The SCPR recalls a article, which appeared in the Hartville News, of several years ago put together by the Ohio Republican legislative caucus trumpeting John Hagan (the then 50th Ohio House representative) as being an ardent supporter of the Ohio Constitution.
Hogwash!
How's that?
Hagan routinely voted for Taft administration "budget bills" that had many, many "subjects" other than the budget of Ohio.
So a guy who lied to the people of Ohio and Marlboro Township on being a law abiding Ohio constitutionalist now wants to be a Marlboro "TRUST"ee?
Is the SCPR's book, his hypocrisy is in and of itself enough to disqualify him from holding further political office at any level.
Moreover, he is not alone. For nearly, if not all, members of the Ohio House and Senate routinely violate Article II, Section15(D) of the Ohio Constituion.
The SCPR has pictured all of the representatives and senators who represent Stark County interest except for one. The missing one is Todd Snitchler, a Republican from Lake who now represents the 50th.
Snitchler did not vote for the budget bill in July (which was 3120 pages in length), but he did not give his reason that to do so would violate the Ohio Constitution because of the huge number of "off-topic" measures in the bill.
Being the conservative that he touts himself as being, one would think that Snitchler would wrap himself in the sanctity of the Ohio Constitution.
A prediction. If the Republicans capture the governorship in 2010 and Snitchler is re-elected; he will vote for the budget bill that comes up for consideration in 2011 even in the face of it being of a unconstitutional configuration.
The Report has pictured state Senator Kirk Schuring as among the "outlaws."
Didn't he vote against the budget bill?
He did.
However, he, like Snitchler never uttered a word about the "inviolate" Ohio Constitution as being is reason. And for good reason. He has voted for many budget bills that had the same defect as the July, 2009 measure: many, many off-the subject-of-the-Ohio-Budget provisions).
Why is it that our legislators violate the supreme law of Ohio?
Because they want to be unaccountable!
If he/she "secretly" favors an "off-topic" measure; a given legislator will say: "I had to vote to for the larger good - the budget."
If he/she disfavors an "off-topic" measure; a given legislator will bombast how opposed how he/she is to the the measure, but - guess what - "I had to vote for the larger good - the budget."
The result: voters never "really" know the legislator's "true" position on the "off-topic," because of the "political cover" the unconstitutional budget bill process provides.
Schuring played this game with yours truly a number of years ago. If memory serves correctly, the Ohio General Assembly was about to include an expansion of the Ohio lottery in a budget bill. Schuring appeared at the Lake Rotary Club and, unhappily for him, he had agreed to a Q & A.
Yours truly grilled him on what was about to happen. The point: the lottery expansion for "education" was merely a shell game to increase state revenues in the name of education.
Yes, the enhanced revenues went to education. But the same amount gets taken away in general revenue funding of education. It's a legislative scam on the taxpaying Ohio/Stark County voter.
Schuring said that while he was against the lottery expansion, he felt he needed to vote for the budget bill.
Didn't bother him in the slightest that doing such was a direct violation of the Ohio Constitution.
So much for the "rule of law" in Ohio.
But the day-in, day-out citizens had better not violate the Ohio Constitution or any other law of Ohio.
If you do, you will pay, and pay and pay.
Dennis Willard of the Akron Beacon Journal (remember The Repository got rid of Stark County's statehouse reporter Kostyu), has an excellent piece (Republicans might have given Strickland opportunity) online that promoted the SCPR bringing this Article II, Section 15(D) blog into the Stark County political mix.
His theme: "how our legislators could recover some public trust by becoming law-abiding legislators."
If Stark Countians cared about Ohio being a "rule of law" political entity; they would - come election time - vote against any legislator who has violated Article II, Section 15(D) of the Ohio Constitution.
If voters would do so, the SCPR has another prediction: Ohioans/Stark Countians would get a lot more legislative accountability!
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