OELSLAGER "TRASHES" (AKA "FILE 13") CANTON'S PLEA FOR FINANCIAL HELP."

AND

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SET TO DEFUND NEARLY $3 MILLION IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MONEY FOR CANTON?

VIDEOS

(ENCORE)

Council President Schulman

on

Draconian State Local Gov't Funding Cuts

----------

Prospect of Federal Gov't Cuts

of

Community Development Monies

for

2018

---------

Council President Schulman

Councilman Bill Smuckler

Call to Action

More than four years ago (April, 2013) Canton City Council president Allen Schulman pled with then-Stark County-based members of the Ohio General Assembly (Oelslager, Schuring, Hagan [all Republicans] and Democrat Slesnick) to do something to help Canton avert a fiscal crisis.



By April, 2013, draconian State of Ohio local government funding cuts were in full swing as imposed on local governments across Ohio, including, of course, Stark County, by Republican governor John Kasich working in concert with the supermajority Republican controlled Ohio General Assembly.

At last night's Canton City Council meeting, The Stark County Political Report learned of two new developments that will aggravate Canton's and likely other Ohio municipalities' financial stress.

First:

On June 26 of this year, Canton treasurer Kim Perez wrote Stark County's Scott Oelslager who represents virtually all of Stark County in the Ohio General Assembly asking him from his perch as chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee to remove "detrimental to city finances" language from the-then pending approval biennial Ohio Budget (HB 49).

Here is a Ohio Municipal League (OML) detailed explanation of the reasons why centralized collection is not a good idea in that its inclusion in HB 49 will cause a further deterioration in city finances across Ohio and erode city's constitutionally provided for Home Rule.



Back in 2013, when Shulman meet with "a small group of legislators," Scott Oelslager was not among them.

He sent word back that he was "too busy."

Apparently, he is still "too busy."  For it appears that he trash-canned Perez's and totally disrespected Canton government in not making any responses whatsoever to Perez's letter.

According to Chief Deputy Treasurer Mike McEnaney (last night), Oelslager has not responded to the Perez plea.

One would think that out of respect for a Stark County local government elected official, Oelslager would have responded with an "I disagree with you and the Ohio Municipal League"  and "here are my reasons why."

To the SCPR, such a show of disrespect and unaccountability is sufficient reason why nary a single Cantonian or voter of any other of Stark County's local government cities and villages affected by the centralized collection legislation would vote for Oelslager should he decide to play yet another version of musical chairs in which he and fellow Republican Kirk Schuring switch seats (from the Senate to the House and vice versa) every eight years in an "in your face" to Ohio's term limits for state legislators.

Oelslager is a "years and years ago" former aide to former, recently deceased (July, 19th), Congressman Ralph Regula.

The word on the street is that Oelslager became persona non grata on the Regula staff because he became too pushy in urging Regula to retire so that he could be in a position to succeed him.

Though he seemingly has a constant "politician's smile," Oelslager appears to be in reality an arrogant guy.

No matter that Oelslager undoubtedly does some good for Stark County, voters should be highly wary of a "I'm too busy" to deal with you type of politician that "comfortable in Columbus, but not in my district" seems to increasingly apply to.

Second:

The above graphic is a copy of a caption of legislation passed by Canton City Council last night.

And here is a SCPR videotaped of last night's discussion 

• featuring:
• Mayor Bernabei, 
• Deputy Mayor Williams, 
• Ward 4 Councilwoman Chris Smith [Community & Economic Development chair],
• Councilman John Mariol [Finance Committee chair], 
• Council president Allen Schulman, and
• Councilman at Large Bill Smuckler) 

between the administration and council members about the prospect that this funding stream for community development is expected to be coming to an end next fiscal year (January 1, 2018—December 31, 2018).



Here is what the National Community Development Association have to say about the impending cuts:

FY18

We're hearing the President's FY18 final budget will be released on May 18. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney recently stated that the final budget will include $200 billion for new infrastructure spending. While NCDA has advocated for a portion of any large scale infrastructure package to be funneled through CDBG, we have argued that it can not come at the expense of the regular appropriated funds for CDBG. Trump has zeroed out CDBG in his FY18 budget. A one-time investment in infrastructure can not come at the expense of ongoing CDBG program funding. NCDA and the CDBG Coalition will continue to push for $3.3 billion for CDBG (and $1.2 billion for HOME) in the FY18 HUD spending bill and we urge our members to continue to do the same.

Thanks for all of your outreach to your Congressional Members.

Call Congress on April 26

Join the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), of which NCDA is a member, on April 26 for a national call-in day to Congress, urging quick passage of the FY17 spending bills and full funding of HUD's programs, including $3.0 for CDBG and $950 million for HOME.

Call the Congressional switchboard toll free at 202-224-3121.

Thanks,
Vicki

Deputy Mayor Fonda added this in an e-mail response to SCPR follow up questions:

Mr. Olson,

The federal funds that may be cut are CDBG funds, HOME funds, and ESG funds


Programs that could be affected are; Housing rehab,public and social support, summer youth activities,demolition, furnace program, clothing assistance for youth, etc.

Next up is a "call for action" in contacting the likes of Gibbs, Brown and Portman to stop any idea of cutting Canton's community and economic development funds.



So it is not only the state government that has and continues to deliver financial blows to Canton and indeed all of Ohio's urban areas, but, now, it appears, that the federal government is set to follow suit.

As with Oelslager from the State of Ohio perspective, one has to ask whether or not 7th District (which includes Canton) congressman Bob Gibbs (Republican) and Senators Sherrod Brown (Democrat) and Rob Portman (Republican) are going to allow the defunding to actually occur?

As in Ohio, Republicans control the legislative and executive branches of government.

Is Canton and Stark County other urban areas in for a new level of government defunding?

Is there a Republican war on America's and Ohio's cities underway?

1992 TERM LIMITS COME BACK TO HAUNT STATEHOUSE REPUBLICANS IN 2015?

One of The Stark County Political Report's favorite sayings is:  getting hoisted by one's own petard.

A number of years ago, yours truly used the expression in a Lake Rotary Club meeting in describing the comeuppance visited on the perpetrator of act as a recipient of the effect of his own action.

A table mate burst out:  "Martin, do you know what that expression means?"

"Ya gotta be kidding," I said.

But maybe he was asking the question to the wrong person?

Perhaps the questioner ought to have been around in the inner circles of the Ohio House/Senate Caucuses when they teamed up being behind the effort of putting the 1992 proposed legislation as an Ohio constitutional amendment on that year's ballot.

Used in tandem with control of the redistricting process gained by the Ohio Republican Party in the 1990 statewide elections, the Republican beginning in 1995 a control (except for the Ohio House in the first two years [2007 and 2008] of Democratic governor Ted Strickland's term in office); Republicans have had a virtual stranglehold control over Ohio government ever since.

In Stark County, Republicans Scott Oelslager (the 29th Ohio Senate District) and J. Kirk Schuring (the Ohio House, the 48th) have traded off Stark County's senate seat and the Jackson Township House seat (the number and configuration of both have changed slightly) in a game of musical chairs except in this game each get a chair to sit in; only its a different chair as a way to defeat the effect of term limits.

For being the Ohio General Assembly for a combined 50 years and much of it with Republican control (or in a supermajority), Oelslager and Schuring have produced relatively little for Stark County.

Their time in the legislature appears to more about their personal longevity as elected officials (reference:  "the musical chairs thing") and not much about taking care of the needs of Stark County.

In the 2014 election, Republicans increased their control in the Ohio House.

But the problem is that the veto-proof Ohio General Assembly Republican  majority could prove to be like "a drunken sailor at the helm of 'the ship of state.'"

The Ohio House in particular is dominated by right wing extremists (e.g. Christina Hagan of Marlboro Township) who in recent years have been tamped down "somewhat" by one William Batchelder who has been 101st Ohio Speaker of the House beginning in 2011.

Batchelder's significance to keeping the political wackos from gaining control of the asylum was noted in yesterday's Cleveland Plain Dealer, to wit:

Years of experience are walking out the Statehouse door on Dec. 31 when the 130th Ohio General Assembly expires, and with it the terms of term-limited state legislators.

First and foremost is the loss of House Speaker William Batchelder, a Medina Republican who was conservative before many Ohioans even knew what the word meant.

Term limits will retire Batchelder, one of the smartest and most adroit legislators the Statehouse has ever seen. The irony is that term limits, which Ohio voters approved in 1992, were directed first and foremost at Democrats' 22-year control of the Ohio House, and the 20-year speakership of Democrat Vern Riffe, not at Republicans, and certainly not at Bill Batchelder.

 Beatchelder, being a House member in 1992 (having initially become a member in 1969), undoubtedly voted for term limits.

Generally, one-party-control is bad for the people and good for the political party.

However, the one-term-limit aspect of the Ohio GOP gaining supermajority status might prove to be bad for the people of Ohio and Stark County it could also end up being bad for the Ohio Republican Party.

Without the thoroughly conservative but stable Batchelder being at the helm, it could be that especially in the Ohio House that redistricting power and term limits will put the "inmates in control of the asylum."

Only Governor John Kasich, not exactly a "flaming political liberal" and a few conservative and politically stable Republican Ohio senators stand in the way of the extremists.

To the SCPR, term limits with the ouster of Batchelder is clearly a case of the Ohio Republican Party being set up - at its own hand - to be a prime example of "one being hoisted by one's own petard."

Just desserts for them, no?

But how about everyday Ohioans?

LOCAL OFFICIALS (VIDEOS) ARE A "LOT OF HOT AIR" WHEN IT COMES TO STATE FUNDING OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT?

As early as December 20, 2010  the Stark County Political Report began writing about the draconian state funding cuts that were coming to local government (villages, cities and townships) in the wake of Republican John Kasich's election as governor in November.

And such talk was not just "whistling Dixie" on a dark, scary night to comfort oneself in the face of feared disaster.

The fact of the matter is that the Kasich administration has done what it was feared it would do on taking office on January 1, 2011.

As an Ohio political subdivision and one of the state's larger counties, Stark has absorbed the full brunt of the cuts which over the entire state has turned into a $575 million in cuts whereas Ohio now has several billions in surpluses in its "rainy day fund."

What the SCPR notes is that a few of Stark County's local government officials have struck out at state officials but that they for the most part are out-of-power-at-the-state-level Democrats.

A recent new entrant into the jawboning has been Democratic Canton city treasurer Kim Perez, who, the SCPR thinks is fixing to run against Canton mayor William J. Healy, II come next year's Democrat primary election (May, 2015).

The SCPR thinks Perez may be "more of the same" in terms of local officials (again, emphasizing mostly Democratic ones) whining about the state cuts in a grandstanding fashion and not doing anything about it.

In the following video of Perez at Canton's June 2, 2014 meeting of city council, he talks about "new" potential devastation to Canton and other Stark County and Ohio cities at the hand of proposed Amended Senate Bill 5 and of his effort to bring all of Stark County officialdom together in united action in bringing pressure to bear on the Ohio General Assembly and, of course, Stark Countians Oelslager, Hagan, Schuring and Slesnick.



As The Report wrote in October,2012 right before the 2012 general election:

The SCPR projects that Stephen Slesnick (Democrat - Canton, the 49th), Kirk Schuring (Republican - Jackson Township, the 48th) and Christina Hagan (Republican - the 50th) will win re-election next month by fairly comfortable margins.  And The Report is ready to project that the Stark County Democratic Party chairman Randy Gonzalez (who, as Jackson Township fiscal officer, 9-1-1 governance committee chairman and Canton Municipal Court employee frequently complains about the drop off  of funding of local governments) will offer up a "sacrificial lamb" in opposition to Scott Oelslager two years hence when he seeks re-election.

In re-electing this Stark County legislative foursome, the message they receive is a loud and clear:  your seat is safe and secure no matter that you have done nothing to stop the carnage of Ohio's Local Government Fund funding of Stark County's cities, villages and townships.

To add insult to injury, beginning January 1st, there will be no more revenues from what used to be Ohio's estate tax.

And there are other legislative initiatives and failures to hold harmless that the four have participated in to one degree or another.

The SCPR really has no sympathy at all for local officials and their complaints about what Governor Kasich and the Ohio General Assembly is doing to them and to Stark County taxpayers.

Who among them has organized any pressure on the re-elective future of any of the four?

Answer:  none!

All they do is whine.

And when any one of the four shows up in local government venues, they are likely to be treated as if they are political royalty.  Kissing up to those who are hurting you seems to be the standard protocol most local government types dish out notwithstanding the financial grief that none of the four has done anything to stop.

Not that the four should be treated uncivilly, but they should receive a barrage of criticism and they should be subject to meaningful and threatening to their political longevity opposition as the come up for re-election.

The SCPR's take is that local officials really do not care so long as they can convince locals to ante up with local tax increases.

 And what has changed as we approach the 2014 general election?

Exactly nothing!

As a parting reminder that he is Stark County's "whiner-in-chief," recently retired Canton Municipal Court chief deputy and former (as of June 5, 2014) Stark County Democratic Party chairman Randy Gonzalez has offered up a bevy of sacrificial lambs to the Republican side of the Stark County delegation in this fall's election and, in the case of his seeming "best - political - friend" J. Kirk Schuring:  nobody!"

Democratic Canton City Council president Allen Schulman is one of the foremost critics of the Kasich administration and members of the Stark County delegation of the Ohio General Assembly; namely,

• Republican Scott Oelslager of Plain township representing the 29th Ohio Senate District which includes most of Stark County
• Republican J. Kirk Schuring of Jackson Township representing the 48th Ohio House District,
• Democrat Stephen Slesnik of Canton representing the 49th Ohio House District, and
• Republican Christina Hagan of Marlboro Township representing the 50th House District

because they have done absolutely nothing to curb the $575 million in cuts despite pleas that they do so from area "mostly Democratic" local officials.

Here is a April, 2013 Schulman "rant" about the legislators.



As a consequence of the political impunity with which the Stark County delegation has failed to act to stop the financial bloodletting on local government funds, local voters have been asked (with varying degrees of success/failure) to make up for the cuts.

Accordingly, the recent outcries by Perez, Schulman, Healy and a few other outlier Democrat officials and a few whimpers by a scant few of Republican officials should be scoffed at by Stark Countians.

As far as the SCPR can tell, the protestations are all mouth.

As long as local officials can get the voters of Stark's cities, villages and townships (as, of course, school districts) to ante up new local revenues, all we will get from local officials is political rhetoric.

It could be that as voters consider new income tax increase requests and/or income tax credit reductions and the like (e.g. Alliance, Canton, Massillon and North Canton) and should they reject them, the seriousness and the authenticity of the clamor by "state cut" complaining Stark officials might actually bear fruit in terms of putting Oelslager, Hagan, Schuring and Slesnick on the "hot seat."

And, perhaps, Stark County voters ought to reject any and all new revenue requests so as to give local officials no other choice than to push back and push back hard on state government through the locals who we send to Columbus.

STARK COUNTY BUSINESSMAN AND OHIO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION ACTIVIST BEN SUAREZ APPEARS TO HAVE SOME SERIOUS CAMPAIGN FINANCE RELATED TROUBLES

In mid 2012 during the 16 District congressional campaign (the 16th contains parts of northern Stark County) between Jim Renacci (Republican - Wadsworth) and Betty Sutton (Democrat - Copley), Sutton started making noises about campaign contributions being received by Renacci from various employees (and, in some instances, their spouses) of a company owned by Stark County businessman Benjamin Suarez.

Since the SCPR wrote about the story on May 22, 2012, the Renacci campaign, a spokesman says, not because the Renacci folks did anything wrong but only out of a sense of abundant caution, returned the questioned contributions.

In a Toledo Blade report, the Josh Mandel U.S. Senate campaign also returned contributions made by Suarez connected persons.

Yesterday, a federal grand jury handed down indictments on Suarez and a business associate on eight counts alleging a conspiracy to violate federal campaign finance laws, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

However, the indictments did not specify that either the Renacci nor Manel campaign contributions as being the bases for the indictments.

Suarez has been prominent in Stark County business and political circles for years.

Back in the early 2000s he got into a dispute with Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero on Ferrero's handling of some legal matters.

A number of Stark County politicos think that Suarez took on a significant campaign finance role in the campaign of Republican and prominent Stark County criminal defense attorney Jeff Jakimedes (Republican - Alliance) because of his (i.e. Suarez) differences with Ferrero.

But there have never been any suggestion that the contributions were not completely compliant with the law.

Other Stark Countians have been recipients of Suarez political contributions over the last ten years or so as shown by available Ohio secretary of state office online campaign finance reports.

While there have been direct contributions to Judge Stephen Belden (a Republican) of the Canton Municipal Court, Judge William B. Hoffman and Judge W. Scott Gwin of the 5th District Court of Appeals and former 50th District state Representative Todd Snitchler (R - Lake; now chairman [appointed by Governor Kasich] of the PUCO), there have also been contributions to the the Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee (OHROC) and to the Ohio Republican Senate Campaign Committee (RSCC) which may mean that indirectly Stark County state representatives Kirk Schuring (R - Jackson), Christina Hagan (R - Marlboro) and state Senator Scot Oelslager (R - Plain, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee) may have benefited from Suzaez contributions.

Again, there is no indication that the aforesaid contributions where fully compliant with law.

It is not all that long until Renacci has to stand for reelection.

Though there is no suggestion that the Renacci campaign did anything wrong, it will be interesting to see whether or not his 2014 opponent tries to make anything of the apparent failure of the Renacci campaign to ask questions about some very large and co-incidental (in terms of common associations) factors about the contributions.

STARK COUNTY'S DELEGATION TO THE OHIO GENERAL ASSEMBLY LIVING BY THE PRESS RELEASE?

Recently, Tom Suddes of the Plain Deal wrote:

On average, only about 20 percent of all the bills introduced during a two-year General Assembly session become law. Most bills are like beads thrown at Mardi Gras: Cheap, but visible. In fact, the last time Democrats ran Ohio's House, in 2009-10, under then-Speaker Armond Budish of Beachwood, the proportion of Ohio House bills that reached then-Gov. Ted Strickland's desk was just 5 percent.

But in getting to the 20%, the 5% or whatever, the reading public is subjected to press release after press release after press release touting how much your state legislator is getting done for you in the Ohio General Assembly.

A Stark County Political Report examination of legislation offered by the members of the Stark County delegation to the Ohio General Assembly shows that most of the legislation offered is going nowhere and a good part of that which does not accomplish much for Stark Countians.

However, local media is awash in publicity seeking press releases when either state Senator W. Scott Oelslager (R-Plain), state Reps. Kirk Schuring (R-Jackson), Christina Hagan (R-Marlboro) and Stephen Slesnick introduce a bill in the Ohio Legislature.

The most productive members of the Stark County delegation are first Scott Oelslager and second Kirk Schuring.

Christina Hagan and Stephen Slesnick are proving to be virtually worthless in being productive while working the press releases.

Hagan takes the prize so far as the SCPR is concerned when it comes to working the press releases in the face of being unproductive in getting prime sponsored legislation to passage.

And, mind you, this is 2013 a "non-up-for-reelection year."

Just wait until next year when they are all up for reelection.  Local newspapers will be filled with self-congratulatory material.

Yours truly recalls years ago in a conversation with the editors of the Akron Beacon Journal of bringing the point that Oelslager claimed credit for "such and such" legislation.

They all let out one big belly laugh.

And they added, Scott Oelslager has never seen a piece of successfully passed legislation he did not want to take some credit for.

Anyhow, let's take a look at what (in order of significance in the view of the SCPR of their respective efforts.

OELSLAGER (the 29th Senate District)

His Senate Bill 4 takes the prize of being legislation offered this year that likely will have the greatest impact on the lives of Stark Coutians.

The added cost for requiring all Ohio hospitals to screen for critical congenital heart defects using "pulse oximetry" is minimal at $150,000 for inital setup and perhaps $30,000 annually to maintain the monitoring system.

Although his SB 99 appears to be going nowhere, it is a worthy offering.

• Prohibits insurers from providing less favorable coverage for orally administered cancer medication than for intravenously or injected cancer medications. 
• Prohibits insurers from reducing coverage for either orally administered or intravenously administered cancer medications to levels lower than those in place on the effective date of the bill. 
• Enables the Superintendent of Insurance to impose disciplinary actions on insurers who violate the prohibition. 
• Enables a court to impose civil penalties on insurers that violate the prohibition: up to $35,000 in total for violations occurring in a six-month period and up to $10,000 for each violation of a cease and desist order issued by the Superintendent.  (Source:  Ohio LSC)

SCHURING (the 48th House District)

While Kirk Schuring has had the most success of any member of Stark County delegation, it does not appear to the SCPR that his efforts have all that much significance to Stark Countians.

His HB 67 (became law on March 6, 2013) which had to do with "delaying determinations of eligibility for PERS (Public Employment Retirement System)" will impact future Stark County participating public employees but from their perspective likely in a negative way, it can be argued that Schuring's work on this legislation ensure the long term viability of retirement benefits.

Schuring's prime sponsored HB 108 got swallowed up in the political controversy surrounding providing taxpayer dollars for Planned Parenthood.

This is what one blog had to say about the fate of this legislation:

The Senate also added the language from HB 108 to the Budget. This bill, initially intended to create the Rape Crisis Trust Fund and provide additional funding to Rape Crisis Centers, was amended to include language which would prohibit Rape Crisis Centers from referring patients to entities that provide abortions.  [passed as amended, in the Ohio General Assembly 2014/2015 budget bill]

His HB 110 is inconsequential in the SCPR's view in that its objective is to create authority for the issuance of Massillon Tiger license plates as well as similar vanity-esque plates for other organizations.

Unfortunately, this legislation is typical of what legislators offer for the purpose endearing themselves to the few who care about such matters.

HB 112 (passed with an effectivity date of October 11, 2013) has a worthy purpose to it, to wit:

• Creates an income tax refund contribution check-off for the benefit of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Project.
• Discontinues an income tax refund check-off category if contributions to that category do not exceed $150,000 in each of two consecutive years.  (Source:  LSC)

 We should all wish that the check-off produces.

After Canton City Council president Allen Schulman raised a stink with the Stark County delegation to the Ohio General Assembly about the savaging that state of Ohio funding of local government funding took in the 2012/2013 biennium budget bill during a March session of Canton City Council, Schuring cobbled together his HB 115.

Now this is legislation that could help some Stark County local governments.  In particular, Alliance (facing a vote on a raise to a 2.5% [highest in Stark County] income tax rate in November.  Also, Massillon which is facing being named by the state of Ohio Auditor as being under "fiscal watch" or perhaps even "fiscal emergency" any day now.

But will it pass?

After much publicity and fanfare for Schuring in local media on its introduction, not likely in the judgment of the SCPR.

Schuring is credited with even caring about the financial crisis that many it not most Ohio and, of course, Stark County local governments are facing.

One has to wonder why Hagan and Slesnick has not joined Schuring as a sponsor of HB 115?

As for the rest of Schuring's "prime sponsorship" legislation, it looks pretty inconsequential to The Report.

HAGAN (the 50th House District)

Christina Hagan has sponsored four bills so far in 2013 according to the Ohio House website:

However, none of them have even gotten a committee hearing.

And one of them, HB 248 - "the detectable heartbeat bill" is likely to be highly controversial if the leadership of the House Republican Caucus allow it to move forward at all.

Representative Hagan seems to the SCPR to be developing quite a skill at introducing legislation and getting a lot of ink in the process but having very little hope of getting it through the Legislature.

There are 16 months left in this legislative cycle, so we shall see.

But note that nothing so far deals much with the "bread and butter" issues that Stark Countians care about.

SLESNICK (the 49th House District)

Poor Stephen Slesnick.  A Democrat in a Legislature that is supermajority Republican.

What's the expression?

"As useless as 'ti*s' on a boar hog?"

The SCPR thinks that is what he would be as a legislator even if the Democrats were in power.

For what its worth, (the SCPR thinks virtually nothing, here is what he is offering up so far as a prime sponsor in 2013:

Hum?

Eliminating the need for a front license plate and looking out for the interests of pawnbrokers.

Wow!

Slesnick's constituents in the 49th have to be "really" impressed, no?

But the license plate thing has gotten him some PR.

Mission accomplished.

Such seems to be much of what all the members of the Stark County delegation to the Ohio General Assembly seem to be about.

OELSLAGER: IN THE CHIPS! IN 2013 - RECEIVES $89,700 FROM POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES. HMM? WHO IS HE BEHOLDEN TO?

UPDATE:  08/13/2013

CONCERNED CITIZENS OF STARK COUNTY HEAD CHRIS BORELLO COMMENTS ON SCPR REFERENCE TO OELSLAGER GETTING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM CHESAPEAKE ENERGY

As you all know, Scott chairs the finance committee, that oversaw the bill language concerned with the TENORM, radiation from fracking...

Seems Olson is suggesting to us that Scotty has some bigger fish to fry, and like before, with our  Uniontown radiation/Plutonium  issue( Scott was the one who gave us the Fed report dated Oct. 3rd, 2001, NAREL /US EPA summary of Plutonium report - a report  that had been reportedly, quite conveniently withheld previously from the public, and the Fed Judge, and the US EPA Inspector General, to boot)....

Yet, as Olson describes it, Oelslager then dropped our group like "a hot potato" at the end of the day.... Is history repeated itself with the radiation concerns now involved with fracking?  

If so, how heartbreaking it is,  given our Uniontown citizens had put our faith in Scott more than most politicians , thinking he truly cared, indeed , he felt more  than the average pol, after conveying to me his own family's personal experience with a deadly cancer...We thought -  when it came to protecting citizens, children,  from getting cancer , Scott would find a way, go above and beyond a call of duty....  

Where is he know, is he even asking Gov. Kasich to simply respond to our jointly signed letter from the other week, by 53 concerned citizens and groups?  Surely, Scott must at least believe scientific answers from these State agencies are warranted?

Chris  

ORIGINAL BLOG

Stark County W. Scott Oelslager has finally made it into the political big time.

On January 23 of this year he was named Ohio Senate finance committee chairman.

And, Oh! "what a difference a day year makes."

In his July, 2012 semi-annual campaign finance report, he received $26,750 in contributions; not exactly chump change.

But it pales into relative insignificance in comparison to his 2013 report.  Wow!  $113,150 collected in a mere six months.

Ever since he worked for former long time Republican Congressman Ralph Regula, Oelslager has hungered and thirsted to hit the political big time.

But for one reason or another he has - until now - come up short of the mark.

At one time he appeared to be on a fast track to become Regula's (retired in 2008), however, the story is that he annoyed Ralph's wife Mary with his pushiness and aggressiveness.  And, as we all know who have wives, one does not want to irritate the wife.

Before long Oelslager was on the outside looking in.

Relegated to the Ohio General Assembly since 1985 and initially also thought to be on the fast track there to become a leader but had several problems getting to the leadership level.

Initially, it was those damn Democrats and the autocratic Vern Riffe (Speaker of the House 1975 through 1994; also a political demigod to Massillon clerk of courts Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.) and his ironfisted control of the Ohio General Assembly that frustrated Oelslager in his drive to the top.

To get to a majority, Oelslager and his fellow Republicans devised a plan to get term-limits instituted in the Ohio General Assembly and thereby break up the Democratic stranglehold on the OGA.

One little problem though for Oelslager.

In sort of a way his leadership drive got disrupted by guess what?  Yes, term limits.  He couldn't get enough seniority in either the House or the Senate to make any headway to the top.

What's more, is that the political tide in terms of Republican political temperament swung on him.

Oelslager had, up to the last few years, been a part of what now is a vanishing (if not, nonexistent) breed of Republican:  "a moderate."

So he has had to reinvent himself.

While still not a fire-breathing right-wing religious-right type like Stark County OGA colleague Christina Hagan (R - Marlboro), he has moved enough to the right to have the blessing of Republican governor John Kasich and other important "to-the-right" Republicans who run the Statehouse.

Hence on January 23rd he became chairman of the Senate finance committee.

But the Stark County Political Report does not believe he is done yet.

The Report is convinced he is determined to become either the president of the Senate or the speaker of the House.

It has to be optional because of what?

Yes, that old bugaboo that brought the Republicans to power in the first place:  term limits.

Oelslager has one more term in the Senate and so will have to do some real wheelin' and dealin' to get to the top.

He probably has a better chance to one day become the the speaker of the House as he and another Stark County colleague Kirk Schuring (R, Jackson, the 48th House District) play a version of musical chairs whereby they switch back and forth between the House and the Senate thereby defeating the intent of term limits.

But one does what one has to do to get ahead, no?

So has chairman of the finance committee he has as if by magic acquired supercalifragilisticexpialidocious campaign fundraising powers.

And this is the factor that can catapult him to the higher reaches of political power in the Republican caucuses of the Ohio General Assembly.

Of course, there is a price to pay for raising this kind of money from PACs.

And the articulation of the price is this.  Who is Scott Oelslager beholden to?

His constituents in Stark County?

Earlier this year Canton City Council president Allen Schuman tried in vain to get Oelslager to come to Canton (the largest part of Oelslager's Stark County constituency) to talk about the state of Ohio's gutting of local government funding which Oelslager and his fellow Stark County Republican legislators Christina Hagan and Kirk Schuring supported.

Oelslager's response (Schuring did show up)?

"I'm too busy."

Too busy doing what?

Now we know the answer.

Raising campaign funds for himself and the Republican caucus so that the GOP can maybe duplicate the feat of Democrat Vern Riffe and his 1975 to 1994 run as Ohio's Almighty "political" God, no?

Maybe, just maybe, Scott Oelslager will become the head of such a political juggernaut?

You can be sure of this.

Now that Stark County Democratic chairman Randy Gonzalez sees how powerful Oelslager has become, he - the SCPR thinks - will stand aside and let Oelslager breeze to a second term in the Senate next year.

By the SCPR's calculation, Oelslager has raised $89,700 from political action committees for only one-half of 2013, to wit:

Chris Borello of the Concerned Citizens of Stark County will be real thrilled to see that Oelslager received $2,000 from Chesapeake Energy (a leading fracker for oil and natural gas in the nation).

Borello goes way back with Oelslager.  She got her community activist start as head of the Concerned Citizens of Lake Township back in the 1980s when revelations of the existence a toxic dump less than a mile from the center of Uniontown came to light.

Initially, she thought that Oelslager was going to help her and her group's fight to get what has become to be known as the Uniontown Industrial Excess Landfill (IEL) clean up.

She knows better than that now.

When it became apparent to Oelslager that the issue could be - let 's say - "politically toxic" in terms of being in favor with the powers that be in Stark County, he dropped Chris and her followers like the proverbial "hot potato."

But then again one does one what has to in order to get through the political headwinds to the top, no?

Back to Oelslager and his fundraising to top this discussion off with how he has done with individual campaign donors.

Of course, they are not nearly a lucrative as the political actions committees and the lobbyists, but there is prestige in getting donations from the likes of these folks:

It will be interesting to see where Oelslager's current track will lead him.

But he has to - in his private moments - be excitedly saying to himself.

"Scott!  You've Come a Long Way Baby!!!"

"'LEGISLATOR 'STRICT' POLITICAL PARTY ALLEGIANCE" HURTS STARK COUNTY CONSTITUENTS & COMMUNITIES, THE STATE AND THE NATION

The Republican and Democratic causes in the Ohio General have a rule.

And the rule holds that if 80% of the caucus members vote to support a particular piece of legislation, then the remaining 20% forego their opposition and vote for the proposed bill.

Sometimes a member gets excused from the rule because he/she has a compelling personal political reason (i.e. that folks back home are watching and the caucus vote will not play in the district) to depart from a party-line vote.

Yours truly is in the process of reading an in-depth book on each of our 44 U.S. presidents.

And in reading about John Quincy Adams (John Quincy Adams, American Statesmen Series, John Torrey Morse) for the time he served a Massachusetts district in the U.S. House of Representatives for upwards of 17 years (1831 - 1848) after he lost his reelection bid for the presidency (1828), it is striking how independent he was of political party influence both in his time as president and in the Congress.

John Quincy Adams can be said to have put the interest of the country and his district ahead of his political preferences.

He was very much in the tradition of George Washington, our first president, who viewed political parties as unhelpful at best and damaging at worst.

A Washington quote:

[Political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Morse on John Quincy Adams as a member of Congress:

Mr. Adams took his seat in the House as a member of the twenty-second Congress in December, 1831. He had been elected by the National Republican, afterward better known as the Whig party, but one of his first acts was to declare that he would be bound by no partisan connection, but would in every matter act independently. 

Morse, John Torrey (2011-03-30). John Quincy Adams American Statesmen Series (p. 155).  . Kindle Edition.  

And Morse's book is replete with example after example after example of Adams voting what he thought was best for the country even though his vote and leadership on attaining a particular vote benefited his political opponents.

But Washington (a founding father) and Adams were men of the 1700/1800s.

We are now in 2013 and at the national level the nation is in what is termed as being in political gridlock.  So much so that it may be that in September the Republicans may vote to shut down the U.S. government in order to try to kill Obamacare.

Should such an eventuality materialize, you can bet your bottom dollar on the certainty that Stark's congressmen (Gibbs, R - the 7th; Renacci - R - the 16th and Tim Ryan - D - the 13th) will largely vote (90% or better) the party line.

And the same pattern (probably between the 95% to 100% range) has been demonstrated by Stark County delegation to the Ohio General Assembly, to wit:

• Scott Oelslager, Republican (Plain), the 29th Senate District,
• Kirk Schuring, Republican (Jackson), the 48th House District,
• Christina Hagan, Republican (Marlboro), the 50th House District, and
• Stephen Slesnick, Democrat (Canto), the 49th House District

When Republican Jim Renacci ran against then incumbent Democratic Congressman John Boccieri in 2010, one of his main negative points on Boccieri is that he nearly always voted with the Democrats and then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

But catch this from a 2011 SCPR blog:

And he was pretty much on the mark.  Stats show that Boccieri voted with Pelosi about 94% of the time. 

But what has Renacci turned around and done as Boccieri's successor? 

You've got it! 

He is pretty much in lockstep, too.  He is on record as voting with Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner 92% of the time.

Notwithstanding the ballyhoo that Congressman Renacci made in his successful re-election drive against Democrat Betty Sutton (November, 2012) about his involvement in a bipartisan Congressional policy group, the SCPR sees very little if any separation between him and the Republican House Caucus.

Unless, of course, one considers the following U.S. Senator Rob Portman generated press release to be an example of " on policy issues" bi-partisanship:

Press Releases 

Home / Newsroom / Press Release 

June 11, 2013 

Portman, Brown, Manchin, Renacci and Gibbs Renew Push for Pro Football Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act 

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) and U.S. Congressman Jim Renacci (R-OH-16) joined members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to renew their push for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act in advance of the Hall’s 50th anniversary in September.

Although local Pro Football Hall of Fame afficionados are undoubtedly appreciative of the effort, the SCPR believes that most Stark Coutinans will not think that this joint legislative venture is indication that Washington partisan political gridlock will be ending anytime soon.

So to the question posed by the graphic that leads this blog, to wit:  In 2013 does Stark County have anyone at the state or national level of legislating that in any way, shape or form approximates John Quincy Adams?

A CHANCE FOR STATE REP. CHRISTINA HAGAN TO PUT SOME "DASH" IN HER "SPLASH?"

Recently, I was switching radio stations while out in the car and in the process checked into WHBC 1480 on your radio dial to catch a little bit of Ron Ponder's Points to Ponder.

Disappointing to me, Ponder was not hosting. Rather a gentleman by the name of Lin McDowell was.

Just about ready to tune-out when I heard a familiar voice that froze my dial-turning-hand.

Is that her I asked myself?

Her?

Her - who?

State Representative Christina Hagan (Republican - Marlboro - the 50th).

Indeed, it was!

Well, I have to hear this.

Maybe she has some "phenomenal" (you will get the play on "phenomenal" as you read on)) news out of Columbus to share with us listeners, I thought.

And she did not disappoint.

She blessed us with "phenomenal" news from straight out out of Ohio's capital city at least six times in the space of about 15 minutes on the air with McDowell.

But other than her prolific use of the word "phenomenal" interspersed with the word "powerful" or a variant thereof, I cannot recall anything equaling substance that graced her lips during the interview.

It was all fancy-mancy talk straight out of political "talking points" book of one her Ohio House mentors/minders.

I do remember that both she and McDowell are graduates of Malone University.

And, one other thing.

She said that college is not for everybody.  That is straight out of the playbook of her father John who held the "old" 50th District House seat 2000 - 2008. Must have been referring to himself.  As he is the personification of the statement.

Of course, she, McDowell and the like are exceptions.

For others:  merely having a high school education is enough.

Apparently, only the "phenomenal" go on to higher education.

Mind you folks, this is 2013 and advanced technology has taken hold on nearly everything and she thinks most of us are "good to go" with little or no advanced education.

Hmm?

But anyhow, she spent nearly all the time with McDowell talking in glittering generalities and superlatives.

Hagan has been a member of the Stark County delegation to the Ohio General Assembly for better than two years now.

In March, 2011 she was appointed by the Republican Ohio House Caucus to succeed Todd Snitchler who went on to bigger and better things as political godfather John Kasich's (current Republican governor)  PUCO chairman.

In the Republican primary of 2008, she got wiped out by Snitchler.  And in the course of her challenge of Snitcher, she said some pretty nasty things about him and the leaders of the Republican caucus.  Even accused them of trying to buy her off.

Now that she is on the inside looking out, Hagan thinks Ohio's Republican leaders are?  Can I say it again?  Okay - "phenomenal!"

In contrast to her view of the Republican bigs running the Statehouse, one thing should be clear to all but her family and friends; "phenomenal" she is not.

All she has shown so far is that she knows how to crank out press releases touting her participation in some pretty mundane legislative mishmash and other "style-driven" concoctions designed to get her maximum publicity without having to answer the question:  "Where's the beef?"

I said to myself:  "I need to find something for Christina to do in Columbus that is 'substantive' and which could be "phenomenal" for Stark County right down to the tiny hamlet of Marlboro Township which consists of some 4,000 or so souls."

So I have had my ears and eyes open looking for something of substance.

And, lo and behold! I think I have found something.

Yesterday, I received a press release from Attorney General Michael DeWine, another accomplished cultivator-extraordinaire of the media, to wit:

For those of you who are regular readers of the SCPR, you know that the Canton-Stark County Crime Lab (CSCCL - a unit of the Stark County Council of Governments [SCOG]) has run into some tough times of late.

The delays in processing evidence for criminal cases up for prosecution have stretched out so much that the Stark County police chiefs have taken the DNA work away from the locals and are sending it to Ohio's BCI regional facility located at Richfield which is just north of Akron.

With all the funding problems that Ohio's local governments are having at the hand of - you guessed it - the Ohio General Assembly with the help and assistance of one Christina Hagan; it does not appear that things can get better any time soon at the CSCCL.

And it is risky business to shift all the forensic work to the state of Ohio.  Whereas the floodgates of money are open for BCI now because Governor Kasich has decided that analyzing evidence is a top priority, such may not continue into another administration post-Kasich.

So the question becomes what to do to make sure Stark County has access to a first rate crime lab for the foreseeable future?

Answer:  Get Christina Hagan, Kirk Schuring (R-Jackson, the 48th) and Scott Oelslager (R-Plain, the 29th Ohio Senate District to push for the creation of a Kent State - Stark/BCI facility in the image of the BCI/BGSU project.

Richfield is not a good interstate highway interface for a regional BCI site and does not have the advantage of a university connection.

Canton/North Canton/KSU-Stark would serve northeast Ohio much more ably.

And let's make Christina the lead in doing something "substantive" for her political career, for Stark County and for Marlboro Township.

Marlboro Chief of Police Ron Devies was among the first to blow the whistle on the shenanigans on Canton's Healy administration that made existing CSCCL problems even worse.

Connecting a BCI lab to an institution of higher learning makes its long term funding much more secure than if left to the whims and caprice of a successor governor.

Moreover, such a setting would be a boon for workforce development in that the university will be training lab workers and scientific-oriented investigators (for government and private industry) in a hands-on, clinical environment that satisfies Hagan's bias towards vocational training as the best basis for employment for the rest of one's life.

And so what if the lab workers get some college exposure and maybe develop a mind powerful enough to become, perhaps - you know this is coming - "phenomenal!"

Read the rest of the DeWine press release:

... . “This new facility will enhance the laboratory and investigative services we provide to our law enforcement partners in Northwest Ohio,” said Attorney General DeWine.  “We’ll also be able to work with BGSU to advance forensic science in Ohio and help prepare our state’s next generation of scientists and investigators.” 

"The collaborative possibilities between the University and the BCI lab are endless," said Mazey. "Not only will it enhance our already strong science and criminal justice programs, we will be able to offer a number of research opportunities to develop new cutting edge techniques." 

The new BCI facility will elevate BGSU to the select group of colleges nationally that have on-campus crime labs.  BGSU will begin offering forensics as an undergraduate specialization this fall through the departments of criminal justice, chemistry, and biology to help students prepare for careers in public safety and forensic sciences.   

The expanded BCI location will encompass about 30,000 square feet and serve law enforcement and prosecutors in a 22-county area with on-site laboratory and investigative resources.   ... .

Now readers, you tell me.

If Christina Hagan puts her nose to the grindstone and leads the way to bringing a BCI/Kent State - Stark collaboration project to Stark County, wouldn't we all be willing to say:

"Christina Hagan:  yes she has "style," but she is one powerful and PHENOMENAL substantive legislator!"