

As mentioned in my links above, this is hardly a new issue. I'm just glad to see the media is starting to take a more substantive approach to reporting on polls.

Kilroy owes charity $250.

Craig Newmark is the creator of Craigslist, the popular online classifed ad website.

They help people sell everything from furniture, to concert tickets, to.....sex.

Recently, CNN caught up with Newmark and confronted him with some very serious and disturbing allegations.



The kicker? Craig of Craigslist has only contributed to five campaigns or PACs this cycle. And one of them is Mary Jo Kilroy.


Earlier this year, CBS News reported Ohio being at the center of child sex trafficking in the United States.

I hope Rep. Kilroy will do the right thing and donate Craig Newmark's contribution to her campaign to the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition in their effort to combat child sex trafficking.

Debates are set for #ohgov

Sept. 14th in Columbus.
October 7th in Toledo.

A panel of four newspaper reporters will pose questions at each debate, and each debate will be moderated by a reporter from WBNS-Channel 10 in Columbus and WTOL-Channel 11 in Toledo.

Sounds like fun. And from the looks of twitter, Kasich supporters couldn't be more excited.

A birthday greeting...

Happy Birthday Mr. President,

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the party due to a scheduling conflict, again.

Sincerely,

Lee Fisher, Candidate For U.S. Senate

(This Is Not An Actual Card Produced By Lee Fisher)

h/t: RNC

The Warning

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Evidence continues to mount that Bush attacks won't work.

Blame Bush.

That's been the longtime weapon of choice among many Democrats.

And they've used it to tag allies of the President as dangerous for the well-being of the nation.

It's also, as I've been saying since the beginning of last fall, not going to work.

The latest bit of evidence?

He's been out of the White House for less than two years, but Greg Sargent notes that a new polling memo by the centrist group Third Way suggests that "only 25% of Americans believe that if Republicans return to power in Congress their economic agenda will mean a return to former President Bush's economic policies. 65% say that a Republican Congress will promote a 'new economic agenda that is different from George W. Bush's policies.'"

Furthermore, moderates and Independents "have completely divorced congressional Republicans from the economic philosophy and failed policies of President Bush."

Bush Attacks: they're like bringing a plastic sword to a gun fight.

Show Me state shows up.

In 2008, John McCain won Missouri by less than 4,000 votes.

It has a Democratic governor and the Senators are split, one Republican and one Democrat.

It's about as purple a state as they come. It's a swing state.

And if last night is any indication, it showed some potentially bad news for Democrats in November and highlighted just how important voter enthusiasm really can be.

Total votes for Democrat Robin Carnahan in St. Louis County, Missouri, in yesterday’s U.S. Senate primary: 58,775.

Total votes for Republican Roy Blunt in in St. Louis County, Missouri, in yesterday’s U.S. Senate primary: 59,274.

This is the most Democratic county in the state.

Statewide total for Carnahan: 262,742.

Statewide total for Blunt: 409,806.

There was also a particularly interesting and indicative statewide proposition in Missouri.

Missouri overwhelmingly approved Proposition C at Tuesday's primary election with 71 percent of voters supporting a law banning the government from forcing residents to buy health insurance.

Political observers nationwide watched for the outcome of Missouri’s primary because the state is the first of three to vote on such a measure, and many consider it a referendum on President Obama and his health-care policies.

Anyone think running against Obamacare will be a winning issue in Missouri? Yeah, I think so, too.

A return to the prevailing pattern.

With poll after poll after poll showing Republicans with a steady lead on the generic congressional ballot, Democrats couldn't help but crow about a sudden flip in Gallup's congressional ballot a couple weeks ago.

Well, the many questions about whether the sudden flip was an outlier were answered yesterday.

As of now, we're back up 48-43 in what Gallup calls "a return to the prevailing 2010 pattern".

In other news that hints at the upcoming Dempocolypse, there's the ever-prevalent enthusiasm gap. Currently, there are twice the number of "very enthusiastic" GOPers as there are Dems. That won't make the job very fun for whomever is hired by the Dems to drive voter turnout.

13 Weeks

All our efforts don't mean squat if we don't go out and vote on November 2nd.

So the RGA is making a special effort to make sure that happens.

I've added my Remember November ribbon to my twitter icon.

Have you?

The Plummet Continues

A new poll from USA Today/Gallup shows the President at 41% approval.

The latest poll from Rasmussen has Obama's approval sitting at 46%.

Remember that the next time your favorite liberal friend says Rasmussen is biased towards conservatives.

But the worst news for the President comes from the sample. Rather than likely or registered voters, Gallup tested 1,200 "adults". Choosing to test adults should have provided the most friendly of poll numbers for the President.

The best hope he has? That the number is an outlier.

Strickland scores endorsement from Nanny Stater of the Month

Yesterday, word arrived that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom endorsed Ted Strickland and sent a fundraising letter on his behalf.

Yes, this Gavin Newsom.



After this, it's no wonder Strickland is considering keeping track of how many miles we drive by inserting computer tracking devices in our cars. No, really. I'm serious. He is.

The Geis/Coyne story gets weirder.

As you may recall, yesterday 3BP posted about a $3.5 million grant awarded to a project in Cuyahoga County called Midtown Tech Park and being developed by the Geis and Coyne families.

It also just so happened that members of the Geis and Coyne families had contributed over $79,000 to both Lee Fisher and Ted Strickland. And lest we forget, Terry Coyne also hosted a fundraiser for Lee Fisher in 2009.

Well, a bit more research yielded some interesting information.

As most of my readers should know, many grants are awarded on a competitive basis. This was one. Applicants were scored by adjudicators and the top applicants won the grant.

Except in this case there was a strange outlier.

For some reason, four applicants that scored better than the Geis/Coyne application actually were completely rejected for any funding.

My questions? Why is there a scoring system if the scores are ignored when grants are awarded? If other variables are considered, shouldn't they be incorporated into the scoring system?

Additionally, if other variables are considered beyond score, isn't it strange that no applicants that scored lower than the Geis/Coyne application were awarded grant money?

And ultimately, what were the specific variables considered that deemed the Geis/Coyne application worth funding over other applications that scored better?

The subtext? Were the $79k in contributions and the Coyne fundraiser influencing factors?

My readers, if I'm missing something, please let me know. The specifics for how high intensity site development grants are awarded aren't exactly an expertise of mine, or of many people, I imagine. Perhaps there is something buried within the piles of Ohio Code that I'm missing. But that being said, I'd like to think the scoring system is there for a purpose. And if it wasn't utilized or manipulated for this grant, I'd be curious as to find out why.

Either way, the massive amount of contributions combined with the strange scoring system for this grant should raise questions.

If they can be answered satisfactorily, great. If not, well then this may be a much bigger story than I anticipated.

Must-See TV

Or Youtube. Whatever.

After watching this, you may want to break your "no politics" rule on facebook and share this video with your friends.



If you want to share it on facebook, just paste this link into your status update field:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG4jhlPLVVs

Don't worry. I'm not rickrolling you.

The Newest Attraction at the Ohio State Fair

Kilroy screwed up. Bad.

Did you hear about the time Mary Jo Kilroy brought the $1.4 trillion asset-backed securities market to a "screeching halt"? No? Oh, good. Sit back and prepare to be wowed.

Over the past couple months, Mary Jo Kilroy has crowed about her involvement in "Wall Street reform".

She raised money off it. She put out press releases about it. And now she may regret it.

Why?

Because it's costing an untold number of jobs and putting a massive dent in the economy.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The financial genius behind this section of Dodd-Frank is Representative Mary Jo Kilroy. The Ohio Democrat inserted a line in the bill that removes the exemption for credit raters like Standard & Poor's and Moody's from being considered "expert" advisers in judging securities offerings. This makes them closer to underwriters or accountants in vouching for an issued security, and it means that their consent is required before their ratings can be included in a registration statement filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Coincidentally—and Ms. Kilroy has said this was her motivation—the provision also sharply increases the potential liability for credit rating firms. Both S&P and Moody's cited this enhanced liability in announcing that they would not consent to participating in SEC asset-backed securities registrations. Fitch, DBRS and others followed suit.

Oops. Billions of dollars of deals were scrapped, as issuers were barred from proceeding without ratings information and the raters weren't willing to participate. A June press release still appears on Ms. Kilroy's website, proudly noting that her amendment "adds teeth to Wall Street reform." Did it ever.

The market remained frozen until late on July 22nd when the SEC staff rushed out an announcement that they were suspending enforcement for six months of its rule that ratings information be part of securities offerings.

We'll never know how many jobs this cost and the overall impact it made on the economy. But thanks to Kilroy, we know "billions of dollars of deals were scrapped".

Awesome. Just awesome.

It's no wonder the WSJ implied that if Kilroy was a CEO, she'd be fired for incompetence.

No question about it - this was a major screw-up.

And thanks to actions like this, it's no wonder the Washington Post said Kilroy was "in deep trouble".

She's simply in over her head.

Are Ohio grants for sale?

Contributions influence politicians.

Shocker, eh?

But usually it's not this transparent.

This past Friday, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher had a chance to put on his Jobs Czar hat again:

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, announced at a news conference in Cleveland that the state will give its maximum grant for job-ready sites to the MidTown Tech Park, a $21 million project being developed by the Geis Cos. and the Coyne family.

But a review of a few contributions showed some interesting findings.

I looked at the state and federal contributions from Alfred, Patty, Katherine, Ethan, and Greg Geis; as well as Ann and Terry Coyne - all are involved with the grant-winning company or family members.

• Lee Fisher has been the proud recipient of $29,200 in contributions from the above-mentioned family members.
• In addition, Terry Coyne hosted a fundraiser on September 29th of last year in Cleveland for Fisher. Attendees had the opportunity to pay a minimum of $1,000 to attend, and $5,000 to have dinner with the candidate.
• On top of all that, these same family members have also given $45,250 to Ted Strickland's campaign.

And what did Geis and Coyne get? 17% of their project is paid for by a state grant, as well as "a $10.7 million federal, low-interest loan administered by the city of Cleveland; a $240,000 forgivable loan from a city program for vacant properties; and about $4 million in equity created through the sale of New Markets Tax Credits."

Oh, and let's not forget "priority status for future state grants and loans."

If nothing else, this sure doesn't look good. It's this perception of impropriety that makes voters more and more cynical.

I'm going to hope for some clarification from the Fisher and Strickland campaigns, but I won't hold my breath.

Why does Congress have 11% approval?

This may give you a hint.